They came for the Go Forth Mission Conference 08, about thirty of them. Most were young ones. Some were on staff at Ywam Pittsburg, others were with the programs they had there. They came on a shoestring budget but not when it came to love and boldness. They hit the streets from Aljunied to Esplanade to the Merlion, like a short and intense hurricane, showing skits in the streets, singing in the open air, without police license (they were Americans!), and it attracted small crowds, and after the show and talk(interpreted into Mandarin), they mingled and interacted with whoever was around or wanted to talk. One of their leaders said, “Its like you don’t have to go all over the world; the nations are already here: Thais, Myanmese, Chinese nationals, Sri Lankans, Indians, Filipinos, Vietnamese….” The two Sundays they were around they brought some Myanmese, Chinese nationals whom they shared the gospel with, as guests to our services.
On Sunday, the Pittsburg group did those classic mimes of Ywam in the main and youth services and the youth pastor was so impressed with their evangelistic fervor and outreach that she organized an ad hoc training for the youths.
Later a big group went to the Philippines for a mission while others stayed on and later went across the Causeway. They left us a names list which we then invited to the Alpha Course about to be run in the church.
How were we hooked up with these Pittsburg folks? Well we support a missionary family based there that has close links with them. This family is a remarkable story in itself, but because their work is sensitive, no talk, lah.
A young adult cell meets at my place every Saturday afternoon. My wife and I have a growing affection for these godly and talented young people, mostly serving with the worship ministry. One of them is Sarah, and her grandfather, Mr Phua was ill. He was bedridden, unable to speak or care for himself, with a chronic bedsore. All this after a fall about two years ago. The cell decided to visit and worship and pray with him last Saturday(click on pics). We worshiped the Lord, sprinkled with scripture readings, prayers, words, and singing in the Spirit. I felt the anointing and presence of the Lord. My eyes were moist. This was no formal going through the motions; it was deeply meaningful. A few days later we received this letter from Caroline, Mr Phua’s daughter, who was present. She wrote:
“We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to you and Sarah’s Cell group for your visitation, fellowship and wonderful + inspiring worship time with my parents at my home last weekend. My mom had been touched and inspired by your cell group - the wonderful young people who can lead and pray for her and my dad during the worship time. She felt renewed inside and her faith in God has been strengthened once more. She felt that she was able to worship the Lord with them at my home as if she is in a church. My mom was very happy on that day after you all left. Her face was radiant. Praise God.I know my dad - he was able to hear and listen to the worship time and praying moments. I saw him shedding a few tears during that time. I thank God for giving my parents a time of uplifting and giving glory to God at my home despite not being able to go to their church.I am also inspired by what the Lord has used each one of the wonderful people in His ministry. They are His wonderful and marvelous tools to be used for His Kingdom and His Glory. I believe that God will bless and develop them much more to further His ministry everywhere they go. I was glad to be able to serve you with my bakery. I pray and hope that there will be another round of worship and praying time for my parents so that they will be brought closer to God much more through Sarah’s cell group. We are looking forward to it “
Reading the letter was an encouragement. It got me thinking. Bringing the cell and the worship outside where the needs are can be very impactful. These missional young adults has gotten out of the hype and emo of popular Christianity, and entered into the real world of suffering and need, and deliberately offering themselves there, they were used by the Lord to refresh a bedridden man, and a family worn out from caring for him.
It also got me thinking about the future face of ministry. By 2020 the number of senior citizens in Singapore would have doubled, and a percentage of that would be homebound. What kind of ministry would the senior citizens need? How will the growing aged population shape the ministry of churches in the next decade?
We invited Rev George Ong to speak on “Unveiling the Glory of God”, subtitled Cat and Dog Theology. We were his fourth June church camp but he was energetic, engaging, humourous, penetrating and enlightening. Rather than the usual inspirational/prophetic fare for church camps I decided this time to go for some solid teaching for more balance. The teaching and preaching was appreciated and well received by the church. It served to deepen our call to glorify God in missions and not be so “me” centered. It was a corrective to our Singaporean Christian “consumer” mentality. He brought along stocks of the 12 humour books that he authored/compiled, and they sold well. It was wonderful to fellowship with this ex-Youth for Christ worker, former army captain, Trinity alumni, formerGrace Assembly pastor, and to hear about his faith-walk as an itinerant preacher, credentialed with the Assembly of God.
