I was at the GoFest four-day conference last week – the children had theirs and I went for mine. My original intention was to send the children, go for the one-day conference and then spend the rest of my time at home or catch up with my friends. But I ended up attending all four days of the conference. I was glad I went. It was a WONDERFUL experience for all of us.
GoFest Asia, organised by YWAM (Youth With A Mission), is an Equipping and Outreach Conference that targets Singapore and Asia nations. As Singapore will host the first ever Youth Olympics, this is a great opportunity to reach out to Youth and Children of Asia, who will be represented in Singapore during this event.
Did I benefit from the conference? Absolutely and more than that – I felt LOVED. I felt loved by God and the people. At the end of the four days, Rebecca said,’Mama, I wish the conference will not end.’ I felt the same way too.
Of late, I’ve been talking to God about all the things I see in the media these days. Many messages are worldly and not edifying. I’m concerned about the influences on my own children and also those in their generation. As I sat through the conference, I learnt many things about our youth, how we can reach out personally, using the various art forms and media, and not apply a one-size-fits-all kind of evangelism and that Jesus CAN redeem our culture.
Revelation 5:9 (KJV)
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
As a mom, I felt comforted to know that God is able to do something about my concerns. I signed up for the workshop to learn how to effectively use the digital media for evangelism, after ruling out dancing and singing (decided I’m bad at both), sports and games (too lazy to do any running around) and a few others. Those of you who know me well will know that I am digitally rather illiterate; while I can email and surf the web, I don’t know very much about trends, like iphone, ipod, mp4 and hardware. The hi-tech person at home is my hubby. So perhaps I can check it out and connect better with my hubby… and maybe throw out some digital lingo here and there…Little did I know that God was answering my prayers. He showed me the work He had done through others – producing many excellent quality movie snippets and various short movies of very wholesome nature so that His name can be made known to all the nations. WOW!! I was so thrilled!! Now I need to know how to use them and I was extremely eager to begin. Hubby will have to help me download some of them into my handphone first. I will also share links to some fabulous websites so you can be equipped to reach out too.
On the last day, we all went for a Treasure Hunt – to hunt out God’s treasure. The children went out in their groups as well. My group were all first timers and we had a mixture of locals and foreigner, male and female. We were very excited Treasure Hunters. God put all our clues together and we found this lady, who was the treasure. We were extremely amazed at how God used us to reach out to bless others. I saw the love and power of God reaching out through willing vessels.
Furthermore, I saw how the children were loved and accepted too. Being familiar with some of the ladies and Jie Jie, John and Rebecca fitted in quickly. One lady volunteer who helped with the children suggested letting LA join the children in their activities. I was so grateful that they didn’t mind taking care of LA as they had preferred children of at least 7 years old and above. A few warm and thoughtful ladies treated LA like royalty and would even feed her and helped wash her pee/poo-stained pants. Aiyoh…so pampered!! What else could I ask for? And LA LOVED to be with them. Praise the Lord for them!! Without them, I won’t be able to attend the conference with undivided attention. Without them, I would miss the refreshment of my soul. They spoke kindly of LA and adored her. Many others often called her name affectionately and praised her. John and Rebecca, initally apprehensive about the length of the conference, were stretched as they learnt and played games, found new friends and now being equipped, are more motivated to reach out. How could I, as a mom, not feel their love for my children and me? I met many new friends too and exchanged contacts. In every new face and heart, I saw candor, dedication and joy. It was during the four days that I began to understand the reality of Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
God further embraced me with His love on the last day in the morning when the children led a time of worship and prayer. It’s the first time I’ve seen how it was done and I believe it was a preview of the ARISE worship concert on 22 August. At first, LA didn’t want to join John and Rebecca on stage, probably because she was unfamiliar and there was such a huge crowd. Later on, after all the children were prayed for ( including LA as I brought LA up onto the stage), I asked if she wanted to stand next to John (he was standing at the side). She agreed and I let her down. Then I got nervous – LA decided to walk to the middle of the stage and take her place next to Rebecca, smiling broadly at everyone! She seemed oblivious to the fact that she was on stage facing the huge audience. Time stood still for me. I wanted to yell out to the whole world,” SEE!!! My LA is singing and dancing on stage!!” But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I was so overwhelmed that I was crying. It was hard to hold back those tears of joy (I tried to sob softly – also very hard) as I tried to keep my hands steady while capturing these images on my video camera. The link to the video is below. I know God will be further glorified during the worship concert on 22 August at the Singapore Expo during the two worship times at 1030am and 330pm.
So come!! Bring your family and friends. If you want to get the tickets, let me know.
See the video. Share the moment. Experience His favour.
I Can Do It! 