Soundbites

Abi: *woefully* Look at my "What Would Scofield Do" t-shirt!
Mich: It shrank in the washing machine ah? (this has happened to Abi many times)
Abi: No. :( I got bigger!
Mich: HAHAHA!
(every girl's nightmare rite?)

*Mich and Dawn talking about wearing make-up on stage*
Dawnie: I don't like to wear make-up lah!
Mich: You should lah with the new live video feed. You so pretty...very wasted if you look all washed out on the screen.
Dawnie: Aiya..I'm not pretty. Just cute only.
Mich: !?!?!

Muffin: Hey Mich! You coming for my baptism service this Sat rite? May-Ann is coming too.
Mich: Oh cool. Yeah I'm coming.
Muffin: Great! I'm creating a facebook event for it. RSVP ok? Come and groupie me!
Mich: HUH?? Anyhow one you! Sorry...I don't groupie you. I only groupie Dawn (and Arun).

[And I think this one takes the winner...]
*1st thing I hear during a random phone call from Glenn*
Glenn: "Talk to me...tell me your name. *mumble mumble cos forgot lyrics*" (in bad William Hung accent)
Mich: Huh??
Glenn: *repeats the above lyrics*
Mich: *figures it out by now. It's Ricky Martin's "She Bangs"* This is the weirdest phone call I've ever received in my life.
Glenn: *obviously chuffed on the other line*

Just Courage

"Nothing presents a more compelling and authentic witness of Christian faith in this era than the struggle for justice."- Gary Haugen

In his book, "Just Courage- God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian," Gary Haugen, President of the International Justice Mission, talks about how he senses a subtle but deep discontent among Christians today. And when we mull over that, it isn't surprising, because God has created us for great purpose and adventure. Gary Haugen goes on to say that the "pathway out of a nearly comatose state of boredom, ineffectiveness and triviality lies in the struggle for justice. How counterintuitive. How unexpected. All of which points again to the surprising nature of God's pathways to transformation."

Now that's something worth reflecting over....
Will a justice generation arise in these times?


Here's an additional excerpt from Haugen's book that resonated strongly with me:
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Using analogies from football, Bill McCartney, in his book Blind Spot, writes about the way the church has become weak from playing defense all the time, that is, just trying to live lives of personal piety and righteousness. The church needs a good offense, says Coach McCartney. "By offense, I mean doing justice in the way the Bible mandates." He continues:

"I believe that if we could more effectively teach justice and bring it out of our people, we would significantly upgrade our offense--and by doing so we would win the lost in far greater numbers. If we in the church really did justice today, we would turn our culture upside down for Jesus Christ. We need the high-powered offense of justice to make head-way in a world deeply suspicious of religious phonies.

Doing justice, without sacrificing righteousness, is a potent way to bring life to a congregation that seems largely comatose. Doing justice, without sacrificing righteousness, is an effective way to keep our children passionate about following Jesus.

Imagine if the guys in our churches ever learned to do justice. Imagine what would happen if they got a taste of a powerful offense. I guarantee you they would come alive."

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All Scarfed Up

Abi, Glenny and I all own a couple of scarves. We share one thing in common. We all love Joel Timothy Houston. Joel loves scarves, and so do we. :) And Brooke too, it seems.

I'm very into buying scarves now, but I have to hold back from overspending. Check out these gorgeous scarves from UrbanOutfitters.com. Feel free to get me a lovely scarf for my bday. One can never have too many scarves. :) Topshop and Zara have some pretty noice ones in this season's collection.

Of Girly Stuff...

[Warning: This is probably not a blog entry the guys are interested in reading.]

I'm really not a fan of eye make-up cos I HATE the idea of gunk on my eyes/eye-lashes. And I never knew how to handle the stuff anyway. But I kinda had to invest in it now, cos the church has a new live video feed system going on now. And according to Janice who saw me singing on stage, "I have no eyes or eye brows" on the videos. Brilliant.

So today, I went down to Robinsons Beauty Hall with Audrey (always good to shop for make-up with a gf in tow). And sadly, the Bobbi Brown and M.A.C products were either over-priced or the staff weren't very helpful. So I stumbled over to the Benefit counter, and to my surprise, I found exactly what I needed- great service, fantastic, easy-to-use products, and value for money. For $74, I got ALL OF THIS in the special limited edition Christmas "Primpsess- Glamourous Eye Primping Kit."

1) eye concealer
2) creaseless cream base shadow/liner
3) 3 powder shadows: for contouring, accenting & lining
4) mascara
5) eye bright instant eye brightener
6) brushes
7) a pamphlet with a beauty lesson.
8) mirror

No need for eye-lash curler cos the mascara curls your lashes on its own , no need for eye-liner pencil and eyebrow pencil cos the liner shadow serves as both!! Genius! If I went out to some other cosmetic counter, I would have to buy the items separately, and it would probably come up to above $100!

