IS THERE
ONE PERSON, MAYBE ONE COUPLE, Who has had a drastic impact on
your life? ~ For me that couple was Pastor Sam Lacanienta and
his wife and life/ministry partner, Ida.
In 1987, Pastor Sam & Ida Lacanienta made an eternal change in my life. But looking back, years earlier he attended the Far Eastern Bible Institute and Seminary (FEBIAS), founded in 1948 as an interdenominational Bible school and later changed to FEBIAS College of Bible. He was ordained and pastored a church in the Philippines.
During that time he met and fell in love with a young lady named Ida. Since it was a unilateral love, he had to chase Ida for seven years before she caught him. In the video below he shares the story of their migration to America with their two young children, and how Pastor Sam became an associate pastor at a small Southern Baptist affiliated church in Santa Ana, California.
Eventually Pastor Sam moved, becoming an associate pastor at Woodbridge Community Church in Irvine, California, which is affiliated with the Baptist General Conference. Later he met and started a Bible study in the home of Fred & Nattie Almeda, leading them and their two young children to the Lord. From that beginning more Filipino families began attending Woodbridge Community Church leading Pastor Sam and Fred Almeda to form the new Fil-Am Church of Irvine (FACI) as a daughter church under Woodbridge.
In 1987, God led me to that church and their Bible studies - and six months later I became a believer. But that was just the beginning of my Christian education and growth. Over the years in the FACI church fellowship and in daughter churches which Pastor Sam planted in Orange and Riverside Counties, I continued my process of Sanctification, growing daily in my knowledge of His Word and in my Christian walk.
The way that Pastor Sam speaks in this video - is the same way he speaks when teaching Bible studies, Sunday School classes, and in sermons. His conversational style of preaching/teaching makes it seem as though he is speaking directly to me in a personal conversation. There is none of the foot stomping, pulpit pounding, voice resonating off the ceiling preaching like many of the television Prosperity Preachers do - just a "let's talk about the love of God" type conversation in teaching us the Word of God.
And that was critical for me - for at the age of fifty I still carried inside me that young boy who was so adversely affected by a traveling Pentecostal Revival Preacher in my Alabama home town when I was only 12 years old. Because of that Revival Preacher, all my life when preachers started raising their voices, which is common, I ran the other way. As a result, until I was fifty years old, in my running from TD Jakes styled preachers, I was still running from God.
Yes, I sensed that need, that longing, down deep inside telling me I needed God. But in my young adult years I was having fun in the secular world and never heeded that inner voice. Yet I kept wandering into various churches, lured I now know, by that innate longing to know God. But each time a pastor/teacher began to raise his voice, stomp his foot, and pound the pulpit - that young 12 year old boy would turn on my trouble sensors, telling me, "Run away!"
Let me pause for a moment to share a funny, but related, story. Many years ago, when Sam Lacanienta was dating Ida in the Philippines, there was another couple who were their close friends and with whom they often double-dated. Fast forward to the early 1990, Dory and I were members of the Fil-Am Church of South Orange County where Pastor Sam was our spiritual leader. One day when Dory and I were visiting with a new real estate client and chatting with his Filipina mom, our conversation turned to our local Fil-Am church - and she was interested.
To make a long story a wee bit shorter, it turns out that she and her husband were that couple who had been Sam and Ida's close friends in the Philippines. But they had lost track and were not aware that Pastor Sam was pastoring a local church in Orange County, California. We took them to church and they became regular members.
One Sunday Pastor Sam's sermon message was on the "Unity of the Family" and how it was reflected by the way he could see families sitting together during our worship services. As it turned out, that old friend from the past usually did not sit with his wife, but sat in a different pew. This Sunday he was sitting near the center aisle in the middle of the sanctuary - so that when Pastor Sam looked out at the congregation during his sermon - it evidently appeared to that man that Pastor Sam was looking him, or so the man thought. The wife later told Dory that he had been upset because he believed that Pastor Sam's sermon was aimed at him personally. And he stopped coming to church.
