Catching up with Alumna from Manila

It has been nearly five years since Guia has graduated from EAST and we recently caught up with this lady who has been busy in the media industry and has been stationed in Manila over the past year due to the worldwide pandemic. Guia Karla Gonzales graduated from EAST with an MA in Christian Ministry in 2016. Below is an interview with her along with some prayer requests:

1. What have you been keeping busy with since graduating from EAST?

I have had the pleasure and privilege of producing content – various media, mostly videos – for Christian organisations. By producing, I mean a combination of research & writing (or co-writing), creative direction, production management, and team building. Sometimes I get to shape and see-through strategies for marketing and distribution of content, but often I leave that to the expertise of the organisations who are more familiar with their audiences.

2. What are three takeaways you have from the year of 2020?

1 – My participation in God’s redemptive plan is not to be defined by my “ministries” as I typically know them to be — volunteer work in church, personal evangelism, discipleship groups, outreach activities, etc — but foremost in the dailyness of life, especially in the Gospel lived out with my physical (family) and spiritual (local church) households.

2 – We need the faithful preaching of the Gospel (in) & physical gathering with our respective local churches. These are God’s ordinary means of grace for our (much needed) personal sanctification — especially in the midst of a global pandemic & secularizing world. “Online church” — from the Lord’s Day to Bible studies, no matter how excellently produced & practical they can be, are only helpful to a certain extent, and should not override what God has instituted and provided for us believers.

3 – And crucial to my 2020 perspective: It is God’s mercy and faithfulness to His children, that He has allowed our generation to go through a pandemic, a much-needed pause and recalibration of plans. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” – Proverbs 16:9

3. What are you looking forward to in 2021?

• New ways of living while travel, social gatherings, and other things I’ve been accustomed to are still restricted.
• New ways of telling stories, as I learn and master (new) audiences, technologies, and collaborate with other content creators.

3 prayer requests

1 – To grow in gracious affections, not in pride and confusion, as I continue to reform in my theology.

2 – To grow into the relationships, creative works, and way of living that God has planned & provided in this season of my life.

3 – To continue growing love for my (new) local church.