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#EN2010 Notes: A Matter of Age

July 29, 2010 by 1 Comment

One of the many things I noticed during the EN2010 World Conference was the age group of the people who preached. I was especially struck with Jackie, the guy from the restricted country that I mentioned in my previous post. He was 19 when he met Jesus. When he came up the stage and the camera zoomed into a close up, I quipped to my victory group leader who was sitting next to me, “looks like he’s just in his early thirties!”

Jackie is indeed in his early thirties. And when I think about it, I can’t help but think of my own age and how many of my years were spent for personal pursuits in relation to the number of years I spent pursuing the things of God for my life. I also thought of the general idea among Filipino youth about not getting too serious about God in this age bracket. For many people, college years and the first few years at work are the time to get wild and be irresponsible. It’s the time to explore the world, experiment with lots of stuff and get crazy.

Last Sunday, Pastor Jojo Henson from Malaysia mentioned in passing how he was saved at the age of 20 and went into full time ministry at 22. He told us how the enemy has been telling him while he was in his twenties that he was too young to serve God. Now that he’s past forty, the enemy is trying to tell him that he is too old to make a difference. Of course the lies of the enemy sounds very ridiculous but it gets really intimidating if you start listening to it. The Lord reminded me of 1Timothy 4: 12: Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

While the world thinks it’s okay to be irresponsible when you’re young, the truth says otherwise. Young people need to make a choice on who to listen to. Some people sleepwalk through their younger years until the hard truths of adulthood jolt them to their senses. Others make wise decisions even when they’re too young to be right. But when you are on your thirties and you look back and try to make sense of what you’ve done so far, it is never fun to realize that others have already done so much while you were busy trying to look cool.

Filed Under: Discipleship Tagged With: ,

#EN2010: Notes from Darlene Zschech’s Message

July 26, 2010 by 3 Comments

Darlene Zschech, the Australian worship leader who brought us the ever famous Shout to the Lord, spoke at the Every Nation World Conference in Manila on Friday night. I must admit I attended the conference partly because she was going to be there. I really wanted to hear her speak. Not sing, mind you, but preach and teach from the word of God. I wanted to hear some snippets of her worship philosophy and somehow get a glimpse of how Hillsong became what it is today.

Darlene’s teaching was simple but powerful. The first thing she said that made me grab my notes was her definition of worship as a distinct response to a revelation of who Jesus is. I love the way she emphasized that worship is primarily about your relationship with Jesus, not the quality of the music nor the loudness of the singing. When you strip away the guitar, the keyboards, the screaming crowds, or even the entire band, worship could still go on because it has always been your heart responding to God.

Darlene also mentioned that the sounds will change but the intention and agenda remains the same. I’ve seen this happen in the Hillsong albums since the release of The Power of You Love (1992) and The Stone’s Been Rolled Away (1993). Hillsong music has changed down through the years. From the calm, soothing sounds of the 90s to Marty Sampson’s screaming in their newer albums, I’ve heard a definite change of sound that I didn’t like. The United Live series featured loud music that really turned me off for a few years. But when I think of the heart behind the music and how the music helped people around the world express their love for God in a new, fresh way, I quit complaining and joined in the noise.

Something about speaking the language of God was also mentioned in Darlene’s teaching. I think that was the highlight of her entire message that night. She recounted how the European settlement in Australia almost phased out the native speech of the Aboriginal Australians when the new foreign settlers forced the natives to speak English. There’s complicated history behind all these but the point Darlene made was if the enemy can silence your language, he can definitely silence your tribe. Christians ought to speak out the language of God or run the risk of getting silenced by the enemy.

Lastly, Darlene mentioned that in church, we seek to raise disciples, not celebrities. I love this part of her teaching simply because I’ve seen how the music team of some churches that I’ve been to are acting like celebrities in the local congregations. They don’t get into discipleship because they’re busy with their music. Some of them don’t even listen to the preaching of the word of God because they feel too important to be bothered with all that talks. In one particular church, the musicians were not even Christians. They’re rock stars who didn’t get signed up with a record label.

Hearing all these talks about the importance of our relationship with Jesus are a breath of fresh air for most and a gentle rebuke for some. God looks at the conditions of our hearts when we come to Him. Our inner lives matter. Let the music change. I no longer care if it’s Mexican chacha or RnB or Korean pop. If the sound points a person to a deeper understanding of God’s love and a stronger faith in Jesus, then let’s go ahead and rock!

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#EN2010 Afterglow: How to Land Safely

July 26, 2010 by 1 Comment

Pastor Jojo Henson of Malaysia said something that got stuck in my head yesterday in Victory Caloocan. He mentioned in passing how Peter asked Jesus if they could make tents in the Mount of Transfiguration so they could stay there with Moses and Elijah. You’ve probably heard this a dozen times already but in light of the excitement and afterglow of the EN2010, I think this message never gets old. The idea is that Peter was so overwhelmed with the presence of two prominent Old Testament figures that he wondered aloud if they could just stay there and bask in the glory of the moment.

