But it was for a GREAT reason. One of my big projects this year has been as part of the planning team that coordinated our ISMNZ national conference. It was an important celebration, marking our 10th Anniversary since God called a group of people to establish the organisation.
But before I get into that, the week of 18th October started with a VERY special Lord's Day service. Two of the Overseas Christian Fellowship (OCF) students originally from Malaysia who fellowship at our church were baptised. What a wonderful day. In this picture are MANY of the OCF students who came for the celebration. As a gift to YY and Eugene, they sang Amazing Grace (my chains are gone...) - and one of the students from China become a follower of Christ that morning. It was hard to keep a dry eye that day. Please pray for YY and Eugene as they grow in their walk with Christ and serve Him on campus and at the church, and of course for their STUDIES, because the next three weeks are the final assignments and exams for the semester.
Thank you to all who prayed for me to have the strength and endurance to give God my best in serving everyone at the ISM conference. I'm still a bit numb from it all - but words can't really describe my joy. God provided me with so many great team members to make it possible. The beauty of a conference where everyone belongs to Christ is that everyone serves one another, so the 'burden' of the work was never too much for me.
Our great worship team coordinators (Kenneth Koo and Joel Wicks) pulled together a nationwide team of gifted musicians and prayerfully chose the songs that would enhance the them of the conference: "Reaching the nations from our doorsteps - Impacting lives for eternity".
One song we especially sang from our toes and out our mouths was Anthem of the Highest Praise.
There is a louder shout come,
there is a sweeter song to hear,
all the nations with one voice,
all the peoples with one fear.
Bowing down before Your throne,
every tongue and tribe will be,
All the nations with one voice,
all the peoples with one King.
And what a song we'll sing upon that day...
O what a song we'll sing and
O what a tune we'll bear.
You deserve an anthem of
the highest praise.
O what a joy will rise and
O what a sound we'll make,
You deserve an anthem of the highest praise!
Our main sessions speaker was Craig Barrow (principal of Pathways College of Bible and Mission who we partner with for our ministry internship). Wow... that is a 'dude' on adrenaline shots. Seriously... he is a 'mountain runner' and based on the energy with which he delivered inspirational and challenging messages, I know why. He inspired us from Hebrews 11 & 12, but I'd say the pivotal passages were these:
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven. 3 Think about all he endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him, so that you don't become weary and give up. (NLT)
The way to live a life of faith is to: strip off every weight (busyiness, service, work, etc.) that has slowed our relationship with Jesus; especially the sin that trips us up all the time (confess, repent and get back in the race - you are not disqualified); run with endurance (the Christian walk is not a sprint to the finish); and always keep our eyes on the One who ran before us and who already holds the victory! He finished, and He promises that we'll finish in His power (not by our own strength).
So, we were challenged to get it right! Face the realities that have kept us from great fellowship with Christ, weighed us down and tripped us up. He asked each of us to think about what we need to keep our eyes on Jesus.
That afternoon I took a few people to Okere Falls who wanted to have a nice time connecting to the Lord through enjoying His creation. We had miraculous weather over the weekend! So, we all scatttered for a couple of hours and had quiet time. My place to catch up with the Lord was by the trout stream, listening to a little Third Day ("Show me Your glory, send down Your presence, I want to see Your face!")..
my retreat time...
Enjoying some sunshine with Jingxiu
Claudia offering up McDonald's 'chips' to the sea rats
Japanese schools don't teach students how to drink from a bottle!
A lovely sushi lunch at Lake Rotorua
Some of the other conference highlights included mini-olympics (as created by Alan from Vanuatu and Yuki from Japan). Nothing like a little coconut cracking and ten pin bowling using a pumpkin and milk bottles. My country team, Turkey, took the overall gold medal!
We also had great workshops on Storytelling the Bible, thinking through how to minister to international students at every stage, how to reach out through international family hostels, and sharing with more of our staff and volunteers how they can be involved in the ministry internship programme.
Saturday night was AWESOME... a "Kingdom Celebration" lasting nearly three hours. One of the groups sharing the camp with us was the AoG Samoan Youth from around the region. If you have never heard a choir of passionate young Samoan's sing... you are truly missing something. Wow... I asked them to open our celebration night before they went to their own session. They sang "Moving Forward" and seriously - it was like riding a freight train to heaven. WOW. Check out my link on You Tube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PilfgFt-S4&feature=related
Not going back! Moving ahead!
Still standing as the evening came to a conclusion...
A Tongan choir is also a heavenly sound!
Sing a long with our Malaysians! (plus a couple of Kiwi's)
We also took the opportunity to honour Terry & Jenny McGrath
One day we shall see in full
All the nations with one voice
All the people with one love
No one else will share Your praise
And nothing else can take Your place
All the nations with one voice
All the people with one Lord
Even now upon the earth
There's a glimpse of all to come
Many people with one voice
Harmony of many tongues
We will all confess Your name
You will be our only praise
All the nations with one voice
All the people with one God
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