Exciting things are happening in the Philippines! Steve Deal was introduced a number of years ago to Good Soil teaching and resources through our Filipino partner, Ariel Abadiano. Since then, Good Soil philosophy and chronological Bible teaching have been an integral part of his ministry both at his Redemption Ranch Cowboy Camp in Lipa City and Calvary Bible Church which they started out of their home. Steve spearheaded the efforts to translate The Story of Hope into Vietnamese and Burmese. If you put his name into the search engine of our blog section in the Good Soil website, numerous stories can be found of God using all of this to advance His kingdom.

This impact has not started to wane through the years, but in fact appears to be multiplying. Steve shares that between his church, their two young church plants, and their student center outreach they are holding 38 home Bible studies each week with an average of 420 in attendance. Most of the groups spend a minimum of one hour together each week and some have been studying together for over a year. Steve shares, “The reason our home Bible studies are so successful is we teach from Genesis to Revelation. The teaching is simple enough to easily grasp and retell the stories. We teach, The Story of Hope for adults and Adventures in the Story of Hope for children.”

This learning and retelling of the Bible’s big story are indeed powerful as illustrated by the church plant in Calumpang. Pastor Arnel was saved through the teaching of The Story of Hope by his wife who had herself heard it and been saved at Steve’s church while working in the area. Pastor Arnell, even though he works a full-time job to support his family, now teaches 14 home Bible studies each week sharing God’s redemptive story with more than 150 people weekly.

Noel is a high school teacher who has a burden for his students and a passion for them to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. He has ministries reaching out to both high school and college students. Several of them have made faith responses to the gospel and they in turn have inherited the eagerness and courage to tell the story. Steve writes, “They boldly share their faith teaching Bible studies during the week. It is great to see GOD using young adults who have surrendered their lives for HIS service during these difficult days.” Steve remarks that what God is doing is unbelievable. He praises God for His goodness and mercy.

The work in the Philippines has recently gotten an even bigger boost as Ariel has finished translating and printed The Story of Hope into Tagalog and has begun the translation project for Cebuano, the two most commonly spoken native languages. We look forward to seeing God continue to use Good Soil training and resources to reach many more in the Philippines in the years ahead.