The Media Whore

Sunday, 25th July 2010

Two weeks ago, I blogged about the dunk slut.

Today, I shall blog about the media whore.

The Urban Dictionary defines a media whore as "a person who has a psychological need to get into TV, film, radio or print".

Well, here is this media whore's record so far:  been there, done that :-)

TV

Appeared on ESPN/StarSports' Nokia Football Crazy, twice, when Aston Villa fans were invited to the show. 

That's a picture of us 3 fans taken in 2008 with PJ Roberts, Jamie Yeo, Andy Panders and Sheikh Haikel.

Radio

As a teenager growing up in the 1980s, I would send song requests and dedications to the program "Say It With Music" (on unique custom-made postcards, so that it would stand out among the hundreds of letters they receive each week).  I remember looking forward to hearing my name being read out by the DJ.

And then in the mid-1990s, when I was working in SICC, I invited Class 95 to "Come Visit My Office", and that was what Tracey Kwong and a couple of other crew members did, bringing us lunch from the nearby KFC.  That's a photo of us on the right.  Trace still remembers me after all these years and we got re-connected on Facebook.  In fact, I got to know Joe Augustin (or should I say he got to know me, heheh) because he and the Flying Dutchman had asked for the lyrics of Hansen's MmmBop and yours truly was the one who typed it out and faxed it across to them :-)

Film

I've not technically been on film yet, so the nearest would be "internet" film :-)

Having embraced the grace gospel in 2005, this attention-seeking aspect of me has not mellowed one bit.  So I would like to believe that God can use me as His instrument to promote the same.  Hence the YouTube video that I made to announce the free giveaway of Destined to Reign back in Aug 2007 :-)

Print

Of the 4 types of media, I suppose print would be the easiest to appear on.  Magazines and newspapers, you have been warned! :-)

And the "whoring" seems to have also rubbed off onto my daughter as well.  She sent in the photo on the left of her and her brother with Chuckie and Hastie, our pet rodents to the New Paper on Sunday.  It was published in May 2010.

Not to be outdone, I sent in the photo on the right to that same newspaper of my son with the Premiership and FA Cup trophies, which was taken when he visited Stamford Bridge. 

Praise God, they have considered it to be printworthy and it makes its appearance on page 36 of today's New Paper on Sunday :-)

Well, National Day is just round the corner, and if you don't know already, I have not been labelled a country-loving, nationalistic patriot for nothing.  To usher in Singapore's 45th birthday, I wore these "feelers" with mini Singapore flags on them when I went about distributing flags to my admin support and sales colleagues.

Long live the media whore!

Confessions of a Denominational Church Escapee

Sunday, 18th July 2010

I have a confession to make :-)

I am on extremely good terms with my youth pastor, Rev Reuben Ng.  Read on if you want to know why...

Exactly 3 years ago, in July 2007, I experienced what some would consider the lowest point in my spiritual journey -- I was called into the room of Rev Peter Koh, the then-senior pastor of my church and asked to step down as both a cell leader and the treasurer of my church.  

This was because he considered the grace teachings that were being taught by Ps Joseph Prince to be heretic and antinomian, and he would not allow any of his leaders to embrace such doctrines.  I was on the verge of giving up my 40-year Methodist heritage and joining the 20,000-strong crowd that worshipped at the Rock.

But God in His infinite wisdom, prompted the TRAC President, Rev Dr Wee Boon Hup to send a young and very good-looking pastor who had just graduated from Trinity Theological College to my church, to replace Rev Barnabas Chong (who is also against the grace gospel), who had to leave prematurely after just 19 months to transfer out to Cairnhill Methodist Church.

Rev Reuben was warned about me even before he began his ministry on 1 August 2007.  But to his credit, he gave me the benefit of the doubt, and did not just listen to what the other pastors had said about me.  Although cautious at first, our friendship blossomed over the weeks and months.  But in order not to "get in trouble" with the senior pastor and thus jeopardise his ministry, we had to be very discreet about our relationship, just like how Romeo and Juliet (for lack of a better analogy) had to keep theirs under wraps. 

