“Every year, the staff look forward to the Staff Conference — a time for rest and retreat, Scripture engagement, in-depth discussions on issues affecting student work, and team building. The team is strengthened as we share life and ministry. June 16-21, 2025, Quezon City.
Looking back over this past school year, our staff team’s story is two things happening at once: real transition, and real growth growing alongside it.
Tired, But Not Alone
Spiritually, the team remained committed to the Lord’s work despite real personal, family, and ministry pressure. This was also the year that made clearest something every long-time laborer eventually learns: ministry without rest, family, and personal well-being doesn’t last. Two staff members stepped back this year — not from burnout or disappointment but for family: one to be more fully present for her young daughter, another to care for aging parents.
Working the Same Row, Even From a Distance
Relationally, this remains a team that genuinely loves and looks out for one another. There is real fellowship, mutual care, and a willingness to show up for each other’s ministry goals. Distance and turnover made that harder this year: staff are spread across nine regions, and when a teammate leaves or transfers, the relational fabric holding a regional team together can fray faster than a new hire can mend it. One new staff worker, Dexter, joined the Northern Mindanao team this year after a twenty-one day stay at the National Office — living alongside every department first, so he understood how the whole field connects before working a single row alone.
Still Getting the Harvest In
The work itself did not stop. Leadership transitions were managed with real continuity. Rafael Magdaong stepped into a new role as Regional Director of Southern Luzon, Geralyn Romero moved from Central & Eastern Visayas to Bicol Region after marrying Romar, Bicol Regional Director. These staffing gaps and turnover placed extra weight on the regional teams left behind, and this year made plain the need for stronger systems to develop the next layer of leaders, not just fill today’s gaps as they appear.
One young staff worker’s reflection this year articulates every staff worker’s experience:
The calling was never formed in ease, but in the quiet fires of surrender, in moments of doubt, in seasons where I felt like I was not worthy… Like Mayon, what looks steady and formed now is actually a story of many hidden eruptions, of prayers whispered in weakness, of choosing to stay when it would have been easier to walk away.
— Karen Joy, Junior Staff Training participant
What Kind of Farmhands We’re Raising
This team is mission-driven, relational, and willing to serve. IVCF staff carry a genuine desire to see this movement’s vision fulfilled, and a willingness to sacrifice for it, because they believe, just as you do, that discipling the next generation of Filipino student leaders is worth the cost. The Lord seems to be teaching us that fruitfulness is not measured only by activity and outcomes — but also by faithfulness, healthy relationships, and how well we steward the people entrusted to this movement. That conviction is exactly why building a retirement plan for staff who give their working lives to this ministry has become this department’s most heartfelt request of the year.