14 August 2014 by Jason Law CM -

Malaysian Christians are favored by God when it comes to music. This year alone, we have already had Jesus Culture, The Planetshakers, Paul Baloche, Paul Wilbur, and Dez Duron come to lead us in wonderful sessions of worship. And before the year’s end, we will have the Grammy-award-winning Israel Houghton come to Malaysia. Last July 5th, tNCC was blessed by Bob Fitts and his wife, Kathy.

Bob and Kathy Fitts has led worship across the world (ref : https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5269/5766337478_11c16369b0_z.jpg)

Bob Fitts and his wife Kathy are unique in that they are a husband and wife songwriting and worship-leading team, working closely together and on equal levels. Together, they have performed in thousands of concerts all over the world, having close fellowship and working together with fellow song-writers and composers like Don Moen, Paul Baloche, and Kelly Willard.

Bob and Kathy during an earlier trip to Malaysia, 2013

Back during an earlier visit to Malaysia last year, Bob and Kathy shared a little about their ministry. It was a dream that they had ever since they were in high school; to bring healing to God’s people on a global level. In 1990, they started a school of worship in Hawaii and they have never looked back since then. During his concert, Bob shared that he and his wife spent most of their time travelling the world, in obedience to God’s calling for their ministry.

‘We belong to one family, and though Christians from across the world may not get to meet each other, we do have the same Father and we should learn to enjoy His presence together. There is no limit in worship before our Father, so be encouraged to express our hearts and feel free in our worship,’ sis Kathy Fitts invited at the start of the concert.

Sis Kathy Fitts sharing at the concert.

Sis Kathy shared about their first trip in Malacca and that they had a special bond for Malaysia, with lots of history with our nation. In fact, the Fitts’ second son was baptized in the Straits of Malacca! ‘We say Amen and give thanks for every good thing He gives, individually and in this country. There is a lot more going on, and Jesus is absolutely the Lord of all,’ sis Kathy encouraged.

Bob and Kathy Fitts in concert, tNCC

There is an authoritative and captivating atmosphere of joy in the songs that the Fitts write, and in songs like ‘He Is Lovely’, ‘I’m Held By Your Love’, ‘Sacrifice’, and especially in such celebrated songs as ‘Blessed Be The Lord God Almighty’ and ‘The Lord Reigns’, this joy at the sense of God’s great love shine out. From the start of their serving about 30 years ago, they have lifted up the spirits of many within their special area with these songs, sharing the message of God’s abundant grace, bringing hope and healing throughout the world.

Bob Fitts

‘I am so grateful to God for coming into my life. Kathy and I are grateful that because of His truth, the glory of God is in the house. The Church is a bride in His house. David celebrated the presence of God back in his day in Israel. I am so grateful that what we have today with God is not just sort of a moveable presence of God, but a set presence of God in our lives, and He never changes.

‘Jesus said these words; “I’ll never leave nor forsake you. Isn’t that awesome? He is with us. Our God! And when we come into His presence together like this, we celebrate His presence and His Truth,’ bro Bob shared, before leading the church into the revered hymn, ‘Blessed Assurance’.

Bob and Kathy Fitts during autograph session.

Bob and Kathy shared two hours of praise and worship with tNCC, before ending with a meet-and-greet as well as an autograph session with their many supporters after the concert. Bob and Kathy also led praise in Grace Convention Center on the 6th of July and are currently on an Asian tour until September 2014.

Further Links
You can find out more about Bob Fitts at www.bobfitts.com
Find out more about tNCC at http://www.tncchurch.org/

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14 August 2014 -

Meet the boy band C-Four-J, which stands for Come-4-Jesus!

Home-grown from Kajang Assembly of God in 2004, C-Four-J consist of Jeshurun Vincent as Vocalist and Lead Guitarist, Gabriel Daniel as the Band’s Bassist, Joel Rabbinath as the band’s drummer, and Jason Jeba as the band’s lead guitarist.

The band is inspired by Contemporary Christian Bands and Christian Rock Band such as Casting Crowns, Hillsong, and Planetshakers, where they recently debut their first album ‘Agape My Friends’ at the Kajang Assembly of God.

The C-Four-J Band

Take a sneak peak for their album, consisting of four English songs and four Tamil songs. One of their songs is currently played in the local radio ‘Minnal FM’.

If you love their songs, download them for FREE on their website www.cfourj.com !

“Our motive is to give the songs for free for the purpose of salvation for all friends who have yet to know Jesus,” said Jeshurun quoting Matt 10:8 that says, “Freely you have received, freely you give.”

Contact them for concerts and any praise/worship events. The band has ministered before in Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia.

ABOUT C-Four-J

Co-founder of the band, JESHURUN is the vocalist and lead guitarist. He grew up listening to Petra, Megadeth, Metallica, and S.O.A.D. Playing the guitar in his church worship team since 16 years old, he is also a songwriter, financer, and producer for their ‘Agape My Friends’ album.

GABRIEL, also known as ‘Gabby’ is the band’s bassist and a church musician for the past three years. An experienced ‘sound man’, he is currently studying multimedia in Malvern College in Kuala Lumpur.

Drummer JOEL grew up in a family of talented drummers. Starting from the church’s praise and worship, he started his interest in drumming at 10 years old.

Sixteen-year old JASON, guitarist and also the youngest member in the band, came from a family of musicians. Starting to play the guitar at 10 years old, he leads the band and creates riffs for the songs.

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17 August 2014 by Tim Ong -

As a trained vocalist, I know that what can hurt our vocal chords. I have friends who could no longer sing due to continuous strain of their vocal, which were torn. It is sad to see this happening because our throats’ diaphragm cannot be repaired or replaced once it is damaged.

I would like to bring forward a topic, which would probably get a lot of disagreements from people especially worship leaders today. However, it’s my personal opinion and in no way, it reflects the philosophy and theology of the church I attend. Most importantly, I still love all of you no matter you agree or disagree.

Ref : newcityphx

Many would argue that if you can sing along with the key of the songs played in your iPods or phones, so why can’t you sing it in that same key at church? This key only applies to keys that are above normal range.

When I say ‘above normal range’, it’s at a point where most people generally no longer sing but shout or yell. I have been a vocal trainer, so I know the average vocal range from the majority I heard.

Here is why I do not think playing in this abnormal key range is a good idea for church services.

Worship is not about the band but it’s between us and God. This statement is overly used and also, overly misused. I feel that when people say that, most of the time, they meant it more as a justification than having a true understanding of what it really means.

One of the words that translates to the word ‘worship’ is first mentioned in Genesis 4:1 KJV, “And Adam ‘knew’ Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.” The word ‘knew’ in Hebrew is Yadah, which is one of the many words that translates as worship.

ref : http://ak2.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/2309771/preview/stock-footage-smiling-couple-singing-together-in-the-countryside.jpg

If you are with your partner and you feel uncomfortable, can both of you still get intimate? Say, if I am going to serenade my wife, knowing that I will be pitchy, will I be comfortable singing? Perhaps, it makes sense for me to lower my key to sound sweet to her.

Hence, if I would not subject my wife to that kind of singing, even more so, I would not subject God to that.

ref : http://fanathepurp.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/boy-guy-self-conscious-snow-street-trees-Favim.com-47415.jpg

How many of us are self-conscious by nature? I would say that most of us are. The fact that we put on make-up (for the ladies, not me, I promise) or comb our hair or wear the clothes we wear, prove that we are self-conscious to some degree.

But when I am alone, I do not mind embarrassing myself (trust me; I have heard myself singing in the shower). Would I do the same with others around although they have nothing to do with my singing? I can honestly say I would not because I have laughed at myself in the shower when I sang notes I could barely reach and went off-pitch.

So, here are the reasons I often do not play many of the praise and worship songs in their original keys, while singing it live:

1. I don’t want to be embarrassed

Even though I know singing off-pitch has nothing to do with the person standing next to me, it is still embarrassing. Many say that it’s okay because they can still praise God in their hearts. But let me explain to you why I feel that it’s wrong to say that.

As a worship leader, I do not want you to be too embarrassed to offer up praise and worship to God. My goal is to encourage the people in the congregation to sing to God during praise and worship. And praises are meant to be audible, not silent meditations.

ref : http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef0153920f26d1970b-pi

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. (Psa 51:5 ESV)

The word ‘praise’ here is Tehila, which meant to sing or to laud. It is to declare audibly. Have you tried praising someone quietly in your heart? I am pretty sure most people have not. Why?

The whole reason to praise someone of their achievements is to let them know that we have taken noticed of what they have done, and we appreciate it, we feel proud to be a part of it, and at the same time, we want others to know how it has enriched our lives.

ref : http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/schoolradio-assets/img/collectiveworship/sing_full_vocal_640x360.jpg

Praises cannot be silent.

But there is only one reason when silence is acceptable.

The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence. (Psalm 115:17 ESV)

Firstly, the dead cannot praise God, for obvious reason.

Secondly, anyone who is silent cannot praise God either. And unfortunately, the psalmist regarded those who are silent as the same as those who are dead, when it comes to praising. I will say it again: you cannot praise God in silence.

2. I do not want to be a distraction

Some people may not be affected by this as much as me. But I believe if a neighbour kept switching octaves mid-chorus because he or she could not reach the vocal range, thus becoming too pitchy, I believe that would affect all of us.

Someone may also highlight those who are tone deaf. Am I telling them to not sing at all? No, I am not!

ref : http://www.wbcjax.com/clientimages/50777/musicministry/ensemblepicture.jpg

Tone deafness is a disability and affects about four percent of the population. We should offer up to God the best we can offer. If the tone-deaf person offers his or her best to God, then I am sure that it will still be sweet sounding to God’s ears. I am talking about the other 96 percent of the people who can carry a tune.

As a worship leader, I should help people to bring out the best in them, so that they are able to offer their praises to God; not merely to bring out the best in me while others find it difficult to follow. As a congregational member in a worship service, I want to be able to offer up my best to God and hope that I will not end up being a spectator during the service.

3. I cannot get passionate when I cannot sing like me

When a key is too high, I would usually have to compensate the high notes by going into falsetto; because if I don’t, I will be pitchy.

For those who are not musically trained, falsetto is a method of voice production used by male singers to sing a note above their vocal range. So, they compensate their voices by singing high-pitch like a female but they lost the depth and power.

ref : http://www.easymusiccenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/iStock-man-singing09.jpg

This occurrence only applies to male singers because it is how our male vocal diaphragm is designed. However, for female singers, their vocal diaphragm is already stretched out and cannot be stretched any further. Therefore they don’t have falsetto range and would just end up sounding very pitchy.

