Ohana in Action

Tuesday, June 5th 2007

Today was the 3rd day of the Ohana Camp, and the highlight of the day was the Impartation session that we had in the evening.

The name of the camp is "Ohana", which means "family" in Hawaiian. A key passage on this theme is the last verse in the Old Testament -- Mal 4:6, where God said that He will restore the hearts of their fathers to their children, and vice versa.

We were thus asked to sit together in our family units, seek the forgiveness of our family members and then pray for one another. I could feel the Holy Spirit in our midst as each parent sought the forgiveness of his/her child(ren), and as each father laid hands upon his wife and children to pray a blessing over them. All across the room, the Holy Spirit was moving as family members embraced one another, shedding tears openly as the LORD ministered to each of them.

This was the first time in my 40 years in PLMC that I have seen such a wonderful and edifying scene taking place, and I thank the LORD for equipping Rev Pastor Koh to lead our church in this very important healing and restoration work. The strongholds of bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness that have been built up over the years were finally broken that night, and we are well on the road to a major revival. Amen and amen!!

Further Additions to XT Collection

Wednesday, 17th October 2007

The last time I blogged about my XT collection was in March 2007.

Since then I've added another 10 more, which I will blog about today :-)

#23 Christian (May 07)
10th design to be printed at Spectrum

I blogged about how this particular design came about here.

From far, the word CHRISTIAN is visible, with a cross in place of the letter T. Upon closer inspection, the fine print include the words "without", "m" and "othing", so that it reads, "without Christ, I am nothing", which is based on John 15:5. My daughter says she likes this design.

#24 One (May 07)
11th design to be printed at Spectrum

I blogged about how this particular design came about here.

I wore this at GDOP 2007, because it was a time when the various denominations put aside their differences to come together for a time of prayer for the country and the nations of the world.

My sis Yvonne likes this design because her cell group is named One, based also on the passage Eph 4:4-6. I gave her the permission to use the design for her cell group; after all it is not subjected to any copyright.

#25 Ohana Camp (Jun 07)
12th design to be printed at Spectrum

When I found out that we would be given caps rather than tshirts for our Ohana church camp, I decided on the next best option -- to get a customised tshirt instead. This design was lifted from the publicity flyer, and has details of the camp in both English and Chinese.

You can read about the Ohana Camp by clicking on this link.

I had also blogged earlier that some of my earlier collection items such as Final Answer and Earth's Angels were purchased from the US. I had ordered 10 tshirts from ChoiceShirts, and the freight to ship those tshirts to Singapore came up to nearly S$200!

Having now discovered vPost (which I blogged about here), I decided to order the following 7 tshirts from The Good News Clothing Co. Delivery within the USA was free, and the freight expenses from the physical vPostUSA location to Singapore right to my doorstep came to just below S$30.

#26 Spirit (Oct 07)

My favourite type of design is of the "spoof" kind, ie. it is based on a readily-recognisable logo, such as Cocacola or Starbucks.

This one is a spoof of Sprite. The tshirt is green, and the word "Spirit" is in white and in a similar font. In place of the dot of the letter I is a dove, which is used to represent the Holy Spirit. Below is the verse Jn 20:22 -- And with that He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit".

#27 Take the Deal (Oct 07)

This one is a spoof of the popular game show "Deal or No Deal" .

Instead of the words "Deal or No Deal", it reads "Take the Deal" in a similar font. These words are written across a cross, which represents God's redemption plan to mankind.

Of course I will take the deal, because the divine exchange includes our sin for His righteousness, our poverty for His wealth, and our sicknesses for His divine health.

#28 You To Be (Oct 07)

This is a spoof of a logo that needs no introduction. Recently, Google paid billions of dollars for it because it is currently the most popular website.

The spoof of YouTube reads "God Wants You To Be Saved" and is based on an equally-familiar verse, Jn 3:16. By the way, do you know that Jesus said those words to Nicodemus, a Pharisee who was seeking the truth?

#29 Amazing Grace (Oct 07)

Here is spoof of yet another familiar logo.

Because of the popularity of the series, the "stigma" that used to be attached to the word "idol" has been eroded away.

That is why the words below are so apt -- "I don't need an IDOL. I have a SAVIOR". Let us remember that Jesus is our true superhero.

#30 I Tune (Oct 07)

Apple fanatics (like Pastor B) would be able to quickly identify wih this.

iTunes is the name of Apple's online store where one can purchase songs, while iPod is the name of Apple's digital music player.

In this spoof, there is a silhouette of a person holding an iGod and saying "I tune in to God. Who are you listening to?" and include the verses Rev 3:22 and Jn 10:27.

#31 Pick Jesus (Oct 07)

I bought this tshirt because it is a play on the work "pick".

It shows a picture of a guitar pick (which is used for plucking or strumming the guitar) and on it are the words "Pick Jesus".

