Author: Anton Brosas

The major learnings I took from my recent mission trip are:

1. The importance of household
2. The importance of planning
3. The community is global

A household is the bread and butter of our community. It is the building block of any type of community structure but more importantly is one of the most intimate ways to experience and share Christ in our community. It also provides a way as leaders to pastor and nurture their members. Without consistent households, service can easily be something that is forced upon us rather than a response to a love that we have experienced. The great blessing about Malta is that their culture promotes the importance of family. This inspired me to carry it into my future vocation as well. There is a saying, “we cannot give what we do not have”. Households are meant to exchange love intimately within the community.

Planning ahead can really help in direction and goal setting. It allows us to be strategic in our pastoral efforts as well. It helps people to make commitments to specific events, trainings, and to the community as a whole. We are also able to look back on the year and see what practices to continue as well as tangible ways to improve.

It is very comforting knowing that our community is global. This is especially true for smaller areas or areas that are isolated from other members. Without proper pastoral support, ministry directions or manuals can be challenging to follow. It is easy to get caught up in following the community, to the point that we begin following people. When we follow people, we might get discouraged or upset when they do not meet our expectations. This is where, I believe, a Full-time Pastoral Worker can be a blessing. He/she can explain the Spirit behind the manuals, events, culture and overall community. He/she can be the link between the local community and global community.

Spending 4 weeks in Malta has reminded me that Christ has no boundaries. Cultural, language and ethnic differences cannot stop the sharing and exchange of God’s love, especially through the community. I was blessed with the opportunity to meet new people and learn from them. I am now inspired to go back and to share the same passion and love for God wherever I go. May God be forever praised in Malta!

The word “mission” has been evolving for me over the past several years. At an early stage, it simply meant going to an under-developed country and doing pastoral work or physical labour like building houses. I thought mission was only for people who are missionaries, not necessarily for people who have “regular” jobs. After a while, I understood it as going to any place, regardless of economic, political, social, or cultural state, and doing something that helped people become closer to God. I believe that mission is all these things and more. It is more than physically going somewhere but it requires presence – mind, body, heart, and soul.

There are many times where I have over complicated mission and as a result have failed to do anything because of fear. I failed to move, to make a decision, to say yes, because I wanted some sort of security. There have been times where I have put mission in a box and as a result did things that I wanted to do or that I thought was best, only to realize that there was something else I should’ve done or that was needed.

I think mission is a call to go out of oneself. It means to do something for God and others, not for oneself. This can be done any where at any time, regardless of profession or educational background someone has. The moment someone realizes that the life they’re living is not for them is the moment, I think, someone begins their mission. Mission is call that everyone has. It is something that everyone can do.

How do you know what Jesus would do if you don’t know what Jesus did? (Kuya JQ, SFC FTPW)

What must we do to gain the happiness of heaven? To gain the happiness of heaven we must know, love, and serve God in this world. (Baltimore Catechism, #4)

I am reminded through these two quotes that I cannot truly serve God unless I love God and I cannot truly love God unless I know God. May we all truly get to know God this Lent 🙂

God has blessed me with the opportunity to experience Liveloud in the Philippines (Marikina, 2013 and Pasig, 2014), Eastern Canada (Toronto, 2014) and Western Canada (Calgary, 2013 and 2015, and Vancouver, 2015). If you’re wondering what Liveloud is, check out this post.

I always found it pretty cool that the community had songs that were written by fellow brothers and sisters. It’s inspiring to see how God works in an individuals life. These songs are personal prayers and by the grace of God, they become a reminder of His faithfulness and love to the entire community. To experience something like that first hand, especially on a grand scale with hundreds (or thousands) of people, makes it unforgettable. Each time I left Liveloud, I thought to myself,

“Everyone needs to experience this.”

I’m always excited to worship at a Liveloud. Sure it’s a concert, but it’s a praise and worship concert. I don’t attend to watch the band. I attend to worship the Lord. There is something about music that gets me. I guess it’s one of the ways that the Lord moves my heart. Reflecting on this, I realized that He has always made His presence and message known to me.

