Good news! The three-day Tandem Conference began on Thursday with over 30 attendees who are all excited and totally committed to becoming disciple-makers!
More news: Two of our team members are having health challenges and need our prayers immediately.
Thursday’s Prayer Requests:
1. God to minister powerfully to the pastoral couples through Scott’s Better Together marriage seminar on Day Two of the Tandem Conference.
2. Scott’s esophagus/swallowing issue to resolve and not recur (details below); peace for him, and plenty of energy to teach on Friday.
3. Total healing for Whitney who seems to be fighting traveler’s bronchitis.
Thursday’s Details:
Day One of the Tandem Conference went well. Our team even held a sample DM group with the attendees so they could experience what happens in weekly DM groups, and it looks like four new online DM groups will be starting with these couples as soon as they return home from the conference. We are praising God for a great kick-off for this new season of disciple-making throughout Luzon in the Philippines!
Healthwise, Mark’s wife, Whitney, is dealing with symptoms of bronchitis. Feeling sick in a foreign country can be especially challenging; please pray for Whitney to recover quickly.
Also, several times on mission trips in the past few years, Scott has had a sudden situation of difficulty swallowing certain foods (usually chicken or fish) which seem to get stuck in his throat. Thursday evening he said this had happened again, his esophagus felt raw, and he was really exhausted. On Friday (Thursday night MO time) he will be teaching 8-9 hours during the Better Together seminar, so please pray for God to heal him and energize him!
Finally, we all know that we have an enemy who is not at all happy about what God is doing and will do during this mission trip. We also know that the Spirit who is in our ministry team is greater than any spirit that’s in the world! You might be thinking, “Yes, Patty, that’s true, and I’m sure somebody else will pray about those things,” but as our pastor has said, “Somebody else moved away!” We are depending on YOUR prayers for Wilson and Angelica, Mark and Whitney, Scott, and the pastoral couples at this conference. Our prayers – all of our prayers – really matter and are making a positive impact on various situations there.
Thank you for praying for our team in the Philippines now! = )
The Phillips family and Scott are settled in their respective places in Villasis in the Philippines and are now meeting with various local pastors and preparing to travel on Wednesday (Tuesday night MO time) up into the mountains to Baguio where the three-day Tandem Conference will be held beginning on Thursday. Tuesday has involved numerous meetings with old and new friends and much packing of clothes, equipment, and props for the conference.
Tuesday’s Prayer Requests:
1. The 19 pastoral couples (one pastor was in an accident and can’t come) who will be at the Tandem Conference to come with great attitudes, eager hearts, and their assigned “homework” completed; no technical, accidental, or relational distractions that might hinder the conference’s effectiveness.
2. Our team (Wilson and Angelica, Scott, Mark and Whitney) to be led by the Holy Spirit as they interact with each other and connect with co-workers in Baguio.
3. Everyone to adjust well to the time change and stay healthy; God-given keen insight for the doctors who are preparing for Pastor Gil’s surgery later this week.
Tuesday’s Details:
Our TTC National Directors, Wilson and Angelica, live with their three children and pastor a thriving church in the city of Villasis (“vill-YAH-siss,” population 65,000).
Here’s a brief geography lesson: The Philippines is comprised of two large islands (Luzon in the north, which includes the capital, Manila, and Mindanao in the south) plus 7,639 smaller islands arranged between and around those two.
Luzon is shaped like and just slightly larger than the state of Maine, and Villasis is located in a low-lying part of Luzon at an elevation of about 500 feet. Scott and the Phillips family are staying in two guesthouses in Villasis.
The Tandem Conference will be held in Baguio (“BAG-ee-oh,” population 407,000), a popular tourist destination known for its relatively cool climate as “The Summer Capital of the Philippines.” The Tandem Conference will combine a Disciple-Makers (DM) seminar and a Better Together marriage seminar for 20 pastoral couples from all over Luzon. After the conference and following six months of online training and mentoring, these couples will start and lead DM groups in their own areas.
This map shows the route our team will take from Villasis to Baguio on Wednesday (Tuesday night MO time). The scenic drive takes about two hours to cover a distance of only 50 miles. The reason it takes so long is that in those 50 miles the route gains over 4,000 feet in elevation! Baguio is up in the mountains, and it’s beautiful.
Some 33 hours after leaving home, The Phillips Four have finally landed in Manila with all their luggage! Our national directors, Wilson and Angelica Flores, met them at the airport and are currently driving them several hours north to Villasis, where TTC’s ministry in the Philippines is based. Meanwhile, Scott just got in the air this evening and will land Monday around midnight (MO time).
Sunday’s Prayer Requests:
Mark, Whitney, Liam, and Korbin to settle in to their guest house, sleep well, and begin to get acclimated.
Scott to sleep well as he flies, arrive refreshed, and retrieve all his luggage intact.
Peace and strength for Wilson and Angelica, and God’s clear direction as they, Scott, and Mark all pull together to complete preparations for the Tandem Conference later this week.
