by Chris Preus
The BKEEA ministry took an exciting turn toward the Pacific Rim in 1998 when Bruce Edwards began preaching crusades in Manila, The Philippines! The Lord Jesus is now using BKEEA and other ministries to make a huge impact on public schools in the Philippines! Bruce Edwards and his associates have permission to preach in the public schools and give away Bibles from Secretary Garma of the Department of Education of the Philippines federal government! We freely share the Gospel of Jesus and provide New Testaments to tens of thousands of students every day during one of our BKEEA crusades!
Brad Jones, President and Founder of the Church Renewal International ministry of Oklahoma, and Don Satorre, a Baptist pastor in Bacoor, Cavite, The Philippines; were the first partners of Bruce Edwards in this public school ministry in and around Manila.The crusade ministry to the public schools began in 2003.
A successful oilman in Oklahoma began as the anonymous benefactor to buy the thousands of New Testaments we purchased and gave to the Filipino children from the beginning in 2003. Bruce Edwards, Brad Jones, and Don Satorre continued to work together with other Filipinos to win hundreds of thousands of public school kids to faith in Jesus. Our ministry was going great with our 3 man partnership until January of 2006 when our partner, Brad Jones died suddenly in Oklahoma. Brad’s greatest desire was to reach people and disciple them in Jesus’ name. So Bruce Edwards and Don Satorre continued to plan and complete more and more public school crusades.
A large obstacle occurred when the donor of the Bibles dropped our Philippine crusade ministry without reason or warning. God is faithful and always aware of our needs, and has made provision for our needs and prayers. Rusty Coffee, Bruce Edwards’ life-long friend, and the man who led Edwards to Jesus in 1972, had been on crusades and mission trips with Bruce and Brad in the past.
Coffee shared the need for Bibles and expense money with his ministry, East/West Ministries of Dallas, TX. East/West Ministries temporarily stepped up to pay for Bibles and some expenses for the trip in July, 2006. They then provided funds for the public school crusades until July, 2008. Then our support for Bibles and crusade expenses again was dropped.
We prayed diligently for the Lord to bring new supporters for the ministry and many people responded in some way, but the need was great! One day in 2008– seemingly out of nowhere – one of our BKEEA Board Members, Jayson Turner – owner of Arrowhead Rebar of Dallas, TX – gave us an astronomical gift that paid for over 3 trips! What a miracle of God that was! Now we await more miracles in Jesus’ name. Now the school crusade partners are Bruce Edwards in America, and Don Satorre in the Philippines. What a great joy, multiple miracles, and fulfilling harvest have followed this God-led endeavor!
The following are the spiritual statistics of BKEEA in the Philippines since 2001:
New Testaments/Tracts Purchased/Distributed in School Crusades: 1,451.805.
Two months before each crusade, our Filipino coordinator Don Satorre leads his team of crusade assistants to go to the schools and coordinate the days and times to preach in each facility. This talented team prepares in an excellent way for the trip ahead! There are more than 50 schools where we preach each trip! Through our faithful team partners now, BKEEA pays for all these preparation expenses before as well as during each trip.
We provide follow-up to the new believers from our crusades with indigenous pastors and church leaders from the cities where we preach. These leaders teach the Bible in the local schools and evangelical churches, emphasizing learning the Scriptures we have given them during the crusades! Pastor Don Satorre, along with his assistants, head up this follow-up.
We continue our evangelistic push throughout Philippine schools by the grace of Almighty God – planning and conducting crusades 3-4 times per year now. There is nothing like seeing the sun come up on a Filipino school where 5,000 – 10,000 students are gathered at their flagpole for morning assembly to hear and to respond to the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ!
The Philippines is composed of 7100 islands and has a population of 86 million people. Edwards and other evangelists estimate that least 65 million people in the country have never heard the Good News of Jesus Christ! There are 41,949 barangays (villages). Of these, 26,675 villages (64%) have no evangelical church! Yet great revival takes place in the Philippines right now! The fields for the Gospel are ready for spiritual harvest!
DAILY ROUTINE DURING SCHOOL CRUSADES
While in the Philippines, Edwards coordinates with partner Don Satorre. Often there are 2-4 other Americans who go with the BKEEA group. There are 25-35 Filipinos who work with the crusade team from America. Most of these are Don’s church members, some pastors other Filipino church leaders.
The ministries of BKEEA provide for procuring Bibles for students, all the housing, food, transportation, and other expenses of the Americans and Filipinos during the crusade meetings. Renting hotels and other housing, securing vehicles to deliver preachers and Bibles, and preparing for meals are awesome requirements for the team. The Filipinos do a tremendous job in coordinating this work for each trip.
Each morning preparation begins at about 4 am. Fixing breakfast, loading up Bibles, assigning preaching teams, devotionals/prayer time – all these take place before daylight! Then 2-4 teams spread out over a certain province and preach to 15-20 elementary & high schools per day. Some teams share JESUS room to room with about 50 students apiece. Others preach to school assemblies in the thousands! At the end of the day, thousands upon thousands have heard the Gospel, have received a Bible for the first time, and have received JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND SAVIOR! At the end of the week, these results are multiplied!
God’s will, prayers and gifts of ministry team members, and work in the kingdom by many sincere laborers are the ways Almighty God brings success to this school crusade ministry! We never return to preach to the same students at any of the public schools for at least 6-8 years. We keep progressing throughout the Philippines with a God-given goal to reach as many students as possible – millions already & hopefully, many more millions to come, by the grace of God!
MAY THE LORD JESUS BE GLORIFIED FOR ALL THESE RESULTS! It was JESUS WHO began this ministry, called the leadership, provided the workers, gave the finances, brought the workers, and saved hundreds of thousands! To God goes all praise and honor! He does not share His glory with anyone!
PARTNERS IN MINISTRY WITH BKEEA
Following is a list of Christian churches/groups who have helped in the Philippines: