Christmas Countdown

KAOG's Christmas production is getting really close, and there's so much to be done. Truth be said, nearly all of us in YA are involved in the Christmas production one way or another...well, on Friday, Stephanie, our art director needed more hands in decorating the stage and putting up Christmas trees, so we joined forces with her deco team and helped out with decoration. Together with the other carecellls, we managed to put up to sparkly Christmas trees outside the entrance. The guys did lots of climbing and removed to old missions deco and put up the theme The Wonder of Christmas.

There's still much to be done as we couldn't finish up the paper Christmas tree which Steff designed. I can't wait to see how it looks like after it's up. So the job had to be brought to next week, as it was already nearing midnight by the time I left, while the others was still hard at work.

YA at Hillsong United concert

Hillsong United, the youth ministry of Hillsong church, paid a visit to Kuala Lumpur last week 24th Nov. It was the first time the team, consisting of Joel Houston, Jonathan Douglas, Michelle, Matty, Jad etc. (can't remember who else) came to KL for a concert at SIBKL. Needless to say, the RM20 a piece ticket was sell-out a couple of weeks before the concert. We went as a carecell, albeit in different transports and different times...we just had a blast there.

I went early and made it to the RM15 workshop, which was well worth the small fee. We heard from Ps Chrishan, one of the United pastors, and then from the band. Well, it was mostly Joel and JD and Matty talking, in a Q & A session, which was alright. We did learn quite a bit of stuff, but most of all about the heart and passion these people put into what they do. I must say some participants asked some weird questions, which the pastor couldn't understand...but apart from that, all was well. The poor guys just got in from Jakarta and had to rush to rehearsal before the well anticipated concert that nite.

We grabbed a quick bite and thought we'd head up to the main entrance early enough, but boy were we wrong. Though we were early, the line was already going from the 5th floor to the 3rd floor, lining down the staircase, the stuff staircase. We probably stood in line for well over an hour. sweating away. Thank God for SIB's really nice comfy chairs in the sanctuary, and possibly good air flow, there wasn't any stench of sweat in there.

As the concert was about to begin, the place became overcontained with people, young and old. Looked like the organisers oversold the tickets...as usual. MTV VJ finalist, Bernard Hiew took the stage with Ps Lindy, working the crowd, throwing Tshirts from United, worth RM60 to the crowd, flinging CDs and albums... they wanted to get the more senior people to go to another room with live streaming, using the excuse that it was going to be loud. If I was a senior, I probably will feel rather annoyed at the repetitions of that announcement. But as I was not, what most annoyed me was the banning of photography! I had hoped to take some great concert pics...and my hopes were dashed, especially since I had seen people taking pics in their other concerts around Asia, in Philliphines, Japan elsewhere. But here, in Malaysia, it was not allowed, and the MC VJ threatened that any sight of a recording device may be snatched away by their bouncers. My, now they have bouncers in church eh....

And then the much awaited concert finally started, with a spectacular multimedia presentation that took the attention away from the guys trying to set up in darkness on stage...and it all started with a bang...the signature united opening, followed by fast uptempo and then slow worship songs....the presence of God was heavy and people started worshipping no doubt. The crowd's singing was really loud, and their jumping just shook the whole auditorium, until the projector screens starting shaking as well.

JD's crazy dance moves got everyone screaming at the end...and as the night ended, the people shouted for more. The band had to come back on stage, standard encore protocol I guess, did a couple more numbers and called it a night. There was a call of hands for those who wanted to accept Christ as well, apparently a number of people did.

After 2 hours of non stop singing, dancing, praying, worshipping, it was finished. We proceeded outside to take a look at merchandise, and found the exhorbitant pricing on the Tshirts too much to bear, I didn't get it in Hillsong, might as well not get it now.That's the last of Aussie we have of this year.

The Covenant

It was supposed to be Oikos Nite and we all decided to watch a movie in house. After some exchanges of email during work :P...The Covenant was decided.


