I rejoice with you and prayed for you upon receipt of this anniversary notice from Pastor RG.

For the past 12 years, the Lord has led you in concrete ways to where you are now--a numerically and spiritually strong congregation, a full-orbed ministry program, a competent leadership team and ministry staff and a very competent, God-reliant and Spirit-empowered Resident Pastor. What else may a church ask for?

Ask God that you will never lose sight of your mission and vision. Ask the Lord of the Church to make you face more challenges that will cause you to remain constant in relying on him and not becoming complacent. Forget not how GCF East began. Indeed you have proven your mettle in your triumphs and in your disappointments and have affirmed that God's kingdom shall never fail.

What I enjoin you to ask God is indeed my prayer for you as you celebrate God's twelve years of faithfulness. And writing to you as Interim Pastor of GCF Vancouver encourages me to trust the Lord that what he has done for you, he can also do for us here. So pray for us.

Who Jesus Christ is, what He has done for the whole world and what he has done for you and for me make him worthy of all glory and to have the supremacy over all. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Luis Pantoja Jr.
Interim Pastor
GCF Vancouver

Good Morning to everyone.

As a quick background for my testimony, prior to GCF East, my family and I attended church which was based in Laguna.  Back then, my wife was in her third trimester of pregnancy, and the doctor advised to limit any long travel.

We first attended service in GCF East in September 2006. While we were quite impressed on how organized the services were held, we deferred our decision to apply for membership because both of us held key ministry positions in our Laguna church. None the less, we attended service and growth group meetings regularly from that time on.

We enjoyed our fellowship with the members of this church, but at the same time  it was difficult for us to cut ties from our previous church. After much thought and prayer, my wife and I finally agreed to ask for our pastor’s blessing to transfer to GCF East mainly because we’ve seen for ourselves that this is a church which will continue to support our Christian growth. As a result, we were able to take part in GCF East’s right hand of fellowship in March 2007.

When I was preparing this testimony, I struggled how to share what I enjoyed best in GCF east in under two and a half minutes

There is so much to like about GCF East. I like the membership class, the growth groups and other ministry opportunities, and these can all be summed up to GCF’s Core Values. These are printed every week in our bulletins but here now is the gist of my testimony.

• I like to attend in GCF East because the Sunday services are focused on Centrality to the Word, accurately preached with contextualized evangelical theology, and ensures time for vibrant worship and fervent prayer.
• I like to engage in ministry opportunities offered because these consistently centred upon holistic mission, discipleship and shepherding. Members and attendees alike are given opportunities for ministry involvement, and leadership development.
• And finally, as an elected leader I feel more than ever the duty to reflect excellence in life in service.

In closing I am proud to share that as a member; our church is founded on a clear set of values. And these are not only for the sake of having to fill the margin of our bulletins, but shows the Church’s clear commitment to help each of us grow as individual Christians, in order to support our collective mission which is “to evangelize, enlist people into our fellowship to edify and equip them for spiritual service and to exalt God together in worship.”

My prayer for all of us is that we do not take this for granted and we may be the means by which to reach out to others so we can both know Christ and Make Him Known.

Hi I’m Winnie Cruz and I just had my right hand of fellowship last December 14.

At the time when I could no longer attend my former church in QC regularly due to work exigencies and health constraints, I prayed for a church within my local community.  See, I live in St. Anthony Subdivision in Cainta.

I asked the Lord to bring me to a church where He and His Word are at the very core of its existence;  where the gospel is preached not only to the congregation, the community around it, but even beyond the country’s shores.  I also prayed that it be a church where I would not only grow in Him but where I could be of service to Him.

You see, I’d gotten to a point where I’d forgotten that my life is not mine but God’s.  I’d been more concerned with my own needs instead of responding to what God needs me to do.

And so during this time of fervent prayer, GCF was showing a film series on the book of ACTS.  I thought “wow, this is sooo cool!  The scriptures in movie format!”    But God made me realize that it is not the mode of presentation that is essential but the power of His Word.  He also made me realize that He has anointed the lips of the elders and pastors of GCF, esp. Pastor RG so that I could see how God is interested in every bit of my life and that His word is there to guide me not only in the big stuff but even in the little things;  not only for the most profound of my concerns, but even with the most mundane of my every day affairs. 

Just to illustrate this, let me share with you some of my most recent learnings here at GCF:  during one of our Sunday messages, God showed me how I should handle my money and how I should offer it to Him for He alone is worthy;  I also learned that while Jesus Christ is calling us to bear our own cross and follow Him, He DOES want us to enjoy life and that in God’s eyes, 40’s is still young!  That is sooo cool because I’m probably just a kid from His point of view! 

One of the most important blessings I’ve had being with GCF is the Nth chance God gave me in serving Him.  I am now with the Sunday School ministry and it is such a joy to be studying the Word of God with your children.

So when I was asked what it means to be in GCF, the answer is that it is a testimony to the infinite wisdom of the Lord and His faithfulness in answering our prayers according to His good and perfect will.