selby charles roberta 1959 philippines

8/11/2019 Selby Charles Roberta 1959 Philippines

1/10


2/10

TH

L V N ,A

T

W R

In

1956 an

interdenominatiojaaJl

missionary and hip; co-wor

kers,

went into

a

small community in

easte rn

Cagayan and

through

various means, split

one

of

our

act ive Churches,

taking

with

them

quite .a

large

number of our

Church

members .

They

then

called one of their active preachers to minister

to

their newly

formedgroup. During

the 1957-58 schoolyear, one of

our

students

visited

that

village each week-eiid to

minister

to the

small

group

of

remaining

faithful brethren.

He became wel l acquainted

with

the

preacher of

the

interdenominational

group, and

had

many

friendly

discussions with him

=

concerning

the New

Testament

Church.

Just

after school was out a year

ago,

this man, Nicanor

Grane ta made

known

h is in te ntio n to r en ou nc e d en om i na tio na l

ism

in all

i ts

forms and become a simple New Testament Christ

ian.

He

was

immersed

along

with

his

family

and eleven

^members

of the

Church to which he had

min i

s tored; and mos t of

the

bre th

ren

who had been led as t ray when

the Church

was

split,; returned

to

the fold. Bro. Graneta, although nearly 50 years of age, en

tered the Aparri

Bible

Seminary las t

J\me to

begin the

first

for

mal

t raining he has ever had .

Two

weeks

ago,

during the con feren ce

of

a

denominational

group here in

Aparri ,

Bro. Graneta invited one of the

delegates,

a lay

preacher ,

who

was

h is r el at ive,

to

stay

with

him in

our

boys ' dormi tory . By the t ime

the

conference was over , Bro .

Graneta

and others

had

talked with him

enough

concerning

New

Testament

Christianity

that he was ready to

renounce denomi-

na tiona li sm a lso .

He

asked Bro. G raneta to accompany him to

h is home in Isabela , where

he

was baptized

along with

four

others ,

and

a t

l eas t

fourteen

more were

to be

baptized

the fol

lowing Lord 's

Day. Bro.

Fernando Pas tor was already busy

in

that town establishing

a new Church, and th is is going to be a

grea t

boost

to

that work. Here- is an example of

how New

Tes t

ament Chri st iani ty can bring unity

to

all m en when they

are will

ing

to

drop

their denominational

shackles . Bro . Graneta

is now

ministering to one of

our

ac tive Cagayan congregations,

which

supplies most

of his

support,

and we

are

giving him a little

help

each

month. A pledge of 20 a month

would help'thi s man

a

lot.


3/10

EV N G E L I S M

Although our program of evangelism is

still

moving along I

wish I could give

it

a

mighty

boost. I had

an

opportunity to

talk

with

most

of the

preachers

when

they

were in Aparri

at

the

close

of:the school

year.

They will be making an all-out effort during

these summer

months

when the opportunity for

open-air

evan

gelistic meetings

is the

greatest. One new Church has been

es

tablishedâjid about 31

baptisms

have

been

reported

since January

1st, although probably there have been more,

unreported.

Ber

nardo Olbraza organized

the

hew

Church

in Canayon Abulug

Cagayan, a

work

which

he opened

last

year.

Virgilio

Ibarra has

new work in four

places in

Nueva Vizcaya, and

we hope

to

see

some

newi

Churches

in

that

areasoon. Fernando Pastor has very

promising

work

in

two places

i n I sabe la .

The one in the town

of

Diffun was given a

big

boost through the help of Bro. Graneta,

mentioned elsewhere in this issue.

Sergio

Banggo

and Ricardo

Paez are planning

to

open

a

new work in San

Gaspar,

Cagayan,

this

summer and

will work in several other places as well. Ri

cardo,

who

has

had

one

semester

of work in

the Seminary, was

Sergio s

second

convert

in

the

town

of Tuguegardo. During

Chris tmas

vacation, Ricardo baptized

a

young

man

whom he

brought to Christ .

Laza ro Olo raza

continues

a

very f ru it fu l work

in

Roxas, Isabela, and

neighboring

towns. He

has

baptized

more

than 50 into

Chris t

since

las t

July. Most of the students are

al

ready out

working

in various

places for

the

summer ,

the gir ls

iii

DVBS and

the

boys

in ev angelistic work. This program needs

your e ar ne st p r ay e rs and f inancial support .

