"Welcome, 2010"
By Bob Canton, National CoordinatorGreetings to all of you in the
mighty Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As I'm writing this column, my heart is full of excitement and joy, realizing
of this great privilege of sharing with you many great things that the Lord
is doing for and with and through the AFCCPC.
The Year 2009 was indeed a great year for the AFCCPC. We have seen the establishments
and also have discovered many brand new prayer groups and communities in
North America. We also had the privilege to minister to them.
Our 15th National Convention which was held in Baltimore, MD. in June was
a success in many aspects, in spite of some obstacles that we had to face
such as the economic downturn in this country and elsewhere. Many who came
to this Convention told us that by attending this gathering, they were blessed
by the Lord beyond measures. Through this Convention, the Lord Jesus by
the power of the Holy Spirit, has touched many lives, indeed. I have also
witnessed the enthusiasm and greater zeal of many leaders in the Renewal,
particularly in the AFCCPC, to continue to serve the Lord and the Church
for His glory. This is truly very encouraging and inspiring.
I also perceived an emerging change of attitude among some leaders from,
"their organization, the AFCCPC," to "our organization, the AFCCPC." It
is my constant prayer to the Holy Spirit that this change of attitude will
continue to spread, especially among the leaders, because the Lord has called
us to unity, to be one body and one spirit in Christ Jesus. There were myriad
of blessings that the Lord has showered us with but we cannot enumerate
them all due to the limited space allocated for this column. However, I
would like to mention that I also had the opportunities and the privilege
to minister in Jesus Name in various countries in 2009.
For the first time, the Lord allowed us to conduct Healing Crusades in Indonesia
where we ministered over 20,000 people in the cities of Jakarta,
Bali, Semarang, and Galapa Gading. In November, the Lord also opened a door
for us to preach, teach, and heal in the mighty name of Jesus in Dubai and
Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Thousands of people also came to our services
in St. Mary's Church in Dubai and in St. Anthony's in Sharjah. I saw the
people's hunger for the Lord in these Muslim countries. It is a humbling
experience to witness signs and wonders, healings and miracles and transformation
of hearts taking place right before our eyes.
Jesus is alive and the Holy Spirit is very active all over the world. Towards
the end of 2009, I also went to the Philippines to speak and to conduct
a Healing Rally during the Kerygma Conference in the Araneta Coliseum which
was attended by approximately 12,000 people. That was my third trip to the
Philippines in 2009. I was also privileged to meet and fellowship with the
Catholic Charismatic Leaders and some Church dignitaries in those countries
mentioned above. We praise God for His tremendous blessings for us and for
the AFCCPC in the year 2009. "Welcome, 2010!" I really believe that
this year we will witness and receive greater blessings and graces from
our Heavenly Father. In fact, these blessings have already started to pour
out into us. Many prayer groups and communities in many parts of the country
are scheduling Life in the Spirit Seminars, Growth in the Spirit Seminars,
Days of Renewal and Teachings, Retreats, Healing Rallies, Mini Conferences,
and other works of evangelization. In his encyclical entitled Redemptoris
Missio, Pope John Paul 11, states, "No believer in Christ, no
institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ
to all peoples."
The AFCCPC, in response to this teaching of the Church, has many evangelistic
outreaches and activities that have already been lined up for this year.
On March 19-21, 2010, the Rocky Mountain Region which is composed
of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and Idaho,
will conduct, for the first time in the AFCCPC history, a Regional Conference
in Phoenix, AZ. The theme of the Conference is "Lord, Show Me Your Way,"
taken from Psalm 27:11. The invited speakers are Fr. Bill Halbing, Sr.Nancy
Kellar, Val Kiamko, Alejandro Aguspina, and yours truly. Jojo Concepcion
and Mayette Ravasco are the chairperson and asst. chairperson respectively
of this Conference and they are assisted by a very able and very enthusiastic
Planning Committee and by various prayer groups not only in the Phoenix
area but also in many cities in Arizona. The venue of this Conference is
the Marriott Phoenix Airport located at 1101 N. 44th St., Phoenix. Please
register for this Conference right away. You don't want to miss this Conference
which promises to very Spirit-filled and power-filled. There will also be
a Youth track to be conducted on Saturday and Sunday, March 20-21, 2010,
for 13-22 years of age.