As a worship leader, I need to keep in mind that not everyone has received training like the worship team. We need to learn to apply grace. As part of the congregation, I do not want to be singing half-way and start laughing at myself, which take the focus off God and turn the focus on myself instead.

4. I don’t want to damage my vocal chords.

I am a baritone. Baritone singers have a slightly deeper tone and cannot go as high as tenor. An example of a baritone would be Michael Buble, and a tenor would be Justin Timberlake.

Many songs on the CD nowadays are a bit too high for the average person because majority of them are tenors. Singing one song in those keys may be manageable but for more than one, your vocal chords can be strained.

If you ever start losing your voice after singing, you are starting to damage your vocal chords. Be very careful. Like I have said in the beginning, once you damage it, it cannot be repaired or replaced.

ref : http://blog.discmakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Vocal-Care-300×222.jpg

As a former recording artist, I can safely tell you that most of the time, we would try to push the songs key from half a key to a key higher for the recording.

If you know what you are doing and you are trained to do it, you will definitely sound more awesome. With a higher key, you will sound more passionate with more depth in your vocals.

ref : http://d1cabakah70zt5.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/chris-tomlin.jpg

Chris Tomlin revealed this trade secret not too long ago in one of his interviews with Discover The Heart Of Worship. New Song Café at worshiptogther.com for the song Amazing Grace/My Chains are Gone. But when he plays live for a worship service, he would bring it down one key lower for congregational participation. Check out his official music video for the movie Amazing Grace and compare it with the live versions. You will hear the key difference.

Some of you may not know this but during recordings, we get to take breaks in between verses, as and when we need to give our vocal chords a rest and have our personal concoctions for our throats on standby for us to sip whenever we need to.

ref : http://onlineathens.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/full/13015582.jpg

In conclusion, as a worship leader, I do not want to be the cause of damaging your vocal chords. Some people say, “If you can’t sing it, then don’t sing.” But neither do I want to be the one who encourage people to go down into silence.

I believe a worship leader’s calling is to help people get into God’s presence in consideration of where the majority is vocally, spiritually, emotionally, and theologically. Sure, there are going to be people who are superb singers, who might even be able to win The Voice or (Insert your Country Name) Idol, but they do not make up the majority.

ref : http://i43.tinypic.com/2dwia9z.jpg

Also, I am not trying to be overly critical over all the songs in the worship albums nowadays. At least, I hope I do not come across that way. Most of the songs in the albums are not that ridiculously high in key.

However, you will notice that most of the favourites in the albums are songs that are slightly above the normal range. Why did they become favourites? This is because the singers sound more passionate and for that, we can take it back to the recording trade secret.

Again, I am not criticizing anyone but it is only a personal point of view and also principles I uphold to make sure the majority get to declare God audibly during praise and worship. God Bless y’ all !

ABOUT Tim:

Tim Ong

Tim is a Christian singer/songwriter and was one of the founding members of Joshua Race Ministry (JRM) band, which also became the first Christian band to be signed by a major label in Malaysia. He has been involved in worship ministry for more than 20 years. Tim received his training from School of Worship, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and had the privileged to sing backup for worship leaders such as Paul Baloche and David Ruis. He was also given the opportunity to serve along side songwriters such as Malcom Du Plesis and worship leaders like Tom Inglis in worship conferences. JRM produced 3 albums from 1992 – 2000; Unity, Heavenbound and Experiment (Sony Music). In 2011, Tim recorded a solo album called Right Here and Now … The worship journey. It is free to download at http://www.noisetrade.com/timong. If you want to support his future music projects, you can leave a donation at the website itself. Tim now lives in Australia with his wife Christina and 3 children, Robyn Mae, Tammy Ann and Julian Ray. You can follow him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timongmusic and Twitter: @TimOng72

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28 Aug 2014 by Adeline Lum CM-

On 16^th of August, 14 teams from various churches and ministries participated in the 8^th annual A Day of Praise & Worship (ADOP), a combined effort of the participating churches organized by Shamini Ruth.

Lasting for 12 hours this year, the attendees in ADOP worshipped God through singing, dancing, drawing, painting, and acting in a drama. Banners, flags, and ribbons filled the church, amidst the lifted hands of the attendees.

Worshipers of ADOP

“Our vision is towards a 24-hour praise & worship that will bring every denomination to worship God. This is an awesome experience, we get a glimpse of heaven, and that is how diverse our worship in Heaven will be!

“Everyone has a different style and flavor. Everyone is unique in his or her way of praise and worship in various languages. But we are worshiping the One true Living God. We have to come as one before the Lord just as the prayer of Jesus,” said organizer Shamini Ruth of ADOP, quoting John 17:21.

“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me..” (John 17:21 (NIV)

Shamini Ruth, organizer of ADOP

Next year, Shamini hopes to involve an Orang Asli church and a migrant/foreign ministry in ADOP, in addition to the existing melting pot of English-speaking, Bahasa-speaking, Tamil-speaking, and Mandarin-speaking worshipers this year.

Rev Sean Prasad, ADOP’s Pastoral Advisor, added that they hope to be a catalyst in bringing ADOP to Penang, Johor, and also East Malaysia soon.

Rev Sean Prasad

Indeed, a Church united in worship represents a powerful spiritual army that marches forward against the dark spiritual forces, and tramples them underfoot. Like the Israelites who wage war behind a group of worshipers, we go to battle by worshiping as well.

Worshiper with the shofar

Singer and songwriter Patrick Leong added, “It’s a season we need to realize the state of our nation. We see worship as the point of intercession on behalf of the body of Christ. Prayer, intercession, and worship need to come hand-in-hand!”

Skit director Adrian Thomas of Antioch Ministries presented a poignant skit to bid attendees into the heart of worship. The skit depicted three common personas of Christian believers—the faithless, the self-righteous, and the conflicted. From these three personas, only the conflicted one surprisingly offered help to the beggar because he understood what love simply means.

“This skit is personal to our ministry because its not only knowing about theology but you got to be Christ to someone else by showing a simple act of love,” said Veronica Cornelius, administrator of the Antioch Ministries.

A worshiper swinging her flags unto the Lord

George Daniel, a prophetic self-taught painter, also explained how painting is a language of worship because it is the breath of God. This is because when God spoke the Word, creation came into existence with colors. In other words, colors are a part of God. And like how Trinity stands for God the Father, Jesus Christ the son, and the Holy Spirit, all colors in the world also come from three primary colors as well. 

“Every color has a meaning and no colors are negative,” quipped George. “Because everything travels in a line, I used a lot of lines in my painting to represent our connectivity to God.”

George Daniel painting prophetically

Shamini Ruth added, “Our worship is not only through songs and music, but worship is something more, especially when it comes to arts. We can express our worship through arts. We need to redeem the arts for Jesus because everything was made for the glory of God.”

On an individual level, Shamini shared that worship is in everything you do. Worship is a lifestyle, the inhaling of His presence and exhaling of the praises of God.

Worshipers who dance unto to Lord

Patrick Leong agreed that the essence of worship comes in abiding in God’s presence. He said, “I worship to a certain level when there is an immeasurable peace that resides in me. It’s something that is unhurried. Sometimes, I worship from 45 minutes to one hour. You just crave more and more for the peace of God because it’s just overwhelming.”

Patrick Leong enjoying worship

Finally, Rev Sean Prasad shared his vision of the perfect church in the next ADOP. The perfect church is place of worship for the young and old, the rich and the poor, and people of all dialects coming together to worship God in one place. Now, that is what you called as a complete worship unto the Lord.

The organizers of ADOP are planning for a children’s worship (8-10 hours) that will run simultaneously for ADOP 2015.

Worshipers of ADOP on-stage

Would you like to volunteer for ADOP next year, which will be extended to 24 hours? ADOP would like to challenge believers of all ages to worship God with all their talents and skills.

Contact Organizer of ADOP, Shamini Ruth at 012-297-2945.

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30 Aug 2013 by Adeline Lum CM-

The recent A Day of Praise & Worship (ADOP) saw 14 teams from various churches and ministries participating in it, representing different denominations and languages (including English, Bahasa, Mandarin, and Tamil).

Lasting for 12 hours this year, different churches worshiped the Lord through singing, dancing, drawing, painting and/or acting in a drama.

Worshipers from Kajang AOG

Worshipers from Grace Assembly Klang

Skit by Antioch Ministries

Teresa Kok and Rev Sean Prasad (ADOP Pastoral Advisor)

Shamini (Organizer of ADOP) and Eugene Yapp (Secretary-General of NECF)

Merchandize booth in ADOP

Painting of an eagle made by one of the worshipers.

Painting by worshiper from Breakthru Community Church

Worship dancers from BWCC

Worshiper from New Life Restoration Church

Sr Pr Richard Tong praying to God from Grace Assembly, Klang

Eugene Yapp, NECF Secretary-General, giving a speech

Worshiper from First Baptist Church

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3 Oct 2014-

The Global Day of Worship is a call for a unified global worship movement to see the name of Jesus Christ lifted up throughout the earth. It will be a day that will unify many denominations within the body of Christ while embracing and celebrating the differences in our expressions of love for Jesus Christ. Through a unified, celebration, and adoration of the name of Jesus, the world will see that we are His disciples. This vision was born in a small island of the Caribbean called Dominican Republic in February 1999. Since that date, this vision has influenced this generation and is also serving as an inspiration for thousands of men and women of God around the world.

GWD falls on Saturday, October 4th, this year with a wave of worship and adoration that will span the globe and unite all believers as one body. Utilizing 24 time zones, we will agree and join with the 24 elders, spoken of in Revelation 4, who are already worshiping Jesus around the throne. It is when the worship of heavens meets the worship of earth that spiritual climates of nations will shift, as we serve faithfully here and now in preparation for His return.

On GWD,  we will not focus on asking or petitioning for the Lord. But we will simply gaze upon His beauty, thank Him for His love, and declare His attributes and goodness in our lives, families, communities, and nations. We can worship Jesus through reflective expressions of love or loud joyful celebration. We can sing hymns and choruses or engage in free- flowing passionate worship in different languages. We were all created to love Jesus, and this event will allow us to uniquely express our love to Him in unity around the globe.

Be a part of this Global Worship movement by worshiping with churches that are participating or gather yourselves in your homes and set a time to praise and worship God, uniting with worshipers around the world.

The Global Worship Team, Malaysia will also be leading in worship at the following venues hosting GWD on 4^th October :

1. Grace Assembly, Klang – Worship time from 8:45 AM – 4:30 PM (12 teams)

2. Bible College Malaysia, PJ – Worship time from 4 PM – 10 PM. United Revival Worship (Bahasa churches) (7 teams)

3. City Harvest Church, Sunway- Worship time from 8 – 10 PM.

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4 Sept 2014 – 

On 6th October 2014, Israel Houghton & New Breed will embark on a new live recording in Asia. Having recorded a live worship project, ‘Alive In South Africa’ (2005) and ‘Love God. Love People.’ which was recorded in London (2012) at the famous Abbey Road Studios, it goes without saying that Israel Houghton has a heart for worship, globally and the way worship is expressed culturally around the world.

