Reaching the Philippines

August-October 2017 for Download

Dear Friends:

There are a lot of things to unpackage in this letter, but I will give it my best shot.  God has been doing great and wonderful things here in the Philippines I claim 1 Chronicles 16:25, “For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods.”  God has been showing himself mightier than anything this island has ever seen!

A young man name Cyril came to the church, asking for us to help him.  He was hearing voices in his head and would go wild and get into trances.  Later I found out that he was heavily into hard rock music, and was eventually demon possessed.  My Dad and I began to pray for him, and then about 30 other men followed right behind us.  By the grace and the power of God, he was saved and the evil spirit left him and never returned.  His father, who is a high ranking traffic enforcer in the city was very grateful, and he knows there is something different about Christianity, that there is power from God in the life of Christians.  The father and the son have both expressed that utmost gratitude for helping them.   Cyril has deleted all of his hard rock music, and is now reading the Bible everyday.   Please, pray for Cyril and his spiritual growth as he is praying about coming to Bible college.  What a blessing and testimony to the power of God if he does!

Our Christian school has been really growing, and the Lord has used it greatly as an avenue of reaching whole families with the gospel.  We recently had one whole family who originally came to us to enroll their youngest daughter in our school, since then, the whole family has been saved and baptized, expect for the youngest as she is still 6 years old.  Please pray for Jimmy Milan and his family, he is also a high ranking and influential police officer in the city.  Their daughters have already been attending the youth group and assisting children’s outdoor Bible classes.  Pray for the spiritual growth of this wonderful family.  Don’t forget to pray for us as we try to seek our accreditation through the government office as we would like to be a legally operating school.  We would be the only Independent Baptist Christian school on our side of the city.  There are also other parents who have been saved.  Please pray for Maxwell and Cora, and also M.J. and Jean for spiritual growth.

You may remember a few months ago I told you to pray for Ma’am Aileen, she was a teacher at the local high school who had been a great help to us and for the cause of the gospel of Christ.  She finally succumbed to the cancer that was taking over her body.  The wonderful blessing is that although she was from a devoted Catholic family, her family witnessed an absolute miracle, as salvation is still a miracle.  A few month before she died, in her stage 4 cancer, she accepted Christ, she left behind her Catholicism and embraced a relationship with Christ, on her death bed, she would pray, and read her Bible then, tell her family of what God was doing in her spiritually.  They didn’t really understand, but supported as she was in sickly state.  Finally, on the last day of her life, he sister reported this to me first hand.  She said to her family, with a bright and glowing smile as she said her last words.   “I am ok now, I am ok now.  It is so nice here, it is so real!”  Her older sister which I recently witnessed to and was saved, told of these last words.  She said to me, “As Aileen died in my arms, I can express the peace she had in her heart and on her face, it was glowing Pastor!  Whatever she had, that is what I want!”  Please, pray for the Marcos family as they are grieving the loss of Aileen, and  I will follow them up for discipleship.

We have been trying to get into more universities that we can usually get into.   Because of this we have stumbled onto these small pockets of international students.  God has allowed a lady from Papua New Guinea named Lydia to be a part of our church, and also a young named Anderson from Haiti.  We are truly going international!  I often joke to the members that I can not preach in the dialect here anymore, because we have too many English speaker going to the church.  Pray for that young man named Anderson.  He is a Haiti earthquake survivor, and most of his family died in the disasters there.  He is really here in the Philippines to start a new life for himself.  He has much potential for the service of the Lord.  Also pray for some disciples of mine named Jim, Johnny, Christian, and York.  They have all expressed a desire to preach, and are seeking God’s will for their lives.

Thank you so much for praying for my Dad, Missionary Peter Denisi, who in April suffered a heart attack.  He is doing much better, though he slowing down a bit, he is still faithfully preaching, soulwinning, and in much prayer.  We thank the Lord for his recovery, and all the honor goes to God.