The girls had their eye candy while the rest munch away on foodies..the show was probably only 2 out of 5? But it was just a time of hanging out, relaxing our minds and having some fun. No oikos came unfortunately....some had to work late and some couldn't manage to rush from Puchong...

Czone Leader's Retreat in Broga

Czone leader's from all the Carecells got together on Nov 11 for a planning and prayer retreat in Broga.

Group pic Hosted on Zooomr

Broga is only about 20 minutes away...but on the day we travelled there, it was raining heavily and as expected, the bottle neck road was pretty jammed up. Upon reaching there, the place was quite wet and puts off any plans of Captain Ball for a while.

The leaders had a session with Ps Chan, vision casting. We then did some planning for the year 2007, all the activities and major events that were to take place.

That night we went to a small restaurant in Broga for dinner.

Czone Broga leaders' retreat Hosted on Zooomr

Then we had prayer throughout the night. It was a refreshing time with the Lord. Besides that of course, some of us spent much time playing basketball and frisbee, cycling etc.

Czone Broga leaders' retreat Hosted on Zooomr

Combined Czone Carecell November

Last Friday, 10 Nov, all Czone cells except Utar and Cyberjaya gathered in church for a combined carecell.

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We had a time of Gel with games, and then had a good time searching through the Bible to identify certain verses given by Nicky, and match it to its context. We had to choose verses as given on the board to match Who are we in Christ, The Great Commandment and The Great Commission. It was fun and got us flipping quickly as it was a competition between three groups.

Czone combined carecell november Hosted on Zooomr

The different carecells mixed together allowed us to get to know each other more...we had a fruitful time of discussion on Who we are in Christ and how we can apply it to our every lives.

The night is not complete without supper! We all proceeded to Ayza and feasted away. Check out the pics!

Czone combined carecell november Hosted on Zooomr

YA Bowling Event

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We bowled our hearts out!

Prophetic & Presbytery Seminar

steven-and-donnaven Hosted on Zooomr

Sign up for this Seminar and start praying and preparing for it.

Kayaking Outing

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Last Saturday, YA Carecell organised an outing to Putrajaya Recreation Centre for Kayaking! It was a beautiful day with the sun shining bright. We invited two new friends to join us this time, Pah Ling and Lee Quen, my housemate. We got to Putrajaya Wetland around 6pm and booked the Kayak boats for an hour's ride. We got into the boats and paddled out to the lake, with beautiful sceneries of green all around us, and we even watched the birds.

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It was totally fun and also very tiring. After we finished up and changed...some of us hungered for ice cream!

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We then went to Alamanda Putrajaya for dinner after having used up all the energy rowing away.

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Check out what I had for dinner. Yum!

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These photos are posted in Zooomr.

This Friday

Hiya people how's the week going?

As you know, some of us met for cell last Friday...think we had a pretty awesome time discussing God's word and just having a good laugh. See post below.

Here's some current updates:

This week, 28 July (Fri) we are having combine cell at church! IT's MISSIONS FEST! Drop everything and make it for this, we're having an awesome band for a concert of praise... Campuscity AYA worship band
And then we have some other great programmes lined up...plus of coz teachings from Dr Paul Lewis. Be there, starts at 8.30pm sharp.

Then on 29 July (Sat), have you got your tickets to the Asian Middle Eastern Food fest yet? IF not I think it's pretty sold out! But if you've got some free time, come and help out at Czone's Thai food store. We'd meet at 4pm at church for setting up the stall, deco, and later in serving the food at 6pm....must come dressed in traditional costume if you're gonna be the server. :P KC has got some 'entertainment' lined up while you enjoy the food, so dun miss this. at 8pm we're adjourn to the sanctuary for an exciting night session with our worship team and Dr Paul Lewis....