SEM IN RY LOSES

>effort; We are going tottry and remedy

thatâs-the weeks, go b y i ^

^

..We-haVe.not^been able ito do anythinig further

with the

boys ^-dormitory

nor have

we

been

able

to-get

a fence around the lotv AWe feel>this is the most important thing right

at

th e

present,

but i t

is

going to

cost

quite a lot to

fence

it . We are

planning

to put a

wooden

picket- fencoAalohg^the front and

wireAfenoing on the

aides and

back.

Fencing bere

is

Very

important-since

thero is

so

much stea ling at

evely-opportunity, Of cou rsei they can

climb

over the f enee^ bu t most of

them do

hot tsbe

the

chance on

doing that. A fence and a good

watch-do^-Usually keep them-outi

v - -

We

haven^been

able.to putaside any

mO ney

as yet with which to replay

th e

loan which

we mentiened>n ourrlastdetterv Any help-ibat any of you can give on this will be greatly

a p p r e c i a t e d ; : . . i

: -h--- .

:^PiiEASE

SEND-

AIi Ii GIFTS

FOil-ANY

PART OF THE WOBiK TO OUR

FORWARDING

AGENT SHOWN-ON

THE LETTER-HEAD,

We

send our most hea rt fe lt thanks

to every one

of yxi yrho -ê

haying alpart

in this

work

here* Webave

some

veryTimportant

plans

for the

future, development of the worhhere . anddf -eyerything works out in accord^ce with those

plans,, we

will

be

able

to report s^nne very great advances in the Liord s work here in the

ox^two.

We

W8^:fpryburt^layeraabd yto he^;m

we

.might

berable^ to^

con^md^d-

souls>to

.Christrand

train

young -eoui -winnersi.

^ 6 r;. ,. r;

. r ^

N , .-i 7.; - :

j r V

. r

:; c . 5.^.:;

. i

\

^

. 7 ;

^;-V. ; ts - /J.. . . -

Yours, i n Ch ri st

..k

^ ^ -

:J

.. ,< i V.


7/10

Gharfes and R o b e r t a Selby

P . O.

B o x 4 9 Property of F o rwa rd in g Agent:

Aparri Cagayan

LIBRARY

Mr L Tolliver

P h i l i p p i n e

s

OZ RK I LE

COLIRGTr Fairfield Nebraska

~ THE EVANGKLl S Tl ^

STORY

~

30

C H U R C H E S O F C H R I S T IN CA GA YA N V A L L E Y

J a n . 1

1958

4 2

C H U R C H E S

O F

C HR IST

IN

C AGAYAN

V A L L E Y O c t . 1

1959

231 S O U L S W O N

T O C H R I S T 1 9 5 B

186

S O U L S W O N T O

C H R I S T

J a n .

t o S e p t . 1959

6

NE W C H UR CH ES

E S T A B L I S H E D

1

R E V I V E D 1958

3 N E W

C H U R C H E S

E S T A B L I S H E D . 2 R E V I V E D J a n . - - S e p t .

1 9 5 9

T h a t i n a n u t s h e l l i s th e s t o r y

of the E v a n g e l i s t i c w o r k i n the

Cagayan

Valley for the

past

21

m o n t h s . W e b e l i e v e

th t

th

n u m b e r of

b a p t i s m s

f o r

t h i s

y e a r

will s u r p a s s

that of l a s t

year

and

t ha t e a ch

y e a r

will

see

e v e n g r e a t e r

a d v a n c e m e n t

in the

L o r d s w o r k . A s th e g r a d u a t e s

of th e A p a r r i

Bible

S e m i n a r y go

o u t i n to f u l l t i m e w o r k i n t h e

h a r v e s t f i e l d s

e a c h y e a r w e a r e

b o u nd t o s e e g r o w t h i n

th e

w o r k .

Right

now t h e r e

is

v e r y p ro

mi s i ng work

in

two p l a c e s in

Nueva

V i z c a y a

w h e r e B r o .

V i r -

gilio I b a r r a

i s

working B r o

Fel i pe

Bayani h as

been

p r e a c h

in g i n a t

l e a s t

t h r e e p l a c e s

w h e r e

w e

h a v e n e v e r h a d w o r k

b e f o r e

a n d

h a s w o n s o m e s o u ls

i n

e a c h

o f t h o s e p l a c e s .

