2007 Thanksgiving

Our staff had a thanksgiving lunch on the 28th December. Here is the message that I shared with our staff team along with some photos of the day.

My Greatest Satisfaction in 2007

01 Serving with my wife and the twins
We remember going to people's homes, speaking at events, going for meetings, days in the office and ministering overseas. Dinah and I just enjoy times meeting with and talking with new members at Discovering Membership. We did enjoy serving as a family at the 16th anniversary. Most other times the twins are beside us, reading quietly. There is always much to do but we are often together.

02 Serving alongside the staff team
I remember going into the water with you at water baptism, answering questions with you, brainstorming for the Breakthrough campaign, ministry discussions, doing weddings and fun times at the staff retreat. There is also the time Simon and I drove to KL for that visa, Pastor Jeff and I at Elim Church, and celebrating together when the church became debt free on 30th April.

03 Finding old friends I thought I had lost
I just met an old rugby friend from Junior College on the plane back recently. I keep bumping into old friends more and more and in places I would never imagine seeing them. It has been exciting.

04 Serving the community through Hope Centre
I remember opening that bank account with Pastor Lawrence, the Hope Centre meetings at our home, planning and poring over detailed proposals and joining board meetings. I remember going to speaking with authorities about funding our local projects and about potential overseas projects.

05 Traveling internationally to strengthen churches overseas.
It is vital that we visit our overseas tentmakers. Dinah and I love to encourage and spend time with our tentmakers in faraway places. These are special times. Dinah's sister and Simon has helped a lot in this regard. So has Yean Shien, Elaine, Limei, Cara, Pastor Jeff, Claud, Pastor Lawrence and Pat to make this possible.

This has been a year of great joy doing new things, meeting and serving with friends old and new.

My 2008 Wish

01 Enjoy the favour of God
I've had over 12.5 years on staff. But we have been doing church for over 16.5 years. We are so grateful for the grace of God every step of the way. We look forward to His continued grace and His favour in the years to come.

02 Walk in His Wisdom
One thing that has been hard is to switch gears constantly. I have not switched well on more occasions that I would have wanted to. The phrase "my cup runneth over" has also come to my mind on more than one occasion. Going forward I need a lot more divine wisdom.

03 See the birthing of many new things in Hope Church (S)
I am excited about the New Ministries initiative. We got to encourage pioneering and innovation in a growing church. I am also excited about our Youth Centre. We are moving from once-off projects to ongoing programmes. I am excited about developing missions internship. You will be hearing more about this. I am excited about the Full House effect. We will see our care groups and worship services becoming fuller and fuller.

04 Help the twins do well in PSLE
Early October will be an exciting time especially for the twins. This is true for the students doing national exams in October too. Dinah and I will adjust to this new adventure.

05 The Blackberry phone software will be un-crashable....
Yes its been giving some problems again recently. I am sure we'll figure it out soon.

2007 has been another good year. My prayer for the new year is that our source will be from above as in Psalm 123:1 and that our strength is in the name of the Lord as in Psalm 124:8.

Thank you for the privilege of being part of your journey.