HIM FAMILY NEWS AUGUST 2011
Hope Quito, Ecuador - Reaching the Community
In collaboration with Pan de Vida (Bread of Life), Hope Quito got involved in a project to bless street children and poor families with food and Bible teachings. It is a monthly project where our church family are involved in preparing the food, cooking and teaching the Bible.
In May, we went down three times to Pan de Vida to learn the ropes: preparing food and cooking for more than 100 street children and poor families. Many of our church members came down to help and there was indeed a great need for manpower. We were very encouraged by 80-year-old Vicente who came to help us joyfully; showing that no matter what age, we can still serve others with a great spirit. Claudia also brought her family to serve together. Her husband, Santiago who received Christ two weeks ago, also came to help out. Their daughter, Ivana, joyfully served the street children. It was our first time cooking for more than 100 people! Our Hope Kids teachers also helped through teaching the Bible to the street children. We were happy to see seven new believers receiving Christ for the first time at the end of the service.
It was a meaningful time for us to serve the street children and poor families. We believe the church should move outside the four walls of the church building and be a blessing to the community. As the Bible says in Matthew 25:35, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." As we serve the poor in different ways, we believe that we are serving Jesus in a direct and personal way too.
Currently, we are going down for the Pan de Vida ministry monthly. Our next project is to construct houses for poor families near the dump area in Quito. This is in collaboration with Extreme Response International. If you feel that God is leading you to give financially to these projects, you can write to hotimothy.79@gmail.com. 100% of your giving will be channelled to the projects.
There are two-three entries on the Pan de Vida project in my blog. You can take any photos there: http://stprho.wordpress.com/
There are 2 links of our partners:
A) Pan de Vida: http://www.pandevida.ec/
B) Extreme Response International: http://www.extremeresponse.org/
Feel free to click on the links to find out more. God bless, Written by Timothy
Every Sunday is always special to me, and I believe it is too for many people as well. On the Sunday of this July, we watched a preaching video of Jentezen Franklin entitled “I’m so excited”. Indeed, Christianity should never be boring and lifeless because walking with Jesus is such a joyful and an exhilarating journey we can ever have. Everyone was challenged to grow closer and closer to Jesus to maintain that excitement. The audience was very excited to be refueled again with excitement from the Lord. The young and the young at heart joined together in responding. Everyone was so excited and we can’t hide it.
After lunch fellowship, we had Water Baptism. We had seven members who committed and decided to follow Jesus. They are Bryan Monde Barez, Dionald Montes, Jaro Engbino, Jeremy Fortaleza, Kathy Mamaril, Kathline Go and Grace Estoperez. They boldly shared their testimonies on why they want to follow Jesus. Our very own Eunice Tan Meesaengtham (Pastor’s wife) and Ritchie Bascon prayed over our water baptism candidates.
Hope Penang - Passion Camp 2011
The 2011 Hope Penang Camp was themed “Passion” started on the first weekend of June. It was held at Lassalle Brothers’ Bungalow located on the eastern hillside of Penang Hill; where the air is fresh, the water is cold and the view simply inspiring. The journey to the campsite began at 11:00am. Campers made their way through holiday traffic, rode up the funicular railway and hiked for half an hour through panoramic views of Georgetown to the campsite.
The first night started off with video preaching by Ps Bill Wilson of Metro Ministries from the 2011 Chiang Mai GC. The gist of his message was that passion comes from being in the presence of God. He testified that everything he has done stemmed from the moment of being in the presence of God while at the lowest point in his life. He drew from Obed-Edom, who throughout 1 Chronicles 13-16, was doing just about everything because he spent three months being near the Ark of the Covenant in the presence of God. In a separate preaching video presented on the last day of camp, Ps Bill asked “Can one ordinary person make a difference?” The answer is YES! He quoted an example in Numbers 16 about Aaron who literally stood in the gap between the living and the dead. He stressed how painfully ordinary he was and yet God still used him. The key is how near we are to the situation, and whether we decide to fight or flee.
Ps. Moses was straightforward and concise in teaching about the power of passion and why it is not enough without conviction, character and faithfulness. He taught us to burn the right passions for God, for people and for the Great Commission. From Nehemiah’s example, Ps. Moses showed us how to harness our passion that begins with a burden which leads to a clear vision and results in a goal that requires detailed planning. It is important that our passion align fully to God’s purpose, wisely balanced by biblical principles and managed within set safeguards. He also urged us not to overlook the important but mundane daily activities which can result in tiredness and encouraged us to establish a system to overcome it. He passionately inspired the church to do things that we enjoy regularly to recharge and to keep our passions burning for God.
Besides teaching and impartation, we also had a skit competition, whereby different groups were given the opportunity to demonstrate how to overcome passion killers. Apart from the belly laughs and cheers, the message came across crystal clear: repentance, accountability, prayer, forgiveness, a balanced schedule and being connected to God are keys in maintaining our passions.
