GIG-Get Into God!!! (part 2)

Continued

i thought i was late for breakfast. everyone was already there finishing their meal. was too full to eat, but still forced myself to have a bite. it was a really big bite...a whole plateful of potato wedges and eggs! halfway through my meal, there was a small commotion as Joel brought the gift for Pastor Kenneth and Pastor Sandra's Wedding Anniversary into the dining hall. we cheered! 9 years of marriage! Praise the Lord! btw, yesterday was Joel's birthday. after the meal, had to take a couple of panadols to kill the headached. thanks to Jill who was the 'nurse'.

at church, if i've forgotten to mention, it was this shoplot, a huge one, and the place really look kewl! it was spacious and the colors matched each other. not to forget, the lightings they had was really artistic! i've never seen a church like it. it also had that spinning disco ball up above us. wonder what that's for? anyways, where was i? oh yeah! the morning's event was a session taken by Pastor Kenneth to share the vision God gave to him years ago to the leaders of the churches here. i sat and listened and i was challenged all over again. it was another reminder to me why i was serving in Acts church. after that session, we had a break followed by a family-youth forum. we had two panels and we talked about what problems parents faced with youths and vice-versa. really hope it managed to clear up some stuff between the 2 generations.

we had lunch nearby, and the musicians had to come back early to soundcheck for the nite's concert. honestly, this church had state of the art musical equipments and sound systems! the amp i used for my acoustic guitar could make any guitar sound good! hehe! by the time we soundchecked...i was pretty wonked out. i was tired and drowsy. and the flu lingering in my system wasn't helping much. as i sat on the stage listening to the choir going through their rounds, i actually dozed off! that's how tired i was. i was so engrossed in getting back to the hotel room to get some sleep that i didn't pack my guitar case properly. when i lifted up the case later on, the case opened and my guitar plopped out clumsily like a broken doll to the floor. sighz...the guitar fell....again! i inspected the damage, *ouch*. my heart broke a lil as i saw a terrible looking indent on the front side of the guitar. it's like seeing a small but noticeable dent on your car. mien! i was bummed! everyone saw it, and tried to console me as though i got news that my guitar had cancer:p after awhile, i wasn't really bothered. all i wanted was to have enough rest, so that during the concert that nite, i wouldn't feel lethargic and i could give God my best in the worship. that was all that's on my mind. the moment i reached back to the hotel....*zonked out*

woke up with enough time to get ready and head back...this time all geared up and without that irritatin headache. Praise God! i guess that short moment of sleep really did me good. i was excited! i was all geared up to rock the concert! i was excited for God to move! we reached church and prayed our hearts out with the rest of the leaders. this was also an evangelistic concert, and we claimed lives for God in our prayer. i could feel the excitement rising!

the emcees came up and their overused line, "let's make some noise" really got the crowd noisy alrite. the 1st band that came up was Orange Stained Shirt consisting of 4 teenagers. they were all so young....i dun even dare call them teenagers. maybe they were jsut kids. i guess bout 10-12. seriously that young! the drummer was really good and he was only 10. i don't know about the rest, but one of the guitars was played by a girl! go gurl! she didn't look like a girl in fact. must be due she still look kiddy or something. but we were told that they won the Battle Of The Bands this year. they sung 3 songs...they were good for their age. i was really impressed! somehow, Kuching had alot of young musical talent. Their songs reminded me of Jason Lo.

after they ended their last song, the Actstream band (that's us) came up! we played our hearts out! WE sang our all. i played liek never before. it's a different atmosphere playing for Sunday Service and a concert. but i made sure my heart was right before God as i stepped onto the stage. it was a tremendous time of worship. i stared into the crowd and it was packed to the max, bout 600 ppl on that hall. the air was thick with praise and worship.

in between, Elsa shared her testimony of how God saved her and her family. it was awesome!
as we ended, Pastor Kenneth came up and took over. he preached about his challenge to the young ppl to take their generation for JEsus Christ. about half of his message was filled with laughter. it was funny, i admit! but as he closed the message, he said that he had come to the serious part: GET INTO GOD! i was moved as i saw young ppl touched by God in that place. nearly everyone responded to the altar call. i had the experience of praying for the people. something i've hardly done. it's just amazing to see young ppl turn their hearts to God. till now, the image of young ppl turning their hearts to God never fail to move me. we prayed and prayed and after praying for everyone, we closed with a couple more songs.

as we left, i manage to meet up some familiar faces i met the day before and really had a great time fellowshipping with them. we had supper and then balik to sleep

next day was a lil more relaxed since we didn't have to be in charge of anything. however, we were asked to dress our sunday best, which included a tie for the guys. felt a bit weird as we walked into a church full of youth dressed casually and here we were, with ties and all. Pastor Kenneth had gone over to the adult church while Pastor Sandra took the Youth Service. worship was great! the place was pack once again with young ppl. this time i saw the disco light thing spinning as we worshiped. then afterwards, a peculiar communion service was held. they got us in groups of ten, with ppl we didn't know and asked one representative to come forth. i went out for my group. we were brought to this table which had a few huge loafs of uncut bread and some cups of juice. i took a chunk of bread and a cup back to my group. we were suppsoed to divide the bread and the juice for the communion. it was kewl! after that, they asked for representative from the different churches gathered and each one held on to one end of a huge cloth. that cloth was the offering bag! yeah, we had to walk in front and drop our offering into it. another kewl thing!

Pastor Sandra took on the message and challenged the people with her message and God moved again. The altar was packed once again and we prayed again. GOd was really movign in that place. i really hope it won't be a one time thing but an on-going process of change taking place in their lives.

after that we went for lunch, and a lil shopping jsut to get something for our loved ones back home. Kuching had some kewl shopping complexes:P not to forget a Coffee Bean and Kenny Rogers. got loads of pepper for my mum. hehe!

went back to the hotel, and packed and off we went to the airport. the day we touched down on Kuching it rained heavily for a while. then there was no rain. as we were about to leave Kuching it started pouring...till some roads were flooded! MIEN!

same thing, one group got onto MAS and the other on Air Asia. wanna thank God for protecting us all the way there and back. really thankful He sustained me from catching a fever.
all in all, it's been a totally aweseom experience for me. i've learnt so much from the people around me. and it's been great fellowship with the other team members. sometimes, church isn't enough to get to know one another till u actaully hang out with them and work with them.

PRAISE GOD! ALL GLORY TO HIM!