Sunday’s Details:
Once they had collected their bags, cleared customs and immigration, and met up with Wilson and Angelica, Mark sent this picture, saying, “We are on our way to Villasis. Quite tired from our sprinting to catch one of our flights ‘Home Alone’ style. But we are all here with all our luggage. Excited to get started, but first a little coffee and maybe a little rest.”
Amen, Mark!
Scott will skip the coffee, but I’m sure he will also be very excited to get started after a little rest. = )
L to R: Mark, Liam, Korbin, Angelica, Whitney, and Wilson, traveling in the ministry vehicle our partners recently helped fund!
Your prayers are paving the way for our team to be used by God in significant ways during this trip. Thank you for praying for them today!
Our Take the Challenge team is now at a mere T-Minus 22 hours!!! and counting until our next mission trip launches to the Philippines and beyond! Mark and Whitney Phillips and their sons, Liam (12) and Korbin (10) leave Missouri Saturday afternoon for a full month of disciple-making in the Philippines, and Scott Roberts (age undisclosed) leaves Sunday evening to join them there for two weeks before heading on to Nepal and India. For all their upcoming travel and especially for their ministry on the ground, we really need your prayers.
Thursday’s Prayer Requests:
No flight delays; everybody to have good flights, sleep well, land safely with all their luggage, and adjust well to the time change, culture, and climate. It’s very hot and humid in the Philippines right now.
Pastor Gil’s throat surgery to go well; for a supernatural recovery, total healing, and full use of his voice. (Note that the “G” sounds like “H,” so his name is pronounced “Hill.”)
All details for the Tandem Conference to run smoothly; no hindrances to all 20 pastoral couples attending, and God to do amazing things in each person’s heart, marriage, and ministry.
Thursday’s Details:
Preparations for this trip have been extensive because God has opened some truly incredible doors for raising many more disciple-makers in the Philippines. To that end, three big events are planned during this Philippines trip:
Tandem Conference (3-day Disciple-Makers and Better Together seminar, more details below)
All-Philippines DM Summit (open to everyone who is in a disciple-makers group)
DM Coaches Summit (special training for all the coaches who lead disciple-makers groups)
I know that all sounds rather overwhelming, but for right now, let’s focus only on event #1, the Tandem Conference, which will be held on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, October 23-25. The first day will introduce the idea of raising disciple-makers and explain biblically why it’s such a priority. Day 2 will be a marriage seminar designed especially for ministry couples, and the final day will explain the practical how-to’s of raising disciple-makers.
The 20 pastoral couples from various parts of the Philippines who will be attending the Tandem conference have already committed to join the Disciple-Makers (DM) movement by first being trained via online DM groups for 6 months and then being the coaches who lead in-person groups in their own areas. This map shows with red markers where we are now (54 DM groups!) and with green markers where we could be in 12 months, primarily through the DM ministry of the pastoral couples who will be at next week’s Tandem Conference.
All of this expansion has been developing through Pastor Gil (“Hill”), an incredibly humble man of God who is in Scott’s Monday online DM group. Pastor Gil is a leader of a very large network of evangelical churches in the Philippines and has connections with and oversight of hundreds of pastors. He has been personally so impacted by the DM movement that he has strongly encouraged this subset of like-minded pastors to get involved. Unfortunately, Pastor Gil will not be able to attend the Tandem Conference as planned because of the major surgery he will be undergoing late next week to remove a tumor from his neck.
You can “meet” Pastor Gil inthis 1:30 video clip. He and we deeply appreciate your prayers for him, AND for Scott and the Phillips family as they all continue to deal with details and keep on packing and preparing to GO! It’s going to be an exciting weekend. = )
Have you ever considered what all went into making a disciple? Many times we make assumptions. We look at the disciples in the Bible and we think wow what heroes of the faith. I wish I could be more like them. They just got it and ran with the vision that Jesus gave them.
There is a layer of truth to this. But let us take a moment and think about that just a little more, and if you will allow me I will give you some key facts about the disciples found in the Word (when you read the Gospels).
Jesus picked the least likely people to be disciples.
Literally according to the standards of the time, Jesus did the exact opposite. He picked the worst and ones everyone had given up on.
Jesus spent 3 years training and investing in His disciples
At one point He had at least 72 disciples, then it went to 12, and then at His ascension there were 500 gathered.
At Pentecost there were 120 gathered together.
Three years of training to just what our standards today would call a small church of disciples.
Jesus constantly reminded the disciples of all that Jesus is and also who He is calling them to be.
Jesus showed His disciples what it looked like to sacrifice Himself so they would know how to make disciples of their own, in His name.
Jesus didn’t waste His time.
He was focused on completing the vision He wanted everyone to catch.
He was focused on making sure His disciples would be ready to do it on their own.
I know this sounds more like a sermon than an update (I am pastor. Sorry, not sorry 😀), but within this I hope you are getting the picture that raising disciples that make disciples is not an easy task!
