Taking stock: 2010 and embarking 2011
It is this time of the year again when I must take stock of my previous year. I usually do this really towards the end but I foresee that I will not have a lot of time on 31 Dec and 1 Jan. So as usual, the normal practice, I prefer to review the past year first.
January
Work pace was still slow, and things were going as per normal. There were 4 newcomers joining in the cg (previously my cg, YGC2) but unfortunately, they disappeared thereafter, which was a pity. But the unit grew quite large as a result. I was beginning to get used to the work that I was doing... although I was still doing menial stuff and there wasn't much to do anyway, given that my AD was so busy. I was also called to be involved in the planning for the YG conference, which was a big thing for me, as I prayed that I could get involved in the planning of YG conference 2010. And that kickstarted some late nights at Mount Sophia... oh well... those were the days.
February
This month's highlight was the YG conference. The planning went through some scares, including venue changes and stuff. But it was a successful conference which ended in RP... for some reasons. But there was the thing about the networking sessions with all the old birds. David and the rest felt that it was as good as it could have been, hearing the war stories and testimonies from all the old birds. This month we also decided to embark on a fund raising effort as a unit, with two con-concurrent streams - bazaar and busking. Busking was the result of big mouth from me and Wanqi, when we jokingly suggested to Joyce that we should busk... and the two of us kena the arrow... but it was fun.
March
Joyce called me sometime this month to inform me that I will be leading a new cg, a small one, which comprises of me, Sharon, Justin and Nicole and eventually added Elvis. And I will be taking up Justin as a follow uppee (which I saw it coming but eventually never takes place). And I will be taking up the role of unit administrator. A lot of new roles and as usual, I went into my normal planning mode and started plotting how to lead this new cg. I started to think about how to disciple this new cg, given its special purpose, which ultimately I have to scrap. This is a cg, where I was the only so-called old bird around, with a sister being a new CT, and two new believers and one moving over to NS. It was meant to be challenging in the beginning but I was promised reinforcement. This month I also went back to NUS to attend the Mad Hatter event (unknown to me, one of my future cg members was one of the year 4, and I dun even know her existence until next month). It was a good time of catching up with my classmates, and listening to how my junior batch is like. Amusing to hear that my class' experience of losing the honors room key and some of our inner jokes have became some sort of a legend in the history dept.
April
The YG transitional groups came in. It was funny cos I was almost in the same position the previous year. We had Easter, and of course start to get involved in the jamming sessions with the PnW team, therefore also dropping the obvious hint that I will be involved soon. It was also a sickening month, when I got to know some sickening news about my brother, but if you know, you know. It is also this month that I start to think more deeply into certain theological issues, and I started to discover SKS, my favourite bookstore currently. April is also the month that we prepare to restructure, into the new cgs in anticipation of the new transferees.
May
The new structure pre transition was announced, and I began my pre-restructure communications with my cg, namely Elvis and Sharon only. It was easy as Justin and Nicole weren't with us at the moment, and our communications have to be done through a separate channel. Restructuring will also happen at the end of the month, with the beginning of the ID2010 Conference. I think that was the highlight for the month. I stepped up as a CL again to lead a cg, at the beginning of a conference. But this was met with different challenges along the way. But it was easy in the sense that I only had 2 pax to worry about. Oh yeah, did I mention that we caught a peeping tom at Nexus that month also...
June
What was I doing in June? We moved to MSC, after being chased out from HSR. It was a blessing that we are able to use MSC. And I noticed this particular pattern that my usher team seems to be 'pioneering' new lands and serving in new venues. We were also preparing for our mass recruitment, for new ushers to join in. I also helped out in the sound testing in MSC, having an impromptu PnW there, playing the song 'Shepherd'. It was almost more or less confirmed that I would be inducted into the PnW team. It was exciting.
July
Previously Benaiah challenged me to take on more sheep, and I responded to that challenge. So I was given two more new sheep, one in YG and one in NUS to take care of. Our busking also came to a fruition with the audition, which we did not pass in the end. But the experience taught us a lot on the provision of God and God's leadership in the whole entire project. The usher team also began to start thinking about doing something for mid-autumn. This month also saw my cg grew, as the transition people got moved over. New dynamics in the cg, and new relationships. It helps that their convo are mostly in the evening and therefore it created a chance for the cg to bond together. I also started my service as a stage guitarist...
