Now more than ever, people are questioning if the Bible is actually silent or relevant on issues we’re facing today that the early church may not have confronted during their time. But since we know and believe that the Word of God is “alive and active”, shouldn’t we be looking to the Bible to answer questions that are confusing and dividing us? Questions like…
Is the Bible reliable?
Is God against prosperity?
Should women be in ministry?
How do I love my LGBTQ neighbor?
Is depression a faith issue?
Is God still good despite suffering and injustice?
Join us as we try to tackle these things and more in The Bible and Hard Questions, the first OMF Lit Bible Conference on February 1, 2020, 8:30AM - 6PM at the International Baptist Church of Manila, Makati City.
We’ve curated some of the difficult topics that Christians are afraid to ask and asked experts in their respective fields to try and make sense of these questions. The speakers and the topics include:
The Bible and Women in Ministry: Should women be involved and lead in ministry? - Dr. Melba Maggay
The Bible and Prosperity: Does God not want us to be rich? - Pastor Mel Caparros
The Bible and Depression: Am I depressed because I don’t have enough faith? - Dr. Rico Villanueva
The Bible and Scriptural Authority: Is the Bible the authoritative source for our faith and practice? - Reverend Edgar B. Ebojo, PhD
The Bible and the LGBTQ issue: How do I love my LGBTQ neighbors? - Pastor Philip Arandia
The Bible and Tragedy: Is God still good despite suffering and injustice - Pastor Glenn De Guzman
Registration for the conference is P500, inclusive of lunch, snacks, and conference materials. You can register through any of the following:
OMF Lit Bookshops in Luzon (Boni, Greenbelt 1, Il Terrazzo, Pergola, )
Eventbrite (Paypal and credit card)
Sign-up form (bank deposit, PayMaya, GCash)
Bank Deposit Details (Account Name: OMF Literature Incorporated)
Metrobank Account #: 086-3010525152
BPI Account #: 1891-0527-03
BDO Account #: 007620006335
G-Cash and PayMaya: 09564951223
This event is brought to you by OMF Literature in cooperation with Philippine Bible Society, Our Daily Bread Ministries, and International Baptist Church of Manila.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
DR. MELBA MAGGAY
Based in the Philippines: A writer and a social anthropologist, Melba Padilla Maggay holds a doctorate in Philippine Studies, a masteral degree in English Literature, and a first degree in Mass Communication. A specialist in intercultural communication, she was Research Fellow on the subject at the University of Cambridge under the auspices of Tyndale House, applying it to the question of culture and theology. She has lectured on this and other cross-cultural issues worldwide, including a stint as Northrup Visiting Professor at Hope College, Michigan and Visiting Lecturer at All Nations Christian College in England.
Dr. Maggay has also written numerous books and articles on social, cultural and theological issues, published here and globally. Her book, Transforming Society, was first published in England and has been translated in Spanish, Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia. Pahiwatig, her ground-breaking book on Filipino communication patterns, is the first to explore a culture-specific communication theory. She is also the author of the book Living Faithfully in a Multicultural World published by OMF Literature.
She currently sits in the governing boards of a number of NGOs and church organizations including the Center for Community Transformation, the Knowledge Center for Religion and Development in The Netherlands and the International Council of InterServe. She continues to be part of the International Board of Reference of the Micah Network, an alliance of more than 600 faith-based development organizations worldwide. She was member of the Founding Board of the International Life and Peace Institute, a peace research organization based in Uppsala, Sweden ( 1985-1990 ), and of the International Christian Media Commission in the US and UK ( 1989-1991 ). As a social anthropologist, Dr. Maggay is resource speaker and consultant on culture, social change and development issues. A frequent speaker and participant-expert in international conferences, Dr. Maggay travels widely and has had cross-cultural experience in over 40 countries in all five continents.
PASTOR MEL CAPARROS
Pastor Carmelo “Mel” Caparros II is the Senior Pastor of Living Word Christian Churches of Cebu International Incorporated. Living Word is a group of over 100 churches — with more than 10,000 members — across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in the Philippines, as well as Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
He graduated with a BA in Communication Arts from De La Salle University in 1981. He then worked with Advertising and Marketing Associates, handling some prestigious accounts. It was after his stint with this company that he became a Christian in 1982, as he witnessed the changed life of his brother, Jesus Caparros.
He continued his studies at the Asian Theological Seminary, Word for the World Bible School and Immanuel Bible College. He graduated from the International Bible Institute of London (Cebu Extension) and received a diploma in Biblical Studies. He also completed a course in Biblical Counseling under the Overseas Instruction in Counseling.
He is presently completing a Masteral level course at The Expositor’s Academy which is connected with the Master’s Seminary. Pastor Mel has a regular TV program, “Living Word TV”, which is broadcasted over cable on ABS-CBN in Cebu and Dumaguete. He also has a regular Wednesday and Sunday program called “Cloud of Glory” on DYFR 98.7 FM.
