Ministry Update 091109: Leaving on a Jet Plane

This morning I submitted my resignation. Never expected it to be so difficult. After all, I’ve cried myself buckets of tears through the months. I suppose it’s because I’ve grown too attached to the work, the people, and a bit too comfortable with the familiar. But it’s time to move on. And I must admit that I’m a bit fearful taking that delicate step onto the uncharted waters. However, the scope, prospects, potentials are way too enormous and exciting. Maybe it’s because I’ve not seen a solid team yet and that’s why I’m fearful. But I have a God who is faithful and that is enough. More than that is knowing that God had brought several brothers and sisters to come alongside me along the long months of waiting and discerning.

I’m leaving MBTS in early December. Although initially planned to start with the new ministry on 1st January, there are apparently some administrative procedures that requires some preparations and I can only officially be admitted 1st March. So I have a longer time to myself, to visit my students’ ministry and attend to some personal matters. However, January I have 2 one-week class in Kuching and in Penang to occupy me and February is CNY month. Not much break actually, come to think of it!

Please join me to pray for this transition period. November is pretty filled with preaching/teaching engagements. Just preached at AIMC last Sunday, my first experience preaching at 2 services and being interpreted into mandarin and hokkien! This week is filled with activities in campus, culminating with the graduation service this Friday. Then next Thursday, a team of us will travel to Gopeng for a 2-day trip to conduct the second module of PLK training. We return on Saturday afternoon and I have a preaching engagement the next day, Sunday. December, the holiday month but I have a preaching engagement plus a speaking engagement at a youth camp.

Once again, friends…I thank you for your partnership in ministry.

PS: anyone familiar with GPS unit/know someone who does? Can advice me on this? M planning to get a unit to help me familiarize with Ipoh as I’ll be travelling frequently there. Perhaps someone wants to upgrade to a better unit, you can pass me your old unit ;)

Ministry Update October 2009

It has been a time of waiting and as a norm for many urbanites, it is also a very trying season. Because we are simply impatient creatures. So, this is my situation right now. Yet, prospects are promising. There had been both positive and negative responses to the new work I am initiating with a team of OA pastors. And right now is to know when to do what at the right “kairos” moment. Sounds exciting? Well, it is also pretty “fearful” for me as I need to know how and when to walk on the delicate steps of uncharted waters. I am happy for the many brothers and sisters that the Lord had bought into my path to offer input and partnership. The Malay proverbial saying is true; tak kenal maka tak cinta. Because unless one truly love and is burdened for the OA community, every effort will only be a possible failure. But if you are burdened, then every effort is a possibility to success. I know many good-intentioned advices that served as a precaution, yet, the truth is still this: ministry requires risks. If we dare not take the risk, we exhibit our lack of trust in the God who called us.

Last week was a week of class with 8 students ministering to the OA community. Some of them are based in the interior while some in the big cities. When I was preparing the course, cross-cultural ministry, I was a bit skeptical on how relevant the course is to the students. But after a whole week, I can confidently conclude that it is. Bringing it against the background context of our nation, the course was designed for every minister to go beyond racial lines and the understanding of cultures for an effective ministry is important. A lot was exchanged in the classroom. Knowledge, culture, understanding, dreams, prospects, etc. Also discussed was the forbidden hushed-hushed topic of church governance and politics. Well, I did say there was an exchange of many sorts! But this is relevant to me as I liaise with the various church/denominations to consolidate efforts in ministry to the OA community around the Cameron Highlands region.

There are not much activities planned in October. I’ve been asked to sit in a class my dissertation supervisor will be teaching in late October. Apart from that is grading of papers and planning for PLK. Also a lot of prayers to discern the next steps. I am a bit sad recently when I heard of some brewing problems in a local church. Sadder still to know that there is a possibility that the whole congregation may dissolve. Well, God has His ways to churn out faithful disciples. Often, we cannot comprehend it.

I have two preaching engagements in November (in a Methodist church and in a Lutheran church) besides a weekend class at PLK in Gopeng. Funny, as I observe. I am indeed moving mainly in the traditional church circles! Then December will approach before we prepare to bid farewell to 2009. Join me in prayer as we partner each other to be effective in what we do to honor God in Malaysia. Once again, I thank you for your partnership in ministry.

