FGC Sunday (2nd August): My Father Preaches For the First Time

It was bound to happen sooner or later. It happened last weekend and it was interesting. My father came back to sort out some family matters and is also on his way to Korea for more ministry. Arrived on Saturday morning and as we talked on the one-hour drive back to Selayang I asked if he or my mother would like to preach in my church. For a while my father and mother had a toss-a-coin situation on who would preach. But I guess my father cannot resist the offer.


It was mid-term break so many of the MMU students were back in their hometowns. The remnants were pleasantly surprised that we had a guest speaker. One of my leaders (Melisa Ann) was also visiting family in Penang that particular week, so I did not get the exact number of people in attendance. But I think that for the first time in over a month, our attendance dropped below 40. I believe there were about 35 members last Sunday.

Even though many were missing from church, we still had our usual quota of guests. Fonie's two sisters were in town visiting. I guess it was visit-your-family week at FGC. There were also other guests that week. I feel that the church is still not ready for new members, we are still in an "incubation" period. But as I pray and meditate, it is becoming clearer what I believe is God's will for the church. Keep praying with me that the leadership of the church will be able to be sensitive to God's voice. Soon we will have to come out of our comfortable incubation mode and begin to move forward.

My father spoke about Abraham and the altars he built from various passages in Genesis. Rev. Yee Tham Wan reminded all of us that we need to continue to push ourselves in our journey with God. No matter who we are we still had room to grow.

It was also communion week so it was also a first as I served Holy Communion to my parents. I am still kind of in a daze and disbelief as I thank God for his grace, that he would use me to pastor a church. I will have to continue to grow in boldness and confidence as I minister but still keep that sense of reverant fear and priviledge for being granted such a great responsibility. At the moment it is still a shoe too big for my feet, however I want to push myself more and more to make sure I grow, and consequently because of my growth the church will grow as well.

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.

First Things First:

... getting the first things right

As our church begins our journey together we need to have a common understanding. Some common values and principles. Last week I felt the time was right to share a message about some of the most important things to Christians.

I spoke on the most basic Christian disciplines. These were the "first things". Here are the first things:

First Hour of the Day: Spending time with God
Psalm 133 - Dwell/live in God's presence; recharge; drink of the living water.

First Day of the Week: Keeping your sabbath holy
Exodus 20:8-11 - The 4th commandment; rest and worship.
Hebrews 10:24-25 - Good habit; meet more (i.e. cell group)

First Fruits of your Labour: Paying your tithes
Malachi 3:9-12 - Keyword "paying"; don't rob God; privilege & responsibility.

First Love of your Life: Sharing your love with everyone
Matthew 28:16-20 - We God's authority and presence
Revelations 2:4 - God our first love; don't grow cold.

These four things are so important in a Christian's life, even non-believers know Christians as people who observe these practices. However we should not do it just because the preacher says so, above all we must do it because we love God and want to please him. God is looking at our heart. Don't patronise God, give him what he deserves.

The View From Behind The Mic Stand

So my good friend Joash, who was one of those who insisted I start a blog, has recently been blogging much less actively. So something that happened almost a month ago is only showing up on his blog today. Mind you this was the person who once preferred to stay back and blog while I wanted to go out for a walk, or anything else for that matter, since we were in Baguio. I felt like anything is better than just staying inside. Anyway we finally got him out by baiting him with food!

I felt I should highlight his recent post here so that some of you guys can read his account of what happened in my church on Mothers' Day. Click on the picture or check out Joash Chan's link on my blog.

Joash and Ken, you guys did a great job. I'm sure my guitar had a part to play in that. We'll have you guys back again next time if you're up for it.

As for our worship team, we're off on our way and in the right direction. I predict that in about 3 months we will be seeing marked improvements in the worship team. But worship is not just about the worship team and the music, as a church we need to constantly learn to express ourselves better in our worship to God. Looking forward to better days as God brings us on this adventure of getting to know him better.

Paraders of the Lost Ark

I preached in church last week, but because of the internet outage, my meeting with Tim Hughes on Tuesday night, Phinehas Mathius' visit from Taiping, and a few other things that happened I have not been able to update the blog.