That, in itself, would have been sad. But a month or so later, one Saturday morning he told his wife he was going to the store. But he never came home. Later she discovered that he had cleaned out their bank account and flown to the Philippines - never to return. Why had Pastor Sam's message that day bothered him so much? Most likely because it made him feel guilty. It would seem that he already had his escape planned - and he must have thought Pastor Sam was reading his mind.
There is an appropriate question, "If your sermon does not make the sinner uncomfortable, are you doing it right?" Evidently Pastor Sam's message that day was so on target - that it made his old friend very uncomfortable.
I have never seen Pastor Sam avoid a subject, nor have I seen him give a watered-down "make everyone comfortable" sermon. The churches he pastored were always "Seeker Friendly" - but never a "Sinner Feel Good" church. A "Seeker Friendly" church will welcome you with Godly love, but will never condone nor empower an unBiblical lifestyle. A "Sinner Feel Good" church will assure you that they will never preach a sermon which speaks of sin or hell to make you feel uncomfortable in your worldly lifestyle.
Pastor Sam's sermon messages and teachings always made us feel as though we were having a one-on-one conversation. That and the Godly love which permeated him and his church fellowship - is what kept me coming back to worship services and Bible studies for six months, while the Holy Spirit worked on my heart - leading me to the cross of Jesus Christ and eternal life.
Last Saturday, watching his early Palm Sunday message in this video - I knew I would have to share it with all my FRANS (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors), all my Friends. I thank my Christian sister and Friend in the Talakag Church On The Solid Rock, Talakag, Bukidnon, Philippines, Julieta-Quiliano Ruaya Reyes, for sharing this video with me on Facebook Messenger. Pastor Sam is her pastor in that church.
And one last, but very important thought. Today, April 8, 2020, is Pastor Sam's 84th birthday. So, Pastor Sam - "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and "THANK YOU!" for being my spiritual father and mentor for so many years.
Even though we all currently cannot meet together for worship and fellowship, I pray that you and your family had a blessed Palm Sunday and that you will join with your local fellowship online to celebrate His Resurrection this coming Easter Sunday.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
In 1987, Pastor Sam & Ida Lacanienta made an eternal change in my life. But looking back, years earlier he attended the Far Eastern Bible Institute and Seminary (FEBIAS), founded in 1948 as an interdenominational Bible school and later changed to FEBIAS College of Bible. He was ordained and pastored a church in the Philippines.
During that time he met and fell in love with a young lady named Ida. Since it was a unilateral love, he had to chase Ida for seven years before she caught him. In the video below he shares the story of their migration to America with their two young children, and how Pastor Sam became an associate pastor at a small Southern Baptist affiliated church in Santa Ana, California.
Eventually Pastor Sam moved, becoming an associate pastor at Woodbridge Community Church in Irvine, California, which is affiliated with the Baptist General Conference. Later he met and started a Bible study in the home of Fred & Nattie Almeda, leading them and their two young children to the Lord. From that beginning more Filipino families began attending Woodbridge Community Church leading Pastor Sam and Fred Almeda to form the new Fil-Am Church of Irvine (FACI) as a daughter church under Woodbridge.
In 1987, God led me to that church and their Bible studies - and six months later I became a believer. But that was just the beginning of my Christian education and growth. Over the years in the FACI church fellowship and in daughter churches which Pastor Sam planted in Orange and Riverside Counties, I continued my process of Sanctification, growing daily in my knowledge of His Word and in my Christian walk.
The way that Pastor Sam speaks in this video - is the same way he speaks when teaching Bible studies, Sunday School classes, and in sermons. His conversational style of preaching/teaching makes it seem as though he is speaking directly to me in a personal conversation. There is none of the foot stomping, pulpit pounding, voice resonating off the ceiling preaching like many of the television Prosperity Preachers do - just a "let's talk about the love of God" type conversation in teaching us the Word of God.
And that was critical for me - for at the age of fifty I still carried inside me that young boy who was so adversely affected by a traveling Pentecostal Revival Preacher in my Alabama home town when I was only 12 years old. Because of that Revival Preacher, all my life when preachers started raising their voices, which is common, I ran the other way. As a result, until I was fifty years old, in my running from TD Jakes styled preachers, I was still running from God.
