[00:00:00] ​Intro

[00:00:02] Larry: I told him, Pastor Luis, since 2003 until now, my heart has always been fully surrendered to God. It's just that I knew if any decision to become a pastor was to become final, it will have to be prayed for.

[00:00:15] Larry: So in April 2006 when I told him, I'm ready to really cross that line, not be a lay pastor but a full time pastor the analogy I can give you this was like jumping from a plane without a parachute and expecting God to catch me below. You know what? How much I trusted God, Pastor Luis and I never talked about money. 

[00:00:36] Larry: from the start. And until now, I've never talked about money with my board either. all my colleagues said what happened to you, Larry?

[00:00:43] Larry: Are you going through a midlife crisis? Because I was 42 at that time, I was at the height of my earning capacity. And people expected me to earn more. I could have. and it's not just my colleagues, even people inside the church. My fellow elders also said the [00:01:00] same 

[00:01:00] Larry: They basically just wanted clarity. Why are you doing this? 

[00:01:04] Larry: Never was I tempted to go back, to what I left. I believe with all my heart, if God calls you to something, He prepares you long ahead. And then when you're there, He continues to be with you every step of the way. 

[00:01:16] Debbie : From scalpel to scripture, life saving to soul saving, one man, two vastly different worlds. This is the extraordinary pivot of Pastor Larry Pabiona. For over 16 years, he wasn't just a neurosurgeon, a hospital CEO. Now, he leads Greenhills Christian Fellowship, one of Philippine's most influential mega church with a global impact. What exactly does it take to walk away from prestige for purpose?

[00:01:45] Debbie : How do leadership skills translate across radically different fields? Join us as we unpack this journey of transformational leadership, resilience and a definition of success. This is Skin in the Game, I'm Debbie [00:02:00] Go and it's a privilege to welcome Pastor Larry Pabiona to the show. Pastor Larry thank you so much for being here today

[00:02:08] Larry: Sure, Debbie. It's an honor to speak about what God has done for my life and for the people I'm taking care of right now. Greenhills Christian Fellowship. 

[00:02:16] Debbie : You went from saving lives in the operating room to transforming lives in the ministry. Can you take us back to when you first felt God calling you to ministry?

[00:02:28] Larry: In 2003, I became chairman of our board of elders in the church. And that's the time that the senior pastor then took an interest in me. He started meeting me on a regular basis. At first, purely for friendship and then eventually he would be very frank with me and tell me that he sensed that God had a call on my life to full-time ministry.

[00:02:49] Larry: At that time, I was in the middle of my profession as a doctor and of course, I dismissed it as a half joke but 2003, we have a one-year [00:03:00] term as chairman, 2004, and he, continued to stay with me, mentoring me and then 2005 when I was, part of a big meeting at that time he introduced me before I spoke as a pastor and I felt that was again part of his humor. After that meeting, he said I want to really affirm to you that God has a call on your life and that was late 2005 and 

[00:03:29] Larry: In 2006 I was again the chairman of the Board Elders Incoming. He told me can I commission you before the church as a lay pastor. In other words you continue being a doctor but you will also be called pastor because I'll commission you so you'll be a lay pastor. I said ok so in January 2006, he commissioned me before the church as a lay pastor, announcing that from now on, you do not just call him Doctor Larry Pabiona, you also call him Pastor Larry [00:04:00] Pabiona. Fast forward, three months later, while I was a chief executive of a private hospital in the Philippines, a large one. After those three months was a time of, you know, soul searching. And during those three months, God made it clear to me that the way it started back in 2003 until 2006 was really his process of preparing me to step out in faith. And so in April 1 of 2006, I told Pastor Luis Pantoja, my mentor and our senior pastor, that I believe that God been using you to make his calling clear to my life. And so in April of 2006, he commissioned me a second time after four months. This time as a full-time pastor. And I basically left the medical profession Became a full-time pastor since then.

[00:04:50] Debbie : How did your wife, Joy, and children initially responded when you shared your decision to leave medicine, and how did you address them as a family?

