Two days ago, I had the opportunity to attend an online seminar on Events Management (Basic) organised by Indigitous PH. The mentor was Mai Tendero of Cru Philippines’s Student Led Movement. I was excited because I have met Mai in Bohol some 8 months ago, together with her husband Buddy, and their family in Christ, Danny and Cory Varela of Shepherds Well. I have kept in touch with Mai through all those months, an attestation of the richness and warmth of our first meeting. When news of this seminar to be conducted by her came out, I was enthusiastic because I wanted to experience and be a beneficiary of her lifelong ministry.
The event was especially for all Christians seeking to learn basic event management starting with events planning. Often, I associated that term “events planning” only with grand weddings and debut parties. Not being a fan of such events, I would normally not be interested in such a seminar! However, since my conversion to Christianity, I have taken enormous interest in the work that Christians do. My desire is to find ways, through the experience and inspiration of other believers, to honor and glorify God in any work that I intend to do.
As basic as the seminar may have been, I benefitted richly from it. Mai’s proposition is that for the Christian, ALL events is ministry. This helped change my negative view of “events” as grand, glamorous and spiritually empty. Mai’s emphasis on a thorough and honest evaluation at the end of an event also struck me. This would be the true test of our motives for holding events.
Being a novice when it comes to formal planning, the PEPSB method was entirely new to me. It is a method that Mai herself has used in her own work – from large one-time or recurring events involving hundreds and thousands of people to smaller personal ones such as weddings and holidays.
PEPSB stands for Prayer, Establish Objectives, Program, Schedule and Budget. In some detail, this would be:
PRAY (What are you asking God for as you think of this event? What are some verses and promises that will guide you?)
ESTABLISH OBJECTIVES (What do you want to accomplish through this event? Who will be your target people for this?)
PROGRAM (What activities will hit your objectives? How will you reach them?)
SCHEDULE (What needs to be done by when?)
BUDGET (Who are the people who will work with you? How much money and what materials do you need?)
In all of my past planning life, the first step of PEPSB is the most unfamiliar. Prayer ensures that whatever I ask of God is in accordance to and not against His will. Bible reading at this first step establishes who owns the event and everything in it. There is tremendous peace and purpose at this very first step.
Mai asked participants to think of an event that they will be coordinating and make a plan using the PEPSB method. Some 10 minutes was allotted for this, followed by a sharing by one of the participants. The sharing was a wonderful and helpful part of the seminar! I wish more people were asked to share but there wasn’t enough time. Yet, the one who shared did so from the place of need and experience. They were organizing a youth event and referenced 1 Timothy 4:12-13
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
1 Timothy 4:12-13
That set the agenda for the event beautifully. Faithfulness to God is our focus! During the seminar, I never saw any instance of attempts or suggestions to make God’s Word better in planning an event. God’s Word is sufficient! Our events are for His glory.
I am so glad I managed to participate in this seminar. I have prayed for Mai and for everyone joining the seminar to be transformed by the Spirit’s power over those 90 minutes. And God answers prayers!
Let us also pray for Indigitous PH, a part of the Indigitous global initiative, led by its co-founder Russ Martin and motivated by his work in the Lausanne Movement. As the Lausanne Movement’s 3-decades long work in fostering Christian collaboration, missional strategy, and equipping leaders and influencers to fulfil the Great Commission, there is a need to see “missioning” in digital platforms expressed and practiced. Please pray that, like the example set in Mai’s little event management seminar, God’s Word set the tone, the purpose and the heart of all these efforts, and that we never stray.
Praise be to our LORD and Savior forever!
The Cost of Discipleship
Luke 14:28-35
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.