Last week we were supposed to have a worship team meeting in the afternoon after lunch. It was also in line with our current theme of legacy. I spoke about worship in church. I used the incident from 1 Chronicles 13 to learn a few lessons on how our church should or should not worship.

The background to the incident in 1 Chronicles 13 can be found in 1 Samuel 4-7:

1 Samuel 4 - Ichabod Incident

1 Samuel 5 - The Lost Ark in Philistine

1 Samuel 6 - Lost Ark Found

1 Samuel 7 - The Ark in Kiriath Jearim

The message was basically split into two parts: what we should do in worship, what we should NOT do in worship. Lessons learnt were not only applicable to worship, but also applicable to our ministry and life. Here are the main points of the sermon:

1. Everybody's Way (1 Chronicles 13:1-4)

2. Other People's Way (1 Chronicles 13:7-8)

3. Frivolous Way (1 Chronicles 9-12)

4. God's Prescribed Way (1 Chronicles 15)

As we go about in life let's not do things "Everybody's Way" to please everybody. We should also avoid doing things "Other People's Way", just because other people are doing is not a reason for us to copy, especially in terms of music in the context of worship. The "Frivolous Way" also does not please God, we must also use our brains as we worship, worship must be thoughtful. Instead of these "ways", we must actively seek God and do his ministry his way.

As our worship team and church is now just taking off with a fresh start, let's make sure our foundation is strong. Let's really work on the fundamentals so that in the long run we will not limit our growth. The longer we go on the more obvious it is if our foundation is strong or weak. Let's get it right right from the start. It is an exciting time for many of us as we experience a fresh start. This is our chance to get it right again, this is the chance NOT to make the same mistakes again, this is what it means to have a fresh start!

Falling In Love With Jesus by Jonathan Butler

Beautiful song. Check out other songs by Jonathan Butler, I previously made another post on his song "We Need You Lord", just use the "Search This Blog" widget on the right side.



Falling in love with Jesus
Falling in love with Jesus
Falling in love with Jesus
Falling in love with Jesus
Was the best thing I ever, ever done

In His arms I feel protected
In His arms never disconnected
In HIs arms I feel protected
There's no place I'd rather rather be

Amen.

To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone

Yes that would be the line from Star Trek. I felt last Sunday's sermon was like my inauguration speech. The first time I preached in FGC it was Easter, and I had to preach an Easter sermon, but now two months into my ministry in FGC I felt comfortable and ready enough to share a very general idea of what I would like to see happen in FGC. It was very much a sermon cum vision casting session... “Change we can believe in”?

Our church is very much like the Starship Enterprise. If you remember Jean Luc Picard who is the captain of the ship will lead the whole ship with the help of his commanders and lieutenants. The rest of the ship, whether they are in the engine room, or on the bridge, or in the sick bay, or wherever on the ship you trekkies can think of, will work together so that they can reach a common goal. Being stuck on the same ship means that whether they like it or not they have to bear with one another as they will share the same fate and same destination. They need to be united and protect their ship, to keep the ship moving along, or they will be sucked into the vacuum of space. And like Starship Enterprise, FGC will have to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Need to get myself better pix that I can post here...

Being in transition I felt it was appropriate to share the Israelites' and Joshua's experience of their transition. The text is Joshua 1:6-9. At this point in Israelite history, they too were experiencing a transition, they too had a change of leadership. The book of Deuteronomy ends with the death of Moses the greatest ever prophet, the humblest man on the face of the earth, a great leader, and an all round great dude. Joshua also begins with God telling Joshua "Moses my servant is dead". This was an indication of the end of an era, and the commencement of another. In order for the Israelites to enter the promised land the Moses generation had to die. Now was it was the next generation, it was the Joshua Generation.

Now as Joshua took over he was not naïve, or blur, or power hungry, or anything like that. Joshua for one would have felt the great burden of the insurmountable task before him because he knew what the Israelites really were like. He has been Moses' assistant all these time and have seen the way the Israelites grumbled and murmured, he also seen how fickle they were, as well as how rebellious they were. We can safely say that Joshua would have been petrified at the prospect of leading this bunch of misfits.