August
The ESS saw Bei Ru's bf, Liang Hong, receiving Christ. First convert of the cg and we rejoiced! One more sheep to take care and that amounts to a total of five... and coupled with new responsibilities in the church as a guitarist etc, I felt like an AO in Hope Singapore. As for work, pace starts to intensify and my bosses seemed to have quite a good opinion of my work.
September
I believed in this month, we had our first unit GFG at Aloha Changi... talking about being a real man. The planning process was tough, particularly when me, Jan and Ellson have to meet up night after night to confirm what we want to do for the guys' side. The ushers' team mid-autumn project also came into fruition. We sold a lot of mooncakes, and we spent a lot of time in Rachel's place to make the mooncakes. It was a step forward for the usher teams, as this is our first time doing such a stuff. More to come I believe, but I will not be there, sadly.
October
This month, for work, was special, due to a training course for healthcare leaders which I was staffing beforehand. My work hours became quite special, and I sort of enjoyed the time sitting in those sessions and listening to those lectures. I felt that I learned a lot of things. After one of those sessions, I also found time to talk to my boss about Christianity and intellectual proof for Christianity. That was the first time I entered into such conversation with a non-believer and I had hoped that I had more time to talk to my boss. But then I really enjoyed that particular conversation and she mentioned that I was the first person she knows who reached the conclusion that I reached through the intellectual channel... oh well... The planning of the YG Camp also started. We went to Batam to recee for place and obviously, the places there were too expensive and considering all the logistic (I will die...)... The trip to Batam was also a chance for us to take a look at the spiritual landscape of the place and search for opportunities for church planting.
November
November... we had another GFG. It was funny, cos we learned that our back-up plan should never be more attractive than our first choice. We planned to go swimming but our back up plan, in case of rain, was to go eat dim sum. Turned out that dim sum was more attractive, and upon seeing the weather, we wavered and decided to proceed with our backup plan... The planning for the YG Camp began to move in motion and we started to gather all the people. This was the first time I was leading a camp planning, and I had to muster all the experience that I had beforehand... Doing logistic last time in matric helped, cos I decided that I will not repeat the mistakes the people made during that time. I decided that I will be the gatekeeper in the team and be the one who decides how to utilise the manpower, in the case when the programming team thinks that they can use anyone and everyone for any purpose and every purpose... which is a tendency to happen.
December
The plan for the YG Camp was beginning to take shape though I would have to think that we still have a long way to go. As usual, there was Christmas and there'll be New Year, and it was great to see the cg bonding together during the Christmas party... think we were the most happening group during the party at Yee Kan's place.
And so, that sort of sums up my whole entire 2010. Looking back, I think I have more or less accomplished my resolutions which I have set for the year. For 2010, there were three resolutions:
1. Continue to serve God in greater capacity. Currently I am taking on 3 sheep officially and supporting my CL in leading the cg. I hope that I am able to take on more pastoral role this year. And I think I have enough rest from CLship anyway. I also hope to take on more sheep in the process and play more part in doing male discipleship in the YG group, as well as the NUS group, if there is a need. I would also hope to serve in more ministries. I dun think I want to leave the ushering ministry yet, but I am also involved in logistic already. I hope that I can improve on my guitaring skill to be able to play on stage for praise and worship.
2. Grow in skills and knowledge. My aim currently is to finish two new books every month and also to up my own guitaring skills. There are also other skills that I will hope to upgrade, such my theological knowledge, my reasoning skills, and my evangelism. Addition to that, I would hope to up my own professional knowledge in work so that I can become more useful in my workplace.
3. The Christian in the workplace. I hope that I will be able to shine for God in my workplace. This includes being able to churn out good quality work on time, showing integrity in my work, and building strong and biblical relationships with my colleagues and bosses. I hope that I can achieve that this year, or at least see some result out of it.
Simply put it, it's three growths, growth in capacity, growth in skill and knowledge and growth as a disciple. For the first one, it was a definite. Taking up the role as a CL, SDA, and new sheep, and entering into the worship ministry, taking on the role to plan for YG conference and YG Camp, a certain sign that I was growing in my capacity to serve God. This, coupled with my growth in theological knowledge and reasoning skills etc, had helped me in my own discipleship. My work in my workplace has also received good appraisal from my bosses. So I can say that this has been a fruitful year. The only question is: what is the next step?
