Where to start? Where to start? Details are already in the poster above. Okay, so right after we entered the hall, they shut the lights.
P/s sorry for the lame photography skills, this blogger didn't dare to use flash because she didn't want to distract the people on stage, because it would be awkward AND because they were all moving. sigh. excuses I know, but valid ones.
EXHIBIT A.
this was the best shot I got in the dark.
Then these guys popped out of nowhere. 1a.M relent rocks.
like any other typical concert, we were invited to stand in front. hahah. you could imagine the amount of people that went. I was already standing in the middle when I took this shot.
Neil Batiancila
I think he was trying to ask us to follow his actions or something like that.
Jude Limus - he plays the piano AND the electric guitar. there was a piano beside him.
yes, we did sing in Chinese, or at least tried to.
Daniel Krishnan
sorry, couldn't really find a good shot of the drummer, but fyi, he's Cuzario David.
The first speaker of the night (we had about four) was Kevin Lim. He was talking about the world changers of the past.
okay, maybe this face hasn't really hit you yet. scroll down.
Now does it ring a bell? yeah, William Wilberforce. He obviously didn't look like the guy in the third picture because that's Ioan Gruffudd.
little/well know fact : Ioan Gruffudd played the fifth officer Harold Lowe in Titanic, Lt. John Beales in Black Hawk Down, Mr. Fantastic in Fantastic Four etc., and he doesn't have long hair either.
and no, I didnt watch those movies, except Titanic. Thank Wikipedia.
ANYWAY, back to business.
After William Wilberforce, He showed this guy.
The ever so famous, Martin Luther King and his infamous speech. The video is 17 minutes long, because it's the full version. So don't kill me when you get bored to death by that video, because I just embedded this video for the sake of doing it.
Martin Luther King Jr. and William Wilberforce both have ONE thing in common. They fought for equality and freedom which brought change to our world today.
William Wilberforce was well off, but he decided to go against the slave trade in Britain. So the slave trade was abolished in 1807 under theSlave Trade Act 1807.
Malaysia dijajah oleh British pada tahun 1827 right? So imagine IF William Wilberforce didn't do anything about it, our ancestors would have been slaves.
Martin Luther King Jr. fought for equality among the African Americans and the Caucasians, that little black boys and black girls and little white boys and white girls in Alabama may join hands.
FYI, last time racial segregation was a BIG issue under theJim Crow Laws. They were said to be "separated but equal". The African Americans then really had a lot of disadvantages because of it.
go look it up, here. and here. sorry, i have a thing for history.
sorry for the history lesson there, I know the 17 minute long video is history enough.
Imagine IF Martin Luther King Jr. didn't fight for equality, we wouldn't have these people.
OPRAH WINFREY
BARACK OBAMA
And of course, MICHAEL JACKSON.
no equality = no African American celebrities and important life-changers.
And it all boils down to this. What makesGOODmen?
G - GODLY
John 9:31 - We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the Godly man who does His will.
O - OPEN THEIR EYES
Human trafficking in Malaysia. Vietnamese workers here are paid RM 0.63 a day for 10-12 hours of hard labour.
You can't even buy lunch with that amount of money here. Human Trafficking is to be deceived or taken against your will, bought, sold and transported into slavery for sexual exploitation, sweat shops, child brides, circuses, sacrificial worship, forced begging, sale of human organs, farm labour, domestic servitude.
It's a trade that earns twice as much worldwide revenue as COCA COLA.
Isaiah 42: 18-25 - You've seen a lot, but looked at nothing. You've heard everything, but listened to nothing. God intended, out of the goodness of his heart, to be lavish in his revelation. But this is a people battered and cowed, shut up in attics and closets, victims licking their wounds, feeling ignored, abandoned. But is anyone out there listening? Is anyone paying attention to what's coming?
O - OBEY THE RED LETTERS
Luke 6:46 - But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?
Matthew 22: 37-39 - Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
D - DO SOMETHING
James 4:17 - Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, for you, is evil.
Matthew 23:23 - Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
sorry, i know that was long. lol
Then, MORE songs. the intro sounded a bit like Where'd You Go - Fort Minor.
Then, suddenly the hall became dark AGAIN, gosh they love being in the dark and they showed this video.
SURPRISE! SURPRISE! hahahahah.
At one point, they played something which sounded like the Intro to That's What You Get - Paramore.
MOVING ON, more sharing.
This is what you get at a 4 hour concert. Don't blame me for the ultra long post.
