Bread of Life Ministries International - History

History

In the early 1980s, Pastor Butch Conde, originally wanted to start a half-way house for prostitutes in Olongapo City, where the U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay was located. Until in August 1982, when the Lord gave the calling to the 12 people, including Pastor Conde, to start a new church in Loyola Heights, Quezon City. Marynoll College (now Miriam College), offered its auditorium to launch then "Bread of Life Christian Fellowship" and the first service gatherings on November 14, 1982. This continuously increased into hundreds by invitations of people and groups.

In 1984, from a gathering of 120 members in Maryknoll College, weekly attendance steadily increased to a thousand, BOL prompted to move temporarily to the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City on January 8 and 15, 1984. But later on January 22 on the said year, BOL worship gatherings transferred to Celebrity Sports Plaza in Capitol Hills, Quezon City to accommodate 1,200 members. Pastor Conde had always wanted to show that God Himself provides for Filipino churches, and the Filipinos must break free from colonial mentality. He always wanted to establish that how the Filipino can be independent from the foreign missionaries.

After the People Power Revolution in 1986, Pastor Conde drew inspiration from his Korea Prayer Study Tour and the Prayer Mountain experiences in South Korea, then BOL acquired a piece of land in the mountains in Rizal to build the country's and Southeast Asia's first Prayer Mountain facilities to spread the same spirit of prayer in the Philippines led to building the first Filipino prayer mountain facility on the said year, in 1988, BOL dedicated the Touch of Glory Prayer Mountain, its ministry of intensifying and deepening the prayer lives of the Filipino Christians through fasting. Today it continues as a place dedicated to restoration in prayer and has become a haven for believers from different churches and denominations to pray for the Philippines, Touch of Glory Prayer Mountain is located in Antipolo City, Rizal, an hour away from Manila.

On April 5, 1987, BOL services move to Circle Theater located at Timog Avenue, and started to divide into four worship gatherings every Sunday. Between 1989 and 1991, it was considered one of the fastest growing churches in the country with membership up to 2,000 people in 1992, and BOL changed its name to "Bread of Life Ministries". BOL also planted another central church in Makati, and had been planting church satellites nationwide.

In August 1993, BOL began building its own ministry center along Mother Ignacia Avenue in Quezon City. BOL is an indigenous church, which built without the help of foreign Christian churches, financial assistance, political support, or even with the church partnership, it was built by the Filipino Christians.

In 1996, BOL started to plant international outreaches reaching for Filipinos and other nationalities, they started by planting BOL USA in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego, California. On November 29, 1998, the church dedicated Crossroad77 and weekly attendance averaged up to 2,500 each of the four service gatherings. The rapid growth of the church can be attributed to the personal care of new members and neighborhood small groups presided by trained leaders, the ministry center also puts prayer rooms and it houses all the ministries of the church.

In 2001, BOL Makati splitted into two centers and transferred its worship services from Mondragon building to a larger space. BOL Makati is now located on Glorietta 4 (G4), and Greenbelt Onstage, the latter located at the Project Mosaic, 3F Greenbelt 1, Ayala Center, Makati City.

In 2002, several members of BOL and Board of Elders led by Pastor Conde established the Meridian International Learning Experience, a multi-lingual institution that attempts to shape its students into Godly, excellent, patriotic and competitive Filipinos, with the foundation rooted on the Bible, the call of the school is to build a new generation of Filipinos like the national hero Jose Rizal, it is also the commitment to continually build a strong university for Christ and the transformation of the country.

On November 25, 2007, BOL marked its 25th Anniversary with a grand celebration. The theme was the "Global Village 25/25", attended by the thousands of members from BOL local and international outreaches. The celebration was held at Ynares Center, Antipolo City, Rizal.

In 2012, Pastor Conde announced his retirement as senior pastor having served as such for the past three decades, now he serves as the Pastor Emeritus of the church. On May 20, 2012, one of the associate pastors and head pastor of BOL Makati and Singapore, Rev. Noel Tan was installed as the new senior pastor.