In the same way, I too felt overwhelmed at the prospect of leading an entire church. People looking to me for advice on life decisions, families looking to me to lead them and show them the way. Blows my mind. All these while I was readying myself for youth ministry or something like that, but taking on an entire church was one of the last things on my mind, but I believe I heard God's calling and I had to obey. The verses from Joshua 1:6-9 is a real encouragement to me, and I felt that what God has spoken to my heart from this passage would also apply to FGC.
So now that Moses is gone Joshua had to step up. Moses’ generation had their share of miracles, crossing of the red sea, manna from the sky, the pillar of cloud/fire, etc. Now Joshua’s generation would have their own experiences, they would have to experience their own crossing (River Jordan in high season), the walls of Jericho and various other victorious battles, etc. That would be what we had before our church as we move forward from where we are now.

Here’s the breakdown of the sermon:
Title: To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before ...(cue Star Trek sound track)
Text: Joshua 1:6-9
Points:
Divine Task (verse 6)
Divine Word (verse 7-8)
Divine Presence (verse 9)

For the FGC members who did not make it to service last week, you guys missed what I felt was the best service in FGC so far. I felt strongly for the sermon preached but apart from that Charis and the worship team did a great job during the worship session. It was also Holy Communion week and being able to partake of the Lord’s Supper together as a church on such a week was so meaningful. After lunch, there was also an outing with the group of students from MMU. Some of the former MMU students and the high school students joined in on the fun, but that would be a whole other post.

I am excited. I am looking forward to moving forward. There would be times where FGC would have to first take a step backwards before moving forward, if that is the case then we will go at that with all our hearts. I am anticipating God’s new work in our church and lives. Let’s keep our fingers firmly on the pulse of God and expect something new. Today is a new day, let’s leave the past behind and begin to dream God’s dreams. Let’s pray for God to show us his vision for FGC. God wants growth for his church, and FGC is his church, let’s build his church his way. Pray with me church, pray that we will be able to fulfill his will for our church. Greater days are ahead.

Vital Statistics

Many people have been asking me about my new church. Many are asking where the church is so I guess the best thing is to put a map here on my blog. Along with it are more answers to many of the FAQs I've been getting. So check it out...

Church: Foursquare Gospel Church, USJ

Main Service: 10:00am (Sundays); free lunch, believe it!
Average attendance: about 40
Cell groups: 8:30pm USJ (Wednesday), Kepong (Thursday), Putra Heights (Friday)
Youth Service: 12:30pm (Sundays)
Address: 21-2, Jalan USJ 21/3, 47630 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.


View My Saved Places in a larger map

Pastor: Lemuel Yee
Demography: Made up of mostly young working adults, fresh grads, college students; and 3 or 4 families.
Denomination: The Foursquare Church (Pentecostal)
Links:
The Foursquare Church - http://www.foursquare.org/
Foursquare Gospel Church of Malaysia - http://www.foursquaremalaysia.org/

Curious?: Drop by to find out more...

Firsts

It's been a little over a month since I joined Foursquare Gospel Church (FGC). I've been here since 1st March. I have been tying up a lot of loose ends from my previous time in Canaan as well as some personal plans that I have made. I had travelled to Philippines to cheer my father on as he was inaugurated as the first asian president of APTS. Managed to catch up with my family. Elroi and Ian works crazy hours and office is really their home, and my office is my home (I work from home). There was also a trip to Thailand that Pas. Henry asked me to join him, and before that was the AG Ministers' Retreat. Now I can finally say that they are all behind me and I am ready to kick into gear and get focused on FGC.

Good Friday was celebrated with a "Tabernacle Worship Concert". We had an extended worship time, mixed in with a little prayer time for our church, followed by a flash presentation entitled "He Chose The Nails", then another first - I served Holy Communion to the church. It was interesting to note that FGC uses cornflakes for the bread. Everything went well, although I wished I paid more attention in BCM! We also had a great feast after the Good Friday service. There were many newcomers (a.k.a. noobs) that day, some of which will turn up on Easter Sunday as well. Ke Xin, Keith, Susie, and Chris finally turned up at my church, it was their first time at my church. I hope they will be able to find a church that is suitable for them. If you guys are reading this post... Hurry up and settled down with a church, there is so much more that God has in stored for your lives!

