Being ONE

Looking back in my past years ministry in RYC, I was blessed to have worked with so many kind of friends and unique + energetic young people. Selalunya orang berkata untuk memiliki team yang sama "kepala" alias minat benda yang sama atau karakter yang sama. I don't really agree with that. Having people yang sama kepala dlm ministry does help at certain times but it can cause problem in later days.

Sepanjang pelayanan saya di SIBKL Lake City, khususnya di RYC, saya bersyukur kerana Tuhan menghantar leaders yang memiliki karakter dan keunikan mereka tersendiri, ada yang intim, ada yang dominan, tidak kurang juga yang cermat dan stabil karakternya. Saya belajar untuk membawa setiap kami terfokus pada visi dan objective dari perjuangan pelayanan RYC dan bukannya konflik di daerah perbezaan pendapat dan pembawaan.

Sedih sekali melihat youth ministry, gereja2 atau organisasi yang pecah gara-gara gagal melihat visi yang sama. Masing-masing mempertahankan pendapat dan cara kerja masing-masing sehingga jemaat terkorban. And still, they're proud to call themselves leaders. Leaders yang bukannya dipimpin Tuhan untuk "membelah laut" (seperti musa) namun, leaders yang dipimpin oleh keegoan cita-cita masing untuk "membelah jemaat", "membelah gereja".

Gereja Tuhan di mana-mana banyak mendengar khotbah mengenai 1 Korintus 12:12-27 namun pratically, not everybody are living to it...saya sendiri masih diproses dalam hal kesatuan, ada hal tertentu yang saya masih lemah namun saya berusaha terus dan tidak akan mengalah kerana MENYESAL SEPARUH MATI kalau kita mengalah dan kita dapat tahu bahawa we just few steps to the finishing line!...
Here's a video that inspires me. This is a dance group that consist of young and senior...how they manage to get together to practice and focus on their goal despite being different in so many ways. If you're leading a team, encourage your team to focus on the vision and learn to trust your team to do the task their own way, as long as the vision is achieve. If you're in a team, know that your part is as important as the others. Be faithful even if it's just a small part or it might not seem like a popular job. God honor you. Be faithful.

Lastly, marilah kita terus menabur benih yang positif dalam generasi kita. Apa yang terjadi pada generasi akan datang bergantung dengan apa yang kita lakukan pada generasi ini. Tidak mungkin kita menuai generasi yang bersatu jika kita tidak menabur "benih-benih" kesatuan dalam generasi ini. Denominasi boleh saja berbeza, cara ibadah boleh saja berbeza...why not we focus on the same vision? -stay blessed :)

Being Abraham

Gereja kami baru saja mengumumkan ahli majlis gereja yang baru and 90% of them are FRESH! Young and the dangerous (to the kingdom of darkness) and full of energy and vision. Relevant Youth Church (RYC) has been passed to a new generation of leaders led by my bro. Alexson.

Saya bersyukur kerana dalam tempoh 2007-2009, TUHAN telah mempercayakan saya memimpin RYC ke satu level yang boleh menjadi berkat bagi generasi ini malah saya sangat yakin dan pasti bahawa RYC akan dipimpin ke level yang lebih tinggi lagi, merebut “kota-kota” lain di dalam “tanah kanaan” yang sudah Dia sediakan untuk gereja kami. Musa sudah memimpin bangsa Israel keluar dari Tanah Mesir..suatu tugas yang sukar, sekarang tiba masa Joshua untuk meneruskan perjuangan memasuki tanah kanaan dan menakluk kota-kota yang diberikan Tuhan. The same thing happen in our church now including RYC.

Having said that, saya sempat meluangkan lebih 1 jam heart-to-heart talk dengan pastor saya, Pastor Kenny, yang juga merupakan salah 1 bapa rohani saya. Btw leaders, it is VERY IMPORTANT for us to be connected to our pastor. Di sanalah kita boleh mengongsikan visi & mimpi kita dan di sana jugalah dia boleh mengongsikan visinya untuk pelayanan kita bahkan we can build trust and strong bond as we spend quality time with our pastor. So, youth leaders, don’t be “allergic” with your pastor…bertobatlah!

So, as we share our dreams and hopes, we pray and as we pray God spoke to me through His covenant with Abram (before he being named Abraham in Genesis 17:1-9).

