LBC Fellowship & Activities
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LBC Children's VBS Dec 2009 by Melanie Saba
On 1st and 2nd December LBC had a Children's VBS at Pasir Ris Adventure Park. The theme was “With Christ in the vessel.” Thank God for workers – like Pastor Sherwin, Pastor Selva, Aunty Lee Fen, Aunty Mary, Aunty Doris, Aunty Wee Lin, Aunty Grace and Missionary Ermilo. There was a total of 19 children who attended the VBS. Seven first time visitors also attended.
The weather was generally good although it rained for a little while. We started off with some children’s songs led by Pastor Sherwin and Zachry. We had our lessons under the nice shady trees beside the calm blue sea. Our lessons were on character building. We learnt how to be obedient, honest, patient, responsible and to build good habits. We even learnt a new poem of obedience which is: “When my parents call me quickly I will obey, I will do my very best each and every day”. Our teachers were Aunty Mary and Aunty Lee Fen. Lunch was brought by everyone to share.
Aunty Wee Lin took us in art and craft where we learnt how to make book marks and cards using rubber stamps. I think it was easy but fun. Then we had games led by Shankar and assisted by Deborah and Rena. We were divided into three teams, of which our leaders were Sidney, Zachry and Ryan. The games were very fun although we did not manage to play all the games that had been prepared.
Some of us stayed overnight at the P.A. chalet. On 2nd Dec, Naomi and her grandma celebrated their birthdays. There was spaghetti, satay and Aunty Nee Kim brought Roti Prata. The “Caring” team led by Zachry won the games and we had prize giving on the second day and also souvenirs for the workers and helpers.
Six children accepted Christ as their personal Saviour. Thank God for a fruitful VBS.
I am looking forward to the next VBS.
Photo album in snapfish.com
RETREAT AT DESARU, MALAYSIA, JUNE 2009 BY Zachry Ng, 11 years old
On the 8th of June, we went for a church retreat at Desaru Pulai Beach, Johore. It was a time to fellowship with one another and we had a wonderful time! There were 42 of us including the Lifegate members and the LBC Filipino ministry.
The theme song for the camp was Follow On. The theme verse was ‘… if the Lord be God, follow him…’ 1 Kings 18:21. Last but not least, the theme of the camp was Follow God.
On that Monday morning, we met in church at 7.30am. At around 8am, we left for Malaysia in the coach. When we reached Pulai Beach Resort, Pastor Tatu and some other members from Lifegate were already there. The resort was quite a big compound and near the beach. There was also a big swimming pool. I couldn’t wait to get into the pool! We had a wonderful lunch at the restaurant in the resort and I enjoyed the squid most. Aunty Evelyn then designated us to our various rooms.
In the late afternoon, we played some games. We were divided into 3 groups – Ezra, Ezekiel and Exodus. I was in Ezekiel and we won the first game – throwing and catching water balloons. In the evening, after dinner, we had some singing and Pastor Tatu shared a devotion with us. After that, it was time to rest.
On the second day, after a hearty breakfast, we were divided into 4 different workshops – the adults with Pastor Selva, the Youth with Pastor Sherwin, Aunty Mary took the juniors and my mum was with the preschoolers and lower primaries. Our workshop was conducted near the beach. Aunty Mary taught us on obedience to God and also about sharing the gospel. I learnt that we must always be brave and not be ashamed to share the gospel with lost souls.lesson, we went to the beach and the children had a “Sand castle competition”. Those in my team were Dorothy, Caleb, Kezia. Caleb and Kezia did not really know what to do and they even destroyed our sand castle!
The adults and youth played beach volleyball.
After lunch, some of us went to the swimming pool to play. It was really fun. Later in the afternoon, we had a game of Captain’s Ball. During the game, unfortunately, Uncle Suresh fractured his right wrist. He was immediately sent to a nearby clinic by Pastor. All of us prayed that he would be fine and get treated quickly.
In the evening, during our BBQ dinner, our prayers were answered. Uncle Suresh went back to the resort in an arm sling and his condition was stable. We later assembled in the Conference room for singing and Pastor Sherwin shared a devotion. After that, we had indoor quizzes and then it was time to go back to our rooms.
On the third and also the last day, we all prepared to leave. We prayed and thanked God for the beautiful and wonderful camp. We took a group picture and left in the coach.
I enjoyed this Church camp very much. I had lots of fun swimming, playing, eating and learning. It may interest you to know that I led some songs in the camp too. I am really looking forward to the next church camp.
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LBC BIBLE CONFERENCE 27th to 29th JUNE 2009
We thank the Lord for the 3 nights of Bible conference held at LBC from 27th to 29th June 2009. About 100 people attended and listened to the topic, Prophecies of the 21st century by Dr WL Smith. On Sunday morning, Dr Smith preached on “Broken Believer”, a revival message, that is always timely.
For the Preachers’ Conference, we had about 20 pastors and missionaries for the two days. The topic was, “Successful Servants”. We also provided lunch for the pastors and they enjoyed the fellowship with the brethren. I want to give thanks to God for all those who helped in this conference, especially our full-time workers.
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From Dr Smith’s Globe report:
Our ministry in Singapore was a special blessing. We had the opportunity to do several things.
First: I conducted a prophecy conference at Lighthouse Baptist Church pastured by Bro. Selva.
Bro Selva and Sister Mary are wonderful servants of the Lord. They have a very strong church in Singapore. There were 100 people who took our course on Prophecy in the 21st Century.