I also had to attend my cousin's farewell dinner on Saturday. Keisha and Serenity will be leaving to New Zealand to live with their father. I was considering on skipping this one as I was really not feeling well, but I had promised aunty Tham Ping that I will be there and I also wanted to say good bye to my cousins. I did not have enough energy to spend more time with them, also I did not want them to get sick as well. I left the dinner early and spent the rest of the evening under covers and perfecting my Easter sermon as much as I can.

Easter morning dawned on me and I was feeling much better, although I was still not completely recovered I was well enough. All night I was claiming God's promise that by his stripes I am healed. I was happy that I am not bed ridden. I worked hard on my sermon and I really wanted to share it with my congregation. Before the service started I whacked some flu medicine and some PCM. I was hoping the drug will keep me stoned long enough to get me through the sermon.

Initially it seemed as though there would be quite a few people attending service. I still don't know what the regular attendance is, I just assumed that there would be about 25 people on a regular Sunday. However as the worship went on people started to come in. By the time I took the mic the church was quite filled up. I think there was about 35 people there. My estimation might still be way off as there would be some getting used to before I can make more precise estimates. Announcements were made and then I started my first sermon to my church. Here are the main points of the sermon:

Text: Luke 24:36-49

Points:

1. Easter means Complete Peace (verse 36-38)
2. Easter means Unbelievable Joy (verse 39-43)
3. Easter means Eternal Hope (verse 44-45)
4. Easter means a Powerful Witness (verse 46-49)

I'm sure I will be experiencing many other "firsts" here in FGC. I am relishing the challenge before me. Next week 19th of April, on Sunday, I will be having my first meeting with the church deacons. Looking forward working with the deacons and with God to grow his church.

This post is so scattered. The drugs running through my system has got me all messed up. Just felt that I need to make a new post to update everyone on what's going on. Need to sign off here and do something that requires less brain activity (like DotA).

Next Step: Foursquare Gospel Church

Yes, I'm moving on. As the last post have informed you of my exodus, this would be my genesis.
Again, some of you would have already heard from someone else. It is not a secret but I just wanted to personally inform some people before making it official here on Lemuel Yee's official site. I will be joining a new church.


There, it's official.

I will be joining Foursquare Gospel Church, USJ. This church is part of a bigger group of churches headed by Pas. Henry Liew under the Shekinah Community Center group of churches. There are about 10 churches across Malaysia, but I will be based in the USJ branch. Foursquare is another denomination, but is pretty much the AG's twin. It is a classical Pentecostal church. So far from my observations it looks and feels like AG about 10 years ago.

Many people have asked me if I had some problems with the Assemblies of God (AG), and why I was joining a church from another denomination. Let me make it clear for everyone here. I don't have any problems with the AG, it's just a really big opportunity for me here and I am moving on because the door has opened up for me, and I believe God wants me to walk through this door.

I received the offer and have been considering this option since Chinese New Year. Two weeks ago (1st March), after Sunday service with Pas. Tony Chua (the missionary to Japan), Pas. Henry called me to ask me for a meeting later that night. At the meeting he asked me if I have made my decision about his offer. I figured that since everything was seemed to be falling in place so nicely and the timing seemed to almost be perfect, I decided to give him a positive answer. No point delaying it anymore as I had previously planned.

Pas. Henry proceeded to inform me that I “started this morning” (1st March), even though I was at Canaan that morning for service.

I have already been joining their cell groups for almost a month now, and the church is a small church, so I already know a majority of the church members now. However I continue to suffer from namenesia (suckiness in remembering names). But so far I must say that everyone has been overwhelmingly accepting and welcoming of us.

