Improving our Stage Environment at Amplify Fridays

We had a great turn out at last week's Amplify Friday praise God!


I think got 130 - 140 people who came. The atmosphere was simply incredible. The passion in the room was amazing and the worship vibrant, heartfelt and intimate. To top off, the speaker Alfred Pang gave what I thot was a wonderful and challenging message: Fall deeper in Love with Jesus. Personally, it challenged me to not be satisfied with where I am now with God and to press deeper with Him.

Speaking of pressing deeper, I was thinking about the atmosphere of our auditorium at CSC and was wondering if we could improve our stage design. Currently, well, we have like..erm...no stage design whatsoever. What we do need a this point, is a stage. As the crowd gets bigger, its getting harder to address everyone on the platform. I hope we can get a platform for the worship leaders, vocalist, emcees and speakers at least.

So anyway, I googled environment design for Youth Worship settings and found a couple of ideas for it. It is important to me that we make the place attractive for young people. If they are not embrassed to bring their friends, then they will. And we can reach more people with the gospel. Hope these photos inspires us to do something more with our stage to make it more attractive.


Leo

okay lah, maybe more like this lah.

okay lah, like that okay can lah....

nuff said?

Anyway, we would need to raise funds for it. If there is anyone who is reading this feels you would like to contribute, let me know. Amplify is committed to reaching young people and presenting the good news of God's love in a consistent, fresh and relevant way. Your contribution will go a long way in creating environments to that end.

If you would like to support our Cause, please drop by CSC on fridays or contact me.

Thanks,
Leonard

Sixfold definition of maturity.


Maturity is:

- to stick with a job until it is finished.

- to bear an injustice without wanting to get even.

- to carry money without wanting to spend it.

- to do one's duty without being supervised.

- to know God loves and is with you even when you don't feel it.

- to obey God when its difficult.

..man...I have a lot to grow.

Leo

Its all coming together

Just received a letter from HDB in the mail.

It says that we will be able to sign the possession of our Flat and get our keys on the 17th of June 2008. A week from this entry.

Oh My GOD! How awesome are You?

My jaw dropped when I saw the date. We had been expecting it in August or later, but its next week?! In a week's time, we are going to be standing on the untiled floor of our new HDB, walk through our soon-to-be cookin' kitchen and starring at the walls that are going to be silent witnessness of our future together. Next week.

Phew... we had planed to start renos like after our wedding in Nov. But at this timing, we could actually get married and move in the next day! I cannnnot believe it how goood God is to us. He has really taken care of everything beyond what we could ask or imagine!

I know I'm gushing. But I really cannot help but feel so grateful to God. Every step of the way He has outdone us in his generosity. I can feel his smile upon our lives, like a Father who loves to gives gifts to his children because He is just loves doing that and it makes Him happy.

God, our provider, supplying all our needs according to his riches and mercy in Christ Jesus.

Thank you Lord. thank you for the home, thank you for the nice honest obliging contractor that is coming our way and thank you most of all, for loving us.


Leo

On Team Leadership

One of my greatest joys in life is being involved in Team ministry. Linking arms with others to accomplish some far greater than any of us could ever do on our own and have a lot fun while at it. In Amplify, Teams are foundational in everything we do and Team leadership is therefore essential to every leader, positional or non-positional.

There are many qualities of a Team leaders. But I just want to share three qualities that I feel are essential to successful team leadership.


Clear Vision
The first quality that is essential to Team leadership is having a clear Vision. Bill Hybels describes vision as ‘the leader’s most potent weapon’. The Bible says that “Without vision, the people cast off restraint”. Without the leader having a clear end in mind and communicating it effectively, there will be frustration and confusion.

When people do not have a clear idea of what they are working towards, there is little motivation and efforts will be diffused. However, like a magnifying glass that focuses the sun’s beam, vision acts as a point of focus, increases energy and drives people into action. A clearly articulated vision also increases ownership and ‘gives people the freedom to strive for maximum quality – true excellence”.

In addition, a clear vision helps a leader in occasions of uncertainty to make explicit and precise direction in spite of limited information and unpredictable outcomes. Effective team leaders understand that vision leaks and they stand ready to recast the vision before the team whenever necessary.


Character counts
A good team leader understands that not only must he have a clear vision, he must possess the second quality which is good character. Character is defined as the ‘will to do what’s right even when it is hard’.

Character produces trust and makes you a leader worth following. Leaders who lack character cannot be counted on to perform consistently. When there is inconsistency, it damages a leader’s influence and hampers his ability to lead the team. But when a leader’s character is strong, people trust him to lead and help them release their potential. This arouses hope in the future and promotes a confidence in themselves and the team.