Recently, we have been in much prayer as to what is God’s will for the location of our church.  The property value all around has been skyrocketing to say the least.  We know of course that God is in control, and owns all the cattle on a thousand hills.  With this in mind we have been praying to buy the rental property we have now.  It only has been put up for sale this year.  We spend a whole night from about 8:00PM to 5:00AM praying for this need.  If somebody else will buy this property, we currently would know what the Lord want us to do next.  Please, join us in prayer for the purchase of the rental property we have now for the glory of the Lord.

Your Missionary on Cebu Island,

Frank Denisi

10 Principles of Faith Promise Missions Giving

1 Sam. 1:11 – 2:26

1. Missions Offering is asked by the Lord by Faith. – 1 Sam 1:11,20
2. Missions Offering, once given, will abide forever. – 1 Sam. 1:22
3. Missions Offering must be prayed. – 1 Sam. 1:27
4. Missions Offering is a loan unto the Lord. – 1 Sam. 1:29, Prov. 19:17
5. Missions Giving must be given continuously and consistently. – 1 Sam. 1:28b
6. Missions Offering ministers unto the Lord. – 1 Sam. 2:11
7. Missions Giving starts small! – 1 Sam. 2:18
8. Missions Giving is renewed and grows every year. – 1 Sam. 2:19
9. Missions Giving will be graciously blessed by the Lord. – 1 Sam. 2:20-21

Example 1: “Widow of Zeraphat”

Example 2: “Lad with 5 Loaves and 2 Fishes”

10. Missions giving will eventually expand greatly and will bless the name of the Lord and men. – 1 Sam. 2:26

Dear Praying Friends and Supporters:

HEALTH UPDATE OF MY DAD - Thank you for the continued support both financially and with prayer.  You are a vital part of what God is doing here and for that there is eternal dividends that are put on your account.  Thank you for your faithfulness.  Please, continue to pray for my Dad as he is recovering well from his heart attack in April.  He is on a lot of meds to make sure the arteries stay open and blood is flowing well.  He is doing well and back at the pulpit preaching.

GOD’S GRACE – Our summer vacation in the Philippines only 2 months long.  Yes, I wish it was the like the States with 4 months of Summer!  But all fun aside, our summer here is packed.  For about 4 weeks with past summer I was in different youth camps.  At one of the camp I was the main speaker, Bible Baptist Camp of Negros Oriental.  We had about 300 campers, and I was so grateful for what God did that camp.  I had 7 of of my own young people here surrender for full-time ministry.  I asked one of them, “Are you sure, or is it just emotions?”  He replied, “No Pastor, but I have decided to follow Jesus.”  It reminded me of the time back in Tennessee when I was teenager who went to the altar and surrendered my life to the Lord.  I begged God to use a worthless sinner like me, I begged not to allow me to waste my life on myself.  By God’s grace, he has kept me in the work of the Lord, and I enjoy it all every day.

ISIS IN THE PHILIPPINES – As you may have heard there is war going on in the Southern Philippines with AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the Maute Group (ISIS Affiliated).  We are far enough away where that we are safe.  But the war is being centered in city of Marawai.  I have been to this city twice and had preached at underground church there on both occasions.  However, the members are in hiding right now, and fleeing to different parts of the Philippines for safety.  There have already been a number of casualties as the Philippines government does want the Muslim rebels to take over that city.  I have enclosed a graphic to give you a visual understanding of where we are.

Below is a picture of my Mom and Dad (Peter and Nenita Denisi).  Please pray for him.

We are praying to buy a Tricycle to pick our elderly folks who live near the church but are not able to walk the distance due to deterioration of health.  A Motorcycle with sidecar here in Cebu will cost about $1,800 plus registration papers and permits.  Please, join us in prayer for this special need.

You may send all donations for this project to BIMI, account #1437, note on the bottom of the check “Frank Denisi Tricycle Project”  www.bimi.org

It is written in the Bible in Acts 5:29, “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”  I have pondered this thought very carefully for these past few months.  Just the other night we having a campfire with the youth group here.  As tears began to roll down their faces, my tears began to flow also.  I recalled how in previous years that I would wake up early, pray for them, visit them at their houses, constantly get on them for being on church, but now I can could see where all that effort had brought them.  It had brought them into a place of sweet submission to the Lord, and has allowed the Holy Spirit to so move in their lives, that these young people will never be the same.  I was struck with realization that God didn’t bless my talents or abilities, but he simply blessed my obedience.  For you who are reading this today, maybe out loud, or in a church foyer somewhere, I hope you too can be blessed with the wonderful thought, that God is not asking for your talents and abilities, but He is asking for your obedience.  With the obedience comes the blessing, and with obedience faith is required.

One of the greatest ministries that I know God has given me is our Bible College.  The Bible college allows us the opportunity to train men and women in the full-time service for the Lord.  We recently graduated 3 students and are now praying for our next group of incoming students.  We were blessed with the preaching of Dr. Stan Prussia who was our keynote speaker for the graduation ceremony.  That night, my father, Missionary Peter Denisi suffered a mild heart attack, and he needed to get three stents put in.  He is doing well, but won’t be able to get back to preaching for a month or so.  Thankfully, God has blessed us with many young men who are indeed God-called preachers for pulpit supply.  Please pray for my father and for our young men as we continue on together in the service of the Lord.

We are still praying for a couple things that God has yet to answer.  Please join us in prayer for our title for the property down the road to be released, and we are also praying  that we can buy the rented property that we have now.

Thanks for always praying for the work here in the Philippines.  You may pray for these Feb. 2017!  Activities at our church by date, please pray for them!

5 – Pastor Tim Parish preaching our Evangelistic Service

12 – Missions Booster Sunday

12 – Prayer Vigil and Fasting

13-16 – BIMI Field Conference

19 – I Love my Church Sunday

19 – Single’s Fellowship

March 23 – My parents return from a brief furlough

Dear Prayer Warriors:

Thank you so much for hanging there in the battle with us as we fight the good fight of faith and bring the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.  Much has happened in the last few months, as there are even new Presidents in the Philippines and in America.   We look around at the all of the world’s events and we cannot help to think that these are not the last days, but the very last hours before the imminent return of the Lord.  Truly, even so come Lord quickly.

Our ministry has been growing again, and as we look to what God is going to do this year, we are going with the annual theme of, “With God all things are Possible” taken from Mark 10:27.  We truly are expecting great things from God, and are calling on Him to do so.  What a blessing to see the Filipino people, who don’t have much according to Western standards, live simply and develop the strong unwavering faith that our God is a God of doing the impossible.

You may recall from my previous correspondence about a few of my Bible students that I wanted you to pray for.  By the Grace of God, He has answered our prayers and Brother Warren is now preaching regularly.  I am particularly blessed by his strong preaching and leading of the Lord on his life.  He has a brother named Joseph who recently surrendered for the full-time pastorate.  He is at crossroads at his life now though, as we is just eighteen and graduating Bible college.  Please pray that God gives him clarity for the next step of his ministry.  Brother Kleint is doing well and he is as he is humbly  serving the Lord in Bible college.  He has taken the time to invest in the discipleship of Brother Argie who is only fourteen years old, but growing in the Lord very quickly, and already has spiritual maturity.  Please pray for a few of my younger men as they are constantly under spiritual attack.  They are Mark Anthony, Juhncris, Jade, Kyle, Johnny, York,  Jaymar, Jim and Robert.

We are taking a step of faith by praying to buy the rental property we have now, as this is a perfect location for the sanctuary, church offices and parsonage.   We know that this will be a lighthouse for the gospel for years to come in this spiritually dark island of Cebu.  It was only a few weeks ago that the people here on the island, by the hundreds of thousands, celebrated their idolatry and paganism called the Sinulog.   How shall they hear unless there is missionary sent?  Thank you for your partnership, concern for the Filipino souls, and sacrificial giving.  I cannot put into words how wonderful your partnership is for the cause of world missions.  We may not even comprehend it all this side of eternity.  However, one day we will.  Please, continue to be faithful to our Lord and master till the last trumpet sounds.