Melanie is very supportive of my move, and Mikayla seems to be happy with it as well. She tried out the baby room and was very comfortable with it, as if her own house. They are both such a great support and asset to my ministry. You won't believe the spell a cute baby can cast on people. People are just totally open to you when they see you have a cute baby! My parents have told me to just go for it and follow where God leads me. Their advice to me is just to take it one step at a time, which is what many are saying to me. This represents a new phase and a chance to do things differently and grow, so I guess I can try letting some things run their course instead of forcing everything along.

This week there will be a Foursquare Conference in Hotel Malaya, but I will miss out on it since I will be at the AG's Ministers' Retreat which I have signed up and already paid in full. However I will be going with a few of them to Thailand the very next week for a Foursquare South East Asian Leaders' Conference there. I will also be in Philippines on the first week of April. So it’s a busy, blurry few weeks. I will be missing much of the action in FGC but soon enough I’ll be back in the thick of it.

We would appreciate your prayers and support as we embark on this new phase in our lives and ministry. Again, feel free to call me, or email me if you have any questions. I would appreciate the opportunity to personally share with you about our new phase in our lives and ministry, and even how we could possibly partner together in the future.

Just for fun, I am posting scenes from FGC without any people. These pictures were taken just this morning before anyone arrived at church. But watch this space, soon the church members will start to appear.

Worship List 090222

This session would very likely represent my last session worship leading. As many of you know I am preparing start my career as a minister. So I have to free myself up to focus a bit better, but that would be a whole other post. If you read this page you will one of the first to find out as soon as anything is confirmed.

I believe we are in a certain season now, many people are facing tough times. It is no different with people in Canaan. For some it is tough financial times, for some it's tough spiritual times, some others are facing physical sicknesses, for others still it could even be tough mental/emotional times. Whatever it is, I believe this is true for many people all around the world. In view of that, this week the worship list was all about needing God all the more in our time of need, knowing that he is faithful even during tough times.

Here's the list:

1. Forever (G)
2. By Your Side (G)
3. I Will Run To You (G)
4. Still (C)
5. The reason I Live Is To Worship You (C)
6. Draw Me Close (C) - chorus only

Guitar Tips

Derrick Siow always distracts me with youtube videos. When I am working on my com he sometimes sends me a link and tells me I need to watch it... and so far he has been right!

Anyway he sent me this video and I found this very helpful. I'm sure some of you who are as noob as I am would find this helpful as well.

Basically in this video you will learn to "colour" the songs with different chords. Will definitely bring new life to old songs that have went dull.

My Prayer:

We Need You Lord...

but not just that, I need you Lord...

I know you hear us... Hear our cries oh Lord, hear MY cry oh Lord!

Amen.

Worship List 090118

New year, still unsure of what it holds. However I did expect some chaos in the worship team as the worship schedule was never confirmed. Some of the musicians are also feeling burnt out and I am no different. With all that in mind, I decided for a return to the basics. I picked simple and familiar songs that both musicians and congregation knew by heart. Songs were picked around the song Heart of Worship. This was my call for us to return once again to that first love and reconnect.

The blog has been silent for sometime now, I am keeping to the don't-say-anything-if-you-don't-have-anything-good-to-say policy some have. However I really wonder if that is beneficial for anybody. Would things be better if we just left them alone? Sometimes, but not all the time, so what about the other times? I normally make the mistake of taking action too fast, this time I'm going to try to make the other mistake instead. It goes against my instincts and my believes. But what the heck...

On the bright side, my guitar sounded awesome! The simplicity of the songs allowed my guitar to really ring through. Makes me melt... Anyway here's the worship list:

1. Lord I lift You Name On High (G)
2. We Wanna See (G)
3. Potter's Hand (G)
4. Heart Of Worship (G)
5. I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever [chorus only] (G)

I need to rediscover, reconnect, return, receive, revive... Do YOU need to?

Worship List 081221

This would be the ultimate session of the year, the Christmas service. The service was going to be attended by many who are new to the church. So the pressure was on, and that's the ways I liked it. I was told that I would have and extended session. So I roped in David Yeoh to help me out with some songs to make sure we could make it through the whole session.