[00:04:59] Larry: My wife said she saw it coming part of the reason that, God's call was affirmed to me was because the private hospital I was leading you know, there for profit. And part of my being the chief executive was to oversee two layoffs. The first one, I felt very bad. After the second one, I said, this is not what I want to do the rest of my life. You know, making some wealthy people even wealthier Feeling very bad about moral ethical decision I had to make. So that second layoff was like the the straw that broke the camel's back. My wife saw all of that coming. She knew that it was just inevitable that I'd enter the ministry. It was my children that I had to really be concerned about. And again 

[00:05:43] Larry: Pastor Luis Pantoja he told me because I shared my concern with him. Can I have a date with your three children? My children at that time were all pre-teens 

[00:05:53] Larry: They're just a year and a half apart, not really spaced very well. So he talked to them. He [00:06:00] took them out on a lunch date and he told them this is what your father did. 

[00:06:04] Larry: You know what? When they went back my kids they said we like what the Pastor Luis did. And they never struggled since then. 

[00:06:12] Larry: I mean, at least visibly.  For me they never said why did you do this dad? We used to have a very nice life You could have anything we wanted. They never said that at least out loud. They may have felt that but never did my children ever overtly rebel against their father leaving the so -called, prestige and financial blessings of the medical profession and becoming a pastor. So that was God's way of taking care of my family. Pastor Luis was a very big part of that. 

[00:06:43] Debbie : Pastor Larry, leaving a prestigious medical profession carries high societal expectations , and financial implications. How did you reconcile leaving that behind? Did you wrestle with doubt? What were the external or even internal obstacles you face? And how did you work through them?

[00:06:59] Larry: When  I finally met Pastor Luis in April 2006, I actually explained it to him this way and I wanna share this with the audience this time. I told him, Pastor Luis, since 2003 until now, my heart has always been fully surrendered to God. It's just that I knew if any decision to become a pastor was to become final, it will have to be prayed for.

[00:07:22] Larry: But my heart was always open. So in April 2006 when I told him, I'm ready to really cross that line, not be a lay pastor but a full time pastor. The analogy I can give you this was like jumping from a plane without a parachute and expecting God to catch me below. You know what? How much I trusted God, Pastor Luis and I never talked about money. He, a typical Pastor did not mention to me this is how much you receive. Me

[00:07:51] Larry: not having expected anything, you know the world expects that pastors do not make money. And so I never also brought it [00:08:00] up with him. So neither he or I talked about money from the start. And until now, I've never talked about money with my board either. So that was it. It's like jumping from a plane no parachute and expecting Lord, you got to catch me. All my colleagues said what happened to you, Larry?

[00:08:16] Larry: Are you going through a midlife crisis? Because I was 42 at that time, I was at the height of my earning capacity. And people expected me to earn more. I could have. And it's not just my colleagues, even people inside the church. My fellow elders also said the same 

[00:08:32] Larry: They basically just wanted clarity. Why are you doing this? 

[00:08:36] Larry: Never was I tempted to go back, to what I left. The hardest part was probably the first couple of years. Because there's a lot of adjustment in budget, lifestyle and so on. Those were the things that I had to wrestle with, but God helped me overcome them. I believe with all my heart, if God calls you to something, He prepares you long ahead. And then when you're there, He continues to be with [00:09:00] you every step of the way. 

[00:09:01] Debbie : Your medical profession, your background demands precision , analytical thinking , and a deep understanding of human anatomy. How has your training in the medical field uniquely equip you for ministry and shape your leadership at GCF?

[00:09:15] Larry: Well, because my training was in Surgery, I had a lot of time in the operating room, you cannot go through a procedure without having at least a mental list. In my case whether it's preaching or whether it's, doing an operation, you have to do the same. There's a checklist I go through. In fact, it's written down. It's not mental. I go through it when I prepare a message. I go through it before I preach. So, that's what I got from my medical training. The passion for precision, the passion to prepare well. So preparation and precision which are very essential in the medical profession were also a great preparation for me to do the [00:10:00] same in the ministry. Of course, in the ministry there's a third P that's Prayer. So preparation, precision and prayer that's how they all came together and I believe that was also God's unique way of preparing me because that was a blessing and one more.

[00:10:17] Larry: it's handling a hospital. I believe it was a business guru who said that if there is one job that's very difficult, he said, one of them is to be the CEO of a hospital, another is to be the pastor, another is to be a president of a country. And I, in a sense handled, two of them.

