The Journey

How tumultuous the journey may seem; 

How high the tides may be; How unnerving the storms may be; 
I'm assured that God's love shall never depart from my within, 

If I continuously to abide in Jesus!

After feeding the five thousand with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, 
Jesus sent the disciples on a tumultuous journey and Jesus went praying.

The sea was raging; 
The waves were roughing in;
An unnerving moment; 
The moment of moments.

My sweet, cool Jesus, came walking on the sea knowing the moment of moments. 
What I and others saw was a phantom or some call ghost. 

How can I not recall my Jesus in such a time as this. 
Can't I recognize my many years being with him? 
A moment earlier I was part of feeding the multitudes.

Dear Jesus,
If it's you let me walk on the water towards "I AM".

With much apprehension I got down and walked and walked.
I am walking on the sea. You got to believe this!

Then came the moment of moments!
My faith and hope collapsed.

Oh!
Good Jesus...
Save me....
A loud cry....

I felt the stretching, comforting arm of love being renewed,
but with a rebuking strength, "Why you doubt?"

And Jesus walked me, with me to my continuing journey.

The raging moment came to a silent whispering breeze.

I was a witness to others of the amazing favour that saves.

When Jesus lead me aboard my friends came to worship,
Adonai Ha-Adonim 

(The Lord of Lords) and 

Melech Ha-Melachim 
(The King of Kings) 

Yehoshua Ha-Mashiach.

Know the nature of Jesus which is within.

Never doubt Jesus's love when facing the moment of moments.

Be saturated in God's love always.

(Reference : Matthew 14:21-33; Mark 6:44-52; John 6:16-21)

Jane Robert - 11 April 2015

Let's do our part

For the past one week, we have been reading the good works done by the late Lee Kuan Yew for Singapore. Many were grateful to him for making Singapore what it is Today.

Easter is around the corner, as children of The Almighty God, we should reflect what our Heavenly Father has done for us: John 3:16 says,"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (NIV). In John 10:10 it also tells us that "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly (ESV).

As a body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:27 , we should reflect what Jesus has done for everyone ever since we were born!

Just as the late Lee Kuan Yew has left a legacy, Jesus Christ has given us the Holy Spirit to carry on the works that He has started 2000 years ago; "The Great Commission" Matthew 28:16-20 .

Let us do our part to tell everyone who will listen, “Jesus is alive!. He is real. GOD’s NOT DEAD!”

                                                                                                                        31 Mar 2015

Excuse me, are you a Project Manager?

‘Project management’ the terminology almost unheard of in church ministry. Any corporate-ty word will be chuck aside by the majority. However, experience will demonstrate that planning and managing a project competently will ease the burden on the available resources, at the same time as allow the church to do well in large events and embark on new programs.

By profession, project management require a highly competent all rounder of the field and scope for that delivery, with a recognized project management methodology. As a result, the project manager will know exactly the stuffs that the team is doing and the ability with standardized terminology, expectations and management of all levels. However, the buzzword “PM” is heard in all industries and everyone seems to be a project manager ‘without credentials’.

Similarly, in any given task, Christian Leaders are call to lead projects in their Church or in their workplace, only to find that they possess little skills to manage project time, cost, scope, quality, human resource, procurement, communication, risk and integration.

Projects may be short or long; it is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore defined scope and resources (PMI). It is quick and unique, transient endeavor, undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits (APMUK) like running special services, evangelistic meetings, fund raising et al. It may be a ‘simple lunch meetings’ or ‘seminars’, a-walk-in-the-park for many experience leaders to run these projects. On the other hand, the spectrum may be massive and demanding like evangelistic meetings, concerts, building expansion projects. Project Management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources in such a way that these resources deliver all the work required to complete a project within defined scope, time and cost constraints. (MIM)

Without formal project management coaching or knowledge, project management can be a mammoth task for many leaders. While, many inborn leaders are gifted with good organizational and time management skills that come in handy, nevertheless there is no guarantee that the project will turn out to be successful.

Setting up a new ministry, hosting conventions or opening an outreach are additions to the departments’ regular activities that blast with loads of responsibility (Resources Constrain). Due to constraints in available time for the delivery or lack of funding and resources, lets checkout the relevancy to implementing project management concepts into our endeavors.

