ccm Cross 0091 Davao City, Philippines

ccm Cross 0091
November 6, 2015

Keith Williams Bible College
Pequeno, Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines
ccm Cross 0091

GPS/DMS Location

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Additional photos after Testimony

3936 cdd Breaking New Ground
Cyber Daily Devotion
Volume 16 Number 230

Today’s Author: Pastor Bill

Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:5-7a
“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle” KNJV

Dr. Keith M. Williams was born in 1915 in Rockwell, Iowa. A small town just South of Mason City on US Highway 65. A small farming community with some of the richest agricultural land on earth. But Keith was not destined to be a farmer as he heard a call from the Lord. He graduated from St. Paul Bible College in Saint Bonifacius, Minnesota.

After graduation Keith married his wife Mary and they pastored several churches in Minnesota. It was here that the Lord gave them a vision for missionary work. It was slow going at first. Keith had been used to Breaking New Ground on a farm with large tractors. But this was way different. Breaking New Missionary Ground far away took prayer, prayer and more prayer. It also took years of painstakingly detailed preparation. By 1954 Keith and Mary were all prayed up and sufficiently organized with key details in place. It was time to test their missionary vision half a world away.

Together they ventured all the way to the Philippines and scouted out Mindanao Island. It was a rugged and remote area. After their first trip it was determined that Mary would stay home and keep the campfires burning, while every year, Keith would spend a month on Mindanao. At the time there were precious few roads and no comforts on the island. Yes, they were finally Breaking New Ground for the Lord.

Keith faithfully returned to the Philippines year after year. In the early years he slept on a cargo ship anchored at port. Here he would map out his strategy to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ where no one else had gone. He traveled into the tribal areas deep within the jungle.

From his accommodations on the cargo ship Keith would venture out on horseback three or four days at a time. Traversing the rough terrain was demanding and at time brutal. His personal comforts set aside there were souls that needed Jesus Christ. He was known everywhere he went as the singing evangelist, a title he and Mary earned early in their marriage, as they ministered in Iowa and Minnesota.

Over the years Keith bought a tract of land and established a Bible school on Mindanao. Here, those who came to Christ could be taught the scriptures and teach others. Then he founded a second Bible school for those who could not reach the first one due to travel difficulties.

Keith celebrated his birthday in the Philippines, for all the 50 years he traveled. Year in and year out Keith was persistent for the Lord. He established churches and his ministry in the Philippines flourished and is still flourishing today.

As time progressed Keith and Mary moved to Watertown, South Dakota, and established a church and Bible camp. Eleven months each year Keith would be in South Dakota, but the twelfth month was reserved for the Philippines (and his birthday).

In the mid 1990’s, while on a trip to the Philippines, Keith had a stroke.

With a stroke in the highlands medical care was a long way away. Keith and his team made it to the Davao City hospital and Keith spent many months in stroke recovery. But guess what! The next year he was back in the Philippine Highlands, on Mindanao, ministering for the Lord Jesus Christ and celebrating his birthday.

Keith brought groups from America to help build, construct, teach and preach. Each group had moments that will live on as the power of the Holy Spirit changed lives and influenced people.

Today because one man stood up and lived his vision there are two Bible Colleges where nearly 70 percent of graduates become Pastors. And there are nearly 500 churches on the Philippine island of Mindanao influenced by the teaching of Keith, for Jesus Christ. They are not large cathedrals but community churches sprinkled all throughout the highlands over some of the roughest terrain on earth. His love for Filipinos and the burden for their souls was evident by his regular visits to the Philippines.

Glenn Dato-on is now the Director of Ministries, on Mindanao, and you can feel the respect he has for Keith, who passed away in 2009 (Mary 2010). Keith painstakingly built the ministry and I could sense that Glenn is determined to make sure all aspects of what Keith taught are handed down. He is now Breaking New Ground, with a third generation of students.

Glenn tells us, “The Cross is an inspiration and encouragement for life. Salvation was born on the Cross and Jesus paid the price for all who believe.

This specific Cross planted has been placed on a new tract of land that will soon hold our retreat complex. It is so fitting that it has arrived just now, as Dr. Keith Williams taught us volumes about the Cross. Victory through the Cross, healings through the Cross, deliverance through the Cross. And of course salvation through the Cross.

Pastor Bill, thank you for this Cross. It is a blessing that will be handed down from generation to generation because Jesus Lives.”

Prayer: Father thank you for Bible schools, Bible colleges, Bible universities and Christian Seminaries that teach all that Jesus instructed us to do, as preserved these many centuries, in the Bible. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!

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