The live recording is expected to take place in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea and Indonesia, with Indonesia being the first stop in this recording followed by Malaysia.

For the recording taking place in Indonesia & Malaysia Israel & New Breed will be teaming up with worship leader and writer of the hit song ‘Hosanna (Be Lifted Higher)’ Sidney Mohede.

WHEN?                     | 6^th October 2014 (Public Holiday)|                          

WHAT TIME?           | 7PM |                                  

WHERE?                   | Grace Convention Centre, PJ |

Come and experience an outstanding worship experience with the Grammy Award-winning American Christian music artist, worship leader and singer-songwriter, Israel Houghton and his band The New Breed!

For more info, please check out http://www.graceconventioncentre.com/

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31 Aug 2013 by Adeline Lum CM-

“How many Christian artistes do we know have maintained their Christian identity consistently? We are talking about people who are really setting an example in the industry by doing high-quality performing arts work and yet still maintain their Christian identity,” said Charity Lee, Music Director of TAPESTRY.

A homegrown vocal group, TAPESTRY was born out of a group of friends who were passionate about representing the identity of Christ in the music industry. The name TAPESTRY represents the different people, voices, and gifts amalgamating to form a vocal tapestry.

The musical production of TAPESTRY for year 2013, with Charity Lee (front row in yellow shirt)

Inspired by radio, television, onscreen films and theatrical production, TAPESTRY prides themselves as more than an a cappella group that performs a variety of music ranging from pop songs to rock, jazz, music theatre, and doo wop.

In 2012, they started with an informal and casual Christmas Tapestry production at Enfiniti Academy. And in year 2013, their efforts snowballed into a sold-out 650-strong crowd for Stereo & Popcorn at the Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC) over four consecutive shows. This year, the 13-member team is opting for the larger 1100-seat theatre in DPAC for their upcoming show, Human After All, scheduled for October.

“So, we make it very interactive. We think of ways where the audience can get involved in the show. And the kind of message we want to bring across.

“It’s not so much about shoving Jesus down their throats, but as subtly as we can, we want to share a Christian message as well,” said Charity Lee.

The musical production for Stereo & Popcorn

One of her most memorable comments was from a non-Christian who said of a previous show: “You know a thing I like about your show is that when I look at all of you, I know you are Christians, but you do not force this ‘Jesus thing’ down my throat. You are like me, are not too serious, and know how to have fun!”

For Charity, the production should speak to the audience at the end of the day. But sometimes, we are so trapped in our ‘holy huddle’ that non-believers find it hard to connect.

“We try to find themes that people can relate to. Many times, the struggles that people go through are not necessarily unique to whether they are Christians or not. As such, we want to share our stories about how God helped us in particular situations to encourage others,” said Charity.

Stereo & Popcorn

That is why TAPESTRY positions themselves in the public space rather than focus solely on church. If they were to only perform in church with a church-centric mindset, their influence would be confined within the church walls.

“So, for me… thinking beyond the church, we need to engage more people in conversations and dialogue. At the very least, we need to get the ball rolling and put things into perspective.

“TAPESTRY is very much aware of the community we live in and sensitive to current issues. We love to sing and that’s an important aspect. But what drives the whole project is what we want to convey to our audience in light of what is happening today,” said Charity.

TAPESTRY in their first Christmas production

TAPESTRY believes that art and music is the best way to engage people because they offer a way to talk about everyday life in a creative manner. And creativity is accessible by everyone!

“The world we live in is so different now. If you’re going to apply the same methods to reach out to the people around us, it’s not going to be the same anymore. People don’t think and feel in the same way anymore, in the sense that they are always drifting and not constant.

“This is not going to change. So, how is the church going to tackle that? Creativity is an effective tool that can be used to connect and reach out to people in the present age,” said Charity.

Human After All examines the breakdown of relationships despite the constant connection between people who are feeling increasingly isolated and lonely.

Yet… in every problem lies a solution, and this is a journey that TAPESTRY hopes to take their audience along.

“For me personally, we should look at the life we have. Even if I don’t bring God into the picture, all we have if we’re fortunate is 70 years. So, what kind of legacy do we want to leave behind?

“We can acquire all the wealth that we want but if it only remains with us when we die, that is all it is, whether or not we are Christians. We only get one chance to live a life that is meaningful and more so when we’re Christians.

“What are you doing for God? How would you account for your life when you meet Him? So, actually, life is very short. I could be dead next week. I mean you don’t know right. If you live a life with a sense of your own mortality, things become urgent,” said Charity.

Having faith in the Lord, TAPESTRY is pushing the limits by doubling the overhead and cost of production this year, trusting that God will provide.

TAPESTRY for the first Christmas Production

“I say to the team: If you’re brave enough, and having seen last year how faithful God is, let us continue to make God the focus and not divert from Him. As long as we commit our plans to Him, He will help us in all aspects,” said Charity.

TAPESTRY is set to push the boundaries of creative music production this year by including songs that are interlaced with narrative stories, dramatized vignettes, and direct interaction with the audience—under the direction of award-winning choreographer and director Michael Xavier Voon. Visuals, lighting, and live-processing vocal effects will also be used to bring forward a more engaging experience.

“The music field is really growing but I think due to globalization—the way the world is so connected and how things happening around are impacting us as well—I believe the Malaysian audience is ready to see things that have not been tried before,” said Charity Lee.

Stereo & Popcorn Musical Production

Audiences of all ages would find this music production enjoyable with a mix of songs from all eras, including classics from the 1960’s right up to what’s current in pop music today.

Ultimately, Charity shared that she hopes that Human After All would deliver the message that we are imperfect people and we need help. Like how Christ laid down his life for us, we ought to lay down our lives in love for other people as well.

Get tickets for Human After All at www.dpac.com.my.

Venue | Damansara Performing Arts Centre

Date | 23—26 OCT daily (Matinee show at 3 PM, only on 26 OCT)

Price | RM45 | RM55

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/wearetapestry

Proceeds from ticket sales will be used to support SPICES (Support for Parents, Infants, and Children through Early Services) in their work among children with learning disabilities.

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10 Oct 2014 by Jason Law CM -

Recently, just last Monday, Christian music-lovers in this nation had a blast with one of the highlights of the year. This event was the 2014 visit of Israel Houghton to Malaysia.

Israel Houghton is no stranger to most people in the world. Among the awards he has won are included some really prestigious ones like 4 Grammys and 2 Stellar Awards, and an incredible number of Dove Awards for a consecutive period over 5 years.

Nearly 2400 people attended the concert at Grace Convention Center on the 6^th of October 2014. Through 2 hours, concert attendees had an amazing time of worship complete with strobe lights and virtuoso performance by Houghton and his band. In total, Houghton’s entourage, including a special guest, consisted of 29 members. 

Houghton has a unique style that blends such different genres of music as gospel, jazz, and rock into one incredible fusion. The concert was also graced by Sidney Mohede of JPCC fame, and there were many musical interactions between the musical partners. Houghton is as much a lover of music as he is a worship leader, and midway through the concert, there was a grand extended session full of virtuosic keyboard and guitar riffs.

Many songs were performed that night including Mighty to Save, Te Amo, Your Presence is Heaven to Me, One Thing Remain, and his latest single, Covered. Houghton shared about his inspiration behind this latest single, and his amazement at the great power of God’s Grace that covers all struggles and shame in our life. One of the highlights of the night was the landmark song, ‘Jesus Be the Center of My Life’. By the end of the concert, the whole hall was shouting for encores.

A neat surprise sprung by Houghton towards the end of the concert involved crowd participation. Selfies taken and contributed (hashtag #AliveinAsia) that night will be included, along with the songs performed and clips, in Houghton’s next live album, ‘Alive in Asia’, scheduled to be released in 2015.

The concert by Israel Houghton is part of his Alive in Asia tour, with further stops in Japan at the Yamato Calvary Chapel, Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, and the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Manila.    

Israel & New Breed featuring Sidney Mohede Live in Malaysia was organized by Grace Productions. A ministry of Grace Assembly PJ and Co Organized by BeccaMusic Inc.

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NOTE: All pictures property of Grace Convention Center.

17 Oct 2014 by Adeline Lum CM-

On 4^th of October, Malaysia churches of various states came together at their respective premise to celebrate the Global Worship Day (GWD) with the churches in the rest of the world.

GWD is a day calling all churches in the world regardless of denomination, culture, race, language, and expressions of worship to lift up the name of Jesus Christ on high.  After all, we are called as one bride in Christ.

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” (Rev 19:7-9 NIV)

A vision that is born from a small island of the Caribbean called Dominican Republic in 1999, thousands upon thousands of men and women of God have joined this powerful spiritual movement.

GWD at a church in Kota Kinabalu

“It is the commandment from the Lord to have churches come together united and lift up his Holy Name. This is because when we come together corporately, the corporate anointing is just so different. God is pleased when we stand as one and put aside our doctrinal differences, and just let him be the center of our worship and nothing else,” said Christina Toh Meil Lin from First Assembly, Kota Bahru, Kelantan who congregated five churches in her church.

Bravo All Stars, a group in the late 1990’s sang, “Let the music heal your soul. Let the music take control. Let the music give you the power to move any mountain.” Music transcends a certain realm that touches our soul. It heals the broken-hearted and the downtrodden in spirits. Mostly, it connects us to the heart of God.

“Many times, we come worshiping God expecting Him to do something. But to me, I  come as I am and worship Him for who He is and I just pour my heart’s adoration to Him. The Bible clearly says that He inhabits the praises of His people. This is so true. Wherever there’s praise, God’s presence is there,” said Shamini Ruth, Country Co-coordinator for the Global Worship Day.

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22:3 KJV)

GWD at Kota Bahru, Kelantan

“I guess for me, we are not just physical and spiritual beings but emotional beings as well. And sometimes, music speaks to that part where words or just talking cannot reach. It’s just more that what you can say or preach,” said Kysern Lim, worship leader of City Harvest Church, Kuala Lumpur.

“One could sense the open heavens to come with such liberty in humble adoration of our awesome God. It’s the greatest privilege a child of God could ever have,” said Reverend Geetha Rajagopal from Victorious Life Centre, Ipoh, Perak whose church participated in the GWD.

“When you come together with different people, you have to realize it’s no longer who’s around you, how you style, and how you look. But it’s about you and God. Worship is a prerequisite to come into God’s presence. Without worship, prayer is insignificant,” said Ashwin Joshua Menon, drummer from the Global Worship Team.

