Last Day in Quito

The worship service starts with ice breakers. Lennin co-leads the service with Sharon. Sharon leads worship with Ricky and Alehandro on the guitars. Then I preach with Wee Leng translating. Today there are over 20 local adults with one first timer. This first-time law student commits his life to Christ. It is a good time.

Luis and Lennin organise the barbeque. This barbeque has a unique local touch. Overall its a really fun day out in the garden .

The members hang out long after the barbeque. Some ask me to pray for them. Then I spend some time with Sharon. Its good to have extended time with old friends.

Four members wait till evening to say very touching good byes. Lennin and family stays to drive us to the airport. I feel sad on the way to the airport. We say long goodbyes. The airport is also strange - once you go to check in, you cannot come out.

Then I am so tired I actually fall asleep at the boarding gate. The plane flies to Guayaquil then to Santiago.

Friday in Quito

We gear up for today's full day seminar. People come still excited though a little tired from a long night. Some come about half hour later.

In total 13 locals came for the four sessions of church Vision and Philosophy. 2 university students came later. Later I realise 1 of them actually has exams tonight. There is a lot of good discussion going.

Wee Leng and I challenge the people to have a vision for Ecuador. Ecuador has a population of 13 million people is in 22 provinces, 219 cantons and 1472 parishes. There are 4 million Ecuadorians overseas. We also challenge the 4 students from Central University to have a vision for their campus. They are excited.

We have take away dinner together. After dinner , Wan Phing leads us in corporate worship. Then I do the fourth and final session. It has been one and half days of teaching, worship and bonding. It has been a good time.

Thursday in Quito

I have breakfast with Wan Phing before she goes to work. Then the Lima team arrives. Today we have lunch with Lennin and his son. He is part of the local leadership. We discover over lunch that Wee Leng’s version of ‘light’ lunch is dubious.

Next Serene conducts a music workshop for Alehandro, Ricky and Sharon in the afternoon. The rest of us prepare for the night session.

In total 15 local adults join in the night session. Wan Phing takes care of 3 kids, Serene lead worship, Delia shares her testimony, I teach with Delia translating. I ask for response.

Julian and Sharon lay hands on one group whilst Wee Leng and Ai Lay lay hands on another group. I take the third group.

Two locals present have already been baptised in the Spirit previously. Tonight five persons are baptised in the Spirit and manifest in tongues almost instantaneously.

We end at 10 pm. People are excited. Some people only leave at 11:45 pm. The Lima team leaves at 12 am. We say long goodbyes to each other. It is sad.

Then Wee Leng, Sharon and I have dinner and debrief at the same time. I go to bed at 1 am.

More Indian food & birthday celebrations

Wednesday starts with breakfast with Sharon before she goes to work. The Lima team arrives soon after. I manage to catch up with Delia and with Ailay. Later we discuss Thursday ministry events.

Wee Leng brings us for Indian food again as per Lima team's request. Then Sharon brings the girls shopping as Julian, Wee Leng and I have a drink. The girls come back and persuade me to get a new leather jacket. They including Wee Leng argue that the one I am wearing is 18 years old. I talk about something called sentimental value! The girls volunteer to help choose one then Wee Leng bargains shamelessly. We get it for USD75 with their guarantee that it would cost USD130 in Singapore.

After parting with my money, we go for dinner. We meet with the Hope Quito local leaders. Here is a picture of Alejandro snapping a picture. Yes, we celebrate Julian's birthday again. They call him "hulian" in Spanish. Hulian is the one smiling broadly...

Return to Quito

The visa application process to Ecuador was like a bad dream. That's an entire story in itself...

Dinah and the twins sent me off to the airport on Sunday afternoon. I fly to LA, Miami and finally arrive in Quito on a Monday night. It was the 23rd of July. I am very happy to reunite with Wee Leng, Wan Phing and Sharon. We have a very long dinner on Monday. This is my second visit to Quito. Its colder this time. They have a much bigger place now.

Team Lima arrived on a Tuesday noon. Wee Leng brings Julian,

Serene, Ailay and Delia to the house. We greet then go out and spend the whole day together. Its great to be able to catch up with our people individually. For lunch, Team Lima asked for Indian food. Wee Leng bring us to a nice Indian place downtown. Later I suggest they try the local handmade fruity gelato-equivalent at the Andean artisan market. The Lima team took an instant liking to thist just like my wife when we were first here in Dec 2005.

It is such a joy to reunite for the eight of us, half way around the world. At dinner time Sharon arranges an early surprise for Julian. His actual birthday is this coming Saturday. He will be 36 soon.

Why I'm travelling

Our twins have been asking why we travel. We have been explaining. Recently our church had thanksgiving services on 6th May. A member said to me backstage that I travel quite a bit. I recall a similar comment by Keng Suan on this blog back in April.

Well its not because I'm a global city guy. Here's why...

Because our church is global. Initially our church plants were in South East Asia, then in Asia and Oceania. Then in 1997 our team landed in South Africa. In 2002, our team landed in Peru. Since then our teams have landed in Kenya, Chile, Italy, Ecuador and two other countries that are best unnamed. Today our tentmaking teams are spread across several continents.

We manage across distance, cultures, continents and time zones. This makes the ministry even more complex and difficult because the boundaries of distance, country borders and cultures are in constant motion. We do our best to provide prayer support, logistics support, financial support, communication support, ministry support and re-entry care. We use e-mail and Skype a lot. We also need to visit our teams, so I travel.

Because we are part of a global movement. In Jan 99, Dinah and I were asked to oversee churches in Europe. This role lasted till Aug 04. For almost 6 years Dinah and I traveled to support churches there. We made many good friends here. Then we were asked to help North America churches in Oct or Nov 04. We politely declined because of our involvement in Africa and South America on top of local church ministry. We were asked again in early 05. We politely declined again. Our leaders finally persuaded us in Jul 05. In a family of churches, we help one another.

Because like you our overseas churches consider Dinah and I as their Senior Pastor. All our overseas churches have a coordinator or pastor. We have a special bond. In Johannesburg, we were introduced as "Our Senior Pastor based in Singapore". In Chicago we we were introduced as "Senior Pastor of North America". In Quito, it was a similar introduction in Spanish.

We now have members across the world. Each person has a special place in our heart. We love them and consider them part of family. Together with our missions staff and leaders, we keep in touch with as much as we possibly can.

Those are pretty much the reasons.

As a boy I used to think that traveling was glamorous. That's probably because mom always did the packing and unpacking. Also I never traveled far enough to be stuck in transit or experience that terrible thing 'jet lag'. Amazingly the reheated airline food didn't seem to bother me.

Now I'm quite sure that I can't sleep on planes even when I get a row of four seats all to myself. Some time ago I got a book titled, "Why I Hate Flying". I haven't read it yet but I think maybe I should have written it. If not for the Great Commission...

Easter in 2007

Dinah and I flew to Vancouver on Thursday via Seoul. Discovered I don't enjoy bilingual flight announcements. We are glad to see our friend, Steph Zee at the Vancouver airport. Its a cool 10 degrees here. Its our first time at the Hope Vancouver church conference. Its also our first time at their church service.

Their conference starts on Good Friday at Port Coquitlam. This is also the venue of their Sunday worship. My eyes are heavy despite having sufficient sleep. Its jet lag attack. Pastor William suggest we go to the hot tub in the afternoon. It is a feat to preach at night with jet lag in full swing.

After the Sat morning session, William says, "Your jet lag is over". So I guess yesterday's session must have been lethargic. Then we get news that both our kids are sick so we pray. Later in the afternoon, William's son Andrew take me to the back yard where I try out his paint ball gun. It is so fun. We go back for preaching. The night session ends late

Easter morning is rainy. Over ten homeless people come for the special lunch. The conference resumes after lunch. Then we pack up and do a visitation followed by a dinner with church leaders. Catch the camp stories and photos at http://www.hopeofvancouver.org/

We spend Monday with William and Lan discussing church. We spend some time with Victoria too. Dinah seem to have caught a cold.

Tuesday is spent with Lan, Marilyn and Chris. Marilyn and Chris are leaders and both came to Christ through our church in Singapore. Dinah gets quite sick but maintains a positive countenance. We join their regular Tuesday leaders night meeting.

