Friday, November 30, 2012

Zig Ziglar Called to the Lord

 http://global.christianpost.com/news/motivational-speaker-zig-ziglar-passes-away-at-86-85732/

Zig Zaglar a well known motivational and marketing speaker has been called to the Lord recently at age 86.  Those who are in the corporate world will know him.  He has written many motivational books and he is also well known here in Malaysia.  He was also a devoted Christian and I understand that many of his techniques are Scripture base.  He was know for his :Success" seminars.

You can read more at the link above.


Monday, November 26, 2012

Alpha Vision Day

 http://www.worshipcentral.org/course
The forth Alpha Vision Day (AVD) was held on 24th Nov 2012 in Kuala Lumpur.  About 50 Alpha Advisers from various parts of Malaysia attended this half day session.

The purpose of ADV was to brief the Advisers and participants of what had take place in Alpha as well as the vision for the following year.  National Director Bro. Foo Lai Wai opened the session with a welcome message.  The Chairperson of Alpha Malaysia Datin Katheleen was also presence.  The leaders of each Alpha course gave their presentations.  They were as follows :

1.  Relationship Central
2.  Senior Alpha
3.  Prison Alpha
4. Campus Alpha
5. Workplace Alpha
6.  Catholic Alpha
7. Worship Central

As usual Bro.Jack of Senior Alpha helped lightened the atmosphere with his well received jokes.

Worship Central has yet to be launched in Malaysia.  It will be launched in 2013.  This course is designed to help the worship team use worship music to connect with God.  Music worship is not entertainment, but it is a part of worshiping God.  We also know that it is one of the important medium in helping congregations to get into worshiping and praising God in most church services.

This year Workplace Conferences were a huge success.  Next year Workplace Conference ( English) will be held in Penang in September 2013.  Alpha is planning Alpha Conference in Mandarin too.

All participants were given a tour of the new office by Bro. Foo.  We also prayed for Alpha Malaysia.  All glory to God for what He is doing in Malaysia through Alpha.  May the harvest be plentiful in the coming years.

Check out the website of Worship Central above.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Medical Mission

On Sunday 18th Nov, 2012 our Church organized a medical mission to Latter Rain Church (LRC) at Sematan.  This is a village church about one and half hours drive from Kuching.

It was the second medical mission for our Church this year.  The main objective was to serve and connect with communities surrounding the city of Kuching.  Medical mission is a good way to serve our communities.  Our Church have a numbers of medical doctors in various fields.  Different medical "clinics" were set up in the Church which was temporally converted into a clinic.  We had Dr.Tiong, the eye specialist, Dr.H.T Wong, Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist, Dr.Chen, gynaecologist, Dr.Lee, Radiologist (untra sound), Dr. C C Wong, Bone specialist, and a new doctor, Dr.Carice Wong who is the daughter of Dr.H.T Wong and Sis Chuei Lian.

Two of our Church Life Groups as well as our Bahasa Church were there to help the doctors as well as to pray for the patients.

Several SEGI university's nursing students were also there to help out.  At the same time they had some practical experiences.

From observation, the numbers of patients attended to by our doctors probably around 100 people or so.  The doctors and trainee nurses were kept busy from around 10.15 am to 3 pm with about half hour lunch break.  The LRC church members cooked various local dishes for us.

Dr. C, C Wong presented about 40 children Bibles to the LRC. 

Their church is in the process of building a training school and some of our members donated to help with this project.

Praise God for the good weather as well as a successful medical mission. 


Saturday, November 17, 2012

Pop Star Roman Catholic Priest


http://global.christianpost.com/news/huge-catholic-sanctuary-opens-in-brazil-pop-star-priest-drawing-masses-84429/Perhaps many parts of the world wound not have imaged that the Catholic Church has pop stars priests.  It is interesting to read that in Brazil the Catholic Church has a popular priest who is a singing session there.  He is Father Marcelo Rossi of Brazil.  He has been nominated for a Latin Grammy Award.

Father Rossi is setting up a Church that can hold up to 80,000 worshipers.  That got to be one of the biggest church ever anywhere.  Out of a population of 192 million, 65% are Catholic, down from 74%.  Perhaps Father Rossi is the answer to the declining numbers of Catholic in Brazil.

