Full-Time

I am a full-time person in almost every way. I work full-time. When I studied in the academia, I studied full-time. Never part time in anything, whether in ministry or theological study. I can't see it any other way. Full time which you are totally committed to one thing at a time. Not divided either in ministry or study. Even when I wrote my books, it is all full-time. My books were all written when I was out of active ministry, waiting for my next appointment. While waiting, I am unpaid and everything is by faith, writing, publishing, printing my books all out of my own pocket, no sponsors and no benefactors. I received a couple of monetary gifts during my 30th anniversary thanksgiving service in full-time ministry.

Obedience to God's Word (Proverbs 24:27 LXX)

This time it was simply obedience to God's Word. I did not hear any voice, internal or external. I did not see any visions except in the last days of my leaving when everything was decided months before. But it was purely God's Word that spoke to my spirit several times. The verse in Proverbs in ch. 24,27 of the LXX reads thus: "Prepare your work for your departure". The Lord gave me eight months to prepare for my eventual departure from the Seminary where I served for one year. For 8 months after giving my notice of resignation I was preparing for my departure. The second part of the verse reads, "Be fully prepared for the field. Come behind Me and follow Me."

"He rejoices over you in love" (Zephaniah 3:17)

This is surely one of my favourite verses in the Bible, that God himself rejoices over His people with love. One translation has the last clause of the verse as "he shouts over you with you" CJB. This has been happening over the year especially in the past two weeks. The Lord knows how to celebrate over His servants who serve Him faithfully. Sometimes He makes the stars align even as Scripture says, "all the days are ordained for me before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139). How remarkable. I have passed several milestones this year. The Lord seems to know and He celebrates. On my birthday I attended a church meeting at night in our HQ's main hall and when I gave two of my books to one pastor who had requested for me to bring them several times, they broke out in song, singing Happy Birthday to their colleague and friend! Surely I did not plan or anticipate that but when she wanted to pay me for the books, somewhat I told her, "this time is free as it is my birthday!" My 60th birthday coincides with the start of the Olympics in Paris and even the love song sung by Celine Dion at the end has the word, "God" in it, over all the secular and irreligious parts of the opening ceremony. Then, in the past fortnight, it has been a whirlwind.

New Beginning

The church is still getting used to their new pastor. As much as it is a new beginning for me, starting my 31st year in full time ministry as a pastor for the 4th time, it is also a new beginning for the church as they never had a full time pastor in the past 9 years. We must adapt quickly and I was touched yesterday as not only the MC welcomed me once more but a deaconess who prayed before the collection mentioned that a number of her friends had told her that their churches also wanted me as pastor but how blessed the church was for me to accept the call. It seems a good start sweetened by what happened yesterday.

Preaching is my main gift

Why was it so tough to preach last Sunday’s anniversary thanksgiving service? It was because I had to balance between self-deprecation and testimony of God’s power in my life. I told the 70 plus adults present that my main gift in Christ was preaching and I could see a few of my guests nodding their heads agreeing with me as these leaders invited me to preach in the past couple of years. But preaching is a rare gift. It involves body mind soul and spirit. After more than 3 days I still feel tired due to the exertions of the weekend.

Toughest Message

It was one of the toughest messages that I preached in my 30 years in full-time ministry. In a welcoming service of the church pastor and my own 30th anniversary in full-time service coupled with the launch of my 7th book, I faced one of the most critical junctures of my ministry to date. My new church was three-quarters full with about 50 church members and 25 of my guests being present in our little one shop-lot church hall. The church leaders told me that they were prepared for 30 of my guests but by the time that I went down to the fellowship hall after 20 minutes engaging with buyers of my books and autographing them (20 books were sold on that night), the food was almost gone until I sat at the table reserved for guests but the table only had 18 chairs and all of them were taken. I felt sorry for a few of my guests who left early as they could not find a comfortable place to sit and dine. But it was part of the celebration of a small little church at the outskirts of Kota Kinabalu, about 13 kms from my home. One guest told me how much "Kampung" (Village) atmosphere she felt. 

I did not preach on Sunday

It was quite surreal in many ways. In the past few months I had preached more often on Sundays than just attending as a worshipper. Yesterday I attended service at my church (1st December I shall be the pastor) and after a very short sermon of 20 minutes, we broke for fellowship and we gathered for about 10 minutes discussing the events on the 1st Dec which was a three in one, a welcoming of the new pastor by the church, my 30th anniversary in full-time ministry and the launch of my 7th book. Last night I attended probably my last event before I entered this new phase and I reminded a few present so that they could grace the 1st December evening's thanksgiving service. It has been a remarkable few months.

Preaching & Rest

Yesterday when I stopped preaching I looked at my watch and it was 11.10am after ascended to the pulpit at 10.30am with 30 minutes for praise and worship as the service started at 10am. As I knew I was going to conduct a seminar in the afternoon, I would not preach more than 45 minutes as I needed to conserve my energy. The Seminar started at 12.40pm after an hour plus lunch break and it went until 2.45pm before we ended. We had afternoon tea and by 3.30pm I left the church filled with joy on my way back, only about 10kms away. So Monday is a day of rest for me and last night's sleep was intermittent, perhaps due to the exertions and exhaustion of the day. But I saw the joy in the faces of many church members.

Big Milestone

For the past week, I have been going through my guest list for my 30th anniversary in full-time service. By God's grace, I am still standing and serving the Lord full-time. It is no mean achievement, seeing in my denomination I am the most senior member holding a membership card no. 4. My former President had passed away 7 years ago (no. 1), the Vice-President (no.2 ) had left the denomination and started his own church, the third, Secretary-General (no. 3) after many years of service chose to stand as a candidate in the State's general election 4 years ago and no longer serves full-time. So I am only one standing from the old batch of veterans. For sure, they are those who have served 40 years and above but they are now fewer and fewer, perhaps only 20 or 30 pastors out of about 400 full-time workers.

48 hours

After 48 hours since my ministry in Miri, I really felt the weariness this evening. I only spoke for 25 minutes but it could be the 90 minutes waiting in the changing room for the service to start that took a lot of my energy. I purposely brought my legal gown instead of my PhD gown as the latter is unwieldy and rather cumbersome with hood and stuff. But the events were packed and that added to the lack of rest throughout my 36 hours in Miri. After the convocation started we had refreshments and I spoke with about 10 people for about 45 minutes. A number of people asked to take photos with me which I duly obliged. With about one hour back in the hotel, I was taken to the convocation dinner at 6.30pm and it ended just before 10pm. When I arrived back at the hotel at 10.30pm, I checked a few emails and texts on my phone and went to bed by 11pm. Then I got up at 5am to pack my stuff and went for the hotel's complimentary breakfast at 6am. I had a 30-minute breakfast and by 6.45am I headed to the airport for my 8.55am flight back to Kota Kinabalu. But the joy was palpable.

My Miri Trip

This is a flying visit. I arrive on Saturday night at 9pm taken for supper at 10pm and slept close to midnight at the hotel near the Seminary and the church where the convocation was held. I woke up as usual at 4.30am and prepared for Sunday service though I was not preaching. Last minute I received a text that they would be taking me to BEM Canada Hill for the 8am service, a church I visited back in 1997. That's more than a quarter of a century ago. As it is one of the largest BEM churches in Miri, I brought about 12 of my books (5 titles) and I was surprised that the MC took the books from the lady that I gave a set of books, and the MC introduced me to the congregation and one by one mentioned my books from the pulpit. I listened to one of the BM pastors preached as being a large church there have three pastors for the BM and three pastors for the English service as well.