John Maxwell is right when he says that people buy into the leader before buying into the vision. In a Christian context where most teams are made up of volunteers, it is on the basis of the leader’s moral authority that makes people buy into the vision. When they do, the team will follow their leader no matter how bad the conditions are because they know they can trust him.


Empowerment
The last essential quality of a leader is the ability to empower his team members. A team’s capacity to achieve is determined by their leader’s ability to empower. Team leaders must dedicate themselves to setting up their team for victory. This is not possible if he takes the best opportunities, assignments, and credit for himself. When a leader doesn’t empower others, he creates barriers within the team and limits the growth of the members.

A good team leader however, gives his people the permission to take up responsibility and allowing their gifts and talents to flourish. He provides the resources, the encouragement and direction to help his team members reach their potential. Jesus sent out his disciples to practice what he taught them and when they came back, encouraged, corrected and remaindered them of the big picture. (Luke 10) He leads by lifting his disciples up and doing whatever it takes to set them up for victory. Likewise, an empowering leader creates an environment of opportunity, responsibility, accountability and trust.


These are what I think are the 3 basic qualities of Team Leaders. My prayer is that I continually grow in them and become a better leader for the people God has entrusted me.

Leo

The Most Expensive Day of Our Lives

Yesterday Cass and I were on leave. We went out shopping, got a Tee-shirt, both a haircut and then bought a House.

Typical day.


O.M.Gosh!!!! We bought a house!!!! Cassilda and I are today, proud owners ofa-next-to-the-MRT-and-interchange-NTUC-swimming-pool 4-RM HDB flat!!! We got it! Praise the Lord!

This is a follow-up from the previous post below and a testimony to our Father in Heaven who have graciously granted Cass and myself a home to build our future together. Words cannot express the joy and the gratitude we feel towards Abba.

Taking Care of Business
When we first started out this whole marriage preparation process, we decided that we would continue to put God and His work first. It has always been that way with us and we saw no reason why our service to Him should get any less because we were preparing for our marriage.

We prayed to God and told Him that we were going to take care of His business and that we would trust Him to take care of ours and I tell you, it has been really like that so far throughout our preparations.

Whether it was finding a banquet restaurant, a bridal package, a bridal Car or the church, what had usually taken months and months for many couples we know, was settled faster than you can say "I do". I can't even begin to tell you of all the small miracles and extraordinary arrangements that has transpired, the only thing I can say is that it was very obvious that God's hand has been in it.


Finding a Home
Our new Home will always be a reminder of God's providence. The HDB flats in question are the new ones build right next to the Bedok Central.

For years, Cass and I will walk past the construction site talking about how nice for anyone to live here. Never in our wildest imagination would we expect to one day do so. These blocks of flats are under the SERS programme meaning it was meant for Enbloc-ed people. So whatever is left after they had chosen would be put of for public ballot.

Home Delivery
The Ballot was in January. Cass and I decided to give it a shot. It was our very first ballot. We submitted and prayed like mad. (see below for the prayer we prayed). We prayer- walk the void decks, lay hands on pillars etc. We wanted those block of flats because it was near the MRT and bus interchange. This was important to us because we wanted our home to be a place where we can host people for Cells, parties, get to gethers, meetings or just hang outs. We felt that living near the MRT would make a huge difference to people coming.

After that, we balloted another time in feb for another site but came up 9700 over! The results of the January ballot was due out in April. And when April came, out of the 199 4-Rm flats that were available, our queue number was 196!!

We couldn't believe our eyes!! This was our first ballot! Charles Yee later told us that he knew couples that waited for 3 - 4 years before they could even get a number so close - and we got it on our first try!!

So it was very obvious that God was taking care of things for us. So yesterday, we went down to HDB to choose our flat - there were more than 40 flats to choose from and we even got our first choice of what was available.

Because it was a new flat, everything could be paid by CPF and we didn't have to fork out any cash at all, which means we have the means to pay for our wedding, renovations and furnishings. Not only did we save money but we saved all the time and hassle needed dealing with agents and scouting around for resale flats.

Our doorsteps were delivered to erm...our doorsteps. just like that. And now we would live within walking distance of both our parents' home. Perfect.

To top it all off, the block we chose was one of the few ones that had keys already available, which means we can actually start renos, if we choose to, in 3 months!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! All our friends who had experienced buying property are amazed. Us, the most.

Gratitude
Cass and I want to thank God from the bottom of our hearts. It has been beyond obvious that He had indeed hear our prayer and moved on our behalf. The best part is that we have never, till now, had to let up on our involvement in ministry - everything have been given unto us, as we put His kingdom first.

"Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever." Ps 23:6

We want to give God all the glory and encourage you in your faith. Seek First the Kingdom of God and the rest shall be added unto you. Give God His due and God will give back to you, turn the water into wine! Don't let up in your pursuit of Him and His kingdom, take care of His business and He will take care of yours!

Praise you Lord!


Black Tee shirt, $39
Haircut at Kelly's, $60
4 Rm-HDB Flat at Bedok, $322,300

Knowing that your heavenly Father is taking care of you?

Priceless...



Leo


Postscript- Cassilda and I would like to thank everyone who has prayed for us. Your prayers have yielded a blessing beyond measure. We are very very grateful to you. Stay tune for the housewarming! 8)

Prayer for a 4-Rm HDB Flat

Written on January 29, 2008 at 1:26am

Dear God,

I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ, whose blood washed away my sin and guilt and I stand before you without condemnation or fear. I know you are my Father and Jesus is my brother. Even my desire to come before you in supplication comes from you. I am, before you but a beggar. To whom do I turn to if not You?

So I ask, Lord that you grant me a 4-room flat in Bedok for me and Cassilda to live out our soon-to-be sacrament of marriage. I prefer that the ballot we put in last week yields a favourable result. If not the ballot, then somewhere and some means that is better. I remember how you arranged for Cassilda and I to stay side by side in Hills so I can see no reason why you won't take care of our lodgings again.

Here are some reasons why I feel you should answer this request.

1. Both Cassilda and I want desire to live out our lives to glorify you and make your Name be Hallowed by as many people as possible. A home that you give us will be surrendered to that end as well. We hope to use the home to show hospitality to people, a place of refuge to others. We want to share, teach and listen to people and to help them develop their relationship with you in our home when we use it for cell groups. We can host get-togethers, meetings, prayers or counselling.


2. Should the ballot fall on someone else and they get the flat, there is no telling what they will do with it. We on the other hand want to use the flat to live out of sacramental life to serve others and glorify you. The flat we are balloting is very near the Bus interchange and MRT station, thus it makes it more convenient for others to drop by. And I really think that makes a difference.


3. Both Cassilda and I have been serving you faithfully all through this years. Even if you do not grant us this prayer, we will still continue to serve you because that is what You deserve. But please look upon our faithfulness, our desire for you, Heavenly Father and reward what you see. We have given the best of our youth to you and we will continue to give the best of our remaining years. You are Faithful God and all good things come from you.


4. It is our desire that we raise up children that fear and love you. We are willing to accept from your hands, children that you bless us with. We hope to have a home by then to be good parents and steward your gifts of life well. We pray that our children will be strong and wise in the Lord.


5. It is my desire, Lord, that I can provide a place of security and protection to my lovely wife to be. She is your greatest earthly gift to me and I thank you that you have entrusted her security and protection to me. As you will for me to do - protect her and treat her tenderly - a home is important to that end. To live out our vocation and deepen our intimacy with each other as husband and wife.


6. Because you can, Lord. As you promised in your Word:

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. Ps 16:5

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. Proverbs 16:33

For what is man's lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high? Job 31:2


At the end of the day Lord, we want a home that can be canvas on which we can paint a picture of Your presence and goodness to all who stay or visit. If possible, may we get our flat through the ballot, but not our will but yours be done.

In Jesus' Name. Amen.


written on January 29, 2008 at 1:26am



Postscript: Cassilda and I want to testify of God's love and power. On the 5th of April, we received our ballot results. Out of the 2400-plus applicants for the 199 units of 4 room flats at Bedok, we got a queue Number of 196! (this means we got it!!!!)

We want to praise God from the bottom of our hearts for His great gift and providence. For hearing our prayer and taking care of us and our future together! Thank you God! All glory to You!

Thoughts on Catechism

They say that insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. I’ve lose track of the number of times someone has pointed out the fact that out of the thousands youths who get confirmed each year, only an handful continue to serve and contribute actively to the church. Yet year after year we continue to see the same agonizing results

If the Holy Trinity is one of the greatest mysteries of the church, why our catechesis seem to bearing so little lasting fruit probably comes as a close second.

The emphasis I find in today’s catechism, (having also been through the system) is to present the reasonableness of the faith. Somehow, Catholicism has been reduced to a system of propositional truths.

In my opinion, it seems like orthodoxy is the chief end of catechism. So at the end of the whole system, you have an entire generation of young people who know the right things but don’t care a thing about them. If they did, we will see many more young people directing their time, energy and creativity into building the church. But the fact is – many don’t. Its merely a result of reaping what we sow. Don’t expect apples trees if you planted durian seeds.

