CHURCH HISTORY

It all started with a heavenly call. In 1953, Rev. Bienvenido Abante Sr. surrendered to the noblest and highest service—to be a Man of God. Led by the Master’s hand, Tatay, after serving as Assistant Pastor to missionaries Frank Hooge and Boyd Lyons at Baptist Bible Church-Sociego for 20 years, had to leave his beloved church together with his family and start a new work with authority coming from the Metropolitan Bible Baptist Church, Sta. Ana.

The first Sunday worship service of this church was held on January 25, 1976 with 74 in attendance. The Lord blessed the first service with two souls saved. In March of 1976 the church moved to Banaue where Bro. and Mrs. Guevarra’s office once was. The church was then called Bible Baptist Church of Banaue with 76 members who signed the charter.

In January 1977, the church celebrated its first year of existence with an attendance of 222. It was in this church where Tatay built his first pulpit. Tatay was offered assistance by other Baptist congregations if he would affiliate with them, but he refused to have a ministry outside the Bible Baptist faith. He firmly believed in the great God who is able to provide everything the church needed.

Tatay went to the States with Pastor Art Sims to raise funds for the building. He stayed there for three months. While he was in the States he didn’t ask for regular support. He just preached the Word of God and God sustained and blessed him.

Back here in the Philippines, in March 1980, the ground breaking ceremony was held in the new property at Tatalon, Quezon City. It was led by Pastor Benny Abante, Jr.
The construction at Tatalon had begun and was progressing and so on the 19th of November 1980, the church held its last service at Banaue. Then on November 23, 1980, the first service in the new building took place at Galintan St. Cor. Agno, now called ROTC Hunters, Tatalon, Quezon City. The Lord’s guiding hand was evident in locating the ministry.

On March 26, 1995, another momentous event occurred. It was our 19th Anniversary celebration and Pastor Reuben Abante surrendered his life to the Lord for full-time ministry. It was not an easy decision for him as he had tried to avoid becoming a pastor since he was young. But during this particular Sunday, he decided to take one of the biggest steps in his life and heed the calling of the Lord. Little did we know that this was a preparation for our church’s greatest need which will come four years after Pastor Reuben’s life-changing decision to obey the Lord.

On March 27 1995, Pastor Reuben was ordained at the Victory Service of the church.
April 30, 1995 was a historic Tuesday night for our church. It was then that the preachers of this church resolved that our name Tatalon Bible Baptist Church be changed to Lighthouse Bible Baptist Church. On December that same year, the church celebrated Tatay’s birthday by giving him a tribute at the Sheraton Hotel.

On June 9, 1996, upon Pastor Reuben Abante’s prompting, the LBBC District Fellowships were organized. Pastor Reuben believed that we needed to reach our people geographically, so we had to extend our ministry to where they were, with the help of designated leaders. These leaders, who were later called Sentinels underwent a training program at Kaliraya to prepare them for the challenge of leading their members in the areas assigned to them.

Our beloved Tatay Abante went home to be with the Lord at 12:30 am on September 6, 1999. Even moments before his last breath he was determined to carry on the Great Commission to as many places as possible. His death marked one of the saddest moments in the history of LBBC. He will always be remembered as Tatay—a spiritual leader and father to many.

Six months after his death, we held our first church anniversary without him. And that was the last anniversary we had in the old building. We transferred to the Manalili Building along E. Rodriguez avenue.

On April 2000 while the building construction started, by God’s grace, the building program as envisioned by Tatay started as planned and as scheduled. It was a great challenge of faith for Pastor Reuben and the members to see our old church building torn down and work to have a new one built. But God proved His power once again. As planned, we moved back to our home base in Tatalon.

On July 2, 2000 and held our services at the first floor of the new building. It was an exciting day for us to witness the concrete manifestation of God’s grace for us. He provided just the exact amount we needed at the exact time. Indeed, ‘faith is the victory’ when we rely on Him to give us our needs. Pastor Reuben also scheduled to have our first service at the 2nd floor of the new building two months after we moved. And by God’s grace, we did it again.

On September 3, 2000, we were able to use the newly constructed 2nd floor where the main auditorium now is. The following day, we had a memorial service for Tatay. The church was filled with pastors, members of LBBC, MBBC, and other Baptist churches. Tears flowed again as we listened to reminiscings of Tatay’s life and watched video clips of his time with us. But through the years, through the tears, God’s guiding hand never failed us.

From that very first service at Casiana, then to the small space at Banaue, then here at Tatalon, and now with the new building at this site, we have seen how God’s Guiding Hand saw us through the years. There were many dark moments in the ministry, but God’s light shone through all the darkness. In our moments of difficulty, especially when our great leader faced painful trials, we, through God’s leading and the leadership of our Pastor, trusted in God’s power. He gave us a man who lived a life that showed us what He believed in. Our Pastor stood up every time he fell and he did not allow Satan to have victory because his faith was anchored in God and thus our church grew to such proportions in spite of all the difficulties we faced. The Lighthouse Bible Baptist Church has always stood for what is right and it will continue to do so, by the grace of God.