In fine print is the verse Rom 10:13 "for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

#32 Go for the Goal (Oct 07)

Soccer is one of my favourite sports, and hence I just had to get this tshirt showing a soccer ball, with the words "Go for the Goal".

On the ball are written the words of Paul to the church in Philippi -- I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:14)

Aloha Ohana

Sunday, 3rd June 2007

Today is the day that many of us have been looking forward to for the past few months.

It is the start of our Church's Ohana Camp, the first camp we will be having in 7 long years!

My family + 5 other families first met up at the loading bay at the foot of the block of the home of Larry, 3L3's cell leader. Sunny, our cluster leader, then gathered together all the drivers and prayed for the Lord's coverage and protection upon all of us.

After a hearty breakfast of kaya toast, eggs and coffee/tea/milo and the nearby coffee shop, we were on our way.

The journey there was indeed a very smooth one, and we reached the Palace of the Golden Horses hotel, the venue of the camp, just slightly after 2pm.

Here is a picture of my family that was taken in front of the hotel's main entrance, where the statues of horses and a chariot are located.

Before we went on this trip, a dear sister had warned me about the Christian stickers that were on the back of my car, and thoughts had even crossed my mind that I should have them removed.

However, after much prayer and seeking the LORD, I chose to trust Him, and once again He proved faithful and true. There was not a single scratch on it! Praise God!

I really want to thank the LORD for our cluster leaders who have thought us very well, not only to pray for journey mercies before embarking on a trip, but also to cleanse the hotel room before occupying it.

After getting the keys to the room, my family gathered together to thank God for bringing us safely to KL, and also pleaded the blood of Christ and commanded the unclean spirits to leave the room in Jesus' name. It was no wonder then, that we had a wonderful rest that night (and the nights after that). OK, all of us, except my daughter, who was not used to the constant snoring of yours truly :-)

Till tomorrow then...

Ohana Moments

Saturday, 9th June 2007

Here are some candid moments that were captured during the Ohana Camp for your viewing pleasure.

1. First and foremost, here is footage that was taken on arrival at the Palace of the Golden Horses ("PGH") Hotel at about 2.30pm. One dear brother "prophesised" that this would appear on ROOTSS, and lo and behold, it has come to pass :-)



2. After dinner, the tribe and clan leaders bidded a warm welcome to their clan members by way of an item, choreographed by Jo.



3. Early the next morning, Bernard led the congregation to warm up before a time of worship. Nothing like mimicking monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees to get the adrenaline flowing...



4. The more we sang the camp's theme song, Great God composed by Pastor B, the more we felt charismatic and asthmatic. This was a combined English/Mandarin version done on Day 3 of the Camp.

Changing Hearts Changing Lives

Friday, 6th February 2009

Two years ago, in June 2007, my church held its 1st Ohana Camp at the Palace of the Golden Horses, Kuala Lumpur. It was the most ambitious one that has been embarked to date with a total of more than 800 participants. I blogged quite a bit about that camp and readers that are new to ROOTSS can read those posts here.

Anyways, we were supposed to get Ps Benny Ho (senior pastor of Faith Community Church in Perth, Australia) to be our keynote speaker but alas, he had a prior engagement already. In the end, we had to settle for PLMC's own senior pastor.

Well, planning for the 2nd Ohana Camp started just after the 1st one. With the adequate notice given, we have managed to get Ps Edmund Chan (senior pastor of Covenant Evangelical Free Church "CEFC") to be its keynote speaker. The theme for this Camp is "Changing Hearts Changing Lives" (hence the title of today's post) and the church has targeted 1,000 this time around to make the trip up to Marriot Putrajaya from 7 to 10 June 2009.

According to Jeff Teo, who is a member of CEFC, Ps Edmund currently preaches a mixture of law and grace. Nonetheless, let us not be discouraged but claim by faith in line with the theme of the camp, ie. changing hearts and changing lives.

The signs are already very encouraging because God is working mightily among the clergy. Jeff tells me that Ps Benny Ho caught the grace message about a year ago. I recently discovered that Blogpastor has caught it too.

And if you read this article found in sg.christianpost.com, even Rev Rick Seaward (founder of Victory Family Centre) was said to have "expressed appreciation for the ministry of New Creation Church Senior Pastor Joseph Prince" when he said "[We] need his church and message to jolt the Church that’s legalistic.”

So, let us pray in unity that between now and the time the Camp commences in Jun 09, God will cause Ps Edmund Chan's heart to be changed. Wouldn't it be wonderful that as a result of catching the grace message, he will then share the gospel in its truest and purest form, and as a result, the lives of the camp participants will be changed, and PLMC also becomes part of the grace camp?

After all, nothing is impossible with God. Amen?

Watersheds

Sunday, 18th November 2007

My entire family did not go to Paya Lebar Methodist Church ("PLMC") today.

Nope, it was not to attend NCC but to attend Cairnhill Methodist Church ("CMC").