We would communicate via sms and phone calls.  He took the great risk of conducting my son's room-blessing in 24 Nov 2007 and even attending my 40th birthday party on 20 Dec 2007! -- that's the photo of us on the right (which I did not dare publish on my blog back then, but am safe to do so now).

But in public and in church, we would not acknowledge each other and on occasions even pretended not to know each other :-)

At the end of last year, both Rev Peter Koh and Rev Tay Kay Leong (another pastor who is against grace teachings) were posted out of my church, the former to Living Hope Methodist Church and the latter to Christ Methodist Church.

The new senior pastor Rev Jonathan Seet is an old boy of my church and is open to grace teachings.  (I met up with him over dinner in January 2010, shortly after he was posted in, and found out what his stand was). 

And so, I am now able to go public about my relationship with my youth pastor.  He is truly a breath of fresh air, and there is hope for the Methodist church yet.  He is the main reason why I did not leave the church of my forefathers.  Come 1 August 2010, he will be in PLMC for 3 years and I want to wish him a Happy 3rd Anniversary with many many more years to come!  Thank God for you, Rev Reuben!  May God continue to bless and prosper your ministry, your marriage and your two beautiful daughters!

Oh ya, if anyone of you read the article about megachurches in yesterday's Straits Times, the author described Ps Prince's as being of appeal to "denominational church escapees tired of being asked to work for their salvation". 

I thought that was a very apt description of my situation, hence I have decided to wear that as a badge of honour on Facebook and credit it as the title of today's post :-)

Signing off
The denominational church escapee who is greatly-blessed, highly-favoured and deeply-loved

The Dunk Slut

Sunday, 11th July 2010

Those who have been regular followers of my blog would have read about how I was asked to Chair my company's Dinner & Dance committee (which was held in Feb 2010) and to co-Chair her Teambuilding committee (which was held in May 2010).  By the unearned, undeserved and unmerited favour of God, both were resounding successes and since then, I look forward to being involved in such projects because it is not only an opportunity to work with and to be better acquainted with colleagues from other departments, but also for God to continue His "winning streak", so to speak :-)

Well, my company just held her 3rd major event this year -- a Family Day ("FD"), whereby invitations were extended to immediate family members.  Had it not been for the fact that I was holidaying in the UK, I was told by the chairman of the FD committee that I would have been roped into this one as well.  Nonetheless, he did rope my secretary into the committee, and I kept in touch with them via email.  When asked for ideas, I suggested having a dunking machine.  After all, my alma mater college (ACJC) holds a funfair every two years and the stall that takes centrestage is the dunking machine.  The price of throwing 3 balls is usually $20 but it goes up to $100 when the principal or discipline master takes the hot seat.

Anyway, I was glad that the chairman agreed to having the dunking machine at the FD, and so I volunteered to be the first to get dunked.  I told him it would be a privilege and honour, especially when it was going to be a platform to raise funds for A.W.W.A, a charitable organisation that our company had adopted for the month of June 2010.  My keenness and enthusiasm was so ostentatious that one of the secretaries labelled me a "dunk slut", hence the title of today's post ;-)

Leading up to the day of the FD, it was raining cats and dogs and even on the morning of it.  But praise be to God, the skies cleared at around noon and the sun was shining.  I had prayed for fine weather and I thank God that the prayer of a righteous man, ie. one who knows he has received the gift of righteousness from God, avails much.  Amen?

The FD was held on Sat 3 July 2010 at Sengkang Sports and Recreation Centre from 2pm to 8pm.  My son and I turned up at 2pm, while my wife and daughter joined us later at about 5:30pm (after my daughter finished her Chinese tuition).  All three of them got to see again for themselves what a wonderful company I work in (have I ever mentioned that this is my 7th job and the best company ever?) and also to get to know some of my colleagues better.

We had a wonderful time (and needless to say, this "slut" had a great time getting dunked -- a photo of which you can see on the right).

You can view the other photos of our Family Day at the link below.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4408411&l=7e362273c4&id=751059341