Structure

The structure of the group is very similar to that of Word of Life (formerly known as Washtenaw Covenant Community). We have a group of leaders that decides what is best for the group and a group of members. We have two types of members: associates and committed. The leaders' group is called "CADA-core". The CADA Core is divided into two groups the first is the pastoral core and the other is the ministry core or the service core. The CADA pastoral core group meets at least once a month to rectify the direction and pastoral concern of the group and the ministry core meets monthly for activity planning and scheduling. The CADA pastoral core group currently consists of of the following people: Amy Apostol, Pedro Esteva, Toni Esteva, Lawrence Tejada, Christian Simon, Rhoda Simon, Jun Siwa, Annie Alpas, Dax Almendras and Tom Gryniewicz from Word of Life, as CADA outside coordinator. Lawrence Tejada currently oversee the Ministry Core, which consists of all heads of CADA ministry.

Activities

The group normally meets twice a month for the prayer meeting (community gathering), and once a month for the cell groups. Our prayer meetings follow the Sword of the Spirit model: praise, prayer, teaching, sharing and announcements. We had taught the "Life in the Spirit" seminar, the "Gifts of the Holy Spirit" course, "Alpha Course", "Christian Growth Series", "Christian Sexuality" & "Parenthood" course, "Christian Maturity" course and most recently the "Christian Personal Relationship" course. We normally have recollection during lent, annual sportsfest, an outreach activity, canoe trip, sledding event, pumpkin/apple picking event, Lord's day celebration, members' anniversary and birthday parties, bible stury, CADA's anniversary, Christmas and Easter celebrations. We also do fundraising events like concerts, caroling, etc... We also joined activities of the Word of Life and Sword of the Spirit, Joy of the Lord(JOL), Detroit Community Outreach (DCO), St Priscilla Church and Kapulungan ng mga Katolikong Pilipino sa Michigan (KKPM).

Support

CADA provides support among members through men and women groups(cell groups) and diffirent ministries, here are some CADA's different mailing list:

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

CADA also has a web site (http://www.lifewithcada.com). Currently, we have three men's and four women's groups. Also, different ministries continue support our activities and our spiritual needs.

Growth

The group is growing steadily. As of 2009 our members have grown to almost 50. We have mlore than 20 children aged 0-12.

The Prayer meeting is the life of our community. It is the time we give praise and honor to our Lord, a time to celebrate and gather as one community.It is also a time to enrich our spiritual lives thru the talks given by speakers andthru the personal sharings of the members themselves; and a time to enjoy the company of the brothers and sisters.This common time is also used by the core group to address community issues and concerns. Our prayer meetings are usually held twice a month, normally, first and third week, we usually meet at the parish hall of St. Priscilla's Church in Livonia.

Christ's Ardent Disciples in Action, or simply CADA, is a Christ-centered charismatic community whose members share a common desire to love and serve the Lord and who are committed to live a way of life that upholds the teachings of Christ.

CADA is a Michigan-based Christian community, composed mostly of young Filipinos-families, married couples, and single men and women. Our love for God and our strong friendships started it all, as our first prayer meeting took place on July 1996. Our activities include everything from prayer meetings, recollections, and Bible studies to picnics, sportsfests, and canoeing . It is fellowship and fun, faith and living the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is about getting to know Jesus in a personal way and sharing a life in Jesus with our family and friends. We strongly believe that being part of a Christian community plays a very important role in living out a rich life in Christ. So with this, we encourage everyone to involve themselves and be part of the body of Christ...who knows, that could just be us.

CADA is an affiliate community of the Sword of the Spirit which is an ecumenical body composed of more than 65 communities spread throughout 24 countries dedicated to serving Christ in the Christian churches of which its members are a part, and in our society through the support of covenant community life. As such we now share the call to be "a community of disciples in mission" with our brothers and sisters from SOS.

Cell groups (or Action groups, Home groups) play a vital role in the formation of Christian values and in the building of relationships among brothers and sisters.In CADA, one cell group is composed of around 5 to 8 committed members of the community, including the cell group leader.Cell group leaders, who are members of the Core group, are given the responsibility to facilitate the cell group meetings; and most importantly, to pastor their members towards their growth in Christian faith.

As more CADA members were getting married, the need for couples group grew, thus the creation of home group took place. Just like the cell group, the home group is a support group that caters the needs of it members. The meetings become venues for praise and worship, for studying scripture, for deeper and more personal sharing, for support and guidance, and for fellowship. In CADA, these meetings are scheduled during the Cell Group/Home Group Week which is, normally, the week that follows the Friday prayer meeting.