Phew...on 3 Aug Czone is having the HOT DOG PARTY! Are you coming? Let's just all come to mingle and get to know the freshies from UTAR and UKM. Drop me a note if you can't make it yea
It's gonna be at 7pm at the Refreshment Hall....loads of fun, music and games! Not to mention FOOD! We're expecting a HUGE crowd...of over 100+++ people....90% first years...so will need lots of your hospitality & warmth =)

Alrite...after a hectic week....next week YA CArecell is gonna be fun fun fun
No carecell on Friday....

Oikos outing will be on 5th AUG (SAT) (right after Harvest Connection) 5pm depart from church....We're heading to Putrajaya Lake for KAYAKING! Li-ann will update us on this later....But do start inviting your oikos already....

And yea if you haven't signed up for Harvest Connection...and you're interested in Missions....still time to think about it....please submit your registrations to Nicky Ling before 30 July to enjoy the early bird rate.

Some more updates!!!!!
Czone camp coming up....29 Sept to 1 Oct....MBS recreation and training centre in Kuang, Rawang...Keep the dates free already! It's got great facilities....and aircond :P pool gym, etc.

Czone Cambodia Mission Trip ....21 Oct to 29 Oct
Pray about the Mission trip....if you're interested please let us know asap....limited spaces available only....it will be an awesome experience!

Alritey...that's about it....see ya guys...have fun!

We are the body of Christ

Today's carecell was a lot of fun and laughter...who says church is boring?? We studied with the GLN material on Chapter 5, we are the body of Christ. Nicky led in the cell, and we had a pretty fruitful time of discussion...exchanging of ideas, and thoughts. We learned based on the Scripture Romans 12:4-5 "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."
That was like the memory verse. Anyways, we learned that the Church of Christ is made up of a variety of people, each with different attitudes, different opinions, different gifts, but we all have one thing in common, that is we are baptised by one Spirit, and worship one God, one unity. However, it doesn't mean that we would never have conflicts, misunderstanding, difference in ideas etc. Sometimes, in voicing out our different opinions, we can also learn from each other, grow with each other, be more patient in virtue, just as the Word that says, "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. (KJV)" Prov 27:17 as shared by Joanna.

We then prayed for each other, for healing, and more before having some refreshment. All in all, it was a blessing to gather together!

Pirates of the Caribbean

Ya Carecell took time off from the usual house carecell to bring our friends out for a movie...after all it was Pirates of the Caribbean's opening nite! We went for the movie at Mines TGV theater...Li-Ann brought her mum who came for a visit from Penang, and Aylwin brought Sashi...a newbie in our cell. We had a great time just meeting new friends and catching this great movie...

Updates

Dear CONQUERORS,

Shalom! What can I say, this month is the month of seminars! but I believe everyone of us had been blessed by the speakers especially Dr Casey and Rev Mike Constantine. well, be prepared for next month (JULY). the LORD will show us new things and do great deeds in our midst. July is another fruitful month for CZone as we wait in anticipation for the new batch of local uni students coming in to join our fellowship. Please pray for the coming event, the “Hotdog Party”, which I believe will be a fun-filled, exciting event that will draw people to CZone and to GOD. Do talk about it now so that everyone can play a part in passing the news and excitement around to every corner of Kajang and beyond. Spread them through email or sms or messenger or whatever source of communication you can think of.

Next week (7/7/06) once again, we’ll have combined Carecell. This time, we have one very special speaker which is no stranger to CZone, he’s no other than Ps DANIEL SINGH. This big man with a big heart will challenge you to go all out for GOD with his humorous and yet practical message. So I want to really push all the leaders to grab all your members to come for this combined carecell plus ask them to invite friends, believers or pre-believers, students or young adults. invite your foster parents (for those who have) as well if they’re free to come.

