Shekinah Community Center Sunday (July 26th): Prophetic Conference, Ipoh

So I went missing for the whole of last week. I was attending a prophetic conference in Shekinah Community Center (SCC), Ipoh, a.k.a. the mothership. SCC is my church's mother church.

I was initially quite reluctant to go, firstly, Ipoh was supposed to be a small town, what could Ipoh offer that I couldn't already get in KL? Then there was also my thing about the "prophetic". Many times I just substitute prophetic with pathetic, it really didn't help when I was trying to pay attention during the conference, everytime the speaker said "prophetic", my mind automatically switches it to "pathetic". It was really funny, to me, only. A real inside joke.

So I mentally prepared myself for a week of boredom. I was prepared to fast internet, stay indoors if there weren't any place to go, and bear a week of pathetic conference. I gave up on my "P" night on Monday and left before I could catch up with anyone, I only met Ke Xin when she came earlier to twist perm my hair, but you would have already had your share of that story by now. I left my wife, daughter, friends, and internet at home and headed due north for Ipoh.

Drive alone was nice, quite therapeutic and cleansing in a way. Music blasted from my aunty's new speakers as I drove her car. I arrived slightly late and had to find the church. For a brief moment I thought my GPS got me to the wrong place, but a brief call to Pas. Henry confirmed I was in the right area. The place was littered with pubs, cafes, cyber cafes, hawkers, and even discos (some dodgier than others). During the duration of my stay I have cristened that area where SCC was located as "Sodom and Gomorrah". I figured this shouldn't be as bad as I have initially prepared for. Worse come to worse I could camp it out in the cyber cafe.

Conference already started and the prophet-speaker already has begun the seminar. I see two familiar faces, Pas. Sam (from Baguio Philippines), and Pas. D'ton (from Bangkok, Thailand). I met them earlier in the week for a dinner on the day of their arrival, I also previously met them during my trip to Bangkok. We were going to be roomies throughout this conference.

The conference was great, for me I was reminded that I need to sharpen my spiritual gifts and not just rely on physical ministry. Many of the supernatural things can't be explained or understood so I just have to trust God when it comes to those things.

During the conference the speaker prayed for the manifestation of "golden glory" and true enough gold dust started appearing on people. Pas. Nagu, being Indian (dark skinned) was the most obvious of all, his face and hands was sparkly from the gold dust.

It is interesting why God would do something like this. I guess he's God and he's just showing off. It's just fantastic when God decides to show off a little... fantabulous!

There were also people who were healed, especially those with backaches due to uneven legs. We (the participants) would pray for the legs to be lengthened and true enough legs were lengthened. Then back problems just went away, it was a miracle. Of course there was also prophecies that were made.

The conferences were held during the night so days were free. So we had time to do some shopping. I spent most of the day with the foreign pastors. Being the local, I showed them around and basically played their host. If gained nothing else from this trip, the friendship built would be well worth the effort.

During one of the days, Pas. Henry brought us all up to Cameron Highlands for a cup of tea. The foreign pastors were also here for a meeting with the various national youth directors. Vietnam and Cambodia could not make it, but Philippines and Thailand was present, and guess who represented Malaysia?

Meeting lasted about 15 minutes, and time to travel to Cameron Highlands from Ipoh is just over 1 hour. Then the rest of the time we had tea and goofed off.

Other days I spent getting to know the people of SCC as well as getting to know the area around the church. Of course the eating was one of the highlights, for me it's the fellowship around the table.

I was supposed to head back straight after the final session late Saturday night, but I finally decided after much deliberation that I would attend the worship service in SCC. It was great getting to see how things are done in the main church. I was introduced to the church, and as expected, people were fascinated at me. I know I'm not the stereotype pastor, in fact, I'm quite the opposite. My newly permed hair got even more stares. But I am happy that people don't immediately recognize me as a "pastor". I'm just a normal guy that loves Jesus and want to serve him. I do the work of a pastor, but I don't want the "stigma" that comes with being a pastor. Christians and non-believers alike often act differently (and many times weird) when they realize you're a "pastor". Pastors are just people like you and me trying to make the most out of our lives. Anyway I was introduced to SCC.

After Sunday service I had the privilege of having lunch at Howard Leow's house. Howard studies Artificial Intelligence in KL and attends our church whenever he's around. He was going to hitch a ride from me back to KL so his mother invited me over to have lunch at their home. It was a great experience for me. They were real village folks and I had an authentic Hakka meal that is rare in KL, even though I myself am a Hakka. I had the chance to embaress myself with my horrible Hakka.

I left Ipoh with a very different perception of the place then when I first came. Ipoh is ready for harvest. So many young people so near the church there, SCC needs a youth worker badly. SCC is right at the heart of the hotspot, less than 100 meters away young people meet up to eat, play, and party. Someone just needs to invite them to come eat, play, and party in the church! God please send more workers, workers who can understand and meet the needs of these young people in Ipoh! I desperately want to go back to Ipoh, but next time I want to bring a small team along with me and try to make a difference there. It will also be good bonding time for me and my small team of ministers. For now I consider this more of a recon trip. People in Ipoh get ready, I'm coming back for you soon...

