Kipp's Post #3...My GRITS Moment

I know that Amy wanted the children and youth to share their GRITS moment with her, but God had a moment for me last night. After we returned to the hotel, I was in the playroom, but I needed to head up to the room to put ice in our cooler. As I got on the elevator, I was joining a family of three who was already on it. We struck up a conversation, and the father of the family, Ephriam, turned out to be a pastor/church planter in the Phillipines! He is Phillipino, so he wasn't like a foreign missionary, but he was preaching to a group in Rogersville last night sharing about his work at home. He was leaving this morning to head to KY, then on to Ohio before heading back on August 6.

I connected him with Amy, Daniel, and Teresa, and before I knew it, we were watching a video of his work in the Phillipines...he has a christian school, he is planting churches in two sections of the Phillipines, and he loves Jesus! He shared with us two things that blew me away:

- Attendees at his school can be sponsored for $450/year...to be at the school, you are required to attend church on Sundays...with your parents!

- In one section of the Phillipines where he is planting a church, it is heavily Muslim, so they have to baptize in the middle of the night...if they are caught, they will be killed...

We prayed with him...he prayed for us...and hopefully he and Daniel will be back in contact. I was blown away that God arranged for us to be in TN when he was here from half way around the world...coincidence? The way I've heard it is this - "A coincidence is God's was of remaining anonymous"