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Bread of Life Ministries International
File:Bol new logo.jpg
Location	Crossroad Center, Mother Ignacia cor. Scout Reyes, Quezon City, Philippines
Country	Philippines
Denomination	Evangelical Christian Non-denominational
Membership	35,000 (2012)
Website	http://www.breadinternational.org/
History
Former names	Bread of Life Christian Fellowship
Status	Megachurch
Founded	1982
Founder(s)	Rev. Butch Conde
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Style	Modern
Groundbreaking	August 1993
Completed	November 1998
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)	Rev. Noel Tan

Bread of Life Ministries International (BOLMI; previous name Bread of Life Christian Fellowship; simply known as BOL or Bread) is an Evangelical megachurch founded by Rev. Caesar "Butch" L. Conde. Its mission and vision is to "Stabilize and expand what it has learned from God in prayer and the Word of God and to pass it on to other people, and also the beginning of revival in the country", which is inspired by Acts 1:8. Its current senior pastor is Rev. Noel Tan with its membership up to 35,000 people in all outreaches.

BOL celebrated its 30th Anniversary called "Perlas Ng Silangan: Bread of Life 30th Anniversary", the grand celebration held at the SMX Convention Center last November 18, 2012. Its headquarters are located at Crossroad Center, Mother Ignacia Avenue cor. Scout Reyes Street, Quezon City, Philippines.

History

In the early 1980s, Pastor Butch Conde, originally wanted to start a half-way house for prostitutes in Olongapo City, where the U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay was located. Until in August 1982, when the Lord gave the calling to the 12 people, including Pastor Conde, to start a new church in Loyola Heights, Quezon City. Marynoll College (now Miriam College), offered its auditorium to launch then "Bread of Life Christian Fellowship" and the first service gatherings on November 14, 1982. This continuously increased into hundreds by invitations of people and groups.

In 1984, from a gathering of 120 members in Maryknoll College, weekly attendance steadily increased to a thousand, BOL prompted to move temporarily to the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City on January 8 and 15, 1984. But later on January 22 on the said year, BOL worship gatherings transferred to Celebrity Sports Plaza in Capitol Hills, Quezon City to accommodate 1,200 members. Pastor Conde had always wanted to show that God Himself provides for Filipino churches, and the Filipinos must break free from colonial mentality. He always wanted to establish that how the Filipino can be independent from the foreign missionaries.

After the People Power Revolution in 1986, Pastor Conde drew inspiration from his Korea Prayer Study Tour and the Prayer Mountain experiences in South Korea, then BOL acquired a piece of land in the mountains in Rizal to build the country's and Southeast Asia's first Prayer Mountain facilities to spread the same spirit of prayer in the Philippines led to building the first Filipino prayer mountain facility on the said year, in 1988, BOL dedicated the Touch of Glory Prayer Mountain, its ministry of intensifying and deepening the prayer lives of the Filipino Christians through fasting. Today it continues as a place dedicated to restoration in prayer and has become a haven for believers from different churches and denominations to pray for the Philippines, Touch of Glory Prayer Mountain is located in Antipolo City, Rizal, an hour away from Manila.

On April 5, 1987, BOL services move to Circle Theater (now Circle Events Place) located at Timog Avenue, and started to divide into four worship gatherings every Sunday. Between 1989 and 1991, it was considered one of the fastest growing churches in the country with membership up to 2,000 people in 1992, and BOL changed its name to "Bread of Life Ministries". BOL also planted another central church in Makati, and had been planting church satellites nationwide.

In August 1993, BOL began building its own ministry center along Mother Ignacia Avenue in Quezon City. BOL is an indigenous church, which built without the help of foreign Christian churches, financial assistance, political support, or even with the church partnership, it was built by the Filipino Christians.

In 1996, BOL started to plant international outreaches reaching for Filipinos and other nationalities, they started by planting BOL USA in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego, California. On November 29, 1998, the church dedicated Crossroad77 (now known as Crossroad Center) and weekly attendance averaged up to 2,500 each of the four service gatherings. The rapid growth of the church can be attributed to the personal care of new members and neighborhood small groups presided by trained leaders, the ministry center also puts prayer rooms and it houses all the ministries of the church.