The helpful sales assistant at Benefit patiently taught me, the eye make-up idiot, how to use the products step-by-step. And she even recommended a great blusher, Benetint, for my sensitive skin! Service makes all the difference folks. What can I say? I think I'm a new Benefit fan. :)

Post-GLS sentiments

It's been a few days since the end of GLS. I totally crashed and slept for 13 hrs after the conference ended cos it was so intense for the past 2 weeks. haha! But it really was a blast, an incredible experience! To hear that people were really blessed and ministered through the event just makes all the hard work worthwhile. To see 800 pastors/church leaders lavish such extravagant worship upon God took our breath away...we were truly blessed and moved to witness that beautiful scene. The atmosphere in the place was amazing. And of cos, it was also heaps of fun! :) Seeing people totally embrace the songs was so encouraging for us! Some even stayed back to groove along to "Say So" (a major hit) and "For all You've done". The sound crew was lapping it all up too, and we could see them grooving at the F.O.H while we were onstage.

I'm so so proud of our team right now for their diligence, commitment, spirit of excellence, and the unity and support they've shown for each other. :) I think we were all stretched artistically for this event, and we've all grown a lot. But I also know that we're nowhere near our peak performance, so I'm quite excited thinking about the road ahead. :)

It all feels a bit weird now that GLS is over. I miss the team and the crazy GLS experience. haha!

Here are a few more photos from the 2 week GLS boot camp. :)

GLS rehearsal in action. Check out how all the vocalists are sitting with the same pose. haha! L-R: Mich, Jan, Cheryl, Seng

Sam was trying to take a photo of just the girls, but Ivan our electric guitarist (behind) seems determined to muck it up. haha! [And Abi or Glenn...before you say anything, I KNOW that's not how you tie a shemagh scarf. It was very cold, I was trying to get as much coverage out of that piece of cloth as possible. ]

Arun, our Sitar Hero and Bollywood Star, bathed in blue mood lights.

Ivan sitting down and listening attentively to the wisdom of Arun, our Sitar Guru. haha! Ok, not really lah.

Jeremy on the djembe for the acoustic song item.

I think we should have made a DVD on the whole GLS experience...then we could have captured some of these hilarious "Behind the scenes" moments:
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1) Arun, after Andrea pronounced an additional rehearsal, he sang:

"Let the redeemed of the Lord STAY BACK, let the redeemed of the Lord RE-HEARSE!" (the original song lyrics from "Say So" go "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so")
[Yeah...we were all quite high and gone by then. ahha!]

2) While waiting to go onstage..this is what our seemingly professional worship team is really up to backstage- Making funny shapes with Ivan's glow in the dark guitar pick under a reading lamp. (if you cover up certain parts with ur finger, you get a dark patch on the pick.) We managed to create a cross on the pick..and it inspired Arun to say something like, "HOLY PICK!"

3) We ran out of time to run through one of our sets properly for a final time, so Andrea said we'll just run through it verbally backstage. Most of us thought this meant just talking through the song sequence (eg. verse x 1, chorus x 2, bridge etc.). But what happened was this.....each band member started singing out his/her instrumental part, to the surprise of the vocalists. So some were singing the introduction of "Adonai" to "deh neh neh neh", while in the background, Jeremy was singing out his drum parts (syncopation, drum crashes n all), Ivan singing his electric guitar riffs etc. It was quite hilarious. So "verbal run through" is like dat lor. haha! Try it out with your own band!

The Space Between

I was looking through the lyrics of this song....and I gotta give Sara the props for her songwriting on this one. Really well-written!

One Sweet Love (by Sara Bareilles)
==================================
Just about the time the shadows call
I undress my mind and dare you to follow
Paint a portrait of my mystery
Only close my eyes and you are here with me
A nameless face to think I see
To sit and watch the waves with me till they're gone
A heart I'd swear I'd recognize is made out of
My own devices....
Could I be wrong?

[CHORUS]
The time that I've taken
I pray is not wasted
Have I already tasted my piece of one sweet love?

Sleepless nights you creep inside of me
Paint your shadows on the breath that we share
You take more than just my sanity
You take my reason not to care.
No ordinary wings I'll need
The sky itself will carry me back to you
The things I dream that I can do I'll open up
The moon for you
Just come down soon

[CHORUS]
The time that I've taken
I pray is not wasted
Have I already tasted my piece of one sweet love?
Ready and waiting for a heart worth the breaking
But I'd settle for an honest mistake in the name of
One sweet love.

Savor the sorrow to soften the pain sip on
The southern rain
As I do, I don't look don't touch don't do anything
But hope that there is a you.