Every year, about this time of the year when the school holidays have just started, that church will hold a Thanksgiving Service, wherein the invitation is extended to all ACSJ boys and their parents, in order to give thanks to God for seeing them through another academic year. After the service, we are treated to a sumptuous spread of food prepared by the church members.

It was at such a Service two years ago that I was introduced to the Fathers' Prayer Group (who had put up a stall serving Nasi Bryani), so these annual services hold much significance to me.

This year's service was also significant because our ex-pastor was transferred to this very church in Aug 07, and my family was looking forward to catching up with him and his family. After all, all of us used to be in the same cell group.

Thirdly, this year's service was also noteworthy because the ACSJ principal Mr Peter Tan will be leaving to take over as ACS (Barker) principal with effect from Dec 2007.

As a tribute to Mr Tan, my ex-pastor sang the song that he composed in May 07 as a response to being first informed about his impending transfer from PLMC to CMC.

It is entitled "Follow" and the lyrics reflect the struggle he initially had, and the subsequent acceptance in submission to the will of God.

Follow

Down on my knees, with my face to the ground,
I hear what You say, but my heart feels the pain

Chorus:
I still will follow, I still will worship, I’ll live my life for You
I still will love You, I still will serve You, I’ll live my life for You

My flesh may be weak, but my God You’re beside me
I’ll do what You say, not my will but Yours be done

Rise to my feet, with my face to the Son,
I love what You say, and my heart feels Your peace

I did not record his performance of the song (which was really touching), but you can listen to this (and other of his compositions such as Great God, the Ohana Camp Theme Song ) on EntheosMusic

2007 has indeed been a watershed year for many of us -- my ex-pastor, the ACSJ principal, me -- just to name a few.

God is causing mighty things to happen in our lives, but we have to learn to continue to trust Him. Wherever He leads, we will follow. Amen?

Thnks Fr Th Mmrs

Friday, 10th August 2007

The title of today's post is actually the name of a song by rock band Fall Out Boy. They have deliberatly dropped the vowels from the phrase "thanks for the memories", leaving behind only the consonants.

Anyway, we had what we called a "BarneyLor" farewell on 29 July 2007, to thank Pastors Barnabas and Loretta for their faithful service in PLMC, and to send them off to Cairnhill and Living Waters Methodist Churches respectively.

Here are but 2 highlights of that evening:

1. Jimmy Leong from the band testified about the impact that Pastor B has had on his life, and we moved into a time of worship by singing Great God, the theme song for our Ohana Camp. Perhaps this can be considered another evo of the song, because it was sung with great gusto by the people, as a rousing tribute and finale to its composer.





2. Pastor B also made a great impact on the children. Here is the Silver Boxes' choir expressing how they felt about the one overseeing their ministry.



Thks fr th mmrs, Pastor B and Loretta, and may the LORD bless your ministries in ACSJ and ACSI!

Stealing Shepherds?

Sunday, 15th July 2007

Exactly 3 months ago, on Sunday 15th April, I blogged on the topic of "Stealing Sheep?"

It is no mere coincidence that 3 months later, on Sunday 15th July, I would be blogging on the topic of "Stealing Shepherds?"

I guess by now you must have received the news that our dear Pastor B will be leaving us on 1 August to go to Cairnhill Methodist Church.

This may have come as a surprise or shock to many of us, because he has only been with PLMC for slightly over a year and a half. Yet, in this relatively short period, the Lord has already used him mightily to impact the lives of many, and made inroads, especially among the children and youth.

Personally, I have also been ministered in at least 3 areas.

Firstly, he is the only pastor I know that is humble enough to join a cell group. It was truly a divine appointment that he and his lovely wife May and kids Aaron, Elisha and Josiah became members of 3L2 in July 2006.

Secondly, his talk at Fusion 2007 about Dusting For Satan's Fingerprints was an eye-opener for many (including myself) to be wary about the music, movies and TV programs that we listen to or watch.

And thirdly, he wrote the song Great God for our Ohana Camp, a song which will go down in the history of PLMC as the very 1st song written by a pastor of PLMC, and be remembered for generations to come.

So you can be sure that I will be misssing the author of Missingrims ...

Then again, having said all the above, there is reason to rejoice...

Pastor B will be moving on to shepherd a flock of about 180 members with the potential to grow at least fourfold.

CMC now worships at the hall of ACSJ, but will be moving to the 700-seater auditorium of the new school premises in a couple of years' time.

They require a visionary to come up with programs and activities that will spur the members on to greater heights.

And I can think of no other person who fits the bill better than our dear Pastor B.

I remember three years back when our previous PIC, Rev Wee Boon Hup had to move on to assume the office of TRAC President.

Sure, many of us in PLMC were sad to lose an "old boy" who had seen us through more than 10 years.

Yet, we knew that God had a higher calling for him to impact not just one, but all the TRAC churches in Singapore.

So just like the earlier post about Stealing Sheep, let us also be magnanimous here and not get upset about a shepherd of ours being "snatched away", so to speak.