I would know. I went through the same system myself. I stood on my confirmation day like proud graduates, waiting for it to finish so I could have my Saturdays back to do the things I cared for – like shopping, clubbing and hanging out with friends. So here I was, with the ability to recite the 7 sacraments, the ten commandments, the corporal works of mercy and the names of the 12 apostles and all I could think about was visiting the latest club in town. Did I know the faith? Sure. Did I care?

Nope.
I was a believer alright. The same way I believed that hydrogen exist because someone taught me that it exist and that’s part of how we get water and air. But whether it has any real implication on my life and how I lived it – nothing.

Simply put. I didn’t care. Most of our young people are bored with Catholicism.

Sometimes it is more important to change what people care about than what they believe. We have many young people who believe all the right things but don’t care a thing about it. But you can’t care for something without believing in it.


The question I think that needs to be asked at the core of catechisis is this:

“Is God a belief to be remembered or
a Person to be experienced?”

The answer given to this question I believe will profoundly impact the paradigm on which the entire catechsis of our young people is build upon.

One’s faith, one’s concern and expression of it is directly proportional to the position Jesus takes in one’s life. Let me state it every clearly: There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing God.

Much of my experience in going for catechism is like the experience of the poet E.T Elliot who one day walks past a bakery and sees a sign hanging outside that says “Fresh hot loafs for $1.00” He excitedly walks in hoping to be greeted with the aroma and warmth of freshly baked bread only to find the entire shop selling shelves and shelves of the exact copies of the sign outside that says “fresh hot loafs for $1.00’.

Sadly, my own experience of catechism and church resemble that bakery too much. We hang our signs outside of church saying that God can be found yet most of the time young people leave unfulfilled. Something is not altogether right or we are missing something.
Why are we so reluctant to grow young souls takes deep breaths of God’s goodness or to let people savor the person of Christ? Why do we hold God away at arms length when Jesus himself said, “suffer the children come to me?” Why are afraid to allow people to intimately experience Him?

While it is important that truths (orthodoxy) be communicated, we have to remember that the Holy Spirit who reveals himself as Fire is both light (Truth) and warmth (Affections). Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full of indifferent Christians. Emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates flaky people who reject the discipline of rigorous thought. True Religion comes from people who are deeply emotional about God and who love deep and sound doctrine. I feel this should be the aim of religious formation.

Truth is not an idea. It is a Person.
These are just my random thoughts, what do you think?

Leo


P.s : I would like to thank all my Catechism Teachers especially Joseph Tan and Jerry Kasiler (from OLPS) who more than taught me the faith, incarnated it for me. You planted the seeds and laid the conduits for the Holy Spirit to touch me in a very deep way some years later. Thank you for putting up the noisy and rebellious student I was. Thank you for not giving up.

.









.

.







.

The Amplify Culture & Core Values


Culture is the most important social reality in our community. Though invisible to the untrained eye, its power is undeniable. Culture gives colour and flavour to everything we our community is and does. Like a powerful current running through, it can move us inland or take us further out into sea. Have a unhealthy culture and it can prevent our community from ever realizing our mission, or be used by the spirit. If we build a healthy culture, it can draw others in and reproduce healthy spiritual life along the way. Culture matters and the primal essence of leadership is to create and shape it.

An important tool is shaping culture in Amplify is our 8 Core Values. These Core values inform our culture, decisions and aspirations of our community for the last 4-5 years.

Here they again, in a shorten-to-the point form with key questions: G.R.A.C.E.S.I.S



God-treasuring Life
Cultivating a life that pursues God and places Him as the chief purpose and highest good of our lives

Is your relationship with God growing?
Are your priorities consistent with the Word of God?




Relevant Environments
Every environment should be designed to effectively connect with its target audience.

Are our environments appealing, engaging, and helpful?



Authentic Community
Creating a culture of acceptance, accountability, care and honesty. We believe spiritual growth happen best with relationally-connected believers.

Are you investing in friendships within the community?




Character Transformation
Becoming like Jesus in our thoughts, word, deed and attitudes to live the kind of life Jesus lived.

Are you producing the fruits of the Spirit in your private and public life?




Excellence in Ministry
We believe that excellence honors God and inspires people.

Are you giving God and people your very best in ministry?




Supernatural
Fostering a faith that believes in the supernatural manifestations of God

Are you operating in the Charismatic Gifts of the Holy Spirit to meet the needs of others?




Strategic Service
Serving either in an area of need or an area of gifting in support of the Mission and Strategy of Amplify with the understanding that needs must always take precedence.

Where are you serving?




Intentional Apprenticing
We are responsible to pass along to others the knowledge, skills, and opportunities that have been entrusted to us.

