A Reflection of the Tahanan Bible Retreat 2024 written by Meg Mathews, Vice Principal at The Academy for GOD and GOD Int'l Member
When I prayed that God would multiply our time with our Tahanan GOD community this summer and use us to bring healing and restoration to our family of faith there, I never could have imagined what transpired.
I’ve helped lead and facilitate around 10 Bible Retreats for our ministry, and this SEA Leadership Bible Retreat was one of the most special I've ever witnessed. As I sit here reflecting on our time together, I know God answered our prayers. I was in awe that God did so much in so little time but then remembered that the God we serve is the one who answers the prayers of the righteous and is near to the broken-hearted.
This year’s theme was “Pressing On” from Philippians 3:12-16, which was perfect for our Academy for GOD two years ago and proved to be just what our Tahanan key personnel needed regarding where they were collectively as a church body. God most certainly met us and met the needs of our dear brothers and sisters in the Tahanan community.
We welcomed 20 key personnel from the Tahanan Community. The attendees ranged from 18 years of age to late 40s and came from three different sectors of the Tahanan community: Bible Boot Camp (four young Filipinos ages 18-20 who give their month to GOD to learn the Word and serve at Tahanan), Tahanan Mother’s Group (5-7 mothers who meet weekly with Rina), and Young Adult Leadership (8-10 young adults who volunteer weekly with Tahanan).
Nine years ago, my husband Ty Mathews, Brett Madron, Jason Carpenter, and I came to the Philippines and facilitated a Bible retreat for churches near Tahanan. During that time, we met some key participants who were also there at this year’s conference: Irish, Sherylyn, Jairus, and MC. These relationships stayed in tact over the years, and these four individuals still volunteer faithfully at Tahanan and attend Bible studies weekly despite the hardship they experienced with COVID. These key players, particularly Irish and MC, were the catalyst for so much healing as they themselves were eager to learn, be students, and worship the Lord with all their hearts, which inspired the others to do the same. It is a beautiful thing to witness such fruit, and I know without a doubt that God will continue to use them.
During the retreat, we facilitated GDAs (Group Dynamic Activities - Filipinos LOVE acronyms). Our first activity was Human Bingo, which was a HUGE hit and full of laughter. Jason Carpenter shared about the History of Global Outreach Developments to give context about what we do and who we are. He powerfully concluded that God has been writing our story, and told the attendees that they were a part of that story and that it was no coincidence that they were in that room that day.
All the attendees then answered questions such as, “How did you come to know God?”, “What is something you had to overcome?”, and “What is one prayer request that God answered?” This was a beautiful exercise where attendees posted story notes all over the room so we could get to know one another’s stories better. This exercise became a part of many testimonies that were shared at the end of the weekend, as it unlocked a deeper level of vulnerability in them as they shared such parts of their lives.
In the afternoon, we had the attendees take a spiritual gifts quiz where they explored their giftings and placed them on a board on the wall with their top three. Our facilitating team then got up in front of the room and did a general assessment of their strengths as a community, as well as discussed areas they could improve.
Leafa Vagatai, one of the conference facilitators, had a powerful moment with Mark Neil (affectionately known as Mac Mac and the son that Rina and Clark adopted a few years back) where she saw he scored first in leadership but didn’t put his name down. She lovingly called him out in front of everyone and told him that his assessment was not wrong and that she saw leadership qualities in him, but it is up to him to believe that God gave him such giftings. This later proved to be true during the SLAM week as he led by example and service.
We then had a powerful night of worship led by Leafa Vagatai and the Word brought by Jason Carpenter. Many of the young adults came to this conference with soft hearts ready to receive God’s spirit, as it had been years since our last retreat due to COVID travel restrictions. Young adults were on their knees crying, repenting, and asking God for forgiveness. It was a spiritual moment like no other, and we responded with constant gratitude to our Lord for his presence as we prayed over our dear brothers and sisters in Christ as they called out to God.
