Brief Bio

My photo
Quezon City, Metro-Manila, Philippines
I am a runner, pastor, sociologist, teacher, and missionary. After living in Chicago for 6 years, I discerned a call to go to Manila, Philippines to live and work among the urban poor, and combine my passions for ministry, running, and the oppressed. After serving in the Philippines in 2012 and 2013, I returned to the United States for two years to finish my dissertation, get ordained, spend time with my family, and work at a neighborhood center in Kansas City. Since then, I have been working in the Philippines with Companion With the Poor as a missionary. Each day I look forward to how God will direct my steps as I live into His work of restoring a broken world.

Monday, September 12, 2016

Manila Monthly: Returning to Manila!

June 1, 2016

I arrived in Manila just a week ago! It has been quite the journey over the past year as I’ve prepared for the possibility of being back here in the Philippines, or even staying in the US to do some development and fundraising work for Companion With the Poor. After two discernment trips last September, and this past January, it seemed best for me to be back here in the Philippines for another two years, to continue journeying with Companion With the Poor to plant holistic churches in the slums and educate transformational leaders at the grassroots, bachelors, masters, and doctorate level. It really is great to be back!





Preparation and Sending

Getting back here didn’t come easy, but the Lord has made it possible! Were it not for the amazing support from many of you, both prayerfully and financially, I wouldn’t have been able to return to the work here in Metro-Manila. But with your help, and God’s direction, the Lord has restored me to my role and team here.

Though originally planning to return at the end of April, my communities here in Manila and back in the States encouraged me to stick around in the US for an extra few weeks for two trainings that could contribute to our ministry in Manila.

One of these trainings was in writing grant proposals from The Grantsmanship Center based in Los Angeles. My training was actually in Des Moines, IA, and though not LA, I actually really enjoyed my time in that up-and-coming city, as well as being able to fellowship with one of my high school friends that I haven’t seen in a while.
Our Team and My Host Family!

The other training that I attended before coming to the Philippines was a training in Philadelphia, PA with International Ministries. International Ministries (IM) is the mission organization connected to the denomination that ordained me last year in Kansas City (American Baptist Churches, US), and the denomination that my family (and even grandparents and great-grandparents on my dad’s side) has been associated with my whole life.

IM has recently developed an Associate Missionary position for people like myself, and others who are employed and serve through another organization. During the training however, I got to learn from three other missionaries (two couples and one single missionary) about their ministries in Haiti, Mexico, and Guatemala. The single missionary working in Guatemala encouraged me the most, as his ministry is similar to my own, working to bring peace and

justice in some of the poor neighbor-hoods in Guatemala and other parts of Latin America. It was great to see how my work connects to others around the world and yet is only a small part of God’s work through churches, missionaries, and believers around the world!   


Prayers

As I get back into my routine here in the Philippines, please pray for the following:

- Pray for my team (see picture to the left) as we begin a new assignment to evaluate 30 of our former churches, with hopes of knowing how to improve our current church planting efforts and even find more areas and partner churches for future ministry.

- Pray for my continued language learning, as I begin language school again and work towards becoming more proficient in Tagalog.

- Pray for my work with the local seminaries and Bible colleges to continue strengthening theological education here in the Philippines.

- Pray for our 12 teams, and 60 missionaries with CWTP and their families!

For more information on my ministry, feel free to e-mail me at  pjrollet@gmail.com. 

Checks can be sent to Mission Ministries Philippines, c/o Paul Rollet, P.O. Box 6546, Santa Ana, CA 92706. 


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