A Ghost From The Past

Ha ha ha! Got your attention didn't I? No, this is not a theological argument about the existence of ghost or ghouls. Just something that happened on the 26th Dec practice that brought back a yuck-ie feeling. And maybe my corniest article yet .... Oops.... now you've reALLY got to beAR wiTH ME :)

Some common things that happened to me before Team L:

MY GHOST!
Soundman are either not on time or never turn up. That puts stress on me as the worship leader as I've to climb up the balcony to switch on the system. Then realise I have to climb down to the stage to switch on the amplifiers and then back up to the balcony to get sound from the mixer. By this time I'm already sweating and not in the mood to lead a practice. Sometimes I can't find the wireless microphone or some silly things like the batteries. To add salt to the wound, some singers or musicians will turn up late and I'll have to exercise up and down the balcony. If only they all lined up at the entrance and enter at the same time!

MY GHOULS.COM
Projectionist who do not turn up because they have a 'dinner' on practice day. Always happens to me. I wonder why? Am I not handsome enough? He he Anyway, the entire night's practice will be in syllables of ah, ooo, ta da. Try that sometime. It's quite cool..... listen to Amazing Grace in ta da, da da ta da, ta da, ta da....... Ah yes, not to mention showing wrong verses or delayed 'telecast' of lyrics on sunday. What a distraction for the congregation and a disgrace to the worship leader. Yucks!

Vampires
Because of all these 'technical' and 'people' problems, the backup singers start getting engrossed with small talk. Okay, that's an understatement. Anyway, here they are talking when instructions are being given. They are oblivious to the songlist, key and tempo changes, etc. When it is time to sing, they wait for the worship leader. After all they were the backup not the main.

Serious Burden
To me it is an awesome responsibility to stand before GOD, much less leading God's people in worship. It is not sunday karoake. It is the worship of Almighty God who sent His only son, so to say His Best, to save us from damnation. How can we render any less in our worship? That is the weight on a worship leader. That is how serious the music ministry is. For me, it affects me badly when I have to hold the boat together.

Back to the Dec 26th practice. I was informed earlier our Team L soundman would not be there and there would not be replacement. Our regular projectionist wasn't around and the one replacing already confirmed a dinner weeks before. I do not know how it turned out on sunday but it was stressful in the practice and on sunday. It was Yuck and double yuck!

I don't hear the other worship leaders complaining so maybe I am the only one with issues. However, one thing can be gleaned from this yuck-ie situation. That is this: The band, singers, projectionist, soundman and all work as a team. One cannot do without the other. If one section doesn't function well, the entire sunday may go down the drain. We are all in the same boat whether our responsibilities are big or small. Everyone is needed to be at their station and to be performing their best unto the glory of God. Imagine if your soccer team's goalkeeper had to take off early because of an engagement. Yuck-ie!

Psst......pssstt.... I just heard they are coming out with an evaluation form that will document everyone's performance in the Creative Department. Looks like all these yuck-ie situations are going to be documented and evaluated.....

Signing off,

Tim.L

An Observation on Christmas Day Service 2009

The Pro's
Choir presentation headed by Kok Yen was great! I thoroughly enjoyed it! The quality of the invited artist were also good. Kudos to everyone who put in effort to practice.

The Con's
Technical problem in the music for 1King drama. Sound system was a big improvement compared with the Easter outing we had in the same venue. However the line array system coverage is only for the first half of the seating capacity. The 2nd half portion did not have enough treble/clarity. We will need to evaluate if it was a budget restriction or other causes.

Jon made a good observation. I am sharing it with good intentions. Should the banner at the stage back wall been shot on the projector screen via a computer image? If the screen was down, it covered the banner. The banner didn't really come out as it was poorly lighted. Cost saved there could have been relocated elsewhere.

Note: When the banner was projected on sunday at church via projector it did look good.

God's Fatihfulness in 2009: A testimony by Timothy

Merry Christmas & Victorious New Year to to all! Even though commercial celebrations have toned down yet things seem to look better. I said seem....who knows if they are any better :) Around this time last year, (december 2008) there was much gloom and doom in our country. Everywhere I turned the conversations were focused on financial meltdowns. Subprime and the domino effect on world economy was on everyone's lips. Factories were laying off workers. Big American plants were relocating. Prices of petrol, and thereafter everthing else, went up. It was not a pleasant season this time round last year.

My Emotional Turnaround
One of my new year resolution last December was to commit more to the creative department. I gathered a few people and launched the vision of Team L. I knew it required tremendous amount of time, effort and push to shape an exemplery team. It would require me to take time of business and family to achieve it's goals. In retrospect, it actualy cost more than I anticipated. It was not a logical decision that I made. The commitment was made out of love for God and obedience to His direction. While most people were bracing themselves for the doom and gloom of 2009, I went the opposite by putting aside more time for music ministry. That decision gave me an emotional turnaround. From that point onwards, I no longer was weighed down by the surronding gloom but was looking forward to see what God can do, both in my business situation and my PCC ministry in Team L.
(P/S I spent a total of 7-8 hours per week, January to June, to prepare and rehearse with Team L. This is in addition to all the church meetings and activities.)

God Be Praised
Truly God is to be praised! He is faithful and glorious! Let me rewind to mid 2008. My business actually slowed down then. By the end of 2008 it was quite bad and would be 'stupid' of me to take time of business and devote it to Team L for ministry. However, I knew in my heart that it was the will of God to start a spark through Team L for 2009. After a season in prayer, going against human understanding, Team L was birthed.