Who are you apprenticing?

The Pursuit of Happyness


It is observed that the people who always want to be happy and pursue it above all else are some of the most miserable people in the world.

The reason is that happiness is a result. It is sometimes the result of having good things happen. But usually, it is the result of our being in a good place inside ourselves and our having done the character work we need to do so that we are contented and joyful in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.

Happiness is a fruit of a lot of hard work in relationships, career, spiritual growth and a host of other arenas of life, like in a marriage.

Leaders' For Christ Convention


Recently I read a report on the Leaders' for Christ Convention organised by Saccreyouth of which I was privileged to also be a part of. It was very encouraging and I would like to share some personal thots on it.

I think we should do this convention more often. I think it really helps youth leaders in a very practical and encouraging way. I've been personally following up with a couple of the youth leaders who came for the sessions. Listening and talking thru some challenges they are facing. It has been good.

Really, any ministry can pull off a Big Event (Rally), with enough money, talent, prayer, trust in God and organizational ability. easily do-able, Heck, even Ad hoc committees can pull them off and have been doing so for as long as I know. (see last years' 070707)

But...how to build a youth ministry that last. How to affect incremental, consistent and lasting change in young people one-life-at-a-time? that takes wisdom, knowledge and understanding.


"By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established

through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength;

for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers."

Proverbs 24:3-6

If I were to try to point out what I think is the greatest quality the groups in Saccreyouth, individually and collectively have, it will be this:

Resilience.

The ability to last the distance and still continue to bear fruit. Even if it's in ebb and flows, there is a strong sense of mission and purpose. This produces resilience. With that - experience, wisdom and knowledge that comes from simply the refusal to give up, learn from mistakes and grow on!

In conferences like LFC, we get to share our real life experiences, lessons from mistakes and offer real help if not encouragement to youth leaders in parishes who are really struggling. This is something very few youth organizations can do.

You read the feed backcomments from the leader-participants, of the last LFC, you know - they are hungry for guidance! They don't need just another big ra ra event to give a temporary jolt - they need some people to come around them and advise them what they can do next week! How to handle that difficult youth. How to deal with the discouragement of low attendance. And how to conduct a core team meeting! Set goals for the year? How to start an intercessory team?

Give a boy a fish, feed him for a day, teach them to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

Conferences like LFC is an efficient and effective way to impact youth ministries at a grassroot level. But we must do it often enough to see visible results. So it gives youth ministries in Singapore something unique and useful to look forward to on a consistent basis. This may give Saccreyouth, the unique positioning in the Archdiocese that no other organizations can.

Any youth ministry can pull off big events. And we have lots of it through the year.

But it takes lasting ministries to raise lasting ministries.


Leo

In my weakness


Though God is an almighty lover, he can find himself shut out, and he longs to find an open door of vulnerability in us. It is extraordinarily hard for us to realise this, conditioned as we are by a secular ethic of success and a religious ideal of moral perfection, which may owe little to the gospel.

God calls us, implants his life in the deepest centre of our being at baptism, and loves us into growth. He does not propose to us some lofty, rigid ideal to which we must attain by our own unaided human resources. We are more sinful than we know, more deeply flawed than we can recognise by any human insight; but grace works in us in the deepest places of body and spirit. We must live from our weakness, from the barren places of our need, because there is the spring of grace and the source of our strength, as Paul discovered: "When I am weak, then I am strong." When we can stand before God in the truth of our need, acknowledging our sinfulness and bankruptcy, then we can celebrate his mercy. Then we are living by grace, and we can allow full scope to his joy.

For many of us it is difficult to live honestly from this place of failure and weakness. Even if we know with our heads we should, we may still slip back into the old attitudes and behave as though God were expecting us to succeed and making his love conditional upon our achievements. If we have become hardened in such an attitude it may take some deep experience of failure to disabuse us.

When a crisis occurs I may find in myself the sheer moral impossibility of obeying God. It is not simply a matter of emotional rebellion, or of knowing that "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak"; the will itself is unwilling. I am rebellious to the core and do not even want to want God's will. Perhaps I can push it one stage further from me, and say with a kind of tortured effort, "I want to want to want your will," and then ask myself if there is even a grain of honesty or good will in that. I am helpless; and as the father of the epileptic boy cried out to Jesus, "I do believe, help my unbelief," so I can only say to God, "I am rebellious down to my roots, help me."

Here, as we teeter on the edge of despair, beset by every kind of temptation and feeling as though we had already fallen, the Spirit is released. This is his own place, the deepest place of our being where he is wedded to our spirit, where he can act and give life, where he can free us from all that hampers the true thrust of our will. God himself creates our freedom; he gives us freedom as his continuing gift of love, and he alone can influence it from within, in no way violating or diminishing it.