The next morning, we woke up and the attendees started their day with journaling, which proved to be a very beneficial and needed exercise for what would unfold later that day. Hannah Duffy shared a powerful testimony, followed by our Spiritual Hot Topic Panel, where the facilitators (Jason Carpenter, Leafa Vagatai, Hannah Duffy, and I) did five-minute keynote presentations on their top five spiritual hot topics (these were submitted the day before) and then opened ourselves up for questions.
This was huge highlight of the trip for me, because we got to observe non-verbal responses, see interaction amongst the personnel when questions were answered, and witness inner dialogue as we were open and honest about what it means to follow Christ. Following this Q&A panel, I shared my testimony with everyone about how I was deciding to press on and what I needed to let go of since I had seen them last. Although it was challenging to communicate due to the immense loss I experienced from 2018-2021 (Steph, my dad, and Rob), God was with me, and I am so glad that I was able to do so.
In the evening, we had our last night of worship, which was so powerful. We had decided that evening to do a foot washing service per the direction of Gregg Garner in previous meetings in preparation for this trip. I had never been a part of a foot washing service, and I walked away so humbled and touched by the opportunity to wash the feet of those who serve tirelessly at Tahanan.
After Jason’s last sermon for the “Pressing On” theme, we welcomed anyone who wanted to be a follower of Jesus. Jason humbly and passionately communicated that if they wanted to be leaders, they would need to serve like Jesus served and receive from the leaders in their life.
Washing the feet of our key personnel at the front of the room alongside Clark Miller and Rina Miller is one of the most inspiring moments I have ever had as a follower of Jesus.
We were all in tears as we humbly washed the feet of our Filipino brothers and sisters in Christ, thanking them for the work they do for Tahanan kids, Camp Skillz, Bible Bootcamp, Jail Ministry, and After School Tutoring. It was one of the most powerful moments of ministry I have ever experienced.
To conclude the second evening, we had our late-night performances from our different breakout groups with spoken word, musical theater, dance, and choir led by our immersion participants and facilitators. I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time. It brought all of us joy to see the creativity and desire to reflect the lessons learned from Jason's sermons in their own creative expression about "forgetting what is behind and straining to what is ahead." I promise you, you won't want to miss Isaiah, Irish, and Mac Mac's unforgettable performance with the musical theater group, so please be sure to look for it in the pictures below as they danced their hearts out to "Let it Go."
We ended our retreat with a symbol of growth exercise where the attendees had to choose a picture of what they were “letting go” of and then a picture of what they were “pressing on towards.” This led to beautiful images of the Tahanan community all over the display and eventually led to the narrow road of how they wanted to become more like Christ.
We then ended with testimonies that, sadly went over our allotted time for the retreat, but this was a good problem to have as we rearranged our schedule to listen to all the other ones the following two evenings. We spent almost 7-8 hours during three different testimony times hearing some of the most precious stories. Every single attendee shared, not only how the retreat impacted them, but how the Lord has led them all these years. These nights were filled with powerful prayers, deep tears as we felt what the Lord felt for our broken brothers and sisters, hardship, tragedy, and hope at the end of every testimony.
The attendees described the conference as “life-changing,” “eye-opening,” “incredible,” “healing,” and “inspiring.” I come back feeling privileged to hear such stories, privileged to be a part of a moment in their journey of faith, honored to pray for them, and beyond blessed to be a part of the greatest project God is involved in - the building of his people.
My prayer is that our church community will continue to pray for these beautiful brothers and sisters in Christ. That we will continue to pray for Rina and Clark as they are some of the most precious and amazing people you will ever meet.
My hope is that we will never grow weary in doing the hard labor for the development of God’s people. Your prayers were FELT and HEARD, and we are so thankful for all you did as you supported us from home. Thank you for being a part because there is no greater responsibility than to invest in such a project - God’s project. Here’s to “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,” as we press on towards the prize of becoming like Christ together (Philippians 3:12-16).
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