THIS GUY. uhh i forgot his name, sorry. But he talked about prayer.
Prayer is not an act, it's a relationship.
Essence of the Gospel : Liberty, Equality and Freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. and William Wilberforce obviously knew that.
The key to developing a relationship with God is prayer.
NEXT UP, PASTOR DANIEL. *applause
He talked about the people who have to take exams the hard way. These really happened here.
Math Exam - A family had to choose between buying food or paying rent with the little money they had.
Bio Exam - A girl had to learn it the hard way, if you know what I mean.
Self-defense Exam - People in the old folks' home are mistreated by nurses there.
... and we thought we had it hard with exams. Now, i appreciate having NORMAL written exams more.
So... let's be nice to these people. =)
you can start by going to Rifle Range on the 30th. Read above.
They're like so patriotic. hahaha. Penang state song, in case you're wondering, which I HIGHLY doubt.
After that, we were given a 15 minute break to fill in some form to commit ourselves to something.
When we came back, we saw this.
Yes, ACOUSTIC set. =D only one word could've described it, AMAZING.
Then, the final speaker of the night. Ps. Cathryn Lim. finally, a FEMALE speaker on stage. she talked about a kernel of CORN and it's dreams. which translates to.. someone and what they can do.
Dream #1 - CORN in a cup
Dream #2 - a CORN feast
Dream #3 - popCORN (this one is more canggih, because it wants to be like transformers) lol
John 12:24a - I tell you the truth, unlessa kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.
unless = except if dies = gives itself up remains = stays in the original place = no change
John 12:24b - But ifitdies, it produces many seeds.
if = whenever dies = gives itself up produces = yields, grows, makes, causes, supplies, etc.
So, after 4 messages, we were done, but it wouldn't be a concert with a closing right? so yeah lah, we went back to the front and did what we would usually do in a concert. hahaha like pastor thomas said, jump, jump; sing, sing; dance, dance; roll, roll.
They really allocated their time properly, it finished chun chun at 10pm. After that, we had AUTOGRAPH SIGNING sessions. yay. We all 'claimed' our free CD. It came with the ticket.
super freaky/stalker-ish close up shot of jude.
this was the clearest shot I got of Cuzario.
We were all outside when, Andrew was chased by interviewers. Actually, no. A bunch of them were chased by them but they gave the honour to the MASS COMM student.
hahaha obviously too excited to be on camera. hahah jkjk.
hahah, we wanted to take some photos with the band but it was getting late and some of them hadn't eaten dinner. so we had to leave.
At dinner/supper.
Ken Jeen
Indy
Beverly
Sorry for the amazingly long post people. Hope I didn't bore you to death halfway through. Oh and if you realised that this post wasn't as Tania-ished, cheery as the previous few, sorry for that too. It's Wei-Lynn here filling in for Miss Tania Loke while she flies across the ocean.
1 accord Ministry
Thursday, November 19, 2009 @ 3:14 PM
Recap.
So this writer made it in time again for worship practice (it's after floorball, oh btw COME FOR FLOORBALL), and so there's more for you.
Happy not?
Like in everything the worship team starts with prayer.
This time the worship leader was Beverly.
With James on the drums and backup-singing.
Eu-Jeen and Nehemiah, acoustic and electric. (lucky worship team this week, get individual (almost) photos of themselves..)
Sharon on keyboard and backup.
Justin on bass.
And altogether now.. (sorry Joyce, I know I missed you out xP)
So they practised, practised and practised till almost 6p.m. then hopped down to Sanc. 2 for:
Bible class! Conducted by that drummer just now...
This week's Bible class was about Psalms 2 and 110, both depicting what Old Testamenties thought Jesus would be. Like a King, mighty General with superhero-like powers and awesomatic authority over all the earth..
..but when Jesus came, He came as a baby in a manger. *potong stim*
But it's true, he was a King, a mighty General and all that, just not in the way people expected Him to be.
And of course like most Bible classes we have groups..
..working together to complete questions like..
..What does conspire mean? Why does this psalm take a military tone? Who are the enemies and why do they oppose Him?
And we had fun with aluminium foil and Gary's face and Sharon's face :)
COME FOR BIBLE CLASS don't miss it
Okay then dinner.
After dinner prayer.
After prayer 5-minute toilet break.
After 5-minute toilet break, WORSHIP!
Here's the leader-ess again :)
Notice how Pastor Victor's always so camera-alert xP
Put your hands together now..
..yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord..
And Beverly, great job again :)
So then, announcing...
...ANNOUNCEMENTS! (i'm telling you, if you're the announcements person you're darn lucky: you get your photo up here every week!)
And also a video on the Change Your World concert by 1 a.m. (a band made up of Christians):
And, not forgetting, two new guys in fireBRANDS:
Aaron and Frederick! (sorry, reusing the floorball pic cuz didn't get nice shot xP yup they came for floorball that day too!)
Next in the spotlight:
The monthly appearance of Sarah to meraikan the birthdays of the November kids!
So when it's your birthday on that month, you get a complimentary mini Mars Bar and a prayer, AND a Happy Birthday song - it's like a 3-in-1 promotion, only that it's FREE!
Finally, the much-anticipated climax (which is also the finale of the night)..
That's him!
At the right corner, he's the speaker for the night (all eyes peeled)..
Pastor Lim Heok Cheow!
He kicked off with an intro:
'Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power' - we have to be DIFFERENT Have you been real? Do things more extraordinary than before, everyday. It's going to cost.. ..but if we have the anointing of God, we can break the yokes of bondage. SO, JUST IMAGINE! if everyone of us did.
Our Perspective of Life
Biblical Worldview: 1. an honest life 2. a holistic life 3. a healthy life 4. a heavenly life
Our Passion for Life (Philippians 3:7-8)
Paul's: 1. a yielded life 2. a missional life 3. a worship life
Our Position in Life PROPHET - stands for PRIEST - stands in KING - stands up if you say you're a Christian, why is it that you don't live like a Christian?
Lesson #01: Take notes. Lesson #02: You're never totally safe from the camera :)
Our Philosophy of Life
Gain Wisdom 1. learning 2. reading 3. studying 4. praying and for some good books to read and study, don't hesitate to ask Ps Heok Cheow!
Know Your Purpose in Life - like what Tinkerbell discovered - God isn't random!
So don't you believe that Justin can change the world? And if Justin can, so can you!
So we began at 7:30p.m. on the 7th of the 11th with:
A time of praise and worship led by pretty-much-veteran Joyce Lim.
And it doesn't matter where you stand during worship..
..cuz it's where your heart is that matters.
Now then, announcements by the one-and-only:
CHAN MING YEN! *crowd cheers*
And a reminder: Change Your World concert - Penang is coming up on the 22nd, so if you haven't gotten your tickets yet, they're still available from any of the committee members =) RM 20 per ticket.
Oh and YOUTH CAMP IS COMING!! sign up, the earlier the better, so tidak begitu membebankan on the organising committee.
Let's move on..
Get your notebooks out for..
Mr Alex Low Peng Huat!
But before that, rewind a bit...
..as Alex gets his own notebook out..
..patience..
and there ya go!
So that night, Alex titled his message as 'FROM EARTH IN2 ETERNITY'.
It was a four-point sermon:
1. Knowing Our Identity
- who we are in Christ
- that salvation is free
- we're righteous through Him
- and we need our sin to be forgiven - "For it is by grace you have been saved. Through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." - Eph. 2:8 - ask for His grace everyday
2. TheTruth
- I am coming soon!
- ...blessed are those who wash their robes... outside are the dogs (from Rev 22:12-15) *dogs: those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters, falsehood-ers - check your heart24/7
He shares.
They listen.
And Pastor Victor comes up to clarify a few points..
3. Then,why do we stillstruggle?
- "Each one is tempted by his own evil desire... after desire has conceived, it gives irth to sin... full-grown sin gives birth to death." - James 1:14-15
- "Where your treasure isthere your heart will be." - Matt 6:21
4. Sowhat can I do?
- BE CAREFUL. God is faithful: He will provde a way out so that you can stand up under it. (from 1 Cor 10:12-13)
- cut off the things that cause you to fall
- it takes 21 times to make or break a habit
And so Alex ended his sermon with all the fireBRANDS reading a few excerpts from Psalm 145.
Alright, before every night - realise it or not - there's always the preparations!
Like for example worship practice, or maybe the speaker prepping his/her notes while the LCD boy types away..
So even if the whole night was meant to be fun and games..
Joyce finishing up the ceiling deco while Joseph looks on.
The dark(-skinned) guy bringing light into the sanctuary.
And final touch-ups before going for Bible class.
All while the Supervisor looks on.
Come 6 p.m., Bible class is still on!
