A huge toast to 'At the Door' team!
Another team of leaders and volunteers will be the team that make 24th services possible! I just love to be in this team!
I wanna to thank Shuzhen who champion the opening item and coordinating the details of item! The 3 soloist by our filipino gals are superb! The dance done by the youth team was just so awesome!
I wanna to affirm the worship team (Shirley and the singers and band) that lead us into a tangible presence of God! The worship after the sermon was heaven!
I wanna to thank Angie, Jocelyn and the drama team who bring out the true stories of Dasmond and Kelly. You guys has worked really hard!
A special thanks to Fenny who composed all the songs that was sung in the play. It was just so appropriate and tasteful that brings out the thoughts and emotion of the character!
Thanks to Philothea that did the filming and editing of Dasmond and Kelly's story. Also thank you the youth Communication team that champion the publicity clip, invitation cards and bulletin - it was so classy!
Thanks to Dasmond and Kelly & Kuan Long who avail themselves to tell of their story. It was authentic and moving.
Thanks to Ps Jeff who prepared the timely message and also delivered a impactful truth.
Thanks to Hong teck who shared a concise message about giving. Thank you for your effort because you were oversee the Hopekids service at the same time as well!
Thanks to Jorris and the image volunteers that helped the stage ministers looks just so pretty and good looking! I love the image of the dancers and the soloist! keep it up!
Thanks to Steven and Royston and many other tech crew that brings out the best sound and lightings of the hall!
Thanks to Desmond, Peik kee, Chris Goh and Joseph who run the actual program so well. Thanks to the decoration team for your late nights effort. Thanks to the ushers that bring a big smile to the face of the audience!
And many thanks to all those whom I didn't mentioned here. you have played a part to make the 24th service possible!
Thanks to the pastoral leaders who graciosuly release your people to volunteer to make this production possible. Of course thank God for all the visitors who came to that door!
Lastly, a big toast to Jesus for your message of Hope that ushers many to open the door of their heart to accept you! You have moved big time again! Glory to the New Born King!
(I will post the photos real soon!)
A Toast to the PARTY team!
It was busy weeks because of xmas season. As I have stayed home after the 24th services at Suntec due to my injury (I will share in the next post). It was one of the quietest xmas I have ever spent. Before I continue to share how I injured myself, I would like to give a big toast to Polydins team!
The first toast is to give to the Polydins team! PSPT (Abigail and the gang), all the volunteers and all those who sowed and brought their friends has shown the world who is the reason for the season - Jesus. It was a wow-ed service because of the excellence work you have given to make it work. The decoration was awesome! Bing Quan and Jorris & team has did a remarkable work! The image of the stage minister was gorgerous! 3 claps to Jesse and the dancer. It was the 2nd dance that you guys have attempted and I like the jazz feel dance. Great improvement guys! Great testimonies and Robin, Cannie and Shareen, your stories indeed has strike a chord in the hearts of the peeps. Leanne and Ritchie has hosted so well that you are engaging the audience with memorised script and joyful impartation! Keep it this way! Worship team has usher the presence of God! A toast to all sowers, shepherds and leaders who engage with their friends and camp mates regularly.
Prayer changes us to engage the culture
Well, God is awesome! We had our 1st Sub District prayer meeting of 2009. I took a risk of not having a guitarist and a worship leader because the designated WL was unable to be on duty.
I was sharing to Victor, KL and Elaine that probably we will just focus on praying and get the Holy Spirit to inspire us to pray. So we decided to do so and not sure what to expect.
We knew we need to stretch our spiritual stamina and hunger in prayer and declaring our dependence on God. That's what I shared before we pray. We need to increase our eargerness to pray. It's not going to be easy for all of us. We are capable to depend on ourselves then to labour in prayer. It's much easy to operate in our flesh and not the spiritual. That's why we came to work out together.
To our amazement, 40+ of us prayed continually for 45mins without stopping. And God gave specific word to encourage and add faith into our hearts. Then we continue another 45mins.
1. God wants to draw those who are timid or insecure but putting up a brave front/strong front out. God wants those to take his authority, the very same authority that he has given to his disciples (Mark 16:15-20). God wants to build the lasting confidence in our lives. It's not the confidence the world models (confidence in your experience, your job, your academic, finance, etc) but having the confidence in Christ. Because when we put our confidence on things or people, it will fluctuates and it will change. But when we put our confidence in Christ, it will grow from level to level (Ps 84:7). We will be more consistent in our boldness and courage and assurance because God is our identity.
That's how we can engage our culture. People in our culture are self sufficent people. They don't need a religion but they need to know how relationship with Jesus is meaningful and relevant in their lives. How to do that? When we grow in our confidence in Christ and face our lives, pain, struggles and challenges different from those who are self sufficient. They will be curious how we do it because it's impossible to have consistent joy and courage in trying times. That's engaging!
2. God wants to use our words to build others up. There is power in our words. We uses thousands of words a day. We either complain or grumble. God wants us to do otherwise. He created the earth by speaking. He called lights. He spoke and the land divided. When we uses our words to affirm and encourage, we are creating a little world / Life inside the person. God wants us to be generous in our words to speak a great future of our family, colleagues, bosses, friends, Christians. Don't be stingy but be generous in doing that as regularly as we can. (Heb 3:13)
That's how we engage our culture. Singaporean complain more than commend. We criticise more than affirm. We sow with what we reap. When we sow a smile, we reap a smile eventually. People loves to be build up and knows that someone believes in them. When we start to use our words like how Jesus would use, we are a walking cheer leader to our friends and family. They will wonder why we can do so continually. They will start to wonder and then thats how we can engage with our lives and sharing of Christ.
I'm just so excited to be among NG8 peeps to become this kind of community that carries the presence, love and power of God in the way we see ourselves (confident in Christ) and the words we speaks. Thank you G, for your timely words!
That's the way we do and be CHURCH!
