Bro. Eli Extends Bible Exposition for Provincial Jails in Ilocos, Cavite

The inmates from two provincial jails in the Philippines did not let being behind bars hinder their asking Bro. Eliseo Soriano questions about their faith and predicaments in life during the previous Worldwide Bible Exposition held on October 4 this year.

The provincial jails of Ilocos Sur and Cavite communicated with Bro. Soriano via live streaming in real time. Bro. Soriano is the host of the Bible Exposition as well as the Presiding Minister to the Members Church of God International (MCGI).

Bro. Eli reading Bible verses at a Bible Exposition of MCGI.
(Photo embeded from mcgi.org)

In one of the more memorable parts of the Bible Expo, one of the inmates asked Bro. Eli about the salvation offered by God to sinners. Bro. Eli responded by reading a Bible verse, Mark 2:17, with Christ saying: "I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

Explaining the value of repentance to guests from the provincial jails as well as in other parts of the country and the world, the international preacher read verses explaining that even St. Paul was once a sinner and a blasphemer, but was forgiven when he repented.

Citing verses from the books of Hebrews and Matthew, Bro. Eli went on to add that sins could make one's life heavy. But by following Christ, the Lord could give rest to those with heavy burdens.

Before the night was over, Bro. Soriano encouraged the attendees of the Bible exposition to always have hope and be trustful to the Lord despite the difficulties that each one may be facing, emphasizing that "there's no problem bigger than God."

Before proceeding to serve the participants from other remote points of the Bible Exposition, the preacher bade a special farewell to the inmates of the provincial jails. "It's our honor that you are among our guests tonight," says the preacher.

Bro. Eli bades farewell to the inmates of Cavite and also Iloco Sur Provincial Jails
before proceeding on the other venues of the exposition.
This is a tweet coming from @TheOldPathTV twitter handle.

A special place in the religious group headed by Bro. Eli is held for our countrymen who are serving their sentences. MCGI, in partnership with UNTV 37, conducts medical missions and free legal services to different jails in the country.

The Church has also founded a Prison Ministry, which aims to look after the spiritual needs of our brothers and sisters in prisons. The Prison Ministry conducts Bible studies, prayer meetings, worship services, and other activities geared towards strengthening the faith and giving hope to those behind bars.

Provincial jails are almost always regular guests during the Church’s Bible Expositions. Other remote points that were able to communicate to Bro. Eli include Dubai, Hongkong, Pampanga, Surigao City, and others.

This is in addition to the thousands of coordinating centers that welcomed Church members and visitors alike to watch the event.

Bro. Eli is also the host of Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path), which is celebrating its 33rd Anniversary this month. Ang Dating Daan  is hailed as one of the longest running religious shows in the country.

Ang Dating Daan celebrates its 33rd year of broadcasting.
(Photo grabbed from mcgi.org)

The next Bible Exposition is scheduled tonight, 25 October 2013, at 6:30pm in all Ang Dating Daan coordinating centers in the Philippines and abroad.

Twitter users could also follow @TheOldPathTV and @AngDatingDaanTV to get live updates of the event.

Read More»

#ADDforBreastfeeding Hashtag Lights Up Twitter In Support Of Infants' Breastfeeding

Twitter users were welcomed by the #ADDforBreastfeeding hashtag as one of the top trending Philippine topics the morning of Oct. 24 (today).

#ADDforBreastfeeding is the 2nd most talked about topic on twitter Philippines.

Supporters and participants of the event organized by Nurturers of the Earth together with Member Church of God International (MCGI) light up twitter with a wave of tweets about the campaign.

The simultaneous breastfeeding will be held today in a target 1,000 venues all over the Philippines. Each of the venues will be connected via satellite technology to the primary location of the event which is the Marikina Covention Center at Marikina City.

• "The Caviteña mommies and babies are here! owyeah! :))" says @Jushierl

• "Moms are blessed with the best source of sustenance for their darling babies. What's amazing is it doesn't cost a cent!" #ADDforBreastfeeding says @polarellano

• "We have a Simultaneous Breastfeeding w/ Nurturers of the Earth, today over 1,000 sites in the PH.Join us!" #ADDforBreastfeeding says @mamu_alto2011

• "Breastfeeding can protect your baby from developing allergies" ADDforBreastfeeding says @MayTwitz

Twitter users opted to support the campaign promoting breastfeeding by using
#ADDforBreastfeeding hashtag.

The synchronized breastfeeding today could break the earlier world record set by the same group in 2007 wherein they gathered 22,500 lactating mothers in 595 locations.

Bro. Soriano himself, which also uses twitter to answer biblical questions, tweeted in support of the campaign.

let us support the campaign for breastfeeding! be a responsible mother, breastfeed your baby; even orphans
— Brother Eli Soriano (@BroEliSoriano) October 23, 2013

to breastfeed is to love!
— Brother Eli Soriano (@BroEliSoriano) October 23, 2013

This noteworthy project is also in line with the 33rd anniversary celebration of Ang Dating Daan, a religious program hosted by Bro. Eliseo Soriano, Presiding Minister to the MCGI.

MCGI also sponsors several public services around the country to celebrate the more than thirty years of airing of the Ang Dating Daan. 

The same program also now has counterparts in other languages namely: The Old Path for English speaking countries, El Camino Antiguo on Spanish, and O Caminho Antigo for Portuguese speakers.

Update: 10am, #ADDforBreastfeeding is the number 1 topic on Twitter "Philippine Trends"

Post by Abel Suing.

Read More»

MCGI Takes Part in Simultaneous Breastfeeding Event Aimed at Protecting Infants' Health

Members Church of God International (MCGI) join hands with the Nurturers of the Earth in launching a simultaneous breastfeeding event on October 24, 2013 in multiple sites in the country to promote the natural way of feeding infants through breastfeeding.

A total of 1,000 sites around the Philippines are to be used as venues for the event to accommodate the thousands of breastfeeding mothers expected to take part of the occasion. The central hub of all locations will be the Marikina Convention Center at Marikina City.

The tagline of the simultaneous breastfeeding is "Sabay-sabay sumuso sa nanay".
MCGI is one of the main partners for the event.

Dr. Elvira L. Henares-Esguerra, Founding Chairperson of Nurturers of the Earth, in an interview by philstar.com  in 2011 underlined the importance of breastfeeding by saying that it should be an “urgent concern of all sectors of society."

She added that "[Breastfeeding] addresses the issues of food security, medicine, economy, ecology, empowerment, love and faith, and everyone should be involved, especially health professionals."

On one hand, Bro. Daniel S. Razon, Vice-Presiding Minister to the MCGI, during a thanksgiving service of the Church encouraged qualified brethren to participate in the event.

"We know the benefits that this activity will give to our children," he said in the vernacular. "[Breastfeeding] is a way to protect them from the illnesses that proliferates in our environment."

The activity coincides with the celebration of the 33rd anniversary of the program The Old Path (Ang Dating Daan), the radio and television religious program hosted by the Presiding Minister to the MCGI, Bro. Eliseo F. Soriano.

Post by Ang Dating Daan.

This is not the first time Dr. Henares-Esguerra spearheaded a simultaneous breastfeeding event. In 2007, they were able to gather 22,500 mother-child pairs in 595 sites to breastfeed all at once, landing them in the Guinness Book of World Records.

This time with the target 1,000 sites for the simultaneous event, it is possible that the previous record set by the same group will be surpassed.

Read More»