Country Background
The Philippine Islands became a Spanish colony during the 16th century; they were ceded to the US in 1898 following the Spanish-American War. In 1935 the Philippines became a self-governing commonwealth. Manuel QUEZON was elected President and was tasked with preparing the country for independence after a 10-year transition. In 1942 the islands fell under Japanese occupation during WWII, and US forces and Filipinos fought together during 1944-45 to regain control. On 4 July 1946 the Philippines attained their independence. The 21-year rule of Ferdinand MARCOS ended in 1986, when a widespread popular rebellion forced him into exile and installed Corazon AQUINO as president. Her presidency was hampered by several coup attempts, which prevented a return to full political stability and economic development. Fidel RAMOS was elected president in 1992 and his administration was marked by greater stability and progress on economic reforms. In 1992, the US closed its last military bases on the islands. Joseph ESTRADA was elected president in 1998, but was succeeded by his vice-president, Gloria MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, in January 2001 after ESTRADA's stormy impeachment trial on corruption charges broke down and widespread demonstrations led to his ouster. MACAPAGAL-ARROYO was elected to a six-year term in May 2004. The Philippine Government faces threats from armed communist insurgencies and from Muslim separtists in the south.

Support of the mission

Sammy and Janel Sinco
Kalibo, Aklan
Jersey Village Church of Christ has supported missionaries in the Philippines for several years. We have a special tie to the church in Kalibo through Gloria Bishop, one of our members, who grew up in Kalibo and family still lives and worships there. A history of the church in Kalibo can be found here.

BARRY AND SHARI MURRELL

A detailed description of the Murrell's work is here.

Barry and Shari have four children: Jon is 22, Rachael is 20, Sara is 15, and Amy is 14. All are Christians and Jon and Rachael have gone through two years of training to be missionaries. Sara and Amy are busy with home schooling, and all of the kids are learning New Testament Greek – with their mother being their main teacher!

Barry and Shari both teach Greek at the Cebu Bible College. Their primary work however is with the Bible Study Center (BSC). They have been involved with this work for almost 20 years now. It is a study facility where they offer Bible courses to the general public that focus upon the goal of helping people to learn HOW to study the Bible for themselves. Because of supporters back home, they are able to provide all study materials and Bibles FREE to students. The program is organized around courses that meet once or twice a week for 6 weeks and they schedule their weekday class meetings in the early evenings (from 5:30-8:00 pm) so that people can stop by for a class at the BSC on their way home from work or school. It has been a very successful tool both for evangelism and for teaching church members. Typically, they have anywhere from 20-40 students enrolled in a session. Currently, they have about 30 different courses on file and continue to add new subjects as needed. Their most recent work has been to add more in-depth studies for church members. They now have several book studies AND a 2-year Greek study program open to regular members of the church! (They also have their main BSC course – Jesus: Man of the Bible – available in a correspondence course format.)

The Murrells are also involved with the Uptown Church of Christ in Cebu City which they helped to start in 1993. The congregation has about 50 adults and kids with a core group of about 10 members who handle most of the activities of the congregation.

Over the years, Barry and Shari have also been heavily involved in apprentice mission training. This is where those wishing to experience the mission field first hand come to Cebu City to work with the Murrells as their supervisors and mentors. They have had many come from the School of World Evangelism which was formerly located at the A&M church. Recently they have worked with apprentices from the AIM program in Lubbock. This includes their two oldest children (Jon and Rachael).

If you want some more info about the Murrell family and their work you can check out their website at http://www.biblestudycenter.net/index.html