The Salt and Light - Leading Change seminar was held in Kuching from 1st to 2nd March 2013 at Hope Church, Kuching. It was jointly organized by Hope Church and Kuching Ministers Fellowship (KMF). Most of the speakers were from Eagles Communication, Singapore. (EC). EC is a non profit organization foundered by Peter Chao in 1968.The main theme of the seminar was leading change in this uncertain world. It was to equip Christian leaders in leading change, managing the changes, how to avoid pitfalls, and also how to avoid burnout in this fast changing environment.
Beside the speakers from EC, Senior Pastor Dr.Chew Weng Chee from SIB KL also spoke. Peter spoke on "You Can Make A Difference", Lawrence Leong on "Leading with Courage", Michael Tan on "Leading with Passion", Senior Pastor Dr.Chew spoke on "Leading with Integrity", Dr.John Ng on "The Future of Leadership". Beside these plenary sessions which were basically lectures on the subject mentioned there were workshops on these subjects. Each participant can only attend one session which the participant chose prior to the registration. All the speakers were professionals with many years of experiences in delivering the subject matters, as well as their passion for Jesus Christ in their work. The founder Peter Chao together with co-founders Michael Tan and Dr.John Ng had been friends for more than 45 years already, and from the jokes they spoke about each other we can see how close they have been working with each other at EC. Their passion for Christ and the Gospel were evidenced in their lectures and their relations with other people. All the speakers were jokers and they made the seminar lively and enjoyable. The most entertaining joker was Michael Tan. He joked that he and Peter were endangered specie as they were getting bald like bald eagles! Both of them were really bald and they came from EC hence the joke.
As each participant was allowed to attend only one workshop, I chose the workshop "Burnt Out and Recovery" by Senior Pastor Chew Weng Chee. We were taught what burnout is, what are the symptoms and how these problems can be prevented. Burnt out means it is the end, like a rubber band that was over stretched and cannot be use any more. He related a real story of one of his church's cell leader, a medical doctor who was a zone leader leading several cells. One day he received a call from this doctor's wife to go to her house because her husband just could not get out of bed and he stared blankly onto the ceiling. This happened all of a sudden and all of them were very puzzled as to why this happened to him. Later medical tests founded that he did not have any physical problems which meant that it was most likely psychological. Pastor Chew and his team often go to pray for this doctor. He stayed in bed for 2 years, beside attending to his personal hygiene he never got out of the house. He only got out of his house for walks in the park on the third year of his illness. This problem can happen to any one. A young lady student who is studying at London School of Economics shared her experiences of symptoms of burn out while studying at her university.
On the second day of the seminar we had a treat from Pastor Lim Gee Tiong. Pastor Lim is a well know Gospel singer who sing in Mandarin. He has recorded more than 10 Mandarin Gospel albums since he started more than 17 years ago. He performed two songs, his famous Hokkien song "Hold My Hands" in Bahasa Malaysia as he has many Indonesian fans, and also a meaningful song called, "Station".
This was useful seminar as participants get to learn how to handle changes in the Christian settings, as well as learning tips on how not to be burnt out in your work, either in the secular or Christian setting. Besides, we get to hear from international speakers here in Kuching. Hard to come by opportunity!
All glory to God for enriching us in His work, and the grace to carry out His Gospel in more effective ways.
Pastor G T Lim's "Station" go to this link as embed is disabled :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3gSl-DwlYQ
No comments:
Post a Comment