Your Missionary,

Bro. Frank Denisi

Dear Prayer Warriors:

Thank you so much for hanging there in the battle with us as fight good fight of faith and bring the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.  Much has happened in the last few months, as there are even new Presidents in the Philippines and in America.   We look around at the all of the world’s events and we cannot help to think that these are not the last days, but the very last hours before the imminent return of the Lord.  Truly, even so come Lord quickly.

Our ministry has been growing again, and as we look to what God is going to do this year, we are going with the annual theme of, “With God all things are Possible” taken from Mark 10:27.  We truly are expecting great things from God, and are calling on Him to do so.  What a blessing to see the Filipino people, who don’t have much according to Western standards, live simply and develop the strong unwavering faith that our God is a God of doing the impossible.

You may recall from my previous correspondence about a few of my Bible students that I wanted you to pray for.  By the Grace of God, He has answered our prayers and Brother Warren is now preaching regularly.  I am particularly blessed by his strong preaching and leading of the Lord on his life.  He has a brother named Jospeh who recently surrendered for the full-time pastorate.  He is at crossroads at his life now though, as we is just eighteen and graduating Bible college.  Please pray that God gives him clarity for the next step of his ministry.  Brother Kleint is doing well and a very humble servant of the Lord.  He taken the time to invest in the discipleship of Brother Argie who is only fourteen years old, but growing in the Lord very quickly, and already has spiritual maturuity.  Please pray for a few of my younger men as they are constantly under spiritual attack.  They are Mark Anthony, Juhncris, Jade, Kyle, Johnny, Jaymar, Jim and Robert.

We are taking a step of faith by praying to buy the rental property we have now, as this is a perfect location for the sanctuary, church offices and parsonage.   We know that this will be lighthouse for the gospel for years to come in the a spiritually dark island such as Cebu.  It was only a few weeks ago that the people here on the island, by the hundreds of thousands, celebrated their idolatry and paganism.  How shall they hear unless there is missionary sent?  Thank you for your partnership, concern for the Filipino souls, and sacrificial giving.  I cannot put into words how wonderful your partnership is for the cause of world missions.  We may not even know on this side of eternity.  However, one day we will.  Please, continue to be faithful to our Lord and master till the last trumpet sounds.

Your Missionary,

Bro. Frank Denisi

Dear Supporters & Praying Friends:

It’s hard to believe that this year is coming to an end so quickly, but we give all the glory to God for what he has done this year, and praise Him that his grace is always sufficient.  I am often reminded of the Bible truth in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”  God will not call us to go, where his grace will not sustain us.

POWER IN PRAYER – It has been said, “Nothing spiritually is ever accomplished without prayer.”  I would whole –heartedly agree with this statement.  God has been working on one specific prayer request that we have had for a while now.  Over a year ago and we were able to purchase a property up the road.  It is a great blessing indeed, but we never stopped praying for the rental property we are on now.  On the last week of October the owner finally called us, and said “Ok we are willing to sell it.”  This property was not even for sale before, and they would not budge.  What turned the heart of the owner?  Well, on the second week of October we met for three hours and prayed specifically that God would give us the rental property we have now which is more ideal for our church auditorium.   Now we need to pray for a good price and the funds to come in.  Of course, we will start again with prayer, because prayer works.

STUDENT OUTREACH ANNIVERSARY – Time sure flies and we just celebrated our 2^nd Anniversary of our college student outreach center!  We had the privilege of clear and challenging preaching from my friend Missionary Dave Cabuntala.  He was a great blessing to our college students, and a handful of students were saved that night.  Pray as our college student ministry grows, and we eventually need our own place to build on.

BIBLE COLLEGE STUDENTS – Thank you all for praying for my Bible college students, as of now we have 9 students, with 4 young men, and 5 young ladies.  Each one of them has been a blessing as they work hard, win the lost, and study and train for the ministry.  If you could, please pray for them specifically.  Their names are, Kleint, Warren, Joseph, Robert, Lorely, Janelle, Angie, Desiree’ and Jojen.  They need prayers as they seek God’s calling in their lives regarding the ministry.  In retrospect, I thank the Lord for people who prayed for me when I was their age, so it is much appreciated.

