Getting back on track

I know I've already mention this verse may times in this blog but isn't it so true "that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" Romans 8:28

At the last quarter of 2013, something happened to one of Selah band member and because of that incident we were forced to make major changes in the band and of course the album recording was greatly affected. I was initially disappointed because this recording has taken much of our time and resources and efforts and it has been more than a year, then this ugly thing happened and I was really frustrated.

But you know what? God made me realized that it is actually for the good of the band, that it was not finish yet when that ugly thing happened, if the album is already available and the name of the band member is still on it, I can not imagine ourselves distributing/selling the album. We will all be forced to put it away, then all our efforts and hard work will be put to waste.

So yes, "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" God loves us that he make sure it (ugly thing) was exposed before the album is finished. We were given a clean slate this new year. Praise God!

We are now ready to get back in track and finish the recording, we have additional works to do because they have to remove and record all the bass instrument in the songs that were already finished but that's okay with us. God is good and I know we will finish at least before our church anniversary.

We are still praying for a new bassist but I worry not because I am sure God will give us that as he has given us all the things we need in this endeavor, I'm sure He would even give us cool orchestra instruments if there is a need of it because He is just like that. God who provides.

This weekend, the band will be in the recording studio again and yes we are getting back on track!

Glory to God!


image source : http://s1048.photobucket.com/user/lovebakesgoodcakes/media/romans828.png.html

Minsitry Update

Hello everyone! I know it's been a while since I last wrote a ministry update here, I am sorry because first and foremost this is our ministry blog and I know some (maybe one or two) friends abroad are reading this blog to get some updates from us here in the Philippines. 

I took a rest from all the ministries for a while when my father died. Grief caught me off guard but praise God for HE is providing  comfort everyday and that is what keeps me going.

SCHOLARSHIP MINISTRY

It's a big school year for this ministry because we have taken a big step even if the funds are low. I firmly believe that God will provide for all the needs of our scholars. This year, we have 5 COLLEGE SCHOLARS- (2 in government/public schools and 3 in Private schools) our biggest number of college scholars so far and 1 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT. It is quite expensive to send one student to college even if it is a public school because of the many expenses and fees but as I have said I know God will provide.

We need at least $250.00 a month to be able to support all the tuition fees and allowances of these students. If you want to take part of this ministry, for financial support you may contact International Teams Philippines below

Atty. Elna Cruz
International Teams Philippines
3741 Bautista St., Makati City, Philippines
Tel: (63-2) 832 5142 to 43
E-mail: elna.cruz@iteams.org

 or our church at :

Jesus the Heart of Worship Global Ministries, Inc.
Van Buren St., Pio Del Pilar, Makati City
telephone Number : 632.845.0095

We can't do this ministry alone and we need as many partners as we can, be our partner thru prayers too.

~*~

WORSHIP MINISTRY/ SELAH BAND

The album recording is still on going, sometimes it frustrates my husband because of the conflict of schedules of each band member but he kows he can't do anything with it because they have their own individual ministry too, but still, we are thankful that despite of the many hindrances it is still on going and they are down to one last song for the instruments and then all the vocals soon.

We are praying for the worship album to be available right in time for the Global Intercessors Prayer Conference in Thailand this November 7-9, and if the band will be able to raise a fund for their tickets, they will be there to lead the worship for the 3 day conference and of course to promote the worship album too.

~*~

Rudolf has been preaching too ( few times in our outreaches to which I always get nervous) I am much confident when he leads the worship but praise God for this new opportunity to serve HIM. 

 

Please keep us in your prayers, we need it everyday. And if you have prayer request too, we can also pray for you, just let me know, you can email me at raquel.abadiano@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading this far and may God richly bless you!!!

^"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" Ephesians 3:20

 

Blessed musicians

Those pictures were from our recent worship night in Laguna, days after that, there are people who commented in the band's page in Facebook saying they are so blessed with the Selah band, we are humbled. They didn't know that we are also blessed by them. Seeing them coming to the Lord in worship is more than a blessing for us already. 

My husband's group are all blessed musicians, all of them with no formal music lesson, and most of them only finished secondary education, one didn't even finish grade school. But despite that they are being use mightily by God to minister to people specially the youth. 

 God sees their hearts, their desires and their faith. 

We don't even extra money for thir musical instruments but God provided everything, they may not have the most expensive instrument but they have they carry with them the best instrument ever- a worshiping heart. 

We are still praying for more instrument though such as guitar stands mf, a projector, and gig bags but we know that even without these, we can still be effective in the ministry. 

And we are excited for our next ministry soon. Davao and Palawan.

Worship Night this Friday

Expecting great from our great God this coming Friday. Lead us Lord. You are our most awaited audience in this event. Without you, this will just become a noise. We need your presence Lord. We need you.

Summer mission trips

As of this writing, we have two confirmed local mission trip this summer, the first one is the "Youth Mission camp" to which I am one of the organizer. It's gonna be in Davao ( Mindanao part of the Philippines) and it's a one week trip. Highlight of this will be the ministry we will be doing with the kids who were greatly affected by recent calamities that hit Mindanao. We will have feeding and we will give them some school supplies also.