I arrived in KL at 4:30pm, just in time for futsal. Perfect way to cap off this fantastic week.

10,000

I came to my blog this morning and this was what I saw...

10,051 visitors and counting!

Never thought it would get this far. I hope this site has been helpful to some of you. I know my church members read me to keep updated on what's going on in my life as well as in the church. Especially those who missed service, you know who you are. Hopefully I will be able to find more time to write. I've been told that I need to read and write more, so far I've been reading but not writing. So hopefully after a while I'll be able to write more significant stuff.

Remember it all began here.

Twist 'n Perm

If you're a guy and have not tried a perm before, try this!

Since last monday when I posted a facebook status saying that I will be perming my hair, messages have been coming in left, right, and center for pictures. MSN, Skype, Facebook, Gmail, even on my phone. So I figured I'd milk this for all it's worth...

For those of you who are here for the first time: a big welcome to you!

According to my personal stylist Ke Xin a.k.a. Cassandra Lioe, this is the "twist perm". Sounds groovy doesn't it? Apart from me, Ke Xin is also the hair stylist and make up artist for many other celebrities like Sarimah Ibrahim, Hannah Tan, Amber Chia, etc. However I am her main endorsee, she thinks I am young, hip, and trendy enough, and am the best candidate to represent her work. She does all my hair for free and I am a walking testament to her genius. She does take some bookings but mostly concentrates on bigger projects like weddings, magazine shoots, TV commercials, etc. You would have to be someone special to be part of her elite clientele. Here I’d like to thank her for all her hard work, she always says to me that “if you don’t look good, I don’t look good”. And so I always look good for her sake.

Without further delay, here's what you have been waiting for:

Front profile

Side profile

*Flash... so you can see the texture

A mane to tame

Tied up for that "cleaner" look

So what do you think?

FGC Sunday (July 12th): Catching Waves

Sunday's Stats:

This week there were no extra guests from other churches. However I encouraged the church to take a look around and see that our church is filling up. Albeit only after 10:20 (our service starts at 10am). But it is encouraging to see that we are already moving forward. The official count was 46 people in attendance. I told them that I count people because people count. That said, I believe that it is the people and NOT the numbers. I will always build lives and not numbers because lives gives give birth to lives and numbers just give birth to numbers. Numbers will only be used as an indication of our health. Lives are our passion, the more we get the happier we'll be.

Melissa Ng & the worship team

Sunday's Message:

Pas. Henry our senior pastor was around. Second week of the month is his week, he preaches. He spoke of prayer from Luke 18, from the parable of the persistent widow and the unfair judge. It was a timely reminder for us to keep praying for our church and me, the pastor. Even before I passed the mic to him, I encouraged the church to pray with me for the church. I told them that we don't want God to bless what we are doing, but I asked that they pray we may be sensitive to what God is doing, so that our church can join in God's work, not the other way around.

Pas. Henry doing his thing

So even as we are moving forward let's keep praying as a church that we will be able to see the spiritual waves that are coming our way and catch them.

No free lunch? Think again, every Sunday only at FGC

FGC Sunday (July 5th): High Score!

I guess to help me keep this blog more updated I would do a weekly reflection of the Sunday I had. It would include a short section on the events that happened in church along with some numbers and more. There will also be a section on what I felt God was saying to the church that week. I guess if I was preaching I will provide the sermon points, otherwise I'll just share what I felt God was saying to me or to the church. So here's the first of many more to come.

Sunday Stats: MMU Week

Last week was a great week for FGC, we had an attendance of over 55. That would be our highest attendance since I began my ministry in this church. There were about 15 MMU students who turned up for service because they used our church premise the day before for their CF Committee Leadership training. They spent the whole day in the church and subsequently spent the night at the church as well. I had a chance to catch up with them after worship practice. I had dinner with them and got to know some of them. However my name-nesia issue still plagues me, hopefully when I meet them again I will remember their names.

Claustrophobic, let's grow out of this place!

It was good to see the church hall almost full, it was a good foretaste of what will come. Even without the 12-15 MMU CF committee members, we still had about 40 in attendance, which is still on the high side. We just got to keep doing what we are doing. As we are now stablizing, next up will be growth. We just have to wait for God's wave, and when he sends that wave let's make sure we're watching and ready to catch that wave and ride it for all its worth. Surf's up!

Holy Communion Sunday

Sunday's Sermon: Facing The Fire

Peer pressure is not just a youth's problem, anyone with peers can feel the heat. Here is a lesson how 3 friends faced the fire and did not get fried.

1. Surround myself with support (verse 16)
What support do you have?
What kind of support do you give?
Be a positive peer pressure.

2. Set my trust in God (verse 17)
God values trust and obedience above understanding and intelligence.
Teachers, parents, pastors fail, only God never fails.

3. Stick to what's right (verse 18)
Do you know what's right?
Do you have what it takes to stick to it?

Thanks Joshua for helping with the camera and LCD.

So what did God say to you last week? If God challenged you, and if you feel comfortable, share with me your thoughts here.