Youth to Youth

- Praise God for the 40+ youth who joined us! -

Today, we had the Youth to Youth meeting where we were able to talk to some of the youth who were attending the Basic Seminar, as well as some youth who were not attending the seminar.

It was a time of enlightenment when we heard Victor share some of his insights with the group. I like how he explained the issues that we might face in life and how he tailored it to fit the perspectives of both guys and girls.

At night, CI went probably the best out of the four nights we've had so far as I was really able to bond with the kids. Hopefully, Saturday will be a blast!

- "Paulette" and her friends -

- The "Master Chef" Pharisee and Publican skit -

During this trip, I have learnt to be a lot more confident. I am also more reliant on God for guidance when I teach. That really helped me to open up and just be real to the kids. I am also more open now to mingle with the kids as well as my fellow team members. God is teaching me to be patient and to watch my actions because there are people around who look up to me. They may be the kids or even others on the team.


Jaedon Sia
Team Member from Malaysia

Tweet

What is the Truth?

It was another exciting day of CI, waking up curious to know what would happen next. Today, we headed to the orphanage! We got to know the kids there, sang some cool songs, and played some war games. We were all kinda going crazy! I really enjoyed making conversation with the people there. The kids have grown up in a different environment and I realised that because they don’t have much, they are so grateful for what they have. I used to think that orphanages were sad places to be in but definitely not this one! There was so much life in this orphanage and the atmosphere was just so different.

-------------------------------

John 18:37 "…every one that is of the truth hears My voice."

--------------------------------------

In our devotions we have been talking about the Truth; how it declares, exposes, reveals, convicts, and hurts. The problem with ourselves is not that we don’t know enough, we do know the truth but we try to avoid it because inside, we love our sin too much. We are all called to repent, but only a few will. All these stufflings I have heard before, but I never actually realised that I was the one who had the problem. God has brought these things not just to my head this time but to my heart, showing me the true condition of myself. It is really not easy for me to share these things because I don’t feel that comfortable sharing it but I also didn’t want to post something fake or something that I wasn’t really learning  :P so, walah

The seminar nights so far have been going well though there are challenges! Each night is a learning night for me. Tonight’s skit was about a man named Mufasa who had been guarding his house and protecting his Simba making sure that no thief breaks in. He got tired one day and decided to take a break from guarding and watching. A thief broke in and took Simba away from Mufasa when he was asleep. Mufasa woke up only to find Simba missing. He regretted not watching for the thief to come. In the same way, Christ will come back as a thief in the night and at a time we won’t expect. It is really easy for us to get tired of “watching” after a long time because it feels like nothing is happening and it doesn’t seem like Christ is coming back as “soon” as He says He is. It was a really big reminder for me to be watching, praying and preparing myself for Jesus’ return, not playing the fool and waiting for the end of the world to come then only repenting.

---------------------------------

Revelations 22:12-13 "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be..."

---------------------------------

Apart from that, a few random funny things that have happened:

1. All the guys wore the same colour scheme two nights in a row WITHOUT PLANNING IT. (How is that possible??)
2. The well-mannered, well-behaved CI teachers going a bit hungrily wild during a pizza dinner!
3. Squashing twelve adults into one Jeep :O

There is so much more to happen! 

Tracey Peh

Team Member from Malaysia

Tweet

The Vision for the Team

Aloha from Malaysia. Peace and grace to you, fellow kinsmen. It is finally that time of year again, the legendary season of the Children's Institute in South East Asia...this year, 2013. This is about my 7th or 8th time joining the team as a member, and out of that the 3rd year being on staff. CI's have always been a highlight of every year of my life since I started joining at the age of 15! You know how years pass by so quickly and you just can't seem to remember what was significant about each one? Well, I thank God for the privilege and opportunity to be apart of CI for these 8 years, because every CI has been a major season of growth for me spiritually and mentally, it has been a platform that has forced me to get out of my comfort zone and explore the gifts that God has given me, and to refine them to perfecto!

