Mount Zion Bible College
Kerala State, India

In January, President Rains and the Academic Dean of ASCM, Jose Abraham, went to India to meet with the leaders of the Mount Zion Bible College in Kerela State for the purpose of establishing an ASCM extension program.  This new program will offer ATA accredited Masters level courses there for the first time.

L-R: Suju John, Jose Abraham, Scott Rains, P.J. James

Through the leadership of P.J. James, Education Director for Church of God in India Kerala State, and Academic Dean Suju John, Mount Zion Bible College will host two Master of Arts degrees; MA in Pastoral Ministry and an MA in Christian Leadership. The program faculty will consist of qualified professors from India, guest professors from the US, and our own ASCM professors from the Philippines. The first course was held in February with 27 students and was conducted by Lawrence Bennett, an ASCM graduate and adjunct faculty member now living in Tamil Nadu.

Children of Manggahan

As part of ASCM's Community Transformation Initiative (CTI), students participated in a "local outreach" ministry in March to the Manggahan community. This is a depressed area within Barangay Sun Valley in Bicutan, Paranaque.  There are about 120 families who are squatting on the edge of a private subdivision next to a creek that overflows during the rainy season.  On the first visit, students evangelized both the adults and children and distributed relief goods as the community was greatly affected by Typhoon Ondoy.  The purpose of this visit was to maintain our relationship with the community and to encourage further change by focusing our efforts on the children who do not attend schools and are greatly undernourished. ASCM also partnered with a small church within Sun Valley to connect them with a local church.

Teaching Hygiene

The 150 children were divided by age groups and placed in one of four "classrooms," each headed by a team of ASCM students. The makeshift classrooms were set up under tents and large shaded trees. The student-teacher teams conducted a rotation of classes which included Bible-based activities, games, songs, and a values education session. Students fed the children pancit for breakfast and adobo, rice and juice for lunch.

Serving Adobo & Rice Lunch

Lead by ASCM faculty member Danny Camandero, the students distributed a care package for each child which included a notebook, a pencil, a sharpener, crayons, and a towel and soap for bathing. Also given were more than 100 bags of used clothing for the entire community to be distributed to each family.

Hong and Esther Yang
Pentecostal Theological Seminary

Hong Yang

Returning for the third straight year as a guest professor in January was Dr. Hong Yang from the Pentecostal Theological Seminary. This time, ASCM was privileged to have also had his wife, Dr. Esther Yang, teaching with him. They team taught a one week intensive course on "Leadership in Missions."  They also led a discussion on Contemporary Missions with the faculty of ASCM, preached the Chapel service, and preached and taught at many other events and churches across Metro Manila and Cavite. We thank God for the passion and expertise they bring to ASCM and the Philippines.

Lance Colkmire
Managing Editor Pathway Press

Lance Colkmire

ASCM was also privileged to have Lance Colkmire, a highly experienced children's ministry and curriculum expert, teach a one week intensive course in February on "Children's Ministry." He also taught workshops with the YCE Training team the week before and then stayed on to complete the 3 credit hour course. This course is an essential part of the new Children's Ministry emphasis for the Bachelor of Arts in Theology to which we were grateful to have had such extensive experience brought to the classroom.