To read more go to the link above.

Watch this video:


Monday, November 12, 2012

Cell Church Mission Network (CCMN)


http://www.ccmnglobal.com/

CCMN conference has just being completed in Kuala Lumpur last week.  Our Church sent 12 members to attend this conference.  It was one of the few times that our Church sent anyone to attend such conference.  In terms of CCMN it was the very first.

According to the participants it was an eye opener for them as it was the first time for most of them to meet and share with so many pastors and lay leaders from about 40 countries.  Altogether 450 people attended, Hong Kong made up the most numbers followed by Malaysia being the hosting nation.

Our people came back and some of them gave their testimonies in Church on Sunday 11th Nov 2012.  A Mandarin Church Brother who has just been with our church for 3 years shared that he has been inspired to be a missionary to a Middle East country.  He said God has blessed him so much, and he wanted to bless others too.  A Mandarin Church Sister shared that on her annual leave she usually go overseas for holiday, now she has decided to use her annual leave to go for short term mission.

According to Pastor Ben Wong, the initiator of Cell Church Mission Network is to carry out the Great Commission.  This task should not be left to missionary organizations but the churches must do something.  Each church can be more effective if they network with other churches around the world.  This is what CCMN is doing in their conferences.  There are no "big shot" pastors at the conference, just ordinary pastors and lay leaders from all over the world sharing their mission experiences.

Pastor Ben's church Shepherd Community Grace Church in Hong Kong is a good example.  His Church sends out numerous missionaries to countries like China, Thailand, North Africa, Japan, Taiwan, and soon Middle Eastern countries.  His Church also started small 25 years ago, yet they have impacted so many countries for Christ.  The tag line for CCMN according to Pastor Ben is "NO Glory, No Control".  There is no "big shot" pastors and no one control anyone. Just the net work of pastors all over the world net working and working together to advance the kingdom of God.

Praise God for this work that is on going and praise God for the hearts of pastors and lay leaders in the network carrying out the Great Commission.

Note: Above picture of Pastor Ben Wong.

          Read more about CCMN in the link, watch the video too.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

A Many Splendoured Thing-Dr.Han Suyin

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/11/6/nation/12276891&sec=nation
Just recently Dr.Han Suyi passed away at age 95 years.  She was the author of the famous book, "A Many Splendoured Thing", which was world re-known in the 1950s.  I have heard about her from my friends when I was younger, but did not have the chance to read her book.  The interesting fact is that she has been a doctor practicing in Malaya ( that was the name of our country then) in the state of Johore in the 1950s.  People knew her as a good and dedicated doctor, and popular with the guys too because of her Western looks.  You can read more in the link above.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Conflict and Stress Management

http://globalmosaic.net/meet_evelyn_biles/
On 1st Nov to 3 rd Nov 2012, our church hosted the Conflict & Stress Management course.  This was conducted over two evenings on 1st Nov and 2nd Nov, morning and evening of 3rd Nov 2012.  This course came about because of the contact of  Bro. Dr. Wong and Sis.Chuei Lian who knew Dr.Everyln Biles from another course.  It was timely for church members as well as corporate personnel to attain this course.  We go go through conflicts and stress whether in church or in the world.

Dr.Evelyn Bile is from the US, and is highly trained and an expert in conflict and stress management.
She was born and brought up in Lebanon therefore she understands the circumstances in our country.  She shared that around 2002 a friend of hers a Pastor who had been posted to Malaysia encouraged her to come to Malaysia.  At first she was reluctant because she thought Malaysia was not a Muslim country, and her experiences were in a Muslim country that is Lebanon.  Finally she came and found it very satisfying in sharing her expertise with the church as well as corporate world in Malaysia.

In Malaysia she founded Global Mosaic, an organization aimed at equipping people in conflict and stress management.

The course was ran successfully and many participants found the concepts practical.  These can be applied to church as well as Corporate world.  In fact, 14 participants were from a local listed company.  All together there were 101 participants.  Glory to God for this successful course.

To read more go to above link.