GWD with Bahasa-speaking churches at Bible College Malaysia

Reverend John Kirby from Shekinah Grace, Sungai Petani, Kedah added, “Worship is something that is prioritized in my church. It is something that we consider as a very major part of our Christian walk because it is a reflection of our relationship with Him. The more we love Him, the more we want to worship Him.” However, apart from singing and praising God, he hoped to incorporate more of Scripture-reading, prophesying, praying, and meditating in God’s presence in GWD next year.

That is why King David, perhaps being a harpist himself, appointed 4000 musicians to praise the Lord in the temple with musical instruments. (1 Chro23:4) When the Moabites and Ammonites declared war against Judah, King Jehoshaphat sent forth singers to sing praises to God ahead of his army. By the time they began to sing in faith, God began to annihilate the Moabites and Ammonites before them and they only saw dead bodies when they reached the peak. (2 Chro 20:22-24) And after Nehemiah completed building the ruined walls of Jerusalem, he also immediately appointed singers. (2 Chro 20:20:24) Bravo All Stars sang it right when they say, “Let the music give you the power to move any mountain.” That power comes from our faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Global Worship Team Malaysia worshiping God at Grace Assembly, Klang

“It’s the beginning of greater things to see that everyone willing to come together for one purpose to praise and magnify the name of God and put aside every denomination and how big or small our church is, and reach God first.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Rom 12:3-5)

“What touched my heart the most is the younger generation. They come just so humbly and sincere without any political background whatsoever, willing to put everything aside, and bringing God into the picture,” said Pastor Philip Thomas of Grace Assembly, Klang who gathered 12 teams from various churches to worship as one body in his church.

The young adults and youths worshiping God at Bible College Malaysia

Reverend Stephen Chan from Saint Andrew Church, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu who congregated six churches added, “Because the Christian population is less than 1000 people here, if we don’t get together, it’s difficult to reach out. Most of the people who came were college and university students. Many said it’s the first time they see so many university students in one church.”

Pastor Perry Robert of the Bahasa Ministry of the Breakthru’ Worship Community Church, Cheras shared that he was touched to see many young people coming to worship God at Bible College Malaysia with five other churches as well.

“Orang muda ini, mereka adalah waris gereja yang akan jadi pemimpin. Apa yang berlaku kepada generasi muda ini ialah mereka hilang ‘purity’ untuk menyembah. Mereka datang gereja tetapi mereka tidak mahu terlibat dalam apa-apa perlayanan.

“Generasi ini semakin hilang dan kita perlu membawa mereka untuk memahami apa itu penyembahan yang ‘pure’, jujur, ikhlas, dan yang menyenangkan hati Tuhan sehingga mereka digerakkan untuk melakukan perkerjaan Tuhan dan misi Tuhan,” said Pastor Perry Robert who felt the church should support the younger generation in creating new songs of praise and worship in the church.

The dancers worshiping God at Bible College Malaysia

Another interesting observation of worship in the Bible is that worship always happened in the company of an assembly of people. Even in Heaven, we see a picture of different people and different tribes worshiping the Lord in songs, hymns, and praises. (Rev 7:9-10)

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,

who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb.”

(Rev 7:9-10 NIV)

Rev Davidson Lawrence, pastor of D’Oasis Asssembly, Skudai, Johor shared, “We had different groups of people to come and led us in worship with their own language such as the Pilipino and the Korean. The congregation expressed themselves in many forms of worship. Thank God for the experience!”

A great time of worship in City Harvest Kuala Lumpur

Rajkumar Abraham, GWD representative from Harvest Revival Centre, Penang also shared, “There was such an awesome presence of God and breakthrough as the English and Indonesian congregations came together as one voice before God. We believe that the Lord has done a mighty work in our midst during this prophetic and powerful time of worship.

“We even had the flag-bearers bring in the flags of every state in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Nigeria, to be a part of the Holy Spirit movement. May the churches in Malaysia continue to move with the Spirit of God through worship in the coming days, and not just wait for a once-in-a-year opportunity.”

Worship at Harvest Revival Centre, Penang

All of the churches that participated in the GWD were grateful and looked forward to GDOW 2015. Pastor Dale Padman from Cross Culture, Shah Alam shared, “We started the event in the morning but five hours later, we were still refreshed and blessed. We are looking forward to be part of GWD next year!”

Yes. We are the Church.

We are the Bride of Christ.

We are one with God. And one with one another.

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal 3:26-29)

Join GWD next year on 31 OCT 2015! If your church interested to host GWD at your premise or network with a few churches to host this next year, contact Shamini Ruth, GWD Country Coordinator at 012-297-2945 or email shamini.ruth@yahoo.com

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23 Oct 2014 by Adeline Lum CM-

On the 9^th to 11^th of October, the Tabernacles of David in Kuala Lumpur celebrated a four-day Feast of Tabernacles with guests from Singapore, Finland, United States, Australia, South Africa, and Indonesia. The event began with a scrumptious dinner amidst the elaborative décor, followed by a festive mood of praise, dance and worship.

Trumpeters for the Feast of Tabernacle

Unlike the Feast of Passover and Feast of Pentecost, which had been respectively fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Feast of Tabernacle holds a prophetic and relevant message for this present time.

“It is like someone making a date. God says, ‘I want to meet you at a set time.’ God has set this in His calendar and it is His appointed time to meet us. When we celebrate the feast, we are keeping appointment with the King.

“And so, when we come with the right heart and right attitude, it’s so important that we have the atonement of Yom Kippur to prepare ourselves to pray and fast. If we prepare well, we will enter into the experience and blessings of the Feast of Tabernacles,” said Reverend David Swan of the Tabernacles of David.

Reverend David Swan

He believes that the Feast of Tabernacles is one of the spiritual ‘seasonal open portal’, when it would be easier to sense God’s Presence and Glory and we would experience a greater open Heaven. To enter and experience The Feast of Tabernacles is to enter into the ‘Fullness’ of the blessings of God.

“One of my calling and anointing is to raise up the Worshiping Army. Worshipers are different because they have a passion for the presence of God, and they love to enter into the Presence. In the process, they catch the presence and anointing. And they become presence-carriers,” said Reverend David who had been involved in Worshiping Leading for some 40 years and his book “The Davidic Generation’ has been printed in Russian, Dutch, Arabic, Indonesian, Mandarin, German and Korean etc. Another of his book ‘The Power of Prophetic Worship’ had sold by the tens of thousands.

The festive mood of the Feast of Tabernacle

An appointed forerunner in worship by the Lord, Reverend David introduced the usage of shofars long before churches in Malaysia began using it. He believes that other churches will soon catch the revelation of the Feast of Tabernacles as well because it has a prophetic and present day message!

An attendee blowing a shofar

Next year on October 1^st to 3^rd, they would be celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles during The International Worshippers CONGRESS nationwide at a stadium with 300 shofar-blowers, 120 silver trumpeters, 50 drummers, 450 to 700 dancers, choir, and worship teams from South Korea, Thailand, South Africa, Singapore, Australia, USA, and Indonesia etc. The last time they held this massive and intensive worship gathering was a decade ago in Malaysia. These worshippers gatherings releases the powerful corporate anointing of the Body of Christ.

“Corporate anointing means the combined, compounded, synergized, amplified and multiplied anointing of the whole body. It combines the unique strength, anointing and power of the apostles, prophets, psalmists, worshippers and intercessors etc. The corporate anointing is the strongest anointing that the Body of Christ can release, it affects the atmosphere and spirit realm in a tangible and significant way.

Corporate anointing at the Tabernacle of David

“In our meeting, we synergize all these various anointings. We combine it and build it up to a ‘critical mass’ to create a spiritual explosion for spiritual breakthrough. In other words, we are releasing the powerful corporate anointing of the activated Body of Christ,” said Reverend David who urged attendees to not come as passive spectators to the Feast of Tabernacles next year but come as active participators in worshiping God.

One of the biggest keys to the release of corporate anointing is worship. Singing in unison and focusing on the Lord together, unites our spirit swiftly.

Singers for the Feast of Tabernacle

Arlene Valentyn, a South African visitor sees the Feast of Tabernacles as a prelude to uniting with God, like a bride to her bridegroom, “When I came here, I experienced entering the Holy of the Holies—it’s about entering into God’s presence. It’s about the Bridegroom (Jesus Christ) and Bride (the Church), and the Bridegroom wooing her into His presence.”

Reverend Keith Higgins, an Australian pastor who had been associated with the Tabernacle of David over 30 years also added, “Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles is celebrating that God will come and tabernacle with us. The Bible says that we will ascend to Heaven with the Lord and those who do no worship God at the mountain; no rain would fall on them—meaning the anointing of the Holy Spirit. So, this is the foretaste of things to come. It’s the joy of the Lord, the fruitfulness of God.

If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. (Zec 14:17)

Reverend Keith Higgins

“We are coming to the church age now where denomination does not matter because we are one in the Spirit and in the Lord. We come to celebrate the feast and its fullness that it represents, which enable us to embrace everyone and enable us to touch lives.”

Sister Anne came on-stage to share her testimony of how the Lord healed her from a throbbing pain in her head which she had endured for seven long years. She was hospitalized for four days. Going into a MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) check-up, she felt that her hands and heart were growing cold and she could be losing her life.

Trumpeters of the Feast of Tabernacle

“I told God, ‘Quickly come and save me!’ I closed my eyes and I saw Jesus standing on the right. I was closing my eyes but I could see Him in His long white robe. He was about six feet plus. Immediately, warmth filled my heart.

“I told God, ‘Lord, if you see something behind my ear, pluck it out and give me a clean report.’ The MRI was clear. The blood test was clear. Everything was clear! I told God, ‘From now on, not my will but Your Will be done. I give all the glory to Jesus,” said Anne.

Dancers bowing in worship of the Lord

The Saturday evening proceeded with Pirjo from Lapland  and Sirpa from Helsinki introducing themselves to the attendees, before Reverend Keith Higgins from Brisbane came to give a speech.

“We have to go beyond our natural senses and human limitations to go into a new dimension of the Spirit. Many are called but few are chosen because between the calling and choosing is proving. And we cannot do what we are required unless God captivates our heart,” he said, adding that his diminishing physical senses due to age did not diminish his spiritual taste for the things of the Lord.

Dancers worshiping the Lord

Next, psalmist, songwriter, and singer Jena Teer from Texas, United States came and sang about the Holy Spirit to the audience.

“The Holy Spirit is your wedding gift. But it saddens me so many times that we put our pre-wedding gift, our engagement ring, on the shelf. We put it in a box and we try to ignore it. But we are given a beautiful gift and that is the Holy Spirit, an ‘apprehending’ Spirit.

