Oh boy, it’s been long long time since my last post…

Yep, I’m going on another work trip. A conference in Pattaya, Thailand.
This is actually the East Asia Leadership Conference for Campus Crusade.

I’ll be leading worship (with another colleague), plus just networking, meeting various folks from different countries. =)

Have mixed feelings about leaving yet again. I know that this is privilege, (to serve God, to meet others, to learn and to grow) but I feel the ‘pain’ of leaving my family yet again. Yet I’m sorta looking forward to a slightly different pace and environment. The past weeks have been quite hectic, moving into our new office. (We’re now at 152, Paya Lebar Road! Come visit sometime!)

Would appreciate ur prayers for Lil+kids. For a fruitful time learning and growing etc.

Gotta go, they’ll calling for us to board now… =)

On our way back to the hotel, right after we got off the subway (we commute every day for 40min to the conference site), it began to snow! Well actually, more like snow flurries.. However, according to weather forecast it’s gonna get heavier (2 inches of snow). Actually, as I write this now, it’s gotten heavier, the cars outside, on the street are now blanketed with a thin layer of snow… sweet!

For those of you who didn’t know, I’m here in New York to attend both a conference and a meeting. The conference/gathering is about how artists (and creative people) can make a significant impact on our society. It’s organized by IAM- International Artists Movement Right after this conference, about 50 Crusade staff (from various ministries) will meet (for 1 1/2 days) to talk about how to encourage the hearts of Creatives in our ministries.

The past few sessions have been rather interesting & thot-provoking…. but I’m now too jet-lagged to go on with this blog. But would appreciate your prayers for me as I continue to process the stuff I’ve heard, so that I can learn and grow, specifically to know how I can better lead the bunch of Creatives that God has placed in my ministry.

I’m now in New York… here for a conference and meeting.
this is quick blog.. so can’t explain much abt it. Those who r interested can’t read it up here www.iamny.org

It’s freezing here tho’!! -5 degres yesterday

But while checkin my mail I read Lil’s blog.. which really encouraged me…
Thot u might like to read it too – “God is not in the house” http://lilcoolmom.multiply.com/journal/item/9/God_is_not_in_our_house..

I’ll update more tonite! =)

Our Campus Ministry has just launched the “Naked i” campaign. It’s an integrated campaign to reach 150,000 students in the universities, polys and JCs on to topics of love, sex and relationships.

The ‘Naked i’ magazine, as I write, is being distributed to the various campuses this whole season… and our ministry (Creative Communications) is ‘getting into the action’ with them through various events and programs.

Soul2Soul, a band of ForeRunner (our music ministry kicks off this evening with a music café at NUS, where the band will play songs about love and relationships. As part of their program, they’ll also screen one of our short films (produced by our short-film ministry, Wide Angle Productions) to start the people talking about their lives.

This is quite a significant partnership, as it is also our first major outreach as an integrated ministry. Pray along with us….

If you interested to find out more abt the gigs, or about the ‘Naked i’ campaign click here.

Coverage 2008 – The Naked I Campaign

This huge Campus-wide campaign I’ve been sharing so much about has finally been LAUNCHED! As we speak, many University campuses in Singapore have started massive distribution of the magazine, Naked I, as the first pre-evangelistic strategy to engage people in talking about love, sex and relationships.

Following that are other multiple media strategies on campuses like lunch time talks on various relevant topics, screening of locally produced short films on related topics, cafe/pub events and even a evangelistic website called everystudent.com which will feature articles on relationships, love, sex and Christianity. All of these are NOT out to make a stand about sex, but more meant to serve as multiple platforms to people to talk and dialogue about relevant life issues and, God willing, share about their spiritual journeys. I am very VERY EXCITED because this is, by far, the most integrated set of ministry strategies that I have ever seen us come up with!

Please pray:
a) for continued favour from authorities to distribute the magazines freely
b) that God prepare the hearts of non-believers we come into contact with
c) for us to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and discern how God wants us to minister to various people as we intentionally interact with non-believers on each of these platforms
d) for divine appointments (both one-on-one and community-level interactions) where people interact at a heart level, feel safe enough to share in their life/spiritual journeys and that people are drawn to Christ in the process
e) for unity within and between various ministries involved in this campaign

Soul2soul in Naked I:

My band, Soul2soul, will be anchoring some of the upcoming Cafe events by playing secular music and sharing a few stories from our personal lives and spiritual journeys. These are meant to be pre-evangelistic, non-threatening events when students can gather, hang out and just talk about whatever the songs or stories trigger in them. There will be a little bit of something for everyone, no matter where they are at in their spiritual journey. In the course of the conversations which take place at the event, some might be talking about relationship issues, some may ask tough questions about how Christianity relate to life issues, some may even be desiring to know what it is to have a personal relationship with Jesus. The beauty of the Cafe idea is all those scenarios can be played out at the same time and all can be ministered to in some way, because the ministering takes place amongst the people there (band included cos we’re going to be mingling with them in between song sets), one-on-one, in those private conversations, rather than just limited to whatever is happening on the platform with the band! How cool is that?! 🙂 This is a pretty new idea that we’re trying out but we’re trusting God to show us how He can use this as a means to drawing more people closer to Himself. 🙂