William and Lan bring us to their saloon on Wednesday. They insist of doing our hair before driving us to the airport. Its our first time on Air Canada. In LAX, our friends Judy and Cyn are on hand to take us to the hotel. We settle down then have dinner with them. We're excited to hear how the LA church is doing since Dec 06.

On Thur Cyn take us for a meeting. Today LA experiences a wind storm. After lunch with Cyn she takes us to another meeting. Later Jason and Emmy take us to church. We have dinner with church leaders. Afterwards we get good news that the twins are getting better.

On Friday our old friend Beh from San Diego come around with Pao and Cyn. We drop stuff off at church and drove to the camp site. We take the anti motion sickness tablets Crystal gave us. It knocked us out for the one hour drive up the mountain. Its cold up here. I try to shake the effects of the tablets to teach at the night session.

Dinah is much better on Saturday. Thank God because she starts teaching today. It is so cold up here that it actually snows for an hour. The winds up here are 32km/hr. We had to find the heater switch in our room to sleep that night.

We are getting used to the mountain but its time to go. We are glad because overall the church seems to be in better shape. Going downhill without anti-motion sickness pills, we get a headache. At least the conversation with Beh is stimulating. We check in to the same hotel before Chai and Crystal take us for an extended dinner.

We are glad to have Monday off. Everywhere we walk today, TV screens report the Virginia Tech killings. It's tragic news unfolding... Its overwhelming. Later Sam, Sung and baby Grace arrive at 4 pm to take us out. We get gifts then have dinner together. At night David calls from Chicago.

Tues morning has a twist. Lee take us for breakfast and we actually meet Sam and Grace in the same place having just bought breakfast for us. What a blesssing! Then Lee take us to the airport. There's heavy security presence in LAX today. El Al, the Israeli airline has flight today. SIA is doing a manual check in to simulate when computers are down so the line moves slowly. We finally get on the half-empty plane but get stuck on the run way for 2 hours because a part on the wing is loose. We finally take off. I try to lie down on 4 seats but I just can't sleep. That's the story of my life. Thankfully I get some sleep flying from Seoul to Singapore.

Here is a group photo of the LA camp.

Portland, Oregon

We leave Singapore on a wet Thur morn. Could not call a taxi as we normally do. Jeff comes to the rescue. We make our 9 am flight to LA. Once in LAX Cyn helps us check into a hotel near LAX. She leaves then comes back with drinking water and Starbucks coffee. She's so kind. We make calls then have dinner with Andrew, Cyn and Lee. They even bring a cake.

On Fri we take a 8:30 am domestic flight to Seattle. Dee take us from the airport to downtown Seattle for a pre-arranged meeting. We get Seattle coffee before the meeting. Afterwards we go to JR's place just north of the city. From there JR drives us to Portland. JR's baby daughter Jada cries, not accustomed to the long ride. The rain makes our journey 4 hours instead of the normal 3. It's works out well as Dinah catch up with Warinda and I with Vern and JR. I also call Rach, my friend from Urbana.

We arrive in Portland at 7 pm. Most of the NA pastors and wives are here. We greet each other. The hotel suite is US$74 per night and it's luxurious. The cost of living is low. We go out for dinner. Chai & Crystal bring 3 kids along. These are the kind of people who lead our churches.

The complimentary breakfast is American. This retreat theme is church growth. Lunch is out where the wives do a baby shower for Ann who's expecting her first child this June. At dinner, they celebrate my birthday with 4 big candles. I get a text message from LA saying, "Happy 21st birthday." My real age is somewhere in-between those two figures.

Sunday is check out. At Hope Portland, David from Chicago lead prayer, David and Ann from Portland lead worship, Dinah shares testimony and I preach. Later we lunch with church folks then resume discussions at David and Ann's place. At 5 pm, pastors and wives start to leave. We spend time with David and Malay before meeting Chris and Susan Ward. They have come from Seattle to meet. We get back to David and Ann's at 11 pm, totally exhausted.
Mon is time with David and Ann. They take us to a Christian book store before a dim sum lunch. Next they bring us to shopping outlets before an American dinner. We get home and pack. After I help David set up Skype, Dinah and I pray for the couple.

David starts work at 4:45 am. Ann send us to the Portland airport on Tue. On board Dinah sleeps but the grandma next to me tells me her life story. It turns out she is a pastor's wife. We arrive 1:30 pm at LAX. Lee take us to north of LA then to east of LA for pre-arranged meetings. Then she takes us back to LAX. She' a blessing. Our flight to Singapore is 11:30 pm. The flight transits in Taipei and arrive in Singapore on Thu. Simon is there to take us home where we unpack, do laundry and then swim in the evening. We catch up with the twins over dinner. Jet lag creeps up. Or maybe its age.

No matter how old I am, I never fail to be amazed with people graced by God. Leaders who serve with 4 kids at home, or with 3 kids in tow, or with a young infant or while heavily pregnant. Leaders who drive 7 hours to serve, or serve when their job is uncertain or serve even with multiple sclerosis. Seeing all this first hand is what makes this birthday special.

Life after Urbana '06

New Year in 2007 started on a Monday. It was an early rise at 5:30 am to catch the flight at St Louis airport. In my haste not only did I miss breakfast but I also left my phone case in the hotel room. Next up was a very cold transit at the snow-covered Denver airport, my first time here. I arrived in LAX after Cynthia and Judy. Derek (from Hope LA) and Chris (who just moved here from Dallas) was on hand to welcome us. We had Cambodian food before I checked into a neat hotel that Cynthia had booked. Sleepily I started on Urbana follow up work. Before long Chai came over and we went out for dinner. The rest of the night was just packing and updating my blog. I started missing the Urbana team.

In the morning Derek & Cynthia arrived to take me to LAX. Cynthia was there when my family first arrived, there when my wife & kids left and was here now. She's so sweet. Saying goodbye, I thought, "I'm really going to miss the Hope LA people".

My Wed was spent crossing time zones. On the Tokyo to Singapore leg, I was seated in front of a family of four. The younger child cried and kicked my seat intermittently. It was sure hard to sleep but it must have even harder for the parents.

After the transit and flying for what seemed like ages, I arrived in Singapore at 1:30 am Thursday. My dear wife was on hand to welcome me. (To think that she had to get up again later to send the twins to morning school.) Without complaint she drove us straight to Punggol. It sure felt strange to step into our flat after 6 weeks away.

Eventually I got up and did my laundry. I tried to clear e-mails but I couldn't send because I've exceeded my server space. Then I drove, on the right side, to fetch the kids for lunch. After a haircut, we were meant to swim and I haven't swam for 6 weeks. But the evening rain got very heavy. At least it wasn't like the biting St Louis winter. Dinner was that long awaited taste of curry. Then was that familiar humidity followed by that familiar jetlag. Think I managed 5 hours of sleep.

On Fri morn I mistakenly turned into oncoming traffic before quickly reversing. We dropped the twins off at school. On the way the car felt like it lacked power. Then I realised that I'd been driving a 2.2 litre car for 5 weeks and here was a 1.6 litre car. Also the California freeway speed limit was 105 km/h but here the limit at home is 90 km/h. Today was also my first day in office after 6 weeks. It was so good to see the staff team. But there were tonnes of follow up matters even as I tried to finalise this weekend's sermon. Later we did manage to swim but in cold water. That night I managed 6 hours of sleep before my system 'awakened'.

Day 4 Exhibition

Sunday is the last day of convention. We have breakfast together. We take photos at the arc by the waterfront. 93 students leave their contacts with us. Its 6:30 pm and we tear down the booth and pack supplies into cars. We celebrate with dinner at TGIF. We bring stuff to our room for final debrief. We debrief to 2 am but watch the Times Square countdown on TV. I haven't seen TV and read newspapers for weeks.
We distribute what is left of 12 luggages of stuff, talk about Urbana 09 then check out. We sleep at 3:30 am

Day 3 Exhibition

Sat is the third day. We have brunch planning session. JR needs to go back to Seattle first as we go to the booth. More walk up to our booth today. The additional signs about "churchplanting thru tentmaking" and listing of NA churches is working. Being the only organisation registered from Singapore helps too. We have dinner at the America Center and join the night session. Rick Warren spoke.

Day 2 Exhibition

Fri is the second day. We approach more students. Some ladies come to our booth to get the grey bag. I lead a seminar with Dave Tucker on next steps after short-term missions. I have corn soy porridge dinner with 3 students from Seattle Pacific University. Later I join our team at the night session. Ray Bakke is impacting. Bono gives a video greeting. Cross movement does a concert. At 11 pm, we have dinner and debrief at Denny's. 54 students leave their contacts.