The perky Bible class teacher.
This time in the conference room, cuz Sanc 2 was filled with colourful stuff.
This time Bible class involved pillowcases filled with unidentified objects from Marilyn's home.
And by only looking at the pillowcases without touching 'em, each group was supposed to sell that item to the other groups. Obviously hard right, cuz you don't know what's inside.
So, this analogy shows that we need to really, really know our God before we can start sharing the Gospel to others.
How? By reading the Bible :)
After dinner.
The all-important time of prayer. Again led by Sarah Khoo, this innovative short lady had every single person there to pray a short prayer for anything they felt the need to pray for.
After prayer, before the theme night officially started, the fireBRANDS had some fellowship during what's known as 'toilet break time'.
Some talked/fellowshipped/sat down on the floor.
While the organisers got ready for the night.
A few filled up the fireBRANDS database forms.
Certain people flagrantly vained.
And others... did.. whatever they did.
Okay, let's start!
Little Miss Giggles with the announcements again!
First off, the crowd was divided into four groups consisting of pretty much equal numbers of old and young fireBRANDS and visitors alike.
And for the first game, planned by Pastor Victor:
We witnessed Leroy blindfolding an innocent child..
..a state floorballer being led by M'sia's national goalkeeper, both on all fours..
..sight-impaired youths picking up wrapped sweets with their mouths..
..while their group leaders egged them on.
And keep on going!!
Basically each group was supposed to collect as many sweets corresponding to their group as possible, in the manner shown above.
The lesson learnt was that in life, we have to listen to our Leader's voice (God) in order to achieve anything that matters.
Next game, this one by Alex:
Each group leader was taken out from the room and briefed in secret, while the rest of the members were instructed to beg for sweets in the most creative possible ways once the leaders were back.
Like this:
Yan-Y being chased and begged relentlessly by Gary and Linken for some sweets.
In the end, only certain group members received sweets, and the groups had to figure out the criteria by which sweets were given out. Like 1. is wearing a watch, 2. is a guy, 3. is wearing socks, etc.
And the group members get more sweets once they guessed a criteria correctly.
And after some time, the group leaders were invited up to reveal the criteria (each group had different sets of criteria).
Next, time was alloted for everyone to exchange sweets with each other.
Alex then slowly and steadily revealed what each sweet represented (faith, love, good looks, long life, health, salvation, etc.).
Lesson learnt: What's most important is the gift of salvation, something which shouldn't be placed second to things like health.
And, the third game, by Eunice the cupcake-baker:
Bible quiz! Each team sends out one rep. Get the question right, and you get to choose a cupcake!
Some cupcakes had those heart-sprinkles on top, others didn't.
Get your cupcake, and eat it without expression at the corner.
Asher, the first person with an answer right.
And finally more people to join him! (what happened to eat without expression, i wonder)
Andrew trying to look less menacing.
And so after many rounds of answering Bible-related questions (fished out by Joyce), it was revealed that the cupcakes with the heart sprinkles on top had wasabi in them, while the plain jane cupcakes were untampered with.
Lesson? Don't judge anything by its looks.
And with that, Trick or Treat was over.
Oh, one more thing:
fireBRANDS' group photo on Facebook which has 29 tagged people, 4 likes and 33 comments by 17 people. As of now.
How awesome we are. And how much, much more our God is!
(this post is a really good test for colour blindness xP)
..has now opened a NEW branch, at the old Choong Nam Theatre along Jalan Air Itam!
It's a small, cosy room, AIR-CONDITIONED! (of course), and instead of high-definition I-don't-know-how-many-feet screens, there's a nice li'l LCD display!
No Dolby Digital Surround Sound (hey if you take out the 'urr' our of 'Surround' you get 'Sound'!) here, but there's awesome people!
And and.
IT'S FREE!
But, sad to say, the new branch closed down after opening night.
Turns out it's a one-night-only! So, sorry if you missed it! But it was GOOD =)
*Disclaimer: the GSC part was fiction.
~ (squiggle!)
5 days ago, here's what we did!
Photography: Eulene and her DSLR compact camera
The eveningly-night started off as usual with BIBLE CLASS, conducted by the head conductress of all Bible classes, Eunice Lee!
And so this time Bible class was different.
Firstly, different topic.
We're now gonna commence our journey into Royal Psalms! Yep, Complaint Psalms've been covered.
And so everyone was split into pairs..
..guy-girl pairs.