CI's have significantly grown me, and greatly contributed to the man I am today, and here marks one of the most interesting trips yet to be experienced. Most interesting for me as a team leader, because of all the things God has been doing in my life both in CI's and back home at my local church. Being able to bring out the best of both worlds and fuse them into one single significant powder packed mission trip in one month is an AMAZING experience for me! I remember vividly in my early CI experiences, doing all the CI duties expected of me, crafts, songs, stories, kids, fun, devos, I knew the drill.

How was every year different and significant for me then? I would have to say It came back to my own personal spiritual growth and relationship with God! It took me about 3 years to find my identity in Christ, and another 4 years to learn and discover how to pass down what I knew in the most effective and efficient way. I like to be honest whenever I talk to people, or write, so I am going to be saying some...well..interesting things in this post!

You know how as ministry leaders, we so often get so concerned and caught up with planning details of activities, filling up calendars with to do's, saying the right "leadership stuff", giving text book answers and even planning 'devotions for the next day or week? I honestly felt that being in that leadership world with my comrades made me feel like a dull and dead slave to Christian leadership! When ever should I have to "make something up, or come up with something to bless others? Shouldn't that naturally flow out of my life if it is authentic? If I as a leader need to solve problems, there are literally thousands and thousands of problems to solve. I rather solve just one, and that is: the Crisis of Spiritual Leadership today.

Now finally, God has changed my perspective. How often I would ask God to teach me new things, fix my leadership problems, make me better at this or that etc. But how strange, and what a wonderful relief to see how a change of perspective changes everything! At last, coming out of the "leadership" rut has finally changed everything for me.

What am I trying to say? I heard these words from a wise friend early this year. He said: "you cannot know the now, if you don't have the end in mind" WOW. Though that statement may be packed with theological truths...however, a milder angle to view it from would be the fact that we leaders try so hard to go through the now, with only the middle in mind. Or even worse...just the now.

It all starts with a vision. Definitely not mine, or any other's leader's...but the simple question that points us and our followers in the right direction. "What is God's vision for the Church?" That single question, now has been the at the centre of my heart and core of my leadership. What makes Christian leadership DIFFERENT from just excellent leadership? I had to get straight with myself. My goals and agenda's in leadership MAY NOT have anything to do with God's vision for His Church more often times than not! Even in ministry. I need to try and wrap this up, because this is just the start and I can go on and on forever. In short, I was recently blessed and privileged to attend a global discipleship congress in manilla just a week ago. I felt so encouraged to know that there were many other Christian leaders with a burden for not just the lost, but the church today. One of the speakers said this: "shoe shops produce shoes. Clothes shops produce clothes. What SHOULD the church produce?" Funny how many answers may emerge from that one. But the answer, from Jesus Himself throughout scripture is: DISCIPLES!!!! That's it! For far to long have I been in successful Christian programs that produce every kind of success EXCEPT the success of producing biblical disciples. I'm back to the main question: "what is God's vision for the Church?" To know the now, we must have the end in mind. This is referred to as Eschatology. My epic leadership ends in myself, but God's epic leadership ends with every tribe, tongue, and nation standing before Him accountable to God's revealed word and to the things that they have done without excuse Romans 1. God's epic master plan for the CHURCH ( body of biblical disciples) is the biblical blue print that we as leaders need to return to. The word of God has given us a target. It's time to stop drawing up our own targets, and celebrating short sighted achievements.

The Church of Jesus Christ is pure, lovely, radiant and awaits her glorious final redemption. The Spirit of God sets this sanctifying process at the heart of every true believer and disciple who has an intimate walk and relationship with Jesus Christ. There is a CERTAIN kind of disciple that Jesus is looking for, and that certain kind of disciple is now also my desire to call, mould and build, and raise up. I'll end with this: TRUE DISCIPLES always make more TRUE DISCIPLES, with God being at work with His grace, in every one of us. I have left the random devotional topics behind, and what a joy to work on an intentional 22 session discipleship program with the team this month! My hope and prayer is that the students on this team will not leave this CI with just a traveler's experience, but leave CI called, challenged and equipped to respond to Christ's call to be a disciple, and make disciples of all nations :)

---------------------------------------

"Our Faith can only grow when It's challenged, not enticed!" Philippians 3:7-9


Victor Peh
Leader of the CI Team from Malaysia

Tweet

Learning About Authority

 

It's the second day of our first week of CI!! Today we learned about authority and that is also the subject that we're going to teach to the children. It's interesting to see how the team has different relationships with their own parents. As we were talking about parents, I started to see all the good things my parents have done for me. I became moved and more grateful for all the things that God has done for me too.

