I was early. I was graciously granted a book table to share a book I wrote, “The 26 Gifts of Christ’s Finished Work.” The Full Gospel Assembly(FGA) staff were very welcoming and helpful. Ps Maureen and Josefa helped me set up the table and helped me “man” it.
The focus of the consultation on 13th March 2025 was on the ascension gift of the Teacher. The MFIS have consistently continued their series on the five-fold ministry of Ephesians 4:10-12. The speakers were Rev Calvin Lee, Rev Rhordan Wicks, and Rev Chua Hock Lin. Calvin Lee gave an overview of what it meant to be a teaching church: the what, the why, the how. Hock Lin spoke out of the burden the Lord laid on his heart. He preached passionately about the need to unleash the supernatural in the church through preaching the Word and allowing for the manifestations of the Spirit, particularly the gift of tongues, which is the doorway to the supernatural gifts. It was appropriate that he took the final session because it culminated in corporate heartfelt prayer.
Rhordan Wicks gave a practical and helpful teaching about teaching. He is an eloquent and articulate communicator and shared seven practical and vital principles of communication from the pulpit. Each principle was illustrated with analogies and examples that made them crystal clear. The seven principles were:
Relevance brings resonance – use language the audience understands
Build bridges not walls
Fillers drain power from your message
Your voice is an instrument -play it well
Your body speaks before you do
Your notes should support, not script your delivery – scaffolding brings freedom
Slides should support, not steal the spotlight.
To top this off, he demonstrated how to design impactful and elegant slides based on a sermon outline he had prepared earlier. He did it on the spot without prior preparation. Thus, we were let in on a real-time demonstration. His mantra is “LESS IS MORE!”. I loved the demonstration and it inspired me to try out some of his practical tips for my slides when I guest preached on Sunday.
I thought it would be wonderful if this impactful presentation about practical communication and presentation skills could be uploaded onto YouTube for a wider audience to benefit. Sadly, it was not recorded.
The consultation ended with prayer and some announcements about future events:
MFI Conference 2025 (17 July 2025 9.30am -4pm) – VFC Tampines
Thanksgiving Dinner (20 Nov 2025 5.30pm -8.30pm) – to be confirmed
Combined Fellowship Teams Gathering (15 May 12noon -2.30pm) – The New Church
How did the book sales go? Not good. Even with the moral support of my two Tung Ling friends, Dr John Sim and Benjamin Foo, my publisher. I brought 100 books and I sold only 10 books. For sure, I am not Rick Warren. However, I was at peace about it as I wrote not out of the need for money or an ego boost but simply to obey the Lord’s word. God will work things out for good. This book sale was disappointing compared to the launch in my home church, when 150 books were sold. I am always thankful for the support of members of my home church, World Revival Prayer Fellowship.