We were at Malacca’s Holiday Inn a spanking new hotel near the sea and next to Makhota Parade Shopping Mall. The facilities and food were great and so was the service.
Food prices have risen 45% in the past nine months, according to the UN. In other parts of the world it has incited social unrest. The World Bank has estimated a doubling of food prices over the past 3 years could push 100 million people further into poverty, and some 33 countries face unrest because of inflation caused by several factors: increased demand due to changing diet in Asia; bad weather; diversion of staples such as corn into biofuels; soaring transportation costs, and trade restrictions on farm produce. Are we seeing the third seal unfolded before our very eyes? “When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed like to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!” (Revelation 6: 5,6). Famine, according to the third seal, will become so severe that a laborer’s entire wages will go merely for food. Families will have to buy barley, a lower quality of grain. Oil and wine will be spared perhaps a hint that the well-off will still be able to indulge themselves, like many of us Singaporeans. I believe the church in Singapore must sit up and do something about this need of fellow-Singaporeans and even more the poor of Asean, and even the world. This may be worse than a tsunammi. In our church, the Chinese service has started the ball rolling with a small but wonderful idea, so we English service folks just piggy-backed on their idea of asking members to bring a packet of rice for the needy. So about 200 packs of rice were collected the Sunday before Labour Day and transported to the storeroom of Marine Parade CDC. These will then go to those who have been assessed as needing such aid. It was a privelege for us to participate in something like this. God would want the church to always look out for the needy. And in these days of unprecedented inflation, such help goes a longer way than we dare to admit. There are very needy people out there, especially outside Singapore. This was a once off project but it will probably take on a life of its own. After all, God has a bias towards the poor.
Yesterday, Peter and I pushed the Kinabalu 3 climbers as time is running out and there are only about 3 training sessions left before March 7-11. To be prepared is of utmost importance and though at this time, the forced marches up and down the steps of Dairy Farm and Jungle Fall may not be appreciated, they will later understand why we are stretching them. Their strength and stamina have improved since they first started.
Perhaps this 8 minute video of the challenges that lie ahead will motivate them to train between Sundays too.
Several parents and teenagers are going on this adventure 3 to Mt Kinabalu, S.E. Asia’s highest mountain. They are Darren and dad Eliam; Pastor Thomas and son second-timer Zeph (asst climb leader) ; twins Ivfy and Ka Kit and dad Benson; and Magdalene (admin leader) and daughter Rachel(click on pic for pop-up). Doing something together is a great bonding activity; and doing something great together is a great bonding activity, particularly for men. Training sessions, makan sessions, the drives, buying equipment, rooming together and going through hardships together all give rise to natural opportunities for talking, caring, and uploading memories that our sons and daughters will carry even into their adult lives, and these precious moments will even be stories for the next generation. I have seen the bonds deepen so many times in the past and it is gratifying.
Daniel Chew is climbing the second time and is now a climb leader. Dr Sharon Sim, who climbed the mountain when she was in ODAC, will be with us, so now we do not have to worry about assessing or treating altitude illness. Rachel and Samantha Sin are very fun and close cousins. Then there are Kenneth Poh(left) and Gabriel Soo(right) . Gabriel was so fit that in the last climb, he reached Low’s Peak first, took photos, and then went down to help others up. That’s why he is a climb leader too. The overall leader Peter Lim (below) enjoys physical challenges like marathons; and he works well with youths in such situations, making men out of boys. Add me in as advisor, and we have 16, the targetted number of trekkers we wanted, with a few waiting in the wings for more beds at Laban Rata.
Now I have met another online pastor-friend Rev. Dr. Tony Siew (’Revelation is Real’- see my blogroll) who was in Singapore to give some lectures at Singapore Bible College. He preached in the main service on Sunday. He spoke about the graciousness of God and his text was Zechariah 4: 7. The church was blessed with the anointed message. As we got to know Tony my wife remarked that he is a personification of what he preached: a gentle and gracious person.
