Charity, Praise Songs Highlighted at Ang Dating Daan’s 35th Anniversary
Smart-Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City (October 13, 2015) – Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path), hosted by International Evangelist Bro. Eli Soriano, commemorated its 35th year in the broadcast industry with the theme, “Truth. Charity. Praise.”
To highlight the program’s advocacy of promoting good works, the program gathered 1,700 persons with disabilities as the event’s beneficiaries during its October 12 revelry at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City.
Record-breaking Gospel Choir
Nearly 9,000 Ang Dating Daan Chorale members flocked to the Big Dome and performed a total of 15 numbers in at least five languages to celebrate the program’s 35 years of broadcast.
The total number of participants reached 8,688, making the Ang Dating Daan group the new Guinness World Record’s Largest Gospel Choir title holder.
In its official attempt to break the record, the chorale performed “Stand Up,” “Praise the Name,” “Hallelujah, Amen,” and “Enrich the Spirit.”
“Singing for the glory of our Lord is our pride,” Bro. Eli, who is a known advocate of praise songs, remarked during the event.
In previous occasion, Bro. Eli stressed that “singing to God is one of the few things that we can do directly to Him.” He furthered, “We cannot serve God with our hands, but we can offer him the fruit of our lips, praising His name.”
External auditing firm Punongbayan & Araullo validated the tally, which was counted via turnstile counting and barcoded ticketing method. The event’s official witness was Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas, Jr.
It was Guinness World Records Adjudicator Fortuna Burke Melhem who welcomed the choir to the Guinness family.
The Ang Dating Daan Chorale belongs to the Members Church of God International (MCGI), where Bro. Eli is the Overall Servant.
Paying Forward through Charity
Bro. Eli believes that those with disabilities are important to God. “They may be disabled in the eyes of men, but they are the most abled candidates to heaven in the eyes of God,” he shared before the huge Araneta crowd.
During the anniversary celebration, Ang Dating Daan hosts Bro. Eli and Bro. Daniel Razon doled out cash gifts and grocery items to all the estimated 1,700 PWDs, including their aides.
They also donated Php100,000 to each of the twelve PWD institutions who joined the historic event. The cash donation was apart from the financial assistance and wheelchairs both Bro. Eli and Kuya Daniel awarded to the 30 raffle winners.
Aside from propagating the Gospel, Ang Dating Daan is also known for mounting philanthropic endeavors. Besides maintaining projects for PWDs, it has also launched and supported other charitable initiatives like its regular feeding programs and medical and legal missions across the country.
Beyond the Big Dome, Netizens Celebrate with ADD
Meanwhile, the celebration also made headlines on social media as the topics “Ang Dating Daan” and “Ang Dating Daan Chorale” entered the Philippines trends list, peaking at numbers seven and five respectively.
Besides the program’s supporters in the country, online users from as far as Latin America also sent their support and greetings via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
The netizens also had a glimpse of the momentous revelry as the official social media accounts of Ang Dating Daan and The Old Path posted blow-by-blow updates.
Ang Dating Daan, which is regarded as the Philippine’s longest-running religious program, commenced as a 30-minute radio show in 1980 operating on a shoestring budget. It was launched on television by a three-man production team in 1983.
After over three decades, the award-winning show is now being aired in six continents and is available in various language formats such as English, Spanish and Portuguese.