It is, by far, the most rewarding task. But according to man’s standards it is not as glorious as having a big church, being in a large booming church, and even sometimes looks like you are trying to take people from their church to join yours!
These things are so from the truth for a disciple-maker. They have a single vision, are you ready for it?
Matthew 28:19-20
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
For a disciple-maker, they have a church home where they gather together and they share in fellowship, but they hold this deeply as their creed. The walls of the church building have little effect on them. They want to GO!!! And they want to see disciples made. When they see them and know that they have been made they enjoy the reward of watching those disciples go and make more disciples.
We (Scott, Mark and Whitney with their sons, Liam and Korbin) are getting ready to head to the Philippines and we have some key prayer requests and praise reports to share with you.
The Philippines is on fire with making disciples. The Philippine Disciple-Making Movement is reaching and crossing denominations that we are praying will begin happening here in the USA the same way! They have the focus of Matthew 28:19-20 and they have the zeal to see their nation and the neighboring nations transformed into disciples who make disciples!
As we go into the Philippines we will be hosting many different events to help them go further and enable the ones that have been discipled to now start discipling others. As you read through Acts you see how many of the Apostles did this very same thing going and visiting the new house churches and spreading the Gospel that Jesus wants you to be His disciple. It takes lots of work and much commitment to see all these people rise up to become fully mature disciples of Jesus!
Join us in celebrating these praise reports and also join us in prayer.
Praise Reports:
Southern Missouri is beginning to see disciple making groups spring up all over! This is just the beginning! There is a fire.
Kenyan National Directors James and Hillary have been facilitating new Vision Castings in further regions, and the new areas are responding with excitement to be discipled.
The 20 pastors identified for the Luzon Disciple project, have received their introduction on what to expect and are excited for the upcoming trip in October where they will start their disciple making process.
The Mission Banquet 2025 was a great success where ⅓ of the funds for the KDMM Command Center (Total budget $30,000) were raised in a single night! Praise the Lord!
Prayer Requests:
With the trip to the Philippines now only 16 days away, that Mark and family, and Scott would have safe flights and stay healthy. That God would work out all the details for the Tandem Conference for the 20 couples coming, along with the other events that will happen.
For Scott as he travels to Nepal after the Philippines. That all the pastors attending these events would be receptive and ready to be discipled to disciple others.
For the Filipino team to pull together all the needed items and schedules for a prosperous trip.
We thank you greatly for all of your prayers and support. These trips are crucial to helping the teams on the ground keep expanding and going further. Please join us in the prayer requests and if you would like to support TTC in these trips we would be grateful for the support!
Mark, Whitney, Scott, Patty, and the International TTC Team
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as starting a project and staying with it till it’s DONE. Here is today’s good news: After months of prayer and support-raising for the Philippines Disciple-Makers Movement’s (PDMM’s) Command Center, that project has now been fully funded. Hooray! Praise God!
Our PDMM national directors, Wilson and Angelica Flores, are the ones who direct and oversee all TTC’s ministry in the Philippines. They hear from God, mentor coaches (disciple-maker group leaders), plan and carry out meetings, seminars, and summits, and manage the physical, financial, and human resources necessary to do all the above.
Now that the Philippines Command Center is established and funded, its first assignment is a big one, the Disciple Luzon Project. With 38 provinces, Luzon (blue on the map below) is the largest island in the Philippines, and our goal is to have active disciple-maker (DM) groups functioning in each of Luzon’s provinces. The first Filipino DM group was launched just 16 months ago in May 2024. Red markers show provinces where we already have DM groups, and green markers show the provinces we will be expanding into.
The Disciple Luzon Project will involve these four steps during the coming weeks and months.
Identify and recruit 20 pastoral couples from across the Philippines who are willing to be trained and equipped as DM coaches for their home areas. (This has already been done!)
Empower those couples’ marriages and ignite in them a fire for disciple-making through the PDMM Tandem Conference October 23-25.
Train those pastoral couples in online DM groups for six months, from November 2025 through April 2026.
Host DM Seminars in each of the couples’ home areas and help them launch new in-person DM groups in May 2026.
Praise Reports:
Amazing revival happening in Forsyth, Missouri prompted by the testimony of a DM group member there! (Details coming soon.)
Philippines Command Center project has been fully funded!
20 pastoral couples have been identified for the Disciple Luzon Project!
Prayer Requests:
God to connect the Philippines Command Center with a quality vehicle for them to purchase and use in nurturing the disciple-making movement.
Our September 9th Missions Banquet here in Missouri to encourage and inspire all those who attend and to connect us with at least 20 new monthly partners.
Now that the Philippines Command Center is up and running, God to bring in the funds for the Kenya Command Center by the end of the year.
Thank you very much for your partnership with Take the Challenge and for joining your faith with ours to see God’s full plan for the Philippines come to pass.
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