Happy 20th Year Kapatid Ministry!

I came to know Titus and Beth Laxa when I served as the pastor of Llano Christian Baptist Church in Caloocan City in 1987. They were our church deacons for some years until they left for Malaysia to work as engineers. True to their calling as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, they continue to do good works for their fellow Filipinos in Malaysia and share the gospel, which in turn developed into a Bible study that eventually became a church fellowship that continues to this day. They worked as engineers and yet, true to the Great Commission, they served as gospel bearers. One pastor even described them as "God's missionaries disguised as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)."

After working for more than 12 years in Malaysia, they went back to the Philippines and prayed about what to do next. I invited them to Seoul, South Korea, and for more than one week, they shared how they want to serve the Lord in the Philippines. After praying, sharing, and ministering to one another, they went home with a vision of continuing their OFW work in the Philippines. This time, they aimed to minister to their families and to the returning workers and their children. A few months or a year later, Kapatid Ministry was born. After a year, they extended their ministry to out-of-school youth and underprivileged children.

They worked as engineers and yet, true to the Great Commission, they served as gospel bearers. One pastor even described them as "God's missionaries disguised as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)."

For over thirty years, from South Korea to the USA, we have partnered with them through the ministry of Soo Jung Church and Good Shepherd Baptist Church. Together, we have been involved in doing follow-ups with OFWs and their families, establishing feeding centers for the purpose of sharing the gospel, church planting, and engaging in discipleship through the child sponsorship program. We have also collaborated on various community outreach ministries.

We have had a lot of memorable events with the Kapatid Ministry. For one, churches have been planted by starting a feeding ministry for children in different barangays and cities. Some of our mission partners, who are church members, host, and sponsor feeding ministries when they go on vacation in the Philippines. We even donated two boats to one of the churches, enabling them to transport children from their homes to their schools.

Another is when our members visited some Kapatid Ministry feeding centers in the Philippines with their young children. When they returned, their children excitedly shared their experiences of feeding those hungry children and sharing the gospel afterward with some of our church members. This practice has been replicated by other members when they go on vacation in the different provinces in the Philippines. It has become a common practice for many of our members, even now, to look for ways to evangelize and minister while they are on holiday.

Kapatid Ministry is a blessing to hundreds of overseas Filipino workers and to their families, as well as to thousands of suffering children. They ministered to them not only by teaching the Bible, helping and feeding, but also by making disciples and teaching them how to become productive and fruitful followers of Christ. Through Kapatid Ministry, God is transforming a child, a parent, a family; a church which in turn helps transform a community and our country.

When they returned, their children excitedly shared their experiences of feeding those hungry children and sharing the gospel afterward with some of our church members.

I hope and pray that Kapatid Ministry will continue the great work of sharing the gospel and engaging in discipleship, which they have been doing for the last 20 years. May God raise up more disciples of Christ and partners for the sake of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Jessie & Mercy Arce

Good Shepherd Baptist Church, Delaware, USA

International Soo Jung Mission Center, Philippines