Ministry Update: A Historic Moment

Last weekend was the soft launch of PLK Semenanjung. PLK, or, Pusat Latihan Kristian is a joint initiative to establish a training center for the indigenous community around the region of Cameron Highlands. It was birthed last year when I was chatting with a group of students and realized we share the same vision and passion to develop the indigenous community in a holistic manner. So, what is PLK? It is an organization to train Christian leaders to be credible individuals in the church and an effective Christian witness in the community. It will take a modular approach where students will come for a full day study. Upon completion of 12 modules, they will receive a certificate. A module will be offered once every two months and will cover three areas: Basic Bible Knowledge, Ministry Skills, and Living Skills. Last Saturday, we conducted a class on Christian leadership and the next module will be held in November for Church administration. 6 participants turned up. Although the number was lesser than anticipated, we are happy because those who were present were very hungry for training. We are also happy with the participation because we realized we failed to publicize the school adequately and planning should be better organized. The venue was at Hosana Church in Kampong Pawong and meals were prepared by church members. For the next module, we will hold it at an unused kindergarten belonging to the Methodist church in Gopeng town itself. Although this venue may incur some additional expenses, the facilities are better; there are classrooms, bedrooms, tables/chairs, etc.

The organizing committee of PLK includes me, 2 OA pastors from the Anglican Church, and 2 OA pastors from the Methodist Church. Our partners include individuals from various church denominations that share the conviction to minister in raising the OA community in Peninsular Malaysia. At present we are seeking a church/Christian organization to adopt our work so that we have an accountability in terms of spiritual coverage and financial assistance. We realized that for any effort to grow efficiently, we must have someone focusing on the effort on a full-time basis. I pray that I have the opportunity to fully work in this ministry. It will be the first of its kind in Malaysia where we are training Christians in a holistic manner that prepares them not only to be good Christians but also enable them to earn a living in an honest and profitable manner. The Malaysian church is indeed the responsible of Malaysian Christians.

Some time ago, I was asked why I want to invest in this ministry. After all, the training needed is only basic and I am pursuing a PhD. I was both upset and disappointed at such a question. Who decides which group of people deserves this and not that? Who decides but men ourselves? In God’s eyes we are all created equal and beautiful. Sure the OA community may not be as “intelligent” as we understand intelligent to be. But who are we to decide that they do not deserve something better? I know I can only lead people to where I have been. If I have the highest qualification, then that is as far as I can lead them to. And surely the OA community has the potential. They only need an opportunity and a little attention. Both of which our urban society failed to give them, because we consider them “not intelligent.” That is why we are starting this training center. The present training structures just do not minister to them and the curriculums offered are just not relevant. The approach of our center will have a two-tier training where pastors/senior pastors will be upgraded from their bachelor/diploma level to master level and they will be training the new candidates for a certificate/diploma level. At present, we seek the recognition of participating churches before we can actually acquire ATA accreditation which will need a lot of effort and a long journey. Better still if an existing Bible School can adopt us into their organization. Then, we can “ride” on their accreditation.

Please pray for us. Our Anglican partners will meet with their bishop with the proposal and pray with us for a favorable response to this ministry. Pray with us for the networking with other churches that have their own OA outreach in various places scattered throughout the region of Cameron Highlands. These include the Methodist, Lutheran, FGA, AOG, etc.

Pray with us for the next module in November. Also, please remember to pray for me and my role in this new, exciting ministry venture. There’s a lot of uncertainty but a lot of opportunity to grow in faith. If God gave me the passion and conviction for this work, He’s got to help me accomplish this task He’s given me. It is God-sized and a mere sinner like me is powerless to do anything apart from Him.

Please pray for me to make wise and Godly decisions with options available and also to have the faith to venture into unchartered waters for the glory of God in this nation, in this generation. I have a week of classes in MBTS in early October, PLK training module in November, a preaching engagement in November, a speaking engagement at a youth camp in December.

Thank you for your partnership in ministry.

Ministry Update September 2009

August was a busy month, filled with activities. But I enjoyed myself tremendously. I have come to feel so at home with the indigenous community. And it is truly both a privilege and honor that they accept me as one of them. In fact, they have become so much a part of me.

Pastors and student pastors from Sabah, Sarawak, and central Peninsular came for four weeks of classes. On the three weekends here, there were activities aimed to bond us as a community. The first two weekends were the gotong royong in campus. Despite the physical challenge to trim trees, cut branches, and other landscape tidy-up, it was a great time of community work. And I have the pictures to prove it. The third weekend, we chartered a school bus to take us to Gopeng. About 40 of us were divided into 4 teams and each of the teams went into villages in the interior of Perak. One team went to Kampong Pawong, another to Ulu Groh, another to Ulu Kampar, and the other to Kampong Kapayang. It was an exciting trip. Despite being just a weekend trip, it was truly enjoyable. All participants had fun encountering new challenges and environment. We arrived in Gopeng on Saturday afternoon and made our ways to the four villages, arriving late afternoon and relaxing indoors from the pouring rain outside. There were night meetings scheduled for Saturday and the usual Sunday morning worship. After the morning worship, each team made our way back to Gopeng for the Sunday afternoon worship. We arrived back in MBTS campus at about 10pm.