Here's the list:

1. We Wish You A Merry Christmas (G)
2. That’s What We Came Here For (A)
3. One Way (Bb)
4. Friend of God (D)
5. Beautiful Saviour (A)
6. One Thing Have I Desired (A)
7. How Great Is Our God (A) chorus and bridge
8. Feliz Navi Dat (A)

From what I saw from the stage the church's response was good, I guess the church was ready for it on Christmas. According to Donny, this session was the bomb, we had a pro sound man on scene to mix it up for us. Also the rented drum set was good, and Jeremy was steady and did as well as he did during practice (which is quite a rare). The backing vocals, although still rather raw, did provide me with good backing, allowing me to concentrate on leading the congregation rather than just sing the song.

All in, this was a fantastic end to 2008 for the worship team. At the start of the year I observed and around May I stepped in to help out with the worship department. Feedback from the team informed me that we are headed in the right direction. We now have a good set of work ethics, a good core team of musicians who are not only talented but are also passionate and really feel that this is the ministry that God has called them to. I pray that next year, as we have a good foundation in place now, that we will begin to develop and grow this ministry. The way I see it, 2008 was pretty much a year of providing stability and maintenance. Perhaps 2009 can be a year where we begin to grow into a great ministry. Not sure what or how, but let's keep our eyes open to see God's move.

Worship List 081130

Prakash was scheduled as the worship leader this week, however since he swapped with David last Sunday he would be worship leading back to back. This Sunday was also a special week, there was going to be a shoot for a promotional video for the church. So I wanted to make sure that 1) the worship team did a good job and 2) I got my face on camera. So I got myself involved by arranging myself as co-worship leader. The shoot was really elaborate. Elroi (my brother did it) and it was not a home video thing. It was the full monty corporate video. I figured that the shoot would affect the worship time. I didn't worry so much that the people would be distracted by it, but kind of realized that this week the people would be more "ready" for church. And so it was that last Sunday that the atmosphere was really much better.

By Wednesday Prakash and I have already communicated and it already seemed like we were on the same track. By Thursday we have confirmed some songs and by Friday it was almost all set. Our direction was to get desperate for God, to have more of him in our lives and church. Below is Sunday's list:

1. Cover The Earth (D)
2. Friend of God (D)
3. Breathe (A)
4. Draw Me Close (A)
5. Forever [by Hillsong, chorus only] (A)

That Sunday morning, some visitors walked into our church, they were with the speaker for the day. The speaker was Ronnie Tan. He is a Malaysian who is now pastoring in New Zealand, he brought along with him a group of young people. They were so full of energy and the worship team fed off their energy and enthusiasm. I believe many of our own church members too were infected by them. However we always knew it was going to be a great session that week. We had a time of prayer after the worship practice last week, we all put our instruments down and just gathered around for a short time of really worshipping God and prayer after that.

I informed the team that since we introduced the debriefing after our worship sessions our worship team has made giant strides, so we are now going to start a short "briefing session" after our practice time. We will use this briefing time to discuss about our dress code, the service, and any other nitty-gritty stuff that we have to settle before the worship session. We will start the briefing time with a short simple time of worshipping together as a team followed by a time of prayer. As it would happen, God really did hear the worship team's heart's cry. The service, from the worship to the preaching, was all great.

This week is definitely an up. Hope next week will be just as good, and even better.

Worship List 081102

So I'm here at the end of another, if not busy, eventful week. I had a wedding dinner to attend, my good friend David Lim was in town for a song writing competition, and yes, I worship led again. When I'm well prepared and have a clear idea where I am leading the church in worship, I really look forward to it. However this time I felt I was less prepared than I would like to be. There was just one up side for me, my guitar is back from the shop and all ready to be plugged in and to go live! So my baby was going to get her first chance at "singing" in front of my church.

Anyway I decided on the theme of God's glory, I wanted to lead the church into God's presence and have his glory revealed to us. So here's the song list:

1. Glory by Hillsong United (E)
2. Cover The Earth by Lakewood (A)
3. Forever by Hillsong (D-A)
4. One Thing Have I Desired unknown (A)
5. Oh The Presence of Your Glory by Ron Kenolly (A-C)

At the end of everything I am thankful that God helped me do a reasonably good job. I think the worship was inspiring, but how it turned out just didn't satisfy me. I wanted more, I want excellence, I want to do my best, and nothing less, nothing less.