“Because of the power of the Holy Spirit, you will crush lions and serpents in your life! The dove that symbolizes the Spirit won’t go anything dead. But the Holy Spirit wants living and breathing Christians. He wants to take you up and not stay in your position.

“The only way you can climb higher is the simple word of prayer, ‘Lord, I give you my life.’ If you are willing to pray that prayer, He’s going to test your commitment and see how willing you are to climb up higher. But brothers and sisters, it’s pretty in the mountaintop. That’s where we want to go,” said Jena.

Jena Teer, guest speaker from United States

The final speaker for the night was Brian Pickens. He shared how the Lord revealed to him as: a picture of Holy Tower of consuming fire, a Righteous Ruler with uncompromising standards, and lastly, a Loving Parent kneeling down while extending His arms. In the final picture, Brian wondered if God the Father was interested in him because while He extended His arm, He did not come to Brian.

“God said, ‘Surrender to me. Let me be in every part of your life.’ Wow! That’s beautiful for a person who just wants to sit in the background and use many gifts and abilities—that’s a challenge. I know I am gifted and I am capable. And yet, He says, ‘Give it all to me.’”

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom 12:2 NIV)

“Romans 12:2 speaks about renewing our mind. As we surrender our lives to God, He gives us understanding to our ears. I see God now as a strong tower. Not only that, He is my protector, refuge, shield, and shelter. I can see Him face-to-face and I can look into His eyes.

Dancers worshiping the Lord

“I see God as a wooer. He’s my defender. He’s my sounding post when I have things to talk and need someone to talk to and clear my direction. He’s my encourager; He knows what to speak at the right time.

“My Father longs to be with me. He’s not only extending His arms but He loves me, delights in me, picks me up, and sits me on His knees. He sings to me. And He dances with me,” says Brian.

Over the last ten months, most importantly he saw a different and more intimate picture of God, “I see God holding me tight. But recently, I see God coming into me, and singing and dancing within me. This is a very different image of God. In that sense, He is ‘tabernacling’ with us. And He wants to do that with every one of us.’”

“As I surrender myself and humble myself, my heart is changed and my relationship with Him is restored. The Lord says to me, ‘Brian, I delight and I get so much joy when you stand up there and declare my name.’ Sometimes, we don’t hear it clearly. Stop and listen to that small voice, ‘I delight in you,’” said Brian.

Dancers holding up the flags proclaiming Jesus Christ

Reverend David Swan closed the Feast of Tabernacles before the night ended with an intense and sustained worship, which broke into the spiritual realm.

He shared, “There’s so many things seeking to take that precious space in your heart and spirit. But invite the Holy Spirit. I constantly invite Him into my life and into situations. I said, ‘Holy Spirit, come… I know next to nothing but You know everything.’

“Glorify Jesus. Come to the Heavenly Father and expect Him to touch you and minister to you in a Sovereign way. You have come to the Father’s feast—the Feast of Tabernacles—God’s the Host of this Feast. I am not the host.”

Dancers of the Feast of Tabernacle

The night ended with worship, where God’s tangible and glorious presence saturated the place. The worshipers danced with all their might with colorful banners, flags, and wings. And the attendees also danced, held hands, and also waved their palm leaves in abandoned worship. It reminds me of the picture of how the people of Jerusalem would have cheered and shouted for Jesus Christ when He entered the city on a donkey. What a foretaste of the joyous celebration we will be having when we finally meet Jesus Christ face-to-face.

The attendees worshiping the Lord

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Note: Pictures are credited to the Tabernacles of David

6 Nov 2014 by Adeline Lum CM-

From the 23^rd to 26^th of October, TAPESTRY delivered a compelling a cappella performance ‘Human After All’ that tugged at the heartstrings of the audience. The show touched on the irony of technology in making this world smaller and faster, yet turning the hearts of men lonelier and icier. 

With vignettes directed by award-winning Michael Xavier Voon and apparel designed by fashion designer Kenny Ng, TAPESTRY successfully experimented with the bold interplay and integration of song, dialogue, dance, multimedia and lighting this year. 

“I like how they rewrote songs that are not traditionally meant for a cappella. For example, Daft Punk is not something you can find or download as an a cappella music score online. So, it’s unique how they rearranged everything to make it singable,” says Wong Eu Bing, an audience member of ‘Human After All’. 

Through TAPESTRY’s clever selection of songs from various genres since the 1960s, the audience was brought on a roller-coaster emotional ride from despair, to joy, to hopelessness, before the show concluded on an uplifting note of hope and strength.

With the songs clustered into four distinct themes, TAPESTRY began their performance with the concept of Virtuality by singing ‘Aerodynamic’ and ‘Television Rules the Nation’ by Daft Punk (a 1990s electronic dance music duo from France), followed by ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ by The Buggles (a UK synthpop or new wave group), led by soloist Wyzek Wong.

Accompanied by the country’s top female beatboxer Kim S’ng who accentuated the robotic impression of the first few songs, the group delivered a chilling reality of a digitized life through ‘Virtual Insanity’ by Jamiroquai (a 1990s funk and acid jazz band from the UK) with music director Charity Lee on lead vocals.

 “Futures made of virtual insanity now

Always seem to be governed by this love we have

For useless, twisting, of our new technology

Now there is no sound, for we all live underground.”

—Virtual Insanity

TAPESTRY continued with ‘Tribute to Daft Punk’, which was partially based on the arrangement by YouTube a cappella stars Pentatonix, with breathless and choppy beats mirroring the insane speed that we live in to make us “harder, better, faster, stronger”.

Yet, despite the added prowess that technology has endowed us, duo soloists Joanna Ooi and Ong Kah Yee sang with the group about loneliness in ‘Eleanor Rigby’ by The Beatles. The song tells the story of the unlikely but lonely churchgoer Eleanor Rigby and Father McKenzie who appeared to have lived and died alone. 

TAPESTRY transitioned into ‘Mad World’ by Tears for Fears (a 1980s new wave synthesizer band that branched out into mainstream rock and pop) with soloist Jamie Loo and the group. Singing expressionless in predominantly stationary positions, TAPESTRY personified the meaningless and directionless life we have through this song.

“All around me are familiar faces

Worn out places, worn out faces

Bright and early for the daily races

Going nowhere, going nowhere.”

—Mad World

But the group did not dwell in the depressive state of the technological era for too long as they closed their virtual theme with the 1970s musical ballad ‘Send in the Clowns’ from the musical ‘A Little Night Music.’

As the group sang about the sorrow of not being able to be with one’s lover, they got the audience thinking, “Could romantic love be the answer to the loneliness in my heart?”

The Love chapter kicked off with a light-hearted vibe of how love feels like through a short monologue, before Charity Lee took centre stage with ‘Maybe This Time’ (from the 1960s musical ‘Cabaret’). In this musical, the female protagonist sings about falling in love for the first time.

Soloists Dana Lee and Benjamin Gan then continued the romantic lilt with ‘Change the World’ and ‘The Longest Time’ in the ‘Love Medley’, backed by the group.

An interactive performance with the audience ensued, where a couple was invited on stage to be unabashedly serenaded by TAPESTRY with Disney’s all time favourite, ‘Kiss the Girl’ from ‘The Little Mermaid’.

But while we may think that love is the answer to fulfilling the emptiness in our hearts, TAPESTRY begged to differ as Dana Lee and Nah Swee Wayne together with the group brought the chapter to a close with Irish rock band U2’s ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’.

Transitioning into the Fracture theme, TAPESTRY injected some humour with ‘Getting Married Today’ from the 1970s musical ‘Company’. The original plot revolves around a single man who has commitment issues, as he goes through life with his five married best friends and three girlfriends.

Soloist Charity Lee opened this segment by playing the distraught bride who is reluctant to get married to her excited but clueless groom in the presence of their solemn priest, played respectively by Jason Voon and Nellie Chan.

TAPESTRY continued their candour with their rendition of ‘Agony’ from the 1980s musical ‘Into the Woods’ that debuted in San Diego. Taking the audience back to their childhood fairy tales, Jason Voon and Nah Swee Wayne respectively played Cinderella’s and Rapunzel’s princes, which invoked roars of laughter as they sang about their agony of not being able to be together with the girl of their dreams.

The comical atmosphere took an unexpected turn when Nellie Chan took centre stage with her realistic performance of ‘Still Hurting’ – a song from the musical ‘The Last 5 Years’ that premiered in Chicago in 2001. With her soulful voice, Nellie brought the audience to a place of sorrow as she sang through her tears about failed love. The original musical talks about the distancing relationship of a rising author and a struggling actress over the years.

Continuing the theme of emotional descent, TAPESTRY with beatboxer Kim S’ng led the audience to reflect on break-ups in relationships via a medley comprising mid-tempo and indie pop ballad ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ by Gotye, up tempo pop song ‘Since U Been Gone’ by Kelly Clarkson, and ‘Go Your Own Way’ by the 1970s rock band Fleetwood Mac.

TAPESTRY once again brought their audience to a place of loneliness when soloist Charity Lee sang ‘A House is Not a Home’, a song originally recorded by American singer Dionne Warwick in the 1960s. The song tells the story of how a house is not a home, vividly painting a picture of the pain of separation with a lover.

At this point, the audience was led to think, “If romantic love does not work, then where can I find strength and hope?”

As a prelude to the next section, TAPESTRY closed the Fracture theme with ‘Waiting on the World to Change’ by John Mayer, with soloists Nah Swee Wayne, Elaine Lee and the group echoing the limited power of an individual to change the world, leaving mankind to wait on the world to change.

The sense of hopelessness evoked by the songs in the earlier section was quickly turned into hope and strength through the final theme on Reconnection.

Benjamin Gan together with the group sang ‘Being Alive’, another song from the musical ‘Company’, which speaks of the man with commitment issues taking a leap of faith to fall in love again, in spite of pain and disappointments.

But most importantly, this love must first begin by loving ourselves, a clear message that TAPESTRY delivered in their mash up of ‘Just the Way You Are’ by Bruno Mars and ‘Just a Dream’ by Nelly.

Soloists Joanna Ooi, Wyzek Wong and the group then took to the stage with ‘Man in the Mirror’, a song popularized by Michael Jackson, encouraging the audience to change the world by first changing themselves.

And when we give up fighting each other and instead come together as one, that is when the power of change truly happens, as soloists Jamie Loo, Ong Kah Yee, and Nah Swee Wayne enthusiastically sang with the group on the rousing ‘21 Guns’ by American rock band Green Day.

Completing the theme of Reconnection, Charity Lee and Nellie Chan sang about how friends would help each other when falling.