[00:10:35] Larry: My leading, two for profit hospitals consecutively three years each, prepared me because there are many similarities between running a hospital and a church. Running hospital, for example, you have to work with doctors in the Philippines, who are not employees. So you have to find ways and means of getting these very high quality trained and often very prestigious [00:11:00]doctors to work with the hospital in a mutually beneficial way. And when you go to the ministry, it's the same. You have to work with so-called ministry volunteers. You're not paying them so how do you work with them in such a way that they do things for the Lord, not because of you, but for the Lord. And again, you have nothing over them. You don't hold them because you pay them. So those are very similar situations that made it easier for me to adapt to the church setting that my experience also in running a hospital for six years before I became a pastor.

[00:11:39] Debbie : Thanks for drawing that parallel in terms of leadership, Pastor Larry. We've seen how GCF's across the Philippines, into Canada, and now Dubai is quite remarkable. How do you maintain a unified vision and culture across such a geographically dispersed community? What approaches have you implemented to [00:12:00] foster connection and discipleship?

[00:12:02] Larry : Once a year, we gather all the pastors from our thirty local churches one setting, in a camp. And it's the mother church who spends for that. We spend for it, including the chairman of the elders, so that they could be together with us, and renew relationships. And whenever we plant churches, or whenever our daughter churches plant churches, so that makes the mother church a grandma church, we always emphasize that if you want to retain the GCF name, you have to keep our doctrinal statement.

[00:12:35] Larry : And so those two things a yearly gathering, then number two, the requirement that if they want to carry our family name, which is Green's Kitchen Fellowship, they have to maintain our same doctrinal statement. 

[00:12:48] Larry: And the third one is we have a pastor who's fully focused on maintaining this relationship. That's his only job description to continue communicating with each of the daughter churches and making [00:13:00] sure that that we are updated about what's happening with them. And even though we in a sense, require them to be independent after 3 to five years, whenever a church is planted by the mother church, in particular we require them to be independent so that the pastor that we put there has a goal to work towards. 

[00:13:16] Larry: Teaching the congregation to realize that giving is part of worship. Of course by God's grace, after much prayer growing the congregation is a practical means to make sure you'll become financially independent. 

[00:13:31] Larry : So that's how we maintain a unified vision and culture. 

[00:13:36] Larry: Our new branches in Dubai for example, we have a constant communication this time through either Viber or Messenger and through Facebook. And we're using the best that technology can give us so that we could continue this communication with our daughter church. And one last thing is we have a group of volunteers that we call the Kapwa Ministry. [00:14:00] Kapwa in Tagalog is a term that 

[00:14:02] Larry: means brotherhood . So it's a brotherhood ministry that maintains  a visible on site presence by visiting our daughter churches, at least in the Philippines from time to time. At least once a year is the target, So that  they will see us not just once a year when we have the gathering, which is is usually February, but after February, one more time during the year, they have a physical on-site presence of people from the mother church. Maybe just to give a sense to our listener, how big is the GCF mother branchcompared to Canada and Dubai in terms of membership.

[00:14:39] Larry: The Mother Church averages right now about 2 ,500 on -site and about 500 to 600 live stream audience every weekend. That's about 3 ,000, more or less if you combine the two. 

[00:14:54] Larry: So that enables the Mother the church by God's grace, purely all to God's glory to have the [00:15:00] resources to keep planting churches because even though we encourage our daughter churches to plant churches. We still as the mother church, we keep planting churches because I believe that's God's mandate for a church, you know, equipping and inspiring its members to share the gospel in their circles of influence and then as a corporate body, planting new churches.

[00:15:21] Larry: I believe that's how the Great Commission is carried out. So that's how we do it then.

[00:15:28] Debbie: As a senior pastor what are some of the greatest joys you've witnessed in seeing lives transformed through the ministry? And conversely, what are some of the persistent challenges you face in leading such a dynamic church?

[00:15:41] Larry: Some of the greatest joys I've witnessed is seeing people come to faith. Whether it's through the pulpit or through small groups that I teach or witnessing one-on-one. For example, we now have an every Wednesday night ministry that we call the Ortigas Community Outreach. Ortigas is the neighborhood surrounding the church itself.