Day 1 Exhibition

Thursday is the first day of the exhibition. We are a little excited yet nervous as first time exhibitors. The booth doors open at 1 pm. We approach scores of students browsing. Its energising. At 6:30 pm there is an announcement that the exhibition time extend by 30 minutes. So we miss dinner at convention. At the end almost 50 students give us their particulars. We go eat out and its cold and places here close early. We take the metro back.

405 at Urbana 06

It's Wed at St Louis. At 9 am we load our exhibition gear in the cold mid-west weather onto our passenger van at the Marriott Airport. We stop to grab a quick breakfast at a fastfood place (Jack in the box). Then we're off to downtown and see the landmark 'Gate to the West'. Its just next to where we going - America's Center convention hall. We eventually locate the exhibitors' unloading bay. This place is totally huge. We wander across 18 monstrously huge aisles. We find booth 405.

Our Last Week

The days are short and they are cold. When we got here it was quite hot but not anymore. We are adjusting to the climate. Then Deb said on Wednesday, "I'm beginning to get used to people here." I felt the same way too but this is our last week here. Here's the story of the final week.

Dinah and I wanted to go for a jog on Sat but it rained. This is the second time we have seen rain. It hardly rains here. Jason and Emmy came to take the twins to a birthday party for one of the church kids. Dinah and I speak with Dee from Seattle. Once Jason and Emmy brought the kids back, we had dinner out. It rained again.

Dinah preached at the pre-Christmas service. After service, I met with the church admin team leaders as Dinah conducted a training for service leaders. Then we met Chai and Crystal as usual. We led the DMM and at 8:45 pm we left for a quiet family dinner.

Mon started with a conference call with Dave Tucker from Michigan. We're doing a seminar together in Urbana '06. Then there was a call with David from Chicago. Next was time with Angela (Hope Irvine), Betty, Lee and Cynthia (all from LA) at Camarillo city out in Ventura county. This is north of LA county. We had a great time despite the 10 degree temperature. Later I had a conference call with Elaine from Singapore. But I had to pump the washroom later. Well this is something I won't miss.

Tue was another fun day. We drove 2 hours to San Diego. All of us enjoyed SeaWorld though San Diego seemed colder than LA. We hope to come again in future.

I had to rework my Urbana '06 seminar on Wed. Though it's been 5 weeks but four people in a studio is not conducive. Dan was playing his cello, Deb was reading whilst Dinah and I are working on our notebooks. Also this getting dark early, the dryness and the cold does require getting used to. Night time was our farewell dinner at Lee's place. The steam boat was nice. The church leaders gave very moving testimonies even about the twins. We've made some good friends out here.

Thur was the day Dinah and the twins hoped to fly back to join Christmas services in Singapore. Their wait listed seats just did not materialise into firm seats. We are thankful for confirmed seats on Christmas day itself. Today the twins were in a local school at Fullerton city. Lin got her principal and administrator to okay this. She said this has never been done before. Dinah and I could wrap up some work. There was corporate prayer then I had a conference call with our Urbana '06 team.

The twins were in school on Fri too. They were nervous yesterday but they were just fine today. For us there was follow up from last night's conference call. Then we spent time with the student leaders - Derek (from Singapore), Pao and Cynthia. Later we started preparing for Christmas eve service this Sunday.

Hang of Things

It's been 4 weeks. We're beginning to get the hang of things. We're beginning to understand the road systems better. I'm getting lost less. I'm beginning to like not perspiring much. Here's an account of week four.

Sat was LA church leaders retreat. It was a day of dicussions on 2007 ministry. It was quite fun. Before we left, Jason and Emmy gave us home cooked food. Back at the studio we enjoyed their delicious cooking. Later William called from Vancouver. The rest of the evening was spent preparing for tomorrow.

Dinah led the Sunday service well before I preached. Next Dinah conducted a workshop for couples as I met with the kids ministry leaders. Suddenly Dan came running with a bleeding nose and we had forgotten to bring his nasal medication from Singapore. Thankfully the bleeding stopped after a while. Following was a session with Chai and Crystal before the church leadership meeting. We came out at 8:30 pm and Crystal has a warm dinner dinner prepared. So we ate together before leaving.

Mon started with Dan unwell. We prayed for him and decided to spend time at the nearby Knotts Berry Farm rather than going to San Diego.

Dan's temperature got higher on Tue. We had to cancel our appointment with a senior pastor of a local church here. We drove out to get porridge. Later Chris Ward called from Seattle. At night the kids joined Dinah as she taught the women's group while I taught the men's group.

Dan was better on Wed but I got a sore throat. The day started with a conference call with Peter and Linda from Leithbridge, Canada. Then JR called from Seattle as the twins enjoyed a DVD movie. At night we spent time with Hadi and Maria at their place till late.

We were meant to leave LA on Thur. Our leaders have asked us to extend. First Lee accompanied us to extend the car rental. The journey took 1 hour. The new company offered the exact same car - Chevy Malibu. We had lunch afterwards. After lunch the short journey back took a whole hour. We were exhausted but needed to go to care group in North Hills. On the way the GPS insisted we take a ramp onto a highway that was closed. It kept making us turn back to the same ramp. This 90 min journey made us very late. Eleven persons waited for us (if you don't count a bunch of toddlers and infants).

We had Friday to ourselves because Nancy couldn't make it. We drove out and had Carl's Junior burgers for the first time. Later we spent time with Jason and Emmy. We're beginning to feel that we're more oriented after 4 weeks here.

Rush Hour

We've been here 3 weeks. More meet-ups and conference calls are still being added. The tough part isn't the discussions, planning, ministering or counselling. It's the commuting. LA traffic drains you. It ravenously consumes time each day. Here is the story of week 3.

We spent Sat with Annie before meeting Chai and Crystal. Then we go to their place to meet with the Unit Leaders. Then driving back I turn into the oncoming traffic (the first time). Praise God there were no cars coming behind me when I backed out.

The next day Dinah and I met Ronald, a member from Singapore church. After service Dinah and I did workshops for the parents and the worship team respectively. This was followed by the Care Leaders meeting. Later Dinah and I helped the leadership team. All this time Deb practices at the church piano. Finally we enjoy dinner with Cynthia. As we return we try out the replacement GPS. This one uses "yards" just when we were getting used to the previous one which spoke in terms of "feet".

On Mon we go off to Legoland. This resort is more for younger kids. At least the drive there was scenic.

Tue starts with a conference call with JR from Seattle. Next we meet with the Vineyard International missions director. In the evening Dan and I go to the men's group as (Deb and) Dinah teaches at the women's group.

On Wed, Vern calls from Seattle. We try to cook but our stove doesn't heat properly. Next we drive to Irvine to meet with an executive from Assembly of God South Cal. We drive again to meet Jason and Emmy Betts and then we join their care group.

We get stuck 1 hour in rush hour on Thur. Never go on freeways from 7-9 am! We are late for Sam and Sung. Later it was good to speak with Dee from Seattle. Next we drove almost 1 hour to the west side of LA to meet James and Christine. Then we drive to Irvine and got stuck in trafic for 2 hours. Never travel on the freeways between 5-7 pm! We spent some time with Al and Doreen.

Fri sees us have a quiet breakfast. Next we get the maintenance guy to replace the stove. Later Lee brought us shopping for gifts. Tonight is the first night that we are in. We recover from weeks of driving up and down this huge metropolis. Tomorrow marks 3 weeks of serving here.

Still Adjusting

We've been here for two weeks. We're still adjusting to the size of this place. Metropolitan LA has 10 million people and California state has 36 million. There's just so much commuting here. We're adjusting to the meal portions and the cost of living here. Our skin is adjusting to the dryness. Ministry is picking up though. We're adjusting to the church. It's different in a smaller church. I'm also adjusting to pumping washrooms.

Here's an account of our week two. Dinah awoke on Sat dreaming about Singapore. Probably homesick? Bible Conference resumed in the morning of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. In between sessions I caught up with James Loke, Nancy from Thai care group and the youth members. The guys won the team building games. After the conference the GPS malfunctioned on the way back. We figured out the freeways but got lost on the roads nearer Arcadia. We finally get home and we pray for Dinah who is feeling sick from our late nights.