He brought along an interesting uncle, a Datuk Dr Alex Ho, a Roman Catholic, who over Whitley Rd prawn noodles, regaled us with entertaining anecdotes about the grace of God upon him as the personal physician to the former and present Johor Sultans and the royal family. He is now an active layman and has designed a program to help Catholics become Bible literate. Interesting character.
Tony Siew did his law and theological degrees and earned his doctorate in New Testament in New Zealand. He is pastor of Likas S.I.B. (Sidang Injil Borneo-450 strong church denomination) in Kota Kinabalu and also district superintendent over 24 churches. He is an ethnic Chinese pastoring the Bahasa Malaysian section of the indigenous churches made up of Kadazan-Dusuns and other tribal peoples of Borneo. To read his blog go HERE.
Crossed another frontier. Technological one. It wasn’t that difficult at all. Now that I have done it. Upload a video clip. I had used my Canon camera to video the air of anticipation and majestic view of the Annapura Range from Poon Hill in Nepal. It took about two hours or so to figure out how to upload it onto YouTube.
Now I’d like to learn how to upload a video clip direct without using YouTube.
For the Sunday services in November, I used Dr Gordon Wong’s book titled, “God, Why”, an exposition on the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, and found it a useful aid to preaching and cell group discussions. We adopted his material for the Sunday messages of the main and youth services and used his helpful discussion guide for all the cell groups. I chose it because I have used his previous material on Daniel for teaching in a bible school in Myanmar and found them a great help for my message preparation. Furthermore, it deepened our exploration of this year’s theme which is “The joy of childlike faith”. The response I received was warm and positive though the younger lower secondaries found it difficult to relate to the issues. The outlines were smartly worded for easy memory, which though I found at times somewhat stretched, still had obvious advantages for the hearers, and saved me the ache of rewriting the discussion questions. I do not tell people about sources when I adapt, modify outlines from other preachers and writers till they become unrecognizably mine, but for this case, I used most of his materials with little modification, so I publicly acknowledged the source, which I believe is a good practice for pastors.
The official photos are finally out and Eric has done a great job. It takes about two minutes to load the presentation but it is worth the wait. The link: God of Wonders
Too busy to write a post or respond to comments. Monday should be better.
I believe the church in Singapore must sit up and do something about this need of fellow-Singaporeans and even more the poor of Asean, and even the world. This may be worse than a tsunammi. In our church, the Chinese service has started the ball rolling with a small but wonderful idea, so we English service folks just piggy-backed on their idea of asking members to bring a packet of rice for the needy. So about 200 packs of rice were collected the Sunday before Labour Day and transported to the storeroom of Marine Parade CDC. These will then go to those who have been assessed as needing such aid. It was a privelege for us to participate in something like this. God would want the church to always look out for the needy. And in these days of unprecedented inflation, such help goes a longer way than we dare to admit. There are very needy people out there, especially outside Singapore. This was a once off project but it will probably take on a life of its own. After all, God has a bias towards the poor.
For the Sunday services in November, I used Dr Gordon Wong’s book titled, “God, Why”, an exposition on the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, and found it a useful aid to preaching and cell group discussions. We adopted his material for the Sunday messages of the main and youth services and used his helpful discussion guide for all the cell groups. I chose it because I have used his previous material on Daniel for teaching in a bible school in Myanmar and found them a great help for my message preparation. Furthermore, it deepened our exploration of this year’s theme which is “The joy of childlike faith”. The response I received was warm and positive though the younger lower secondaries found it difficult to relate to the issues. The outlines were smartly worded for easy memory, which though I found at times somewhat stretched, still had obvious advantages for the hearers, and saved me the ache of rewriting the discussion questions. I do not tell people about sources when I adapt, modify outlines from other preachers and writers till they become unrecognizably mine, but for this case, I used most of his materials with little modification, so I publicly acknowledged the source, which I believe is a good practice for pastors.