B r o .

J o s e D a -

lilis h a s n e w

w o r k

i n a t

l st o n e

place in his

a r e a and B r o . Ser

gio

B anggo h a s

s o m e v e r y

p r o

m is in g w o rk

in two o r t h r e e

pl aces

in

s out hwes t er n

Cagayan

w h e r e

w e a l r e a d y h a v e

o n e

n ew

Church

this year. One o r two of

the

s t u d e n t s

a r e

p r e a c h i n g

in

p la ce s w h e re t h e r e

have

been

b r e t h r e n f o r m a i i y

y e a r s but

np

organized

c on gre ga tio n. A ll of

th e se p la ce s and

m a n y

m o r e

n o t m e n t i o n e d a r e v e r y l ikely

to

develop into^

n e w C hu rc he s b e

f o r e to o

muiy

m o n th s . T h e s e

young p r e a c h e r s and

the ir

fa mi

l i e s

a r e w o r t h y o f y o u r

s u p p o r t .

T h e r e a r e s o m e

b o t h

s i n g l e

m e n a n d m a r r i e d c o u p l e s who

need your help. We woxild be

happy to c o m m u n ic a te with

any

w h o w o u l d l i k e to

a d op t th e

s u p

p o r t

of a young m a n

o r

a family

a s a m i s si on a ry p ro je c t.


8/10

SEM INARY NEWS

fti

aianyr

we are having

the best year

we

have ever had

in the

Apa rri

Bible Seminary.

En r o l lme n t

f o r

th e

first

S em e s ^

t e r was 55

and

only

one

student

had

to

drop

out.

The

r epor t is

that he

is

coming back

fo r

the

s e c o n d semester Th e r e w i l l b e

one

new s tuden t

fo r su r e , and

others are planning to

come

fo r

th e o ec on d

s em e s t e r .

The

boys dormi tory is st i l l

un f i n i s h e d

a n d

w e re s t i l l

i n

debt

on it , but the boys are

get

t ing along with

i t

as

i t

is

and

a re

so happy to have i t as

nice

as i t

is Ju s t

t o

h a v e it o n

our o \m

proper ty

with

plenty

Of

space

adl

around

i s a

wonderful

thing.

Always before, the dormitory

was in p la ce s where other hou

ses were crpvirded r ight up next

to i t .

and,,

of course , there were

alvrays complaints fr pn i eve ry

body concerned, about

various

i i^e

Ihings. We have none

tbaf^hisybar and we are ,gra te

ful. We. ar^;graduaX^y getting.a

fence

around

the

lo t

whe

re

the

do.rmitpry

is , and

when that is

c omphfA W will. feel, better

even yet. Up unti l now people

have

lo t

a s a

shor t -cut

to one

of

th e adjouung

barr ios

of

Aparr i . SomeUiing

l i ke

t ha t

c an r e su l t in t r oub l e .

We re

t h a nk f u l

w e

h a v e h a d

none so fa r , except that some

of the

boys

things

were

stdj.en

one night;-

7 young menhave

been

going

o u t e a c h

we e k - e n d

a n d 3 o t h e r s

go

out

f rom

t ime

to

t ime

to

preach

the Gospel in var ious

places

within traveling

distance

of

Aparr i . These young

men

have repor ted five bapt isms

since the f i r s t of

September .

Several

of

these young men a r^

just in the proce s s of ^ t t ing

the

experience they need to

become

effective

preache r s of the Word.

One

of

the Literary

Societ ies

is sponsoring an

evangel is t ic

meeting which is held

in

one

of

the sections of Aparri every

Friday afternoon.

They

are us

ing the

Seminary

s P . A.

sy

s

tem and are

attracting

quite

l a rge

crowds .

We do not know

what th is will

r e su l t

in , bu t

surely i t

can

do nothing but good.

This i s^Seme

s t e r

exam week ,

nex t

.week

i s vaca t ion , and mo s t

of the student preachers be

m

v ri

ous.

pla.cos.

.The boys

who are

not.

preaching, will accompany

those

vrho

are

and

will thus

get

somke very valuable pract ica l

eaq^exience.

. . The.Selby

family will go to

iLocos

Sur

for

an

evangelistic

coziferente.

We are

looking

for

ward to a

few

days fe llowship

with

the

Cetmpbells.