In a nutshell, the camp at the mountain top successfully imparted the message of passion clearly and comprehensively. The challenge is now with Hope Penang as we return to the field of battle, where blood, sweat and courage are needed to establish His Kingdom in the hearts of the lost. Will we lose our passion at the first prick of the thorns or will we hack the wall of briers down with our God-planted passion and sword of the Spirit?
B) Extreme Response International: http://www.extremeresponse.org/
Feel free to click on the links to find out more. God bless, Written by Timothy
Hope Manila Water Baptism
Every Sunday is always special to me, and I believe it is too for many people as well. On the Sunday of this July, we watched a preaching video of Jentezen Franklin entitled “I’m so excited”. Indeed, Christianity should never be boring and lifeless because walking with Jesus is such a joyful and an exhilarating journey we can ever have. Everyone was challenged to grow closer and closer to Jesus to maintain that excitement. The audience was very excited to be refueled again with excitement from the Lord. The young and the young at heart joined together in responding. Everyone was so excited and we can’t hide it.
After lunch fellowship, we had Water Baptism. We had seven members who committed and decided to follow Jesus. They are Bryan Monde Barez, Dionald Montes, Jaro Engbino, Jeremy Fortaleza, Kathy Mamaril, Kathline Go and Grace Estoperez. They boldly shared their testimonies on why they want to follow Jesus. Our very own Eunice Tan Meesaengtham (Pastor’s wife) and Ritchie Bascon prayed over our water baptism candidates.
Written By Ruffa Contado
The 2011 Hope Penang Camp was themed “Passion” started on the first weekend of June. It was held at Lassalle Brothers’ Bungalow located on the eastern hillside of Penang Hill; where the air is fresh, the water is cold and the view simply inspiring. The journey to the campsite began at 11:00am. Campers made their way through holiday traffic, rode up the funicular railway and hiked for half an hour through panoramic views of Georgetown to the campsite.
The camp was kick-started with fun, mind tickling and physically challenging team building games: six-handed badminton, blindfolded foot treasure hunt and balloon frenzy to name a few. The pouring rain did little to dampen the exuberant participants from competing to gain the most points for their teams.
The first night started off with video preaching by Ps Bill Wilson of Metro Ministries from the 2011 Chiang Mai GC. The gist of his message was that passion comes from being in the presence of God. He testified that everything he has done stemmed from the moment of being in the presence of God while at the lowest point in his life. He drew from Obed-Edom, who throughout 1 Chronicles 13-16, was doing just about everything because he spent three months being near the Ark of the Covenant in the presence of God. In a separate preaching video presented on the last day of camp, Ps Bill asked “Can one ordinary person make a difference?” The answer is YES! He quoted an example in Numbers 16 about Aaron who literally stood in the gap between the living and the dead. He stressed how painfully ordinary he was and yet God still used him. The key is how near we are to the situation, and whether we decide to fight or flee.
Ps. Moses was straightforward and concise in teaching about the power of passion and why it is not enough without conviction, character and faithfulness. He taught us to burn the right passions for God, for people and for the Great Commission. From Nehemiah’s example, Ps. Moses showed us how to harness our passion that begins with a burden which leads to a clear vision and results in a goal that requires detailed planning. It is important that our passion align fully to God’s purpose, wisely balanced by biblical principles and managed within set safeguards. He also urged us not to overlook the important but mundane daily activities which can result in tiredness and encouraged us to establish a system to overcome it. He passionately inspired the church to do things that we enjoy regularly to recharge and to keep our passions burning for God.
Besides teaching and impartation, we also had a skit competition, whereby different groups were given the opportunity to demonstrate how to overcome passion killers. Apart from the belly laughs and cheers, the message came across crystal clear: repentance, accountability, prayer, forgiveness, a balanced schedule and being connected to God are keys in maintaining our passions.
In a nutshell, the camp at the mountain top successfully imparted the message of passion clearly and comprehensively. The challenge is now with Hope Penang as we return to the field of battle, where blood, sweat and courage are needed to establish His Kingdom in the hearts of the lost. Will we lose our passion at the first prick of the thorns or will we hack the wall of briers down with our God-planted passion and sword of the Spirit?
Hope Western Australia Bible Conference
Friday 8 July, was the day that the Lord has made! Our WA Hope churches had been praying and anticipating for this day. It was a day where 115 people gathered together as a family of God, united in one spirit and one purpose. The theme of the conference, “The Core” was spread to every Hope sister centre so that our members and friends could come and uncover the values of our church movement. Rediscovering the roots of our Hope International Ministry core values was in the heart of every planning and supporting member for the WA Bible Conference 2011.
The congregation, spanning four generations and many nations, was blessed with the covering of the Spirit. Our Praise and Worship team harmonised in one accord and together with our Busselton family, our hearts were uplifted to reach deeper into the presence of God. We were also blessed by Ps Nigel and Ps Sandy from Busselton; Ps Steven and Helen from Hope Esperance. They ministered and brought forth Prophetic words and visions that encouraged our receiving hearts. Our HIM president, Ps Simon, along with Ps Nigel and Ps Steven, delivered several key aspects of our core values such as enriching of the community, whereby God has plans to deliver every person, of all tongues and tribes and nations. He also reminded us through the series of teachings that at the very core of our values is to build an intimate and unbroken relationship with Christ and it is through this relationship, that we can have hope, purpose and victory when we let God be our first priority.
