BATMAN visits our YOUNG ADULTS cell group!

On one of our Young Adults cell group, we had a special visitor.

It's... BATMAN!!!



don't be deceived by its size and shape. It's actually quite powerful.

cos it got all 4 grown men screaming and cringing.



BATMAN gets ready for a leap!



Yeo said he may bite, so Sim Chun the Gu Niang uses umbrella to poke BATMAN! Poor Batman! But see how BATMAN snarls back at Sim Chun the evil doer, posing as the Penguin!!



Sim Chun makes a strike at BATMAN but our hero leaps unto the umbrella!!

But as the battle ensues, BATMAN gave up and was flung down 2 levels of HDB flat.

Will BATMAN survive? Tune in to the next episode of...

BATMAN!!!

*cheesy 70s music plays in background...

Basia Converts to Buddhism!!

During our stay at Sydney, Basia had a conversion experience where she became a devout Buddhist for a day!

Here are the pictures as evidence of her conversion.




Basia, deep in prayer. Chanting her Buddhist scriptures...



a smile of enlightenment breaks on her face. She has attained Nirvana.

Thankfully, we pinned her down after that and cast out the demon in her. Shortly after, she came back to her senses and professed Jesus as Lord of her life again.

Hallelujah! :)

1st COMBI Meeting and all about serving Jesus

We had our 1st Combined meeting between the Youths and the Young Adults on 15th July 2006, Saturday.

Well, at first there were some hassle, cos we were trying hard to get the video going as we wanted to show the sermon DVD by Bill Hybels about personal evangelism.

Pastor Bill shared about leaving our comfort zone, and being sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and being willing to leave our comfort zone to reach out to those who needs Jesus.

He shared 3 story, the first one about how he was prompted by the Lord to visit the place where he first encountered God. Along the way, he made friends with a down and out guy and was given an opportunity to speak encouragement into his life, about how God loves him and made him unique and special.

the 2nd story was how he encountered an African-American man who had become a Muslim because the Christian community then, kicked his family out because they are black. But in his adult years, a Christian man had taken a step of faith to come out of his comfort group of white men and associates to speak to him and listened to him and finally shared Christ with him. This seemingly simple gesture brought him back to Jesus.

Finally, the 3rd story was how Bill himself reached out to his neighbour, also Bill, when he was gently prompted by the Holy Spirit to speak to him on a cold winter night. The results were not instantaneous but after 6 years of gently prodding his neighbour, he came to receive Christ, and is now actively serving in his church.

For me, one of the things that struck me about this sermon, especially as a leader, is to check my heart, if I had been tasking my members to reach out, while I stayed at the back without getting my hands dirty in the work of evangelism. You see, it's very easy for a leader to issue just run evangelistic outreach programs. In the course of it, we become very good program managers, but we miss out on personal evangelism to our own friends and family members. And that's the caution that Ps Bill has for us leaders.

Another thing is personal evangelism. It's easy to talk about reaching out to friends and stuff like that and then feel good about it, but when it comes down to the crux of asking, that's when the rubber meets the road. That's when it's about walking out of your comfort zone.

Last week, after the Planet Shakers' concert, I received from Ps Rachel a stack of survey forms, on those friends whom the youths had brought and had received Christ. I struggled for a week to call them up actually. I mean, they're like total strangers to me and I can't think of anything to talk to them about... haha... you know, trying to make small talk all over again, it's just not me...

but on monday morning, as I was praying and seeking the Lord, I sensed a new passion in my heart to reach out. Man... I was praying fervently and almost shouting my prayers and my heart was getting really excited about seeing ppl coming to know Christ.

Then I remembered about the stack of survey forms.

I stopped for a while and thought to myself, "I think the Holy Spirit is trying to tell me something..." hahaha... I think He did. I sensed Him telling me to start with those survey forms. Start by calling them up and finding out how they are.

That's when the rubber meets the road. I felt at that point in time, I had better make my passion for souls count through my actions. I felt at that moment that God was testing my heart. So I set apart the night time to call them up and talk to them. Haha... you have no idea how tough it was cos I had wanted to call my friend out and hang out. Haha...

I struggled a little, actually, but I just picked up the phone to call all 8 of them (i think) some of them are friends from my cell members so I wanted to call them first to find out if they're making any further contact to follow up with them. Haha... the funny thing is, none of my youth members picked up the phone, so it means I gotta call their contacts directly. God really has a sense of humour... there's no escape... haha...

so I called the first 2 guys, and well, they're already Christians, serving in church and they have their own cell groups.

"Not bad..." I thought to myself. "Making progress..."

Then when I called the next 2 guys, who happened to be Rebekah's friends, I got a bit stuck, cos they're not Christians and I don't know where to begin.

Let's start with the first guy.

