ministry – the otnaicus daily

Of late, I’ve been wondering why is it that it’s so difficult to get people to serve in the ministry. Does it only affect CHCTVM? Have we been so lax that the attitudes have changed so drastically? Or are the people today just like that?

But yet as I sit down to think about it, I have no answers to the questions. I’ve heard comments that the crew doesn’t care how much others are stretched; they only care about themselves. Now isn’t that just plain selfish?

As leaders, we are supposed to inspire and to lead. So how effective have we, the leaders, been? Have we been doing things the correct way? Is there a more effective way of leading the crew?

I know it takes two hands to clap. But it has just gotta start somewhere. Best place to start? I guess that’s from the top. There must be a way to inspire and to lead more effectively.

Super random post but I need to get thoughts off my chest. What triggered this is that it’s becoming more and more difficult to get crew to serve, especially the crew from the Expo team. Yes, there is a core group of people who’re dedicated to the ministry. But that’s a small group. What is needed is that the masses, the rest of the ministry, avail themselves to serve.

A fellow leader brought up a point. Why is it that a smaller team in JW can fill up a roster faster than a team that’s more than twice in size combined? I think it boils down to the commitment level of a crew. I’m sure that the JW team and the Expo team people are not much different. We all have our own jobs and commitments outside of church. So why can the JW team stretch themselves so much? Some even serve longer hours than than the team in Expo.

Well, I guess it’s time to pray and seek the answers from God. I don’t have the answers, and neither do I want to present an answer here. This is just me ranting about a real problem that needs a real fix and real quick.

Food for thought? That’s for sure. Until next time, cheers… :Ãž

Well, a week flies by so so fast. And it’s already the second day back in Taipei. As usual, lots of work that needs to be done. And the pace when I’m back in Singapore and when I’m here is so different. And hence, the need to readjust again. All in a days work… Haha..

Enjoyed my week back in Singapore thoroughly. Parents came down to spend some time with me, although I feel kind of guilty for not being able to spend as much time as I would want with them. Of course, time spent in church and with friends. And definitely, fantastic to be able to see Debbie after 4 weeks. That’s just simply indescribable.

The week went by pretty normally until Saturday, 10 November 2007. I shall immortalize this date in my blog. This was the day that time stood still for me (at least for a moment or two). This was the day where something that nobody thought would ever happen, happened. This was the day that Cam 1 toppled over while it was in the least risky part of setup: during the roll-out to the platform. My jaw dropped and I was at a total lost and in a total state of shock.

First thing that ran through my mind: where to get a replacement lens? Cam 2 just ain’t gonna cut it for tracking. And Pst. Ulf was preaching some more. Well, suffice to say I recovered. And thank God that the lens on cam 1 seem to be alright, although the casing was dented quite badly. But for the rest of Service 1, it developed a back-focus problem that rendered the lens partially useless and I had to swap my cam 1 person over to cam 2. Just a very, very eventful day. Unfortunately, just not the type of events that I would want to have.

Exaggeration and jokes aside, this incident really brought home to me (and I hope to the rest of the TV Ministry) of how much we sometimes take things for granted. When a particular incident hasn’t happened before or hasn’t happened in a long time, we take for granted that it will never happen or will never happen again. And this is when things get dangerous. We start to slack in our attitude towards things to a point that a mistake gets repeated.

And that’s where we start to think: are we good stewards? All the members’ sacrifices are just flowing back out into the world because of our carelessness. Why can’t we adopt a more responsible attitude and prevent something from happening in the first place? Yes, mistakes do happen and humans are not perfect. But if mistakes happen because we haven’t exercised due care, doesn’t that amount to irresponsibility?

I do hope that we, as a team, myself included, will begin to see that we have a stake in the ministry we serve in. We have a stake in the equipment that we use week in and week out to serve. And we have a responsibility to the church to use the equipment properly and to maintain it because the church has a stake in the ministry and the equipment we use too. We owe it to the church. It is a responsibility that’s placed upon us.

Wow… A post that’s supposed to be light-hearted turned out to be pretty serious. But that’s just some of the thoughts that are on my mind after what happened. Just thought that I share my two cents worth.

Until the next time, cheers… :Þ