Pastor Mel has spoken in conferences and seminars across the Philippines and in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. He and his wife Ana Maria have three adult children, Timothy Joseph, Aaron Joshua and Hannah Mariel. He is also the author of OMF Literature's 2018 bestselling book, Enough is Enough.
DR. RICO VILLANUEVA, PhD
Rev. Dr. Federico "Rico" Villanueva is presently the Publications Secretary of the Asia Theological Association (ATA) and the General Editor of the Asia Bible Commentary series (ABC), a multi-volume commentary of each book of the Bible in the Asian context. He is also part-time consultant of Philippine Bible Society. Prior to pursuing his PhD, he served for nine years (1995-2004) as pastor of Life Gospel Church, an evangelical church located in V. Luna, Quezon City. While pastoring, he was invited at Alliance Graduate School where he taught from 2002-2013. He did his PhD research on the book of Psalms under Professor Gordon Wenham (Trinity College, Bristol) and Professor John Day (Oxford University). His dissertation on the psalms of lament was published by BRILL in 2008 under the title, “The Uncertainty of a Hearing: A Study of the Sudden Change of Mood in the Psalms of Lament.” Upon returning from the United Kingdom he resumed his teaching and later took on the job with ATA as general editor and writer of Bible commentaries. He also preaches regularly in churches and teaches part-time in Asia Graduate School of Theology and Society of the Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay.
Ptr. Rico is the author of the books, It's OK to be NOT OK and Lord, I'm Depressed: The Lament Psalms & Depression both published by OMF Literature.
He is married to Rosemarie and have two children, Emier and Faye.
REVEREND EDGAR EBOJO, PhD
Edgar is a Global Translation Adviser (GTA) of the United Bible Societies, and concurrently a member of the PBS Management Committee and one of the Translation Consultants of PBS. He was the Publishing Manager of the Philippine Bible Society (PBS) since 2001 until his appointment to UBS in 2017. He earned his degrees from the Bethel Bible College (Bachelor of Christian Ministry), Philippine Uniting Theological Seminary (Master of Intercultural Studies), Asian Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity in Biblical Studies), and Trinity Theological College-Singapore (Master of Theology in Biblical Exegesis and Translation Studies). His main interest is in Biblical Studies and ancient manuscripts as they relate to the transmission history of the Christian Scriptures through the ages. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Birmingham-UK, and had the rare opportunity to personally examine Papyrus 46—the oldest surviving manuscript witnessing to the Pauline Epistles. His doctoral pursuit was made possible through the partnership of the PBS, the Singapore Bible Society, the United Bible Societies, and the Langham Partnerships. He is an ordained Pentecostal minister since 1989. He is married to Irene and they are blessed with a gorgeous son, Dayao Nathan-El.
PASTOR PHILIP MANUELSON ARANDIA, M.Div., MA, PhD (cand.)
Philip is an assessment specialist, clinical consultant, psychotherapist, educator and a pastor. His credentials include partnerships with various sectors – religious organizations, educational institutions, government agencies, private companies and other humanitarian organizations, as a service provider of an array of trainings, consultancies, team building and others. He is an on-call part-time lecturer of Applied Psychology at UP Diliman Extension Program in Pampanga and Psychology program at Messiah College, teaching undergraduate psychology subjects. He is also a specialist in PsychPros providing psychological assessment and psychotherapy. He is a pastor of Philippine Missionary Fellowship. He is an alumnus of University of the Philippines, Diliman and Asian Theological Seminary. He is also an active member of International Society of Psychology, Counseling and Education where he presents evidence-based research on his profession and exchanges ideas with other experts across the globe.
PASTOR GLENN DE GUZMAN
Pastor Glenn, as founding director of Back to the WORD! Ministries is passionate about challenging and leading fellow believers in churches, families and individuals towards a wholehearted commitment to God’s Word, the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. His teaching, mentoring and preaching ministries focus on calling fellow believers to understand God’s design for daily living and how Christian discipleship needs to be holistic.
Professionally, Pastor Glenn currently serves as IJM Philippines’ National Corporate Activation and Partnership Lead where he provides leadership in developing and driving the execution of activation and partnership strategy to mobilize the Corporate Sector to resource Aftercare models of care, to support criminal justice system budget and policy advocacy and to include IJM’s Theory of Change in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda of key corporate partners to achieve maximum impact for national and global strategies to end the Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC) in the Philippines. Prior to his current role, Pastor Glenn served as IJM’s Church Mobilization Manager for the Visayas for more than 4 years.
A transformational preacher of God’s Word, Pastor Glenn believes that the Gospel is the most powerful tool for life transformation. Recently, Pastor Glenn launched his YouTube channel called ‘Tungkol SaMEN”, a platform he now uses to be able to speak on issues and matters that impact men of his generation, the Gen-X generation. Saved by grace himself, Pastor Glenn has been striving to live daily by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit for the last 54 years. Glenn is crazy about his wife, Mai and is still learning how to be the best dad to Margaux, Keefe and Glenn Leonard.
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ABOUT THE VENUE
International Baptist Church of Manila
140 H.V. Dela Costa, Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines
