The last thing I thought I would ever be is a missionary. In 1976 Missionary to the Philippines Bob Hughes spoke at my sending church. He was dying of cancer and as he spoke I turned to my wife Becky and told her we were going to the Philippines. We didn’t even know where the Philippines was.
Iloilo City has a population of about 500,000 people in the city proper and about one million people including the suburbs. Our region has a population of over 8,000,000 people.
In August 1976 I went on a 3 week survey trip and the Lord led us to Iloilo City which is located in the central part of the country. After a year of deputation we left for the Philippines and started a Bible Study in our apartment there in Iloilo City. Our first Sunday morning service of Iloilo Baptist Church was in April of 1978. During the 6 months leading up to that first service we had a goal of winning people to Christ and training 30 of these converts to lead others to Christ. The Lord blessed and after 6 months there were about 30 soul winners trained.
The main ministry goal has always been to start churches. Shortly after the church was started we started a Bible College with 13 students. By 1982 the first graduation was held and each year nearly all of the men who graduate have gone out and started a church by faith. The graduates who were mostly single and young were encouraged to go out to the rural areas and plant a church. These villages were small with a limited number of people within walking distance to the church as there wasn’t a lot of transportation. So we challenged the pastors to start and pastor a 2nd church and the Lord blessed their efforts.
1990 was a pivotal year as the Lord led us to multiply the starting of churches in 3 ways. First the Lord led us to send out foreign missionaries. The first missionary was a staff member who started a church in Haiti, a country that I had surveyed earlier that year.. He has been there since 1992. Soon after he started his church he started a Bible College and began to send out men to plant churches.
While I was in Haiti in 1990 I met a missionary who helped some of the graduates of his Bible College to start night time institutes for married men. The Lord had blessed his ministry as a number of churches were started this way. We had the same problem as married men in both countries couldn’t go to Bible College and have a job at the same time. The first Institute was started in the province of Capiz. This greatly motivated the pastors as this gave them a way to multiply their ministry. The Lord has blessed their faith and hard work.
The third method of starting more churches was by the Lord leading some of our older graduates to start their own Bible Colleges. In 1990 Billy Caalem started a Bible College in Leon Iloilo. Since that time other graduates have started Bible Colleges with the purpose of training men to plant churches. Presently there are 31 Bible Colleges and several hundred night time institutes. These institutes are small with an average of three married men being trained per institute.
The training of pastors and workers are the key to evangelizing this region. The pastors of the different Independent Baptist groups here have a goal to have a church in every village and several churches in every town and city in Region 6.
I believe the parable of the mustard seed was given to teach us that it is possible for the gospel to spread quickly and if we have faith we can reach multitudes of people.
We are hoping the Lord will keep this fertile field open in the future so that more people will come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Rick Martin
Pastor – Iloilo Baptist Church
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