Entombed Lazarus is a sign not simply of a certain group of people who have obviously closed their hearts against Jesus, but of each one of us. In this hopeless situation, where you are nothing but stark failure, you know the miracle of grace. This tomb is the place of resurrection, and if you believe, you will see the glory of God."


(Maria Boulding OSB, Gateway to Hope, London 1985, pp.109 - 10)

It's Too Late to Apologise
How can I reconcile with my loved one when he or she has no desire to?


The word 'reconcile' means two people getting together to work out issues, differences and problems. So if one party is not willing to do so, it is impossible. But there are things I've found I can do to make it easier for it to happen.


1. Give up the desire to be seen as right or as a good person. Whatever your spouse/loved one feel about you, whether she feels hurt, betrayed, stop trying to show you are good and begin to enter into her world.


2. Arrange a meeting, or an email where you can say to her, "I want to know what it is I've done and how that made you feel, how it affected you."


3. As she tells you, don't say anything. Give her her day in court. Let her say it all out. What the hurt was, what it felt like. And you don't say anything. Don't defend, edit or correct. Don't say what's not true or real or your version of the story. Just LISTEN! Let her pour her heart out about what you did. (or didn't do.)

This is not the time for truth or clarification. Its about her experience and feelings of her own reality. Its seeking to sincerely understand not to be understood.


5. A lot of the time, when one party feels like he or she is listened to and understood, it makes it easier to build a bridge for reconciliation.


6. On then you can talk about what is true, how much is communication or perception problem. Then apologise what need to be apologised. Stop the fault finding, who's right or wrong. Whatever is true, well, apologise sincerely for it and see what needs to change.


7. Commit yourself to working on change so the relationship can grow. And do the hard work that it takes. Don't underestimate the effort and time it really takes to change. But do so because you can become a better person and not just so you can save the relationship.


I've found this way useful when there is a distant in a relationship. I've found that it goes a long way in helping to work towards reconciliation.

I just want to say is that I think the most important step is for me to stop trying to be in the right. And thats tough. Especially when I really think I am. But I know many people who win the argument but end up losing the marriage, the relationship.

Is it really worth it?


Leo

Things I've learnt about prayer


1. Prayer is intentionally conveying a message to God.


2. Its possible to pray without words. Sometimes when we are speechless before God, the Spirit in us prays - 'in groaning too deep for words'.



3. It pleases God that we ask. God is never too busy to listen. He is always in total control of the universe. His prayer cache never crashes, his inbox is never too full. And He reads all our mails.



4. We should complain to God. Ps 24 'I pour out my complain before God'. Our heart complain and doubt God anyway, the least we can do is do it in his face. Classic example, "God, help my unbelief'.

Hey, He knows what is in our heart anyway, might as well come clean and not add to the sin of unbelief, the sin of hypocracy.



5. Prayer should be unceasing.
Wake up in the morning, press the green 'call' button on your heavenly handphone to God. Then press 'speaker mode' on and don't press the red 'end call' button. Leave it on the whole day and go about your business. Mindful that the speaker is on and God can hear you and you can hear God. Keep the conversation going. That's praying without ceasing.



6. If God doesn't answer the prayer that I have made, He will answer the prayer that I should have made.

"there was given me a thorn in my flesh...Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:6-9



7. God only answer prayers that are according to His will. Before we bring our request before God, we need to ask ourselves, 'why am I asking for this?" Is what I'm asking for in alignment with what I know to be God's purposes?


8. When in prayer, you are in doubt about God's will for a particular situation, it is okay to present to God what you think it's best, in the light of His known purposes. Give Him the reasons why you think He should answer your prayer in this way. Then tell God that if there is another way He thinks its better, then He should to do that instead.

"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."




9. What kind of requests God will not answer?

God in us.

God in us! But He doesn't take over as would be His right as God. It is for us to turn our heart-house over to Him.

As we do He changes us.

A Vision for Amplify.



I would like to share my vision for Amplify and CSC. The reason why I am so optimistic about dreaming big because I know we have a Big God and great people in Amplify. I know if we put our shared efforts, experience and enthusiasm, there is nothing we cannot achieve.

We need to create environments that are relevant and attractive to Young people. Make inroads to their hearts before so we can later share God with them.


This entry is a re-post of an entry I did in May 2006. Its has been coming two year already and much in Amplify has changed since then, Praise the Lord!


This posting is especially for the wonderful youth leaders who attended the Team Leadership Workshop at the Leaders for Christ Convention. (Hi guys! Add me on facebook to stay in contact!) Cheering you on!