The amazing testimony is that God truly loves us. He held back the rain till everyone reached our destination. He answered the honest prayers from our hearts when we prayed for wild boar to be caught. I was with the team that went to Ulu Kampar. It was a village that required about 55 minutes’ hike through muddy, narrow pathways into the jungle. We walked along muddy paths with thick greeneries on both sides. It was drizzling and made the muddy paths even more slippery. We arrived at Kampong Ulu Kampar at about 3pm and the moment the last team member stepped on the church ground, the rain poured super heavily. It was as if God was holding back the rain till we arrived at our destination. With the heavy downpour that lasted more than an hour, water supply was cut. It was because the water source came from the jungle and somehow, water supply will be cut when it rain heavily. Minutes after we arrived, news came that two wild boars were caught in the trap. The guys were very excited because they had been praying for it. The ladies, Ps Madia and myself were arranged to spend the night in a church member’s home while the guys slept in the church. Actually, I was a bit disappointed at that arrangement, knowing that the guys would be barbequeing the wild boar head late at night for supper. And if we joined the guys, it’ll be improper to return to a host’s home at midnight! After the morning worship on Sunday, we made our ways back to Gopeng. Upon arriving at the church in Gopeng, there were leeches on the floor brought back by those of us who went into the jungle. I did not realize that I was one of those “carriers.” I was wearing a black track-pants and suddenly felt as if it was wet in my right knee. When I pull up my pants, it was so bloody. Apparently, I was bitten by a leech. I just wanted to run to the bathroom to remove all clothes and take a good shower. When I was in the bathroom, I removed my t-shirt only to find a leech sucking my blood right on my stomach! What an experience…2 love bites from jungle leeches!

We had a student joining us for the first time. He’s from Pulau Bintan near Singapore. He’s an Indonesian Chinese and wrote a very inspiring song for Malaysia. I must confess that the lyrics touched my heart so deeply because it really echoes my cry for God to heal our land. The video is posted in my facebook site. (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/SB.anakbangsaMalaysia?ref=profile)

Such talent, and I must add further that there are such talent among our own Sabah, Sarawak, and Peninsular students. I must further add that since my four weeks stay in the interior of Sabah in May, I have realized the vast potential in the Malaysian church. And it is this realization that prompted me to do more for them. And it became more attractive for me to invest into the Christian Training Center that I am initiating together with 2 Semai pastors. Jesus did not come to earth and stationed Himself in the city, requiring His followers to change their context in order to be His disciples. Instead, Jesus came and contextualized into our context to reach us at where we are and call us to be His disciples. Thus, the approach of our training center where we will go into the interior to reach the people, to teach them at where they are. In this approach, the teachers go into the interior to teach, instead of bringing the students out from their contexts. Please join us to pray for this God-sized project. It was last year when we were just chatting among ourselves when we realized we share the same burden to train the new generation of OA Christians and we devised this approach where we hope to raise the standard of the OA Christians from where they are, in their own context and familiarity.

September is a month for me to catch up on some paper work. There are term papers to grade, two preaching engagements, and two Saturdays to visit the new organization for me to get acquainted with. But I am still very hopeful for the Christian Training Center to take off through the network with another Seminary. I truly covet your prayers and your partnership in this huge dream. But I dare to dream it because I know I serve a big God.

Tough decisions

It was a real tough decision that I was confronted with. It took much effort and tears to decide to remain in the BM work. But whether or not it should be from the platform of MBTS is all together a different issue. I had the last straw recently. If the head of the organization is supportive but I have a terrible colleague, I think I can continue on. If the head of the organization is not supportive but I have a good colleague, I can still continue on. However, when the combination is an unsupportive head of organization and a terrible colleague, I think there's no way I can continue on. I will only be frustrated every single day. Yes, I very much want to remain in the BM work and yes, I am pursuing this passion but, no, I doubt it will be from the platform of MBTS. There's more than one way to serve and I am opting for another platform to continue serving in the BM ministry.

Recently, I requested for a RM600 subsidy for a weekend trip for the BM students and there's no news of it at all after three weeks. An advance for RM500 was quickly approved, almost without the second wink of an eye for a weekend trip which involve foreign students. I was truly devastated by such a response. I suggested that we should get to know the people we minister before implementing anything new and this terribly arrogant colleague just snapped at me claiming that he has 15 years of field experience and he knows all there is to know. I have no field experience at all. I'm only a Malaysian, living in Malaysia, ministering to Malaysians. Cannot compare to an American ministering in the Asian field more than a decade!

Call me hasty, call me emotional, call me whatever. But imagine yourself in my shoes. Can you continue to serve with joy in such a context? It is too sad for me to have to make this decision. Most of the BM students are here in campus now and I have to hide this from most of them till an appropriate time. Is really a tough decision. Please pray for me. I greatly appreciate your partnership in ministry.