The afternoon passed quickly and it's time for us to go to the church where we held CI. I had a very optimistic attitude for my team as they are very full of energy, like really full of energy. And, yes, they still had their energy throughout the whole night and all of them were very responsive and active, which makes me happy!!

-  The Prodigal Son skit -

I had time to bond with all the kids and my favourite part was when my kids all bear-hugged me and we walked all the way from large group to my team station. They were all just so cute! After CI, we did our usual cool down with the whole team. It was so wonderful to hear all the positive stories from the rest of the team. God is so good, He helped all other team in opening up the hearts of the children. I am grateful for the team that I'm in and the kids that I have in my team.

Matthew Jusuf

Team Member from Indonesia

Tweet

Heart of the First Night

"O GOD, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee...To see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary."  - Psalm 63:1-2

These verses really stood out to me in my devotions this morning. As I read them, I couldn't help but think about the amazing team that God has brought together to serve Him this month!

The past couple days have been spent getting to know each other and getting to Know The Lord on a deeper level. Team devotions are certainly one of my favorite parts of the day! During devotions, Victor has been challenging us to go deeper in the Word of God and in our thought process.

One of the things he said today was this - "Great character alone does not change the world. It is, in fact, useless. But great character that flows from a heart that is dedicated to Christ will reap great reward!"

This really stuck out to me because the Lord has been continually bringing the heart to my mind this weekend. It started during the trip to KL, when I was showing one of my fellow teachers the fruit on a palm tree. I told her - "Look at the heart of the tree. All of the fruit grows from the heart." This started a whole discussion on verses in the Bible about the heart.

Ever since then, the Lord has been faithful to bring "the  heart" to my mind. My desire for not only this week, but the rest of the month, (and when I go home as well) is to reach the heart of the children. I don't want to just give them a list of how-to's, or a bunch of character qualities that they HAVE to follow. I want to impart to them a heart-knowledge of our Heavenly Father, so that when this week has ended they can look back on it an see a change in their lives. A change for the better. A change that has brought them closer to The Lord. 

Speaking of the heart- I must say that the heart of this team is amazing! We truly are family after only a couple of days together. It is a tremendous joy and honor to serve The Lord alongside a group of people who are all passionate about not only serving The Lord and teaching children, but also about KNOWING the Lord.  Tonight was the first night of our first CI, and it was wonderful to see all of that passion in practice!

I have been a part of a few CI's, and I can honestly say that tonight was one of the best first night's ever! The children were so energetic, and were doing big hand motions without being coaxed by their teachers. It truly blessed my heart to look around the room and see so many smiling faces!

Please be praying for the team this week. We all have some quirks and issues to be worked out on our teams this week. Please pray that we would all follow the Lord's leading to do what is best for each of the small groups.

Kristin Baine

Team Member from USA

Tweet

Four Days, Rolled into One!!

"Rrrriiinng!" It took me some time to realize that the irritating sound was my alarm clock. Thankfully. my helpful roommate turned off my alarm clock and quickly the day begun. And believe me, it was a long day. First stop was church. We got lost on the way there but finally we reached and enjoyed the teaching from the word. The church we attended graciously allowed us to promote CI to their members and we had good conversations with the people there.

After lunch at the mall, we headed back to start preparing crafts for the next day. It was encouraging to see everyone busily getting everything done and sharing laughs along the way.

