Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Worship Symposium 2006

Friends, not sure how manyof you have already signed up for this, but for those who hasn't, I would really encourage any worship leaders and musicians to attend this Worship Symposium. Many youth ministries struggle with balancing between using hymns and contemporary music in our worship. Struggle no more, as Graham Kendrick and his worship team will be sharing with us what blended worship is all about, and leading the various musical clinics and the worship concerts in the evening. For those who does not know who he is, you can find out more about him and his music here.

Graham Kendrick, the son of a Baptist pastor, was born in Northamptonshire in 1950. He trained as a teacher but launched out as a singer/songwriter in 1972. His songs and hymns are sung by millions of people in numerous languages around the world.

The song Shine Jesus Shine has been the UK's most popular contemporary worship song and is frequently featured in the BBC's Songs of Praise programme. He is married with four daughters and lives in South London. Graham received a Dove Award in 1995 for his international work and is listed in Who's Who. In 2000 he received an honorary doctorate in divinity from Brunel University in recognition of his contribution to the worship life of the church.

Graham is a co-founder of March for Jesus. This prayer, praise and proclamation event became global on June 25th 1994, with over 12 million people from 177 nations taking to the streets to proclaim their faith in Jesus Christ. His recent album What Grace
was the UK's number 1 best selling praise and worship album of 2001.

Simply put, he is a very well-known contemporary Christian music and song composer and worship leader. For those who cannot come for the entire symposium, i strongly encourage you to at least come for the night worship concert, which is free for all. (Sunday: 5:30-7:30pm, Monday and Tuesday: 7:30-9:30pm) Graham Kendrick will be incorporating the elements of blended worship during his Monday night worship; while on Tuesday, he will be speaking on the Prophetic aspect of worship.

Date: 3-5 September 2006 (Registration on 3 Sep, Sunday, at 1-2pm)

Main Venue: Church of the Resurrection, St. Andrew's Village, Pontong Pasir

Worship Undivided --- that is the theme of a specially organised worship symposium. The symposium hopes to bring worship teams from various churches to together to have a shared and deeper understanding of worship.

Who should attend:
Experienced and budding worship leaders, musicians, vocalists and support teams

For more information about the symposium, please visit Worship Undivided or call Priscilla on Tel: 6337 3222 ext 26 or email: bem@bible.org.sg

Friday, August 25, 2006

Testimony

A university undergraduate in Swansea, Wales, who fought with a sense of being unwanted came to faith in July, rejoices CWM missionary Molly Chua.


Undergraduate Cathleen Zhang is the only child of a well-to-do family, but she grew up feeling very rejected and unloved by her paternal grandmother especially, who was hoping for a grandson to carry on the family line.

Her grandma even suggested having someone else care for her in the countryside, thus not recognising her existence, so that her parents could try again to have a baby boy.
As I was praying I felt the pain and anguish in her heart

When she came to Swansea she came to know my husband Charles and I as a Christian family and later the Welsh church family. She felt very loved and that people do sincerely care for her. She talked to her mum about us and the happenings in Swansea almost every day. Even her non-Christian mother asked her: "When are you going to become a Christian?"

She faithfully went to church, the English corner language lessons and weekly Bible study. But all that time I sensed there was a mental block.

We continued to reach out to her with God's love and help her when she faced difficulties.

Invitation
One Sunday in July as usual she came over to my house for lunch after church. Later she asked to talk to me in private and unveiled her story.

She had come to me that Sunday because she could not carry the burdens of her heart any longer and was looking for help. She knew the Bible teachings were good for her, but felt helpless because she was not able to follow them.

We prayed together and as I was praying I felt the pain and anguish in her heart and we both wept. It was through the release of the pain in her heart that the Lord brought about healing, peace and rest. She left my house a very happy and peaceful person.

Rev Charles and Molly Chua from the Presbyterian Church in Singapore are mission enablers to the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Among their activities are Bible studies for people who are interested in Christianity, many of them students from China.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Adventure Race - 19 Aug 2006


Adventure Race - 19 Aug 2006
Originally uploaded by silverthorn11.

Praise God for another wonderful Presbyterian Youth event! From this race, we managed to raise $14,000.00 for PCS. Everyone who participated really enjoyed themselves.There was much interaction among the 11 churches who came. Thank you to all who helped raised the funds, and also for the organising comm.. and pastoral advisors. You know who you are.

To see the rest of the photos, click here. You may need a yahoo account to sign in.

You can download the photos individually, but if you want to download the entire set of photos from flickr.com, you would need to download and install FlickrDown 2.30 from here. It's fantastic!

You would need Microsoft .NET 2.0, which you can download here.

Monday, August 21, 2006

The Earliest Church in Singapore

For an amazing article on the history of early Singapore chuches, please visit verbum dei. It is still work in progress, but the section on the Presbyterian Church in Singapore is well-worthed reading as it is.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Part 2 to the "Simple Story"

Anyway, the moral of the story about the boy and girl being separated at the cinema is this: Are you living your life having 2nd-hand relationship with God?
I mean if we just listen to people teach us about God (sermons / B.S. / etc.) on Sunday, it is like having relationship with God with someone in between...
Why not build up the habit of having Quiet Time daily? You'll find yourself very intimate with God... Ha ha, that simple. All the best.

Monday, August 07, 2006

AN INTERESTING CONVERSATION - ABOUT GOD

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class
on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He
asks one of his new students to stand and.....

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.
Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed
to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help
others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God
good then? Hmm?
(Student is silent.)

Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again,
young fellow. Is God good?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From... God...
Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this
world?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make
everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Prof: So who created evil?
Student does not answer.

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?
All these terrible things exist in the world, don't
they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Prof: So, who created them?
Student has no answer.

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to
identify and observe the world around you. Tell me,
son... Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God,
smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory
perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable
protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do
you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Student: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn
of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more
heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat
or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We
can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but
we can't go any further after that. There is no such
thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe
the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is
energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just
the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such
a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the
absence of something. You can have low light, normal
light, bright light, flashing light.... But if you have
no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called
darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it
were you would be able to make darkness darker,
wouldn't you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise
is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of
duality. You argue there is life and then there is
death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the
concept of God as something finite, something we can
measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It
uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen,
much less fully understood either one. To view death
as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact
that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death
is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it.
Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students
that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary
process, yes, of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your
own eyes, sir? (The Professor shakes his head with a
smile, beginning to realize where the argument is
going.)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of
evolution at work and cannot even prove that this
process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching
your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a
preacher? (The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever
seen the Professor's brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the
Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No
one appears to have done so. So, according to the
established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable
protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir.
With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your
lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the
student, his face unfathomable.)

Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir... The link between man & God
is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving &
alive.