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Love Singapore Pastors’ Prayer Summit 2014

10 February 2014 blogpastor Leave a comment

This years prayer summit was held on January 6-9 at the Equatorial Hotel in Malacca. The theme was Jubilee. There were about 500 pastors and leaders from Singapore in attendance. The speaker was Peter Tsukahira and his theme was the kingdom of God and the marketplace.

The prayer summit this year was Word rich. I suppose there were pastors who attended because of the guest speaker – they wanted to hear his teachings. He is of Japanese origin, speaks with an American accent, and has an Israeli passport. He is married to a Messianic Jewess and both of them lead a ministry and Messianic community in Haifa. In fact the last thing we did during our holy land trip was to visit and support his ministry. I saw pastors who never attended the pastors’ summit attend this summit giving attention to all the teaching sessions. Peter Tsukahira did not disappoint. He spoke about the formation of Israel, and its relation to the return of Christ, the gospel of the kingdom of God and how these give the framework for the marketplace ministry. I was blessed by the teaching it stirred me to return to my favorite writer on the kingdom of God, G. E. Ladd, a professor from Fuller Theological Seminary. Read an excerpt of his concept of the kingdom HERE for an example of his concise writing and clear thinking and grasp of a difficult subject with many different interpretations.

Chance meeting with pastors Lawrence and Guna

This year they also re-introduced pastors Lawrence Chua and Guna to do the stand-up comic thingy. They are two members of the team steering the Love Singapore churches. They are pastors with hearts for community service and have led their churches to be models for such a ministry in the heartlands. They have somehow discovered a chemistry between them for stand up comedy. They brought the house of God down with laughter. Humor is serious business. You need a gift to get pastors in a sober “prayer summit” to laugh shamelessly. So used are pastors to being serious about eternal and earthly issues. Kudos to Lawrence and Guna for their gift of getting all the stressed-up pastors laughing. However, they would do well to expand their range of subjects. They seem too constrained to introducing the chairman and the speaker or the organizing church in humorous ways. They can evolve into a stand-alone act that can help pastors and leaders laugh at themselves and alter some perspectives of church ministry and relations.

The pastors’ summit is one of the best places to keep in touch with acquaintances and other pastors. I met two of my cousin’s daughters: cousins once removed. One morning I had breakfast with Lindy Chee and Dara Chee. Lindy worked with YWAM for many years. Now she is in training and facilitating. Dara Chee is a trained social worker who was in Vietnam for a few years with the Anglicans, and now a residential manager for Highpoint Dayspring, a residential treatment center for abused women and teens. It was encouraging to see young people with a passion for Christ’s kingdom to be realized on earth as in heaven.

This year I roomed with priest Vincent Hoon from True Light Anglican Church. We met years ago when we were randomly put together to share a room in a similar conference. We gelled and this was the second time we roomed again. Vincent drove us all to Malacca -me and pastor Kenny Fan from Woodlands Evangelical Free Church and pastor Thomas my colleague. They were such pleasant company the road trip seemed shorter. On the way back we stopped by Yong Peng, and later, at a Gelang Petah seafood restaurant popular with golfers. Ahhh…Malaysian food.

Encounters with an awesome and living God: holy land

3 February 2014 blogpastor Leave a comment

Enjoying our Israeli meals (Photo: Tiffany)

By the end of the holy land experience we were like those who came back after a successful mission trip -thrilled from seeing the living God at work. We saw how God intervened and opened doors as large parts of Israel were affected by an unusual cold snap.

The day we stepped foot on Israel we had wet and stormy weather. The sky frightened us with strong cold winds and drizzle. One moment I was, Oh no, is it going to be like that during the whole trip? Next moment I was praying and believing.

The second night we gathered at a function room. After a fun icebreaker, a few shared how the Lord led them and opened the way for them to visit the holy land. Earlier that afternoon, we ate St Peter’s fish in a restaurant by the lake of Galilee. The fierce winds agitated the waves till all boats were recalled to shore. Our scheduled boat ride was cancelled. So that night I read a pertinent passage about Jesus, the Lord of wind and waves, calming the winds and challenged everyone to pray and trust the Lord to grant us open doors and good weather in the days to come. We had also received news that Jerusalem received a metre of snow and was struggling to cope. Thousands of homes were without power, roads were closed, many motorists were trapped in vehicles, the army had to be called in to help. The Jerusalem mayor called it a snow tsunami. We were told the last time there was so much snow was a hundred years ago. We were in a historic moment but it worried us. That night we prayed with earnest.