In 2001, BOL Makati split into two centers and transferred its worship services from Mondragon building to a larger space. BOL Makati is now located on Glorietta 4 (G4), and Greenbelt Onstage, the latter located at the Project Mosaic, 3F Greenbelt 1, Ayala Center, Makati City.

In 2002, several members of BOL and Board of Elders led by Pastor Conde established the Meridian International Learning Experience, a multi-lingual institution that attempts to shape its students into Godly, excellent, patriotic and competitive Filipinos, with the foundation rooted on the Bible, the call of the school is to build a new generation of Filipinos like the national hero Jose Rizal, it is also the commitment to continually build a strong university for Christ and the transformation of the country.

Core Values

The vision of BOL from the beginning of its ministry work up to present is to build a strong national uniqueness by becoming independent from foreign sources, to resdiscover Filipino Christian indigenous spirituality. BOL emphasizes the independence of the indigenous church and is challenging other denominational churches to revive their identity through God's word as well. This belief is founded on the distinction which BOL applied to the uniqueness of the Christian journey by emphasizing the centrality of Christ, the foundation of Scriptures, prayer, worship, operated by the power of God, the way of service through sacrifice and being people of faith. These are leading the members to responsible social involvement to help the whole nation in faith and prayer.

Controversy

On October 18, 2004, BOL released a paid advertisement in the Philippine Daily Inquirer entitled “Misplaced Priorities Can Mislead the Nation” as part of the Kingdom Of A Higher World series, written by then BOL Pastor Bong Saquing. The article featured an eleven-year-old girl, Faye San Juan, who claimed to win in an “Intercontinental Science Quiz Net” in Australia. The story tells that Faye topped the contest with the support of the Japanese embassy and was not accompanied by the Philippine government. After further scrutiny in the media, BOL began an investigation about the backgrounds of the girl and the mother, and found the whole story a hoax created by Faye's mother who is mentally ill. BOL and Associate Pastor Jesmael M. Montaña (head of the Kingdom of a Higher World write-ups) issued a public apology to the media and cancelled the column.

See also

• Protestants in the Philippines
• Prayer Mountain

References

1. Westerlund, David. (December 1996) Questioning the Secular State: The Worldwide Resurgence of Religion in Politics. New Work: St. Martin's Press (p 1331)
2. ^ Anderson, Allan and Tang, Edmond. (2005) Asian and Pentecostal: the charismatic face of Christianity in Asia.] London: Regnum Books (p 392 to 395)
3. - Bread of Life Contact Information
4. http://www.breadoflifeministriesinternational.org/aboutus-02.html
5. Anderson, Allan and Tang, Edmond. (2005) Asian and Pentecostal: the charismatic face of Christianity in Asia.] London: Regnum Books (p 393 to 394)
6. http://loqal.ph/travel-and-outdoors/2011/01/18/antipolo-prayer-mountain-is-an-ideal-place-for-a-spiritual-retreat/
7. http://solutionsgeneral.com/PDF/buildings.pdf
8. ^ Anderson, Allan and Tang, Edmond. (2005) Asian and Pentecostal: the charismatic face of Christianity in Asia.] London: Regnum Books (p 391 to 392)
9. ^ Anderson, Allan. (2004) An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity. London: Cambridge University Press(p 131)
10. http://www.breadoflifeusa.org/?q=aboutus
11. http://www.projectmosaic.info/about/ Bread of Life Makati
12. http://themeridian.edu.ph/history.html History of The Meridian
13. http://themeridian.edu.ph/visionmission.html
14. Anderson, Allan and Tang, Edmond. (2005) Asian and Pentecostal: the charismatic face of Christianity in Asia.] London: Regnum Books (p 394 to 395)
15. Cabaero, Nini B. "- E-mail hoax of the year", SunStar, Cebu November 14, 2004.
16. Pascual, Federico. "Post Script: Why use Faye to score political points vs gov't?" The Philippine Star, Manila, November 7, 2004
17. Sison, Jose. "A Law Each Day", The Philippine Star, Manila, November 5, 2004
18. Pascual, Federico. "Post Script", It's official and final: - Faye told us a Fairy Tale." The Philippine Star, Manila, November 14, 2004

External links

• http://www.breadinternational.org - Bread of Life Main - Official Website

• Christianity in the Philippines
• Megachurches
• Pentecostalism
• Religious organizations established in 1982
• Churches in Quezon City
• 1982 establishments in the Philippines