Thank God It's Friday!

Imagine.

CSC is such an quaint old place. Which means it has an incredible charm about it if we can spruce it up.

Think 'CHIJMES. '

A beautifully restored place that blends the modern and the old resulting in an environment of absolute wonder and charm. In CSC, fix up colored spotlights on trees, light them up with electric pink, smooth blue and lively green. Wash stairs and walls with a touch of color. Darken the place and release an array of lights and color, sights and sounds. Irresistable.


A beautiful balcony we have that overlooks the field. Can it not become a site for a Cafe? Serving up designer coffee enjoyed with chill out furniture, a blend of conversation and a touch of pool and cues. A tea light on every table, cane chairs, a solo guitarist and whiffs of cookie and cream. A charming setting patroned from 6pm to midnight? The young and old can hang out before prayer meeting and chill out after that? Amplify partners adorn aprons, serving in cheerful labour. Why not?


How about wireless internet? X-boxes? Manicure. Board games. Why just settle for a prayer meet? Make it an experience. Get young people down and half the battle is won. Provide an alternative to clubbing and other unsavoury places. A night of Praise and Worship, lively relevant talks, video presentations, Dance and Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. A place where God meets real life.


I imagine a huge crowd of young people gathering at the ghrotto, praying the rosary before meeting starts. Our talks recorded and podcasted on the internet. I see young people hanging out and bringing their friends and colleagues.


"I didn't know church could be like that."



It can. If we make it happen.







Saturday Surprise!

Saturday, awash in daylight brings myraid possibilites. CSC transforms into a youth Centre. The cafe business still opens. Leadership Meetings can be held at dawn. Ministry training can happen at noon. Band practices or cell groups.

Nothing new. Think further.

But what about a tution centre? Can the massive wood tables we have be converted into a study corner? Can those of us, with higher education offering free tution? Maths, Chinese, Econs etc. What about All-nighters? Man the Cafe through the night, offering fresh hot brews to students cramming for their exams?

And if Coffee is not enough to boost confidence, the Adoration Room is always open for last minute supplications!


What about screening movies or a monthly flea market?


What about football matches? We have a wonderfully big field for all our sporting needs. Interchurch soccer? Paintball?


What about a Speaker's Club? A Christian Toastmaster's Club to help young people build confidence in public speaking and raise more youth speakers.


What about a counselling centre where youths can talk about their problems in an open and friendly environment? Can more of us be able to get ourselves trained in counselling?


Worship workshops, baking classes, leadership conferences. Poetry Recite, Art explosions, guitar classes. What can't we do?


What about a Day where youths can spend the whole day with host of activities to enjoy and partake? Or a launching place for missions and acts of justice?


Imgaine the friendships can we form and the influence we can have with young people to lead them slowly to Jesus who inspires us to make all these happen?



There is so much we can do to reach out to young people. We need to look beyond simply the platform and prayer meetings. I know not all of us are called to be a speaker or a worship leader or an event planner, but surely we can put on an apron and a smile on your face to serve coffee? What about a Pool ministry or an X-box ministry? Tution ministry? Sports?

Any inroads to the hearts of young people, we can create, let's do it.

Amplify's Vision is make CSC an Epicenter of Youth Spiritual Awakening. And it starts with us making inroads. "Become all things to all men to save some." The possibilites are endless. We need more people to come forward with fresh ideas and make them happen. Rise up, initiate and take lead and make dreams come true.

Anyone want to join me?


leo

If God is good, why is there evil and suffering?

There is no question that the world is filled with an appalling amount of evil and suffering. We are impacted by this reality every day on all levels: emotional, intellectual and practical. As such, it is not surprising that people have a difficult time reconciling this harsh reality with the idea of an all good, all powerful God.

According to Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli’s Handbook of Christian Apologetics, the problem can be summed up by the apparent contradiction between the following four propositions:

1) God exists

2) God is all good

3) God is all powerful

4) Evil exists.

If we affirm any three of these propositions, it seems we must reject the fourth. For example, if we accept that God exists, is all good and that evil exists, we must reject the idea that God is all powerful, otherwise He would put a stop to evil. Or, if God exists and is all powerful and yet evil also exists, then God must not be all good, because He wills or allows evil to exist.

Kreeft and Tacelli suggest five possible responses to this problem.

o Atheism solves the problem by denying proposition one, that God exists.

o Pantheism, the belief that God is everything and that everything is God, denies proposition two and allows that God could be both good and evil.

o Polytheism, the belief in many gods, denies proposition three, and reduces God to just one of many gods.

o Idealism, the belief that reality is a product of the mind, rejects proposition four and states that evil is just an illusion.

o Christianity, on the other hand, affirms all four principles and denies that there is any inherent contradiction between them.