Over the past year, I have also given some thoughts on what's next after MOH and YG? Two options remain, though I have not really explored more. One is to pursue further studies, preferably with Biola and the second is church planting in the future. Of course, the assumption for all these plans is that I remain as status quo and I can do what I want to do without other external considerations. Unfortunately this is not true. There are a few wildcards which I have to consider, like the health of my parents, my own marital status, my own finances etc. My marital status is the one which constantly bothers me as well. It's not that I am desperate to get into a relationship at the current moment, but I have to bear in mind that the girl whom I consider as life partner has to be comfortable with me pursuing these plans, which may or may not be the case.
Then how?
Only God can tell.
Those are possibly long term goals, and of course I want to ask what's next in 2011? As usual, I want to set some goals which are achievable and hopefully relates to my long term plans.
1. Continue to grow in capacity to serve. This requires myself to grow in my relationship with God, as above this level of service, I think I need God more than ever. Yet, I want to serve more. I had this weird conversation with the unit DMM the other day, when I told them that one pitfall for me is that I have the tendency to think I can take on everything. Joyce was laughing and commented that she really thought I can do it and wanted to test my limit by continually asking me to take charge of things. Actually, I have the bandwidth, but I sometimes decide to hold back a little to ensure I do not get burn out, which is becoming a risk. But I want to serve more.
2. Continue growing in my knowledge. I cannot stop at where I am now and I want to continue to build up my knowledge. For some reason, 2010 is the year when everyone starts thinking of me as an intellectual, or at least it seems. Perhaps that is one value-add that I can contribute to the community. I need to complete the books that I have been reading and read up more.
3. Grow my sheep. There are five now, there may be more in the future. I hope to grow my sheep, esp those who have been around for sometime, to take on more discipleship role. Let's see how it goes.
Since this is still early stage, these are the preliminary ones which I have thought out of. I am giving myself till after my trip to Chiang Mai to confirm my resolutions. Before my birthday of course. Call it a time of seriously seeking God.
Going is 2010 and coming is 2011. Sit tight for an exciting year ahead.
Happy New Year, my readers..
January
Work pace was still slow, and things were going as per normal. There were 4 newcomers joining in the cg (previously my cg, YGC2) but unfortunately, they disappeared thereafter, which was a pity. But the unit grew quite large as a result. I was beginning to get used to the work that I was doing... although I was still doing menial stuff and there wasn't much to do anyway, given that my AD was so busy. I was also called to be involved in the planning for the YG conference, which was a big thing for me, as I prayed that I could get involved in the planning of YG conference 2010. And that kickstarted some late nights at Mount Sophia... oh well... those were the days.
February
This month's highlight was the YG conference. The planning went through some scares, including venue changes and stuff. But it was a successful conference which ended in RP... for some reasons. But there was the thing about the networking sessions with all the old birds. David and the rest felt that it was as good as it could have been, hearing the war stories and testimonies from all the old birds. This month we also decided to embark on a fund raising effort as a unit, with two con-concurrent streams - bazaar and busking. Busking was the result of big mouth from me and Wanqi, when we jokingly suggested to Joyce that we should busk... and the two of us kena the arrow... but it was fun.
March
Joyce called me sometime this month to inform me that I will be leading a new cg, a small one, which comprises of me, Sharon, Justin and Nicole and eventually added Elvis. And I will be taking up Justin as a follow uppee (which I saw it coming but eventually never takes place). And I will be taking up the role of unit administrator. A lot of new roles and as usual, I went into my normal planning mode and started plotting how to lead this new cg. I started to think about how to disciple this new cg, given its special purpose, which ultimately I have to scrap. This is a cg, where I was the only so-called old bird around, with a sister being a new CT, and two new believers and one moving over to NS. It was meant to be challenging in the beginning but I was promised reinforcement. This month I also went back to NUS to attend the Mad Hatter event (unknown to me, one of my future cg members was one of the year 4, and I dun even know her existence until next month). It was a good time of catching up with my classmates, and listening to how my junior batch is like. Amusing to hear that my class' experience of losing the honors room key and some of our inner jokes have became some sort of a legend in the history dept.
