Church Camp 2009

It has been almost 3 weeks since I last blogged something here. The last 2 weeks, I have been either very busy or just plain lazy. Last weekend, I was at my church' annual camp. The few days before it, I was busy preparing for the camp. And the few days after it, I was busy with some business deals.

Other than that, I was just too lazy to write anything. All I did with most of the remaining time was just day dreaming, thinking about how things would have been if I had taken the left turn instead of the right. Or how my life would be if certain things have worked out. I don't exactly regret over things that have happened but sometimes I do wonder how it feels to be on the other side of the hill.

My new church is now almost 1 year old and we hosted our first church camp this year at Fraser's Hill. At the mention of the name, one would instantly relate the place to cool weather and fresh air. Well, there isn't much to see in Fraser's Hill, its actually quite a boring place. Weather was not exactly that cooling but at least I get to escape from the immense KL heat for a few days! Approximately 60 members participated in the camp, with only about 10 from the English congregation.

We stopped by at Ulu Yam for lunch and when we got off our cars, we were instantly greeted by the familiar heat we have in KL. The wind blowing onto my skin was literally hot air. But thankfully, the food was good.

The "loh meen" was superbly tasty and was totally gone within minutes. Murphy took the last drop of the gravy!

Fried chicken wings were great too and definitely deserve a mention here. Also gone within minutes.

The worship team. All musical instruments and sound system were brought up from KL. Very dedicated sound crew. This is the first time in a church event where I didn't have to touch any equipment. All I did was just preach the Word and relax.

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I remember how I used to be so busy last time with transporting the equipment and stuffs and setting up at the hotel, sound checks and practises. But now, we have someone else doing all that work. :)

That's what I did, preached the Word of God. I spoke at the 1st session of the camp, on the topic of "United For God's Purposes".

But the majority of the campers were from the Mandarin congregation and I spoke in English. So, I had my senior pastor Rev Dr Jason Loh to do the translation for me. Because of his enthusiasm and experience, there were times where he spoke ahead of me and more detailed than me!

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But nevertheless, we brought the message through. I shared from Ephesians 4 : 1 - 13, Unity In The Body Of Christ. I was speaking on how each member of the church plays a different role and coming together as one in the Body of Christ. How some of us will do more glorious work while some will do "not so glorious work" in the ministry. How some will command loud applause while some may not even be noticed.

At the end of my sermon, I made an altar call for those who want to "come back" right with God and rededicate their lives to Jesus. I wasn't sure if God wanted me to lay hands and pray, so I waited. And then, after a while, God said, "Now, go lay hands on them and pray for them".

And so I did. By that time, I could see that some of them were already in tears. God was already soaking in them. I have not been praying for people at altar calls for some time now. The last one I did was at Influence Conference 2007. I was on "sabbatical leave" the whole of 2008! But it was a great feeling again to experience God's mighty hands at work through me. Its good to be at service again.

It is always important to wait upon the Lord for the "right timing". By the time I laid hands on the people, they were ready to "rest in God's presence" and slain under the power of the Holy Spirit. It was a tremendous time, even for myself. As God worked into their lives, I myself was touched.

Our faithful Kurzweil SP88...Daesi's baby!

Leisure time at the nearby Jeriau Waterfall, some 5km away. Babyboss junior photographer, Mabel Kuan was the official photographer of the camp. She supplied all these pictures you see here.

The group picture. Everyone from En Dian (Chinese) and Revival One (English)...well, almost everyone. Some were stuck in the toilet due to food poisoning!

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Just a note, never come to Shazan Inn!!! The rooms are lousy! No aircond but I can understand lar...Fraser's Hill cold mar. But fan pun takde!!! At least Genting's First World Hotel budget budget also got fan! The only thing I was thankful for was the free wifi at the hotel's lobby.