By the Order of the Ministry of Music

Yes yes... I just watched Harry Potter. It was quite a good show, with parts that you have to "dong" through but last part is really nice. =) You'll get to see a lot of Harry this time, with the rest playing very much a supporting role. Of course don't expect it to be as good as TRANSFORMERS... =p

And as for the announcements and prayer items.
1) For the P&W Night, some details
- Date: 31 Aug 2007, Time: TBD
- Cuifen and Raph will be the worship leaders for the event
- Title of the Event will be "Room Full of Stories"
- For more details please refer to attachment.
Prayer Items: Please pray for the worship leaders to be able to firm up the concept and also the list of songs for the event. We'll be needing to start practice soon. Also pray for the students that they will come and that the message will be clear to them for this event.

2) Recruitment/Manpower
- Let's welcome back Huey. She be joining us back as vocalist.
- Jane will be joining MM as keyboardist. I'll be adding her to the mailing list soon. Thank God that He provided us with Jane as Grace is going to take maternity leave soon. =) Pray for Grace's health and smooth delivery as well.
- Wenbing has agreed to join us as Soundman.
- Jiamian will be leaving us as he will be involved in other christian ministries in UNI. I respect that and want to thank him for serving in the ministry so faithfully. He is one brother that I can trust to be punctual and always willing to take up things even if they are quite last minute. Please pray that he'll do well in his studies to glorify God and that he'll learn much from serving in ministries outside church and share those good stuff in ASC. Thanks bro. We'll miss you.
- Enyu's going to leave for Japan In Nov for 2 weeks and then to get his crew cut (NS) so we'll be a drummer short. Not sure if Kevin is going to come back to join us as drummer again.

That's all for now.

God bless,
Chin Han

GoTS - 8th Jul 2007

Ok guys. Here's the arrangement for this Sun. Ashton's not possible cause cannot book, wait go there then got to wait long long then sian... anw, found another place closer to home. The food's kinda mixed. It's an Irish Hainanese Pub/Cafe but the menu got hamburger, steak. Anw, we'll meet at 12.15pm at Foo House. Food's not too bad. Good thing is that it's near the church so transportation would not be a problem. Check out a review here and the address below:

Foo House Pub and Cafe
6 Jln Pari Burong (near Bedok Fire Station)
Closed on Mondays
Lunch 12pm - 3pm, Dinner 6pm - 12 midnight
Closed on Mondays
64453110

What are we fighting for?

Exodus 17

8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."

10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."

15 Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. 16 He said, "For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.


In this passage, we see a few characters. Moses, Aaron, Hur, Joshua and the Israelites and an object of focus, the staff of God. In this battle, there is only one goal. To obey God and defeat the Amalekites. Each of the mentioned character is given a role to play. Moses to keep the staff raised, Aaron and Hur to help Moses keep his hands raised and Joshua to lead the Israelites to fight. Different roles but one goal. None of them expressed the desire to do another person's role. Can you imagine if young Joshua wants to sit high up and raised the staff? Or old Moses wanting to show off by leading the army to fight?

When I heard this passage being preached and I thought of ASC Music Ministry and our involvement in church and XSY. I hope each of us keep in mind the reason why we are in MM for. I hope it is not to show off our skills, even more so that it is not because MM needs you. I hope it is not just for fun and to be associated with a group of 'talented' people. (If your image of fun is coming to practice tired after a long day, then I got nothing to say) But most important, that we see that it is an opportunity to serve His people and to be part of His salvation work to the mission field, i.e AHS students.

God doesn't need Moses to keep his hands raised to beat the Amalekites. He doesn't need Aaron and Hur to assist Moses. He surely doesn't need Joshua to defeat the enemies. They were given an opportunity to be part of His work and to express their obedience and their trust in their God.

God doesn't need MM to grow His church and to bring His people to Him. We've been given a privilege to come back on weekday nights to practice a few hours to serve His people. It's a time we can continually express our dependency and exercise our faith and trust. Serving in MM or anywhere else will be extremely difficult when we loose sight of the staff of God. Why are we spending so much time for? Why do I need to get up so early for? Why do I still need to play when I am tired or when I have exams or work to do?

I hope all of us, including myself, will ask ourselves these questions. Since we are already on the same boat, I think we should work towards the common goal. No doubt it is an ongoing spiritual battle. Do we know who's side are we on?