Wonderful joy and praise at sea of Galilee — Second trip together to Holy Land

The next morning, the lake of Galilee was safe for the boats and that was a testimony to God’s faithfulness and grace. When they played a song of praise on the boat, great joy broke out, and like little children we laughed, fed the seagulls, played and took photos. Later while on the boat, I conducted the “eucharist” which means “thanksgiving”. How appropriate.

The rest of the trip we had similar encounters of God’s faithfulness and power. Several places were initially closed to us because of the cold weather or power failure. The Dead Sea was closed due to the weather. Masada had a power failure so the cable cars were paralyzed. However the next day, the weather turned sunny and power was restored so we went to both the Dead Sea and the Masada with great joy.

From the Mount of Olives: a snowed over view of old city

The view from the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu

2013 In the footsteps of Jesus pilgrimage

It was the same for Jerusalem. With all the TV coverage of closure of roads, very cold temperatures and trapped tourists, we wondered if we could enter Jerusalem for the last leg of our pilgrimage – the via dolorosa. God opened the way. We saw cars and buses from Jerusalem with thick snow on their roofs. This meant the roads have been cleared. We were excited and so thankful when we entered the holy city and stood at the Mount of Olives. The panorama of the old Jerusalem under snow was a special, unique and rare sight. We were privileged and blessed to be there at that moment.

We came to see the holy land but we also saw the living God in action. This was one blessed and awesome pilgrimage.

Gunung Lambak trek in Kluang, Johor state

20 January 2014 blogpastor 3 Comments

My trekking friends had planned this as training preparation for the Mt. Rinjani climb in end of April. Since they were in Kluang, Johor state, they also hoped to do some Chinese New Year shopping and take advantage of the weaker ringgit.

There were 16 of us. Some arrived in cars, others on the KTM train. It was Friday late morning and we checked into the hotel and had our usual lunch at the nearby popular Star Restaurant. We enjoyed their specialties at a price that heightened the pleasure. The rest of the day, we shopped, caught movies, had the hair done, ate and bought snacks and isotonic drinks for the next morning’s trek.

Some of us had to hitch a cab while others went in their cars. Gunung Lambak was a mere 15 minute drive away. It was a Saturday morning and there were many locals around and some stalls selling fruits and drinks. The elevation is only 510m or 1673 feet which is about three times the height of the highest hill in Singapore – Bukit Timah Hill. We estimated a four or five hours trek. The initial path was bitumen and cement and reminded me so much of the main path of Bt Timah hill. The latter three quarters to the first peak were slopes at inclines of 40-70 degrees with occasional ropes, steps and tree trunks for support. There were no flat plateaus, no break from the monotonous and challenging slopes.Going down was thankfully a different gentler route.

Sixteen Singapore trekkers in Gunung LambaK

My wife was nursing strained thighs and that slowed us down. Vincent, Jeffrey and Goh were the rear-guard and having them around was a comfort. Before we felt tired, we reached the first peak. We rested a while, had our snacks and went on to the second peak. Along the way, Goh twisted his ankle. A few of us decided to head down. The others went on to the second peak. They later realized they were on the wrong path, and tracked back to the fork and took the correct turn, delaying their return to town by about 45 minutes. By which time the five of us who went down earlier had returned to town, and ate delicious char kway teow in three forms– the traditional kway teow, and one fried in wanton noodles, and another in mee sua. We washed all that down with yong tau hoo soup. After a relaxing bath and rest we later re-united with the rest of the trekkers for the famous beef noodles of Kluang. The way we ate you would have wondered whether we came to prepare for April’s Indonesian climb, or simply to stretch our gastronomic muscles. On both nights, we went to two different hawker centers and ordered almost every available dish for sharing and tasting. Burp. These Malaysian hawkers are simply better than their Singapore counterparts.

It was disappointing that we could not buy much pineapple tarts, love letters or other CNY goodies due to quality issues and lack of variety. However many had their massages, hair treatment, pedicure and manicure and we had a good stretch of our muscles, both legs and gastronomic. And all this without blowing a hole in our pockets. It was fun.