WorshipCentral

With 18,000 people booked into our four Asia events, you'll be able to read all about it as it happens live on this blog.

Our team are all ready to go, bags packed, teaching prepared, prayed up - we're so looking forward to spending time with worship leaders in Manila and Singapore, and from across Asia. It's going to be a real priviledge to see what God's doing in the church there - we hear so many exciting stories of life and growth.

We'd really appreciate your prayers - our hope is that through the four Worship Central events, we'd encounter God together, we'd see the worship leaders, musicians and worshippers who come equipped, and we'd all be empowered to better serve our local churches.

-----

DAY ONE - we fly into Singapore, then catch a connect to Manila. It's been an 18hr travel, and we're exhausted. We meet our local team, nip to the hotel we're staying in, grab a shower, then head out to visit a brilliant project that works feeding street children in one of the poorest parts of Manila.

The whole area is a no-go-zone, run by drug barons and is incredibly poor. There's an amazing pastor who started an outreach work in the slum three years ago, and feeds 2,000 children every month. We visit the feeding station, hang out with the kids and hear more about their project. It's really heart breaking, but amazing what they're doing. They've been running Alpha in the slum as a small group tool, and the Lord is doing amazing things. It's very moving - especially as a Father to a young boy. I just can't get over the bare need. As I look around, I see kids that could be my own. Hundreds of them. They live along the river bank, sleeping rough, scavanging for food. It's brilliant what the church are doing here. On one level, it's incredibly depressing, but at the same time, I'm reminded of that Bill Hybels quote 'the local church is the hope of the world'. In the midst of this poverty, abuse, drug-riddled slum, we see the local church being hope, salt, light. The pastor has amazing favour - he's allowed to walk freely among the different gangs. One person comments that the only thing the drug lords cooperate on is allowing the pastor access to the slum, as they all love his programme, the feeding, their church. I'd love to spend more time here. It's always hard visiting this kind of project, as we're literally passing through, and will be heading back to our hotel to nice clean beds, then onto the busy tour schedule. But, it's been great to connect with the church here, make some friends and hold hands with those who have nothing. Please pray for these guys as you read this, that God would empower the church working in this corner of Manila.

--------- DAY ONE - we fly into Singapore, then catch a connect to Manila. It's been an 18hr travel, and we're exhausted. We meet our local team, nip to the hotel we're staying in, grab a shower, then head out to visit a brilliant project that works feeding street children in one of the poorest parts of Manila. The whole area is a no-go-zone, run by drug barons and is incredibly poor. There's an amazing pastor who started an outreach work in the slum three years ago, and feeds 2,000 children every month. We visit the feeding station, hang out with the kids and hear more about their project. It's really heart breaking, but amazing what they're doing. They've been running Alpha in the slum as a small group tool, and the Lord is doing amazing things. It's very moving - especially as a Father to a young boy. I just can't get over the bare need. As I look around, I see kids that could be my own. Hundreds of them. They live along the river bank, sleeping rough, scavanging for food. It's brilliant what the church are doing here. On one level, it's incredibly depressing, but at the same time, I'm reminded of that Bill Hybels quote 'the local church is the hope of the world'. In the midst of this poverty, abuse, drug-riddled slum, we see the local church being hope, salt, light. The pastor has amazing favour - he's allowed to walk freely among the different gangs. One person comments that the only thing the drug lords cooperate on is allowing the pastor access to the slum, as they all love his programme, the feeding, their church. I'd love to spend more time here. It's always hard visiting this kind of project, as we're literally passing through, and will be heading back to our hotel to nice clean beds, then onto the busy tour schedule. But, it's been great to connect with the church here, make some friends and hold hands with those who have nothing. Please pray for these guys as you read this, that God would empower the church working in this corner of Manila.