“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

Our generation these days needs a father figure. We have a lot of teachers and leaders in our generation but very less father figure. Telah tiba waktunya untuk hati bapa-bapa berbalik kepada anak-anaknya dan hati anak-anak kepada bapa-bapanya supaya ALLAH jangan datang memukul bumi sehingga musnah- Maleakhi 4:5-6

Generasi kita runtuh kerana tiada figure bapa...dan ini berbicara mengenai institusi kekeluargaan. Kebanyakkan keluarga melepaskan tanggungjawab kepada gereja khusunya pastor untuk mendidik anak-anak mereka..sedangkan pastor & pemimpin gereja hanya bertemu dengan anak-anak mereka kurang dari 48jam seminggu berbanding dengan mereka.

As i'm entering a new phase in my life, in my ministry, relationship and career, i believe God is preparing me for His kingdom. How, What, Where and When? I don't know but I'm making a plan and be prepared to be directed by the Holy SPirit. For those of you who read this post, I believe all of us are called to be a father/mother for this generation. I want to encourage all of you to step up to another level in your spiritual life, growing up to be a father...not baby. It won't be an easy process but God says "Pikullah kuk yang Ku-pasang dan belajarlah pada-Ku, karena Aku lemah lembut dan rendah hati dan jiwamu akan mendapat ketenangan. 30 Sebab kuk yang Ku-pasang itu enak dan beban-Ku-pun ringan.."Mat 11 : 28 – 30

Have a blessed day.

BLUR

Bila anak-anak muda melompat2 di dalam gereja sewaktu pujian penyembahan (katanya mengekspresikan cinta mereka pada Tuhan), namun tidak pernah mau mengatur waktu untuk duduk diam berdoa & merenungkan firman. Katanya sibuk dengan pelayanan.

BLUR

Bila anak-anak muda maju ke depan waktu altar-call, dari KKR ke KKR, conference ke conference, camp ke camp, sudah tumbang, di doakan, di kaunseling...lepas beberapa bulan, orang yang sama maju ke depan untuk di doakan. Pergumulan & keterikatan sama...mcm tidak pernah lepas.

BLUR

Bila anak-anak muda di dalam gereja mengaku generasi radikal namun bila di luar, hanya jaguh kampung. Hidup yang tidak memberi impak, bahkan, orang sekeliling tidak menyedari kalau dia wujud.

BLUR

Bila anak-anak muda menaikkan lagu2 yang mereka sukai (memang melodi lagu-lagu sekarang asikk bangett) namun tidak sedar kalau tujuan pujian penyembahan bukanlah untuk membuat mereka rasa aman...pujian penyembahan ditujukan buat Tuhan, bukan manusia. Sadarr!

BLUR

Bila anak-anak muda menanti-nantikan bila lagi ada konsert, bila lagi ada aktiviti luar, bila lagi ada event-event besar...katanya bosan, tiada buat apa2. Alangkah baiknya kalau kehausan sebegini ditujukan buat Tuhan. Tuhan mencari generasi muda yang haus akan DIa & kebenaran-Nya, bukannya haus untuk menyibukkan diri sendiri.

BLUR

sebab pelayanan youth gak jelas, hitam tidak, putih pun tidak. Makanya BLUR. Dasar tidak kukuh, tapi mimpi & cita2 menggunung tinggi.

I used to run RYC through the above, back then I was blur...thank God. He restore my sight.

Love your enemies

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"
Matthew 5:44 (NIV translation)

Pretty simple video but insipiring. Makes me evaluate myself..am i bulding a connecting bridge between me and my foe? Like in the video, are we using the rocks to build a bridge or are we throwing back to our enemy?

Zig Ziglar Quotes

Zig Ziglar Quotes

Shared via AddThis

Zig Ziglar - Life Lesson

Some of you have seen him on youtube, some of you might read his book...but i guess most of you still haven't know him. He's an international motivational speaker

He was interviewed and ask to give some life lesson. Here's some point that i learn:

-To be 81(He just celebrated his 80th birthday)
-he is not retired but refired..(how many of us can say the same?)
-He believe the best year of his career is still in front of him. (another one..)
-He still learning things. Increasing the importance of relationship in life.
-85% people keep and stay with their job is because of their people skill.
-JOY is a great energizer..that keeps you healthy.
-exercise in order to be in good shape. Most of all eat right.

more can be seen from this video :



also in another interview, Zig ZIglar is asked, why is your faith so important. For some of us who thinks that we have everything and CHrist is second thing..let this video inspires you to change your mind.

