‘Onething Philippines’ Drives for Holistic National Transformation

“Onething Philippines”, an annual three-day event that helps fuel a prayer and worship movement across the country based on intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, took place its maiden conference last May 22-24, 2014 at the J Centre Mall Convention Hall. The conference primarily targets the younger generation, the generation that has been the attack of waywardness, to rise up as a throng that stands up on uprightness for this nation, impacting to have a significant transformation in the country. 600 youngsters and adults alike attended the event.

Speakers Pastor Jerome Ocampo, founder of Jesus Revolution Now!, Pastor Herman Martir of the Emerging Leaders International and Daniel Lim, CEO of the International House of Prayer (IHOP), along with Shawn Maragni, founder of Cebu House of Prayer, Peter Raddatz of Youth With A Mission (YWAM)-Frontier Missions, and Atty. Andrey Sawchenko, national director of International Justice Missions (IJM) Philippines, challenged the people to value prayer, advocate the fight against human trafficking and engage in missions, as keys to holistic change in this country.

The first day started with the topic on missions, God’s heartbeat, the reason of His Being. Missions is all about getting His message of love across the borders–globally. Ocampo emphasized that this is the right time to do missions because we have a generation that thinks global.

“We have a generation that’s global. Never been there before…For the first time in the history of mankind, we have a generation that thinks global…This is the opportunity for global missions (because we have a generation that thinks globally). God is setting up this generation for a global revival,” said Ocampo. Raddatz on the other hand said that the Philippines is strategically located to be a bearer of the salvation message of Jesus Christ to the rest of the world, and that Filipinos are found everywhere that can execute this. “Filipinos have a crossroad culture between the east and the west; adapts with the rich and the poor. Filipinos adapt easily to the host culture, yet remains faithful,” he said.

Raddatz added that there is definitely the need to train the believers on global missions through frontier missions schools or centers, equipping each one to have the heart of being an agent of change to other nations through the message of eternal love of God. There are various missionary training agencies available to participate in.

A crowd. Jesus’ way is the only way to change this nation. (Image credit: Lisa Digdigan)

The second day of the conference talked about the fight against the surprisingly rampant human trafficking practice in the Philippines mostly among young girls, particularly in Cebu. When IJM Philippines, a US-based non-profit human rights organization that operates in countries all over the world to rescue victims of individual human rights abuse was starting its operations in Cebu, the statistics of victims was very high. (www.ijm.org) To address the concern, IJM Cebu partnered with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and trained them in conducting rescue operations. Right now, the number decreased and IJM wishes to mobilize the Philippine national government to be driven in ending human trafficking in the country. “We want the Philippine government itself to be the one to fight on the end of this social injustice,” Sawchenko said.

Finally, the last day of the conference tackled on the importance of prayer and intimacy with Christ in bringing transformation to the country. The topic did not teach about religion but discussed that a heart that is submitted to Jesus Christ is exposed under His sovereignty, where it submits to His ways, values and principles, which are upright. Lim and Maragni ushered these truths along on the third day. The lesson aid in identifying that the same social issues affecting each one in this generation such as human trafficking, spring up from unrighteousness which is innate in all of us, unless submitted to the sovereignty of God, through the salvation act of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross–the very Person who saved us from depravity and eternal damnation. The revival that took place in South Korea in 1907 was taken as an example, where through fervent prayer and intercession among South Koreans who were concerned of their nation’s state at that time, changed the future destiny of their entire nation. Today, South Korea is one of the largest missionary sending countries in the world, sending people to other parts of the world helping holistically especially in sharing God’s eternal love to those who need it.

The three-day event nailed that to reach for the eternal destiny of our nation, we must go back to our first identity–a people of God created by Him–and we will never be the same again.

This writer wants to impart a verse in the Scripture to end this article:“…Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6). The fight for change in the Philippines doesn’t take a sword or an ammunition or power for it to carry through. Rather, it basically, utmostly and desperately needs God to victor through. (Press Release)

Photo above: Pastor Jerome Ocampo, founder of Jesus Revolution Now!, speaks to a throng of young and adult audience on the revival generation. (Image credit: Lisa Digdigan)