Sunday was cold. Dinah travelled with the twins to preach in Hope Irvine church. It was great to see a Latino convert in LA church. It was great to lunch with Hadi, Maria and their son Joshua. They are old friends from Solo, Indonesia. The rest of today was spent with university leaders, followed by the church leaders preparing for 2007 ministry.

This week, the church here blessed us with a two-day Disney passes. Needless to say, the twins enjoyed themselves at "The Happiest Place On Earth" - the tagline of Disneyland.

We met with more Hope LA church leaders one-on-one. We also spoke with external leaders. We spoke with the Cal state churchplanting leader for the Southern Baptists and met with an associate professor from Fuller Seminary.

Dinah and I joined the Thai care group on Thu morn. We also visited a church in LA city with Chai.

Friday evening, I preached at the students service as Dinah joined the young adult care group. When we got back, the toilet bowl is stuck again. It's back to more pumping.

Thanks for Praying

We've just spent a week in LA. We arrived last Saturday, 18th Nov. The night before the flight Dinah slept only 1 hour due to packing. I slept a lot thanks to medication. Altogether we had 6 check-in luggages. Dinah and I slept quite a bit on the plane.

Chai and Cynthia picked us up at LAX. We rented a car and went off together with Chai's car. I drove on the left side for the first time with Cynthia beside. We made it to Acardia (city). This is in greater LA (metropolitan LA). On the way we saw that LA smog. We checked in to the studio apartment and slept at 10 pm after unpacking and takeaway dinner.

Thanks for praying. The throat infection and blocked nose that started on Wed night was virtually gone when I got up. There was more Sun drama. We awoke to a choked toilet bowl and there was no maintenance guy on duty. We asked front office for another studio but they asked us to move then but we had to go. In the morn I preached my first ever Thanksgiving Sunday sermon. There was ham and turkey Thanksgiving lunch followed by the Care Leaders meeting. Next Dinah and I met the pastor and wife followed by church leaders meeting. The twins enjoyed their books during these times. At 7:30 pm we left for dinner with Sam and Sung before coming back to pack and move to another studio. Lee and Cynthia was so kind to come help. At 12am as we were about to sleep, the toilet bowl here also flooded. I used the pump and finally went to bed at 3 am.

The four of us woke up late on Mon. It was a combination of jetlag, the full Sunday and just general exhaustion. The first thing was to get the maintenance guy to fix the toilet. Cynthia offered to come help with grocery shopping and to rent a cello for Dan. At night we answered e-mails and had Skype conversations to tie up this weekend's LA Bible Conference.

Tuesday was our off day spent at Universal Studios. Just before we left, I realised the digicam was in Singapore. We got a use-and-throw camera. After all this was the twin's first time here. They wanted to go for themed rides (roller coaster) but Dinah and I said "Woah". We settled for shows and tours instead. We had a good time. Today we also experienced the infamous LA traffic.

On Wednesday we used the coin-operated washing machine and dryer. Our first appointment was with Betty. She showed us nearby shopping and dining places. We went to her place as she insisted to loan us her printer. After saying thanks we took the long drive to Irvine (city) to meet Albert, Doreen and family. Pre-holiday traffic isn't fun. People here sure spend a lot of time commuting. But we did get to taste a 25 pound turkey. The twins enjoyed playing with Al's younger kids. This was our first Thanksgiving experience.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Chai and the boys visited in the morning with pastry. They are thoughtful. Then David called from Chicago and we had a good chat. Dinah and I spent this holiday afternoon preparing for the weekend Bible conference and preaching. Most places were closed. We found a place for a quiet dinner before meeting James and Christine. Cynthia offered to take the twins to check out Christmas lights. Like the last few nights, it took some time in bed before we actually slept. Our bodies are still adjusting.

I drove in circles on Friday before meeting Andrew. Then our next appointment with the college leaders was postponed. It worked out well as I revamp tonight's lesson. The twins were out with Cynthia for a movie. In the evening we joined all these folks who signed up for Bible Conference on Thanksgiving weekend. It was good to see Terry who's on transit to Singapore. Later on our way home, Daniel asked me why this church has so many meetings. Perhaps this has something to do with having Singapore guest speakers here?

Teaming with Strangers

Monday, 23rd October marks our second-ever Team Leaders Gathering. Our theme is Team Building.

We will start with the premise that positive team experiences are not common. There are many kinds of challenges to volunteer team building. There is mangled communication, duplication of effort, missed opportunities and even finger pointing. Volunteers lack availability, are free at different times or their coaches don’t release them. Volunteers who have availability may not serve with excellence. Some send substitutes, come late for duty or leave early from meetings. They feel your thing takes them away from their ‘real ministry’.

Then we serve across the church with people from various services, people-groups and life stations. This is lateral rather than vertical ministry. We touched on 'Lateral Leadership' at our first-ever Team Leaders Gathering on 14th March this year. Here's a photo of that event.

How do we team with lateral volunteers? It's almost like teaming with strangers. It's much easier to work alone. It's more straightforward to serve in a homogeneous grouping. But God in His wisdom puts us in diverse teams to accomplish the Great Commission. No more lone rangers!

So what can you expect tomorrow night? You can look forward to positive interaction. Because you need contact with peers to generate synergy and share encouragement. Isolation slows momentum.

You can look forward to a team building message by me. There will also be a slide show, a team quiz and a surprise element. It's going to be the eve of a holiday so I sure hope it's going to be a lot of fun. Till then...

Happy Anniversary Part II

Here are more posts on our 15th anniversary celebrations...

i'm so excited for hope church singapore fifteenth anniversary !
i'm really praying hard that my group & i have visitors ! lets not waste such a great opportunity to invite & through this event , i dare say that there's alot of lives that God gonna touch & changed . if you wanna see your family & friend's life being transformed , invite them ! i'm praying for visitors ! GOD SEE MY HEART ! =D you know who i wanna see coming , i shan't announce here =D
http://into-your-presence.blogspot.com/2006/09/alot-has-been-going-through-my-mind.html

happy 15th birthday hope singapore!!
i totally love you, my dear church. the place where i grew the most, who i met amazing people.

i thank God for everyone who is involved in transforming and impacting lives.
i salute you, the servants of God :)

what a busy anniversary week! choir practices nearly everyday till late and coping with my never ending cough. (it's healed today, praise God!)

expo service was great. i enjoyed praising and worshipping the Lord on stage with all who love praising and worshipping Him again and again. you can feel a surge of joy overflowing in and through you.

it was a great exposure and experience. standing in front of 3,600 people, playing a part in everything.

it was wow-ed. and i definitely love the lightbulbs history maker!! :))

i wana affirm people who spent their sleepless night for the lightbulbs. it's gorgeous even though some technical faults. God saw your hearts & diligence! thank God for all your willingness.
http://thehugfrombehind.blogspot.com/2006/09/happy-birthday-hope-singapore.html

His Spirit in me: a life transforming story
Yesterday saw the 15th anniversary of HOPE Church Singapore, since its inception in 1991, with just 5 members in the midst. Since then, the church has grown in membership and strength to a number of nearly 3000, planted numerous churches all over the world, changed tonnes of lives, one of those changed life is me. It's hard to imagine: a church that started when I was primary one, when I did not think that I would become a religious person or at least convert myself into another religion, and now I'm serving in that church.

It's really hard to imagine though, think only God can see that at the time when I was running around, running my own life, running my own business, thinking that I run the world. It used to be a time of perceived fulfillments and purposes, when I thought that my purposes in life seems to be .... I dun know what. I thought it may be the things which I want to do in life, that is the purpose of my life. I looked around, looked at all the girls, thinking maybe one of these girls is the purpose of my life. There was a lot of times when I thought I know how to live life to the full... yeah right. What a lot of people, or even myself did not know is that many times when I was alone, my heart was desolate, I didn't know what I was doing, though I thought I knew. And I was still running around. I didn't believe that any god can do anything, in the first place, there was a lot of doubts here and there. How do you know the thing that you are worshipping is really there, is really real? I tried to make sense of the rituals we have at home, till I was tired of it, but I did not realise. I tried to keep faith in the Bugis Guan Yin temple, but heck, why do I have to travel so far everytime I wanna pray to a goddess or whatever statue? I wanted to go to China, to Pu Tuo Island just south of Shanghai, but heck, why do people have to travel all the way there to pray?

