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William David Phillips Missionary to the Philippines EMAIL: david@nazarene.org.ph |
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David, Naomi, Amber and Nathanael arrived in the Philippines on July 2nd 1998 for their first missionary assignment. David is currently serving as the Field Director and Naomi serves as child sponsorship coordinator for the Philippines. Amber and Nathanael currently attend school at Faith Academy. Amber (16) is working her way through high school while Nathanael (14) is still in Middle School. They both enjoy their schooling and are developing many new friends. David is an ordained Elder in the Church of the Nazarene with about 12 years of pastoral experience and an Mdiv from Nazarene Theological Seminary. Naomi has her BRE from God's Bible School in Cincinnati OH and has worked closely with David in his pastoral work and in the businesses he has run. In addition to his pastoral experience, David has worked bi-vocationally in several businesses and as a computer consultant. As a result he has had the chance to assist setting up a national office for the Church of the Nazarene. Naomi's work as the missionary coordinator for the child sponsorship program gives her direct responsibility for 34 children and nearly 100 pastor's children in the Visayas / Mindanao area. Family Testimony David came to the Lord as a teenager in Indianapolis IN. He had not been raised in a Nazarene church but the neighbor who led him to the Lord was a local preacher in the South Port Church of the Nazarene. It was at Southport that David received a confirmation of his call to preach. The next year he enrolled in God's Bible School to prepare for the ministry. While there David was very active in ministry. He preached many street meetings, nursing home services, and did personal evangelism. He was also active as a Sunday School Teacher in one of the local city missions. Later he pastored that same mission for about 4 years. Since he had enrolled in the ThB program he had a five year track to finish school. Later he spent time as an unpaid assistant in the Newport Church of the Nazarene. Naomi began to attend the same mission David was pastoring and was assigned to the Adult Sunday School Class. When David received a call to missionary service in his Sophomore year they began to date and were married in 1984. Naomi was raised in a pastor's home in Washington Court House OH. Her father pastored several churches in the area first in the Bible Missionary Church and later in independent Holiness Churches. She had given her heart to the Lord as a child but it was in her late teens that she became a settled Christian. She received a call to missions in her early twenties at a missionary service. After resisting that call for some time she went to school at a small college in West Virginia. She transferred to God's Bible School in her Sophomore year and finished her degree there. David and Naomi's first child was born just two months after Naomi's graduation from college. Graduating in 1987 David, Naomi and now Amber moved to Kansas City to get the Master's of Divinity with a major in Missions. There they attended and then later pastored Beacon Hill Church of the Nazarene. (An inner city church in Kansas City MO). Nathanael was born there in Kansas City MO. David worked in several different jobs including United Parcel Service where he was a part-time supervisor for about 3 years. After graduation in 1994 The Phillips family moved to Fairfax OK where they pastored a small Nazarene Church in a town of 1700 people. This was a rural farming / ranching community. God gave them some success there with several people being saved and becoming members of the church. After two years World Mission asked them to move to an area of the United States that was more directly cross cultural. They moved to Devine TX just south of San Antonio (where the 1997 General Assembly was held). That area was about 60% Hispanic (or Mexican American). From there World Mission has asked them to come to the Philippines to assist in the Field Office. Living in Manila is a constant adventure. The Philippines is currently experiencing a great deal of turmoil. Please pray for this Country as they struggle with physical and political disasters.
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