Team Update: Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship

(You might have heard of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship (OCBF) through their senior pastor Dr. Tony Evans, who speaks regularly at Promise Keepers Conferences.)

Before she passed away a few years ago, a member of OCBF married a Filipino-born SIL translator named Gaspar Makil. A long time ago, SIL asked Gaspar to do translation work in Vietnam. While there, his family was caught in the cross-fire between the Viet-cong and he and one of his children were killed.

In his hometown in the Philippines, a church was built in his memory.

Fast forward a few decades as one of the only African-American translators, Jacqueline, arrives in the Philippines, with the support and encouragement of OCBF. (Here's a GREAT article on Jacqueline.)

Fast forward again to the present. OCBF is now wanting to send a team to the Philippines with a two-fold mission to 1) re-connect and encourage Jacqueline, and 2) to repair the now dilapidated Gaspar T. Makil Church.

On this trip, I got to work with Mark, an old friend from Dallas, and Carol, a new friend and one of Gaspar's daughters. This team was a joy to work with--Ellen and I got to travel with them while they were in Manila, but we were not able to accompany them to the province to work on the church. Maybe next time!

On location at the mayor's office near the church.

Introducing the team during a prayer meeting.