The Dirty Feet revelation

Here's another mind blowing revelation I receive today. It's about washing dirty feet. Yep...I believe we've read the famous last supper story in John 13:1-15. And yes, it's about Jesus washing His disciples' feet. And yes, this passage have been used over and over again to teach us about the servanthood leadership. But why is a mind blowing revelation for me? This is why:

1) There's no servant at all in the dining room

-it is not mention in the bible whether there's a servant who washes Jesus & His disciples' feet. If they have washed they feet before eating, why did Jesus want to wash His disciples feet again?

-for an obvious reason, none of His disciples at that time willing to wash his friend's feet or even Jesus' feet. Why? Because they might think "Nah..they can do it themselves". The disciples are taking each other for granted.

-This is a wake up call for me. My family, my fiance, my leaders & mentor, my friends & RYC...these are the people whom I take for granted. Instead of continue to wash their feet (serve them), I just assume that they don't really need me.

-Jesus knew that His disciples still need to be educated on servanthood 101, so...He did a crash course on that before He return Father.

2) "Lord, are You washing my feet?...You shall never wash my feet!" v6 & v8

-we all know how dirty feet look like, especially when you're wearing sandals..who knows what kind of dirt you picked up. So many times in our christian life, we walk on "dirty path", we get our feet dirty with all sort of sins. And when Jesus want to wash the dirt off our feet, we respond like what Peter did, we say "Jesus! are You seriously gonna wash my dirty feet? You don't deserve to do that, I can wash my own feet..."

-whooaa...look who's talking. "I can wash my own feet.." Well, how many times in our life do we try to wash our own sin with our own good self-righteouss work? We think that if we pray and fast for few days, or when we actively involve in church ministry, we will wash our sins off from our feet.

-but sometimes like Peter, we FORGOT to wash our feet. Eventually the dirt became ticker and ticker and germs starts to spread all over our feet and we fell sick...sick spiritually.

-ONLY God can wash the sins off our life. Stop arguing with Him. period.

3) "What I'm doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.." v7

-Poor Peter, he thought he knew Jesus so well. Like him (Peter), we thought after experience divine encounter with JEsus thru church camps, KKR, retreats, seminar, reading books, devotions..we thought that we know everything about Him.

- Reading this verse i remember 1 quote that struck me few years ago when I'm having difficulties in leadership. "Often understanding comes after obedience"..i still remember that quote. We often assume Jesus will work in certain ways that we know but we forgot that He is God. God wants us to learn to be obedient...to grow our faith..not just knowledge.

- For people who're used to do things ONLY after understand what or why he/she need to do it, this might b a challenge for you. You can't ask God to present you with some paperwork of plans, and only then you will obey Him.

4)"Lord not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!", Jesus said to him. "he who bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you're clean, but not all of you." v10

-This I need to explain it in a more polite way. Sudah lah kena cuci kaki, minta lebih-lebih pula...nda cukup yakin sama apa yang Tuhan sudah buat. Yep...often we ask more and more from God, more sign, more miracles, more blessings...we never feel contented (alias nda pandai merasa bersyukur atau merasa cukup) with what God has done in our life.

-we knew God's promises but yet we still ask for more...just to proove that He is true to His words (nda tau malu & nda sedar diri)

-trust God, when He says our sins is washed away, we must believe that our sins is washed away. When God says "nothing is impossible"..learn to really trust His word.

5) Humility is the way

-Jesus knew that Peter would turn his back on Him. Jesus knew that Judas is selling Him. But yet He still washes their feet. This simple act brings a huge impact into Peter's and Judas' life and we knew, because of this simple act, Peter changed into becoming one of the most radical disciples of Jesus while Judas take his own life.

-sometimes we think that we must be dominant just to make our points clear..we think if we use louder tones or harsh words we can let the other party knows what we trying to say. We often forget that humility is the way.