9/10

A GROWING WO R K

T h e wo r k i n th i s area is a

growing

work. More

preachers

are going

into

the field every

yea r

and they

a re

opening up

new fields ifor

preaching every

month.

The

Seminary is

showing

a n

a n n u a l i n c r e a s e

i n

e n r o l l

ment each

yea r and

our print

ing work is

jus t beginning to

ma k e

i t s e l f

f e l t in th e area

Wi th

auch

growth

comes -added finan

c ia l r espons ib ilitie s

and

obli-

g'ations. We

a re

giving help to

a nunaber of preachers simply

because they c ou l d n o t be

p reach in g on a

full

t ime basis

without some help

f rom

the

hurches in Ame r i c a . The

Churches

a re very

poor, but

they;do buildv&eir own Chapel

buildings,

and..

are

accepting

more responsibil i ty every

year

fo r the ' ' support

oT

their own

preache r s . We

bel ieve

the t ime

; will come when the-

chur.che

jwil]

be-

supporting their 1own

=

workers .entirely^ but

untU that

i comes, we

believe

we ought

tp : get

.tixe

preache

rs

in to the

f ield add heep.theni th if, at

: aP possible. Betweeii 20 and 2

of. our Semina^ .

students are

re ceiving help in o r de r that

^ e y

might rem ain in the

Seminary

and,, of course t ha t i s

ah:

added

financial burden. Anyone Who

has

had

any

printing

done

lately

knows how expensive tha t canbe .

All of this

work

is

dependent

upon the

free

will gifts

of Chur

c h e s a nd i nd i v i dud s i n

Am e r i c a .

During the pas t two months , of

ferings

have

fallen

well below

the average

expenses

per month,

and we cannot

long

go on that

way. There are severa l

Chur

c h e s

a n d so m e in d iv id ua ls who

have

made

pledges on

a

monthly

o r

quarterly basis ,

which we

encourage andraskfox-.-We^would

l ike for people jus t to pledge

cer ta in specific amounts fa r the

work, leaving us

f ree to

use

i t

e a c h mon t h wh e r e

it

i s n e e d e d

mos t . However, gifts sen t

fo r

specific purposes o r individuals

are very welcome,

10

a

month

wil lkeep a student in

school

and

another

5 will sen d

him

out

on

the

Wdek-ehd

to

preach.

Preach

e rs on the

f ield are

receiving

from

15 Up

to

.50 depending

on

whether they are

single

or ihar^

r ie d Whethe r

they a re work-

.ing^with es,tabli.siied_

congrega-

tipiis or

a re

engaged

in estab

lishing

new

congregatians

. We

would

be

mosit;

happy

to .hear

from

any

who wouldlike tO: shalpre

in this gresit wprk Of ti*aining

workers

arid Saving

s o u l

. We

wish to

exp r e s s o u r

thanks

to

ail ofyou

o

have

had

a par t in this

work both

firianr

cially

and

otherwise .You are the

ones

who

keep

th is

work

going.


10/10

PRINTIN PR SS

p r e s s 1s

peinjg

us e cim o r e

and m o r e

aH of

th e

t ime b u t

we

.s.ti^

lack the

tim^

to

keep i t go

ing as

much

as we, should.

The

-

t racts

which;.we have,

been

able

tp

publish

ha>ê;been

put.

to good

u se a l l

o v e r t h is . ar e a

T he

S e m -

: iinary students have been hand-

; 4ng

them

out, during their

F ri

day afternoon e vang e l i s t i c

meeting

and

w are

sure that

s o m e valuable

con tac t s

wil l be

made

in

th is w ay .

The

preachers of this area

-are wri ting

and editing and pay=

ing for

a

paper c ^ e d Ubbog ti

Biag .

(Fpunt^n

of Life),

which

. to beginr mth

is

being published

quarterly

.

The first . iseue

has

beep

put

fo r auite some, t ime

we^^re

receiving some

very good reports

concerning

i,|s, eêpt

in mapy places.

One

.

,preache,r

V ^tPte

theêditpr

that

;

mf^nyojf

the pid^

, no^Jxeen;

cpB^

.

.

|irXong tlê^ye

started;.cp^

pf;

..ândp ipastpr is Editp r and Dros.

êrgip

3 n

selby charles roberta 1959 philippines

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