The Apollos Project is for pastors and lay leaders who desire to be trained in the development and delivery of expository sermons. Expository preaching approaches the Word of God inductively, studies it exegetically, explains it expositionally and applies it relevantly. Thus, becoming more like Apollos – growing in accuracy and adequacy in preaching the Word.
This ministry got started as a Doctor of Ministry project of Rev. Roy Verzosa. After completing his doctoral studies, requests were made for him to hold seminars using the preaching curriculum and manual he produced. The Apollos Project is dedicated to help in Equipping the Saints in Expounding the Scriptures.
Now as of September 2004, there are already 60,000 local churches throughout the Philippines. That’s the good news! But not so good news, is that, 40,000 of these churches do not have a seminary or Bible school trained pastors. These 40,000 pastors are high in commitment but maybe low in competence, especially in the area of preaching the Word. Therefore, there is an urgent need to help these pastors have some training without leaving their churches. And in light of the proliferating false doctrines, one area of utmost importance is training these pastors and lay leaders in their ability to interpret the Word accurately and to preach it adequately.
So that more urban pastors and lay leaders can avail of the training, The Apollos Project seminars are conducted basically for free (except when food is provided by the organizer). All participants are provided with a manual (100+ pages) for free, while the plane or boat fares of the speaker, including the accommodation expenses are handled by the Apollos Project ministry. Individuals and churches are supporting this ministry financially.
The Instructor
“If ever I’ll teach, it will not be about engineering but the Bible!”
This is what Roy Verzosa remembers saying to himself back in 1982 after graduating from college when the possibility opened up for him to teach. Since he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ in 1977 through the ministry of the Navigators, it has been his ardent desire to study the Word of God and faithfully make it come alive to effect change in the hearts of people. He grew up in his Christian life listening to the likes of Chuck Swindoll, Warren Wiersbe and John MacArthur, Jr. over the radio. He just finds it very challenging how they can present the truths of Scripture in an exciting and relevant way. His involvement with the Navigators helped sharpen his Bible study skills and gave him opportunities to lead small group Bibles studies, workshops and deliver messages during fellowships. He got the chance to preach for the very first time in a church context in 1983. He received very encouraging feedback and felt that God was leading him into a teaching-preaching ministry. Going “full time” in the ministry was just a matter of time for him. Deep in his heart he knew that teaching God’s Word will give him the greatest satisfaction and will be his main contribution in the Body of Christ.
Roy worked for 3 years as a Civil Engineer, and then the Navigators invited him to join the staff to pioneer a radio program. From 1986 to 1988, he worked as the radio program director and host of “The Discipleship Hour” over DZAS in Manila. After getting married, he and his wife, Judy, were sent to Cebu to lead the Professionals Ministry of the Navigators in 1989. During that time he had the opportunity to teach in a Bible School for 2 semesters, which he enjoyed very much. But it was while attending the Word of Life Church when he was assigned to preach once-a-month, that his preaching ministry started to develop. The American church planter of Word of Life Church later invited him to join the pastoral staff. The Navigators loaned him to WOLC for a year (1992-93) to try it out as a pastor while the missionary and his family were on home assignment. Roy never thought of becoming a pastor, but that exposure really made firm his resolve to be involved in a teaching/preaching ministry.
After that one year stint as a pastor, he was sent to Asian Theological Seminary in Manila for a 3-year study leave. In 1996, he finished his Master of Divinity in Biblical Studies receiving four awards (the Honors Award, Expository Preaching Award, Exegetical Studies Award and the Faculty Award). He returned to Cebu to resume pastoring Word of Life Church and after 3 years got ordained in the ministry. In 1999, he pursued the Doctor of Ministry program of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (North Carolina, USA). He completed his Doctor of Ministry in Expository Preaching last February 2002.
He pastored Cebu Word of Life Church for 10 years before shifting into a training ministry. Last June 2005, he officially launched this new ministry called The Apollos Project, which conducts preaching seminars throughout the country and abroad to help pastors and lay ministers preach the Word accurately and adequately. He ministers with his wife Judy and 2 kids (Renee Joyce, 16 years old and Josiah Royce, 14 years old).
“For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord,
and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”
(Ezra 7:10, NASB)