Street Level Ministries

What a crazy month it has been! Some students have been wrapping up their semester with final projects, papers, and presentations. Other students are starting summer classes. Each university operates on a different schedule, so there’s no slowing down during the summer.

We’ve continued meeting on Fridays for dinner and discussions. In Toledo, a few students who previously attended Shofar Camps joined! Last week in Cebu, we had a couple SLM alumni surprise us in the office and at our meeting. Ruby Mae was in the city to process paperwork for GRADUATION! Can you believe it? In August, we’re holding a one-day summit on the west side of the island. The directors of all 4 branches of SLM will teach and lead discussions about living an unwasted life.

Street Level Radio & Word on the Street

We’re excited to announce a new sponsor of Street Level Radio! Draft Punk Craft Café is now an official sponsor and host of one of our Wi-Fi antennas. This antenna connects to the SLR antennas at our office, thus expanding our broadcasting reach! In the coming months, we plan to add more antennas to cover the area near National Bookstore. We recently joined the USA staff online to pray together and hung up posters around the city. Althea and Christian (from the SLM Toledo group) started volunteering and will help hang up posters around Toledo next weekend.

Issue 90 of Word on the Street Magazine is almost ready for printing, and Issue 91 has begun! Passing out magazines is a primary means of meeting students and inviting them to SLM. Last month, Britt met a Senior High School art professor while passing out magazines and fliers. He introduced her to his graduating students on campus, and all of them got a copy of WOTS.

Exploring Creation Science

The 2021-2022 school year has ended for many private schools, but there is still plenty to do. Limited face-2-face classes for students at Banawa Nazarene School will begin on Monday, June 27 with staff and student orientation. This includes information like entering and exiting the building safely, handwashing/sanitizing station, mandatory face mask wearing, emergency contact information, etc. Since we will be away for orientation, Laura visited the school last Monday to talk through what school reopening will look like and how students can participate during classroom lessons. Laura will teach her first in-person class on June 30.  

All the schools are beginning to plan for classes to start again. Some will start the first week of August. Each school has their own set of rules and regulations in accordance with the Department of Education and government protocols. Plans are being discussed for Laura to teach more in all three schools. She may have occasional guest lessons for schools as more schools bring students back, she has gotten requests from schools that have been waiting to have lessons again in person.

Laura will be attending the moving up ceremony for grade 6 and graduation for grade 12 Southern Bethany Christian School students on June 30 at South Town Center in Talisay.

Shofar TV

Exploring Creation Science lessons for students in grades 4-12 continue to be recorded for use on Shofar TV. We are hoping this part of the ministry will be launched by the time the school year begins. It will be another way to reach students we wouldn’t normally come into contact with and provide an opportunity to share about Shofar Missions. We are also following up on to broadcast Shofar TV at other cable stations throughout Cebu.

Team Prep

The first missions team since January 2020 will arrive in August. Ministry plans include a Street Level Summit, Shofar Youth Leader Summit, and Ministry Training Institute classes for pastors in three different locations: Cebu City, Balamban, and Bantayan.

As things open up more and restrictions ease, ministry groups are starting to hold meetings again. The Cebu City Ministerial Fellowship is a group of pastors that gather each month. School principals join if they have something to invite the other private schools to or if there is discussion about school related items, since that often involves pastors. We were invited by the pastor and his daughter at Banawa Nazarene Church & School to present Shofar Missions at one of their meetings. We will attend in July to share the Ministry Training Institute, Street Level Ministries, and Exploring Creation Science. We visited the Four Square Gospel Church of Cebu City to meet the pastor, who serves as the group’s chairman. The church is close to our office – about a 20-minute walk. We look forward to developing a relationship with him and the others involved in the ministerial fellowship!

Read about what’s been going on at Shofar Mission in the Philippines.

Street Level Ministries

For the past five weeks, Street Level Ministries has been meeting simultaneously in two different locations on Friday nights. We have been watching short biblical teachings ranging in topics by various pastors, then coming together for dinner and a discussion. There has been a steady group of students attending in Toledo City, with fewer students in Cebu City. Britt joined the Toledo group twice so far and plans to attend once a month. Both cities have been blanketed with posters and banners. Some upper classmen are in Cebu City for limited face-to-face classes, so Britt has been hitting the streets to distribute fliers and WOTS.

We recently hosted a remote radio broadcast at Roadside Café and gave away free coffee to students. The merging of stations with the USA has been a move in the right direction. Jael has been learning production from Pete and gaining experience going live at remote broadcasts. Recently, Althea, a new member in Toledo, has stepped up to volunteer for Street Level Radio. We’re also on the verge of installing the station at two local business who would like to be sponsors. One of them is near our office, and the other is across the street from a local college.

