We ended the year 2020 with a glimmer of hope!!! The news about vaccines starting to develop across the globe gave us a beam of comfort or a “bit of a blue sky”. I already pictured having our face-to-face meetings (especially seeing the new ones), jamming with the team, and rehearsing together. If you can still remember, we were barely starting the new batch when this pandemic happened…
Came in the year 2021. I am a believer in the saying, “there is always a light at the end of the tunnel”. But honestly, for the past months, I seemed to be journeying in an incessant, dark tunnel without a glimpse of light. I slowly felt claustrophobic as my world gets smaller and smaller each day, hearing news about people closest to me, whose families or themselves got infected by the virus. Some have won the fight. Others died. But others are still fighting. When will we see the light at the end of the tunnel? Or will we ever reach the end of the tunnel? But one thing I know, a persistent person will be able to see the light when others can’t see it. When we are in the darkness, we can either focus on our fears or turn our eyes towards the Light – our Saviour Jesus Christ! Please take this time to pray with me for some of our 180 families, fighting for their lives in the hospitals, those who are grieving for the loss of their loved ones, and those who are losing hope in this situation.
BUT AMIDST THE BAD NEWS, There is much good news!!!
WE RECREATED OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND STARTED SHARING THE GOSPEL via social media!!! We have posted our young people’s sit-down videos as they talk about Jesus!!! Our session with Kuya Tom Dennison in our “ACTIVATE” MAD (Mentoring, Accountability, Discipleship) groups taught us his strategy of sharing the good news–the use of contrasting words like wage vs. gift, sin vs. God and death vs. eternal life.
WE PARTNERED WITH PRASIA (Praise Asia) to do a virtual concert for the benefit of SOLAR HOPE, founded by our 180 Degrees’ graduate, Mark Napao. It is an initiative to provide solar to rural and poorly electrified communities in the Philippines. We have tapped some of the graduates of 180 Degrees to be a part of this concert. Please pray for God’s leading in all the details of our preparations.
WE HAVE A NEW DRUMMER!!! 15 year-old Elnathan Nacion, or “Noisy” Nathan finally signed the covenant last week together with his parents…from home!!! Our team welcomed him with encouraging words, supported by bible verses. FYI, he is the nephew of Eman Ortaleza, a graduate and former Assistant Director of 180 Degrees who is now a tentmaker in Qatar. Please pray for Nathan as he starts his 180 Degrees journey. Please pray for the rest of Batch 11 as many of our young people are experiencing social, emotional and mental challenges caused by the pandemic.
WE ATTENDED OUR FIRST EVER MISSIONS WEBINAR!!! Asian Center for Missions invited our young people to join in their online Youth Missions Awareness seminar entitled, “Game Changers: In these last days, are you a game changer?” Sharing one of our young people’s insight:
“Ito po yung insight ko from tonight’s Zoom Meeting…We are all made for a Mission. Sobrang napaka important po pala na alam mo yung role mo sa Great Commission (it’s very important that you know your role in the Great Commission). Madalas kasi iniisip ng ibang tao na ang pagmimisyon ay hindi para sa kanila. o di kaya sa personality nila. (Most of the people think that doing missions is not for them or not in their personality). Pero ayun nga, God made us for a Mission. And simula pa lang, alam na niya kung saan Niya tayo ilalagay para mag grow at makacontribute sa pagpapalawak ng Kanyang Kingdom. (From the start, God already knew where He could place us in the great commission so we can grow and contribute to the expansion of His kingdom). We should also ask God to give us the fire. The desire to offer ourselves to His awesome Mission. “God is on a mission, everything we do in response to the mission is our “sub-mission” –“Nice” Nikki (keyboardist)
BAD NEWS VS. GOOD NEWS. In 180 Degrees, the first quarter became a combination of the bad news and the good news…literally. We began the year by learning about Evan Tell’s Perspective on Evangelism: The bad news vs the good news in sharing the gospel. The bad news? #1, We are all sinners. #2, “The wages of sin is death” BUT the good news is that #1, Christ died for you and #2, You can be saved through faith in Jesus!!!
We’ve made sit-down videos of our young people sharing the bad news vs the good news. After the 4 sessions, we had our 180 Degree-ers share to a cold contact via video messenger. I assigned each of them a young person (nominal Christian) to video call, and to share the bad news vs. the good news!!! Some of them got nervous but they did it!!! And they were glad they did!
GOOD NEWS, DELAYED…
We were almost done with the recording set-up until the government decided to do another lockdown due to the rapid increase of the new COVID variants. Last month, we were so excited as we finally “unboxed” our new mixer board!!! We bought it two years ago but we haven’t used it since then. Now, we thought of using it for future recording…
We had our Ministry Center cleaned and disinfected in preparation for the upcoming “Tanglaw” (Light) virtual concert! We were initially planning to have some of the graduates record their parts in the 180 recording studio but deferred our plans because of the 2nd surge of Covid.
BUT THE REAL GOOD NEWS!!!
When the tunnel is full of darkness and you can’t see the glimmer of light, WE CAN BE THE LIGHT!!! We are the light that God can use to help those who are in darkness. We can be the light to heal every wounded hearts… We can be the light to lead those who have gone astray…
And you are one of the lights that God uses to encourage us in the ministry of 180 Degrees!!!
THANK YOU 180 FAMILY! The war is not yet over. Let us pray for unity among the Body of Christ. May God’s Sovereignty and power fill the hearts of all peoples, tribes and nations and may we all be small lights that reflect the love of God through our Messiah, Jesus Christ who is the True Light of the world.
In Christ’s name and fame,
Roselle Brocal
Executive Director, 180 Degrees Music Team, Inc.