Bishop Efraim M. Tendero has been serving as national director of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) since 1993 up to the present. PCEC is the largest network of evangelical Christians in the Philippines composed of 25,000 evangelical churches, 66 denominations, 150 parachurch and mission organizations.

In 2005, he was appointed executive director of the Philippine Relief and Development Services (PHILRADS) and continues to hold the said position till now. PHILRADS, the relief and development arm of PCEC, works hand in hand with local churches in holistic ministries for the poor and the needy, to enable them to become all that God intends them to be. It responds to the emergency needs of disaster victims, provides assistance for their rehabilitation, carries out community development projects, and conducts disaster management seminars for local churches and communities.

Besides providing leadership for PCEC and PHILRADS, Bishop Tendero is the chair of the board of the following organizations: Asian Theological Seminary, Back to the Bible Broadcast, Evangelism Explosion (EE) 3 Philippines, and Philippine Missions Association, and the Youth Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of Asia. He is also a member of the Youth Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance. He was chair of the General Committee of the Metro Manila Franklin Graham Festival that spearheaded the festival of Franklin Graham in the Philippines in February 2006.

He served as national coordinator for the DAWN (Discipling A Whole Nation) 2000, where he provided leadership for the mobilization of churches in the Philippines that made possible the accomplishment of the movement’s vision of seeing 50,000 local churches planted nationwide by 2000.

Owing to his dynamic preaching, excellent leadership and rich ministry experience, he has become among the country’s favorite speakers on leadership, church growth and missions, and has been invited numerous times to speak not only locally but in 25 other countries. Furthermore, he functions as executive editor of Evangelicals Today—the longest-running Christian magazine in the Philippines.

He also became one of the spiritual advisers of former President Fidel V. Ramos in his capacity as chair of the National Ecumenical Consultative Committee (NECCOM). He is now a member of the Presidential Council for Values Formation. Bishop Tendero was also appointed by President GMA as one of the members of the 50-man Citizen’s Consultative Commission or Concom that went around the country to consult and gather input from various sectors and stakeholders of the nation so as to review and craft possible amendments to the present Constitution, for which he was awarded a Presidential Medal of Merit. He actively represented the Philippines in several International Interfaith Dialogues including the United Nations High Level Inter-religious and Intercultural dialogue for Understanding and Peace.

Bishop Tendero earned his B. A. Theology degree from FEBIAS College of Bible in 1978, cum laude and was the recipient of that year’s Most Outstanding Student Award. He also went to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois for his M. Div. (Pastoral Counseling) degree, graduating cum laude. He is listed in the 1989 “Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.” He received three honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from Asian Theological Seminary, Febias College of Bible, and International School of Theology-Asia.
In recognition of his exemplary leadership in the body of Christ as he fosters unity and advocacy for national transformation, he was given the Distinguished Evangelical Leadership Award, making him the fifth person to receive this prestigious award in the 35 years of PCEC then.

Born in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro Bishop Ef is married to the former Sierry Soriano. The couple are blessed with four children, namely: Elizabeth Esther, Efraim Elijah, Ezra Emmanuel, and Elah Eunice.