This will be on APRIL 22-27, 2013, but me and my husband are going there earlier than that, probably the 20th of April which means we will be celebrating our 7th year wedding anniversary in Davao, (wish we could sneak in some leisure time to celebrate but that's quite impossible because of the enormous task assigned to me-but it's okay, who knows God might gift us a seventh or eight honeymoon in paris france wow! I would love that :) 

Our second local mission trip is in Palawan and this will be on May 21-25. This a youth congress with more or less 500 young people expected in attendance. The band (SELAH) will be the main worship team and we are just so glad that God has given us the privilege to serve Him through music. My husband is so excited with this trip.

Now, we are faced with two major problems, financial because these mission trips are quite far and both needed plane tickets, aside from financial challenges, next thing I'm worried about is "the leave for work" we both have to do as we are both working and currently my boss is not in  the mood to allow my absences. (please help me pray for that area)

I'm a believer of the slogan "when God sends you to mission, He will also send provision"  and I'm sure he will meet our needs for that.

So there, 2 misison trips for this summer and we are excited. If you want to help (specially with the school supplies giving) just please let me know :) and as always your prayers are appreciated very much!

Update on Selah's worship album

The whole band specially my husband (Rudolf) is so happy because finally after being stalled for months they will now resume their recording session and hopefully will finish the entire album in one or two months.

Someone with a good heart supported the band financially and provided the payment for the recording studio. How awesome our God is indeed! To think, we just recently met this woman and heard the band once when we went to their place but God touched her heart. Bless her.

We already have an appointment with the owner of the studio on Saturday, we will discuss about recording schedules and everything we need to finish the album. That includes the CD cover (to which I am now scouting printers over the net, saw eoncode web 2 print software but I don't know if it will work for us) My husband wants a board type CD case and I have to look into that also.

But yes, we are all so grateful. God has heard our prayers.

Selah's worship album

Update; (just in case anyone is still interested :)

During the Global Intercessors launching in San Pablo where the band was asked to lead the worship we met a young woman and she promised to help the band financially so they can finish their worship album. Although we do not hold on to someone's promise except that of God we are thankful, we are happy and we hope she'll really be used by God for us to finish the album. And if not, for sure God will use somebody else :) At least that's one good news for now and that one good news made my husband excited again.

Also,  the owner of the recording studio had an exchange of text messages with my husband weeks ago and he said yes they'll fix the schedule soon so they can start working again with the album.

I really pray that it will be available on the first quarter of next year.

Selah Band's ministry schedule

This week, we (SELAH BAND) were supposed to be in Mindoro for a Global Prayer Conference but it was canceled weeks ago, we were informed that it will push through on January next year. 

But next week (Novemeber 28) the band will do ministry in San Pablo, Laguna-  it's sad though  that our lead guitarist won't be with us because of previous commitment. 

And just this morning, a group invited the band for their Christmas Party on December 12.

We are thankful that we are still doing ministry as a band, sometimes my husband as the leader gets frustrated (specially with their worship album) but when they are given the opportunity to minister, it somewhat keeps him excited and alive :)  Music and gadget such as tremendous dj equipment at Musicians friend makes him excited also, so if  I want to cheer him up on sad days I just have to let him talk about his passion.

I really pray and hope they'll be able to finish  their worship album this year.

Selah Band -Keep going..keep believing

I was encouraged by yesterday and today's devotional from Joel Osteen. Today he mentioned Elijah who prayed and asked Gog  to end the drought. Though at first,  his assistant did not see anything that could mean it will rain Elijah did not give up and quit, he said look again and then for the seventh time there is the cloud as small as a man's hand.  (1Kings 18:43-45)

Elijah believed even if he did not see anything. And I hope I can have that faith.

And I hope I can encourage my husband and the band too. For the longest time they dream of having that worship album, they worked on it and they started recording already. But circumstances halted the recording and now I know in their hearts they are beginning to lose hope again. It's been a while since the last recording session and they've only finish four songs. I wish they can resume working on it soon.  I pray we can save enough money to pay for the recording studio and that they'll be eager to finish the album before the year ends. 

If only I could awaken their enthusiasm...(sure this exciting Hiwatt guitar gadget will make them smile) but they don't need it at this point in time. What they need is to get back to groove, reclaim the excitement and work even more harder for their worship album.

I pray they will not lose the faith and that they will keep on believing like Elijah did.

Raising Funds for Ministries

Sometimes (okay most of the times) having lack of funds for the ministries disappoint me. And I know I should not look at it and just keep on going but reality is we need funds to feed the kids in that urban poor area, we need money to be able to send our scholars to school, we need funds when the band go to places to lead worship events and we need funds so they can finish their worship album.

So the burden of raising funds is always there, last night while my husband is printing t-shirt for the Global Intercessors we talked again on how we can raise funds for the band as we have one upcoming event this November in Mindoro, we had lots of ideas (thank God for that) and we weighed every possibilities to earn (from printing to selling foods and scraps in the house even military coin and silver coins if we have that).

