El Shaddai

Overview

In November 1991, El Shaddai established its Orion, Bataan chapter, led by a team of coordinators (Jovy Abac, Luz Lonzon, Neneth Waje, Esmie Quicho, Neneng Atayde), assistant coordinators (Dely Cagitla, Estela Rosales, Zenaida Banzon), and secretaries (Amy Flores, Mylene Ligon, Erlie Siasat, Isabel Agulto), with music ministry provided by the original Choir and Band members: Terry Perona, Connie Aquino, Ricky Miguel, Romy Silva, Rica Mae Villanueva, Joel Nebrida, Jerielo Crisostomo, Valerie San Pedro, Lani Nutas, and Glenda Ligon.

The Orion chapter welcomes its new leadership team, featuring Coordinator Miguel Ligon, Assistant Coordinator Cynthia Pereyra, Secretary Olive Mariano, and a revived Music Ministry led by Terry Perona, Connie Aquino, Ricky Miguel, Romy Silva, Rica Mae Villanueva, and Ludy Diwa.

History

El Shaddai DWXI Prayer Partners Fellowship International, popularly known as El Shaddai, is the biggest Catholic charismatic movement in the Philippines. The movement is led by Mike Velarde, a real estate developer and preacher. Novaliches bishop emeritus Teodoro Bacani Jr. serves as its spiritual adviser.

El Shaddai was established in 1984 by Mike Velarde, a businessman and real estate developer. Inspired by his recovery from heart surgery in 1978, Velarde started a weekly Bible-quoting radio show on DWXI, a station he acquired in 1981 as part of a real estate deal. Velarde claimed that listeners to his programs began reporting that his voice had cured their afflictions. Velarde called his show "El Shaddai," a biblical name for God that he found in an American religious pamphlet.

Velarde then held monthly prayer rallies outside the vicinity of the radio station.

As the number of attendees kept growing, he made the rallies weekly until the crowd could no longer be accommodated by the area. The rallies were then moved to various locations such as a football stadium and then transferred several times to the Quirino Grandstand at Rizal Park in Manila; the open grounds outside the Philippine International Convention Center and the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay near Manila Bay; and finally to Amvel Business Park, Barangay San Dionisio, Parañaque (a site owned by the family) to accommodate the movement's followers.

In 1992, Velarde and the movement expanded to television, when the movement took its programming airtime on the government-owned broadcasting network Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation with the Sunday late-night delayed broadcast of the weekly Saturday Family Appointments, and the broadcasts of the weekly Family Appointments became the sixth longest-reigning religious program in Philippine television history until it ended in 2020 after 28 years of airing on the network. In addition, the movement also produced the faith-based drama anthology series Mga Himala at Gintong Aral ni El Shaddai from 1994 until its cancellation in 1997. Velarde himself served as the host for the series.

In 1998, Velarde and Jesus Is Lord Church leader Eddie Villanueva engaged in a legal battle over control of the Christian television station DZOE-TV (Channel 11).

Villanueva has the franchise and the authority to operate the facility, but Velarde, using political connections, was able to import transmission equipment, the value of which he claims to have converted into equity in the station.

Congress intervened and awarded Villanueva the right to acquire the frequency, with him paying Velarde for the stock and assets held by Delta Broadcasting System (DBS).

The El Shaddai Movement has grown rapidly in the last decade and, as of 2005, had a reported 8 million members worldwide.

On August 20, 2009, El Shaddai inaugurated a ₱1 billion (approx. US$21 million at the time) House of Prayer on a ten-hectare site in Amvel Business Park. The cost does not include the land, which will be paid for over 20 years. The building is 10,000 square meters and seats 16,000, with standing room for another 25,000, and space on the site for an overflow of the crowd. The building was inaugurated by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the fourteenth president of the Philippines, on Velarde's 70th birthday.

Vision

Our vision is to bring about a revival of the true Christian spirit in our Catholic faith, particularly among the El Shaddai DWXI-PPFI members and followers, and to raise a true Christian family and a community of Spirit-filled, generous, loving, victorious, joyful, and united believers in God who care for and share each other's burdens and blessings for the glory of God, our Heavenly Father, El Shaddai, as described in Acts 2:42-47

Mission

Our mission is to share the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Joy of our Salvation, and our faith in him through our own personal testimonies of the power of his words, such as our conversion through repentance and deliverance from the bondage of sin and vices; the transformation from our old self-centered, destructive, and confused lives to new victorious lives in Jesus Christ; and the healing of our broken relationships and physical ailments. We want to let the people know that God is alive, that He loves and cares for us, and that He is willing to forgive us, heal our diseases, and deliver us from all of our troubles if we repent of our sins, turn away from our wicked ways, and establish a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall set our hearts on fire with the love of god and neighbor.

Activities/Schedule

El Shaddai Fellowship (Gawain) – Every Friday, 4 pm to 6 pm, at Mananita Grounds (SMAA), Orion Chapter Bataan.

Neighborhood Prayer Group (NPG) – Core Group, together with a preacher, goes around town every Monday from 10 am onward.

Anniversary – Every 3rd Friday of November.

Contact Person: Cynthia Pereyra

Contact Number: 09105413895