Prayer items:

1. Hotdog Party *pray for good response from UKM & UTAR *pray for all the committee members; *commitment and unity *pray for edwin as he lead the team *pray for the budget of the event, that we can *get the best bargain for food and trsport

2. 7/7 combined CareCell *Pray for the speaker *Pray for great response *Pray for powerful visitation of Holy Spirit

3. Pray for all the students who are on semester break - that they will also grow spiritually wherever they are.

4. Pray also for those who are doing their Industrial training - that they will make a diffence in their workplace

5. Pray for Leona and Adeline as they will be flying to Australia for Hillsong conference this week. Pray for journey mercy. Pray also that God will touch them in Australia so that they’ll be able to impart something to us when they get back.

6. Pray for KC, Isaac & me as we travel down to Singapore for theReinhard Bonke Conference. Pray that we’ll really catch the FIRE.

7.Uphold our new targeted varsity, Uniten, LimKokWing, and KLIUC in prayer as well. Pray that Holy Spirit will guide Edwin and Jasminder in starting a new Carecell there.

The reason I list these prayer items is to encourage all of us to pray. We can’t keep on going in life without prayer. So lets pray and see breakthrough in ALL area of our lives.

Nicky

Brain storming

The YA Carecell met for a time of brain storming on what the cell will do for the weekly meetings, be it, study of the GLN Materials or oikos events. We made plans for the next 3 months...and all these plans can now be viewed on YA Carecell's Google Calendar.

It's very easy..all you need is a Gmail log in account..

Then go to http://www.google.com/calendar

Log in with your usual Gmail username and password.

Under Calendar menu at the left side bar, you will see your calendar with your name on it, and Other Calendar>Search Public Calendar. Key into the search box YA CARECELL, then enter. The Results will appear showing some events of the YA Carecell Calendar, just click on the button Add Calendar on the far right side. and walla you're in!

In the Calendar view, you will see Day, Week, Month, Next 4 days, Agenda on the top bar. Select Month view to get the cleared view of what's happening the whole month. Google Calendar automatically selects a different colour for events of your own calendar and events of that YA Carecell calendar so you won't get confused :)

You can make as many calendars as you want, and make the events public or private. Anyways, the Calendar is comfirmed until August and may be updated from time to time. So do check it often.

If you don't have a Gmail account, please let me know....invites are aplenty....If you really really dun wanna get a Google calendar, you can always view the events without order here..http://feeds.feedburner.com/YaCarecell (yes it 's very messy, it's a feed)

Some talk and more

Thank you to everyone that brought snacks and drinks : ) very much appreciated. Especially, Li-Ann who cooked up a unique dessert! (aaww)

I'd like to encourage everyone to attend the Spiritual Parenting seminar coming up on May 5 – 7. The speaker is Ps Danny from Singapore and let me tell you, he knows his stuff. I've actually attended cell leaders training previously and reluctantly went for it again a few months ago – and no regrets! It was really good and I got a better understanding of what's going on. I believe it will be even better with Spiritual Parenting as it is something everyone (not just certain people) is to do! Confirm your attendance with myself by April 27 ^th please.

Last night we also talked about taking a short mission visit to Kampung Tekir (near Labu or somewhere). Jen Jen will be heading the trip and sending out emails with the details later. Let us all be part of this, regardless of how big or small a role – or what another person is doing. Committee is as below:

Organizer : Jen Jen

Chef : Li-Anne

Asst Chef : Heloise

Driver : Chin John

Co Driver : Aylwin

Billy Graham Awarded 2006 George Bush Award

Billy Graham accepted the 2006 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service last Monday for his 60-plus years in his calling of 'helping people look beyond this world and onto the next'.

The prolific evangelist, who Bush Sr. described as "America's Pastor", joins former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger among those honored in previous years.

As one of the most admired people in America, Graham has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1983) and the Congressional Gold Medal (1996), but he called the Bush award "the greatest honor" he ever had.

The extraordinary life and ministry of the 87-year old evangelist is being made into a 1-hour TV documentary called Billy Graham: God's Ambassador. It's slated to be released during this Easter Sunday. If you know if it will be showing on Astro or anywhere else, please share by leaving a comment below.

