Tag: church

Every year, after the last Easter drama run, we will proclaim this. But this year, I think it is a new beginning of a new group of people who are rising up.

Proud of the relatively new team at the helm of the production. The first-time Easter drama director and two first-time drama ADs did a fantastic job with the very limited number of rehearsals. Not to mention the rest of the team who made this production very possible. It is only with their sacrifice and zeal that the TV production is as good as it can get!

Go team, go!!! :Þ

And so Easter is tomorrow. Right now, we are hard at work running rehearsals with the CHC Drama Team. The night is young but things are looking up!

This year, I have a team of younger crew at the helm of the production. Seasoned vision mixer/director, and two ADs who’re pretty new at the job. I’m glad things are turning out well and they are fitting into their roles. Me? I’m the video playback guy, tech guy, and somewhat of a producer’s role.

Like the directing team, I’m new to this producing business. It’s quite different from directing and vision mixing. Gotta ensure that the show can happen and take care of the little things that will make the show happen! Long way to go but I’m willing to learn.

I’m glad that new people are rising up to take up the challenge of being part of the drama crew. It’s not easy. Late nights, the need to take leave from work and school, and the need to serve for ALL services. And of late, the need to be familiar with two separate sets of cues. Proud of everyone that has stepped up to take the challenge, both past and present.

So do keep the entire Easter production team in prayer. 7 services. It’s going to be tiring, but it’ll be a great weekend!

Until the next time, cheers… :Þ

This morning’s SOT session blew me away. It ended with Rev. Ming giving the students an encounter with God. And those of us upstairs in the control room also experienced it.

I can’t remember exactly what happened and how it led up to the moment, but I found myself tearing and just experiencing the love and warm embrace of God. Totally cool. And at the end of it all, he got us to sit down and write down what God has spoken to us, in the form of a letter. And this is what I managed to type down while tearing….

Dear Andrew,

I know the difficulties and problems you face in your daily life. But I want you to know that I’m always here for you. Never forget that I am here. Always lean upon me as your source of strength. In whatever you do, always know that I will always be with you. You are my son. I have made you while you were in your mother’s womb. I know how many hairs you have on your head. I know you!! Lean on me my son. Never ever forget that I’m always right next to you. Carrying you whenever you face walls in your life.

I love you my son. And I will always love you no matter what.

Love,
Jesus

Cool, isn’t it? It was so encouraging to have that being put into my heart. The words just flowed and I typed until the words stopped.

And after I got all that down, I was pretty surprised I managed to type all that with my eyes closed. I could even correctly correct my mistakes while eyes were closed.

Thank you, God, for putting that word into my heart….

I thank God that I was woken up on Sunday morning, and subsequently couldn’t fall back asleep. So I took the opportunity to turn on my computer, surf on over to CHC’s webcast and started watching. And I was really touched by the sermon that Pst. Tan preached.

I was reminded of a time not too long ago by the sermon. The time where CHCTVM would come together to serve God just because we wanted to serve Him, and not serve at OUR convenience. I guess this is something that needs to be caught and not taught. Granted that there are some situations that we really can’t get out of and as such, we can’t serve.

The question we have to ask ourselves is, “Why do I want to serve?” Is it because we are told to serve? Is it because we are forced to serve (this then, is not called serving)? Or do we really want to come before God and sacrifice our time to serve him joyfully? Serving is a conviction, and not a preference. Serving God is something that requires a level of commitment, but above all that, we come to serve with joy, passion, and wholeheartedly!

I’m reminded of how important serving with joy and passion is. Without that joy, we lose interest in all that we do. It’s like our job and career. We all want to do something that we like to do and we do it with joy and passion. When we lose that, we become demoralised in where we are.

So the big question is how do we keep our passion alive? I guess some of it is personal. For me, it’s always reminding myself of the first love; why I joined the ministry. For the most of it, a strong walk with God must be always at the centre. Look at it this way: you’d do more for your loved ones right? So our relationship with God has to be right there in the middle of everything.