Second: I conducted a pastors’ seminar that turned out to be of international proportions. A total of 21 men attended the course on “Successful Servants of the Lord.” We had men from five different nations present, Singapore—Malaysia – China —India—USA.
I have been invited back for the next two years to minister in Singapore and, also, go to Malaysia in 2011, the Lord willing. I had the privilege of speaking 22 times in Singapore. Keep us in your prayers.
In His service.
W.L. “Preacher” Smith
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LBC NATIONAL DAY PICNIC 9 AUG 2009 BY SHAMAN SURESH
This year Singapore’s National Day fell on a Sunday, so our annual picnic was planned for Saturday the 8th of August. The fellowship committee found a beautiful location for our picnic: Upper Peirce Reservoir. After what seemed to be an almost endless drive in from the main road, we arrived at the car park and, thankfully, the park was not crowded that day.
Preparations were made to set up the small area for our worship and devotion time. The worship session began just after 10am and was led by Bro Weng Leong, Bro Nap and our up-and-coming leader, Zachry. After our time of worship, Pastor Selva shared a short devotion on the contrast between a person being able to do nothing without Christ and all things through Christ. It was a short but meaningful lesson which we all can apply in our lives.
After a time of prayer, we took a few minutes to acknowledge all the members who had brought food and were basically given a sneak peek into what our menu was for lunch. Our game-master Bro Richard took over and tried to gather everyone at a shady corner where our first game would begin. However, many of us were finding it difficult to leave the buffet spread and walk across to the games corner. After some time, most of us were gathered to listen to the instructions of the games given by Bro Richard. Our first game was called “Curry Yong Tau Fu” and although some of us were a bit confused at the start, it looked like everyone was having a great time after a couple of rounds. The game lasted for awhile longer before we moved on to our second game. As we gathered for it, I noticed that the group had gotten smaller and realized that a few of us had given in to temptation and were already relaxing on a comfy bench or attacking the buffet table.
Right after our games, it was finally time to eat and as most of us had not had any breakfast, we were eager to grab some food. There seemed to be quite a large variety of food with dishes like spaghetti, beef rendang, sausages, prata, chicken curry, sandwiches and fresh fruits. During the meal everyone was having just a good time of fellowship with each other and enjoying the nice break from work and school. While enjoying our fellowship, we also took many different group pictures. We thank God for our country's National Day!
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Our First Church Retreat Sis Cyril Zacarias
Elisha and Naomi were already so excited even days before the church camp. I myself also wanted to go to this camp. We were not able to join the 2007 retreat because I had just started work then. Two weeks before the retreat, my leave for June 9-10 was approved. Prior to that, my boss said that I could not take leave for June 8 because it was a Monday. She suggested that I take Thursday off instead. I thought, “Hey, the retreat is from Monday to Wednesday. What would I do there on a Thursday?” Well, in the end, prayer worked. My leave was approved and I set off for the three-day retreat!
The children could not contain their excitement as they helped me pack. It seemed that they wanted to bring along a lot of stuff. In the end, I had to buy a new, bigger travelling bag because I wanted to pack all our things together. On the morning of June 8, the children woke up very early - at 5:00 am! They were so anxious that the bus would leave without us. Naomi asked, “What’s the time?” so many times on the way to church. She felt relieved when we eventually arrived on time.
There was a joyful atmosphere inside the bus as we travelled to Desaru, even when the rest of the group had to wait patiently for my family and me to cross the immigration checkpoint. Unfortunately, we had chosen the wrong queue, and it took us a long time to complete the immigration process.
However, nothing could dampen everyone’s high spirits as we participated in games led by Shaman, and singing led by Zachry and his father on the journey there.
Desaru is a bit secluded from the city; as we travelled for almost two hours, we passed plantations and there were very few houses along the road. In the end, it was well worth the time because the resort was really nice. The resort was near a beach, had a pool alongside and several amenities, with a panoramic view of the sunrise. (We woke up early the next day to enjoy it.)
The theme of our retreat was “Follow God”, our theme song was “Follow On”. We also “followed” almost everything according to our retreat programme. We sang, prayed and had daily devotions. Sis Mary taught the children several topics during their Bible workshop. Elisha’s favourite topic was “Doers of the Word”, where she was encouraged to be a doer and not just a hearer only. The adults learned how to have a heart keen to follow God, like David.
We had a great time of fellowship during the outdoor games. The children loved the, “eat the kaya relay” and sandcastle building. They also had a wonderful time at the pool. The youth and adults enjoyed the volleyball game as well. For me, I joined the games which did not involve the sun and the use of physical prowess as I’m an “indoor type” – hehe!
There is one thing that most of us agreed upon about this camp - the food was fantastic! There were so many varieties of dishes, and you could eat as much as you wanted. On our last night, we were served all kinds of barbecued food, e.g., seafood, beef, chicken and sweet potatoes. This was accompanied by different types of salads like garden salad, potato salad and fruit salad. But what my two girls loved the most was the dessert: an assortment of cakes, gelatine and sweets. We really had our fill.
We dreaded the morning of the third day because we did not want to leave yet. Everybody was quiet when we met for the final briefing at the function hall. It was a moment of reflection. What had we achieved over the last two days? It was a time of revival for most of us, a time to focus on the more important things in life. We are so busy with our jobs, studies and keeping schedules that we sometimes forget to appreciate God’s work. Our fellowship with fellow believers in this relaxing environment strengthened our faith in God’s promises. Our spirits were revived and motivated to follow God always and unconditionally.
We went home that day renewed, blessed and grateful to have joined this church retreat.
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