Tuesday, 25th November 2025
After I re-dedicated my life to the Lord in December 1987 at a joint Sunday-School/Methodist Youth Fellowship Camp, I wanted to "make up for lost time" for the 9 or so backslidden teenage years. That was why I was very active in the Christian Fellowship of Nanyang Technological University (it was NTI back then).
I was Program Coordinator (part of the Program & Publicity Committee) in my 1st year, Editor (part of the Resource & Publications ("R&P") Committee in my second year, Chaired the Orientation Committee (which we affectionately called "Canopy", making reference to Isa 54:2), and also Vice-Chairman of R&P in my third year.
I recall being told that many of the CF Exco members would inevitably end up going full-time a couple of years after graduation. There was also this other Evangelism & Missions ("E&M") Committee that organised annual MEET (mission evangelism exposure trips), named such so that undergraduates who felt a calling to go into full-time missionary work would be exposed to what (hardships and challenges) would be in store for them before they actually took the plunge.
Truth be told, going full-time did cross my mind at one temporary stage of my undergraduate life (sometime in 1990), but it was fleeting at most. Hence, I have the deepest respect and admiration for those who dedicate their lives to serving God full-time. I however did want to go on a mission trip, at least once in my life, and God fulfilled that desire of mine in April 2018, nearly 30 years later. Better late than never, I suppose haha.
Many out there have the impression that New Creation Church is a "hyper-grace", "health & wealth", "prosperity gospel" church. The truth of the matter is that it has for the longest time an Outreach arm led by Ps Lawrence Lim that reaches out to migrant workers, those in prisons, halfway houses, old folks' homes, hospices, rented flats and also regionally to villages in Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia. In 2023, the Outreach arm was expanded and is now officially a registered charity: New Creation Community Services Ltd. You can read more about that here:
When I changed church in January 2018, I thank God that the Logistics & Transport Ministry was planning a trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand from 29 April to 4 May that same year, in conjunction with what was then the Outreach Ministry.
And so I signed up for it.
It was an awesome experience -- a mission possible -- and as a result, I got to check off item 6 on my rapture list.
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