Clockwise from top: Alot, Dianne, Jaymee, Jimmy, and Emy Bernardo

What I am about to share with you started as a worrisome period in my life. But I am here to declare that God answered our prayers, provided for our financial needs, and even miraculously healed me.

In November 2007, my eldest brother Kuya Noni suffered shortness of breath and chest pains while vacationing in the U.S. He was diagnosed with blocked arteries. He underwent angioplasty, a heart procedure in which six (6) tubes were inserted into his heart to clear the passageway of blood.

The very next month, my second eldest brother Kuya Chito had a heart attack and was declared dead on arrival at the Medical City Hospital. But by God’s amazing grace, he was revived. He also had an angioplasty. Two (2) tubes were inserted in his heart.

Our brother-in-law and family doctor, Dr. Marcelo Esguerra, advised me to have my heart checked. I was the next possible candidate for heart trouble, especially because I am diabetic.

So on February 4, 2008, I had my heart checked. The doctor’s diagnosis was that two major arteries were 80% blocked and a 3rd artery was possibly blocked, too. The solution was, again, angioplasty.

It would cost ₱450,000-₱600,000. But I did not have that much money. The doctor said that the procedure had to be done within the next two months.

I also had to go through a 2D echo diagnostic test and a stress test at the treadmill. But in my physical condition, I was unable to finish the stress test.

My family and I requested prayers from my Discipleship Group, my Bible Study groups, our children’s Discipleship Groups, the CCF Pastoral Care Ministry, and from CCF Pastors. We prayed for God’s financial provision for the angioplasty, my speedy recovery, protection from complications, and God’s miraculous healing.

Within the required two months’ time, God miraculously provided enough funds for the angioplasty!

The doctor had me undergo a nuclear stress test on April 3, before the operation scheduled for the following day. This time the stress test contained a radioactive substance called thallium. (Editor’s Note: Thallium is injected so that special equipment can take pictures of blood flow to the heart.) Surprisingly, I was able to finish the stress test!

The next day, the day of my scheduled angioplasty, I got the result of my nuclear stress test at 9:00 A.M. I immediately brought it to my doctor. He read the result over and over again; he could not believe what he saw.

The Result: MY HEART FUNCTIONED NORMALLY under stress and during rest.

The Verdict: NO NEED FOR THE HEART PROCEDURE !

The Explanation: New, collateral arteries developed to serve as natural bypasses for the clogged arteries.

In other words, GOD PERFORMED THE BY-PASS OPERATION HIMSELF!

To date, my heart is functioning normally, and I follow the doctor’s advice to watch my diet and to do regular exercises.

MY GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!

MY GOD IS A MIRACLE WORKER!

ALL PRAISES TO GOD!

–
Jaime “Jimmy” Bernardo, 58, came to know the Lord in 1986. He works as a Property Manager and is married to Emy with three children. He is a Bible Teacher and a D12 Leader at CCF.

This Sunday, instead of the usual preaching, a video message by Ptr. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church was played. To avoid infringing copyright, we cannot post that message here on the site. Instead, we are sharing Ptr. Peter Tan-Chi’s message, given at the close of last week’s CCF Leadership Conference 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

by Karen Galarpe

Some 3,400 D-12 and D-group leaders and their interns from the various CCF churches all over the Philippines trooped to CCF St. Francis Square for the CCF Leadership Conference 2009 on 23-24 January. Though video and live sessions, they learned more about true leadership from distinguished pastors.

“In CCF, we want to grow exponentially and spiritually,” said CCF Senior Pastor Peter Tan-Chi, in his final exhortation for the summit.

It all starts with knowing the foundational principles of true leadership. Ptr. Peter explained that leaders must first understand what leadership is: the act of influencing others out of Christ’s interest in their lives so that they accomplish God’s purposes for and through them.

