BAM Philippines’ Back-to-Back Bacolod and Iloilo First Face-to-Face Fellowship: Building the BAM Community
July 28 - July 29, 2023
On the 28th of July 2023, it was a wonderful sight to see more than 100 Christian Business Owners gathering together on a Friday morning at Planta Centro Hotel in Bacolod. We started the program with Scripture reading, a blessed live praise and worship, and a devotion by Pastor Neil Cortez.
As participants were so eager to know about what Business As Mission is, we went straight into the inspiring talk of Matthew Kok from BAM Singapore. He presented what a BAM business looks like, and included a powerful encouragement for businesses to be built upon the commands of Scriptures.
During the lunch fellowship, husband and wife, David and Emily Villanueva, Bacolod-based BAM Core Members, gave a warm welcome to all the participants and talked about what the Lord impressed upon their heart about Business As Mission.
They introduced two couples who courageously shared their life story and testimony on following Christ in the workplace.
For the afternoon program, we had a motivational message from Steve Sy, a Christian Business Owner in the e-commerce industry. He shared about how the Lord redeemed him from being heavily in debt. We then had the panel discussion, which included our two speakers, Matthew and Steve.
They were joined by BAM Bacolod Core Member, David, and our BAM Cebu speaker, Lorraine Limchesing. The questions explored more on family businesses. The panelists provided words of encouragement for spouses to keep seeking the Lord as they balance serving in both work and ministry. They also comforted participants who opened up about their struggle of applying God’s principles in their businesses.
As the program came to an end, BAM Philippines Core Lead, Richard and Cathy Tan, went on stage to appreciate our speakers with the plaque followed by their closing remarks. Everyone was on fire about all the learnings throughout the day and even more thrilled knowing that there is an even bigger event to look forward to – the BAM First Asia Conference happening on Oct. 20-21 Shangri-La, The Fort Manila, Bonifacio Global City. All praise to God for this growing community of faithful stewards of the Lord!
But that’s not all. The BAM Philippines Core Team – from Manila, Cebu, Singapore – made their way to
Iloilo on a RORO. What a pleasant bonding experience for us.
As a new day dawns, it truly is the day that the Lord has made! We met over a hundred Christian Business Owners in Iloilo at the Marriott Courtyard. The Lord is calling His people to gather together and strengthen each other to follow and obey Him through their God-given businesses!
We had our devotion by Rev. Dr. Jessie Yu, followed by Matthew’s introduction to Business As Mission principles and advocacy. We were then inspired by testimonials from Arlene Juan Tong in the merchandising industry, and Cabarles couple in the retail industry.
We continued on with our program all the way to Rev. Stephen Chan’s closing prayer. Afterwards, many young Christian Business Owners came forward expressing their interest to apply BAM principles in their family business as next generation leaders!
This news uplifted our hearts as we have been lifting to the Lord in prayer the next generation.
What a spirit-filled two days indeed. To God be the Glory!