What are we fighting for?
Zhihao

Prayers

There was a time when we needed to balance our commitments between XSY and school.
There was a time when we needed to balance our commitments between XSY and studies.
There was a time when we needed to balance our commitments between XSY and serving the nation.
There was a time when we needed to balance our commitments between XSY and family and friends.
Now, there is a time when we need to balance our commitments between XSY and work, family, BG friends, other commitments, careers and many more.

I trust that everyone has observed the trend in all of us in MM. We are arriving later for practice and also getting more tired. This is the time that we need to kneel together in prayers.

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.
Psalms 127:1

I believe it is never too late to pray, even short little prayers. I ask that we start now to pray, starting from ourselves. showing our dependence in our God.
Pray for a heart of preparation to serve God through this coming XSY. Not only serving there but even now as we start our practices.
Let us also serve one another in our actions so that we live out the love of our Lord Jesus, such that others see God through our actions.
I believe it will not be easy. Satan will be hard at work! All the more we want to be found, like soldiers of God, putting on all the full armour of God to fight this defeated foe!

Let's ask God in our daily prayers:
1) To have the strength and energy to do what is needed for the day.
2) To be able to make it on time for practice and the strength and energy to last through the practice.
3) To set aside time to pray for the team as well as the time of interaction during XSY.
4) The worship leaders, that God will help them lead the team and to know what to say relevantly and accurately to the students that are coming
5) For the camp committee and all aspects of the camp. (I believe it'll be updated along the way)

1 Corinthians 15:57-58

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Together on His Majesty's Service!
Zhihao

GoTS - 18th March 2007

Song: With All I Am
Photos: http://chinhan.smugmug.com/gallery/2595105.

Some things discussed during the meeting.
1) Punctuality (Timings were amended to make it more feasible for everybody)
- For practices, timings have been changed to
7.45pm Setup (Soundman/Person holding the key will need to be there to open the church)
8.15pm Pre-MM
8.35-8.40pm Start Practice
- For rehearsals,
7.30am Setup
7.50am Start Rehearsal

2) Slides Preparation
- Soundman will prepare the slides during practices.
- Clicker will have to proof read and make sure slides are ready on Sun.
- Clicker need to come by 8am on Sun to setup laptop and projector.

3) Student Camp 2007
- Practices will start week of 26th Mar. Will be either on Mon or Thu.
- Xinhui and Samuel from YFM will be joining us.

4) Worship Leaders
- Cuifen has taken up the role of a worship leader from Feb 2007.
- Jiamian will be taking a break from MM as he wants to be involved in a christian organisation in his uni. This will start after Student Camp. (Didn't mention this during GoTS).

5) Manpower
- Zhihao will approach Godwin's sister to see if she is willing to join MM.

6) MM T-shirt
Ordering of MM T-shirts
Gian (S), Janice (M), Grace (XS/S), Cedric (L), MH (?), JM (?), YJ (?), Serene (?), Eric (?)

GoTS Notification

The committee decided that we should have GoTS once every three months and not every month since it's not really effective given that not everybody is able to attend due to other commitments. We hope that everybody will try to make the effort to be present at GoTS so that things can be communicated more effectively and that feedback from members can be voiced out as well.

The 1st GoTS will be on 18 March after 1st service. Program will be as follows:-
1) MM room clean-up. I know it's over CNY liao but we're trying to clear up some unused stuff and re-decorate the room a bit. Cuifen will be leading this effort and we need help from the guys to help.
2) Lunch at Grace's (& Weiwen's) place. The sisters will go over after 1st service to prepare the food and all. After the guys finish with the MM room, we'll go over to Grace's house to have lunch.
3) Sharing session. After lunch (not sure if all will be sleepy already), we'll communicate more regarding XSY and other MM matters. Hope to end all this latest by 3pm.

Events and Activities for Year 2007

MM Gathering - 7 Jan (Sun)
GoTS - 18 Mar (Sun)
受难节 - 6 Apr (Fri)
学生营 - 7-11 Jun (Thu-Mon)
恳亲会 - 23 Jun (Sat)
GoTS - Jun
差传年会 - 18 Aug (Sat)
赞美敬拜晚会 - 1 Sep (Sat)
GoTS - Sep
中秋节布道会 - 29 Sep (Sat)
教会生活营 - 9-12 Dec (Sun-Wed)
圣诞节布道会 - 24 Dec (Mon)
圣诞节崇拜 - 25 Dec (Tue)
GoTS - Dec