His season with PLMC is about to come to an end, but his season with CMC is about to commence, and I am sure God has even greater plans for him over there. Amen?

Tribes and Clans, Clusters and Cells

Monday, 4th June 2007

Today marks the 2nd day of the Ohana Camp.

The 820 camp participants were divided into 12 tribes (named after the tribes of Israel), and each tribe was further divided into clans. These groupings into tribes and clans were done along the lines of clusters and cells, and as a result, we already knew the majority of the people in our tribe/clan. For example, the cell members of our 3L cluster were all in the tribe of Benjamin.

As I reflected upon this, I realise the great foresight that the LORD had blessed the Rev Wee Boon Hup with. By setting up the "cell church" structure, the logistics of organising major events that involves hundreds of people (such as the Project Uplift, Christmas at the Stadium, Church Camps, etc) becomes much easier to handle because of the existing cell/cluster structure.

In previous church camps, there was a need for icebreakers and group warm-up activities etc. on the first day, for people to get to know one another. Only after that was done, could the campers progress on to group activities such as games. In this camp, we could focus straight away on group activities such as telematch, cheers, etc because by and large, we already knew one another in our clans and tribes.

I also thank the Lord for our current PIC, Rev Peter Koh. After all, Rev Wee stayed on one extra year, wearing concurrently the hats of both TRAC President and PIC of our church, to ensure that the successor he chose would be one who shared the same vision, and indeed the one that God had raised to continued to carry the torch faithfully.

When I think of the succession plan, I am reminded of how Moses passed the torch to Joshua, and how the latter brought the Israelites successfully into the Promised Land.

As our 75th Anniversary approaches, let's continue to uphold our 3 pastors in prayer as they lead us into the next phase of our church's journey.

Anyway, this evening, 13 of us from the 3L cluster leadership ventured out of the hotel to go to the famous Fatty Crab Restaurant nearby for seafood by the lake. Thank you, dear cluster leaders for treating us to a sumptous seafood dinner! Here's a picture of us taken while patiently waiting for the food to arrive.

We Fight From Victory

Thursday, 24th May 2007

I was listening to Great God (the Ohana Camp Theme Song composed by Pastor B), and the part of the song that really spoke to me was the pre-chorus "We will win for we fight FROM victory".
Indeed we will and we do! After Jesus died on the cross, He descended into Hades to get back the keys which Adam had surrended to Satan as a result of the original sin.

Now, when we engage in spiritual warfare with the forces of evil, it is different from a typical battle you would see between warring nations. In such battles, each side is attempting to fight FOR victory. In the case of us believers, we are fighting FROM victory because victory is already ours. The enemy has already been defeated by the finished work of Christ.

When the enemy comes in like a flood, the battle belongs to the LORD.

Paul tells us to put on the whole armour of God in Eph 6:10-18

* The belt of truth, which gird our loins from falsehoods

* The breastplate of righteousness, which protects our hearts and assuries us of our position in Christ before God

* The shoes ready to share the gospel of peace with others

* The shield of faith to ward off the fiery darts of doubt

* The helmet of salvation, which protects our mind and reminds us of our eternal destiny

* The sword of the Spirit, which is the rhema word of God

* Praying in the Spirit, which is the only gift that can be activated by us at any time

When we go out to battle, we already know the outcome, because we fight FROM victory. Amen?

A Little Ditty

Tuesday, 3rd July 2007

A couple of weeks back, I was blogging about meditation on God's Word being the key to the victorious life, and how meditation implies that those scripture verses have already been committed to memory.

At the PIC-CL meeting two days ago, we were shown a video of a sermon by Pastor Edmund Chan, during which he also emphasised the importance of memorising the scriptures as a means to strengthen one's inner life.

As a starter, he shared that his signature verse is 2 Cor 5:7 "We walk by faith, not by sight", which is an easy verse to remember.

I also blogged about how music enables us to commit to memory. When Pastor Chan mentioned this verse, it brought to mind a song that we sang at the Ohana Camp (remember the one where Pastor B made us walk back and forth across the hall? Too bad I did not record it on video, because I was also walking back and forth). Here are the lyrics of that song:

I Walk by Faith by Chris Falson

I walk by faith
Each step by faith
To live by faith
I put my trust in You
Every step I take is a step of faith
No weapon formed against me shall prosper
Every prayer I make is a prayer of faith
If my God is for me then who can be against me

Do you know that just this one song contains the essence of four Scripture verses?

2 Cor 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight
Heb 2:13 I will put my trust in God
Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against you will prosper
Rom 8:31 If God is for us, who is against us?

By singing this little ditty, we are committing 4 verses to our memory. Wonderful, isn't it?

So that's another 3 more verses to add to that 1st one :-)

Divine Interventions

Monday, 23rd July 2007

Okay, let's take a short break today and move away from "severely disturbing" content to talk about something else that God did in my life when I was in my late teens.

At the recent Ohana Camp, Choon Seng was the Camp Commandant.

