The Trinity Theological College Library is probably the most beautiful library in a theological college. I love its design. The large glass windows that bring in natural light. The courtyard in between the library and the students rooms. It gives me a sense of the vastness of God and of knowledge yet unknown to us [...]

Sought after church camp speaker
One of the most popular speakers for church camps must be Pastor Benny Ho. He took our camp at Batam this year and mentioned that he had six camps to do during the June holidays. The theme he spoke to us was “Life on the Top” – a series of [...]

Preaching is not about words alone. It is refreshing if you are a wordsmith and use words that are not tired, and fire up the imagination, and stir and move holy feelings. However it is more powerful when your words are simplicity itself, but the way you lived your life conveys torrents of life-changing meaning. [...]

The presentations I had to do went well today and now I can pause to write before I continue working on my Sunday sermon and the post-campus assignment.
One of the interesting readings of this module is a  Christian Education Journal article (3.vol4, No.2) titled “Teaching Bible for Transformation” by Jackie L. Smallbones from Northwestern College.
Transformation [...]

Eugene Peterson was for many years James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College. He wrote many books on spirituality and pastoring, and he is probably most well known for The Message, his translation of the Bible in the language of today. Now retired from full-time teaching, Eugene has something significant to say [...]

The plot of INCEPTION

The film INCEPTION, starring Leonardo Dicaprio, poses an intriguing proposition, and by extension an interesting spiritual application. The action film is science fiction with a tantalising idea: that ideas and secrets and technology can be extracted from people while their subconscious mind are at their most vulnerable- during dream state. So the [...]

Came across a book (Adam S. Hugh, Introverts in the Church, 1976, IVP Books, Downers Grove: Illinois) my son borrowed from the National Library. The book was quite interesting and I mostly had Amens and affirmations to the author’s many ideas and insights as I did a rapid read. Found a part that I thought [...]

Tullian Tchividjian is the Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. A Florida native, he is a visiting professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and a grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham. What he has to share about sermons seasoned with grace is encouraging and enlightening. Read [...]

It was like a refresher course in preaching. Reading it was a breeze. It was well-written with good analogies and metaphors that stimulated and enlightened. The author  was President and now senior Professor who trains seminary students at Asbury Theological Seminary in preaching. The book’s content was established, old school stuff and he gave his [...]

We mistakenly think the Gospel is just the four spiritual laws. We further mistaken that the Gospel is only for accepting Christ, for conversion, for “crossing the line” and after that we lay it aside and go to deeper things. How wrong this is, and how disastrous it is for the church to think so. [...]

We preachers and hearers need to discern what is Gospel and what is not. The difference could be telling in its effects and implications.

Two churches in one building
It was an interesting concept. Two churches sharing one building is not new. It had been tried in the Clementi Bible Center, shared by the Bible Church and the Mt Carmel Bible Presbyterian Church; and in Yishun Christian Church, shared between an Anglican and a Lutheran church. This was of a [...]

Grace happenings
Pastor Peter welcomed me warmly with a dinner on Friday evening at Duck Inn- a place where the lowly duck has gone four stars. Eusoffe and Joey and he regaled me with story after story of how God had been at work in the New Covenant Church. Changed lives, healings, answered prayers, and marriages [...]

Lost shepherds and waiting sheep
The Rt Revd Rennis Ponniah, the Vicar of St John’s-St. Margaret’s Church, and Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Singapore, gave an insightful message to priests and ordinands recently that was excerpted in the Diocesan Digest(Nov 2010). He was reminding the church of what it meant to be an Anglican priest [...]

Every year I read at least one book on preaching to hone my craft and to deepen my convictions. This year I picked up from the Trinity library a book by Thomas G. Long titled Preaching from Memory to Hope, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009. It was so helpful for me I excerpted passages for [...]

In my office shelf I stumbled on an old photo album of some mission trips to the Mt Bromo area in 1990 and in 1991, and Peshawar in 1992. The photos were fading, and the album’s spine had unglued from the cover. Digitizing photos are so easy to do now with the macro function on [...]

John Maxwell is well known in the church world and in the secular organizations. He is a trainer and motivator of leaders. As an author he has sold 13 million books. His training organizations have trained more than 5 million people. He left Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego to concentrate on training leaders. He [...]

Who is Sumiko?
Can a pastor learn anything from Singapore’s “most famous single woman”? Ms Sumiko Tan, 46, is a Straits Times editor. Her Sunday Times column, which began in July 1994, is famous and with it she has grown a mega fan base. Like a confession booth to which the public has access instead of [...]

Two megachurch pastors
Someone who had been listening to messages of both Joseph Prince of New Creation Church and Kong Hee of City Harvest Church (pastors of the two largest churches in Singapore), made an interesting comment to me.
He said, “When I listen to Joseph Prince, I feel confidence and empowered.” “When I listen to Kong [...]

An extension of the Chapel of the Resurrection
This was one of the many extensions started by the Chapel of the Resurrection. It was started in April 1991, with two house groups sent out as the core of a new church. It has been twenty years now and they now have about 60 members. Once they [...]