18/09/2022
THE JMCIM Church.
How it all started. A look at the origin of the JMCIM church, founded and headed by our beloved Evangelist Wilde E. Almeda, our dearest Papa and our bel. asst. Pastor Lina C. Almeda, our dearest Mama. The accounts below are excerpts from a research written by Johnny Loye King, a foreign researcher from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. All the information written has been verified by our dear family and other reliable sources. To God be all the glory! It is so uplifting to know that the church has been founded with sincere prayer and fasting of people that had been instrumental in putting up the church especially our Dearest Lola Mama.
-Lots Almeda - Awas
(excerpts from Page 204-211)
• John L. Willhoite and the Apostolic Ministers Fellowship
In late 1970 the John Willhoite family went to the Philippines as missionaries with the Apostolic Ministers Fellowship (AMF). Willhoite had no contacts in the country and no
connections with any existing organization other than his former membership in the UPC in the United States. Because he was not connected with any groups within the Philippines and had no congregation with which to worship, he would visit churches of various denominations. One Sunday evening he visited Bethel Temple and was asked to preach by Pastor Dan Morocco. At the conclusion of the service over 200 people received Holy Spirit baptism. As Willhoite was leaving, some of the people approached him and said, “You are different. What is it that makes you so different?” Willhoite answered, “I baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
The people wished to visit his home to receive a further explanation about baptism in Jesus’ name. The next day, several of them went to the Willhoite home. Over the succeeding days, Willhoite baptized more than two
hundred. Among this group was a young woman named Venus Almeda. She was the first one in her family to convert to Oneness Pentecostalism. Her mother and father followed,
as did the rest of the family.
The last one of the Almeda family to convert was the brother
of Venus, Wilde Almeda, who has since become the leader of the largest Oneness
Pentecostal organization in the Philippines, and one of the largest in the world.
Willhoite’s approach to missions was to elevate the nationals and tell them that they must learn to lead, for they would one day be in charge of the organization. He would build them up by saying, “You will be the one to carry this message on. I’m not always going to be here. You are going to be in charge.” It seems that Willhoite was building to leave. He laid a foundation that he knew the Filipinos would continue to build upon. Regardless of what many other missionaries vocalize about the Filipino learning to be in charge, the reality is quite different. Too many missionaries act as though they are indispensable. Willhoite appears to have had the proper balance in this area. He ministered throughout the Philippines as an AMF missionary in the early 1970s and
returned in 1980 as a UPC missionary. His efforts in establishing the AMF was significant in that it eventually divided into at least ten organizations and many other independent works.
John Willhoite was also the root from which sprang the largest Oneness Pentecostal organization in the Philippines, Wilde Almeda’s Jesus Miracle Crusade International Ministry (JMCIM).
•Evang. Wilde Almeda and the Jesus Miracle Crusade
Wilde Estrada Almeda has possibly received more media attention within the Philippines than any other Oneness Pentecostal. He was born 28 June 1935 to Prudencio Orillaneda Almeda and Leonila “Mommie” Estrada Almeda.
The family was Catholic but migrated into Pentecostalism through Bethel Temple in Manila sometime in the 1960s. Wilde himself was testified to by a Filipina missionary named Corazon Gatdula. At that time of his life he had been suffering from insomnia for the previous six years. He had been unable to sleep but about two or three hours per night, and “felt like the walking dead.” He was prayed for, delivered from insomnia and began attending the church. After being exposed to the Oneness doctrine by Willhoite, Almeda was baptized by Jack Langham, who was a furlough replacement for Willhoite. The parents of Wilde Almeda attended the church pastored by Willhoite for a time. Willhoite recounts an incident that demonstrates the faith of Wilde’s mother, Leonila Almeda.
Julia was a hunchback beggar that begged in the Pasay market near our church. She was bent completely double and could not straighten up…One day Sister Almeda stopped to witness to Julia. She responded. Sister Almeda brought her to the church where she was baptized in the name of Jesus.
Julia remained a hunchback even after her baptism, but Sister Almeda told her to stay with her in the church until she received her healing. Sister Almeda promised to fast until she was healed. They fasted together for forty days. They drank a
little water, but they did not eat for forty days.
The thirty-sixth day of their fast, Julia heard a cracking sound in her back. This continued until…the fortieth day. Upon completion of the fast, she was standing straight and tall. She was a walking, living, breathing miracle of the power of God.
It was in this spiritual atmosphere that Wilde Almeda was influenced before he began his ministry. His mother continued periodic lengthy fasts throughout her life. For the last several years of her life, Leonila Almeda fasted two meals a day, eating only once daily. She died in February 2007 at 94 years of age.
Wilde Almeda came to Willhoite seeking a license to preach, but he had not yet received Spirit baptism so Willhoite could not comply with his request. Shortly thereafter, Willhoite received a letter from Almeda. It said, “I am in jail. I came down to Surigao Island to preach. Because I had no license, I was put in jail. Pray for me.” Two weeks later, another letter arrived. This one said, “Brother Willhoite, I was praying on the fifteenth day of my being imprisoned and I received the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking with other tongues. I was released the next day. I will see you in Manila.” Later, when Willhoite offered him a license, Almeda said, “Brother Willhoite, Jesus gave me my license. I do not need a license to preach.” With the very active assistance of his wife, Lina C. Almeda, Wilde Almeda started the Jesus Church in Novaliches, Quezon City, Metro Manila 14 February 1975.