6) "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." v14

-straight forward and understandable...we ought to wash one another's feet. Not pointing at their feet and shouted "Hey everybody! look at his dirty feet!". When we see our brothers sisters sin, aren't we suppose to help them wash their feet with God's love? not condemning them like some modern day Pharisees and Sadducees in our churches.

God rebuke me over and over again as I type out this post. He remind me how He washes my dirty feet and how I should keep my feet clean. I'm not better than all of you, none of us is better than anybody...all of us have our own dirty feet. Let us let Jesus to wash our feet and be ready to wash one another's feet after that. Happy washing!...err...selamat mencuci kaki.

Running away from dogs

I still remember the time when I experience the “love bite” from my neighbor’s dog. That was back when I was 9 or 10 years old. I was innocently hitting the dog cage and being enraged, the dog ram through the tiny door that was tightly closed. The rest is history…thank God there’s not stitches involve but I remember myself running away like crazy after being chased by my neighbor’s dog.

When we’re chased by something that terrify us, we don’t really have time to think where to run or what’s our next move…what we have in mind at that time is to run away from the danger behind us. Well, having said that, I’ve heard stories of people who pee in their pants, hit the wall/trees or even fell into the drain while running away from danger..most of the time, running away from some crazy dogs!

I apply this in my spiritual life and after observing my life and the people around me especially the young people in my ministry, I come to a point where I realize, some Christians trying hard to run away from their sin or temptation for many years…some succeeded, some escaped but in the process of running, they hit on something else or get into worse condition. Some try to escape from smoking but end up being an alcoholic, some escape from being a porn addict but end up in sexual immorality…some tries to run away from gossiping but end up being a bitter person…some running away from wild social life and repent but end up misusing the ministry…making ministry as another version of his/her past wild social life. And when we realize that we’re running and not going anywhere with it, we got frustrated and start questioning God.

I come to a conclusion, when we run away from something, we must not only RUN AWAY from it but we must RUN TOWARDS something or PURSUE something. The Bible says :

“Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” 1 Corinthians 14:1 (NKJV)
“Kejarlah kasih itu dan usahakanlah dirimu memperoleh karunia-karunia Roch, terutama karunia untuk bernubuat.” 1 Korintus 14:1

*******

“tetapi engkau hai manusia Allah, jauhilah semuanya itu, kejarlah keadilan, ibadah, kesetiaan, kasih, kesabaran dan kelembutan” 1 Timotius 6:11 (mula baca dari ayat 3)
“but you..are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance and gentleness” 1 Timothy 6:11 (NLT)

********

“Sebab itu, jauhilah nafsu orang muda, kejarlah keadilan, kesetiaan, kasih dan damai bersama-sama dengan mereka yang berseru kepada Tuhan dengan hati yang murni…” 2 Timotius 2:22
“Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22 (NKJV)

********
“Berusahalah hidup damai dengan semua orang dan kejarlah kekudusan, sebab tanpa kekudusan tidak seorangpun akan melihat Tuhan.” Ibrani 12:14
“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see Lord.” Hebrews 12:14 (NKJV)

So, the next time you plan to run away from temptations and sins, don’t run like mad to any direction, but run towards God…it’s the safest place you can be. Have a great day!

Give me the mountain!

Caleb and Joshua

Mount Hebron

I was inspired by a story of a man of God called Caleb. Some of you might know this guy. “Wait! Isn’t he one of the two guys among the 12 Israelites spies who went to survey the Promised Land (Canaan)?” Yes,the other cool guy is Joshua. Why did I labeled them as the “cool guy” or “cool dude”? Not because they wear the latest fashion or they have the latest 16gig iPhone. For me, they’re cool because they stood against all odds. The other 10 spies gave a negative report to Moses about the Promised Land while they (Joshua & Caleb) are so positive about the Promised Land and fully confident that God has given them the land (Numbers 13:1-33, 14:6-8). “v30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it!”..hey checkout chapter 14:6-8 too! Oh, I think I’ll go “rojak” with this blog post.