[00:16:04] Larry: It's composed of about 70% corporate, high rise buildings and 30% residential high rise buildings. And so every Wednesday night 

[00:16:15] Larry: I together with,  church volunteers we go out around the church and we invite people into the hall of the church, and ask them to have coffee and donut. 

[00:16:25] Larry: If they say no, I'm busy we give them a track. And those who come in, there's a group of people trained to witness. They share the gospel. At least 20 to 30 people every Wednesday night from the community. Those just walking around the church. They come to faith in Christ. Last night when we were doing this, I was told by one of the volunteers, because I prefer to be out on the street.

[00:16:49] Larry: I want my flock to be the ones witnessing. Because I want them to experience that joy of leading people to Christ. When we were out there on the street, one of the volunteers pointed me to [00:17:00] somebody whose face was not so familiar. He said, Pastor, you see that lady? Yes. The one with the mask?

[00:17:05] Larry: Yes. She has come full circle. What do you mean? She is a product of this ministry. She got saved. And now she's out here on the street inviting people. And that for me was WOW! 

[00:17:17] Larry: Wonderful! So that's part of it Debbie, seeing people get saved whether through the pulpit, or through small groups or one on one witnessing. That's the joy I have in the ministry. By the grace of God, repairing marriages of people. Because, even as Christians, marriages aren't perfect. Sometimes you counsel this broken couple who are on the verge of leaving each other and then they forgive each other and after they forgive each other, 80 to 90 percent of the time they have another baby. Joy is like that, you know, and seeing pastors they grow for many years before the lockdown, I had this group of lay people who came from [00:18:00] various professions, businessmen, executives. I mentored them on how we do the sermon series. 

[00:18:08] Larry: And from that group, most of our new home pastors have come. So, all our home pastors right now are young people who are homegrown. And that's another joy of the ministry.

[00:18:21] Larry: Seeing the future of the church come from within the church. And these are the people who, like me, left everything to become a pastor. Now those are the joys. Now challenges wise,

[00:18:33] Larry: the larger, the church the bigger the problems. One challenge is to always inspire and equip God's people the flock 

[00:18:40] Larry: to share the gospel in their Monday to Saturday lives. I have to keep reminding the people, the full -time staff here, your pastors and missionaries, we are not the people whom God expects to win the world.

[00:18:54] Larry: God expects to win the world through all of us combined. And that is the [00:19:00] congregation who are listening on the weekend. After this your Monday to Saturday lives, you are the witnesses. So that's the constant challenge. How do you inspire and equip them to be people sharing the gospel in their circles of influence. Because that's the only way I believe that the Great Commission is fulfilled. Members witnessing and churches planting. Another challenge is, sometimes somebody will tell me, Oh, so and so family they went to so and so church because they handle the word differently. How? What they look for what's popular. And that's the main topic. They really do surveys and ask what will make you come back next week. And they base their sermon series on that. Are we going to do the same, Pastor? I tell them no, we go to the Bible, book by book, paragraph by paragraph, verse by verse, And I believe God in his sovereignty will address that with the Word of God to their real life situations. And I said, that's the way we continue to do it. We will not [00:20:00] adjust our message because that's not the way God wants us to do it. We do not believe in an attraction ministry. We sometimes have to sadly see young people go to an attractional ministry. There's still prosperity theology. It's still very common in Metro Manila. There are churches that will tell you, if you are faithful to God, God will bless you with health and wealth, or at least blessings. He's obliged to bless you if you're faithful those are some of the challenges we have prosperity theology and attractional ministry. We cannot descent to that level. We just have to continue faithfully preaching the word, loving people for God and loving people through God until God transforms them.

[00:20:44] Larry: So those are some of the challenges we face in leading a church like Greenhills Christian Fellowship in an urban setting.

[00:20:52] Debbie : What's unique about GCF is we're very much a Bible-based church. Is there a favorite life [00:21:00] verse for you, that you've abide by throughout your journey?

[00:21:04] Larry: It's 2 Chronicles 69. For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth, that he may show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is completely His. That's my life verse. My aspiration in life is for God to own me completely. To be that person described there. To be completely his. That's the epitaph I want my tomb. That's what guides me. To be a man so fully given over to God, that God can search through my innermost being and say, there's nothing in Him that competes with me. He's completely mine. And I have all of Him. That's my aspiration. That's my verse That's what keeps me going. 