CADA is divided into different ministries in order to accommodate the needs of the group and also effectively provide a support for one another. This also helps us organize our activities. It's service and fun at the same time. Renz Tejada ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) is currently the overall coordinator of all the ministries, including the prayer meeting. Here are a brief description of each ministries.

A. Information/Promotion - responsible for information dissemination, email, web site and other documents concerning CADA. This ministry is handled by Ivy Senger, assisted by Dave Demetria. If you want to join this ministry you can send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This is an open ministry.

Mission & Vision: Our vision is to effectively support CADA’s information needs so that every member may become better informed Christians. Our mission is: to provide services related to storage, retrieval, and availability of spiritual reference materials, chronicle the community history and promote community activities.

B. Administrative - responsible for venue, food, maintaining CADA materials, documenting CADA events, decorations & other administrative work. This ministry is handled by Dax Almendras. If you want to join this ministry you can email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This is an open ministry. The Finance Ministry is now under the administrative ministry. The Finance ministry record collections, expenses, fund-raising results, also collects tithes and donations from CADA members, submit a financial report. Clifford Obsum is our venue coordinator, all venue request or suggestion should be addressed to him, you can coordinate with him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

C. Teachings - responsible for CADA courses and talks given in the prayer meeting, discern CADA activities and provide source of teachings that will be helpful to the group. This ministry is handled by pastoral group of CADA in coordination with SOS outside coordinator, Tom Gryniewicz. This ministry is for committed members only. For suggestions courses and teaching materials, please contact your homegroup or cellgroup leaders.

D. Outreach & Fellowship - responsible for organizing CADA outreach and fellowship activities. This is an open ministry, for any suggestion of activities please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mission & Vision: Our vision is to help build the community with "evangelistic members" having a common goal and to bring more people closer to Christ. Our mission is to find a venue to express and announce the goal of the ministry and to establish a CADA culture/routine -by inviting people, promoting Christ-centered activities and listening to others' needs.

E. Intercessory - responsible for praying for the group concerns, also pray for CADA activities, they also collect list of concerns or prayer intentions. This ministry is handled by Jackie Woloszyn, assisted by Lulu Bagtas. If you want to join this ministry you can send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This ministry is now open to all.

Mission & Vision: To be devoted ministers in bridging our brothers and sisters through intercession to our God the Father, putting our complete trust in His will, power and love for us. The Intercessory Ministry is dedicated to serving CADA and its members by being one with them as they lift up their intentions in prayer to our Father, and joining them in joyful praise and thanksgiving for His love, faithfulness and generosity.

F. Music Ministry - brings life to the prayer meeting, by singing and playing musical instrument and leading us to prayer and worship. They also teach us new songs. This ministry is handled by Bobby delos Reyes, assisted by Rey Rodriguez. If you want to join this ministry you can send them email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This is an open ministry.

Mission & Vision: With grateful hearts for the talents God has given us, we will respond to His call and serve Him and His people in praise and worship through music. We envision developing music ministry with members faithful to their personal relationship with God, and fully committed to continuously transforming ourselves into becoming His instruments. As anointed brothers and sister in Christ, we will lead and serve God's people into grace-filled worship with full confidence in the leading of the Holy Spirit.

G. Children Ministry - this is the newest ministry. As more children join our activities, this ministry is responsible for creating various activities for our children during our prayer meetings or community gatherings. Ministry programs include hands-on bible curriculum, kiddie games, arts and crafts-making and role-playing. It aims to teach our children to embrace community life. This ministry is headed by Portia Almendras, assisted by Jonah Nicdao. If you are interested in joining this ministry, you can send her an email. For any questions, suggestions or comments, please send them to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Mission & Vision: Our vision is to develop the spirituality and mold the values of our children so that they can become good servants of Christ when they grow up. Our mission is to provide a learning environment that is God-centered, where children can express themselves, build friendship with another and interact with different CADA members. By reaching out to them, we can help them establish a meaningful and personal relationship with Christ.

