Greetings from Cebu City

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Greetings from Cebu City, Philippines! Today is Tuesday morning, and it is likely that by the time you receive this, Jill and I will be in Manila. We have been in Cebu since Friday evening. We’ve had a busy but incredible time.

A Quick Update

When we left Eugene on Thursday, our flight was delayed by almost two hours. Our connection in LAX to Manila was scheduled to leave at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. We arrived at LAX at 11:35. We missed our check-in time (Philippine Airlines requires you to check in at the ticket counter at least an hour before the flight). So, we were almost assured of missing our connection. But the Lord intervened for us. As we ran through LAX to the international terminal, we stopped by a security point to ask the officer where the Philippine Airlines counter was. He politely asked what time our flight was, and we told him. He told us to skip the counter and go directly to the gate. By this time, it was already past noon. We ran another long distance (by my Apple Watch, we ran 1.84 miles through LAX) to the gate. When we arrived, it was as if they were waiting for us. We had two bags we needed to check, but they told us to carry them on the plane with us and gave us our tickets! Dave Quilla, a very experienced traveler, said he had never heard of anything like that ever happening. Christina Luther, my assistant, said the same. We all felt like the Lord worked a modern, 1st world miracle for us to catch that flight. We would’ve needed to cancel much of the first weekend in the Philippines if we missed it. We worshipped when we sat down in our seats drenched with sweat 😂…

Many of you prayed for Jill to be able to travel well. She generally struggles with motion sickness on planes, and the length of these flights was concerning. She actually did better than me. I got a migraine on the flight from LAX to Manila sometime in the middle of the night. After a few hours, it was finally subsided after a hard night.

We arrived at our hotel in Cebu around 11:30 pm. locally. By our math, we had been traveling for 28 hours. Because it was 8:30 a.m. by our body clocks, we were exhausted by not sleepy. We rested as best as possible and were picked up at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday for a Leadership Summit at His Dwelling Place Christian Church in Cebu. That day, I preached three times on “The Beauty of Gospel Partnership.” After preaching, we had a time of questions and answers, and it was encouraging and challenging because each question was well-thought and deeply connected to Scripture. The Lord was kind enough to allow me to work with Nilo Ebo (pastor of HDCC) and Ian Kana Naman (pastor at HDCC) as my interpreters. Both men have a great way of keeping things light yet informative. We returned to our hotel exhausted and yet amazed at God’s kindness.

Sunday morning, the church at HDCC began at 9:30 a.m., and I preached about “Humility.” After church, we had a fantastic potluck with purchased meats. It was really good. Then, we spent time with the elders, ministry team leaders, and their wives, talking through plurality in the local church and what it means to be elder-led. This is important for them on two fronts: 1) many men take a backseat regarding spiritual things in the Philippines. So, growing their complementarian convictions is very important. 2) Many men desire “position” more than service. They do not see a need to serve the church if a “position” is not granted or given. This is why I’m grateful for the servants in the Philippines with whom we partner. They are “the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven” because they joyfully serve others. The people I visited with on Sunday at HDCC will serve Christ’s church without a position or place of influence because they are compelled by Jesus’ example and propelled by His power. After seven hours at church, we returned to our hotel to crash.

Monday was a morning of rest followed by a tour of Cebu and dinner at Tops (see attached pictures) with three young pastors and two of their wives. Ian Naman, Gilbert Tolentino, and Saitam Matias are three young men who love Jesus, their families, and the church. Jill and I wanted to answer questions with them but, more importantly, to show them our respect and love. It was an evening that we’ll remember for quite some time.

Today is Tuesday, our last day in Cebu. It has been a great treat to have Jill with me. Sharing the experience with her made this trip very meaningful. She has loved the Filipinos and has been a great blessing to them.

Lord willing, we will keep sending pictures, and possibly next week, we will give another update. But until then, here are a few things to pray for:

Safe and easy travel from place to place.
Pray for the encouragement and equipping of our Filipino brothers and sisters. This is a strategic trip to discuss the beauty of gospel partnership. The church culture in the Philippines is very ‘top-down,’ and SGC is most definitely not that.
Pray that Jill and I have a great time together. This is the first long-distance ministry trip she’s taken with me. She is such a joy to have with me, and she’s a blessing to anyone she meets, so I’m excited to have her with me. She’ll steal the limelight:). But this trip is also a ‘bucket-list’ trip for us with the additional time in Australia. We rarely get time away like this, and we pray that God will use it to make great memories and continue to build our marriage.

Looking Ahead

I thank God for our pastoral team. From what I heard, Stan did a great job this past Sunday declaring God’s word to you. This coming Sunday, he will preach again on Genesis 47:29-49:27.

As I mentioned Sunday, in addition to our concerns about our children and family while we’re gone, I’m concerned that our church doesn’t miss the chance to hear other men preach God’s word to us over the next several weeks. Let’s grow both spiritually and in number while I’m gone. I’m grateful that one of our members caught me Sunday and said, “I’m going to invite five friends to church while you’re gone. “ I hope all of you do that!

From the Cheap Seats

I can still keep up with the sports world while I’m here. However, Filipino TV doesn’t have an NFL channel. From what I saw from the Cowboys game, that’s a good thing. A funny thing: a 10:00 a.m. NFL game begins at 1:00 a.m. on Monday morning in the Philippines. The Monday night game starts at 5:15 p.m. in Roseburg which is 8:15 a.m. on Tuesday in the Philippines. I find that stuff fascinating. It makes setting my fantasy lineup challenging (even though I got a big win over my oldest daughter this week!).
It was a disappointing loss for the Beavs but an excellent win for the Ducks. I don’t have much to say about that.
MLB playoffs: go, Guardians! Is there any team left? I’m sure this is a dream for MLB, and why it might be rooted against the Guardians. To get an LA vs. NY matchup or an NY vs. NY matchup would be a ratings bonanza.

Have a great week! Christ is King!

In Christ,

Dave York