Trust not in your own understanding
When business is down, the natural thing to do is advertise more, pick up the phones and call, market, market, market....... Only the lazy fellows will sit down and snooze. I had full assurance about the will of God. And true enough, He had already planned out 2009 for me. God is in control! All I had to do was rest in His peace, worked hard, followed His guidance and 2009 turned out to be a fruitful year for business and ministry. It became the year of great satisfaction (and pain). Pain because of all those late nights and practices :)

Yep, God's hand was upon us all the way. After all He did say, "I will be with you ...". Up till October 09, we were down 25% in terms of turnover. By December, though I haven't counted yet, but I believe we did better than the previous year.

Lessons learnt
1. God is always in control regardless of how we feel or perceive things. Yes we live in this world with all it's up's and down's but we are not of this world. We belong to God's Kingdom.

2. His ways are higher and we must live by His every word. We listen to what our master says.

3. Since our lives are built on the Rock, we need to balance our activities with time for minstry. Not just being a part of ministry, but putting energy, effort and excelling in all we do to the glory of God in the highest!

4. Being immersed in ministry actually puts a lot of things in perspective. We are not so focused on the doom and gloom. Ministry helped us focus on God and being our best for Him.

5. That God rewards those who diligently seek Him. Of course you'd have to believe that He exists in the first place :)

Take heart, regardless of your experience in 2009, or what may happen in 2010, let us declare with one voice: as for me and my household we will serve the Lord! I encourage all Creative members to put in extra in 2010. Who knows? We may attempt a musical this time round! Let us be faithful to God as He is faithful to us!

BLESSED NEW YEAR!

The Success Formula of Bernard and My Request For Prayer

There is one policy that I admire of Music Director for 2008, Bernard Lee. Some of us may not know this but he practised interceding for key members of the Creative Department. He believed that when God's people are blessed, they would be able to serve with even more vigour. I believe in that too. When I started the TEAM L project, I spent hours praying for Jim Abigo, George Igoni, Gimras Wrigal, Bridgette Victoria, William Lim, Lud Lee, Dixon Obege, Joseph Olayemi, Ria Yam, Elizabeth Chong, Tony Ng and Joel Chan. My convictions were, if each was strongly connected to God, then greater things will be done when we minister as a team.

Right now, an enormous task lies ahead for the Creative Department's Central Working Committee. We know that if we want change, a lot of energy, painful pleasures and sacrifices needs to be expended. We cannot run the department as in previous years. We will get the same results! Nothing wrong with previous years results. It's just that if we want improvement and a higher ground position, we need to CHANGE! And I say that with a very big OUCH!!

I am prepared for the 'ouch' but I covet prayers. Please pray for me and the Central Working Commitee. I am asking for intercessory prayers because the work I am embarking is SPIRITUAL. It is a struggle not against flesh and blood but against principalaties and powers beyond human resources. More will be elaborated in the article entitled "Why We Do What We Do". I would request that Kok Yen puts me in his prayer list for 2010. I am sure his experience being at the helm faithfully for so many years will cause his prayers to be effective and right to the heart of the issues.

Pray for us and again I say, pray for us.

Translating TEAM L success to all other teams

TEAM L (L for LAST, why? That's another story :) started in January 2009 with a vision to raise and set a high ministry standard. They led in worship every 2nd sunday of the month in 2009. Riding on this success formula, the Creative Department hopes to implement, across the board, to all other teams. What was the hoo haa about Team L?



Punctuality & Discipline
Well, they achieved their goals of punctuality and discipline. Not only did the team strive to start practices on time, they have surpassed what was required and actually came early on sunday mornings at 8.30 for sound check. That's a whole 1/2 an hour before official time. Towards the second half of the year the members volunteered to pay RM5 if they came late.

Spirit of Excellence, Going the Extra Mile!
In order to raise the music standard, the team practiced every wednesday for 5 hours. This contributed to interesting arrangements and worship experiences. That's a whopping 20 hours of preparation for a 1/2 hour worship leading session on sunday! If we count sound check, vocal and the regular saturday practices, it would easily exceed 30 hours. Yes, my friends, talk about sacrifices!

The Lord's Prayer Concert - June 2009
This was probably the climax for the team. Leading in worship for the entire sunday programme. Music intertwined with praise, worship, prayer, and deliverance was a refreshing change. This concert involved leaders from the prayer, choreography and video department. It was something not felt in PCC, not since Altered Frequency in 2005?

One Voice in God
The most satisfying experience, for me personally, is the coming together of different cultures in ministry. The locals and the Africans in TEAM L merged their talents, strengths and, with a spirit of tolerance, forged an "iron sharpen iron" experience. We learnt from one another and stood with one another in ministry. We even implemented a communication chain where we would pass information from one member to the next. It facilitated fellowship and cultivated care and concern.

Everyone Contributed & The Morale Was High!
One member prepared the lyrics. Another encourage punctuality. Still another counselled in the area of discipline. Some prayed. Some shared the word. Some offered transport and sometimes got penalised for coming late! Of course some complained. However we were there through thick and thin.

One of the Creative Department's goal in 2010 is to raise the morale, discipline and effectiveness of the entire department. That is a daunting task but we believe the spark that God has started in 2009 will fan to a flame in 2010. Are we able to? As drummed into the minds of TEAM L, success does not depend on one person but rather on everyone contributing. 2010 is a year for you, the Creative Department members, to lift high the banner and TOGETHER we shall provide an excellent facilitation for praise and worship, to the glory of God.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

Tim.L