The remaining weekend was filled with different topical workshops that equipped our participants with practical and insightful sharing from our leaders and teachers. The food team were working hard to fill our hungry stomachs and our head chef won a few ‘Master Chef’ compliments from the crowd! Our Lord truly blessed the Saturday afternoon of our BC weekend with an overcast but ultimately comfortable, rainless wintery day. There was an awesome time of fellowship, BBQ lunch and ice breaking games. We ended our conference on Sunday with a few endearing testimonies from our brothers and sisters from all centres, a dance and song performance from our young and talented Busselton team, and a thank you session for the pastors, teachers and B.C. Committee team
The Sunday service and the sermons regarding church planting, apostolic oriented and leadership developers helped to edify and build stronger foundations in our respective centres. The core values that were shared indeed encouraged our members to grow in their respective areas of gifting and have opened our spiritual eyes to seek our commitment in fulfilling the call of God in our lives.
In conclusion, the feedback from the Bible Conference had been fantastic! We saw lives changed as the Holy Spirit moved in giving us a personal touch. In addition, there is more clarity in our values; binding us together as a family of God. The essence of this conference has definitely set us up for further growth in our faith and trust in God. God has indeed been faithful we will advance in his grace!
Written by Denise Ong
Hope Brisbane - Ablaze Youth Camp
It was an ordinary sunny winter afternoon on the 26th of June 2011. 80 excited youths were gathered in the car park at Garden City Shopping Centre, ready to set off on a getaway to the hills of Mount Tamborine. Nothing was different about this day – it seemed like an ordinary annual ablaze camp, one just like the ones we have had. We were all looking forward to good times bonding with some of our buddies in church, coupled with a few God moments here and there.
God also used the time at camp to speak to different individuals about the young generation of today.
It was an ordinary sunny winter afternoon on the 26th of June 2011. 80 excited youths were gathered in the car park at Garden City Shopping Centre, ready to set off on a getaway to the hills of Mount Tamborine. Nothing was different about this day – it seemed like an ordinary annual ablaze camp, one just like the ones we have had. We were all looking forward to good times bonding with some of our buddies in church, coupled with a few God moments here and there.
The camp this year was themed ‘Radical’ and topics like radical love, radical action, radical purity, and radical generation were being taught. Spirit-led speakers from Ablaze – Torch, Chris Bee, and Lisa Toh together with a guest speaker named Andrew Foley, chaplain of Brisbane State High School, were lined up to preach on these topics.
What was supposed to be a four-day getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life turned into a time where God chose to show up and touch His people throughout the entire duration of the camp. He was so persistent in having His children experience Him that He even chose to minister to us in times where games were supposed to be scheduled.
- Camp Testimonies
A couple of youths were seen just praising God in songs and speaking words of truths into each other’s lives during that time. One that was involved in this amazing encounter with God was Ashley Lim. He said that camp to him was a turning point in his life where he finally experience the overflowing of God’s love for him. This new found love in Christ has caused him to be more assure of his faith in our Lord.
It was not just Ashley who experienced a life transformation time at camp.
For Donovan Seeto, camp was a time when God brought him back to the meaning of the cross and how he found meaning once again to the things he do in ministry for God’s house. And as for Paul Ng, he testified that, “God reached out to me again so that I can reach out further in His name.”
God also used the time at camp to speak to different individuals about the young generation of today.
Jien-Li Tan can testify to that as she exclaimed that camp opened her eyes to the God-given potential and purpose He has placed in every individual in Ablaze. She believes that she is surrounded by young people who are future leaders and world-changers for Christ! In her words, “we (the young people of this generation) are the unstoppable church of Jesus Christ!”
Nancy Hsu had a similar encounter with that of Jien-Li’s as she saw a community of young people being built up and are rising up to claim our generation back for Christ!
Finally, for first-timer Wendy Pei, camp was beyond words could ever describe. This was how camp went for her –
“Ablaze camp 2011 was themed 'Radical', and personally, over the time we spent in Mt Tambourine, it became a moment where I was convicted to get real for God. Topics of radical love, radical action, radical purity and radical generation were all covered in the sermons. These topics really exposed me to more of God's character and God's calling for our involvement in ministries. Throughout the camp, it was also evident that God was shaping His church, changing the culture of the church to reflect more of His heart. Almost a month later, it's heartwarming to see cliques being broken down in church, and to see people who are willing to support and encourage each other on our walks with God. Camp really helped me explore how God wanted to work into my life, and definitely shifted my perspectives from complacency to action.”
It is safe to say that the Ablaze camp this year was indeed a stepping-stone of what God is doing in the lives of every member in Ablaze. We are believing God for greater things to come as we embark on this new season of our lives together as an Ablaze family.
It is safe to say that the Ablaze camp this year was indeed a stepping-stone of what God is doing in the lives of every member in Ablaze. We are believing God for greater things to come as we embark on this new season of our lives together as an Ablaze family.