Everything went well, apart from one of our keyboard adaptors being out of commission, but minus one keyboard, the music was still quite good and tight, considering that we were doing a new song (Cover The Earth), and also a musically more technical song (Oh The Presence of Your Glory), the church still responded well to the songs. However I was just not satisfied, it feels like it just lacked a certain X factor. During our evaluation the team felt that the practice session was better than the actual worship time, we unanimously agreed.

It just keeps coming back to me... what was missing? There was just something missing and I cannot put my finger on it. I don't think the rest of the team is as bothered by it as I am. But I really want to identify it and make sure our worship team doesn't happen again. Maybe it's just me suffering from a heavy week.

Worship List 081018

Yes I worship led in church... again. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy it and I really want to do it well. So I take a long time preparing for each time. I worship led just two weeks ago because I swapped with David, this week I swapped with Prakash. Prakash was really working towards this session, I saw him practicing with Marcus and Melissa couple weeks in advance. But in his line of work, last minute stuff just jumps at him. Anyway he will be moving on to a new jon very soon, he is hopeful that in his new work he will be able to spend more time with some ministries in church.

So Prakash informed me on Tuesday, I think, that I will have to replace him. It was going to be a long weekend for me, I was going to be preaching in Bethany Chapel's Y:Fusion (the youth ministry) on Saturday as well. I want very much to do well for both tasks, so I had to really work hard at it. Some of you might have noticed I've not been on Garena (a gaming client where I play DotA online). Well, now you know why I have been MIA.

Practice was kind of sloppy, but at the end while praying for the next morning's service there was just a peace that came over me.

Here's the worship list:

1. Hosanna (G)
2. Better Than Life (G)
3. Jesus Lover of My Soul (Chorus & bridge only) (G)
4. Beautiful Saviour (A)
5. One Thing Have I Desired (A)

The worship time was excellent. I have to find a way to quantify and publish it here along with my worship list. Will work on that and try to place a "score" on the worship time in the future. However for now, you will just have to take my word for it, the worship session was great. After the service some people approached me to ask me for the final song. Jason Ong, one of our stage hands/tech also just SMS-ed me asking for the song, but I think the song is so old that I can't find a single thing on the song. It's like the song doesn't exist. Now you're wondering where I got the song from, well, I learnt the song during my internship stint in FCC last year.

I have just received my USB audio interface from Ebay, so I guess I will make it my first project to make an attempt to record the beautiful song for some who are requesting for it. Don't expect it anytime soon though, I'm kind of a perfectionist and I have to learn how do a proper recording from nothing. Might need some help from my good friend Dr. David Lim here. I will post it up here when it's ready.

Worship List 081206

Before I come to the list, I want to make mention of the worship team here...

I was supposed to lead the worship next Sunday. However David Yeoh, who was next week's worship leader, told me that he could not make it to practice this Saturday. I had to swap with him.

I was immediately put in a dilemma. This week is Hari Raya week, so many of our musicians were away for a holiday. All week I was trying to find the right time when all the musicians could come together for a practice. It was a tough time trying to synchronize all our calendars and find the right time to practice. Bearing in mind that I also did not want to deprive them of their holiday as they have worked hard for the worship ministry and deserved a holiday. I spent much of my week worrying about the practice and the worship time. We finally decided to practice on Saturday morning at 10:00AM instead of the usual 1:30PM. Suddenly all the musicians were available, even David made it to the practice! I was very encouraged by the commitment of this group of musicians. They really went out of their way to serve God in this area. In the midst of the confusion I forgot to inform Donny, our lead guitarist, that we have moved the practice time again this week. I had previously spoken to him about the change of practice time. I thought I informed him but I was making so many calls to so many people that I left him out.

