Victory exists to “Honor God and Make Disciples.” This is the heart of everything that we do. This is the vision we’ve been running with since 1984 as a national movement. And this has been Victory Iloilo’s rallying cry for the past 25 years, as well. As we make disciples, though, more has been added to our number. And this is why we needed to expand our “tents.”
Victory Iloilo has experienced a doubling of its numbers every three years. To give you a report of the increase, here are our figures, starting from the year 2005:
- 2005 – 200
- 2009 – 500
- 2012 – 1,000
It is because of this doubling, in fact, literally exponential growth, that a building expansion was in order. Victory Iloilo needed to build a center that will help us reach more people, make more disciples and train more leaders.
The building expansion sought to meet these objectives, in line with Victory’s vision to “Honor God, Make Disciples”:
- Increase the capacity for the harvest by doubling the seating capacity for the worship services.
- This will allow for more room for new attendees.
- Strengthen the discipleship efforts through providing better facilities for Victory Weekend, The Gathering (a discipleship event that Victory Iloilo holds on Tuesdays), Making Disciples Class, Training for Victory, and other events.
- Train more leaders, both in the community and within the church. We are praying to ready a team to start the church plant in downtown Iloilo City in the next few years.
Structurally, Victory Iloilo sought to meet these objectives, through the Building Project:
- Increase the capacity of the Main Hall, from what used to be a 160 to 180-seater facility, to a structure that can seat 360 to 420 members.
- Restructure the Kids’ Church area. The next generation is a vital part of our movement, and we wanted to ensure that they have excellent facilities as well. The Kids’ Church rooms also double as facilities for discipleship events.
- Strengthen the foundation of center. We also sought to improve the structural soundness of the firewall behind the church facility, which was already disintegrating due to time and weathering.
- Improve church facilities and equipment.
We planned to divide the Building Project into two phases:
Phase 1: Construction of the planned structural upgrade of the church building itself.
Phase 2: Equipment and facility upgrade. This phase includes upgrading the sound equipment, adding LED TV’s for the stage, improving the lights, as well as adding a corporate-capacity generator set to handle the power outages that may arise due to the regular weather disturbances in the area.
Phase 1 entailed the overhaul of the building structure. For the most part, it took 4 months to complete. During that time, Victory Iloilo conducted its Sunday Services in Sarabia Manor Hotel.
We are pleased to announce that Phase 1 of Victory Iloilo’s Building Project is close to completion. Just this Sunday, July 20th, Victory Iloilo and its members have finally returned to its home facility and enjoyed the excellent additions and improvements to the structure. It has been more spacious, more roomy, a little colder, and there’s room for more to welcome into our spiritual fam.
The space between the firewall and the building has been decreased, the firewall has been fortified, the Kids’ Church’s rooms are now elevated and have a more solid foundation, the restrooms were updated, as well as the entrance structures, the doors, and even the Tech booth. The offices in the mezzanine of the building were left as they are, however.
These changes for the structure of Victory Iloilo are an indication of how we have enlarged the place of our tents, stretched our tent curtains wide, as well as how we have not held back, lengthened our cords, strengthened our stakes, for we expect to be bursting at the seams, and soon! We have positioned ourselves for another series of exponential growths, and we are excited to see the fruits of our labor!
Moving Forward
We are not yet done with the Building Project. We are still excited for Phase 2, where we will incorporate better and improved equipment, to serve the congregation of Victory Iloilo better.
We aim to donate our used, but well-maintained equipment to other Victory branches that are still in the process of expansion or planting, such as Victory Roxas, or the soon-to-rise Victory Kalibo. We may also consider donating the equipment to other local churches which are not necessarily a part of the Victory/EveryNation group of churches.
And as we have mentioned, when Victory Iloilo expands exponentially once more, we aim to plant another church in the Downtown Iloilo area. We’re excited for that!
To God be the glory!