A biblical project management concept could be found in Nehemiah 1-2 (Read more: A Biblical Reference to Project Management: http://www.walkwiththeword.org/Studies/01_OT/16_Neh/16_Nehemiah_01-02.html)

The first step to jump-start:

Project Deliverables (Scope Management)

More often than not, unclear with the entire deliverable is the factor contribute to project failure more than others. What is the project objective? If you are unsure, how can you plan right and deliver with results? Would you know the demarcation of the project? The fundamental of project management is identifying the output without ambiguosity.

Once you know exactly the deliverables, you then breakdown into sub-deliveries and defining the scope. Scope management will be the exclusive accountability of the Project Manager. Work out and grasp all the areas of impact that need to be tackle or potentially involved. Make out the steps to take to complete each identified section. Allocate time to work this part out with the team (stakeholders). Document the decisions and phases and sign-off once concur. Many experience and long time leader assume project management methodology to be overkill or overload in church’s work, but over a period (sometime short duration) memories disappear gradually, work not done, responsibility pushes around and misunderstandings crop up. Consequently, run into disagreement, where it can be awfully destructive for the leader, the team and over and above the church. With good documentation, these issues are evitable.



Reference:
Mike Waddell (Project Management Guide for Christian Leaders)
Deborah Ike (Why Project Management Belongs in your Church)
Yngvi Rafn Yngvason (Jesus Christ the Project Leader)

Check back for more!

君子爱财 取之有道

钱财是身外物，生不带来、死不带去；

钱财是实用之物，虽然不是万能、没有它却万万不能；

钱财被适当的管理，带来许多好处、相反却祸患无穷；

钱财哪有限的功能：买得山珍海味、却买不到健康，

                                    买得昂贵真品、却买不到真心，

                                    买得真象牙床、却买不到睡眠，

                                    买得高尚豪宅、却买不到幸福家庭。

静默想想，当不偷窃、不投机和不急速、不求不义之财、不贪心时，反而殷勤和勤劳积蓄时，必见加增。耶和华曾说：『不可存心贪爱钱财，要以自己所有的为足，因为我总不撇下你，也不离弃你。若你遵行耶和华你神的话，福气必要追随你，临到你身上。』

赞美城市中文部牧师

My Definition of a Testimony

The Sharing by Ray was indeed a blessing as his life and testimony was a witness to God's word
Psalm 23. It reminded me that we are God's epistles and our life's testimonies should bear witness to the truth and dependability of God's word. Our life shows that the word we preach works.
I pray that we would also walk with God closely that our lives would bear a true witness to the gospel of hope with we preach.
God bless.
LA.

My reflection from our trip to Kuala Krai

I was inspired to do something, anything to really touch the lives of people especially those who  our fast-paced society easily forget. "Jesus said I was hungry and you fed me, naked and you clothed me, homeless and you took me in..."

The One Thing Great Leaders Know They Must Do by Joseph Lalonde

Great leaders know they must do lots of things. Great leaders need to be aware of their team’s emotions. Great leaders need to be consuming and creating fresh content. Great leaders need to take people to new heights.

But great leaders also know there’s one thing that is required to lead well. What is that one thing? Keep reading to find out.

Great Leaders Do This

We already know that great leaders do many things. All of them are part of great leadership but there’s one thing that help mediocre leaders move to the level of greatness.

This action is something most of us have done all of our lives. Yet we hate it. We struggle with taking this action.

Sometimes we feel uncomfortable because doing this makes us feel like less of a leader. Other times we don’t think we can do this because we haven’t been able to find the right one.

So, what is it that great leaders do?

Great leaders know they must be followers if they’re going to lead well.

That’s right. You read that last line correctly.

Great leaders are great followers.

They find leaders who are one, two, three, or more steps ahead of them. Then they study and learn from the masters.

Why Great Leaders Must Be Great Followers

Something magical happens when we begin to follow great leaders who are ahead of us. Their wisdom and knowledge begins to be passed down to us. We’re able to learn from those who are better than us (and yes, there are tons of people who are better than you).

Not only will you gain knowledge and insight from following these leaders, you’ll also remember what it’s like to be a follower. This will remind you to treat those you’re leading well. You’re in the same position and another leader could treat you poorly. And I know you don’t want that to happen.

Who I’m Following

I’ve made a habit of studying great leaders and what they’ve done right. I’ve become a follower of these men and women. To honor these people, I wanted to give a shout out so they know I appreciate their hard work and leadership.

Who are you following and why? Take a minute to honor these leaders by sharing who they are and what they’ve done in your life.