Our Prep so far:
Soul2soul has been practising since January and our last practice was just yesterday on the eve of Chinese New Year! The face of the band has changed a bit. Some old familiars like Suyin and Jason reprise their roles while we have quite a few fresh faces like Danny, Matt and James. What do I love about this bunch? They work hard, they laugh even harder and they don’t take themselves too seriously! 🙂 Mind you, they are VERY good at what they do so I especially appreciate their hearts of excellence in their God-given craft. And their easy-going natures have been a good foil to my more kan-cheong spirit! 🙂 I think maybe they don’t ‘feel the heat’ yet. 😛

You can check us out at our websites. There’s info on where we will be performing, some profile on each of the members, etc:
http://s2sonline.multiply.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9844621855

Do try and come for our acoustic gig on Feb 27, Wed, 7.45pm at Singapore Arts Cafe, Esplanade! It’s the only performance open to public so it will be a great chance to see what I’ve been sharing about. 🙂 But, FYI, this cannot be too overtly Christian because it’s a public arena.

Given our constraints, our band is prepared as best as we can. 😛 And although the ‘harsh task-master’ in me is concerned that we’re not as prepared as we should be, I’m really praying that God’s grace will cover over our inadequacies and that His Spirit will really move in a powerful way.

This time round, aside from me, there are other members in the band who will be sharing stories from their lives as part of the program. I am incredibly excited about this because I’ve realized that the diversity of our life journeys enables us to minister to a wider spectrum of people. But with more people, comes more coordination (and so more headache!) and I’m sorry to say that I haven’t done a really good job in helping them prepare. 🙁 But even so, I’m praying that somehow God is going to help us pull through and share what needs to be shared. 🙂

Some additional complications are that, although our repertoire of songs are the same for all the gigs,
1) Some cafes are full band and others are acoustic (due to venue constraints) so effectively we almost had DOUBLE the number of songs to prepare!
2) Each Campus potentially has a different sequence of songs and different set of stories from the band because each one has a different focus!
The second complication is actually a happy problem because it is teaching us to learn how to develop the flexibility to flow with the Holy Spirit and serve the needs of our partnering ministries more effectively. But boy, is it a whole lot tougher!

Please pray for:
a) us to be strong in the Spirit so that we will be able to flow with all these different scenarios and walk in step with God as we minister.
b) the skill to play well and draw the audiences in to what we have to share
c) anointing as various ones of us share what God has been doing in our lives so that people will be ministered to and hunger to know Christ more
d) spiritual protection against any evil schemes of the devil
e) God’s presence to really flood every single venue we perform at!

God bless,

Sha
ForeRunner, Music + Mission
A Creative Communications Ministry
Singapore Campus Crusade for Christ
Email: sharonmah@forerunner.org.sg

wow.. it’s been so long since I blogged..
Soooo much has happened! Mostly good stuff.. tho’ a bunch of growing opportunities as well!

So I dunno where to begin…
Hmmm.. guess I’ll but just ‘breaking the blog silence’ haha…

While I think thru wat I’m going to update.. if u r interested, please check out our new website
www.creativecommunications.sg! And feel free to give me any comments, suggestions etc.

Here’s wishing everyone reading this a God-blessed Christmas!

For Lillian and I, this Christmas is especially meaningful because of our 3 little ones, Joshua 7, Emily 4, and Zachary 3. They’ve prepared a little dance for you…. =)
u gotta watch this

It’s also our very 1st Christmas with Lillian’s mom, who received Christ (after 20 over years of praying for her…) and got baptized this October!!

Some other thanksgivings as we reflect on God’s faithfulness this year…

• Lil & Josh ‘survived’ their 1st year of homeschooling
• Simon adjusted fairly well to his new role in leading Creative Communications
• Our refreshing time in the US (in July), reconnecting with God’s call upon our lives, and our holiday there.
• The blessing and provision of a new (but smaller) car in May this year.
• Thankful for many of our friends & supporters for their prayers, partnership and faithful giving through the year… each of you mean so much to us! =)

May we all continue in taking his lead in this coming new year, as we anticipate his grace experienced thru new & fresh adventures in 2008!