The WOTS volunteers have been meeting weekly, finalizing drafts for Issue 90, and practicing writing. We distribute at many businesses throughout Cebu City, which allows us to reach a variety of people. The owners of one of the businesses that wants to sponsor the radio station got a copy of WOTS before the station was pitched to them. Because of that, they were familiar with Street Level, which made them even more open to sponsoring the station.

Summer starts at a different time for each university, so we’re continuing on with our weekly dinners and discussions. Everyone is hoping that next school year will bring students back to universities for face-to-face classes.

Exploring Creation Science

Since returning to Cebu, Exploring Creation Science lessons have been in-person with a school staff teaching digitally to the students. During lessons, Laura has been teaching the topic and learning objectives that are to be covered in that day’s lesson…so she is the science teacher for that class period. This means she preps or adapts a previous lesson to fit the grade level and learning objectives. Many schools in Cebu City remain online, however, school staff have all been able to report since April 1 (previously the government limited the number of employees allowed on-site).

Banawa Nazarene School was approved by the Department of Education for limited face-to-face classes during summer school (they are hoping for school year approval, but that is another application). The School Administrator offered Laura a weekly two-hour schedule and has begun advertising summer Exploring Creation Science Lessons. Both Inayawan Nazarene and Southern Bethany plan to offer summer classes and have extended invitations for us to join. Classes at Southern Bethany have a few weeks left to go, otherwise, everyone else is switching gears and getting ready for summer school! We are in communication with a couple of local shelters for children that also have schools. One has requested lesson information and topics, and the other one we will meet with this week. One school we proposed lessons to last January in Toledo recently received approval for limited face-to-face classes this August. We will be visiting them at the end of this month, as well as connecting with the pastor from the Universal Church of Christ Church & School.

Local Churches

A few weeks ago, we joined a Sunday morning gathering of all the Nazarene churches in our region. They were celebrating their 75^th anniversary as a denomination in the Philippines. We stayed for lunch and fellowship with church/school staff from both the Nazarene locations we work closely with. Laura taught Sunday school at the Banawa Church of the Nazarene (teaching some of the students she has in class), and this past Sunday we worshiped with Capstone Generation church. They are sending a team of 60 people on a mission trip to another island (Leyte) this week. Please be in prayer for them!

Prayer Requests

• Growth in biblical understanding and discipleship among the Street Level students
• Continued guidance with the potential Street Level Radio sponsors and smooth installation
• Pray for all the local churches and schools we work with. Specifically, a prayer of thanks for those schools approved for face-to-face summer school classes!
• Pray for team preparations, especially for our upcoming trip to attend the Toledo Ministerial Fellowship Meeting. Pray that God would stretch time that day when we present August missions team events and talk to the pastor of the Universal Church of Christ School.
• Pray for the meeting with school staff at St. Bernard School in Toledo the same day we are there. We plan to discuss teaching in-person lessons since they are approved for face-to-face classes.

Greetings from the USA! Find out what we have been up to in the Philippines… and America!

Since our last post, it has been a mad dash to the finish line before departing the Philippines for the first time since 2019. We welcomed Pastor Tim and Sharon in Cebu, then a few days later, passed the baton and hopped on an airplane (ok, a few airplanes) to the USA. We were thankful to spend some time with Dodson’s before we left. They filled us in on many of the changes we’d face upon our reentry, and we caught them up on some of the changes in Cebu. 

Travel went better than expected. We were prepared for the worst, but God helped us navigate the airports and all the COVID-related travel requirements. Last Friday night, we joined the Kindred and One Life groups for a junk food buffet and game night at the Blind Munchies. It was a great opportunity to catch up with people and participate in some friendly competition. We also joined Saturday morning’s Coffee Talk in the coffeehouse, which is something we’ve both heard much about and are thankful we got to be a part of one. 

Laura has been volunteering in the coffeehouse and taught a science lesson to the homeschool group. Brittany will be joining Street Level for a couple meetings and playing piano during worship. We’re excited to spend time with Believers Church Duluth this weekend, then Campus Church in River Falls in April. Thanks for welcoming us back with open arms… there’s nothing that can compare to fellowship with the body of Christ. Whoever said absence makes the heart grow fonder has obviously never been separated from the family of believers in a local church…

Philippines Ministry Continues

The work of the Kingdom never takes a hiatus… thanks to technology, Laura has been able to schedule pre-recorded lessons that premiere online during regular class times for students in Cebu. She has also been in communication with the staff of the schools she works with. Britt has been keeping in touch with the Street Level students and joined last week’s meeting via Google Meet. Tim and Sharon have been continuing the ministry, rebuilding relationships with churches, and forming new contacts. God is good. We’re  thankful that we get to continue to be a part of the action – even from the other side of the world. 

Please be in prayer for Dodsons as they seek to finish strong on their trip. Please also pray for the ministry that is continuing there while we are away. Just goes to show God doesn’t need us… but we are the richer for being used by Him.