April
The YG transitional groups came in. It was funny cos I was almost in the same position the previous year. We had Easter, and of course start to get involved in the jamming sessions with the PnW team, therefore also dropping the obvious hint that I will be involved soon. It was also a sickening month, when I got to know some sickening news about my brother, but if you know, you know. It is also this month that I start to think more deeply into certain theological issues, and I started to discover SKS, my favourite bookstore currently. April is also the month that we prepare to restructure, into the new cgs in anticipation of the new transferees.
May
The new structure pre transition was announced, and I began my pre-restructure communications with my cg, namely Elvis and Sharon only. It was easy as Justin and Nicole weren't with us at the moment, and our communications have to be done through a separate channel. Restructuring will also happen at the end of the month, with the beginning of the ID2010 Conference. I think that was the highlight for the month. I stepped up as a CL again to lead a cg, at the beginning of a conference. But this was met with different challenges along the way. But it was easy in the sense that I only had 2 pax to worry about. Oh yeah, did I mention that we caught a peeping tom at Nexus that month also...
June
What was I doing in June? We moved to MSC, after being chased out from HSR. It was a blessing that we are able to use MSC. And I noticed this particular pattern that my usher team seems to be 'pioneering' new lands and serving in new venues. We were also preparing for our mass recruitment, for new ushers to join in. I also helped out in the sound testing in MSC, having an impromptu PnW there, playing the song 'Shepherd'. It was almost more or less confirmed that I would be inducted into the PnW team. It was exciting.
July
Previously Benaiah challenged me to take on more sheep, and I responded to that challenge. So I was given two more new sheep, one in YG and one in NUS to take care of. Our busking also came to a fruition with the audition, which we did not pass in the end. But the experience taught us a lot on the provision of God and God's leadership in the whole entire project. The usher team also began to start thinking about doing something for mid-autumn. This month also saw my cg grew, as the transition people got moved over. New dynamics in the cg, and new relationships. It helps that their convo are mostly in the evening and therefore it created a chance for the cg to bond together. I also started my service as a stage guitarist...
August
The ESS saw Bei Ru's bf, Liang Hong, receiving Christ. First convert of the cg and we rejoiced! One more sheep to take care and that amounts to a total of five... and coupled with new responsibilities in the church as a guitarist etc, I felt like an AO in Hope Singapore. As for work, pace starts to intensify and my bosses seemed to have quite a good opinion of my work.
September
I believed in this month, we had our first unit GFG at Aloha Changi... talking about being a real man. The planning process was tough, particularly when me, Jan and Ellson have to meet up night after night to confirm what we want to do for the guys' side. The ushers' team mid-autumn project also came into fruition. We sold a lot of mooncakes, and we spent a lot of time in Rachel's place to make the mooncakes. It was a step forward for the usher teams, as this is our first time doing such a stuff. More to come I believe, but I will not be there, sadly.
October
This month, for work, was special, due to a training course for healthcare leaders which I was staffing beforehand. My work hours became quite special, and I sort of enjoyed the time sitting in those sessions and listening to those lectures. I felt that I learned a lot of things. After one of those sessions, I also found time to talk to my boss about Christianity and intellectual proof for Christianity. That was the first time I entered into such conversation with a non-believer and I had hoped that I had more time to talk to my boss. But then I really enjoyed that particular conversation and she mentioned that I was the first person she knows who reached the conclusion that I reached through the intellectual channel... oh well... The planning of the YG Camp also started. We went to Batam to recee for place and obviously, the places there were too expensive and considering all the logistic (I will die...)... The trip to Batam was also a chance for us to take a look at the spiritual landscape of the place and search for opportunities for church planting.
November
November... we had another GFG. It was funny, cos we learned that our back-up plan should never be more attractive than our first choice. We planned to go swimming but our back up plan, in case of rain, was to go eat dim sum. Turned out that dim sum was more attractive, and upon seeing the weather, we wavered and decided to proceed with our backup plan... The planning for the YG Camp began to move in motion and we started to gather all the people. This was the first time I was leading a camp planning, and I had to muster all the experience that I had beforehand... Doing logistic last time in matric helped, cos I decided that I will not repeat the mistakes the people made during that time. I decided that I will be the gatekeeper in the team and be the one who decides how to utilise the manpower, in the case when the programming team thinks that they can use anyone and everyone for any purpose and every purpose... which is a tendency to happen.