They must also:

• have a sound sense of who they are in Christ
• have in-depth relationships with people on their team
• have the appropriate ability to confront, the courage to take loving stands
• be willing to humble themselves
• follow Jesus and model what they want their followers to be and do
• be willing to risk rejection
• not allow themselves to be trapped in bitterness
• be loving enough to have insight into the hearts of others
• have clarity of vision

Ptr. Bill Hybels of Willow Creek talked about the leader’s state of mind and how it is affected by a “holy discontent,” put there by God as his assignment or calling. “When a leader is gripped or driven by a powerful passion, he enters into a different state of mind. You surrender your ego. The cause is more important. You take risks you normally wouldn’t take,” said Ptr. Hybels. He advised that once you find your holy discontent, you must feed it, stay close to it, increase your exposure to it, and do what you have to do.

Author and pastor John Ortberg said in his talk, “Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them,” that we are all “weird, as is” Christians. “There is no such thing as ‘normal,’” he said, “and desperately needed is a community for weird, ‘as is’ people.”

He went on to talk about the paralyzed man who had been lowered by his friends through the roof so that he could see Jesus (Mark 2). Ptr. Ortberg called this kind of community the fellowship of the mat, which calls for faith, accountability, and going the extra mile for someone abnormal, just because of friendship.

Saddleback Church Ptr. Rick Warren then focused on stewardship. Taking off from Moses’s encounter with God through the burning bush, Ptr. Warren said that leaders should see themselves the way God sees them. As Moses laid down his staff, they ought to and lay down what is in their hands — everything that represents their identity (pride), income (greed), and influence (self-centeredness). Leaders have to practice stewardship of affluence and of influence.

Participants also attended one of two modules: How to Start a Small Group given by Edric Mendoza, and Relational Intelligence given by Ptr. Ortberg. The latter taught leaders to listen to, involve, accept, bring focus to, and inspire members.

Pastor and Illinois state Senator James Meeks then talked about the enemies of a growing church:

• lack of faith
• lack of knowledge
• failure to realize that God is no respecter of persons
• not believing that growth is the goal of a New Testament church
• an unsure pastor
• failure to build upon small victories
• failure to preach the announcements
• lack of corporate fasting and prayer
• failure to get started
• wrong motives

Participants also took part in workshops to processed what they learned in the seminar modules. At the end of the two-day event, participants committed to continue or start serving God by leading small groups guided by the principles learned.

Following is the final message from Ptr. Peter as he closed the conference:

Dawn Watch, CCF St. Francis

Welcome to the new CCF website! Here’s a quick look at some of our improved features:

1. We want it to be easier for everyone to learn more about CCF – who we are, what we believe, and, most importantly, the Lord we serve. Take your time on the site. Explore the menu.

2. Sunday Messages have been reorganized into a new database which you can search based on series, preacher, Scripture, etc. Each message has links to download video, audio, and Bible study guides. You can access the whole database by clicking on the top menu:

Or, choose one of the five latest messages from the sidebar:

3. No more need to register in order to download videos of our Sunday Messages!

4. Due to popular demand, videos of the praise and worship from our Sunday services will be viewable online! We hope they are a blessing to you as you worship the Lord, wherever you are.

5. We’re committed to keep you in the loop. You’ll find that this site is packed with photos and feature articles to let you in on how God has been working in, through, and among us.

Help!

1. Did you spot an error or run into a bug? Did we forget a feature from the old website? Is something not working properly? We can’t wait for your feedback. It will help us serve the church better.
2. “Some of the news is, well, old.” We understand how you feel. If you or someone you know would like to be a volunteer writer for the website, we’d be happy to have you.
3. Got a good eye? The header image isn’t final. We’re taking design suggestions/submissions to replace it. If you’ve got one, e-mail Katrina Alvarez (kapaoalvarez[at]gmail[dot]com) or Pastor Joey Geronimo (joeygeronimo[at]ccf[dot]org[dot]ph). The image is 1000×200 pixels large.
   
4. Are you running the Safari or Google Chrome web browsers? Then, we apologize if the carousel links (the sliding thing on the home page) don’t display properly. We are looking for a solution and suggest, if you really want to see those links, that you use Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Enjoy the new site, happy browsing, and God bless you!