Yes, I sensed that need, that longing, down deep inside telling me I needed God. But in my young adult years I was having fun in the secular world and never heeded that inner voice. Yet I kept wandering into various churches, lured I now know, by that innate longing to know God. But each time a pastor/teacher began to raise his voice, stomp his foot, and pound the pulpit - that young 12 year old boy would turn on my trouble sensors, telling me, "Run away!"
Let me pause for a moment to share a funny, but related, story. Many years ago, when Sam Lacanienta was dating Ida in the Philippines, there was another couple who were their close friends and with whom they often double-dated. Fast forward to the early 1990, Dory and I were members of the Fil-Am Church of South Orange County where Pastor Sam was our spiritual leader. One day when Dory and I were visiting with a new real estate client and chatting with his Filipina mom, our conversation turned to our local Fil-Am church - and she was interested.
To make a long story a wee bit shorter, it turns out that she and her husband were that couple who had been Sam and Ida's close friends in the Philippines. But they had lost track and were not aware that Pastor Sam was pastoring a local church in Orange County, California. We took them to church and they became regular members.
One Sunday Pastor Sam's sermon message was on the "Unity of the Family" and how it was reflected by the way he could see families sitting together during our worship services. As it turned out, that old friend from the past usually did not sit with his wife, but sat in a different pew. This Sunday he was sitting near the center aisle in the middle of the sanctuary - so that when Pastor Sam looked out at the congregation during his sermon - it evidently appeared to that man that Pastor Sam was looking him, or so the man thought. The wife later told Dory that he had been upset because he believed that Pastor Sam's sermon was aimed at him personally. And he stopped coming to church.
That, in itself, would have been sad. But a month or so later, one Saturday morning he told his wife he was going to the store. But he never came home. Later she discovered that he had cleaned out their bank account and flown to the Philippines - never to return. Why had Pastor Sam's message that day bothered him so much? Most likely because it made him feel guilty. It would seem that he already had his escape planned - and he must have thought Pastor Sam was reading his mind.
There is an appropriate question, "If your sermon does not make the sinner uncomfortable, are you doing it right?" Evidently Pastor Sam's message that day was so on target - that it made his old friend very uncomfortable.
I have never seen Pastor Sam avoid a subject, nor have I seen him give a watered-down "make everyone comfortable" sermon. The churches he pastored were always "Seeker Friendly" - but never a "Sinner Feel Good" church. A "Seeker Friendly" church will welcome you with Godly love, but will never condone nor empower an unBiblical lifestyle. A "Sinner Feel Good" church will assure you that they will never preach a sermon which speaks of sin or hell to make you feel uncomfortable in your worldly lifestyle.
Pastor Sam's sermon messages and teachings always made us feel as though we were having a one-on-one conversation. That and the Godly love which permeated him and his church fellowship - is what kept me coming back to worship services and Bible studies for six months, while the Holy Spirit worked on my heart - leading me to the cross of Jesus Christ and eternal life.
Last Saturday, watching his early Palm Sunday message in this video - I knew I would have to share it with all my FRANS (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors), all my Friends. I thank my Christian sister and Friend in the Talakag Church On The Solid Rock, Talakag, Bukidnon, Philippines, Julieta-Quiliano Ruaya Reyes, for sharing this video with me on Facebook Messenger. Pastor Sam is her pastor in that church.
And one last, but very important thought. Today, April 8, 2020, is Pastor Sam's 84th birthday. So, Pastor Sam - "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and "THANK YOU!" for being my spiritual father and mentor for so many years.
Lord God Omnipotent - A Palm Sunday Message
By Pastor Samuel D. Lacanienta
https://youtu.be/16Mb8JN4L7w
Even though we all currently cannot meet together for worship and fellowship, I pray that you and your family had a blessed Palm Sunday and that you will join with your local fellowship online to celebrate His Resurrection this coming Easter Sunday.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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