He overcame his resistance to being licensed, and later that same year, on 23 November, Almeda was ordained by the AMF, and John L. Willhoite signed his Certificate of
Ordination. He did not stay long in the AMF. One of the reasons he left involved an incident concerning another AMF missionary. Almeda had been on a long fast when the
missionary, American Charles Hanchey, was due to arrive at the Manila airport.
Hanchey, who was in the Philippines less than one year in 1976-77, had let it be known that he wanted to be met by a large contingent of ministers. Almeda did not go to the
airport because of his fasting. Hanchey became angry at Almeda’s perceived lack of respect and let his anger be known. Almeda responded that he was not serving man, but
God. This was quite possibly a culture clash and it caused him to pull away from the AMF. It may have been the best thing that ever happened to him. It is hard to imagine
Almeda’s organization, since 1983 called the Jesus Miracle Crusade International Ministry, becoming the largest Oneness Pentecostal organization in the Philippines, and
possibly the second largest in the world...
The Jesus Miracle Crusade International Ministry (JMCIM) currently claims 1,500,000 members in the Philippines and 15 other countries with only 36 satellite assemblies outside the Philippines, the bulk of their membership is within the country.
The AMF had 20 or 21 churches in the Philippines as of 2014, including all the branch works, and their conferences have about 400 in attendance. The JMCIM has several services each week at the Amoranto Sports Stadium in Quezon City in Metro Manila with Sunday attendance in the tens of thousands at that location alone. The 40th anniversary
celebrations for JMCIM were held in 2015 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City, Metro Manila, and saw an attendance of over 300,000 on the Center’s six hectares of open grounds.
On 23 April 2000, a Filipino Moro group known as Abu Sayyaf abducted 21 people from a Malaysian dive resort in Sipadan and took them to Jolo Island in the Philippines. Thus began the Sipadan hostage crises. On 1 July Wilde Almeda and 12 of his members known as prayer warriors went into the Abu Sayyaf camp where the hostages were being held in a widely publicized effort to secure their release through prayer and fasting. Almeda had reportedly been fasting for 40 days without food before arriving at the camp. He and his prayer warriors continued fasting during their time with
the Abu Sayyaf, taking only water mixed at times with fruit juices. On 24 July a press release signed by the Abu Sayyaf commanders stated in part, “The prayer and fasting of
the Jesus Miracle Crusade headed by Evangelist Wilde E. Almeda has pacified us. Their prayer succeeded.” Almeda suffered a serious physical setback 8 July, following 47
days of fasting. The men accompanying him thought he would die. In fact, they reported that three times he had no discernable pulse. Something similar to a stroke has
caused Almeda to lose the use of his right side from the time of this incident. Almeda had lost 65 percent of his body weight during his time in Mindanao.
Jesus Miracle Crusade claims that all the hostages were released by this time due to their intercessory prayer and fasting. They also maintain that the group were not hostages or prisoners, and that they stayed of their own free will to see the release of all of the Sipadan hostages. The Jesus Miracle Crusade hosts an annual celebration during the month of October to remember and offer thanksgiving for the “Victorious Mindanao Peace Mission.”
Jesus Miracle Crusade is a highly structured organization that looks to Wilde Almeda as Dearly Beloved Honorable Evangelist Pastor Wilde Almeda. He remains their only pastor. All other ministers have the title of Beloved Ministers or Beloved Preachers and work under the authority (of our Dearest Lord Jesus through the leadership) of Evangelist Almeda. Their members are referred to as Beloved
Brethren. Almeda’s wife, now deceased, is called Assistant Pastor Lina C. Almeda. The organization published a 252-page bilingual (English-Tagalog) Preacher’s Handbook in
2011 that offers standard instructions for all ministers covering subjects including doctrines and how to conduct services for weddings, child dedications and so forth.
Wilde Almeda was influenced briefly by American missionary John L. Willhoite and those who followed him. Willhoite can be credited for bringing the Oneness Pentecostal message to Almeda’s family. Almeda’s independence might be seen in his being the last one in his family to receive water baptism in Jesus’ name. He also demonstrated independence in departing from the AMF.
Jesus Miracle Crusade was built, and became the largest Oneness Pentecostal organization in the Philippines without ever having the oversight of a non-Filipino missions organization. It can truly be considered a totally autochthonous organization. As has already been pointed out, it is inconceivable that this organization would have achieved its success had it been under the control and
administration of missionaries with a typical Western mindset. The temptation for Americans (or other Westerners) to recreate in foreign fields a duplicate of what they see at home is not easily resisted. The separation of Almeda from the AMF, though small at the time, should be seen as essential schism that had a very positive outcome.