[00:21:50] Debbie : Leading a large congregation is undoubtedly demanding. So how do you nurture your own spiritual well being and maintaining a sense of personal renewal 

[00:21:59] Larry: It's the prayer and the ministry of the word, which is the basic expectation of an elder of the church or pastor because for us, they're interchangeable, elder or pastor. So that's the way we minister to people, that's the way God ministers to us. When the Bible says, pray without ceasing, it means that you actually live in a state of prayer. And it's one of the privileges of the ministry because there's nothing else in front of you but serving God and reading His word and sharing His word and loving God's people. 

[00:22:32] Larry: It sort of guides you into a state of prayer 24/7. 

[00:22:37] Larry: The first thing you do when you wake up is to pray the last thing you do before you go to sleep is to pray and in between you have a constant state of prayer aside from those times of extended prayer when you have a list of people to pray for.

[00:22:52] Larry: So, it's prayer. And you just realize how real God is in the way that He will give answers to this prayer. [00:23:00] And then the other one is God's Word. I make it a point that I never preach anything that I have not enjoyed personally first or teach anything even to a small group. I got that from Charles Spurgeon's biography where he said, I will not give away honey that I have not tasted for myself. So I make sure I make a quiet time of everything I'm about to preach or teach and just really enjoy it and then soak in it. And then out of the overflow of your own enjoyment that's what you preach and teach. And that's aside from your own personal systematic study of the Bible, you cannot depend on what you're going to preach and teach as you're way of studying the Bible. You have to have your own time where God will you know where you have no agenda except to hear God speak to you personally. What else? because we're empty nest. My wife and I 

[00:23:54] Larry: we spend a lot of time just going together, doing things together. We do not have a lot of [00:24:00] complicated joys right now. It's just seeing our kids every weekend.

[00:24:04] Larry: It's part of it. Two of them are married out of three. Spending time with God's people, because we're empty nest. There's no such thing for me as working at least 68 hours a week. For me, if you count the number of hours I've offered to the church, it's every waking hour. So that's way more than 60 -80 hours a week. But I enjoy it. I don't consider it work, drudgery or obligation. It's something I enjoy. I am always recommended by my fellow elders to take a vacation and I just don't know how to take long vacations. 

[00:24:40] Larry: What will I do when I have such a long time doing nothing 

[00:24:43] Larry: and they said learn to do nothing so I am starting to learn to do nothing but I just haven't gotten used to doing it longer than three or five days. I have to learn to take longer vacations. So that's, that's the way I do it Deb [00:25:00]

[00:25:00] Larry: I let God address me through His Word. I speak to Him. The ministry itself for me is relaxing. It's stressful and relaxing at the same time. So, I don't know if that makes sense, but that's how I enjoy it. 

[00:25:15] Debbie : Totally makes sense, Pastor Larry. Now, your journey has taken you from the physical to the spiritual realm of healing as a doctor and now as a pastor. How has this shaped your understanding of suffering and how do you reconcile the human hardship and pain with our loving God.

[00:25:32] Larry: Oh wow, that's a great question. I remember saying this before out loud. When I was younger, my favorite author until now actually is A W Tozer. In one of his articles, he said, God cannot use a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply. 

[00:25:51] Larry: When I was younger, I couldn't swallow that. 

[00:25:53] Larry: I said what kind of God will first hurt you deeply so he can use you greatly?

[00:25:58] Larry: Now that I've been a [00:26:00] senior pastor for 14 years, I want you to know he is 100 percent spot on. This pastorate has cost me some of the biggest heartaches I've ever been through in my life. And at the same time the joys 

[00:26:16] Larry: have been much bigger than those heartaches. And so that's my understanding of the necessity of suffering and brokenness in the ministry. And I want to tell that to everyone who's looking at ministry, especially if God calls you to a ministry where it it is everything you do, what people call full -time ministry. God cannot use you greatly until he has hurt you deeply. When I look at my my pastors and I'm already thinking of succession planning as early as now I always look for those who are broken. And I say this is the most broken among them all them all this guy has potential. That's how I look at potential. If God has broken you

[00:26:55] Larry: if God has made you go to suffering, you'll probably be a good pastor. [00:27:00] If

