Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Preaching Trip to the Philippines

Scheduled: February 21 – March 12, 2011

In recent years, much time and effort have been invested in trying to reach denominational preachers with two or three days of lectures in various places. The power of the gospel has been clearly seen as many denominational preachers have obeyed the gospel as a result of such efforts. Despite being told that they will suffer the loss of their financial support from their denomination without any promise or prospect of future support for preaching the gospel, many have obeyed and sought to spread the gospel, enduring enormous hardships. Their self-sacrificial work has been a large factor in causing the continued and rapid spread of the gospel across that country.

With this great blessing, a great challenge has also been presented -- the need to ground those in the truth who have recently come out of denominationalism, training them to teach others (2 Tim. 2:2). For them to effectively preach the whole counsel of God as commanded, they must have some false concepts of the denominations fully purged from their thinking and a firm foundation of Bible doctrine must be laid down. Failure to do so will limit their effectiveness in spreading the true gospel and increase the likelihood of their apostasy. The Bible pattern shows those converted in the first century were revisited in order to confirm their souls (Acts 14:21-22).

The Lord willing, I plan to return to the Philippines for this trip to help in efforts of both types. Chip Foster, of Grandbury, TX, and John Isaac Edwards, of Ellettsville, IN are planning to work with me on the trip. The first part of the trip will be to hold lectures with denominational preachers and conduct special classes on the issue of Premillennialism. These efforts will be undertaken on the islands of Panay, Negros and Cebu. Jonathan Carino, Jack Jaco and Lordy Salunga will be working with us during these efforts. The second part of the trip will focus on classes for preachers in the city of Tuguegarao. The students who have attended other classes in years past have open doors through their preaching, rapidly spreading the gospel throughout northern Luzon. This effort will be open to preachers in the area to help with more extensive teaching on a variety of subjects. Rody Gumpad will be working with John, Chip and me in this effort.

On my last day in Manila, I hope to visit with Otey Pastor and preach to those in the prison where he continues to endure imprisonment from unjust charges. He like Joseph, Paul and other faithful men of old has turned this curse into a blessing for the cause of Christ by reaching numerous inmates and guards with the gospel. We hope an opportunity may be available to teach them more on this occasion.

My estimate for total expenses for my part of this trip is $9900. Previous trips have left me with a debt of $490 that I hope to recover, at least in part, if any excess funds are left from this trip. Any help you might be able to provide towards this effort would be greatly appreciated. If you know of others who might be able to help, please give them a copy of this letter. There is no way I could be involved in this work without the generosity of churches and individuals interested in this work. I am very thankful for the help of each one in past trips.

While in the Philippines, I provide daily reports on the work done to those interested. Daily reports state how the funds are being used and update the progress of the work. Those reports are available by a daily e-mail post as well as my blog (http://harryosborne.blogspot.com) which has the report together with pictures. If you wish to receive the e-mail form of the report without the pictures, please write a post with “Philippine Updates” in the subject line to harryrosborne@live.com and I will include you for those daily updates. Every effort is made to keep people involved and informed about the progress and challenges of these endeavors. Again, please pass this request to others whom you think may be interested in this work. Thank you again for your kind consideration of this request. Your prayers for our efforts would be greatly appreciated.

Several have asked about my health situation after I had to cancel my last trip. After the last trip, my immune system showed some problems and the doctors believed that I had two types of cancer. However, the biopsies done showed no cancer and my immune system has recovered to the point that my doctors have cleared me for this trip. I will have some restrictions, but they will not hamper the work. I appreciate all of the prayers on my behalf. To the Lord be all of the honor and glory.

Brotherly,
Harry Osborne
303 S. Czech Hall Rd.
Tuttle, OK 73089
405-381-9055 (Home phone)