As many Filipino young people do, Tom Escota moved from the Bicol area to Manila in 1957 “to look for greener pasture.”  Escota, a big, husky man, seems well suited to his work as owner of a marble company. But when he recalls his past life, his voice grows soft, his words hesitant.  

“When I was young, I thought everything could be answered by money, so when I came to Manila my only wish was to earn money and to make money—in short, to be rich. I did everything to fulfill my dream,” he admits.

He became a contractor and marble processor. As his income rose, he moved from a shack in a squatters area to millionaire’s row. He also moved toward the fast lane.

“I used to idolize the owner of an auto company, because he also had moved from “rags to riches,” Tom recalls. “I met other bigwigs in gambling: cockfighting. I became a professional cockfighter. Sometimes I beat them; sometimes they beat me. But when I won, I had no feeling of accomplishment. Joy was short and temporary.” 

Though his dream of wealth had been realized, he wondered, Where is that joy I was looking for?

One Sunday when he did not attend a cockfight, he happened to watch an evangelical television program that sparked his interest a little, but he continued gambling and losing money; his business suffered. Because he constantly needed funds for cockfighting, he often borrowed from a woman in a finance office. A Christian, she witnessed to him every time she visited. Once she even brought her pastor for Bible study.  But Tom lost interest, for he was reading books about reincarnation and how to succeed on his own. 

One day she brought with her an American missionary—Southern Baptist Charles Brock—who witnessed to Tom. Relates Tom: “I asked some questions, and he answered so satisfactorily there was no alternative but to pray and ask forgiveness. I started to pray silently, but the missionary said, ‘No!  You need to pray aloud. If you are too proud to admit that you are a sinner, you are too proud to go to heaven.’ I looked at my secretary, and I thought, I am a big man, and here I am praying in front of my secretary. I hesitated, and I was ashamed. But I was really convinced I had to pray, so I did, asking Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Savior. For the first time I felt a joy I had never found. 

“The missionary gave me some assuring words from the Bible, told me that Jesus Christ would never forsake me, and then he left.” Tom recalls. 

“When I was alone, I felt as if I were crazy. I went and sat under a shade tree and pondered about it. I pounded my heart and asked, ‘Are you really there? If you’re really there, don’t leave me any more, because I love this feeling!’ That was March 1981,” Tom recalls.

He soon began attending the small church Brock was opening in northeastern Metro Manila. Right away, Brock asked Tom to share his testimony. “I am so shy that I stood up without knowing it,” relates Tom. “I went behind the pulpit and shared the story of my life. Since then I’ve been sharing my testimony everywhere I go.” 

Later he felt God calling him to preach, but he resisted—as the oldest son in his family, the last thing he wanted was more responsibility. The church called a young pastor, and Tom felt “off the hook.”  But on the first day for the young man to preach, he did not come. 

Brock, sick with typhoid fever, could not attend church, but recalls that he peeked through the window to watch what happened. He reports that Escota, asked to fill in, walked to the pulpit, where he stood a long time.

“I was so relieved when I thought we had a new pastor. But I’ve known it all along—whether you like it or not, I’m your new pastor,” he announced. For most people such a statement would have been an egotistical disaster, but for Tom the result was a thundering round of applause as members strongly affirmed what they saw as God’s work in Tom. The layman filled in during that service and has been preaching ever since, though at first he trembled in fear.

From this start, Tom moved to become a missionary church planter when Brock returned to the United States.

“Charles Brock believed whatever God did for him, He would do for us. That’s the important thing I’ve learned—to trust only God,” Tom explains.

Brock’s philosophy of depending on God instead of other people has been solidly adopted by the churches he has started. “They follow my principles maybe even more than I do,” says Brock.

Already Tom and his lay helpers have started three churches (80, 50, and 30 members, respectively) and are working with three more, though their congregation, Pinyahan Baptist Church, has only about 100 members, and their modest building is not yet complete.

Forget fancy evangelism programs and aid plans, Tom advises. They tried high- pressure approaches and gave them up. Now they rely on the Lord.

“Church planting really doesn’t require money,” he explains. “We consider money a crutch. Wherever we find people, we never change the living conditions. We just lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ with dignity. We trust the Lord will bless them and give them the spiritual gifts He has given us. Usually that group will become a church.

“We don’t let them rely on us. Every time they rely on us we point them to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we tell them it’s His work.”

A business man, Tom tries to minimize the difference between clergy and laity: ”our slogan is ‘Everybody is somebody.’ We’re all the same, all children of God.”

When interviewed, Tom had helped organize a church two weeks earlier. Already a member of the group had been called as preacher.

Although Tom gives much of his time to his church ministry, he says his marble business has grown 10 times over since he became a Christian and gave up gambling. He now has 70 workers at his plant, and he has invented a marble-cutting machine that is selling well.

Baptists such as Tom help explain why Baptists in Metro Manila are excited about the future.

(This story was taken from the December 1985 issue of Commission Magazine.)