[00:27:00] Larry: you haven't been broken if enough, if you've been always successful you're always commended by people. That's a warning for me. Ah, he's not yet broken enough Lord. Maybe this guy need to go through some more things before he could be ready for greater things. So that's how God and the ministry have shaped my understanding of suffering. suffering is a necessity. When Paul said that, in Philippians 3, 8 to 10, that I have counted all things lost, in view of the greater privilege of knowing Christ, he's, my Lord, he said, I want to know Christ, His resurrection, and also what it means to fellowship in His sufferings. He meant that I know that suffering is necessary to understand everything Christ went through. I am willing to go through that. And that's actually the calling of every pastor yours truly included. To be willing to go through suffering because that's how God will make you depend on Him. So that when God [00:28:00] allows blessings to happen in the ministry, you will never congratulate yourself.

[00:28:04] Larry: You will always say, Soli Deo Gloria. This is all the work of God. What a privilege to have had a part in it, no matter how small. So that's how suffering, bless us in ministry. It makes you depend on God and it makes you glorify God when the good things happen, when the fruit is there.

[00:28:22] Debbie : The notion of brokenness is very different in the world. We always put on a cloak of invisibility. We always talk about success. it's very inspiring and enlightening to hear from you, that God can only use you once you're fully broken, in order for us to glorify him.

[00:28:36] Debbie : So thank you for that. Now both medicine and ministry involve guiding people through vulnerable moments. What are the fundamental parallels between the two ways of helping people?

[00:28:48] Larry: Between the medical profession and the ministry, you mean? And the ministry yes. Oh, well, I like the way that Jesus described it. when he was being criticized by the religious leaders of that [00:29:00] day who hated him, the Pharisees. When he was eating with sinners, Jesus said, it is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick.

[00:29:09] Larry: I've not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. I really love that because it reminds me of my former colleague and now my present colleague and how they are actually together. The church is a spiritual hospital. People go there not because they're fine. They go there because they're broken, they need healing. And so they come in various states of brokenness. Some have never come to faith in Christ. The gospel is what they need to be healed of the sickness of sin. 

[00:29:39] Larry: Majority who come to church are already believers. You know that life on earth is never going to be easy because this is a temporary journey for us.

[00:29:47] Larry: Our final destination is not this place. So there are many broken believers in various states of suffering and brokenness.

[00:29:54] Larry: And so again, the church is a spiritual hospital. It has a different need for these people. And [00:30:00] as a pastor and doctor, you can minister to them. You can tell them, you know what? this is what the Bible says and then you can tell them I hope you'll be able by the grace of God, to apply what God says, and we'll be praying for you, we're rooting for you, we're cheering for you. That's how very similar the two are. The church is a hospital, a spiritual one. I praise God for how my background helped me see that and understand that. 

[00:30:27] Debbie: For professionals in our audience who may be sensing a call to ministry, but may be hesitant to make such a dramatic career change. What practical advice and encouragement would you offer to those discerning a similar calling?

[00:30:41] Larry: Alright that's a great question, Debbie. If you think there is a call of God to ministry, don't go it alone. I was blessed to have our senior pastor take a particular interest in me. I sometimes joke, he's like a pit bull, you know. When he grasped a hold of me, he would not let go. I hope you [00:31:00] find somebody who will invest his life, his attention, his love into you like he did to me. And help you discern God's call. Because at the end of all of it, he was right. He was right in 2003. I just sort of wanted to make sure he was right until 2006. So look for a godly, mature person.

[00:31:22] Larry: And of course there's still the basic things, the Word of God you must always be in touch with the word of God because God will never speak outside of His Word. He never contradicts himself. And then, there's God's response to your heart in answer to prayer. And of course, there is still Godly mature counsel, the one that I earlier mentioned. Now where do circumstances fit in? They're more like an affirmation rather than the primary thing.

[00:31:49] Larry: I don't think we should be asking God for tests like Lord, if you really want me to do, do this, I think that's dangerous because the evil one can replicate those things. It's really the basic thing, the word of [00:32:00] God, the Holy Spirit's response in your heart in answer to prayer. And you know, the holy spirit does respond to prayer in our heart. 

[00:32:07] Larry: And then thirdly mature Godly counsel somebody who looks at you from an external perspective. Who prays for you. Who asks God for wisdom in assessing you and then circumstances. They're simply the final. The final thing in the whole thing, but I would not make them the primary like a lot of people do.