We leave next Tuesday to be part of a special Sports Conference in Pattaya, Thailand called ACE 2007.
Various sports outreach organizations are coming together to work together, strategize & coordinate their Sport Outreach efforts worldwide . How exciting!!
The whole family is going…
In fact, Lil will be leading worship & singing as well.
Lil & I have been invited by our Thai CCC music ministry, to join them in this. Lil and I will take 6 worship sets, out of the 12 total that the Worship Team is doing. Another 1 or 2 worship leaders are taking the rest. Pray for strength for each day…. and for the joy of the Lord as we serve. Pray also for the kids to enjoy serving the Lord together with us

It’s getting quite exciting for us as we gear up to go…
There’ll be people (abt 600 conferrees) representing 150 countries!
We heard that there’ll be people from Sudan, North India & Costa Rica…. etc.

On Tuesday, we were so blessed to have a friend come over and play with the kids.. while Lil and I went out on a simple date. Prior to that, Lil has bought a box of donuts for the kids, as a little treat for them (also cos’ we were worried tt Zach won’t let mommy go).

While on our date, I remember talkin’ about how the kids wld surely love those donuts, and probably eat them all up. However, when we returned, we were surprised to see the box still on the table! Hmmmm….

Only the next morning did we realize that they had actually saved 2 donuts especially for us!!
Wow.. were we touched. Our little kids were so thoughtful. =)

Just the other day, Josh also did something similar… He was offered a very last piece of Milano cookie. He held it in his hand, noticed that Zach (who was sleeping) has not even had one piece, said to me, “I’ll save it for Zachy!”. Boy was I sooo proud of him.

He’s thinkin’ of his little brother, even without me prompting him.

Thank u Lord for special moments like these, that spur us on in our parenting adventure!

This was a question I posed my ‘new’ team of 21 enthusiastic & faithful servants of the Lord, as our recent Staff Summit. Below is sorta like a transcript from my little ‘speech’ to them. It’s kinda long.. but it does sum up quite a bit of stuff tt’s been happening the past month or more! So if you have 5mins or more, do read on….

“The past month, I’ve been grappling with many facets of my role, seeking for answers to different aspects of leading and managing CC. Some days I feel frustrated, desperate, worried, concerned, anxious etc. Other days I feel delighted, encouraged, blessed, excited, hopeful etc. Over the weekend I attended IDMC- abt Leadership Resonance etc. Thankful that I went cos’ through it, God got my attention once more. Through my struggles in leadership, I realized that I seek God for answers, a response, or some quick fix from God. But instead God chose to give insight & understanding like in Daniel 9:22..Furthermore, He reminded me, and clarified for me my key priorities as a leader. What I needed if not more planning, but more praying (1 Chron 28:20). I was more interested in formulating the blueprint, but God really wanted me to follow His footprint!

God also brought me back to the ‘beginning’ when He first called me to this new role. I realized and remembered that I feared taking this on because I didn’t know what to do. (I’ve no expertise whatsover; I feel inadequate etc.) Plus I was really enjoying.. and very comfortable leading ForeRunner. So why Lord why now, why me? But God made it clear (through 2 specific promises in His word ‘Bezalel-Ex 31 and 2 Cor 3) that he wanted me to trust Him. “I can’t.. but God can”. (which btw, is often a good place to be in. When you think you know it all, watch out!!)

In a nutshell, God led me to understand that for my ministry to make sense & succeed, I needed to lead our ministry to focus on 3 key priorities. These are not merely priorities for the interim period, but steadfast priorities for the ministry.

These, I believe are the 3 steadfast priorities in Creative Communications:

1. Know God

Our first priority, if we are to fulfill our mission of ‘Bringing the unchanging gospel to a changing generation’, is to know the God who gave us the unchanging gospel. Who really is the God who loved us and gave himself for us? Do we know him well? The first call of Jesus is not ‘Advance my kingdom’ but ‘Abide in me’.

2. Know Ourselves

The greatest enemy we ever face is ourselves. The Bible exhorts us to have a sober judgment of ourselves. That would mean that we don’t think too highly of ourselves (which might lead us to think that we can do it, and therefore a lack of dependence on God ), or too lowly of ourselves (which leads us to belittle how God could use us, inspite of ourselves). An accurate view of ourselves would help us see that God wants to use us as conduits of His grace & love to flow to our generation. He is afterall the one that qualifies us to this ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 10:3,5,6; 2 Cor 5:19,20)

3. Know the Changing Generation

What is our changing generation? Whether young or old, do we really know these people? Do our hearts feel the pain they feel? Do we weep, like our Lord, when He saw how lost they are? We need to ask God to grow our hearts, and deepen the compassion we have for the world. How else would we innovate, generate, create & produce effective tools to connect & reach them apart from knowing & understanding the people for which these tools are for?

These 3 priorities are paramount. Even as we work on formulating plans, discussing & planning strategies & methods, we need to anchor ourselves in these 3 areas. They form the foundation of our ministry without which we’re just ‘building castles in the air’ (which is basically dreaming!) Or whose still, we might find ourselves building our ‘own’ castles/kingdoms, instead of His.

If we as a ministry are to stay faithful to these 3 steadfast priorities, we’re on the right track to fulfill what God is calling CreaComm to become. I’ve no doubts about it.”