In December 1987, he was also the Camp Commandment -- of a combined "MYF-Sunday School Camp".

What is the relevance you may be asking? Read on...

I have been a believer since Dec 1978, when I went forward to accept Jesus Christ at the Billy Graham Crusade held in the soon-to-be-demolished National Stadium.

My spiritual life was a series of ups and downs however.

I backslid pretty badly during my secondary school, JC and early part of my army days (1980 to 1987). During those dark years, I would hang out with the "naughty" boys who sat at the back of the class and lecture theatres and make fun of those "holy-joelies" from the ACS/ACJC Christian Fellowship. Every other word that came out from my mouth was a Hokkien vulgarity.

One particular weekday afternoon in 1985, about 80 of us skipped lessons to watch the movie Breakin' - Breakdance the Movie at Orchard theatre (the predecessor of Cineleisure Orchard), and went to Cuppage Centre Hawker Centre (I don't think it's there anymore) for a puff and a drink.

We were all in our college uniforms, and I recall the disapproving look on the faces of some people sitting at nearby tables. I overheard one person saying that he would not send his children to ACJC.

The very next day, I heard that the Further Maths lecturer was asking how come the back of the lecture theatre was practically empty. I thought it was cool to be part of that crowd. Thankfully, word did not get to the discipline master that we had played truant and smoked in our school uniforms.

Having grown up in a Christian family, I was probably the biggest hypocrite then, appearing like an angel on Sundays, but living the life of a devil on the other days.

Having wandered in the wilderness for 9 years, the turning point came in Dec 1987. Choon Seng had seen me in church and invited me to join a combined MYF-Sunday School camp, where he was the Camp Commandant. [I was neither in MYF nor Sunday School then, preferring to attend the church service with my parents and grandmother.]

I politely declined, because the last thing I wanted to do was to join a bunch of "holy-joelies", and having my "other life" exposed to all and sundry.

But God had other plans for me...

I was a medical orderly in the army, and part of our duties was to perform medical coverage for major activities. There were 3 of us from the same army unit who were on a roster -- Shih Mean, Soon Huat and myself.

At that particular time at the end of 1987, Shih Mean was selected to attend a 2-month further training (what is known as Medic Class I), so he was "attached out" to the School of Military Medicine.

That meant that Soon Hock and I had to cover all the duties during that 2-month period.

One of the most "siong" or tough duties was to cover a 5-day exercise, where we had to stay out in the field under the moon and stars without being able to take a bath and had to eat combat rations.

I had just gone for one in Sep 87, and the one in Dec 87 was to be covered by Soon Huat.

Soon Huat was taking part in the Annual Marathon, which took place on the Sunday, two days before that exercise. When he did not come to camp on Monday, we found out that he had collapsed from fatigue at the Marathon, and was given 3 days MC.

I was supposed to be clearing my leave before the year-end, but because there was no other medic left, I had to cancel my leave and go for that 5-day exercise in Soon Huat's place.

Hours before setting off for the exercise, I called him at home from camp on Tuesday afternoon in order to jibe him playfully. After all, it was not his fault that he fainted two days before. But to my horror, his mom said that he went to catch a movie! Can you believe that? Here I was, having to cancel my leave to cover for him, and there he was enjoying himself even though he was supposed to be resting at home!

Needless to say, I was fuming mad during those entire 5-days and very resentful of Soon Huat.

But looking back now, I thank the LORD for the turn of events.

Because I had to cancel my leave that week, I had to reschedule it another week.

Because I had to clear my leave by year-end (else it would be forfeited), the only week left for me to take was the week of the MYF-Sunday School Camp (other medics from other units but in the same medical centre had already scheduled leave in Christmas week, and there was not to be more than 3 medics on leave at any one time, because we had medical centre duty as well to fulfill).

So I had to take leave on the 3rd week of December, and somehow when Choon Seng saw me again in church, this time around, I signed up for the camp!

To cut a long story short, God was calling me back to himself, and I re-dedicated my life to Him at that Camp. I was also given the "Best Camper" Award for that camp, and joined the MYF straight after that.

My spiritual life picked up again, and I served the Lord zealously the following years in the NTU Christian Fellowship in various capacities including Publicity and Programme Coordinator, Editor, Vice Chair of a Subcommittee and Chairman of the Freshmen Orientation. In fact, my CCA involvement was heaviest when in the University.

Shih Mean, my camp and unit mate, came back from his Class I training in Jan 1988 and must have seen the change that God did in my life. I brought him to church, and we were both followed-up by Jeffrey Khaw. He was "Best Camper" in the MYF Camp of 1988. In fact, the year I was Vice Chair of NTUCF's Resource & Publications Subcommittee, he was the Chairman. He is now serving the Lord as a cell leader in another church.

I will be 40 in December this year. As I look back upon my life, I thank God for His timely interventions in 1979 (new convert), in 1986 (near-death experience), in 1987 (rededication), in 2002 (restoration of marriage), in 2005 (restoration of career) and 2006-2007 (progressive revelation of the finished work of Jesus on the cross).