Later in the day, we did more team bonding activities. We each shared one weird thing about our parents. Many of us were left in stitches by the interesting anecdotes which told a lot about each of our families and our background. The most hilarious account was from a team member whose mom, when he was younger, bought him pajamas that matched hers and took a picture of them bouncing on the bed.

We ended off the day with a surprise ice-cream sundae party! With no freezer to buy ice-cream in advance, a dash to the nearby supermarket was in store and we returned panting but with the necessary ingredients. It was a fitting end to a long day. With impromptu performances to accompany the ice-cream, lots of laughs were heard.

We praise God for how the trip has gone so far. As I was preparing to come, I was convicted about my lack of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." I realized that I had let all my fears of things that could go wrong at CI cloud over this whole trip. As I surrendered everything that could possibly happen into His hands, I was able to stop worrying and truly enjoy being here. That being said, we are still at the beginnings of this trip and the team is greatly looking forward to all that is ahead!

Please pray for...

1. the continued good health and safety for the team

2. us to remain sensitive to what the Lord wants to teach each of us

3. wisdom for the leaders of the team

Jolynn Tan

Staff Member from Singapore

Tweet

We're All Here!

The full team was assembled today. We had a fast paced day and covered interesting aspects of the trip; our spiritual focus, team rules, sharing expectations and finally teacher training with a twist. Covering so much in a day, with adequate rest has only been possible due to the effective planning of my fellow staff members. Praise God for them! After a long Saturday, I hope we get to give the team more rest time tomorrow ;) Here's a brief overview of what we did:

1. Devotions

Our morning started off with a time of worship. Victor, our team leader shared "What is the Church" and "What is Discipleship". Being also my brother, I was surprised at how clearly he organized and communicated his message. It resulted in our mind & heart being challenged to think further on the reasons why we do what we do. We were challenged to think biblically. As he shared with us the overview of the 22 topics he had prepared for the rest of the trip, a sense of expectancy grew. "A faith that is not challenged is a faith that does not grow". Together, we look forward being challenged over this trip! 

2. Team Rules

We introduced the team rules in a very different way. :) If you come on the trip, you will see!

3. Bubble Tea!

Lunch came and went. However, not before some of the team members tried Bubble Tea for the very first time!

4. Relationships

By the time we came back from lunch, it felt like we had already been together for a week.

5. Times to laugh

A hilarious game was played after lunch. With good planning, fun is possible! We wanted to demonstrate that in even the way we taught the teachers. Fun can be used to help good teaching. A lesson that we've learn over the years is to keep things exciting - God has taught my brother & I to use all 5 senses to teach children (and even adults!) rather than just reading from a book.

6. God speaking

God has been speaking to me especially about the area of Design and insecurity, accepting that God has made us all different and that God is enough. It is with joy that I was privileged to conduct the teacher training. In honesty, I did not really want to teach - with thoughts coming and going that the knowledge I had was not good enough. And yet, this is also a reflection of the thoughts our team members would be having. I was praying that God would give me the strength to do His will... although I narrowly wanted to hand over the responsibility to a very ready fellow staff member, I knew that I needed to get out of my comfort zone.

Although not perfect, I prayed that God would speak through my imperfections with His truth. With all sincerity, I do not think I am the best teacher trainer. Many in the room have far more experience than I. Yet, God is so faithful. With a heart of gratefulness I look back and see, a lot of what I was teaching had to be practised then and there in that very room. Struggling through the feeling of worthlessness, but acting on the truth that we are merely vessels that speak FOR Jesus Christ through the Word. We are mere messengers of a King who has FULL authority. It is not about us, but it is about Christ, His Kingdom, His Lordship, His sovereignty - for He is the Creator of all things. He owes us nothing! And yet by His grace we are still breathing, to tell the world of this Good News.

-------------------

"Worthy are YOU, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created". Revelations 4:11

Indeed, as I began to surrender to God our devotions, God used the rest of our team members to share their experiences and speak God's truth IN teacher training - making it one of the more memorable teacher trainings I've had, although not perfect.

Thanking God for the team & for His grace, in all things!

Eunice Peh

Staff Member from Malaysia

Tweet