Written by American music duo Simon and Garfunkel in the 1970s, TAPESTRY reminded the audience of loved ones who care about them with the song, ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’.

And from bearing each other’s burdens, TAPESTRY transitioned into singing about how we can build a ‘Beautiful City’ (from the 1970s musical ‘Godspell’) ‘brick by brick’ and ‘heart by heart’, thus breaking the passiveness of standing by and ‘waiting on the world to change’.

The performance closed with ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’ by The Beatles, led by soloists Jason Voon and Joanna Ooi together with the group. They reminded the audience that ultimately, we are not alone in this world and have people around us who care for us.

The show also featured the sharing of the Christian faith by Betsy Yeo and Charity Lee which was tactfully woven into the performance.

“They have set the standard for what a talented group of young people can achieve with a small budget, lots of hard work, and sacrifice. Among international plays and productions, ‘Human After All’ is evidence that Malaysia’s youth still has what it takes to be artistically relevant and exciting,” said Jared Wong, audience member of ‘Human After All’.

Let us look forward to TAPESTRY’s performance next year!

All pictures are credited to TAPESTRY.

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29 Nov 2014 by Jason Law CM -

First off, let me make an admission. I am probably the least romantic person among my friends and social circle. When others swoon at love stories and pine for their ideal life partner, I find pleasure in the type of relationship you find in families and from an avid meeting of minds. When the trend is for ‘The Fault in Our Stars’, I would veer off towards ‘Anna Karenina’, ‘Les Miserables’, or Balzac’s ‘La Comedie Humaine’ in search of what they have to say about the human condition.  I am probably not the best person to share about love.

So, to tell you the truth, when I was invited to attend the Footstool Players’ ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ I really didn’t know what to expect. The kind of love story that touches me must contain something noble in them, the type that says more about the nature of love rather than just the sordid affairs of characters themselves. Would I cringe at sappy romanticism or be touched by the noble aspects of love? Great plays must contain ideas that provoke the mind and extend understanding of ourselves. That’s what I feel, because that’s the kind of person I am.

Cast lineup from The Footstool Players

Now the central question is, did I enjoy the Footstool Players’ play? Yes, very much, and I will explain why soon. Just to introduce what the play is about, CTCL is not really a play in the usual sense of the word, as in it does not go by way of introduction, followed by a plot leading to a climax, and ending in a denouement or resolution. There’s plenty of that but that’s not what the play’s about.

CTCL consists of 2 acts, but the acts are broken up into 7 and 6 scenes respectively, for a total of 13 scenes. The unique thing about these scenes is that they’re all written by different playwrights, portraying love in multiple aspects of the concept, with characters that have no relation to others in the other scenes. The only common thing is that the actors and actresses remain the same throughout the whole play, requiring versatility in their skills of performance.  

In the theater hall.

This being my first time attending a play at an actual theater, with the lights in the theater off, shadows gathering around the players, and spotlight directed at them, the scenes took on a stark realism for me. You know the Cerebro scenes in the X-Men movies? It was like that. Aided by the skills of the actors and actresses, I was drawn in to the lives of actual persons.

Different scenes stayed in the mind. For me, it was sometimes an uncomfortable experience as I watch broken families try to overcome their problems, struggling through the issues of love and trying to mend their relationships. But this was counterpoised by more affirming moments when the characters triumph over their problems, restored broken relationships, and of the many lighter and more comedic aspects of romantic love.     

Ref: TheStar ( A scene from ‘The Ledger People’)

Paul and Nicole Johnson’s ‘The Ledger People’ portray what happens when we define love by placing more than appropriate focus on what we do for our loved ones, and what they need to do in return. This scene convincingly shows how such a relationship quickly degrades into something absurd, bringing home an aptness of a definition of real love: ‘a score of zero, as in the game of tennis’, and the strength of just accepting each person for who they are, in love.  

Charlie Jones’ ‘Word Picture’ shows the tragedy when a man builds up walls around himself to protect his family. The central male figure in this scene has overcome an extended period of joblessness in the past, where the walls of security for his family had come tumbling down. Now, having slowly build up a successful career again, he fears losing it all and going back to the past. The problem is those walls he had built around his family had inadvertently also placed his love and their relationship in ‘prison’.

Ref : nst – Various scenes from the play.

In ‘I Am My Father’s Son’, the actor Ee Soon Wei movingly tells you the story of what happens when a man grow up under a distant father, the kind that provided everything except love. And in ‘Saying Goodbye’, Ann Choo shares about the blessedness and serenity of growing up under a man who truly knew how to love his family, with moments that stay on in the memory after he is gone. Both contemplate on a dying father and the role he had played in their lives, but the contrast couldn’t be clearer.

Many comedic and lighter scenes intersperse throughout the play. One scene takes a look at the ‘Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus’ complication. Another is about a couple trying to outdo each other in their expressions of love, rising higher and higher into stratosphere, until finally all the dressings are stripped away. Yet another takes an intimate look at a father’s unconditional love for his son. The play ended with an anthemic affirmation of one of the greatest of love poems; Paul’s First Corinthians Thirteen.

CTLC theatre-goers having a moment of fun photography.

Taking their name from Psalm 99:5, the Footstool Players was started in May 2001 by Colin Kirton, as an outgrowth from the Subang Jaya Gospel Centre. It had an aim of using the theater as a medium of communication, providing quality entertainment and thought-provoking dramatic commentary on life for Malaysian churches. Recently, they have begun the steps towards cross-cultural productions, taking up issues that cross cultural, racial, and religious barriers. While still staying faithful to the Christian worldview, their plays can now be appreciated by people from other cultures and faiths as well.

‘Crazy Thing Called Love’ Press Release Banner

A performance of the play will be held at the Penang Performing Arts Centre from the 4-7 of December 2014. More information about the Footstool Players and CTCL can be found on their website at http://www.footstoolplayers.com/ and their Facebook page at /footstoolplayers.

Ref : timeout – The Cast of CTLC (from left: Colin Kirton (seated), Ee Soon Wei, Linora Low, Sean Low, Ann Choo, Adrene Wong (seated))

The team in Footstool Players behind CTCL consists of the following actors and actresses: Colin Kirton, Sean Low, Adrene Wong, Ee Soon Wei, Ann Choo, and Linora Low. In 2008, CTCL won the prestigious Best Group Performance (Theatre) in the 7^th BOH Cameronian Arts Awards.

NOTE: Focus on the Family Malaysia is the supporting partner for all CTLC shows currently running, and the show I attended was held at the Damansara Perdana Performing Arts Centre on the 22 November, as part of Focus on the Family Malaysia’s Marriage Conference with a difference. 

NOTE: Christianity Malaysia is a non-profit organisation. All images taken from publications not intended for copyright infringement but for purpose of sharing about Footstool Players and their work. All other pictures kindly contributed by Focus on the Family Malaysia.

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2 Dec by Kim Yung CM -

A large crowd gathered at City Harvest Kuala Lumpur (CHCKL) for the long awaited comeback of Chromeheart, an astounding production birthed by CHCKL on the 15th of November 2014. It ran a number of times throughout that weekend which gave many people a chance to attend. The prequel to the 2011 hit Chromeheart, Chromeheart Origins is a fantasy courtroom drama that explored the nature of evil and the complexity of life which challenged audiences to think about why people do the things they do.

Chromeheart Origins: The moment of interrogation.

“In the first two instalments of Chromeheart, we saw the antagonist Lord Yephim, as an irredeemably evil character. In this final part, we get to journey through his transformation and wonder how we would have turned out if we went through the same things he did,” said Reverend Kevin Loo, Senior Pastor of CHCKL. Loo said that Chromeheart Origins was conceptualised, written, produced, and directed by the creative team of CHCKL.

Butterfly dance – a scene from Chomeheart Origins (Compliments of CHCKL)

CHCKL Creative Director, Esther Ku said Chromeheart Origins is the third instalment in the Chromeheart trilogy. “It is a prequel to Chromeheart, which recorded an attendance of about 5,000 people in December 2011,” she said, adding that the second instalment, Chromeheart Revelation, doubled in attendance about 10,000 people during its four day run in April 2012.

From left – Rev. Kevin Loo and Esther Ku closeup (Compliments of CHCKL)

As the lights dimmed and the production officially commenced, many people sat there unsure of what to expect. Nonetheless many knew without a doubt that it was going to be a fantastic production! Chromeheart Origins definitely did not disappoint the audience as they stayed glued to their seats until the end. This time according to their story, the Kingdom of Isd had forgotten what life was like before the war. Both the Esuirras Warlords and the Quamoros Beasts have suffered the pain of Master Yeyphim’s rage. The production showed the complexity and interconnectedness of life which left many people deep in thought.

One of the fight scenes from Chomeheart Origins (Compliments of CHCKL)

Ku said that CHCKL’s productions have become an invaluable platform for home-grown talent to hone and develop their skills especially in the areas of sound and lightning, video effects and post production, photography, dance choreography, props-making, stunts, makeup, song writing and social media.

“We are passionate about the creative arts and our aim is to create more platforms and opportunities for people to discover and utilize their talent, and realise their potential in life,” added Loo.

An interesting combination of movement and visuals.

Chromeheart Origins featured a cast and crew of 150 people, who were mostly volunteers. All sets and prop, music and dance choreography was put together by the volunteers. In addition, the acrobatic stunt scenes were performed by volunteers with the assistance of Ronnie Kee and his team from a local stunt and effects company, Stunt Power Film Production.

Lovers under the moonlight.

Kee said the volunteers were quick learners and passionate about what they were doing. “There is a lot of opportunity for them to rise up compared with the film industry, whereby only selected people get chosen most of the time,’ he said. The trilogy finale was an amazing sight to behold and their lively performance as a whole was a success!

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11 Dec 2014 by Adeline Lum CM-

They are the voices that audiences at ballrooms and concert halls have been enjoying for the last eight years, treated to favourite inspirational and gospel tunes in the likes of Il Divo, Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban.

Hers is the familiar lead voice that filled Istana Budaya not too long ago, enjoyed by high society and the who’s who of Kuala Lumpur.

Put together and you have the T4C (Tenors for Christ) and Doreen Tang collaboration.

Not only are they the latest talk in town at corporate and charity events, but this new collaboration will be releasing TWO completely DIY music videos this December.

“When A Child is Born” featuring T4C and Doreen Tang will be released this 12^th December (Fri) whereas their cover of Michael Jackson’s “One Day in Your Life” will be released this 26^th December (Boxing Day)

Backstage, the members of T4C are quite a riot. Their camaraderie, marked by a lifetime of friendship, is punctuated with wit, humour and jabs. But add Doreen into the mix, and things escalate to new heights.  