December
The plan for the YG Camp was beginning to take shape though I would have to think that we still have a long way to go. As usual, there was Christmas and there'll be New Year, and it was great to see the cg bonding together during the Christmas party... think we were the most happening group during the party at Yee Kan's place.
And so, that sort of sums up my whole entire 2010. Looking back, I think I have more or less accomplished my resolutions which I have set for the year. For 2010, there were three resolutions:
1. Continue to serve God in greater capacity. Currently I am taking on 3 sheep officially and supporting my CL in leading the cg. I hope that I am able to take on more pastoral role this year. And I think I have enough rest from CLship anyway. I also hope to take on more sheep in the process and play more part in doing male discipleship in the YG group, as well as the NUS group, if there is a need. I would also hope to serve in more ministries. I dun think I want to leave the ushering ministry yet, but I am also involved in logistic already. I hope that I can improve on my guitaring skill to be able to play on stage for praise and worship.
2. Grow in skills and knowledge. My aim currently is to finish two new books every month and also to up my own guitaring skills. There are also other skills that I will hope to upgrade, such my theological knowledge, my reasoning skills, and my evangelism. Addition to that, I would hope to up my own professional knowledge in work so that I can become more useful in my workplace.
3. The Christian in the workplace. I hope that I will be able to shine for God in my workplace. This includes being able to churn out good quality work on time, showing integrity in my work, and building strong and biblical relationships with my colleagues and bosses. I hope that I can achieve that this year, or at least see some result out of it.
Simply put it, it's three growths, growth in capacity, growth in skill and knowledge and growth as a disciple. For the first one, it was a definite. Taking up the role as a CL, SDA, and new sheep, and entering into the worship ministry, taking on the role to plan for YG conference and YG Camp, a certain sign that I was growing in my capacity to serve God. This, coupled with my growth in theological knowledge and reasoning skills etc, had helped me in my own discipleship. My work in my workplace has also received good appraisal from my bosses. So I can say that this has been a fruitful year. The only question is: what is the next step?
Over the past year, I have also given some thoughts on what's next after MOH and YG? Two options remain, though I have not really explored more. One is to pursue further studies, preferably with Biola and the second is church planting in the future. Of course, the assumption for all these plans is that I remain as status quo and I can do what I want to do without other external considerations. Unfortunately this is not true. There are a few wildcards which I have to consider, like the health of my parents, my own marital status, my own finances etc. My marital status is the one which constantly bothers me as well. It's not that I am desperate to get into a relationship at the current moment, but I have to bear in mind that the girl whom I consider as life partner has to be comfortable with me pursuing these plans, which may or may not be the case.
Then how?
Only God can tell.
Those are possibly long term goals, and of course I want to ask what's next in 2011? As usual, I want to set some goals which are achievable and hopefully relates to my long term plans.
1. Continue to grow in capacity to serve. This requires myself to grow in my relationship with God, as above this level of service, I think I need God more than ever. Yet, I want to serve more. I had this weird conversation with the unit DMM the other day, when I told them that one pitfall for me is that I have the tendency to think I can take on everything. Joyce was laughing and commented that she really thought I can do it and wanted to test my limit by continually asking me to take charge of things. Actually, I have the bandwidth, but I sometimes decide to hold back a little to ensure I do not get burn out, which is becoming a risk. But I want to serve more.
2. Continue growing in my knowledge. I cannot stop at where I am now and I want to continue to build up my knowledge. For some reason, 2010 is the year when everyone starts thinking of me as an intellectual, or at least it seems. Perhaps that is one value-add that I can contribute to the community. I need to complete the books that I have been reading and read up more.
3. Grow my sheep. There are five now, there may be more in the future. I hope to grow my sheep, esp those who have been around for sometime, to take on more discipleship role. Let's see how it goes.
Since this is still early stage, these are the preliminary ones which I have thought out of. I am giving myself till after my trip to Chiang Mai to confirm my resolutions. Before my birthday of course. Call it a time of seriously seeking God.
Going is 2010 and coming is 2011. Sit tight for an exciting year ahead.
Happy New Year, my readers..
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