This positive and great faith of Caleb doesn’t stop there…yeah! (I love this guy) Sewaktu Yosua membahagikan tanah Kanaan kepada suku-suku Israel (setelah mereka masuk ke Tanah Perjanjian), sewaktu suku-suku lain minta tanah-tanah yang subur, si Kaleb pula meminta Hebron. Btw, Hebron is a mountain! (Joshua 14:12). Whoaa! What can you do with a mountain? Well, if Caleb still alive ‘till this day, he can just develop Mount Hebron as Genting Highlands or Kinabalu Park (at least he can still make profit out of it)…but instead, he ask for Mount Hebron meskipun dia tau bahawa ada orang Enak (the Anakims) dengan kota-kota besar dan berkubu, tinggal di Herbon.

Wait…wait, reverse to Joshua 14:6-11. Perhatikan bagaimana Kaleb benar-benar memiliki iman yang besar dan kepercayaan kepada ALLAH yang dia sembah! Bila orang lain memilih hal-hal yang gampang/mudah/selesa, Kaleb memilih untuk meminta the impossibles! Why did he dare to ask for the impossible? Check out verse 14 “itulah sebabnya Hebron menjadi milik pusaka Kaleb bin Yefune (that's Caleb's full name btw)….sampai ke hari ini, kerana dia tetap mengikuti TUHAN, Allah Israel dengan sepenuh hati”

Kaleb punya hubungan dengan TUHAN, dia mengikuti TUHAN dengan sepenuh hati, maka tidak hairanlah dia memiliki keyakinan yang penuh akan kuasa TUHAN yang menyertainya sewaktu dia menduduki Hebron.

Saya sangat terinspirasi oleh ayat-ayat di atas dan semakin bersemangat untuk melayani Tuhan dan meminta the impossibles! I don’t know about you, you might be the kind of person who prefer to take the easy way in life, mengelakkan konflik/kritikan orang, memilih jalan selamat…but I pray today, as you read this post, God will give you the courage and your faith will grow as Caleb’s. What are the mountains (the impossible) in your life? Your studies? Your Career? Your ministry? Your family? Your Relationship? Nothing is impossible with God. Let us ask for the mountains!

The Great Wall Of China

The Great Wall of China

This morning, I was having my breakfast in front of the TV while watching NGEO documentary on Great Wall Of China. I finish my breakfast within 15minutes but decided to stay and watch the documentary until it ends. Here's the link to 39 interesting facts about the Great Wall which i think everyone should read : http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/04/18_great-wall.html

It's so amazing to see how an ambitious leader use their power to protect their ruling. That was the first intention of building the wall..to PROTECT. Here's what i wanna share 2 things that I learn from the Great Wall Of China:

1) Different leaders might have different vision, but they need to think to bring their vision and their predecessor's vision together for the benefit of the organization.

- The Great Wall was built by more than 4 emperor the Qin, Han, Sui, Jin and, most famously, the Ming (1368-1644). Suprisingly, these great wall are not joined! Each dynasty seems to have their own thought of protecting China and they fail to see the main purpose of building the wall at the first place.

-Because the Great Wall was discontinuous, Mongol invaders led by Genghis Khan had no problem going around the wall and they subsequently conquered most of northern China.

-Leaders have their own vision, some might have their own agenda to be famous than their predecessor...but it won't bring any good to the organization/team if they doesn't connect their vision. In fact, it may bring a total destruction to the whole organization

2) Leaders make their vision worth to die for, not die because of the vision.

-During the Ming dynasty, nearly one million soldiers were said to defend the Great Wall from “barbarians” and non-Chinese.

-apart from that, the manpower to build the Great Wall came from frontier guards, peasants, unemployed intellectuals, disgraced noblemen, and convicts. In fact, there existed a special penalty during the Qin and Han dynasties under which convicted criminals were made to work on the Wall.

-This wall building project cost thousands/millions of life! Some even born and die near the great wall without knowing if their hard labour is worthwhile.

-There's a saying "a person's character is known when he/she is given a power over people". I've learn this the hard way during my leadership in RYC. SOmetimes I misused the people who work with me. Yep, MISUSED. Taking them for granted without really asking them what's their vision for the ministry or how they feel about the ministry.

-to this day, I'm still planting the vision among the new leadership of RYC. God may give them an improved version of vision He gave me. I pray that this God-given vision is a vision worth to die for.

To conclude, what really matter is not how BIG the vision is, it's how BIG the heart of the people in achieving the vision.

Stay blessed.