And so the pairs were supposed to come up with a name, gender and sketch for an imaginary child and list down their expectations for him/her. Including marriage preferences!
After some time (we kinda went a li'l overtime actually), each pair then shared their imaginary child's details.
Okay, no, Bible class didn't go terpesong-ed!
This one was mostly about expectations, about how they're hard to live up to sometimes, like how we expect our child to be this-and-that..
..and next week onwards, we're gonna dive into Royal Psalms =)
~ (another squiggle! =O)
Right then, preservice prayer!
People having exams, and the worship team, the speaker, and the night itself =)
~ (did you know that it's actually called a TILDE?)
Service started off as usual (but it's anything but usual! different every week i'd say) with worship!
Short this week, due to the fact that sharing that night was gonna be a li'l long.
Short, but true worship indeed.
~ (tilde is pronounced as 'TIL-duh')
And so the rest of the night was all about Change Your World, a movement sweeping across Malaysia, from city to city, rallying and inspiring young people to change their worlds!
Pastor Victor facilitated, and managed to fit everything into ONE night, although it was supposed to be two separate sessions.
Sounds a bit squeezed?
I'd say it was compact, but very, very inspiring!
Among the things in the two Quests (parts/sections/bahagian):
- A 30-second debate between the fireBRANDS on two topics, i.e. How can we change the 1. public transport and 2. education system.
- What's holding us back from change? Fear, complacency, and ignorance.
- Extremely inspiring videos about young people who changed their world, aka Change Agents. Among them: A young guy who raised funds for modern-day slaves and has rallied the people around him to help out. A young girl who went backpacking in India and ended up building and founding an orphanage there, as well as enabling many children there to go to school.
- Remember, you only have one lifetime to make a significant change.
- Another video, this one detailing prostitution and refugees. This video, I think, was a real shell-shocker, something that'd make you wake up and realise that we need a change.
- And how just ONE person CAN make a big change.
The Change Your World Quests 1 and 2 were really relevant and something to inspire us and stand up, and to make a change.
Also, a few parents came that night =) and yeah, parents, your children CAN change the world! Undoubtedly!
~ (this is the last one lol)
Yep, that's how it went.
But trust me, Change Your World is far from over!
Look out, cuz there's a generation rising and they're gonna stand up for God in this world.
It's happening all over Penang now and has been going on nationwide too, and it's about to be launched during this Saturday's (24th Oct) youth service!
Okay, before you get all apprehensive..
What is it?
It's about how young people can really change their world.
That and more, so do come!
And, you are strongly encouraged to invite your parents to come!
*cue the gasps*
Yes, for this particular youth service.
Okay in case you didn't register that the first time..
..you're strongly encouraged to invite your parents to come!
For the launching of Change Your World, 24th Oct, 7:30-9:30p.m., Sanctuary 2, FGA Centre.
And if you're a parent and you're reading this..
..you're invited! =D
And fireBRANDS, pls stay back after Bible class for 5 minutes, Pastor wants to talk about this event. Thanks.
PS: not bad eh this week, the blog's been updated five times, AND it's been given a new layout! hahahah.
Thursday, October 22, 2009 @ 9:13 PM
FireBRANDS reaching the community
So here's the after Saturday activity we did, see it's not only on Saturdays where the fireBRANDS are alive but as far as we're concerned we try to MAD(make a diff) everyday be it through the school CF, RecessREVO, fireCells, fireReach, fireyou and fire me(lame).. we also reach those who are in this land as foreigners missing their families and loved one, and here working somewhere doing something other than what they've been promised and being underpaid...
We reach to the unreached in our land. On this sunny Sunday, Pr. Vic rounded up some of the youths and loaded them up the van to give away sweets(forgot what they're called) to those from abroad, in a way to share Christ's love with them and also make them feel at home. Yea those round things.. XD
So we headed off right after church where the fireBRANDS were leading worship in Central Zone, to the closest stop, CALTEX station, or rather the car wash at the Caltex station. if you still have no idea.. this is the place..
Here's pastor and the gang going out to give them... the sweets cameraman had to make it less obvious so i didn't go down... T.T
Everyone looking for out for people we could give the rest out to..
and we scared this bunch of people off as Pr. Vic swirved the van right in front of them and started speaking weird languages ahaha i think they're burmese...
Anyways.. since we couldn't find anymore after that Pr. Vic decided we will just give them to the night service people :)
ps. i remembered what those things are called suddenly... haha they're called LADU