So I went like, "so..." best thing to do in such situations is to throw them a question, so it gives you some lead on how to continue the conversation. "how, did you like the Planet Shakers' concert?" yes, let him talk, then give yourself some time to think about what to say next...

he was ok with it. Then I thought about asking him about what he think Christianity is. He said he heard a little about it but not too sure what it is. So I ventured a little further. "Do you know why Jesus Christ had to die for you?" He didn't know.

Great! that was when I seized my chance and downloaded the whole John 3:16 unto him... kekekeke...

after that, I invited him to church but said he may not be free, but it's alright, and I ended the conversation with a prayer for him. WOW... :)

"That wasn't too bad..." I said to myself and I went on to the next guy.

I did the exact same thing with the 2nd guy and I invited him to church this sunday. Told him I'd remind him again on Saturday.

Praise God, I survived! Haha... and I knew then that God was pleased with what I did. That winning souls is not just about shouting prayers and battling in the spiritual realm, which is very important, if not more important, but it's also about taking a step out of your comfort zone to just ask and talk to people about Christ. :)

well, it was certainly an experience, but I'm glad to take those baby steps of faith for Him once again.

Hope my experience encouraged you. Serving Jesus, is always about doing the simple things isn't it?

Wanna say I'm so proud of my youths and Young Adults. They're starting their own fellowships in schools and their offices and inviting their friends to church and special services. They're really going beyond their comfort zone and reaching into territories that God wants them to go. I am so humbled by all of you and deeply encouraged at the same time :) thank God for all of you! You're truly serving Jesus :)

Before I go, some pixes of the combi meeting :)



Lester and Jian Xin, the Band of Brothers. :)



Julius, the man who can fly on the floor! :)

Haha... they never fail to make me laugh...

Hillsong Conference Part 3

More of Delirious! and a special cool pic of me and Marty Sampson! Coming right up!

The pictures below were taken at the Night Session Worship with Delirious.



The night session was definitely more impactful than the afternoon session. Somehow the atmosphere was different. Maybe everyone was more relaxed? hahaha...

but i think the highlight of the worship was when we were so deep in worship, the whole band stopped and everyone was just enjoying the presence of the Lord in silence, and you could see Martin, himself awed by God's presence and he could not continue. That was simply beautiful... Oh God! When will we see Your presence manifest ini such a manner in FCBC? Come again, O Holy Spirit! Come and sweep through us again!









This was a screen shot of Martin singing Majesty. Power!



This is a pic I took of Marty. Haha... jealous right? But after that, I couldn't get another chance to get close to them. Saw Joel Houston too, but didn't manage to get a chance to take a pic with him cos he was always rushing about... think they very busy la huh... with so many things to prepare at Hillsong conference :)



Here's a shot of Martin I managed to snap while he was being escorted out of one of the workshops during the conference. It was a song-writing workshop and I managed to hear what he had to say about his song writing experience.

He was sharing about relevance. Is relevance about writing songs that follows the latest trend? No, it's about writing songs which are relevant to the people that you want your songs to reach out to; to touch.

so he shared about his experience of writing a song for an old woman who just lost her husband. They got the whole church to sing it and it brought much comfort and encouragement to her. Lord! I wanna write songs like that, which is relevant! Make my heart tender before You so that I will sing songs that touches the hearts of those that You love! :)



This is a pic taken during one of our afternoon breaks. It was a group of Argentinian Christians playing in the water fountain at the Olympic Park where the conference was held. Well, i thought it was a fun sight to behold and their spirits were so high as they were jumping and shouting and singing while they danced around in the middle of the fountain :)

Wonderful lighting as the late afternoon sun shone in the background.

Love the spirit of the people there. They're just so free to dance around and be who they are there. AWESOME!

Hillsong Conference Part 2!!

More Hillsong Conference pixes!!



Hey, when I first saw Darlene on stage, it reminded me of the first time I met her in real person. That was in 1998 and I was still a new-believer then. I remembered thinking she looks gorgeous! :) now, seeing her again 8 years later, I'm thinking, "wow! she still looks gorgeous!"

Girls, you wanna know what is the secret of her beauty?

It's the presence of the Lord! My freind Cami can vouch for that. I remember John sharing once that a woman in deep worship is the most beautiful woman anyone can ever see. :)

So, girls, remember, if you wanna look gorgeous, worship Jesus deeply, then He will cloth you with His beauty, and you will emanate the kind of beauty that only heaven can find :)




Darlene, back view on screen... :)





This is from the morning session's worship. We were seated at the back of the stage. It's cool to get to sit so close to the musicians. You get to see them play their instruments up close. :)



Check out the crowd of PEOPLE!!! All the Ang Mohs!! Worshipping Jesus! But I heard the capacity of the Arena, seats about 20,000 ppl... 20,000!! that's twice as many as the indoor stadium in Singapore. Guys, you ain't seen nothing yet. :)

In heaven, it's gonna be every tribe, every tongue and every nation, and every ang moh...



the sound board, ot the mixer, depending on how you call it... look!! so many channels!! drool... if you've been an AV member (VJ PA CREW ROCKS FOREVER!!!) , you'd know what I mean...



this is taken from the afternoon session worship. That's Martin Smith of Delirious.



