THE RISE OF THE 300 WARRIORS. A god-given vision placed in the heart of our President Pastor Sammy Mores, which is to have at least 300 churches in Metropolitan Manila alone in a span of 3 years. There are over 20 million Filipinos residing in Metro Manila, it has 16 cities, 1 municipality, 1,703 barangays and 27 congressional districts. Just imagine what a great impact 27 born-again Christian Congress men in the house of the representatives can do to make our country a better place to live in. 300 churches in Metro Manila alone is a hefty offering not only to our mother land but most of all to our Lord Jesus Christ in celebration of our 30th anniversary on 2012.

Throughout the years Victory Church has already planted more or less 700 churches in the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Qatar, the Middle East and the United States. Sad to say not all of the endeavours were successful, but up to this very moment Victory Church is still pushing its fight for world evangelism. It has lived up to its reputation as a tongue-talking, devil-chasing, spirit-filled church! Over and over throughout the book of judges, we’ve read that the land had rest for forty years, forty years is a generation! It seems as though every generation has its own deliverance, its own revival, and its own encounter with the Lord. We should be thankful that we are seeing the outpouring of His Spirit in our generation. We should take advantage of this outpouring. What a joy it is to be part of a people who love the Lord, love the Word, and love each other.                                                                  

But Like the Israelites, Victory Church has also experienced downfalls, wrath, outrage and fury in fulfilling its mission and vision. It has experienced the pain of separation as others went into a different direction. And like Gideon, sometimes we cry out “If God has chosen us,  if God is with us, why is it that everything is crushing around us? Where are all the miracles that I read about in the Bible and hear about in the lines of others?”  But let us look on Jesus’ response to Gideon, which is exactly the same response that we are getting now... (Judges 6:14) “And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” (NLT)

Jesus doesn’t answer our questions. Instead He gives us commission. He has things for us to do today, people to share with, people to witness to, people to pray for, and people to love... God’s commission is the birth of the 300.

Why were these 300 chosen? First they were free from fear. Out of the 22,000 who responded, only 10,000 were free from fear. Why? Because they understood eternity! As Christians we know that Jesus died in the cross for us to have eternal life. Therefore we must not be scared of the obstacles thrown at us. We must not be afraid to face problems in our lives, no matter if it is financial, physical or spiritual, because we have already received the gift of eternity!

Secondly, they were chosen because of their humility.  They were called dogs, and in the Israeli culture, dogs are associated with those who are to be avoided. They weren’t noble men and did not possess noble qualities. Despicable and neglected, yet they were chosen by God. If we are look at the core of our fellowship most of the people who have given their lives entirely for God’s service are those who were despised by our society, mal-educated and unqualified. We are exactly like Gideon and his 300.

Third, the 300 were men of priority. They were thirsty; they were losing strength and becoming hopeless. They needed to drink, but despite that they never lost sight of the enemy. They were always on guard for a possible attack! Victory Church conducts two national events annually, the National Conference and the Leadership Summit. This is to make sure that our pastors and church workers will not lose their priority and focus. It is through these events that they can drink and regain their strength to stand alert. According to Pastor Sammy, some have tried to talk him out of doing two national events in a year; others have even left the fellowship with that excuse. Indeed, financially wise it is hard for most of us. But let us heed on what God told Gideon... he was instructed to proclaim in the ears of the people, that whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart! Will you stay? Or will you go home like the 21,800.

During Gideon’s time the odds were absolutely brutal yet the strategy is incredibly brilliant. The strategy given to Gideon is isn’t rocket science. It is not something that one has to spend 4 years to learn. It is just a very simple formula which is very simple to execute. I have even mentioned some of them above. Pastor Sammy stated that all we have to do is just go back to our roots and bring back the basics. Apply new approach in executing them given that there are many new technologies which are readily available to us now a day