Formation

CADA is a group created in 1996 by Mon Samson member of the Servants of the Word (SOW) and Amy Apostol to serve as a channel to provide spiritual support to young professionals in the Ann Arbor-Detroit area. A few months later Toni and Pedro Esteva were invited to help leading the group with Amy due to the departure of Mon back to the Philippines. In 1997 Alvin Zenarosa (investegiated the brotehrhod)replaced Mon and brought new life to it. In 1998 it was time for Jim Orbe(SOW) to serve in our group. Also in 1998 Lawrence Tejada and Christian Simon arrived to the US to work for Ford. A couple of months after their arrival, they joined the group and had been a source of energy that had moved the group above anybody's expectations. Annie Alpas also has been the foundation upon CADA was built since the beginning. The group has seen about 4 generations of people. The core group was divided into pastoral and ministry to better serve the group. We are blessed by the continued support of Servants of the Word that helped the group formation through the years. The Filipino brothers that served CADA were Joseph Piquero, Jojo Baquiano, Oliver Calo, and Peter Legazpi, including Marlo Valencia, Marlon Castro, Angelo Balido & Mark Aycocho, who in their formation years in SOW supported us one way or another. In 2000, CADA received support from Word of Life through John Mckeone, as we became their outreach. In 2009 CADA became an affiliate community of the Sword of the Spirit, Tom Gryniewicz & Miriam Torres helped us in the formation of the group as Sword of the Spirit community. In addition, CADA has the support of St. Priscilla Church (where we usually held our prayer meeting), and other parishes. We also got the support of many different Filipino groups in Michigan (JOL, KPPM, and many more). The group have been blessed with good people and resources, and God has been faithful in our cause. CADA is now comprised of mostly young adults (married and singles) and young children. CADA is moving towards covenant community.

Name Origin

The name CADA was originally coined from the Filipino word 'barkada', which means a person's close friends. It was introduced as our mailing list name on 1998, and it stood for Christians in Ann arbor and Detroit Area. Now, we have redefined its meaning to truly identify ourselves as to who we are, and also, to better describe what we are doing and what our mission is all about, and that is, to become Christ's Ardent Disciples in Action.

Our Logo

Our logo describes who we are and what is our goal, a group people who wants to follow Christ led by the Holy Spirit. The cross represents Christ, the bird represents the Holy Spirit and the people are represented by our acrononym "ADA".

From the beginning there has been a hidden relationship between Christ's Ardent Disciples in Action (CADA) and Word of Life (formerly known as Washtenaw Covenant Community-WCC). The fact that the leaders from CADA belong to Word of Life has marked CADA with characteristics that show CADA and Word of Life are of the same kin. CADA has received a lot of help from Word of Life in the past through the servants of the word that generously donated their free time (Mon, Alvin, Jim), the leaders providing the course contents and speaking in our events (John K., Dan K., Don Schwager), the members providing leadership, time and resources (Toni Esteva, Pedro Esteva, Amy Apostol), and more recently from UCO members during an Alpha course event (Nikko and other brothers and sisters).

Last September 10, 2000, CADA officially became an outreach of Word of Life. Thanks to the help of John Mckeone and other brothers and sisters from the Word of Life, who believes in our group, and who made this relationship possible. We perceive that this relationship will grow deeper as we continue to share our resources and culture in serving our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe CADA will be able to inject new life to Word of Life, fulfill the needs of the life after UCO (single young professionals), and give support to the Detroit Community Outreach (DCO).

There is one God, who is infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (II Cor. 13;14; Mat. 28:19)

Jesus Christ is true God and true man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He died upon the cross, the just for the unjust, as a substitutionary sacrifice, and all who believe in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood. He arose fro the dead according to the Scriptures. He is now at the right hand of the Majesty on high as our great High Priest. will come again to establish his kingdom of righteousness and peace. (John 20:28 ; Philippians 2:6 ,7)

The Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, sent to indwell, guide, teach, empower the believer, and convince the world of sin, or righteousness, and of judgment. (John 14:16 , John 15:26 , John 16:7-10 )

The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men. They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice. (II Tim. 3:16, II Peter 1:21)

Man was originally created in the image and likeness of God; he fell through disobedience, thereby incurring both physical and spiritual death. All men are born with a sinful nature, are separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The portion of the impenitent and unbelieving is existence forever in conscious torment; and that of the believer is everlasting joy and bliss. (Ephesians 2:1-9 )

Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all men; and those who repent and believe in Him are born again of the Holy Spirit, receive the gift of eternal life, and become the children of God. (I John 2:1 )

It is the will of God that each believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit and be sanctified wholly, being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to the will of God, thereby receiving power for holy living and effective service. This is both a crisis and a progressive experiences wrought in the life of the believer subsequent to conversion. (Ephesians 4:18 , I Thessalonians 5:23)

Provision is made in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the healing of the mortal body. Prayer for the sick and anointing with oil are taught in the Scriptures and are privieges of the Church in this present age. (Mat. 8:14-17; I Corinthians 15:53-54; James 5 )

The Church consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, and are born again of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church, which has been commissioned by Him to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the Gospel to all nations. (Eph. 1:20-23 ; 4:4-16; I Cor. 12; Mark 16:15 )

There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust; for the former, a resurrection unto life; for the latter, a resurrection unto judgment. (John 5:28 ,29)

The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent and will be personal, visible, and premillenial. This is the believer's blessed hope and is a vital truth which is an incentive to holy living and faithful service. (Matthew 24-25 ; John 14 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 )