But I gotta admit, Martin's got a real good voice. His voice is power man... it's so crisp and clear... amazing... :) and when Delirious plays, the awesome presence of the Lord falls upon us... Amen!

Man... I wanna go back to Hillsong... sniff...

Hillsong Conference!!

Alright!! The long awaited Hillsong Conference entry is finally here!

Well, I've decided to make it a pictorial so that it's more interesting for you to read as well as for less labourous for me to blog :) hehe... yeah, call me lazy, but I call it efficient. :)

So, well , we arrived at the airport at around half past 6 plus in the morning Aussie time... wa.. haven't wake up yet... so we had our breakfast at Macs cos that's the best thing they have there at the airport... if you're thinking Terminal 1 standard, then you're greatly mistaken. The airport there is like a quarter or less of the size of Changi Airport, so don't expect much...

The weather there was cold... well, at least by my standards, since I'm not very low temperature tolerant... I brought an arsenal of warm clothings there just so to make sure I don't end up an ice cube while I'm there.




my room mates, Sebastian and Stevie! Thanks to Sebas' cost-saving saviness, we managed to get this SWEE SWEE room for 40 aussie dollars per person per night, compared to the rest of the other ppl who had to pay A$120... wahaha... hahaha.... hahahahaha.... haha... hahaha... hahaha...

and then in another brilliant cost-saving measure, we made our own sandwiches for the 5 day conference.... hahaha... hahahahahaha....... hahahaha......

(after the 3rd day, we almost puked lettuces and ham and bread... so we ate regular food after that...)



our trip to the railway station at Sydney. Unlike Singapore, Sydney's MRT looks like railway stations. And they come in double-deckers too! Cool! :) I like to sit on the upper deck cos I get to look at the scenery with clearer view.



As we had some time to spare, we visited Sydney Opera house. This is the road leading to the infamous Sydney Opera House...



View from the Opera House itself facing Darling Harbour. It looks a bit shady. Dono why, but each time I'm there, it's drizzling (i've been there twice)



the Sydney Opera House looks really impressive on the outside and of course from the many videos shown on TV by helicopters flying by the harbour...

but hor... me and Sebas both agreed and that upon closer inspection it's actually not as magnificent as was portrayed...

look! me touching the tiles of the Opera House... bet you can find these tiles on any old HDB estate's toilets... reminds me of the toilet tiles in my nanny's house last time...

Australians are so going to kill me...



well, let's move on to the Hillsong Conference proper.

This is a pix of Joel Houston and the Hillsong worship team. Think from the blurred lyrics on the screen I can make out that they're singing 'The Freedom We Know"

it's one thing to hear them on CD and another to hear them and see them live... the atmosphere is up a few notches from what you get at the EXPO youth service. :)



and that's Brian Houston, Joel's dad, and Senior Pastor of Hillsong church speaking. Can't get really close up pixes cos of the distance we were at...

but it was really quite an experience. Worship there is much more liberating, I feel... or is it cos I'm surrounded by Ang Mohs... ?

I'm Back!

Ok, ok... so I wasn't able to keep my promise of blogging 2 weeks ago... argh!

well, some updates.

I'm still busy with my project and some ppl have been asking me why are there more presentations, and isn't it supposed to be over?

the thing is, I had to do a few presentations, first directly to the person and his team who hired us to do the project, secondly to the rest of the staff at TOUCH Cyberwellness and Sports, then thirdly to the public during the official opening of the Cyberwellness Centre, just last Saturday, which was graced by the Minister AP Ho Peng Kee.

After our presentation last Sat, which inconveniently coincided with our Encounter Chalet, there will be one more final presentation to the Cyberwellness team to smoothen out any other rough spots on the videos and we're done. This should take place on the week after the N-Day.

In the meantime, I will take my time to blog about my trip to Sydney, which many of you have heard me share. I will just highlight key incidents which I thought spoke to me the most from the Lord.

Also, I'd like to share certain insights that the Lord has been personally speaking to me about my life.

In these 2 to 3 days, I will take time off from work to blog and to seek the Lord as I've been personally convicted n some issues of my life that I know needs addressing. I will share this in my next entry.

Also, my phone has just konked out, due to reasons which I don't know why. So it'd be pretty difficult to contact me during this time. Will try to get it repaired asap but I suspect it's a good time since I've been convicted to take these 3 days off to seek the Lord personally and I am trying to minimise any contact with the outside world lest I should be distracted. :)

so, enjoy yourselves and HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!! ::