Another anointed and power-packed Conference is also slated in East Atlantic
Region on July 2-4, 2010. It will be held in the Hilton Hotel in
East Brunswick, N.J. The conference theme is taken from Isaiah 43:5,
"Do not be afraid, for I am With You." Purita Vazquez, one of the members
of the board of the AFCCPC, is the Conference's chairperson and the assistant
chairpersons are Dr. Dave Armesto and Liza Jablonski. The Regional Coordinators
and Officers and Spiritual Advisers in that Region are also working hard
for the success of this Conference. The following speakers are scheduled
to come, namely, Patti Mansfield, Fr. Bill Halbing, Sr. Linda Koontz, Don
Quilao from Toronto, Canada, Fr. Joe Cadusale, Dr. Narcisco Albarracin,
Jr. and his wife, Terri, and yours truly. As always, we reach out to
the Youths of today by featuring the Youth Track in all our Conferences.
We need your prayers and constant intercession for these Conferences and
for the activities of the AFCCPC. We shall continue to press on and do what
the Lord calls all believers to do and to be: to bring souls to Him and
to be united with Him.
These two Regional Conferences are, no doubt, great vehicles for the Lord
to fellowship with His people so that they will establish a personal relationship
with Him. I therefore, urge you not to squander away these windows of opportunities
that the Lord is offering to us. In Isaiah 55:6, the Word of God says,
"Seek the Lord while He may be found, call Him while He is near." Let
us continue to seek God with all of our hearts. I hope and pray that we
will all take advantage of these blessings from the Lord by attending these
two Regional Conferences. For more information, please access our website,
www.afccpc.org. You may also download
the flyers and registration forms.
This year, I will continue to visit many prayer groups and communities mostly
within the AFCCPC umbrella and of course other groups and communities as
well, all over North America, aside from my monthly trip outside of the
U S A to answer the Lord's call for me to reach out to as many people as
possible throughout the world by proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm so grateful for your prayers and I'm also equally thankful to
some of you who had accompanied and assisted me in my travels such as Jim
Blubaugh from Ohio, Atty. Gus Mora and his wife Onie from California, Al
Pineda from New Jersey, Dr.Joe and Agnes Nepomuceno and Dr. Ray Caparros
from Maryland, Dr. Narciso Albarracin, Jr., and his wife Terri, from Ohio
and my younger brother Nilo. Some of you will be traveling with me again
this year and I could not thank you enough for your assistance. Of course,
I'm most grateful to my wife, Chita, who supports me all the way in this
ministry and who is also my traveling companion in some of these trips,
even though she is still working as a Registered Nurse. I know that the
anointing from the Lord is very strong when both husband and wife are in
unity in doing God's work.
National Gathering of Leadership Groups:
Last January 11-13, 2010, five of us from the AFCCPC participated in
the Gathering of National Leadership Groups which was held in Lutz, Florida,
a suburb of Tampa, in the Bethany Center Retreat House.
There were six streams of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (otherwise known
as the Committe of 6) that were represented in the meeting; namely
the National Service Committee, the Association of Diocesan Liaisons, the
Ethnic Groups composed of Haitians and Hispanic groups, the Fraternity of
Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships, the Korean National Service
Committee, and the Alliance of Filipino Catholic Charismatic Prayer Communities.
The Indonesian and the Vietnamese groups also sent representatives to the
Gathering, including Auxiliary Bishop Dominic Luong from the Diocese of
Orange, California. The groups discerned together as to what direction the
Lord is leading us and what He wants us to do as a group. We prayed together,
we praised the Lord with one voice and one heart, we broke bread together
in the Eucharistic celebrations, we ministered to each other in Jesus' name
and we fellow-shipped with one another. I sensed a great spirit of unity
and camaraderie that was present during the three-day meeting. Altogether,
there were 50 leaders present including Dr. Narciso Albarracin, Jr.,from
Ohio, Lynn Eclipse from New York, Irnie Tabasa from California and Ramon
Mescallado from Florida and yours truly who represented the AFCCPC.
The day before the meeting, I was in Ft. Myers, FL., about 2 1/2 hours drive
from Lutz, to minister to about 50 people in the home of one of the Albarracin's
friends. Although the weather outside in "sunny" Florida was in the low
20's, the atmosphere inside the house was very warm indeed because the people
were very open and welcoming to the words of the Lord and to the healing
and restoring power of the Holy Spirit. I also had the opportunity to talk
about the AFCCPC and the ICCRS and about the baptism of the Holy Spirit
to the people gathered.