 But of course, God never fails to provide. Thank you also that there are people whose heart was touched by the Lord and have been supporting us in all our ministries. The Lord bless you. Proof is, the first semester of school year is now over and we were able to pay all the tuition fees of our scholars.

For the upcoming second semester, two of our college students are already enrolled.

I know our ministry funds are depleting and running low but God will surely fill it again.

Octoberpraise

When : October 12, 2012 -FRIDAY 
Where : Rainforest Skatepark, Pasig City  

SELAH will be there! 

SOULED OUT : A fundraising concert

This will happen in Las Pinas City this Saturday. SELAH Global worship band will be there and a lot more performances from the youth of different churches. Proceeds will go to Las Pinas' JHOW Mission's house. Please support us in prayers. Thanks and God bless everyone!!

SELAH band with Paul Tagle

It was their first time and they were bit nervous but all in all it turned out good. Hopefully they'll have more worship sessions coming soon!

Update on Selah's worship album

We're done with the fourth song and tonight they'll start with  the fifth. Yay!
I know it's been months but recording takes time specially when time and schedule of everyone involved is a problem. But hey, we're on our fifth song so that means we're almost half :)

Hopefully, we'll finish before October and the CD's will be ready in time for the Global Prayer Conference in Thailand on October 23-25, 2012.

So far, the original songs that we've finished (raw mix though) are:
1. Sasayaw at Sisigaw
2. Wala Kang Katulad
3. I surrender
4. You reign

They're now more comfortable and they've already learned the ropes of recording thus it is a bit faster now than before. Ramon is now familiar with metronome, our bassist must have been watching bass guitar lesson dvd so he's much adept now and everyone really is learning a lot about their craft.

Please keep SELAH band on your prayers. Thanks!

Update.Recording.Change

The husband and his band mates are now in full swing ( I’d like to think it that way) in recording. They have three schedules now in a week and so my hopes are high that we have not to wait too long to finally get hold of their very first worship album.

Amidst the recording though are the many changes taking place in our church or should I say former church? It is quite sad that when this album is released we will no longer be there. I know deep in my heart that some of the people we will leave behind are the very people who also dreamt with us for this album. I just hope they would still want to hear the band’s songs even if we aren’t together anymore.

Come to think of it, change is inevitable no? Whether we like it or not we have to face change at some point in our life. And even if that change is for the better somehow it still hurts. The process of leaving something that you used to do or be with is not easy.

Anyways, even if this journey to change that we are going through right now seems “ugly” at the moment I know in God’s perfect time that He’ll make all things beautiful. And who can tell when God's time is? it can be tomorrow or next week or next month or even next year. I will just wait. And while waiting, we will keep on praising God and doing what we are supposed to do.

I will keep you all posted for the changes and updates on our new ministry areas and new church.

~*~*

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Have a blessed day everyone!

Sing to the Lord always!

I know I did mention here that Selah's first worship album is coming soon and that we are excited and can't wait. We always look forward to recording time. Recording maybe long and tough (specially for first timer like them) but we are all enjoying it at the moment.

But you know, sad things are also happening alongside with our recording, it's been two Sundays now that Rudolf is not seen in the church, so that means he has not been leading the worship for two Sundays now. We are currently on "transition" process (if I can call it that way, we're praying and waiting for God's leading for us in line with our church.

I'm happy though that even if these things are happening, my husband never loses his passion to sing for the Lord. Whatever happens, we will always sing and make music to our Lord for His goodness and mercy never fails :)

As a matter of fact, now that we are resting from the church, he's been honing his music skills and is very eager to learn more (music notes and all that), getting ready for more greater opportunities in serving the Lord. (just a while ago, I showed him this boomerang looper for sale and he said he wants that) he is that eager :) 

Will keep you posted about everything and as always..let's keep on praising the Lord!!

God bless everyone!

Selah's worship album soon!

I can't wait.

Rudolf with his band mates met the owner of the recording studio last night and they were all overwhelmed. God's favor indeed and we know that it is His will for the band to have this worship album. We've waited enough (eight years) and now is the time.

So they've now their schedule of recording  for the month of May, Rudolf will be busy for that and of course I will be supporting him all the way until we see the finish product.

I am also overwhelmed, happy..and it all seems surreal to me..that they will now record all their songs officially.

Please keep on praying for the Selah band, first and foremost for our hearts to keep on looking to Jesus, to seek the Lord everyday, to worship Him and extol Him more than anything else and to serve the Lord through music with gladness.

Blessings everyone!

Jesus reigns in Cebu!

We're back from Cebu and we're all happy and blessed with what God has done in the prayer conference. Indeed, it is a privilege to serve God and be able to lead worship gathering of the anointed ones- the pastors, intercessors, ministry leaders and missionaries.

Once again, thank you for praying for us and supporting us. May the Lord return all the favor to all of you a hundred fold.

Sharing you some pictures :)

the whole team being prayed for