[00:32:26] Debbie : As you look ahead, what is your vision for GCF's future? What are the key initiatives and priorities that will shape the church impact in the coming decade, both locally and globally?

[00:32:38] Larry: I am praying that GCF, especially when I'm no longer there will continue to be a church that realizes the fulfillment of the great commission is the reason for its existence. That's why our mission is actually to make disciples of Jesus Christ in the Philippines and beyond. And by God's grace, that's happening.

[00:32:56] Larry: Our vision is to see lives and communities [00:33:00] transformed through Christ. And it's happening. But my personal vision for the church is, as its pastor, to see the flock witnessing in their oikos. Their oikos is their circles of influence. It's a Greek term for household. Monday to Saturday. Because that's what God equipped the church for to its pastors, according to Ephesians 4:11 to 16.

[00:33:23] Larry: The pastors equipped the church so that they witness Monday to Saturday. And the other part of the vision, 

[00:33:28] if you notice I'm quite repetitious about it is that the church is a corporate body must plant churches. So individuals witnessing in their circles of influence or oikos. The church as a corporate body planting churches.

[00:33:44] Larry: When that happens, then we know we are fulfilling the Great Commision. 

[00:33:48] Larry: That is my vision for the church. If I'm no longer there, my prayer is, God, please keep the church doing this. Because if we do not do what you ask us to do When people are not [00:34:00] doing God's will, they will start looking at each other, they'll start nitpicking. Why is it that your hemline is too high, or why is it that you are like this, why are you driving such an expensive car, etc. If they're not doing God's will, they'll be fighting among themselves. So keep God's people busy doing God's will. Keep the corporate body planting churches. And God will be pleased because it's all done out of love for Him. And out of love for God's people. 

[00:34:30] Debbie : Finally, Pastor Larry as you consider your legacy, what is the central message regarding following one's calling that you hope resonates most deeply with all who hear your story today?

[00:34:43] Larry : Well  it goes back to my life verse. If you want to know if God is calling you, examine if you are completely, fully surrendered to God. You must have no area of your life that you're wrestling with God about. If there is, why do you expect God to [00:35:00] talk to you about calling when you're not even obedient in the basic thing? In other words, be a man or woman that God completely owns . There must be no area of your innermost being that God would say, this person is keeping this from me. The world doesn't know it because it's deep inside his heart. But there's a wrestling match going on. When those wrestling matches stop, when God knows he has all of you, when God has 100 percent of you, then that's the time that you can hear him clearly speaking to you. Because God doesn't want unconsecrated servants. He will use anyone who's completely totally surrendered to him. And that's the kind of people that God will talk to about calling. Whether your calling is to be a

[00:35:45] Larry: doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, a CEO those are great callings. And we need people in those callings. Because not everybody can be a pastor or a missionary. 

[00:35:53] Larry: Who will support the ministry? But you need to know that's where God wants you to be. [00:36:00] And only he that, hear that, when you're completely surrendered to God. That's the greatest need of the modern evangelical church. Christians who are completely surrendered to God, who will have nothing that God could say, that competes with me.

[00:36:17] Larry: There must be nothing that competes with God in your heart and in your life. When God has that, then you know that He will address you and tell you, this is your calling, whatever it is. 

[00:36:29] Debbie : A life fully surrendered to Christ. Thank you, Pastor Larry, for sharing your heart and for proving that God's plan are always grander than the ones we draft for ourselves. Your story reminds that the most impactful leaders aren't defined by their titles, but by their willingness to embrace change even when it defies convention.

[00:36:51] Debbie : Thanks Pastor Larry for your time and for sharing God's word to us.

[00:36:55] Larry : Thank you also Debbie for the opportunity to speak about the Lord and his work in Greenhills Christian [00:37:00] Fellowship and my life personally. It's an honor and a privilege. Thank you for granting me this.

[00:37:05] Debbie : To our listeners, whether you are a skeptic, a seeker, or someone standing at your own crossroads, Pastor Larry's journey reminds us that sometimes the boldest career moves aren't just about climbing higher in the corporate world, but about steering toward what truly matters. If this conversation resonated with you, pay it forward, share this episode, and don't forget to subscribe to Skin in the Game wherever you get your podcast.