Related Links

• Graham accepts 2006 George Bush Award
• America's Pastor awarded 'greatest honor'

How to pray for spiritual breakthrough

Last Sunday, Pastor Chan preached about why we should fast and pray. The short answer – praying and fasting enables breakthroughs in our spiritual lives and really brings about major, sea change events.

Pastor gave some examples:

• Moses was in the wilderness for forty days without bread and water, and after that he received the ten commandments (Exo 34:28 ).
• Even Jesus fasted for forty days and nights in the wilderness (Luk 4:1-2) before going on to begin his ministry.

For prayer to be really powerful, it should be accompanied by fasting. Here’s how to pray for spiritual breakthroughs (FCRRR):

F – Forgiveness

• Many times the failure to break through will have caused some negativeness. Set yourself right before God by asking for forgiveness.
• Dear Lord, forgive me as I come before you in prayer.

C – Confess

• Confess the spirit of anger/annoyance/pride/etc that has been the source of negativeness.
• I confess that this situation has made me resentful, angry and caused me to avoid this person.

R – Repent

• Repent from that negative spirit which you have confessed.
• Lord I repent from my resentfulness, anger, and ill feelings that I have developed against this person/situation.

R – Renounce

• Renounce, rebuke and speak against the spirit that has a hold over the person or situation you are praying for.
• In the name of Jesus, I bind the spirit of pride and rebuke it from this person’s life.

R – Receive

• Pray to release the spirit that is the opposite of what you are praying against. So, if you are praying against pride, pray for the release of humility.
• Dear Lord, I receive the spirit of humility and I speak it into this person’s life

So, that’s what I caught anyway. I admit that I’m not so clear on everything, so please correct me by leaving a comment if I left out anything.

Speaking of spiritual breakthrough, I fasted yesterday for the Assemblies of God national 10-day prayer and fasting. It was just one meal, but it was my first time so it’s something to me. I fasted lunch and I didn’t have any solid food between 8am to 8pm. Thanks Big Daddy (Heavenly Father) for giving me the will and strength to last so long, and for not letting anyone hear my growling stomach.

Originally published at David's Web

Light in the Dark

Today we had our first subgroup carecell meeting. I was asked by dear Joanna to conduct New Calling chapter 4 on Salt and Light for subgroup 1 and John and Peter conducted another subgroup. We did Gel where Peter volunteered to be the first to light up his candle (yea we all brought some sort of candle). We all then went to a dark corner, and then Peter shared on how he felt being the only one with the light. Each of us then also shared on our feelings being in the dark. We then proceeded to get all our candles lighted up and split into our subgroups for the sharing from New Calling.

The guys decided to stay back in the house, while us girls headed to the nearby park. It just rained so it was quite wet, nevertheless we found ourselves a spot and just sat on the ground, and started our discussions. We talked and shared on Jesus calling us to be salt and light and what it means to our life. Then we challenged each other to do a CareAct for the week to our oikoses, something that causes our oikos to really notice the act of caring. We then prayed and headed back to check on the guys.

It was fun and different, and we really look forward to more discussions and applications of the Word of God.

blogjunkie in da house!

Hey wassup! The blogjunkie a.k.a. David is in da house.

I just want to introduce myself as the newest team member of this blog... so, "Hi there".

I've been blogging for years, and this crazy fool has so many blogs you can't count them. If you're free, check out my other blogs:

• David's Web
  
• Itchy Hands
• adventures of a blogjunkie

If everyone thinks its a good idea, we'll put up an event calendar here too. I'm really glad to be participating in this blog (can you tell I'm so excited?!) and I hope there will be more participation here with everyone else too.

Till next time, may the big kahuna the Lord our God bless you many many. See ya!

New feature: Email subscriptions

Hi everyone,

Because we know that you're so lazy to come check the blog every week, we've added a new feature that lets you receive the latest blog entries via email. You can subscribe to the email updates by using the sign up box in the sidebar on the left of this blog.