CAMPUS MINISTRY – God has continued to bless our campus ministry as many of the youth from the youth group originally were saved during our campus outreaches.  I am very amazed how God keep opening us doors to get into school that no one else can get into.  This school year, we are have been in charge of both night and day high school departments campus ministries at the local high school, the unsaved teachers, though not always in agreement have over-all very helpful.  One of the named, Ma’am Aileen recently was saved and led to the Lord by my mother.  Sadly, she has stage four cancer and knows her time is not long on the earth.  Praise the Lord she is now saved!  The teachers for one department asked me to head up there drama and speech presentations team.  This gives me a set-aside time with a group of unsaved high school students every week, we have been having Bible studies after our practices, and about 5 students were saved from this.

A COLLEGE DEAN GETS SAVED – Occasionally, some local colleges and universities will approach me to be their speaker for certain events.  A few months ago there was computer college that asked me to come and teach a leadership lecture.  I obliged, and of course preached the gospel.  One of the deans of the I.T. department contacted me the next day asking more about salvation, she said that God touched her heart during the message, but she didn’t know what to do next.  By God’s grace, I was able to lead her to the Lord, and she trusted in Christ.  That dean of the I.T. department is now coming here to the church.  Please pray for Ma’am Gen, the salvation of her family and her spiritual growth!

SINGLES RETREAT – God has blessed our church with a great amount of single’s who are actively serving the Lord.  Whether it is soulwinning, or some activity at the church, they are always an integral part.  This led me to start our first ever singles conference.  We had 43 singles join, and were greatly blessed by our speaker, Pastor Ben Turner, who is a church planter in Vancouver, Canada.  Our theme was “You only live once, you’d better live for the Lord.”  Countless, young men and women had surrendered their hearts to the Lord during this special time.  Thanks for praying for it!

PRAISES & PRAYER REQUESTS – One church in Florida has recently added me for monthly support!  This is an answered prayer, and I am praying for four more to add me for monthly support.  This will be a great blessing for the ministry here and the furtherance of the gospel.  Also please pray as I will be preaching for Missionary Chris Hurst at his work in the metro Manila area for their Missions Conference this first week of November.  Also , we need to keep praying for the church property that our title will be released, as it still being held up at the government office.  Also, related to that, we are praying to buy the rental property that we have now.  Both of these properties would be ideal for our Bible College, school, dormitories and auditorium.  Please, join us in prayer for this great need.

A Merry Christmas and Happy to New Year to you all, thank you for your love and support!

Your Missionary,

Frank Denisi

Prayer Requests: 1) Please pray for us to be able to purchase the rental property we have now.  2)  The success of our campus ministries  3)  Our Bible school and students for provision and power in the ministry  4) Goal of 4 more churches to add me for monthly support  5) My parents mini-furlough in first quarter of 2017  6) The college dean who was saved, Ma’am Gen Bontoto  7) Our college student outreach center for sustained fruit, baptisms and more salvations 8)  The release of our title and permits from the gov’t offices

Praises:  1) One church added me for monthly support  2) successful Singles Conference  3)The rental property is now for sale  4) Baptisms this year have been up

So much has been going on here in Cebu.  God has been good.  We had 100 teens for our youth activity yesterday.  There were 10 teens who personally asked Christ as their Savior!  Our church is seemingly growing too fast.  We don’t have enough Sunday School rooms. These are of course good problems.

Prayer requests:

Mission Church possibilities:

• Oslob
• Opon
• Panoypoy
• Pagsabungan

Pray for our student outreach center as we are right in the middle of the city where all the universities are.  Many students are coming by the dozens to get saved and forsaking their religion to ask Christ into their lives. This is what it is all about in the heart of missions.  Many are getting saved, pray that they follow with baptism.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!