History
Inspired by his recovery from a heart ailment in 1978, Mike Verlarde started a weekly Bible-quoting radio show on DWXI, a station he acquired in 1982 as part of a real estate deal. Listeners, he says, began reporting that his voice had cured their afflictions. In 1984, Velarde christened his show "El Shaddai," a biblical name for God that he found in a U.S. religious pamphlet.
Velarde then held once-a-month prayer rallies outside the vicinity of the radio station. After the number of attendees kept growing, he made the rallies weekly until the crowd could no longer be accommodated by the area. The rallies were then moved to various locations such as a football stadium and then to Manila's Quirino Grandstand at Rizal Park; then to a field grounds outside the Philippine International Convention Center and the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City, which is near Manila Bay; and finally in Amvel Business Park, San Dionisio, Parañaque in order to address the size of the crowds attending.
El Shaddai Movement has grown rapidly in the last decade and, as of 2005, had a reported 8 million members worldwide.
In 2001, Velarde and Jesus is Lord Church leader Eddie Villanueva engaged in a legal battle over control of the Christian TV station Quality Television (Channel 11). Villanueva has the franchise and the authority to operate the facility, but Velarde, using political connections, was able to import transmission equipment, the value of which he claims to have converted into equity in the station. The Philippine Congress intervened and awarded to Eddie Villanueva the right the acquire the frequency held by Channel 11. Villanueva paid Velarde for the stock and assets held by Delta Broadcasting System (DBS).
On August 20, 2009, El Shaddai inaugurated a 1 billion Philippine peso House of Prayer (approximately US$21 million at the contemporary exchange rate) on a ten hectare site in Amvel City, Barangay San Dionisio, Parañaque, Metro Manila. The cost does not included the land, which will be paid for over 20 years. The building is 10,000 square meters and seats 16,000 with standing room for another 25,000. There is space on the site for an overflow crowd. The building was inaugurated by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Velarde's 70th birthday.
Their Diocesan Bishop is the Reverend Jessie Mercado of the Diocese of Parañaque, and its Spiritual Director is Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani of the Roman Catholic Church.
Read more about this topic: El Shaddai (movement)
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