A mixed bag of personalities, Josh Awang, Victor Chua, Tom Tan and Doreen Tang click so well off stage and on stage one would think they have been together forever.  

From left to right: Doreen Tang, Victor Chua, Tom Tan, and Josh Awang

“Before we met Doreen, we’ve always imagined her to be this slightly older woman with curlers in her hair and wearing false teeth,” said Josh.  

“Well, we’ve always known her as “an old friend of Tom’s,” added Victor.

Despite having heard of Doreen over the years, they have never met her until their recent act together at Asian Beacon’s 45^th anniversary dinner.

“I have not been singing actively for the past six and a half years ever since I became a mother. But I’ve prayed over the years for an avenue to get back to singing before it was too late and I’d really have to wear false teeth and curlers,” said Doreen, clearly on par with the boys when bantering is in session.

“We’ve been together for eight years but we haven’t really done anything beyond performing at events. We have done charity, corporate, and wedding events and so the next most natural step was to produce a music video but we were too contented and needed some kind of push,” said Josh.

So when T4C and Doreen Tang finally got together, they found tremendous chemistry on stage and off stage. This new collaboration became an apparent answer to both T4C’s and Doreen’s prayers.

From left to right: Tom Tan, Josh Awang, and Victor Chua

For T4C, the impetus they were looking for came in the form of a former diva coming out of hiatus. And as such, since Doreen came into the picture, the T4C boys testify that things have gone up a few notches.

“Our technical requests to our organizers had always been 3 cordless mics, 2 stage monitors and a CD player, but since Doreen joined us, it is now 4 cordless mics, 3 stage monitors AND a holding-changing room,” added Victor.

“But truth be told, it feels like Doreen has been with us since day one of T4C, like she’s always been a part of us all this while,” said Tom.

The idea for music videos came about when Josh, realizing that they had stumbled upon such a gem of talent, decided to invite Doreen to do music video duets with him. It was also a way to hint and nudge to the other T4C boys that music videos was the next order of business.

“For a while there, we were suspicious. We thought Josh was slowly showing Tom and myself the door, and replacing us with Doreen,” quipped Victor.

Tenors 4 Christ and Doreen | Ref: asian beacon

Prior to this, driving all the way to Shah Alam to record at Joshua’s private studio was a chore, but now the gang had new enthusiasm they even entertained the idea of going up to Fraser’s Hill just to shoot a D.I.O (do it ourselves) music video.

But this new found chemistry has not only made their collaborative journey more “gung ho”, it has also been peppered with a series of unrelenting but hilarious incidences.

“We had driven up to Fraser’s to shoot the music video for “One Day in Your Life,” but when we got to the top, it was raining and to make matters worse, Josh’s car had only 3%- 5% worth of petrol left! And then I started to panic,” said the diva amongst the thorns.

“But in all that panic, Josh was so calm, composed and transfixed on the potential shoot location more than the petrol gauge that was already flickering by this time,” added Doreen.

The reason they ran out of petrol was that Josh had filled a different car with gas that morning. They had to buy petrol in a plastic container at a sundry shop to fill the tank.

Because it was getting really cold with the sun setting quickly, they only had 1.5 hours to shoot.  (a proper shoot for a 5 min. video takes no less than 7 hours).

And since it was getting foggy and dark up in Fraser’s, they decided to rush down to shoot in front of the picturesque Sungai Selangor Dam. But by the time they got there, not only was it pitch black, they realize that they had left the camera with all the precious footages inside at Syazan Inn, 42km of winding roads back up at Fraser’s Hill.  

Tenors 4 Christ performing for the 7th Anniversary Gala Dinner of Living HOPE this year

A few weeks later, they continued video shooting near Ampang Look Out Point but it rained massively on them, cutting short their session. Not giving up, Josh, Tom and this time together with Alan Yun, model and actor but now camera person for the shoot, went up again a week later to get more shots.

This time, Josh’s car had a flat battery and left them stranded for almost 4 hours under the scorching sun because the car dealer’s road assist messed up royally.

Such has been the adventures of Doreen Tang and the T4C boys since they ventured into music video production. There were many more incidences but they reckon it would take up an entire book to tell the story.

With their new found friendship, chemistry and collaboration, T4C and Doreen Tang proudly presents, their first two music videos, “When A Child is Born” and a cover of Michael Jackson’s “One Day in Your Life.”

“One Day in Your Life” was an obvious choice because of its beautiful message that applies to the prodigal son or daughter or friend. It’s almost like a song from God the Father to His Children who have wondered away,” said Josh.

“We’re hoping to reach a wider audience through these music videos so that our message of hope and reconciliation will touch more lives,” added Tom.

“And we have not forgotten our mandate of coming out with our full debut album, hopefully before we reach sixty,” quips Victor, at which point the group looks at Tom and laughs. “That’s not too long from now,” added Victor to more laughter.

Tenors 4 Christ performing for the Run for the Nation (RunNat) Christmas party at Lot 10, Kuala Lumpur in year 2013 | Ref: Runforthenation

To engage this new collaboration of T4C and Doreen Tang, call 012-6511-656 for inquiries and further details.  

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12 Dec 2014-

YOU will be the first to watch T4C and Doreen Tang’s music video here in Christianity Malaysia!

Tenors 4 Christ (T4C) and Doreen Tang wish all Christianity Malaysia subscribers a blessed Christmas season with their debut music video, totally self-produced!

Here’s their rendition of a Christmas favorite, “When a Child is Born.”

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9 Jan 2015 by Jason Law CM -

Just a few days ago, on the 5^th/6^th of January, the recent Christmas season came to an end. As a matter of fact, the last day of Christmas is an important day of commemoration for many traditional churches throughout the world. It marks an event known as the Epiphany, in which the churches remember the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ.

I won’t go too much into that, beyond recommending readers to find out more if they are interested, but the crux is that Christmas has a meaning that go beyond 25^th December every year, and in fact, its themes last throughout all year and into eternity.

The reason behind Christmas is more significant than the celebration itself.  It is timeless, universal in that it crosses all cultural and national boundaries, and yet at the same time, it is personal in that it means something special, in its own way, to every person. Last Christmas, the Japanese Church in Malaysia Agape (JCM Agape Network) celebrated the season in an intimate yet meaningful way.

When we talk about celebrating something that is timeless, universal, and yet personal, what better way than to do so through something that shares identical qualities? Few other things can equal these in the same way as music.

Music is a central component in the expression of every culture. It is timeless in that it has existed since the dawn of human history. Its diversity and variability is an apparent mark of music’s ability to speak personally to every person. If we look deeper into music, we also find it having an ability to help Christians utter their spiritual and emotional relationship to God.

The pastor of JCM Agape Network, Pastor Mayumi Yamazaki, has a gift for music and their Christmas celebration was multi-faceted. The celebration opened through a wonderful harmonica performance by the Harmonica Touch. Three different types of harmonica were used, including soprano, alto, and the seldom-seen bass harmonica, and the flexibility of the instruments were showcased through the three main areas of music; classical, popular, and sacred.

Throughout the night, there were also other musical presentations including the saxophone and a violin-cello duet. Three solo songs were presented: ‘What Child Is This?’ by Brother John Chong; ‘Joseph’s Song’ written by Michael Card to express the emotions of Joseph as Jesus’s earthly father, presented by Brother Ron Koh; and ‘You Are The Reason’ by Brother Caleb Ee.

One of the highlight of the celebration was JCM Agape Network’s well-known Hallelujah Singers’ presentation of Christmas carols in English and Japanese. A Gospel group known as the Gospel 11 rendered other carols in lively Gospel form.

Another highlight was a hula dance presentation by Madam Tomoko One and her team. The hula is a complex art form, and in its original nature, the movements were designed to signify aspects of nature, such as the swaying of a tree in the breeze or a wave in the ocean, or a feeling or emotion, such as fondness or yearning. Madam Tomoko and her team adapted the dance form to celebrate the visible signature of God’s handiwork in nature and the emotional-spiritual aspects of the Christian life.

A testimony was shared by Dr Noel Francis Thomas of God’s divine intervention and how He had providentially guided and arranged Dr Noel’s steps since decades ago, until today where he is an important member of the chemistry faculty in Universiti Malaya.

Pastor Mayumi herself presented solo renditions; ‘Mary Did You Know?’ and a Japanese translation of the Hebrew song, ‘The Hope’. In her message, Pastor Mayumi shared about the miraculous nature of Christmas as a momentous event that only happened once in our human history. She shared that many people attempt to disprove the Virginal Birth of Jesus through the use of natural laws, but by focusing on the commonplace laws of nature, they are missing the point. The power of Christmas is in its nature as a miraculous event.

Three timeless aspects to the meaning of Christmas were shared; Hope, Unity/Solidarity, and Reunion. The fact that God loves us so much, that He made the ultimate sacrifice by coming down to Earth, and living among us as a human, brings hope to the lonely and hurting of the world. Reflecting on this, Pastor Mayumi also gave thanks that God is working among the Japanese.

She shared that for a long time, the Japanese were known as a hard ground for the Gospel message. Today, however, many Japanese are returning to God through a medium that is ever-present in their culture. For many years, Japanese children were taught songs without fully understanding the meaning in them. It is by the Spiritual understanding of the lyrics in them that many Japanese have found God communicating. Pastor Mayumi gave thanks that God did not just select a specific group of people for salvation, but that He had made that salvation available to every person across the world. God is calling His people to return to Him.

During the celebration at JCM Agape Network, there were believers from many nations. This reflects the fulfillment of the promise proclaimed during Christmas about God’s peace and the brother- and sisterhood of Christ’s followers. Pastor Mayumi imparted that this is something that Christians must cherish and continue to work towards. The celebration ended with the whole church intentionally coming together as one body in Christ.

Christmas may be celebrated once per year but its meaning/significance lasts year round. We are used to looking backwards at Christmas as something in the past, but what God set into motion on that day 2000 years ago points to the future. God is bringing the work He started 2000 years ago to a triumphant finish.

NOTE: All pictures kindly contributed by JCM Agape Network Church. 

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11 Feb 2015 by Adeline Lum CM-

On 23^rd of January, Joth Hunt from Planetshakers shared his experience as a musician for Planetshakers, in the Planetshakers Awakening Conference in DUMC.

A gifted musician, Joth started playing the keyboard when he was seven years old, in addition to the drums, guitar, bass, and saxophone. He made his first record at 13 years old. Today, Joth is a singer and song composer for Planetshakers. He aspires to produce first-class and world-class worship songs that are better than secular music.

Ref: amazonaws

People are attracted to passion. Hence, it’s no wonder the attendees of the Planetshakers Awakening Conference were attracted to the passion Joth had as a musician for the Lord.