Bobby (bassist), Irvin (sound tech), Marcus (keyboardist), Timothy (rhythm guitarist), and I (worship leader) arrived at church at 10:00AM. We all came in my van. We setup while waiting for the rest to arrive. By 10:20AM we gave Donny a call asking him how late he was going to be. It was then that we realized that there was a communication break down. He explained to us that he was not informed of the practice. I apologized for leaving him in the dark and told him that it's alright if he cannot make it since the songs are very simple, as I was anticipating that there would be very few people in church this holiday weekend. But Donny told us that he will come immediately if we could wait. We started our practice without Donny, he arrived only when we were doing our 4th song. That was approximately 12 minutes... Kelisa quite fast!

Practice went on very well, at the end of the practice we spent some time praying for the team, the worship time, and the church members. We did not do the usual "thank you for this practice... amen". We took our time this time. We were implementing the decision that we made based on the worship evaluation form from the last time I worship led. Practice was good.

After the practice we all went for a CS session. It was a good reward for our efforts. We had a great time killing each other, laughing our hearts out as we did it. Nice!

Here is the worship list:

1. Beautiful One (D)
2. We Wanna See Jesus Lifted High (G)
3. It Is You (G)
4. Heart Of Worship (G)
5. I Love You Lord (G)

The worship time was very good. The musicians were really "into it", we could feel a different energy in the music. More importantly, the church was really "into it". It was a wonderful time of worship. At the end of the session during our briefing we asked each other what was the difference this week. I mentioned that it could probably be the break. The members might be more relaxed and responsive after having a holiday. However after reflecting the rest of the day on what we did different this week I came to a conclusion that although the holiday might have played a role, the bigger factor was more probably 1) the extended prayer time we had, and 2) the attitude and commitment of the musicians who went out of their way to make it to the practice this week. Not just Donny and David, but also Bobby, who just flew back in from Indonesia on Friday. Their commitment encourages me to continue to give my best to God in this ministry. Let us continue to encourage each other in this way. Thank you musicians, and bravo!

Worship Evaluation Form

In my attempt to grow the worship ministry in my church I decided to implement a short 5-minute debriefing session after each service. I wanted to minimize some of the mistakes that we were making (on a regular basis). I have had this idea for some time now (about 6 months ago) but have only recently implemented it (about 2 months ago). I have been weighing out the pros and cons and really thinking it through and how I should approach this.

So to facilitate the debriefing session I decided to come up with a simple "Worship Evaluation Form". It's so simple, it only takes 5 minutes to fill up. This was VERY important as I do not want to keep the worship team from their chance to catch up with other church members. My church's worship team has used the form and it has been so beneficial to us. It helps us as we prepare, it helps us as we play. It just makes us more conscious and more intentional in whatever we do. I would recommend worship teams do this. But please be careful to keep it short and sweet (KISS), and also to make sure your team is ready to take criticism. If you have taken these two steps you can gently introduce a debriefing session for your worship team.

Last Sunday I took it one step further. Apart from the debriefing session with the worship team. I also passed out another "Worship Evaluation Form" to certain members in the congregation and asked them for their honest feedback and comment. When we first introduced the debriefing we wanted to get feedback from people who were not part of the worship team as well. However I was careful to take it slow as musicians are often emotional people and I wanted to see if they were really ready to be criticized before getting random people to give us their thoughts. I also did not want to instill a critical spirit into the church members where they constantly judge and evaluate the team, nor did I want to distract the church members from worshipping to be judging or watching the team. I passed out the forms immediately after the worship session. However I am considering passing it out to them before the session next time so that they can be more detailed and accurate in their assessments.

It turned out very well, the members were honest and commended some efforts and criticized some others. I showed it to the team during the debriefing and they were all opened and receptive to what the members thought. We instantly made two decisions based on ALL the evaluations (even previous ones), that we 1) need to select more familliar songs and 2) more importantly, was that we needed to pray harder for the worship ministry.

The forms are available for download here (at the end of this post) if you would like to use them for your own church.

I'm sure some of you who read my blog are involved in the worship ministry as well. What do you think of this idea of a debriefing session or evaluating the team? Can the forms be improved?

Or perhaps you are also a member of Canaan Church and would like to give your opinion on the worship ministry, download the form, fill it up, and let me hear your thoughts.

My ultimate goal is growth.


Download the forms here:
Worship Evaluation Form (Team)

Worship Evaluation Form (Congregation)