Meet Alvin & Juana
Alvin, Juana, and Kaya Rebong joined our church in the fall of 2023 to be prepared to plant a future church as our next Church Planting Resident.
God is working beyond what we can ask or imagine through Anthem Church. One significant way is through Alvin & Juana, who joined our church last fall in partnership with Nate & Charlie from Converge Northwest to be prepared to plant a future church in the northwest. We know that church planting missions is needed because more and more churches have been closing their doors. In fact, I heard of four churches in the City of Bellevue, who ended last year by combining with other churches. While I’m grateful they found a church to join, I’m also sad that there are less churches in our area. Yet, we know God is working, and we believe that He is bringing the global church here, including Alvin & Juana, to reach people with God’s love, and to reinvigorate the American church by their character and passion for the Lord.
How did we meet the Rebongs? In 2021, I met them at Converge’s church planting assessment, along with Jeff & Beth Newcomer. At the time, we were so impressed by their love for God, their multiethnic ministry experience in Saipan, and their desire to reach the world that God is bringing to the northwest. Yet, between then and now, Alvin & Juana experienced numerous setbacks, including immigration challenges and a church that agreed to host them in Washington, but then changed their mind in the middle of this process. And so, we were given an incredible opportunity to partner with them.
What are we doing to help the Rebongs? In the next year, we are working with them to grow in their cross-cultural competence, to gain practical ministry experience in and through our church, and to develop a ministry plan for their future church planting initiative, including what’s needed for them to fundraise so they can continue to serve here full-time. And so, as we come alongside the Rebong family, I wanted to share some of their life story with you, and so that you can know a bit more about them as you join us in praying with and for them.
Here is Alvin’s testimony, which he shared with us:
“I lost my father when I was three years old, and so my mother raised me. When I was young, my brother was conflicted by what I could only explain as demon oppression. After my mother consulted many doctors, including a faith healer, it just worsened my brother's case. My mother was so tired, and felt hopeless. Now, during this time my sister was actively attending a Bible study. Her pastor and the church would pray for my brother, laying hands on him every morning and then after about three months, my brother was miraculously delivered from this. I witnessed it myself, how God delivered my brother, and so it caused me to believe that God was real and alive. Then my brother and my mother also became faithful followers of Jesus. All said, I gave my life to Jesus at 17 years of age.
Then God used me to start a church in one of the villages in our province in Eastern Samar. It was so challenging because we didn’t have enough resources, but also, because we were being persecuted by people, who didn’t want us there to share our faith because it was predominantly ‘Iglesia ni Kristo’ (a big religious sect in the Philippines). One night, as I was preaching in one of our outreach events, I felt something hit me in my back. I didn’t feel pain, but I felt something warm. After I preached, I found out that someone threw a bag of fresh urine at me. I was wet and stinky. Then I found out that a man who was drunk did it to me. So in the morning, I told my team that we will go to this man’s house and to share the gospel of God’s love with him. As we went to their house, the man was still sleeping. The wife asked us to come in and she was so ashamed when she came to know what her husband did to me. She offered us breakfast. We shared her the gospel, and she received Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Later, the husband too and the whole family wanted to become a Christian and they became one of our supporters.
After I graduated high school, I decided to enroll in a bible training institute in Samar, and then in a Four Square Bible College in Manila. I worked in the daytime and went to school at nighttime. By God’s grace, I finished my Bible College on time as I kept serving the Lord in Manila and while selling encyclopedias house to house. Also, I started going to the gym and eventually became a certified Fitness Trainer, which was a better job for me, allowing me to both cover my expenses and to serve in the ministry. In 2000, I had a chance to work in Saipan as a Fitness Trainer. Saipan is a small, beautiful island next to Guam. It is the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands and is a U.S. territory. So I opened a gym in a hotel there, and started serving in a church, where I became the Worship Leader and an Elder. I worked and served there for 23 years.
After getting married in 2017, I was the happiest man! I praise God that He has not only given me a wife but also a best friend and my partner in everything! In Saipan, we served together in the leadership of the church, in the Music Ministry, in the Evangelism and Discipleship Ministries and in outreach to different nationalities like Russians, Koreans, Chinese, Turkish and others. God used our passion for hospitality, and our training in ESL to share with them about Jesus and then as they responded, to invite them into small groups, to teach them, and see God grow them through His Word. I believe that is what God wants us to do, wherever we are: to make disciples that make disciples for all nations. This is my passion.
Then in 2020, after pursuing further education to be equipped for greater ministry opportunity, I graduated with a Master of Divinity in Pastoral Theology, which later developed into studying for my doctorate in pastoral theology, which I completed in 2023. So, with all of this education and ministry experience, our pastor in Saipan asked us to come to Washington to attend a church planting assessment by Converge. By God’s grace, we were recommended and so Converge Northwest processed our Religious visa. So, after 23 years of living and working in the island of Saipan, we prayed and felt God led us to leave Saipan for full-time ministry in the northwest to plant a church. It was not an easy goodbye because we loved everyone in Saipan. Yet the Lord opened doors again and again, and provided us with the visas we needed, and so we came here last fall of 2023 to begin a new work in the northwest. Praise the Lord! He has brought us here for the next chapter of our lives. We’re here to serve, to know Jesus more and more and to make Him known and to bring glory to His Name!”
Here is Juana’s testimony, which she shared with us:
“I came to know the Lord through a prison and radio ministry. My father got imprisoned when I was eight and so my family and I lived with him inside the jail for three years. As you can imagine, living in a prison was far from a normal life. And it was worsened by the fact that my mother was sick. She had a heart ailment and breast disease. Yet, at my young age, I came to hear God's word inside the jail being shared in a meaningful way through a prison ministry.
Then, as a high school student, I came to know The Lord in a deeper way through a Christian Radio Program. The Lord worked in my heart, transforming me in His love and mercy. I used to be unforgiving, but the Lord taught me to look at the offender through the eyes of His grace. By His great mercy and love, it was not only my life that He changed but also, my mom’s and my siblings too. They have also become followers of Jesus. Our life entirely changed.
Shortly after I became a Christian, I came to know about the unreached people groups in different nations. I learned that many of these people die every day without knowing Jesus. So, God gave me opportunities to serve Him not only in the Philippines, but He also in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, and China to teach English, to serve them and, as possible, to share the gospel.
Before I became a Christian, my dream was to have lots of money so that I could help my family be lifted out of poverty. But since I became a Christian, my ambition has been to honor the Lord and to usher souls to Him, souls from different tribes and nations! I am just in awe of how gracious and merciful the Lord is to open my spiritual eyes, to know Him, to reveal Himself to me, who is a nobody, a sinner, and to make me one of His workers! My only response is to worship Him and to say, Here I am, Lord, use me!”
Join us in praying for the Rebong family. With such an incredible testimony, we are honored to have this opportunity to partner with them in the gospel. Pray for them to gain the number of prayer and financial partners they need to start their church. Pray for us to effectively help them grow in their cross-cultural competence, and in ministry experience. Pray that God gives them clarity on where, and who He is leading them to love, and to share the gospel with in the northwest. And, if you’d like to hear more of their story, then contact us at info@anthemeastside.com.