Then along came the tertiary ministry of HOPE Church Singapore. Along came a bunch of people... who were organising a matriculation event for uni freshmen. To make the long story short (for those who are interested, you can browse through my 240 plus previous posts to get a better idea of what happened), this bunch of people eventually became the core of my spiritual family in HOPE Church Singapore. They brought me to come to know God. And after me, I began to see a new bunch of new believers together with me as well, such as Calyn, Kaili, HongTao, Yishyan, Zhenzhu, Yuan Tao, John, Jiahao, Xingchong, Yanteng, seeing them growing together, as I grow along with God. Today, I have grown to be a stronger believer in HOPE, taking care of Yuan Tao together with Qiaoping and Shuyi. I read the blogs of my brothers and sisters and I must say that I was very encouraged by God's power in their lives. Behind every faces in the ministry is a story of their own lifes, tells the story of God in their lifes. People may not see, people may not even wanna care, but behind each and every smiles is a story of how God transforms lifes to the better. The glares of all these eyes tell the story of this HOPE Church, tell the story of how people in this family struggled and pulled through till this day.

I thank God for these people in my life. I thank God for Claramae and Robert and Qiaoping for making the effort to bring me to know God, though ironically two of them were not around on that fateful day. I thank God for the caregroup, past and present for the wonderful few months I have had and for the wonderful months and years ahead. I thank God for Benaiah, my shepherd for his willingness to take care of me. I thank God for what You have done in my life, and other people's life. I thank God for Jesus. I thank God for the HOPE movement. Amen.
http://naynauh.blogspot.com/2006/09/his-spirit-in-me-life-transforming.html

Hope Church Singapore 15th Anniversary Celebration at Singapore Expo Hall 2, 16th September 2006
From a group of 5 young people, a church called Hope of God Singapore was thus born in 1991. 15 years later, now known as Hope Church Singapore, we are a vibrant church of 3,000 over history makers committed to fulfilling the Great Commission in their lifetime by building strong and biblical people to plant strong and biblical churches in Singapore and all over the world !
http://ng5a1.multiply.com/photos/album/22

It has been a long time...
It has been a long time since I last wrote on my blog. Since I started work, life has been quite intense. I am currently going through a sharp learning curve in my work. Yesterday is Hope Church Singapore's 15th anniversary. Work and choir practices took up a large portion of my time last week and I was glad that the celebration service ended. We had a great celebration at Singapore Expo. I was part of the 100-people choir. I enjoyed the moment on stage. To see all on the floor worshipping God brought great joy to my heart that all the hard work was worthwhile.

I was reminded of these verses from 2 Cor. 4:16-18 recently.
"Therefore we don't lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light & momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

I thank God for what He has done in my life all these years. There are many more great years ahead ;-)
http://deelohyh.blogspot.com/2006/09/it-has-been-long-time.html

History Maker
it was a leisure sunday. It kinda feels wierd that there's no regular sun service to attend coz. Sun has always been Church Day for me. So, spend some time with my family and we went to JB in the afternoon.

Sat was Church 15th Anniversary Celebrations. It was great to be able to be involved in choir and at the same time, got to know more people. As in most events, the most memorable time is usually the preparation time while the most satisfying time is when you see the end result (that is .. the actual day). That's when u know that all the hard work pays off.

It has been fun with all the choir people from various congregations coming together week after week for practices. The laughters from all the warm-up sessions, learning of the actions etc. Hope we will have more opportunities to perform together.

Church Anniversary Celebration
how nice if we have 50,000 people coming for our service. Can u imagine the number of people that will come to know Christ? Wow .. that will be tremendous.

I've invited afew friends to come, including mom. Mabel say she'll ask MJ. Hopefully they can all make it coz. that will mean alot to me. It's not that i want them to come and see me sing but hopefully, they will be touched by God through the service.
enjoyed all the practices so far and it's great to see everyone from various congregations coming together. I particularly like the young ones from the youth service. They are so cute and adorable.One of them actually looks like my cousin. Alot of time & effort has been put in by various groups and ministries. From musicians to the dancers, MM team etc. And not forgetting from our choir side, there's HJ, Rachael etc who led us week after week. And now, there's Tricia who's busy with our costumes.

Anyway, hope that Cheryl (Ng), my dear friend & shepherd will be able to come too. She's actually on maternity leave but mentioned last week that she may be able to come. That will be great.

Talk abt it, i've not passed the gift to the newly promoted parents. Anyway, i hve plans to visit her this sun. So maybe on sun then.

After this busy period of practice for church anniversary, i wonder what's next in the pipeline? Christmas sevice prep? Anyway not sure abt others but for me, i've always been use to being busy. Usually feels weird when the momentum slows down. It feels as if something is amiss…
http://wendtan.blogspot.com/2006/09/church-anniversary-celebration.html

Yesterday's 15th Anniversary for Hope Singapore.
Simply wonderful :) Reminded me the power and impact of individual life's story... eveyone has a story to tell and that story can change another person if we want... everyone will have trials of their own and how they overcome it. Not one on earth has no trials. Even the rich, they do. Today God reminded me again the power of everyone's story... to touch, to restore, to empower, to add courage and hope...
http://beautifulord.blogspot.com/2006_09_17_beautifulord_archive.html

Happy 15th anniversary ! Hope Church Singapore!!
history makers celebrated with a bang at expo! love the praise n worship songs and everyone dressed to their best! enjoyed the celebration loads and it continued with the coach to town...
http://heavenlyzenith.blogspot.com/2006/09/historymaker.html

Happy Anniversary

We celebrated our 15th Church Anniversary yesterday. It was an occasion that left me humbled, proud, happy & wet-eyed all at the same time. There was a spontaneous outburst of joy throughout at Hall 2. This morning I bumped into three members who were still in high spirits. I wished them a 'Happy Anniversary' and was curious about how other members felt about our birthday party. So I did a simple google search and found a few posts.

Here is what I found and by no means is this comprehensive. Remember that I read the articles about our anniversary and not their entire blogs so I'm unable to endorse all articles in these blogs. I must warn you that what you are about to read contains (unedited) standard English, short form, sms language and Singlish. But it is heartfelt though. Also, this listing is in no particular order.

This Is My Life
Our church Hope Church Singapore will be celebrating our 15th anniversary this Saturday. I was gutted that I wouldn't be able to attend as I would be on duty at the IMF and World Bank meetings. Still, as we stand on the threshold of a 15-year milestone, I think it's a good time to take stock of my life since I took the epoch-making (haha!) step to become what I would previously term "a certified nutcase" - becoming a Christian...
http://peishanyeo.blogspot.com/

HAPPY 15TH ANNIVERSARY TO HOPE SINGAPORE!!!
yest was my church's 15th anniversary... thank God for blessing Hope Singapore for the past 15 years n i know He'll continue to bless us for the next 15, 30 or even 100 years! Lord, i pray tt U'll continue to grow us n add to our numbers!

yest was really veri special n memorable... my 1st time experiencing such a big church gathering at expo n watching thousands of pple ard me praising n worshipping God... 1st time singing Mandarin P&W song... 1st time listening to an English sermon being translated into Mandarin... 1st time seeing Joyce dance! she danced veri well even though she fell... no worries sis, u did a great job!

after the whole thing i was telling huijun tt having such a big event is ok if it's done once a year... if every sat is lidat i can't take it cos listening to both English n Mandarin during service abit messy n i couldn't really concentrate...

but overall it was really great! Pastor Jeff was veri enthu n Pastor Ben delivered a veri powerful sermon... deco did a veri good job in lighting up the words "History Maker" n filling up the whole place wif balloons... veri pretty! the singers n dancers n musicians performed veri well! the videos were done veri well! even the goodie bag is veri cute... i feel veri glad to haf come to noe Christ thru Hope! :)
http://samheart.blogspot.com/2006/09/happy-15th-anniversary-to-hope.html

A Few Good Men and the rest is History
Makers' was the theme of the 15th Anniversary of Hope Church. A few good men, fresh grads from the land of Oz, returned to Singapore with a vision to plant a church.

This week end, 15 years later, we witnessed how that celebration had to take place in the Expo, because our own sanctuary can not hold the complete congregation in one single service.