1. Love God through your passions
   • God-given passions, when directed to Him, become life giving and can be a blessing to others. It’s meant to be shared not kept. (Matthew 25:14-30)
   • I thank God that I’m given an opportunity to offer back my God-given passion for music through praise and worship songs and hymns.
2. Be open and humble
   • God is always speaking but we’re not always listening. The more we open our hearts and ears to Him, the easier it is to see Him working in our lives. Humility is the best way to allow God to transform us. (1 Peter 5:5)
   • God has chosen me to be part of Liveloud for reasons unknown. But I know for sure that He is continuously changing my life because of it. After every meeting, practice, or praise concert, I am filled with joy. Whatever He asks of me, I have every reason to say Yes to Him because He never fails to disappoint me when I trust in Him.
3. Journey with our Blessed Mother
   • We’ve been reminded many times of the blessing that is our Mother Mary. She will always bring us closer to her Son. She will never cease praying for us. She is a gift to us. (John 19:26-27)
   • Liveloud ignited my desire to be closer to Mother Mary. Singing the prayer over and over again helped me to surrender myself to the Holy Spirit just like she did. I will never forget that moment when I prayed, “Come Holy Spirit, fill my heart, and enkindle in me, the fire of Your love”. It was all thanks to her.
4. Share the joy of the Gospel
   • Liveloud is a lifestyle that calls us to live our faith loudly. We are all called to be missionaries, to bloom where we are planted, and to be witnesses of Christ’s love, power, and faithfulness. (Psalm 30:11-12, Matthew 28:19-20)
   • After almost 15+ years of being inactive, my parents are attending CFC households and assemblies again. I’m so happy to say that they attended Liveloud alongside my grandma and sister. I thank God that I was able to share a moment of worshipping the Lord with them and the rest of the community.

These simple messages have allowed me to find so much purpose and fulfillment in Liveloud, be it the praise concert, the campaign, or the lifestyle. For some, Liveloud is service but for me, it’s a joy.

 

When I was in Grade 10, a doctor told me I was forming nodules (or polyps) in my vocal cords. This explained my raspy voice but I continued to do my regular thing: sing, shout when I play sports, and talk whenever I wanted to.

I was anointed to serve Music Min in 2013 and found myself being able to sing without much of a problem. I’d yell when I’m playing hockey and my voice would be fine. However, in late 2013, something happened. I lost my voice after the North American Leaders’ Summit. It doesn’t sound serious but I never would have realized what would happen next.

After 10 months (and counting), my voice hasn’t fully recovered. If you talk to me or hear me talk, it’s more raspy than usual. Sometimes it’s inaudible. I almost always have to have a glass of water beside me. Even with that, I find it difficult to talk. I have to repeat myself often. I can’t yell anymore. My voice is so weak that if I were to sing during a worship, my voice would be gone after the first song. If I am giving a talk, or giving a share, I’d have a hard time communicating because my voice would just shut down. Not to mention, there’s physical discomfort when I use my voice and I’m usually disheartened by my inability to talk or sing.

During my provincial immersion in the Philippines, I brought these concerns to the Lord. I asked Him to take this problem away from me because it was limiting me from being able to be effective in what He has called me to do in the mission. And at the most basic level, I wanted Him to take it away so I can just go back to being normal. However, instead of taking it away He reminded me:

Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.

At this moment, I was affirmed that I am called to share God’s love and faithfulness at all times, regardless of my condition. My anointing as a FTPW, a missionary, a child of God, is something that goes beyond my ability to use my voice.  I am reminded that God enables me to do everything, even something as simple as talking. He will equip me with what I need when I need it. It’s His will, not mine. It’s His voice, not mine.

I still pray for my voice to go back to normal because I know it would help me communicate better and allow me to share my passion in music with others. But after 10 months of this condition, I’ve fully accepted that I am called to do His work no matter what. Where there’s a will, there’s a way – especially when it’s His will.

 

 

The Lord has blessed me with His affirming presence in my life. Over the past 4 months, there have been many times where I would stop and think, God You are too good to me! Of course, there were many moments of frustration, tiredness, confusion and what have you, but all I had to do was remind myself that it is a privilege to serve God. He is so present in the relationships, in the moments of silence, in the moments of chaos and it’s all about me just opening my eyes, my ears but more importantly my heart to be aware of it. He wants me to experience His intimate joy. And when I say intimate joy, I mean intimate joy. The joy becomes so personal and so timely. These moments have reminded me that my YES to mission was not just a yes to serving God in the community, but a YES to embracing God’s mission for me – for my life (see Mt. 28:19-20). My entire life, every aspect of it, has now become my mission. Praise God for an overflow of His joy 🙂

I am a C

I am a C-H

I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N

and I have C-H-R-I-S-T

in my H-E-A-R-T

and I will L-I-V-E  E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y

We sang this song at SHOUT earlier and it got me thinking – do I always have Christ in my heart? Sometimes I get caught up in getting to know Jesus (intellectually) that I forget to have Christ in my heart. Sometimes I get caught up in the doing of service that I forget to have Christ in my heart. If I have Christ in my heart, then everything will flow from that. I will have more conviction to learn about Jesus and to share about Him.

Thank You Lord for the simple reminder that, above all, I am called to have You in my heart!