All praise and glory be to Him and Him alone!

Free and Easy Night

Saturday, 27th December 2008

Last night, my family had a dinner fellowship at Owen Restaurant on the invitation of Joshua and Jeffrey, who are fellow grace gospel embracers. Joshua was from a Lutheran church and has now settled down in NewCre. Jeff is from Covenant Evangelical Free Church, whose senior pastor is Ps Edmund Chan, whom my church has invited to be the keynote speaker at next year's Ohana Camp.

Tonight, we had another fellowship dinner (what the Care Group calls Free & Easy Night) at Caldecott Close in the home of Andrew and Mei Ling, who are members of Chong Sun's Care Group. Just in case you did not know already, this is the same street that Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Prof Jayakumar stay in, and just round the corner from MediaCorp Studios.

Each of us had to bring a dish ala potbless, but some decided to bring more than one. And so once again, the food was more than enough (ok, we ate and we were satisfied, but no 12 basketsful leftover).

After that, we celebrated the birthdays of those born in December, which of course includes yours truly. Here is a photo that was taken of the 3 of us. From left to right, that's Chong Sun (the Care Group leader), Glenn (who I found out is a fellow ACSian and ACJCian) and me. Notice that there were 5 candles on each cake, no prizes for guessing why because it signifies grace.

Anyways, each of the 3 of us were asked to make a speech, and when it came to my turn, I thanked everyone for the hospitality extended to my family (yup, praise God -- my kids were there again!) in welcoming us into their midst, even though we only met most of them for only the second time (the first being My Virginal Experience, which I blogged about earlier in November 2008).

After eating the cake, we had a time of games where we played Bible charades, and then the night concluded with a gift exchange.

It was yet another night of wonderful fellowship and there were about 30 of us in all who turned up for Free and Easy Night. As I reflected upon the night's activities, I really want to thank the Lord for more than restoring friendships.

Yes, even though I had made many friends in my previous 3L cluster, of which quite a handful are now avoiding me, and in addition to that, there are also several others from my own home church whom I grew up with who think I am now a heretic (or worse still, an apostate), God has caused many, many more others to replace the friendships that have been lost.

What makes it even more fulfilling is that these new friends are on the same spiritual wavelength as me, being fellow embracers of the grace gospel. Just like Job, God has more than restored what the devil has taken away, and I give all glory and praise to Him unreservedly.

We are looking forward already to the next Care Group meeting at Shirley's place on 13 Jan 09. Hallelujah!

Countdown to Ohana

Sunday, 20th May 2007

In a mere 2 weeks' time, 830 of us will make our way to KL for our Church camp.

The last camp we had was 7 years ago in Malacca, during which 400 members participated.

So this one will be our most ambitious effort yet.

Also, for the first time in our church's history (ok, the first time in 40 years anyway), we will be having a theme song composed by our very own Pastor.

Pastor B introduced it to the congregation this morning, and the attached is a recording of the song made at the 9am service.

Entitled "Great God", it is a powerful and majestic anthem that will leave you, in his words, "charismatic, asthmatic or both".




Understand from my sis Yvonne that it sounded even more fabulous at the 11.15am, thanks to the drums and electric guitars. The worship team even fused it into Chris Tomlin's Forever because of the similar chords.

You can download the English and Mandarin versions of the song at Pastor B's weblog

A Time of Refreshing

Saturday, 7th April 2007

Our cluster had a Leaders' Retreat in Austin Hills over the Easter weekend.

Just after the 9am service on Good Friday, 17 of us set off in 4 cars for the 2nd link.

Larry (3L3) had a brilliant idea. He gave a walkie-talkie to the driver of each car so that the convoy of cars could keep in constant touch with one another.

[Several of our cluster's members will also be driving up to KL for the Ohana Camp in June, so let's do the same thing then]

There was a bit of a jam to clear customs, but after we did, we headed for a restaurant that is famous for its bittergourd soup. I'm not really a fan of bittergourd, but this soup was delicioso! There was only a very slight tinge of bitter aftertaste. Thanks, Larry and Soo Shan for blessing us with lunch.

After lunch, we headed for Austin Hills resort. The room was humongously big.

We then gathered in our cluster leaders' room for a time of worship and teambuilding activity. The last game were especially meaningful because it reminded us that each of us play a part in the body of Christ.

The Holy Spirit was truly moving in our midst. I had an unpleasant conversation with a fellow brother of mine back in Feb 07, and we had not spoken to each other since then. However, a breakthrough was encountered at this retreat, because I sought his forgiveness and he came over to embrace me in a gesture of reconciliation! Praise the Lord indeed!

Soon, it was time for dinner. Our cluster leaders, Sunny and Yeok Ming brought us to a restaurant, where we had, inter alia, fish head curry and frog legs. The food was equally delicious. Thanks, Sunny and Yeok Ming for blessing us with dinner.