It reminds me again of how simple the Great Commission is, when only we would obey and trust God for the outcome and it only needs : ... a few good men (and women) who are willing to fulfill what is closest to God's heart.

History Makers...
Among the 3,000 men congregation, was also the youngest attendant at less than one month! Zoe enjoyed her first time at a church celebration. Even the loud worship music did not bother her. She was either amuzingly moving in her prem, sleeping or being fed by mum in the hall.

After the service we joined our ex care group for a great tasting Vietnamese dinner. At the end, Zoe became a bit impatient, her face turned red and that was the signal for dad to take her out for a diaper change. She was so kind to us to let us enjoy the dinner in length that immediately after the change, her face kept red as now was the sign for mum to feed her again. Actually, quite easy those infants: sleep, feed, cry and then there are two options: either she is hungry or needs a clean up!
http://janjourney.blogspot.com/

Hope Church Singapore 15th Anniversary
It was a great celebration! =)) God will definitely move in greater greater ways in the world! So great until it's unbelievably believable.

Sidenote: wah! EXPO so big! need to take alot of time to run from one end to another, because there are so many things happening at the same time, then you can't even hear each other on the fone and everybody would be too busy to notice their hp buzzing with msgs. whoo~ me exercised ALOT today, now so suan, next time must remeber to do warm ups before decor. Other than that, now both my toes are blistered. *pain* and i've got one finger blistered too, and my fingers all got tiny tiny skin tearing out...again *pain*. Further, thank God for the decor team and all other willing volunteers, you guys really have a super servanthood spirit. All the volunteers (sun-tanning, balloon tieing, cutting, wrapping packing etc.), must have been taxing for you all- but we made it! and we've done to our best. yipee =))
http://sopravvier.blogspot.com/2006/09/hope-church-singapore-15th-anniversary.html

on the big dae of anniversary..
went to expo at 1030 liddat den did the balloons decoration for the path way n stairs sits... we use helium to blow balloons.. hmmm as wad i've saw n done on tt dae, i can sae tt the balloons is definitely more den 3hundreds in total.. isnt is great to see the holy place be filled up wif balloons deco to lighten up the atmosphere? i think is real cool!!!!! wheeeee.. i love it.. alot of deco ppl came to do the balloons.. veri veri soon after tt, the door was open for the time tunnel.. . hmm.. i din get the chance to walk in it.. nvm la.. is still good serving!!! =D after the tunnel, was the celebation!! the dance came 1st n worship, praise, video, n so on n so on..!! pastor Ben preached.. it was wonderful.. is abt generation to generation.. din take photos on tt dae big BUT the pictures of winning the whole world is all in my MIND N HEART!! amen.. it is reali reali a veri amazing n WONDERFUL dae praising God in the anniversary dae of Hope Church Singapore!!
http://incompleteme.blogspot.com/2006/09/on-big-dae-of-anniversary.html

Church Anniversary
Yes... Thoroughly enjoyed the celebration!! Love the stage decor, love the 100-men choir, love the sight of "rally" that is really happening in Hope Church Singapore!!!

It is such rare occassion where the whole church gathers!!!
http://willie-whalie.blogspot.com/

Hope Church (S) anniversary
Yesterday my church celebrated their 15th anniversary at Singapore Expo, Hall 2. I reached there around 1020am in the morning, because need to help up in the decor, but Joe said enough people already and if i went to help, i will smell smelly. In the end, I did full time usher the whole day. :)
http://introextrovert1.multiply.com/journal/item/18

16 September 06
I just came back from Singapore Expo hall2. Its really a long trip there. First I started from boon lay mrt after work then to expo then from expo to yew tee. It's really great to see all the people there giving their time to Jesus though! The dancers practiced hard at the foyer, the 100 people choir were there, many many were there for the deco & time tunnel and I was moved at the many people willing to do the minor jobs such as preparing goodie bag & bulletins etc. Awesome bunch of people!

Spent some time interceding for anniversary tmr. The place is rather huge, it after the event was over. One thing I prayed just now is that 15 years is not the end & we're not celebrating because we just hit 15 a rounder no, but since its rounder let's make it a better year to start off totally anew. It's a brand new beginning. A beginning for the next 15 years, a beginning to grow from glory to glory.
http://burdenforpeople.blogspot.com/2006/09/i-just-came-back-from-singapore-expo.html

HAPPY BIRHTDAY HOPE SINGAPORE!!
LEMME SING U A HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONG~!
happy birthday to u,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to HOPE singapore,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU~!

okok..tell you about wad happened today..its my church 15th anniversary!! ya..then as everyone knows (or be told now), i reaccepted christ 3 weeks ago..ya.. then i wan to bring ppl in ma.. i juz go in church, I FELT HIS GREATNESS! I FELT HIS MIRACLES! I FELT HIS GRACE!!!! HALLELUYAH~!papa rocks...he rocks the whole world..yes..he's the world..amen? AMEN!!

ya..then today i brought nigel wid mi!!! (actually its him and barry ders..but his father dun let..rarhrarh.. *oOps*) ya..then at first i met him at je..then all my fwens dere..he was like asking,"eh, y all ppl so warm der?" then i said,"sure lah..our church is like a big big big big FAMILY with PAPA!!!" ..yeah..i felt that he was feeling quite good about this..

then on the way he was very warmly welcomed by us..yeah..he felt good. THEN!!THE EVENT STARTED!!! yeah..at first nigel was feeling bored.. and when i asked him to convert, he was like i dun wan..yeah..dun force him rite..GOD PLS SHOW HIM UR MIRACLES!yeah..but after tt he started asking things about christ, i was elated to answer his questions la..THX GOD FOR LETTING MI BRING NIGEL IN!! then at the last part of it, there was a part when new believers who wan to accept christ to go in front of the stage to accept christ..i asked him. he said he duno..i guess he wasn't prepared. yeah..then i asked god, "pls let nigel accept u!" then god said "the time has yet to come, but it will come in due time."
NIGEL I HAVE FAITH IN YOU!!!
http://lightistrue.blogspot.com/2006/09/happy-birhtday-hope-singaporelemme.html

Saturday, 16 September 2006
Woa...I've actually never experienced this Hope Church Singapore 15th anniversary. Pastors from Hope churches came to Singapore Expo to celebrate this anniversary. Hope church started since 1991, and started with only 5 people. Visit this blog, he is one of them who build up the church from 5 people to churches all over the world: http://benkclee.blogspot.com

Hope Church is now all over the world, including Singapore, Thailand, Africa, Europe...
http://uniqueness1993305.blogspot.com/2006/09/woa.html

2006/09/16
ahwell. expo hall 3 ((:

haha i like the anniversary booklet! :D there's this strap i like to wear around my neck, and i don't care that it makes me look like a retard. i like the bag too. no matter how many times we changed seats, i always ended up with black. x)

anniversary celebration was great today, i don't really know how to describe/ explain it. although it was cold haha.

happy birthday hope church singapore! HISTORY MAKERS
http://-found.blogspot.com/2006/09/i-wish-that-you-would-bring-back-all.html

Sunday, September 17, 2006
.... -Next I would like to talk about deco =] on fri and sat, we were rushing for deco like siao and all the deco ppl will say AMEN! really very busy + tired, however it was great to do something in Gods house =] we really enjoyed ourselves and I’m sure everyone become closer too =] really want to thank God for my deco leader MS Faith Yiyo (nickname: starfish) without her is like without a guide in deco thanks for her that make the anniversary a successful one for deco and the rest of the deco group like the adult and tertiary ppl without them the tunnel will be just a empty one = beco I saw the before and after tunnel =] DECO PPL you all rock =]

-now let’s talk about my HOPE CHURCH anniversary celebration=] it was so cool =] my first time going to expo =] going to hall2 from MRT it was really a long trip becoz hall6 is the nearest to the MRT and hall 2 is furthers I love to see the place where it’s filled with ppl becoz you can see how God has worked in this church =] like wow so many ppl and I got to know when our church started too. It was on Feb 17 1991 =] not only that all the leaders were dressed up, they are so beautiful =] really esp my idol, PS Dinah she looks gorgeous =] from now to the next 15 years I want to see how God moves in this church =] Happy Birthday HOPE CHURCH SINGAPORE =]
http://nothingexcepthim.blogspot.com/2006/09/so-sad-i-don-know-what-i-pressed-then.html

Writer Fatigue?