Or, you can click http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=43474

What are you waiting for?? Go subscribe now! We'll be asking all of you to contribute to the blog at some time, so I'm sure you'd like everyone to read what you wrote right? Good, now go sign up.

The more technically inclined ones may prefer to subscribe directly to the Atom/XML feed, located at http://yacarecell.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Thanks for subscribing, and I hope that we'll see more interaction on this blog in the future. God bless!

The Great Commission

Today we had carecell as usual, and it was the record breaking attendance as there were 16 people in all. The first timers were Michael, Gerald, Tamera and Diana. Jen Jen was back to join us after as short break with work. Peter conducted Gel and Glorify, and it was short time of fun and getting to know each other better.

After that, time was passed back to Joanna to do Grow, where we did Chap 2 of the New Calling Material. Today we looked at what God said in the Bible about loving God and loving people. We then got discussing about what are some things we could do in our everyday life to show love to people, and how to show God's love to the people around us. Tamera gave a great example of how when she meets people at her workplace such as the security guard, she would make it a point to greet them and appreciate them instead of walking past by them like others do. In this way, she believes she managed to show them that they were not invincible to her, and that she does appreciate their being there.

We then talked about the Great Commission of reaching the nations and discipling others as Jesus commanded. We found that to love people, we would also want to share to them about Christ, to win and nurture them into the Kingdom of God. After exchanging much thoughts, Joanna soon wrapped it up with a short time of prayer and Gear Up.

by Leona Lim

Sharing on TAWG

On 9-Feb (Thurs) we had our usual Young Adult CG at our usual place…where else, but the humble home of Joanna, Li-Ann & I. We had ‘Sharing & Fellowship’. I think it’s more of a Fellowship, as our GEL lasted for nearly 30 to 45 minutes. Well, I should say, thanks to my brilliant ‘game’. We get to know each other better I guess, from material possession to very personal stuff.

Then we proceed to ‘refresh’ our memory with the verse John 15:16 . We had Bible Study two weeks before that; and our assignment for the following two weeks were to pray for one of our Carecell member according to the prayer request. The verse for the week was John 15:16. So there were pretty obvious signs of people forgetting to pray or even memorizing the verse.

Anyways, we started our sharing after that. We were to share on what we have learnt or what has God been speaking to us throughout the week. A testimony to glorify God of course! From there, some of us shared our personal thoughts, some points to ponder and some struggles in life.

I guess, overall we had a great time together. We shared lots of laughter and seriousness as well. Just like all our other Carecell gatherings.

“ You did not take me for yourselves, but I took you for myself; and I gave you the work of going about and producing fruit which will be for ever; so that whatever request you make to the Father in my name he may give it to you.” John 15:16

By Adeline Wong

CNY dinner

so!, cg for YA started, and thanks to jojo 'the peacock', i was to organize this CNY dinner.nah lah, actually i picked this event to organize out of the lot.

i thot it was a pretty simple thing to do...pick a place, set a time, confirm head counts and WALHA! but then, mana tau the time which was supposed to be 7pm, 22Jan (meet at restaurant) became the malaysian time 8pm, due to wrong info on the venue. (lesson learnt)

we also had one tiny lil setback, i couldn't speak cantonese, don't even know what i was going to order, heh heh. but, we have among us a pretty lady who speaks fluent cantonese - Stephanie - and she 'kow tim' everything for me.

all in all, the food was goooood!! we went to Old Man Restaurant at Sg Chua (opp Bintang Hypermarket) and i think we all had a merry time with the yee sang. the company was gooood, in the end everyone was full and satisfied and happy.

*pats meself at the back* i sure did a good job! :)

after the dinner some who had nothing better to do gate-crashed our house and made lots and lotsof noise with loud laughter and giggles and chit-chat until nearly midnight... tsk tsk tsk, no wonder we don't have neighbours visiting us.

By Li-Ann