Victory was started by Steve and Deborah Murrell, who came to the Philippines in 1984 together with Rice Broocks and 65 other American university students on a one-month summer mission trip. Since 1984, Victory has grown until it presently has churches in 60 Philippine cities. During a difficult time when Victory Manilla was struggling, Emanuele Cannistraci, Founding Pastor of Gateway City Church in San Jose, California, took Steve Murrell and church leaders under his wing, and treated them like they were part of his own staff and family and mentored them and ministered to the church and its leaders during Apostle C and his wife, Shirley's, annual ministry meetings at Victory Manilla, in the 1980's and continuing for over a decade. Steve Murrell wrote, Apostle C taught us, by example, how to "do ministry with integrity, how to do life with joy, and how to do family with no regrets.” In 2015, Victory's Metro Manila church had 15 congregations, all with multiple services and locations, and many offering more than one language. The church has multiple locations and holds 94 services every weekend, each of them led by live preaching, training Filipinos to reach their cities, the nation, and the world. Over 10,000 leaders conduct small weekly discipleship groups. In 2020, the Church had 65,000 people.
Discipleship and leadership training process
Since its inception in 1984, church members are equipped to compassionately engage communities, intentionally establish biblical foundations, strategically equip believers, and continually empower disciples. Its primary vehicle for discipleship is the Victory group, a small group of people who get together, build relationships, and study the Bible.
Victory Worship
In 2014, Victory Worship released its first live worship album, Radical Love. Radical Love and its 2015 follow-up, Rise Heart, were certified Gold by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry, Inc.. On March 25, 2017, the group released Awit ng Bayan, its first full Filipino-language single; on June 1, 2017, Safe, its latest digital single, was released to radio and on digital formats. An extended play, For Your Purpose, was released on December 1, 2017. On March 16, 2018, it released its latest extended play, In Your Name.
