HUGE 2005 through the eye of a camper.

This is one entry that should have been up before Christmas. But better late than never, right? I'm spliting my experience there according to categories. And here it goes:

General camp details

Date: 12th – 15th December 2005 (Monday - Thursday)
Venue: Puteri Resort, Malacca
Speaker: Chad Jacobson
Theme: Snatch
Key Verse: Jude 23 (…snatch others from the fire and save them....)



The view of the mand-made river and swimming pool of the resort. Beyond that is the REAL river.














The praise and worship sessions

The Youth Alive Malaysia (YAM) and other bands (like COP, Metro Tabernacle) that came up were good. Some bands play old songs from United Live (UL) Albums and even VEGGIE TALES! Only complain is that the songs in the latest UL album, Look To You, have been played one time too many. It was up to a point where the guitarist tried to outplay each other during the guitar solo.


Accomodation

Sharing the room with Iggy, Alwin and Julius was ok as not only are we in the same cell group, but we got to bond together. And staying next door to Mark, Brandon, Jonathan Chia and Benedict meant having access to the PS2 (yeah, they brought the game console over there!)


Food

What i thought to be muscle fatigue was actual food poisoning. Not complaining that the food was bad; it's just that i got sick from either eating under cooked, poorly prepared food or from unclean cutlery. Missed the Prayer Tunnel and the last sermon due to it.

The Sermons

Pastor Clement preached at the first session, and his sermon was about being a Christian. Sometimes it's hard when people around you tease you about being a Christian, or when you're afraid to admit that you are one.

But it's stated in Romans 1:16-17, 'I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.... For in a gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last.'

We should live by faith, not fearing others who presecute you or taunt you, for we are to live by faith and the righteousness of God.

The next four sessions were preached by Chad Jacobson, a funky pastor who tries to grab the attention of the listens with his funny reactions and a little acting. Let me put in a nutshell what he talked about in all the four sermons:

1. Refering to Mark 5:25- 34.
If we seek God, God will take notice of you trying to catch His attention, and He'll bless you.

2. Refering to Psalm 107:10-17. (Going into Dark Territory)
The devil doesn't like us to step into his territory/trying to save the unsave. He'll do anything to make sure that you don't success and will fall. He makes sin looks fun as it slowly eats takes up your life using varieties things like girlfriend, money, work, etc.

However, God wants to use you, for through Him all things are possible. Plus, He cares about what's in your heart, and not what you have in order to do His will.

3. Refering to Acts 12:5-10,21
God allows bad things to happen to us, and at times it doesn't makes sense (like accidents and deaths). But it doesn't matter, for He has a plan prepared for you!

4. Refering to Genesis 32:22 - 32 (Never Give Up, Never Surrender)
Sometimes, the worst place to be is being alone, for all kinds of stuff can happen. But sometimes, you may encounter God in the process. And once you do, do not let go of Him till He blesses you. For with each encounter you have with God, you'll never be the same again. Think Jacob, the wrestling match and the limp!


(It pays to actually take notes during sermons. But it pay even more to actually read them back. Ask me if you need clarifications.)



The Workshops



During the workshop session, Pastor Julie Khoo (on stage in the pic) instructed Pastor's Kids (PK) to make a skit based on the following wrong methods to tell the gospel:

1. Painfully Direct: Telling people to very bluntly and directly. ("Believe or die!")
2. Indiscreetly Offensive: To stand in front of a porn shop and offer people warm words of fiery encouragement
3. Blatantly Condemning: Telling the person off ("You'll surely die and go to hell! TO HELL!")
4. Superficially Quick: "Part of the reason I was so painfully direct was because i tend to get it over quickly!"
5. Sincerely Wrong: Sharing the wrong confusingly, and compromising it.
6. Rudely Impatient: Not giving time to others, keep on pushing them. ("You want to accept or not? Want or not? Want or not?")
7. Powerful Conviction: Word of God should be shared with conviction and passion, letting the Holy Spirit work through you.

The other thing learnt was the list of reasons why people are afraid to share the gospel with others:

a. Fear of rejection
b. Fear of not knowing enough
c. Fear of offending family and friends
d. Fear of ridiculed and prececuted

And the other list mentioned was about why share the gospel:

i. The condition around us (dying world, humanity's suffering)
ii. Competition
iii. Credit-merit
iv. Conscius
v. Call to harvest
vi. Commision of Christ (do ask me if you don't understand any of these, ok?)

We also had a Q&A session about how to share the gospel to others with the panel of youth pastor. Boy, was the answers given witty and tad helpful.

Youth Alive Idle

Six crazy youths came up to stage, only one appeared as the Youth Alive Idle (YAI) 2005. Apparently from the competition, there was a clear distinctiveness between what's funny and what's plain lame.




Tommy (surname Tai, Thai, or Tie) (pic) from Thailand managed to claim the title of YAI 2005. He managed be victorious over Prakash and his i-can't-believe-it's-That-Boots-Are-Make-For-Walking-Song dance and Sirn Loong (again, no idea how to spell his name out) and his sexy body! Special guest appearance by YAI 2004, Samuel. And he somewhat influenced the performance of all the contestants.

Free Time

This time around, we had free time in the afternoon, meaning doing whatever we want from the list of the activities prepared by the camp committee.

The first afternoon (Monday) was spent unpacking our begs. Then, rest before dinner.

The second afternoon, i wanted to go abseiling, and managed to persuaded some of the youths to go. Unfortunately, they couldn't have the event. We then gathered at the dining hall and played some IQ games, which was really intriging. I managed to figure out how 2 of the 3 games work. Went back to rest an hour before dinner.

The third afternoon, we were excited to go abseiling. Unfortunately, they couldn't have the event, again. But we got to take our group photos, threw each other into the pool, played Leap of Faith (it's basically jumping backwards into a trampoline-like blanket held by the other youths) and swam a little. The youths should have threw each other properly as some of them got bruised in the process.

Friends

This time around, i got to meet up with old friends like Daniel Ding, Gary Chong, John Aiden, Sabrina Chan, Michelle Ong, Ju Yee and Lydia Sim. New friends i got to know are Roland, Lydia's sis, Mark, Shirley, and some other girls which i forgot their name. Iggy challenged us to befriend five new friends. Did i make the cut? Hmm....

Overall experince

It was great, i dare say better than last year's camp. Through this camp, God touched me, telling me i need to live more Christ-like, and spreading the Gospel to others. I'm going to try my best to do so.


For more info regarding the camp, do check out the blogs below:

Oliver's blog
Daniel Ding's blog
Sabrina Chan's blog



The youths of Youth Alive Revival Centre! My mouth can definately speak words of wisdom and folly!

Love & Peace!~


BC?