Dear IGSL Family,
Thanksgiving season is upon us! First Thessalonians 5:18 admonishes, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” We are so grateful for each one of you for faithfully giving and praying for the ministry here in IGSL. Together with you, we are equipping leaders for the mission field in Asia and beyond. Even while these leaders are being trained, they are already being deployed to various ministry environments.
From October 23 to 27, 22 teams of IGSL students, faculty, and staff partnered with local churches throughout the Philippines to share the gospel and equip leaders. We praise and thank God for the lives and communities reached during Ministry Week 2025!
Here are a few highlights from the testimonies of faculty, students, and staff who joined Ministry Week 2025:
Through Ministry Week, God reminded me of the lost. He brought us to share Jesus and His love with the elderly in shelters, forgotten by their families; with families in the mountains, who live in homes similar to the kubo that we have in our ALC grounds. And to children on the streets, many of whom are abused, some to the point of not loving themselves or their lives anymore. God re-ignited my compassion for the lost. Since the Ministry Week, I have continued to share Jesus through personal evangelism with drivers and strangers whom God allows me to meet when I am outside of IGSL. –Joyce Amonoy, IGSL Staff
As I was seeing God moving powerfully and the active engagement of the workers who chose to spend their one-hour break with us, I thought of my home country, Nepal, and wished we also had this back home. ‘Sana all.’ But my very next thought was a discouraging one: ‘But this is impossible in Nepal.’ God showed me that I lacked hope. I had little faith in what God could do in my nation. But as we kept serving, our ministry experiences showed me that the where of the Great Commission is anywhere people are, like the marketplace, where we can use practical tools to point people to Jesus. And through the encouragement of our faculty mentors, my ‘sana all’ wish became a ‘Lord, let it be’ prayer. The verse that now fuels my hope is Jeremiah 32:27: ‘I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?'” –Ser Bahadur Gurung, MDiv student
The second day, I started experiencing illness—fever and flu-like symptoms. As my voice became more coarse, chills began, and fever induced, I watched my co-leader, Timothy Tabada, and the men in our ISG act as the hands and feet of Jesus as they cared for me. They provided home remedies that helped reduce my fever, and even provided a buko (coconut) to sustain my nutrients. Indeed, I can say the phrase to the men in my group: “you are God’s provision for me.” (Romans 12:10; John 13:34-35). That experience of weakness and care reminded me that in my weakness, God is my strength—on Sunday morning, I preached, knowing that the flu symptoms hadn’t left me entirely yet. Similarly, Tim spoke at Cafe Theo and traversed the city with an injury to his ribs. Thorns in our side, somewhat, but also gentle reminders that our merciful God uses broken vessels like us to mold his Kingdom and reach others for the Gospel. –Michael Banks, IGSL Faculty
Perhaps the most striking of our experiences was when we watched and processed the Magdalena film, which is a narrative compilation of the women-focused scenes in the Jesus film, with the women of RAM Asia. Most of these women were single mothers, from the provinces, and from lower socioeconomic brackets. The women watched with rapt attention, laughing, gasping, and even crying. Then at the end of the film, when we grouped together for discussion, the women poured out their hearts – their burdens in providing for their families, their hurts in being left by their husbands or having to leave their children for work, their struggles due to the hardships of life, and their hopes and dreams for their families and themselves.
One of the women, Blanche, commented that the two days we had with them were not enough – they usually had to put on a strong face for their families, and this was the first time in a long time that they were just able to unload, and be heard. And the Lord met them there. Another woman, Rose, shared that it was only through the film that she realized that women, who are so often overlooked in society, are precious and beloved in the eyes of Jesus. Through our time with them, the women learned that Jesus is El Roi, the name Hagar called God in the desert – the God who sees. –Kim Andaya, MDiv Student
Thank you for continually praying with and for us, dear ministry partners.
Serving with you in building leaders for transformation,
Great B. Mabuti, PhD
IGSL President