The earth that is the space between,
I'd banish it from under me...to get to you.
Your unexpected love provides my solitary's
Suicide...oh I wish I knew

[CHORUS]

City of Angels

I love this pic taken by Daley Hake. Isn't it precious? Reminds me of the day I was sitting on the MRT, and this little ang moh gal sat next to me. She was all dressed up in her little pink cheong sam, and her blonde hair was tied in cute pigtails (her mum and her later got off at the Chinatown station...so the outfit figures). I couldn't help smiling at her as she looked at me....and then she grinned back at me with a little twinke in her eye.

It made my day. :) Thank God for little blessings.

A Grateful People

1 event. 193 cities. 31 countries.
The magnitude of the Global Leadership Summit, organised by Willow Creek Community Church, is finally hitting home for me, now that the event is tmrw!

The rehearsals have been really intense, it was very nearly a camp for those of us involved, with rehearsals running almost every night for the past week. And I'm actually down with a flu now as I type this...but I'm really grateful and privileged to be part of this awesome event that was designed to inspire and equip Christian leaders all over the world, leaders who have great influence in their local churches. And after watching some of the inspiring and moving videos that will be screened during the conference, I'm really glad to see a strong streak of social justice running as a theme across the conference. And to think that we're in a position to minister and inspire the leaders attending the conference, to go out and make the invisible God visible to the world. Wow! I'm humbled that God would use us to serve His heart and these leaders.

I'm praying that through this event the delegates will not just leave our church with an impression of our organizational efficiency, our hospitality or wonderful worship & music team...but above all, they will remember the fullness of God's awesome presence in this place, they will remember encountering the One who causes us to mount up with eagles' wings, they will be transformed from the inside out.

The preparation for GLS has been an eye-opening learning experience....learning from fellow artists, and seeing the sheer amount of work that goes into coordinating a multi-media event. It's very cool seeing worship teams sync videos with live music etc....but I'm realising now that it must be done in a very tight manner. I can imagine the number of rehearsals Hillsong has to run for the conference!! Esp. for their openers which are really big-scale productions. Amazing.

Finally, its really heartwarming to see how the team has bonded more now, and how supportive the team is of each other. We have several song items....and its really cute to see those not involved in the particular item support those singing/playing during their acts. Sometimes we even "groupie each other" with the lit handphone wave! haha!

Ok, I'm going off to do my last bit of preparation for tmrw, before calling it a night. Please pray for our team if you can. :)

What I've Been Up To....

Rehearsal at the Worship Centre on Sun

As RiverLife Church gears up for the Global Leadership Summit on Oct 27th-28th, there has been a mad flurry of preparation and rehearsals over the week. Our church is hosting it for the 2nd year in a row, and our worship min is in charge of all the worship sets and song items for the conference. The rehearsals have been really intense, brains get fried on a regularly basis..haha! (Arun even suggested that we have a power packed GLS 4 day 3 night camp!) But I say that in the best way....its been a really exciting and stimulating time for us artistically. :) And there're always great laughs to be shared among the awesome team that we have here. (e.g. The moment when Arun & Andrea did an imitation of Don Moen singing "Saviour King" was really hilarious!)

It's been fun and I'm learning a lot along this journey! Thanks Andie for taking me along for the ride. :)

Here are some snapshots of our rehearsal on Sun, taken by Jerry, our sound technician.

Beautiful shot of Ivan's guitar

Ivan, our electric guitarist

Andrea on keys....this pic shows the Roland, but the Nord Stage is on its way!!! Yayy us!

Working through the set with Cheryl

Reggie on bass. Love this artistic shot!

Cheryl, one of our worship leaders and my 'neighbour' in the church office with Andrea.

Arun, our "Sitar Hero". haha! He's singing lead vocals on a Jeremy Camp song, "Empty Me" for a song item, and I get to sing back-up vocals for him, which is great cos I love Jeremy Camp! :)

Arun & his backuppers

Me, Cheryl, Seng

Love Ivan's funny button- "I hear God. Does that make me crazy?"

Seng our other worship leader, and vocal head. Nigel called this picture, "Are you SHURE?"
haha! Yes, lame lame.

Our smouldering Calvin Klein model, Jeremy the drummer. haha! Don't ask me why there was so much posing around during rehearsals.

The vocalists

Transcendere

This spoke to me quite a bit.....

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The heart progresses through the seasons.
Like a tree, it is cut down, only to grow back stronger.
It is in that first spring that we are closer to Heaven then we will ever be.
It eventually experiences the nostalgic chill of fall that streams into the death of winter.
Our hope lies in the return of spring, which beckons us to move forward towards the freedom of summer.
Embrace the fall - for winter is inevitable.
This is only a fraction of the greater human struggle.
Embrace the struggle…every meaningful story must have conflict.
This is a season that is necessary for your story.
Hold on…
Behind you are the prayers of the Saints.
…spring will dawn.
For God holds your soul, and God is more faithful than even the seasons.
I find myself in a season where I trust very few….the least of these, Christians.
However, I write this not out of bitterness…but out of desperate hope.
I will continue to press on grasping to a single truth…
…God transcends seasons. (by Daley Hake)