The leaders over us and friends around us also play a part. We need to be fed, refreshed and inspired. In short, we need to fill up our “petrol tank”. Yes, we do get tired as we are all humans. We need people in our life that will encourage us to keep us going. We need leaders to inspire us to reach higher and further, and not to stagnate.

So what keeps you going? Why did you start serving in the first place? Is the ministry where God called you? What is your first love?

Find the passion… Find the joy… Let serving God be just that. All other things are secondary. Oh yes, and while you’re serving, learn and learn and learn new skills. That’s how we all go higher and further.

Cheers… :Þ

And so Easter 2009 is over. A fantastic drama production, coupled with powerful preaching from Pst. Kong led to a lot of lives being saved. Praise the Lord!

This Easter is pretty taxing. Tonnes of services, most of which has its own drama and its own sets of rehearsals, meant that our crew is stretched to the max. But I thank God for willing people who are ready to stand in the gap and go all out to make Easter happen. May it be serving multiple services, or being part of the many drama crews, these individuals have come together to work as a team, and together produced a fantastic production that made a difference!

So a big THANK YOU goes out to all the willing individuals. YOU have made a difference and God will surely remember your faithfulness. Keep on keeping on!! :Þ

After going through so many Christmas drama rehearsals, and watching the rehearsal DVD, I just feel that we’re back to square one in terms of shots. It’s very different watching from a makeshift stage and watching when the dramatists are on the actual set. Camera angles change, more cameras become available for use. And when that happens, I feel lost. Well, we just have to buck up during the rehearsals tomorrow.

Recently, I don’t know why but I started learning PHP. That’s a scripting language use for the web. And my first project as I’m picking it up is to create a management system for the TV ministry. Actually, I wanted to use the language that I’m good in, which is Java, but it seems much more complicated than a PHP-based website. So I’m taking this opportunity to work on one and to pick up a new language. Hope this steam that I have to work on this will not die out… Haha…

Don’t know why, but recently there seems to be nothing to blog about. Maybe it’s been really a slow month. So until the next time, cheers… :Þ

It felt very very very very slow. No pre-service rush. No last minute announcements to dump out. No last minute playback tests to do. No rushing in and out of the control room to grab a bite in between the playback tests. Just the good ol’ pre-service setup, colour balance, briefing, service and the debrief thereafter. Sure feels weird…

It definitely feels different after running on high gear for a while. Everything definitely seems slow, and at times, one may feel very lost. But I guess, after going through Asia Conference, we have been stretched. And when the pressure is let go, our capacity has been increased. We have learnt from our mistakes. We have learnt new and more efficient ways to achieve the same results. We have learnt to think under tremendous pressure and on our feet. Suffice it to say that Asia Conference has certainly been a learning experience, if not for all, as least for myself.

And it’s time to get ready for Christmas. Seems very low-key this year, but we have still got to make things happen. Not a lot of rehearsals and hopefully the drama will be technically simple, yet with a very rich story and substance. And I believe it’s going to be a great time.

Until the next time, cheers…. Þ

It has been a very busy and hectic week. All the rushing of videos, last minute dumping out of videos, running around to make sure that crews are ready and last minute requests have ended. But it was all worth it. Asia Conference was definitely a success, even with the glitches here and there.

Personally, I’ve never ever run, or helped run a production of this scale. I thought Emerge was big, but what Pastor said was true. After Asia Conference, Emerge will look like chicken feet. But I took something away from the past week. Learning how to keep one’s cool under all the pressure is a must, as well as being able to think fast on your feet.

The crew has been fantastic as well. There were a few who were there practically everyday and from early hours as well, even though they were not on duty. My appreciation goes out to them. They are the faithful and will go the extra mile. That said, every single crew is appreciated and they have definitely contributed to the success of the Asia Conference.

Just received the rehearsal schedule for Christmas 2008. Just reading the email made me feel a bit tired. But it’s the last lap and I’m determined to finish this year well. 6 services for Christmas this year; 3 in Jurong West and 3 in Expo. Hope the drama is not a complex one.

Time to go get some sleep. Still trying to recover from the lack of during the past week. So until the next time, cheers… :Þ