How is the Christian solution possible?
Because it is always feasible that God could have a good reason for permitting evil; a reason of which we are not aware. And as long as this is logically possible, there is no contradiction between the existence of an all good, all powerful God and the existence of evil. Just because we may not be able to figure out what that reason is does not mean it does not exist.

However, God has not left us completely in the dark.

This world is clearly not the best of all logically possible worlds, but it is the best world God could create given His commitment to create genuinely free creatures like us. Free creatures are the only beings who can love and experience love. Since one of God’s main purposes in creating us was to have a reciprocal love relationship with us, God created the best of all actually achievable worlds. God cannot make people freely choose to good or freely love Him. If He makes them do it, they are not free. If they are genuinely free, then He can’t make them do it. That would be a contradiction.

Therefore, the possibility of free creatures choosing evil is not something God can control without eliminating free will. And a free will is not just a nice addendum on human nature, it is an integral part of who we are. This being the case, if God were to eliminate evil, He would also be eliminating free will. And in doing so, God would be perpetrating the most horrendous evil of all: the annihilation of the human race.

Moreover, God has done something about the problem of evil and suffering.

For most people the problem of evil is not an intellectual problem, but an emotional one. They want to know why God allows evil and suffering. When they can’t get a satisfactory answer, they become angry. They don’t like a God who would permit them or others to suffer. This is not an atheism of refutation, but of rejection. A child who is hurting needs reassurance, not an intellectual explanation. Atheism cannot supply this reassurance. It does not reduce suffering one bit-it just removes hope. In an atheistic universe, there is no ultimate accountability or justice. Evil people will get away with what they’ve done.

But in the Christian worldview, God has done something about evil in the person of Jesus Christ. He does not just say, “Okay, I created you. Now prepare to suffer!” He has given us a clue, a deposit, a down payment that He does have good reasons for allowing evil and that He does have a greater good in store. By appearing in human form, He showed us that we could trust Him. And what did He do while He was here? He suffered!

Jesus endured a suffering beyond all comprehension. He bore the punishment for the sins of the entire world! For all the evil that everyone of us from the beginning of our species has perpetrated, He paid the penalty. None of us can comprehend that suffering. Though he was innocent, He voluntarily took upon Himself the punishment we deserve. And why? Because He loves us. It is like He was saying, “I know you don’t understand why I permit every evil. It’s not possible for you to understand yet. But just to show you that you can trust me, I’m going to suffer with you.”

When we comprehend his sacrifice and love for us, it puts the problem of evil in an entirely different perspective. We see clearly that the true problem of evil is the problem of our evil. Filled with sin and guilt before God, the question we face is not how God can justify himself to us, but how we can be justified before Him. And it is through Christ’s payment for our evil by his death on the cross that we can be justified before God. Through Him we have forgiveness.

Many Christians will also testify that Christ provides inner resources to cope in the midst of difficulty and suffering. He promises that He causes all things to work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28).

Ultimately, He promises victory over death, the ultimate evil. Those who genuinely choose to accept and receive his forgiveness will rise from the dead with a transformed, immortal, imperishable body to be with him forever (1 Corinthians 15:42, 52). Death, pain and suffering have been dealt a fatal blow; they have suffered a crucial defeat.

So paradoxically, God is not banished because of the problem of evil, rather God himself is the solution.

(extract from: 'The power to change.com")

Recently I learnt...


1. that I need to give people the permission to fail. I seem to be more patient with myself than other people.


2. that its easier to be patient with people when you know they are also being patient with you.


3. that sometimes I love God only to the degree I feel he loves me. That at the end of the day, my love for God is not centred on His infinite value but that He makes me feel good about myself.

I love God in a self-centred way. Which makes me an (oxy)moron.


4. that by the grace of God and the passion of a people committed to a cause, nothing is impossible.


5.that fixing my eyes on Jesus requires discipline. I need to train my spiritual eye to focus on Jesus and not on the worries of the world.


6.that I am only as close to God as I choose to be


7. that discouragement is a result of seeing something in a negative way.


8. that simply being positive encourages people around me.


9. that I became a better leader the day I gave up trying to prove myself.


10. that prayer takes hold of the invisible and fasting lets go what is visible.


11. that repeating a matter separates even the closest friends.


12. that running a ministry with 20 people is very different from running one with 50. It requires a new courage, new perspectives and greater reliance on God and Teamwork.


13. that great leaders get more out their people because they think more of their people. They see what their people can become.

sian.