In obedience to the mandate of Jesus Christ before His Ascension:
“Go and make disciples of all men” (Matthew 28:19)
It all began in the garage of the Sanchez Family.
Only a year and a half after attending their first prayer meeting with the Upper Room Prayer Group in Quezon City, Eugenio Sanchez Sr., Pilar Sanchez, and the rest of the Sanchez family spun off their own fellowship, holding their very first prayer meeting at the garage of their home in Cubao. By the following week, at 14, Bro. Bo led his very first prayer meeting, September 16, 1980.
In August of 1981, Sister Aida Manongdo, leader of the Upper Room, prophesied that the young Bo would preach to thousands in the world about God. A year later, with the support of his family, Bro. Bo announced that their prayer group would become a faith community under his leadership.
They called it the Light of Jesus (LOJ) Community, based on family friend, Helen Arceo’s vision of a lighthouse, later on confirmed by Sister Aida. True to this vision, the LOJ serves as God’s lighthouse, shining Jesus’ light to those who are lost at life’s sea, bringing them back to the Father’s embrace.
But a community was not enough.
During the 80’s, the 30 regular attendees who made up the LOJ Core Family, went out to set up prayer meetings all across Metro Manila and nearby provinces. Their numbers grew rapidly and they were eventually grouped into “families” made up of 30 to 50 members.
These families established more prayer meetings and they were then organized as branches, such as the Discipleship Communities for Christ (DCC); Homes for Christ, for couples; Youth Mission for Parishes and Communities (YMPACT); Esther, for single women professionals; Joshua, for single men professionals; and Tabitha, for single mature women.
As the prayer groups spread out to the Visayan and Mindanao regions, not only did more people join LOJ, it also became crucial to organize the growing community into regions, districts, and chapters.
Reorganized as Feasts
By the turn of the millennium, the Feast was born. It is a weekly prayer gathering with Holy Mass celebrations, lively worship, and series of talks on practical Christian Living. Starting with the very first Feast at Camp Aguinaldo, the regional, district, and chapter prayer groups were reorganized to hold Feasts all over the Philippines.
Bro. Bo led a team of able leaders, known as the Feast Builders, well-known preachers and authors, to fortify the Feast expansion. There are now more than 150 Feasts worldwide, including in Asia, the Middle East, the United States of America, United Kingdom, Oceania, Canada and the Bahamas.