“Frank” leaves at least 86 dead, 700 missing

INQUIRER.net (First Posted 13:43:00 06/22/2008). By Joel Guinto

“MANILA, Philippines — (UPDATE) At least 86 people were killed while over 700 others were missing after typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen) ravaged the Visayas and Southern Luzon, including Metro Manila, officials said Sunday.

The storm caused a passenger ferry to capsize, triggered floods, which ran as deep as six feet in Iloilo province, forcing tens of thousands to evacuation centers, and caused power outages.

The M/V Princess of the Star, carrying 626 passengers and 121 crew members capsized off Sibuyan Island in the central province of Romblon at 6 p.m. Saturday, hours after it went dead at sea due to engine failure. Four people have been confirmed killed while three others were rescued, officials said.

Elsewhere, the Department of Health reported 82 deaths, mostly due to flooding, of which, 74 are confirmed while eight are unconfirmed.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported three people were missing after they were swept away by flood waters, one in Murcia town, Negros Occidental province, and two in Guimaras province.”

PGCAG: A/G church members from Roxas City and Iloilo City have been reported heavily affected by this typhoon. Anything your church can contribute please contact our GenTreas Jerry Balbuena (jerbal42263@yahoo.com or 09189917637) or Liway Belen (2946136, 2926613) at the gencil office. Please pray for our brethren who are in dire circumstances.

Triennial Convention in Cebu

It’s final! The regular triennial convention of the Philippines General Council of the Assemblies of God will take place in Cebu on May 12-15, 2009 at Cebu International Convention Center. All ordained ministers and delegates of all affiliated churches are the official participants in the business and council meetings. Additionally, all conventionists, missionaries and associate ministries who would come, will enjoy the blessings of the Lord in the meetings. Registration fee is P1,000.00 which includes conference materials and food. Pre-registration rate is only P799.00 and this offer ends on December 31, 2008. Pre-registration procedure will be announced sometime this month (June).

The theme for this convention will be . . .

OneJob, as we start to refer to it now, is about the Lord’s great commission to the Church. It’s about the OneJob we do together as a missions enterprise of Asemblies of God churches. OneJob is about the unfinished business of discipling all nations of the world before Jesus comes back. The historic OneJob was the main reason-for-being of the Assemblies of God in 1914, and will be the biggest rallying cry and the uniting purpose of the last days Assemblies of God Movement!

This 2009 convention will highlight this theme in the following way:

1. TO CELEBRATE IT: We will join heaven to celebrate what the Lord has done in the expansion of His Church in the Philippines. Since the Year 2000, the Assemblies of God has become the largest evangelical group in the Philippines (with more than 4,000 churches today) and the fastest growing church planting movement (about 10 to 12 new church plants per week).

2. TO COMMEMORATE IT: We will recapture the original vision and zeal that God has given this movement in the early days. We will give recognition to the missionaries and missions entities that helped the Philippine Assemblies of God Church to grow and expand through the years: Our partners from the USA, Australia, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, etc.

3. TO INTEGRATE IT: We will call all Assemblies of God Ministries and Missions entities operating in the Philippines from around the world, to work side by side with us and be identified with us, in the spirit of “partnership in the gospel”. We’re better together. The time of separation or isolation of missions endeavor is over. It is time to synergize and honor the Lord this way.

4. TO ACCELERATE IT: We will register our commitment to expand our Missions work and increase our manpower and monetary resources – to pursue church planting and missions in the Philippines and beyond. We will also launch the following: “Power to the Church” campaign for discipleship and Church Health; “Tithers Club” to promote faithfulness, generosity, productivity, entrepreneurship and to build financial capacities of our churches to support both local and global ministries.