My last post was towards the end of June. That means its been 2 months that I've not updated my blog. Well I did find two unfinished articles in July that I started on. Can almost hear someone referring to my sermon on procrastination or that sermon about not finishing what you start. I 'hate' it when they use my preaching against me.

The last post also means that its been 1 year that I've been blogging. Hong Teck initiated the idea and he helped me get started. Thanks buddy. On average I may have managed 3 posts per month. That probably means almost 40 articles so far.

Do I attribute my non-writing over these two months to increasing workload? Is it due to the fact that it is hard to churn out good articles week after week? The most likely diagnosis is writer fatigue.

Here's what I mean. Cara, my colleague just commented last week on the sheer number of forewords I need to write. And that's just the forewords. You don't want to know about the other things.

Do let me recover from this bout of writer fatigue. This lull will allow me some time to ponder the focus of my blog. Do I write about my adventures or do I post articles? Till then...

Lessons from holidays

We just came back from our holiday. This trip was special also because my brother was getting married. The lessons I learnt from this vacation can be spelt R-E-S-T.

Holidays have RHYTHM. There's a cycle to it. The work day before we go off and the first day we are back at work are often traumatic. Also after a holiday we can get back into the thick of action in an instant but it takes time to get into the holiday swing. Dinah and I couldn't sleep well the first three nights of the holiday.

Rhythm includes down times. On Monday we checked out of a chalet to wait for our taxi back to the city. We called the driver after waiting half-hour. He said to wait another hour. After another hour, we called but there was no signal. He finally arrived over 2 and half hours after the agreed time. He apologised but it was so hard to speak on the trip down. We got to my parent’s place at 3:30 pm for lunch. Later my brother drove us to the hotel. The system hung as we checked in. That day was unforgettable.

Holidays have ENJOYMENT. I enjoy our annual getaway because I look forward to catching up with family. My parents, my brothers and sister look forward to our annual pilgrimage. We enjoy each other's company much more than when we were kids.

Our twins look forward to seeing their cousins whom they meet once a year. They play so well together. Last year the twins joined this party of a friend of their cousin. This year we were back at about the same time so the twins were at the same birthday party as last year.

We also enjoy the company of my in-laws. My siblings have incredible spouses. May's husband, Johnson takes us for seafood each time we're back. Stan's wife, Anthea booked the chalets this time. She even packed groceries for the cabin. We are so happy because their first child arrives this September. We got them a nice stroller for their baby. We finally met Wendy, the latest addition to our family. Harry’s a fortunate guy.

The whole family enjoyed many extended dinners with home-cooked dishes and plenty of fresh fruits followed by wedding arrangements. I definitely had too many mangoes from my parent's garden. One night we had food tasting for the dishes before the wedding banquet. We enjoyed two seafood dinners. Dinah loved the baby lobsters. My sister brought us for local beef noodles. Dinah and I spent an evening with Stan, Anthea, May and Johnson as Harry met his in-laws with my parents. Most of our lunches were with my parents at their home. One exception was on Sunday when we lunched with old friends Chiew Bong and Dora.

Harry’s wedding banquet was very grand complete with live performers. I met once again with long lost cousins, relatives and friends. My old friend Martin came with his parents.

Holidays involve SLOWING. Modern living include overload, but we can't always live in overload. I need sanity breaks. Up in the highlands, both our phones had no signal. This was a good thing. We experienced unhurried reading. I prepared simple breakfasts.

In the day we explored nature trails. Deb picked acorns from oak trees and wild mangosteens from the cloud forest. We strolled around the cool and misty botanical garden.

At the cabin, we enjoyed devotion times by the verandah with the sounds of the running stream and birds chirping. Later at the hotel, we enjoyed devotions at the room balcony. The scenery of the blue sea, islands in the background and the landscaped pool by twilight was just majestic.

Holidays are also THERAPEUTIC. They soothe the soul. We savoured the weather at the National Park. I just love the view of Mt Kinabalu. This is the tallest in South East Asia at over 4,000 metres. I've been here several times and climbed the peak once but its Dinah and the kids' first time. (Here's a photo) The 2-storey chalet we had was well equipped. We drifted off to sleep to the sound of crickets accompanied by croaking.

We spent one night at Poring. It’s the first time for Dinah and the twins here. It’s a natural hot spring where the water is supposed to have cleansing properties. The Canopy Trail was a tough climb followed by three linked-bridges that joined very high trees in the rainforest. It was scary but Dan loved it. We trekked to a water fall where we sat around throwing smooth stones into the clear water.

In the city we made full use of the hotel's Olympic-size pool. It was a beautiful hotel. In the room, the kids challenged us in board games. It must have been therapeutic for the kids to beat us.

On the last day, we were sad to leave. We miss our family already. But we are thankful for the time we had and look forward to next year. We love our annual North Borneo escapes.

2½ weeks

You would have noticed no recent postings. That's because we have been away. I'll write about the vacation soon. Let me start with the 2½ weeks before that.

One highlight is lunch with Steve and Judi Lane. They are a couple who has been with our Sunday service and small group for the last 3 months. This is a great English couple. Dinah and I enjoy a good time getting to know the Lanes before they return home. Another memorable lunch is with Jo who's back on vacation.

A second highlight is our family excursion across the causeway. We spend the day here as Dinah conducts a camp workshop. We mingle with people till late. Thanks to the slight jam as well we sleep very late that Sunday.

Then we have the guys from our Mandarin service at our home. Geno from Filipino service also joins in. In between all these happenings is the writing of position papers, forewords, preparations for leadership lessons, chapters for our all-new Team Ministry course, and planning for the North American pastors retreat and the convention after that.

The highlight for the twins must surely be 29th May, the first day of school holidays. Dinah and I get to catch the Over the Hedge animation movie with them. We also get to hang out with our neighbours. Simon gets to help us with this recalcitrant light bulb at our apartment. My wife gets the excitement of organising us for the family vacation...

A family divided

The school holidays are here. The first Friday (2nd Jun 2006) is our first-ever staff Family Day. Staff spouses and kids are all invited. Set in Sentosa, it is a bright hot day with no cloud cover.

Today sees a family divided. Dinah is in the yellow team, Dan is in red, Deb is in blue and I am in green. Since Thursday the Blue team has been declaring all over the office that they rule. Red team respond by declaring that red is the colour of victory. Yellow and Green teams exercise sober-mindedness and Spirit-controlled demeanour.

Family Day starts with team joke telling. Next is the guess this thing you-never-knew-about game. One particular revelation almost knocks us over. When we recover, it's time for morning tea. Then its team games. The first few are typical tele-match type games. But in the hot sun.

Then comes the water bomb game. Several start releasing bombs on their supervisors, colleagues and event organisers. For about 5 minutes all hell breaks loose. Somehow I manage to side step the aggressors. After the wet and wild episode comes the frog game. Teams are to grab a frog and have team members kiss it. One female colleague kisses a frog thrice. She seems disappointed it does not turn into a prince.

Somehow Wan Leng and Pastor Lawrence are not competitive and agressive as before. Have they mellowed? Well they are probably rebranding themselves. They have a successor. A normally gentle staff member turns totally competitive. Her gentleness is nowhere to be seen as she releases water bombs with a fury not seen before.

Its so good to see staff playing together and letting their hair down. In the end, green team wins by a very large margin. Overall team scores were 88, 65, 59 and 47. But we keep a magnaminous spirit. We remember we're Christians.

Outpouring

I look forward to next weekend. It’s Pentecost Sunday.

This year is special. This is the centenary of the Azusa Street revival. This was a glorious outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began in Los Angeles, California in 1906. This outpouring rocked the world. Many call this the second Pentecost.

In the days of old, God poured out His Spirit on selected individuals for specific purposes. But God promised He will pour His Spirit on all His people. This is a prophecy of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost on every Christ follower. Just fifty days after the resurrection, God’s action through the Holy Spirit erupted on Pentecost. This is one of the most important spiritual experiences in the life of a Christ follower.

Scriptures tell us that the Christian today shall encounter the presence of the same Spirit who came with power at Pentecost and fanned the message of Christ into a flame. God not only wants us to have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, He wants to completely saturate, overflow and baptise us with His Spirit. Out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Life giving! Endless! Pure! Our salvation and eternity doesn’t depend on us having the baptism in the Holy Spirit. But without it, it’s our big loss. We miss out on a dynamic, powerful Christian life!

Before I was baptised in the Spirit, I feared witnessing. But I desired the roaring fire of the full power of the Spirit instead of glowing embers. I longed to live this life. I am grateful to be taught the complete picture about the Holy Spirit from Scripture. When I got baptised in the Spirit, the words of a language I don't know came into my lips. Thank God for the release in prayer and the praise in tongues. I became bolder in witnessing.

Being baptised in the Spirit is to receive God's enpowerment to witness. It is a personal experience of the divine. Praying in tongues as enabled by the Spirit is the initial physical sign of being baptised in the Spirit. Baptism in the Spirit is a one time occurrence but being filled with the Spirit is not a one time experience. If you have been baptised in the Spirit but your relationship with God seems stagnant, ask God to give you a fresh filling of the Spirit. Be continuously filled with God’s Spirit.

If you haven’t been baptised, what does it take to experience the overflowing fullness of God? Jesus said just “Ask.” Believe God is going to do it. Believe you will receive it the moment leaders lay hands on you. Expect to speak in tongues. Receive this release in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit loves to come and take truth about Jesus and turn it into an experience of Jesus.

I encourage you to honour the Holy Spirit. Be hungry for more of Him. Pray for an outpouring of the Spirit. This is the key to an effective life. May Pentecost happen in your life and in your family.

What a month

It's been four weeks since I last wrote about my world. Here is an update of what's been happening from 24 Apr to 21 May. In that month were two long weekends, our kids prepared for, sat for and ended their mid-year exams and much more.

There were celebrations. It was a joy to conduct Frank and Lyn's wedding. It was on the day of General Elections. We also celebrated the first milestone with our campaign team and had appreciation time with our Competency task force.

There were interactions. Dinah and I were glad to catch up with our friend Tonje from Norway. She was a church intern in 2000. It was good to catch up with old friends and meet new ones at the AGM of the Evangelical Fellowship of Singapore. It was good to meet up with family and young adult guy leaders at our place.

There was newness. I joined Mandarin service at the new venue which is normally a karaoke joint. A place where people slaughter songs is now a place where we offer songs to God. Then we organised a special event to prepare people for the Da Vinci Code movie. It was standing room only.

The highlight of the month was probably our first men's conference. The fact that the guys got together was already good. The all-male worship was powerful and the covenant was meaningful. The entire atmosphere was rich and very masculine. What a month.

Truth is stranger than fiction

Several staff and leaders have been getting prepared to respond to the upcoming Da Vinci Code (DVC) movie. Tze Wei and I spent Saturday finalising material for our Monday night seminar.

Movies have such a powerful influence on our society that many people's views of reality and morality are shaped largely through their entertainment choices. 'The Last Temptation of Christ' was a controversial movie. The DVC is more controversial. Many are getting ready to see this one.

The DVC is based on Dan Brown's best selling mystery novel. The novel is well-written. It's an entertaining, exciting and page-turning thriller. He crosses over into multiple genres - suspense, fiction and religious.

Although a work of fiction the book claims to be meticulously researched and goes to great lengths to give the impression that it is based on fact. It is not clear how many of the acknowledgements in the book are credible. For example, Project Gutenberg is an online library of public domain texts. It may mean no more than that he used their facilities and they did nothing special to assist his research. Then the hero in the novel is a 'renowned Harvard symbologist'. Harvard has no department of symbology.

The author also uses occult, feminist and Gnostic fantasy. Some titles in his bibliography represent New Age speculation that run counter to history. Historians and scholars do not take these works seriously. Yes he tries to use the reputation of brilliant men such Leonardo Da Vinci to help make its case that historic Christianity is a pack of falsehoods. Using a painting as a historical record?

Although unoriginal in its allegations, the story proves misguided theories don't fade away. It is imaginative fiction combining half-truths, distortions and historical inaccuracies. It misrepresents some currently popular but silly ideas of the life and teachings of Christ. It is ignorance at best and falsehood at worst. It's a grand conspiracy story. In the conspiracy is heresy. Heretical conspiracy disguised as a suspense novel.

Does anyone take these ideas seriously? Would anyone pay money to read this? About 40 million people around the world! Brown has a way of making the novel's theories about Christ and the early church seem credible. So why do people want to believe or are at least open to the bizarre claims?

Well the story appeals to modern secular sensibilities. It corresponds with what people want to believe. We desire a Jesus who is more like us. This is a world that rejects absolute truth and reconstructs truth.

Another well known feature of today's culture is that many can't tell fact from fiction. Some who believe in the speculative theories of the DVC will hold on to them whatever the evidence. Truth is stranger than fiction.

There is also a need to feed the public taste for conspiracy. I've read that the way to increase any blog readership is to be controversial. Conspiracy is always controversial.

It doesn't help that many Christians are not aware of the church's history. We need to learn our story.

Beneath the surface, our culture is fascinated with spiritual topics. From the 'Gospel of Judas' to DVC, our culture is responding to God-shaped vacuum in our hearts.

Nobody needs to burn books or do loud protests outside cinemas. (Negative publicity only helps the movie). This cinematic event is an exciting opportunity to clarify real history. Talk to people the truth of historic Christianity. Turn an anti-Christian story into an opportunity to some helpful conversations.

"Rather than protesting the DVC, why not invite people to read a better book - the Book that tells the dramatic story of God who sent His son, who lived a perfect life, died on the cross and who rose again to break a curse, not a code." Ed Stetzer

Here's the first step. Be equipped to know the truth so we can proclaim it clearly and graciously. Know the truth. That's why we're having tomorrow's seminar.

Second, don't be afraid to ask our friends, neighbours and co-workers, "Do you understand what you saw?" They might reply, "What does it all mean?" We need to be sensitive to such a question. Remember Philip asking the Ethiopian eunuch, "Do you understand what you are reading?" in Act 8:30.

A follow-up question we can ask: "Does the novel match up with the facts of history?" In asking, be humble and gentle in our life.

Finally, be confident in our faith and allow that confidence to overflow in genuine concern for those around us who may be struggling with spiritual decisions. I read a great opener: "Now that you've read the fiction, read the facts". II Timothy 4:2 encourages us to be ready to share our faith in season and out. Share and see some of our friends come to accept the truth of Christ.

So when did I become a man?

This Friday is a public holiday and we are gearing up for our first men's conference. As I started developing conference lessons, I wondered when I became a man.

First I have a confession to make. I'm a man. No, that's not the confession. The confession is that I don't know when I became one.

I've been male since my mother's egg was fertilised. At birth I became a boy and that was affirmed frequently all the way through kindergarden. Bad boy. Good boy. Boys will be boys. What do you expect from a small-town boy?

So when did I become a man?

At age 10 I got kissed by a girl. She was a year older and she was my neighbour. Then I caught a crocodile when I was 11. I trapped it with chicken pieces in a large mouse trap with a knife. Our gardener and maid knew what I was doing and the risks involved, but let this 11-year-old kid go ahead and trusted me not to injure or kill myself. The next morning I was surprised that it worked. It was not a small reptile. Our gardener, my brother and I hung it so we could skin it from the underbelly. Mom cooked it with herbs. It tasted like kampong chicken. When it was all said and done, no one proclaimed me a newly made man.

Then I was sent to an overseas boarding school. This was a boys school. At ages 17 to 18, I played competitive rugby. If I had committed a crime then, I could have gone to jail since I was no longer a minor. In the eyes of law, I was an adult, yet I know I was still was very much a kid.

I got my drivers license when I turned 19, as many guys did. For some, this is the defining event. It wasn't for me, though there are aspects of that day that could be considered an initiation into manhood. My mom, my instructor and the entire system trusted me with the operation of a 1-ton piece of machinery that could go 200 km an hour. I could have done some serious damage but showed enough maturity to handle it. For the most part, I was careful. For all the stupid things I've done behind the wheel, I never did anything worse than knock into a trash can. But driving didn't make me a man and wasn't recognised as passage into manhood, despite the fact that I gained rights and responsibilities.

At some point, I became a man, without any clear indication it had happened. The obvious thought would be that since I was a boy all through school, the transformation took place in university. Or did I become a man when I first took a job, paid my own rent and put food on my own table. Was I a man then?

Society doesn't seem to notice the lack of transitions until we do something wrong that proves we aren't the men we should be. This will be the starting point of my discussion with the guys on Friday.