He explained that musicians carry a heavy responsibility to carry God’s anointing onstage, well. While the world aggrandizes someone onstage, we are called to not conform to the patterns of this world (Rom 12:2) but to follow the Ways of our Father in Heaven. According to Joth, our purpose as musicians onstage is to bring glory to God, not ourselves. We are called to usher people into a breakthroughs! We are called to be musicianaries to sow seeds of faith with music—music, which transcends culture, language, race, and all borders existing on earth! That is what God has called musicians to be.

Ref: PlanetshakersAwakening2015

Planetshakers believe in declaring their praise and worship unabashedly to the Lord in joyful noises. In fact, the Bible has several parts with God’s people making a joyful song to the Lord, far from quietly contemplating His Goodness. Hence, like how the angels in Heaven sing, “Holy! Holy! Holy!” we want to evoke an atmosphere of celebration and passion. We want people to enter the church and feel the presence of God hanging in the atmosphere.

Ref: beccamusic

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music (Psalm 98:4)

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! (Psalm 95:1)

And more than skills, a good musician for the Lord is a musician after His heart. A good musician only has one purpose, and that is to wholeheartedly worship and glorify the Lord. When God sees the purity of our heart, He will pour His anointing on us, so that we can glorify His name and not ourselves.

Hence, be the best musician you can be to glorify the Lord. In fact, God is the best musician in the world since He is the one who created music. Joth shared that the church should be the one birthing forth music that would inspire the world and not the other way round.

After the sharing, Joth Hunt answered a few questions from the audience about being a musician:

Joth Hunt answering questions from the attendees of the Planetshakers Awakening Conference in DUMC

“How can a new member adapt to the way of playing music in a worship team?”

Joth shared that the Planetshakers team would groom the new member until he or she is able to perform at the Planetshakers’ established standard of excellence. The new member will first perform in a less-pressured environment with fewer audiences (i.e. youth meetings), before performing in higher-pressured environment with larger crowds (i.e. public concerts).

“I can feel the Spirit of God during practice for worship. But how do you maintain God’s presence throughout the worship session?”

Joth shared that we need to be careful in focusing too much on our performance, which may hinder the Spirit from working. The trick is to be so skilled in our performance (meaning practice well beforehand) that we are able to flow with the Holy Spirit during the worship session.

Ref: amazonaws

“Is there a way we could make sure that the congregation is not merely entertained but saturated with the Spirit?”

Joth shared that many western churches focus on fame, whereby they would hire professional musicians to play. But in Planetshakers, though containing elements of entertainment, their main focus is to worship God. A congregation should be led to be participants and not spectators.

“Would a solo guitarist or solo drummer distracts people from praising God?”

Joth shared that God would use different keys to unlock different doors. He would use natural things to do spiritual breakthroughs. Who knows? A drummer could be spiritually smashing the dark forces with his drumsticks, thus changing the atmosphere. Simply said, God would use anything to bring Him glory. It’s the heart of the guitarist or drummer that matters.

Ref: davidccook

“Sometimes, we feel tired and burned out. How do we consistently keep up with the passion?”

Joth shared that feeling tired is natural although our Spirit is not tired. But he believed that the Spirit can command our body to strengthen itself. He shared how he freshened up himself for a meeting when he asked the Holy Spirit to strengthen his body.

“What if we are asked to play a song we have never practiced before? Is there a secret code for the band to play together?”

Joth shared that the secret lies in having a music director. The director is generally the most skilled person in the band who can lead the whole band to play together. Although these moments are uncomfortable, playing in sync with the music director for an unknown song teaches the band to flow. However, if nobody in the band knows the song, a polite decline would do.

Ref: top40-charts

“Are there any advice for song composing and song writing?”

Joth encouraged every musician to compose a song by getting together with like-minded people to put the chords into the melody and lyrics. Planetshakers has always been crafting their songs around what Pr Russell preached in the church.

“How do you maintain harmony in the team?”

Joth shared that many bands have a problem with maintaining harmony. Even if there were one person who has a bad heart, the band would have disunity. Communication is key to remove diva spirits or rocks star spirits in the band.

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11 Feb 2015 by Joycelyn Loh CM-

The hall of DUMC was filled with the sound of joy, praise, and worship on 23^rd of January in the Planetshakers Awakening Conference night rally. The cry and hunger for God were so great during the praise and worship session that God’s presence saturated the main and overflow halls, immersing everyone deep in His Spirit.

“Emmanuel, God is with us!” says Pastor Sam Evans, pastor of Planetshakers.

Pastor Sam Evans

Pastor Sam started her sharing on Matthew 1:23, “It is impossible for a virgin to conceive a child, yet God in His power and what He did was supernatural. And God who did this supernatural thing is with you and me.”

““Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. ” (Matthew 1:23)

Pastor Sam continued sharing that although our situations seem impossible and our environment seems impeded, God has a supernatural plan for us; they are the perfect place for God to sow His Word and His seeds of the supernatural and the miraculous!

Planetshakers Awakening Conference in DUMC

“Jesus who walked on the water, raised the death, and calmed the storm—God who did these supernatural things—is with us. And because He is with us, He has dominion over our DNA, and nothing in the natural elements of this world could overcome us,” says Pastor Sam.

²⁶And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,²⁷ To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.²⁹ And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. ³⁰ And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. ³¹ And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. ³² He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: ³³ And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. ³⁴ Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? ³⁵ And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. ³⁶ And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. ³⁷ For with God nothing shall be impossible. ³⁸ And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38)

Pr Sam Evans

“When God is with us, miracle starts to happen. But we got to believe the word of God, and stop questioning, worrying, and getting anxious asking, ‘Is this God? Will this come to pass?’ We need to believe that God is with us!” Pastor Sams shared. Our faith in God is the admission point for the power of God to overrule the natural predicament that we are in.

“When God is with us, He is not just next to us, He is connected to us. There is a connection between God and us. God does not just want to visit us and then, go. He wants to be with us. And when God is with us, we are in the Father’s home. In His presence, we as His children are home.”

Pr Russell Evans

Planetshakers worship team led numerous songs in the night rally, which the congregation were familiar with. The songs included Endless Praise, Turn It Up, Leave Me Astounded, Holy, Covered, Your Presence, and many more.

The night concert of the Planetshakers Awakening Conference in DUMC

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12 Feb 2015 by Jason Law CM -

For a church of its youth, the Breakthru’ Worship Community Church in Bandar Sri Permaisuri has already attained a milestone in its history. Last Saturday, the church launched its maiden album. ‘What is so special about this?’ some readers may wonder.  For starters, the church is young and has only been in existence in its official capacity since January 2013. Additionally, a majority of the songs on the album are largely self-crafted with great quality.

Inside Breakthru’ Worship Community Church.

Breakthru’ Worship Church had their start as a youth center, known as Charis ECUBE, in 2009. Located at that time in Taman Segar Perdana Cheras, they served the students of the surrounding institutes of higher learning, young families as well as workers. Under the auspices of its senior pastor Lawrence from Charis Christian Center, Breakthru’ Worship moved to their current location and took its official name and first steps towards independence in January 2013 with Pastor Perry Robert serving as its shepherd.

For me attending the launch event for the album, it is clear that the church is full of young members who are truly excited about their relationship with the Lord, and it struck me that the album is actually one of many outgrowths from that enthusiasm. Taking the principle ‘Where Worship Comes Alive’, the church takes its worship to God very earnestly. This closely-knitted relationship with God and among its members has earned it endearment from many other Christians in the surrounding area.

Pastor Lawrence Yap and other guests being welcomed at the official launch.

Winny Jessica Setiawan’s message to the church.

Recognizing the spirit of devotion to God that the church possesses, Winny Jessica Setiawan who serves in the worship team of the well-known JPCC church in Indonesia, offered her endeavors in collaboration for the crafting of the album. Both the leadership board and album producer members of Breakthru’ Worship as well as a video message from Winny Jessica Setiawan emphasized the faith journey aspect behind the making of the album.

Winny, who served as the Vocal Director of the project communicated that it is not just about talent or singing, but the work of building up God’s Kingdom. ‘It’s about ministry, how we build the Kingdom of God in this world together’ she imparted. ‘Producing this album has been an interesting experience, working cross-country with BWCC in Malaysia. You overcame your initial fears and challenges and make the project a success. I am proud to be part of the REAL album project,’ she shared in her message to the church.   

Besides Winny, Ricky Sutanto who also has his own production company, Open Hands Production, served as the REAL project’s music director. Ricky shared that having only produced singles in the past, the REAL project was an answered prayer to his dream of producing his first album.  

Pastor Lawrence Yap officiating the launch of the ‘REAL’ album.

Q&A session with Pastor Perry Robert (right) and Open Hands Production’s Ricky Sutanto (left).

Officiating the launch of the album, pastor Lawrence Yap communicated that this is an important milestone in the maturity of BWCC as a church. ‘This launch is an important step for BWCC, especially considering the youth of the church. My hope and anticipation is that this album will go on to bless many others,’ he imparted.   

‘There is a great hope throughout the whole project that the completed album would not just be another music album but one that would bring God’s blessing and make His presence real to people. That is the rationale behind the name we picked for the album. We even made sure, due to different tastes among different people, that there would be variety and something for everyone on the album,’ Pastor Perry Robert shared.   

‘We are limited as humans and maybe we can only express the reality of God to some extent because there’s really nothing that can articulate the true actuality of God, but I am proud of everyone involved in the project, because they all worked so hard.’

The ‘REAL’ album is out for sale on the church’s website with further plans to release them at major Christian bookstores.

The ‘REAL’ music album.

Titled ‘REAL’, the album is a multi-faceted one, comprising a dozen songs, equally spread between those written in English as well as those written in Bahasa Malaysia.  Running themes throughout the album are Christ as a shepherd leading His people, the power of His love that changes lives, and the sovereignty of God. Style range from energetic rock to contemplative.

Some of the highlights for me are ‘Lead Me’ in which the singer proclaims that “Your Love has given me new life, the power and strength to make it through, in the thunder in the storm, Your name will always be my shield’. Other highlights are ‘Greatest Love’ (“Even in the darkest hour, you walk with me in every step, your grace makes all things new”), “Lebih Dari Semua’ with music written by JPCC’s Winny Jessica Setiawan and Ricky Sutanto, as well as ‘Kau Raja’.      

Video Links

Winny’s message to BWCC.

A look at the journey behind the making of the album

A full preview of the album

For those who wish to find out more or obtain the album, you can visit the page at real.bwccministry.org

For more information about the church, you can either visit their website at http://www.bwccministry.org/ or check out their Facebook page at /bwcckl

NOTE: Some pictures kindly contributed by Breakthru’ Worship Community Church. 

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