We then headed back to the resort, where we had a time of bowling. After that, we gathered again in the Yaps' room where some of us shared about how we meet our spouses. As we listened to the stories, we acknowledge that God is indeed an awesome God because the way He brought the different couples together was unique, and yet similar in the sense that His hand was in action in the circumstances that He had shaped.

One of the decals on my car says "Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous". Amen!

Speaking of the decals on my car, I am truly grateful to the LORD for His protection. When a dear sister saw the decals, she warned me about the danger of driving up to Malaysia. I took heed about what she said, but having dedicated the car to the LORD, I did not want to now have to peel off the decals. So I asked everyone I knew to pray for the LORD's angels to surround and protect His vehicle. And praise the LORD! There was not a single stratch on it when I inspected it upon arriving home.

But I digress.

After that time of sharing, it was time to call it a night.

The next morning, after breakfast, we gathered again in the Yaps' room. After worship, our cluster leaders shared with us about the need to remain connected with God, so that our ministry will be fruitful. I was reminded of Sunny's favourite verse (Jn 15:5) where Jesus talks about Him being the vine and we the branches. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. So we need to keep connected to the LORD.

It was free-and-easy time for the next one and a half hours. We then checked out and headed for the mega shopping centrre Tusco for shopping and lunch.

After lunch, we went to check out the "church of chapalang" (a private joke).

There is even a ready-to-use baptismal pool (another private joke).

Soon it was time to head back to Singapore.

As I reflect back upon the events, I thank the LORD for this time of refreshing. The best thing to happen to me in PLMC is to join the 3L cluster, and I felt the LORD reminding me about the dynamics of ministry in the larger body of Christ.

At our cell meetings, we as cell leaders are serving and ministering to our cell members. In turn, we need to be ministered to, and that is where the leaders' cell comes in, where we are cell members. In turn, the cluster leaders receive ministry at the cluster leaders' cell.

In fact, I am also already looking forward to the next cell leaders' retreat, and my prayer is that there will be 100% attendance.

Shalom

Keeping Things in the Right Perspective

Saturday, 18th August 2007

I have received verbal and written feedback from various persons over the past few days, and I really want to thank the LORD for your concerns for my family and me :-)

I would like to assure everyone of you that there is no quarrel between my senior pastor and me. On the contrary, we are still very much on talking terms and will be meeting for lunch for a time of fellowship together very soon.

To keep things in the right perspective, I would like to share an email that I wrote to him on 31 July 2007, which was 4 days before that meeting with him...

Hi Pastor

My wife and I met up with our cluster leaders last night.

We had a long discussion, and I will abide with whatever decision you make.

I agree wholeheartedly with them that you have a shepherd's heart, and I told you so via sms back in Dec 06.

There were 2 incidents that my cluster leader related , the first being you helping her get an aircon for her room (which I was in the loop as Treasurer) and the 2nd being your humility in helping to roll up the microphone and other wires after the Know Jesus Week event in the school.

I myself have experienced this aspect of you. The first was in Jul 2006 when you so kindly agreed for the NTUCF Alumni to hold its talk at Room Gabriel. The second was when you gave up your own copy of Passionate Commitment to me to pass to my cell member, when the cell ministry director was not contactable.

At the Ohana Camp, one member also shared that you left the comforts of your hotel room (even though you had a long and tiring day) to attend to his car, which alarm had malfunctioned.

I thank you for going the extra mile in all the above.

It is with this backdrop that I know that you are concerned for the sheep that you have been appointed to shepherd, and you have to take the actions deemed necessary to protect them.

I have already mentally prepared my cell members, and my co-leader has kindly agreed to step up as the leader. We may be without a co-leader for the time being, but I am sure God will still continue to minister to us and work within us, in spite of the limitations. After all, Rom 8:28 says that in all things, God works together for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.

I thank the Lord for the privilege of being able to serve Him as cell leader of 3L7 for the past 7 months, and the Treasurer for the past 1 year. I have learnt much during this period. But that season has come to an end, and like Paul McGee said, it is time to SUMO (shut up, move on)...

May God continue to bless your ministry in PLMC.

At the end of the day, he knows that I have nothing against him personally. I hold these strong convictions about the grace messages because I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and it is only natural to want to share this good news with others in my oikos.

Similarly, I know that he has nothing against me personally. Since he does not subscribe to the grace teachings [yet :-)], and as the one that God has appointed to shepherd PLMC at this point in time, he has to take the appropriate and necessary action to ensure that the leadership remains united.

We have thus agreed to disagree, but remain very much co-labourers in the Lord.

Do continue to keep all of us in your prayers. Thank you.

The Thirteenth Tribe

Thursday, 7th June 2007

At our recent Ohana Camp, the camp participants were divided into 12 tribes, named after the tribes of Israel.

