This month, I interviewed Kuya Eton and Ate Veron Apao from our own Mactan Chapter. Together, they are the 2020 chapter Breakfast Heads. Kuya Eton served in many leadership roles including Assistant AGL, AGL, Unit Leader, Programs and Services Director, Mission Director, as well as BCLP 25 Course Leader. So here in their own words, Let’s get personal …
The Cycle of Serving … “If You’re Happy, I’m Happy!”
January 28, 2020 … I was driving when I got word about being interviewed for the Taytayan Newsletter.
It got me thinking deeply on what I wanted to talk about. It came to me right away that I wanted to talk about my service to the BCBP community and how I viewed my attraction to serving and what actually drew me to serving.
I started to reflect and it turns out that serving in various capacities and how it played itself out is the very reason why it attracted me … the sharings during breakfasts, chika-chika, professional nature of the fellowships, and the camaraderie … these were all nice and it was not deeply religious in nature (something that I really related to). But in the course of these positive experiences, I started to become more religious in nature, in sharp contrast to my wife Veron, who prayed every Friday.
When I joined the BCLP, I realized that it was transforming me into loving Jesus. When we started meeting with our AGM, my perception went beyond it being just a social venue. Because when we started reading the bible and discussing our spiritual faith and experiences, it drew me closer to the group because the whole group participated. The small group allowed me to open up my inner and true feelings. Soon, my service took me to the Music Ministry, Breakfast Greeter, among others.
The turning point was when we attended the BCMR, where I wanted to go deeper into serving and in turn, allow others to learn from me … to feel the same thing that I’m feeling. One of the things that I took on with passion was inviting others to join the BCBP community, to bring in as many First Timers as I can to our Breakfast Fellowship.
But just as my focus on First Timers drew out the passion in me, it soon also became the demotivating factor for I was not successful in convincing and bringing in First Timers. This affected me deeply and I started loosing faith in my capabilities. I attempted to seek advice and guidance from other members on how best to realize my passion. In the end, my faith and trust became worst to a point that we began being absent more frequently from BCBP functions (for about six months). We were now heavily discouraged and disaapointed, with the thought of quitting or going lie-low.
While attending one of the teaching events, there was a talk on the cycle of serving and the various “moods” that govern one’s level of involvement. This, coupled with missing all the friends we have come to know when we were regular attendees, started to hit us. But the overriding factor that started our return to BCBP was the personal efforts by other members who called us and to encourage our return to BCBP. This affected us tremendously and in a most positive way. This was a far cry from the general notices and announcements that we received, but not in a personal nature as receiving a phone call.
Soon, I was asked and I accepted to be an assistant AGL. Then, I was asked to be an AGL but declined because I felt I wasn’t ready and again, it was difficult to garner support for the members to attend the meetings. We became regular members for a year and was asked again to be an AGL. But this time, I wanted something in return, I wanted to be trained as an AGL. In response, all the potential AGLs were placed in one group to learn together. After my AGL tenure, I became a Unit Leader (2007) which began my role as part of the Governance Team. I then realized that these types of servant-leadership role is a privilege. It made me realize the impact I had on other people … making them happy, which in turn made me happy. I highly encourage and promote that everyone should serve. Members should also express their happiness and positivity at the monthly Assemblies on their state of mind and/or vision.
I took my governance role deeper and became Mission Director (2010). Having gone through the cycle of serving, I can only hope that everyone takes advantage of the opportunity to serve. Because making people happy gave me such joy and happiness on how I impacted people in the same way. This is the reason why I continue my active service role now as the Breakfast Head with my wife, Veronica and to also serve as an example for the benefits of serving.