Ministry Update August 2009

It was just this morning when I stepped out of the gate that a middle-aged man with graying hair and a huge pot belly called me. No, I could not recognize him. And he had to introduce himself. He was my senior in college back in UM. And gosh, he looked so different with that huge pot belly. We did not chat. It was just an exchange of greetings. I think he was offended because my first reaction was to exclaim that the person I knew was not so fat! And yes, just like my sister sms-ed to me, I knew how to spoil a person’s day…

I have the privilege and opportunity to connect back with old friends. And I am still wondering at the significance of the events that unfold. Suddenly, the Lord is reminding me of my past? Old friends from school and college came back into my life, one after another. There’s something about it that I just can’t put a finger on.

Last weekend I was in the OA villages. One significant evening service I heard the Lord speaking clearly into my heart. He asked me if I am willing to give this up? I was enjoying worship in the midst of our indigenous brothers and sisters. And at the back of my head was still this offer to leave this and take up a position that comes packaged in prestige, honor, respect, not to mention a comfortable pay check. No, I was not willing to give that up. Difficult as it may be, I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back…

The BM Module of STCM has started yesterday. Students from Sabah, Sarawak, and central Peninsular are all here. A few will come a bit later due to clashing demands in ministry. Please pray for us. The weekends will have the students do some gotong royong work in campus. They will climb trees, cut the branches, trim the grass, etc…Some of these stunts can be quite dangerous. Then the third weekend, everyone packs up for a weekend visit to the OA villages. They will be divided into several teams to visit several kampongs. The weekend before Merdeka Day, they will travel back home. A few will stay put a little longer to plan a Merdeka Day service concert with BMBC.

Please pray for me. Besides overseeing all activities, I’ll be teaching a class next week on the prophetic ministry in the modern church. Pray also for our trip to the OA villages. We are not getting any subsidy for this trip. And that truly upset me. Last year we got a subsidy because the BM students were needed to accompany other STCM students. This year we are on our own and my request for a subsidy has not been approved for almost 2 weeks now. I’m forgetting it. The Lord will know how to supply. And yes, I’m able to channel some blessing I received from a church in Ipoh to subsidize our activities.

In September there will be another visit to the OA villages in Simpang Pulai. This is a lay training seminar I am initiating with the local pastors. We are networking with several churches, including Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, FGA (Penang). Also work in progress is our network with the SIB and AG churches in Peninsular Malaysia. Please continue to pray for this next big wave that will hit the Malaysian church…the rise and revival of the BM congregations.

The Good of the Old…

FACEBOOK, it looks like I am pretty addicted to this social networking website. It is exciting to rekindle old friendships. For a start, I am not a person who keeps in touch through writing snail mails. I mean, gosh…that is like, so uncool. And the wait for replies, my…my hair grow white la. But wahlah…this is the electronic age. Once we have a person’s email address or hand phone number, we can send a message within seconds. Now this, me likey. Why…it’s because I am a super impatient person. Everything must move at the speed of light. And the LORD is teaching me difficult lessons on how I need to grow patience; after all, it is a fruit of the Spirit.

After more than twenty years, I met up with two former classmates. I must admit that I was a bit envious of them who have been in touch with old friends all these while. And they can keep track of who married who, what they are doing now, and which part of the world they are residing now. As they mentioned names, I can only stare at them blankly. I cannot recall more than half of them. Out of the familiar names, another half of them I have no mental picture of how they look like at all. It was great fun, taking that trip down memory lane but I came home pretty upset with myself. How come I cannot remember my classmates? How come my friends can recall how I use to kacau them but I have no recollection of that at all? I mean, this friend can even recall where I sat in class in primary school, my goodness…But the most saddening part for me is not remembering the list of names of my classmates. How pathetic I am…So, I tried to analyze myself. Why, and I kept asking myself, why can’t I remember my classmates? How come I am not in touch with anyone at all?

Well, I have my answer. I never looked back. Or rather, I failed to look back. I just kept going forward and continue moving forward without taking any effort to look back. At every stage, I met friends and when I move on, I made new friends, forgetting the old. That was me. Molded and conditioned by the world to be independent, the mark of a modern, urban individual – the self-made person. Pathetic, isn’t it? But praise God, I have a second chance through FACEBOOK to nourish my garden of friendships that had gone unattended for twenty over years. And why the Lord is offering me this opportunity? Because ministry is about people and people means relationship.

And I return to my favorite theory again…the significant 4-0 number. Hey, it is significant isn’t it? I mean it is the number of years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness. So, okay I have completed my 40 years of wandering in my spiritual wilderness. I am stepping into the Promised Land, tasting the goodness from the flow of milk and honey. Er hmm…not too good diet for middle age folks like me. Oops…well, age is relative, age is only numbers. But my body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The milk should be low fat and the honey not too sweet.

Okay, okay…I am just taking a break from the day long attempt at preparing my research proposal. It is funny that when you take a break from active study, it is so slow to build back the momentum.