The 12 tribes of Israel (in alphabetical order) are as follows:

1 Asher
2 Benjamin
3 Dan
4 Ephraim
5 Gad
6 Issachar
7 Judah
8 Manasseh
9 Naphthali
10 Reuben
11 Simeon
12 Zebulun

One common belief is that the 12 tribes were named after the sons of Jacob (or Israel, as he was named later after he wrestled with the angel).

This is not exactly the case because one of Jacob's son -- Joseph -- had a double blessing. The tribes were not named after him, but after his two sons: Ephraim and Manasseh.

In Joshua 17:17-18, we read

17 But Joshua said to the house of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh-"You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment 18 but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have iron chariots and though they are strong, you can drive them out."

As a matter of fact, Manasseh was so blessed that they actually occupied two plots of land, one on the west of the Jordan River and one on the east, as can be seen in the diagram.

Another son of Jacob that did not have a tribe named after him was Levi. The descendents of Levi was not allocated any land because God had set them apart to attend to His work (in the tabernacle in the earlier years and in the temple in the latter years). Moses was a Levite, and in particular, his brother Aaron and his descendents were priests.

Because the Levites had no land of their own, and were all in full-time ministry, the firstfruits and tithes that the other tribes had to bring to the LORD (in terms of animals and crops) were meant to provide for them (Num 18:21-26).

This principle still holds true today. The tithe that we give to our church is meant for the Lord's work, and to ensure that those who are in full-time ministry are well provided for.

Time Doesn't Heal, God Does

Wednesday, 4 July 2007

On 18th June, I blogged about the counsel of the ungodly, which encompasses "worldly wisdom" because it is devoid of God.

One often-quoted saying is "time heals all wounds". This is not true. Only God does.

And this point was put across by Pastor Peter Koh during the Ohana Camp.

As I reflect back upon my own life, I realise that this has indeed been the case. As a teenager with a face full of acne, classmates would tease me with nicknames such as "crackers face" or "disease face". It was a painful time, and my way of dealing with it was to escape into the world of pop music (hence I am very familiar with the songs of the 1980s - but that is a topic for some other time).

Did I feel hurt about those comments? Of course I did, and very much so. Even many years later. But things changed when I surrended those hurts to the Lord. Time did not heal those wounds. God did.

There is another worldly saying, "Forgive and forget". The addition of the word "forget" may seem to be no big deal, but many believers struggle to forgive others because they find it difficult to forget the incidents which have left them feeling hurt.

If you were to search the Scriptures, you will not be able to find the above phrase.

We are asked by the LORD to forgive others, not so much for their sake, but for our sakes' because harbouring resentment and bitterness actually keep us in bondage. By releasing forgiveness to those who have hurt us, we ourselves are being released from those strongholds.

But can we forget? I don't think that is possible because Satan will continue to put those bad thoughts into our head in an attempt to keep us from victory. Forgiveness is a choice. If we choose to forgive, God starts the healing process to remove the sting from and pain of those memories.

Twenty five years later, I can still recall those nasty remarks from my secondary school classmates. But I can tell you, hand on heart, that those remarks do not upset or hurt me anymore, because God has healed the wounds.

Praise be the God!

Peace and Goodwill

Sunday, 16th December 2007

Just noted that yesterday was the 333rd entry on ROOTSS.

Some of you who have been reading this blog recently may get the impression that I am against 2 of my pastors (and my ex-one as well). Let me assure you that this is definitely not the case. I have blogged before that one of them has a shepherd's heart while the other has a heart for the lost, and I really appreciate the work that they are doing here in PLMC. [As for my ex-pastor, he has great musical talents and I love the song he wrote for our Ohana Church Camp].

Let me state categorically again that I have nothing against them personally. It is the law-based teachings that I do not agree with. Similarly, I believe they have nothing against me personally etiher. It is the grace-based beliefs I hold that they do not agree with. Hence, we will just have to agree to disagree.

Even though we have our differences, Christmas is the time when the choir of angels sang, "Peace on earth and goodwill toward men". Hence, I decided to put those aside during this festive period, and got a log cake each for my 3 current pastors.

The reason for the season is Jesus the Christ. Amen?

Great God Ringtone

Monday, 2nd July 2007

I checked out Pastor B's Missingrims weblog recently and noticed that he has blogged about how the Ohana Camp theme song evolved. Makes very interesting reading :-)

He has also made available on his blog several versions of the song for your listening pleasure.

I've decided to jump on the bandwagon, and made available for download the chorus, which you can set as a ringtone on your mobile phone.

Great God chorus Adaptive Multi-Rate (.amr) format
Great God chorus Qualcomm PureVoice (.qcp) format
Great God chorus mp3 format

The .amr format can be used on most non-MP3 playing phones.

Most phones are bluetooth-enabled nowadays, so you can transfer the file to your phone via that method.

For those without the bluetooth function, but are WAP-enabled, you can check out Coolservice, which is a website that provides free WAP-enabled services where you can upload ringtones, wallpapers, etc from your computer to be download onto the phone.