There was nothing wrong with the request. Peter probably did it in good faith, I mean, who wouldn’t want to just sit back and enjoy the glory of God’s presence? If it were me, I would probably feel the same way as Peter. The fact is that whenever we experience something glorious, our natural tendency is to hold on to it and never let it go.

But as much as we want to make the moment last, a time always comes when we have to step down from our high moments and get assimilated back to our daily realities. EN2010 concluded with a loud bang for most of us. Yesterday, Metro Manila churches enjoyed an extended time with some international delegates as they spent their Sunday with us. The mountain ends there though. Today, a day after all the flurry of activities, we’re back to our offices, to our work stations, to the normalcy of the daily grind. It’s time to roll up our sleeves again and deal with our backlogs.

As I think about these things, I am reminded of Acts 1: 8 and Matthew 28: 19: Jesus said that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses… therefore go and make disciples…”

Powerful encounters with God are meant to fuel us to love God more. They’re meant to drive us to action, to go and carry out His mandate with fresh fire and fresh revelation, not so we could sit back and just enjoy the glow. No, there’s a heaven for that kind of stuff. The sooner we understand that, the lesser the frustration we’ll feel. I’ve seen countless young men and women attend conferences and come home feeling like they are ready to take on the world. Some of them were even so fired up with the euphoria that they vowed to go into full time ministry. When they attend church the first Sunday after the conference, the sing the loudest and cry the hardest. Reality sets in after two or three weeks though. They come down from the mountain and face the gritty realities of the daily grind. Life’s back to normal again.

How are we to land safely then? I mean, after the exhilarating flight of our spirits, after the so-called foretaste of heaven, how do we touch down gracefully? I couldn’t find much clue in the story except the fact that Jesus walked with them on their way down the mountain. Jesus never rebuked Peter’s ignorant prayer to make three shelters. He perfectly understood why Peter longed for that permanence in a glorious place. But He had to take them to the real world again so they could get on with their jobs and their ministries and their callings.

It is such a comfort that the God who shows us His great power and glory is the same God who will walk with us as we go down to the normal, ordinary details of our days. He is alongside us the moment we got back to our work today. He is not just a God of the mountains or the valleys. He is God everywhere.

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#EN2010 Day 3: Back to the Basics

July 25, 2010 by 1 Comment

If you’ve been around Facebook and Twitter this last few days, all the update you probably got from Victory people in your network were their experiences (and lots of photos) at the #EN2010 World Conference. Everyone’s been raving about its huge impact in their personal lives and how the record breaking singing of Amazing Grace in sixty languages brought them to tears. It was like a foretaste of heaven.

Some of the conference highlights that are worth writing about include Darlene Zschech’s teaching about worship, the communion of the nations, and Pastor Steve Murrell’s message about honoring God.

Darlene’s most quoted statement for the week, “if you can’t sing well, just sing louder” became a fodder for Facebook and Twitter updates since Friday. It was funny and revealing at the same time. Worship has never been so much about music. When you really think it through, God is actually more interested with what’s going on in your heart than the tune you carry. As Darlene said, we seek to raise up disciples who submit to the Lordship of Christ, not celebrities with rock star complex. This word is especially powerful coming from the mouth of someone who is so well known around the world. It gives us a bit of an idea of how the Hillsong team operates behind the curtains.

The communion of the nations, in my opinion, was one of the most significant events in the conference. It was not a very moving part of the program, in fact, it just felt like any Sunday communion that I’ve ever had. What made it different (and special) was the physical presence of different nationalities inside one building. When you think of the diversity and unity in the body of Christ, there’s no better way to picture it than when you see different skin colors, hairstyles, heights and accents put together in a single room, saying Amen in unison and partaking of the communion elements all at the same time. It was so powerful and symbolic for me.

The last part of the conference that I consider to be a highlight was Pastor Steve Murrell’s message about honoring God. I was laughing half the time when he was preaching but when he was done, I almost cried at the simplicity of the message that he so consistently carried in the last 26 years. From the early beginnings of Victory, it has always been about honoring God and reaching the future leaders of the nations. As he walked us through the history of this great movement, I could plainly see how our leaders stuck with the basics to accomplish what God has placed in their hearts. The methods may have changed, church fads come and go, but not the mandate, not the call, not the specific assignment God has commissioned us for.

As I pushed my way out of SMX yesterday after the conference, I couldn’t help but think of how much this Every Nation spiritual family has greatly blessed my life. I looked around and saw friends from U-Belt and Caloocan, the people I am now going to church with. I saw some people from my own victory group wearing those big, glorious smiles. I saw my pastors who looked haggard and happy. I saw the volunteers who looked like they needed a week worth of sleep. I saw before my eyes around twenty thousand happy faces.

Lord Jesus, thank you that I am part of this.

Filed Under: Devotionals, Discipleship Tagged With: , , , , ,

#EN2010 Day 2: The Breaking of the Walls

July 24, 2010 by 1 Comment

Second day of Every Nation World Conference. Walls were broken, spiritually speaking. And the SMX building was shaken, literally speaking.

I’m not sure if I would ever find the correct English words to write about what happened yesterday. The speakers from different countries all brought something fresh to the conference, something to drive home the fact that the gospel of Jesus has been changing the spiritual, political and cultural landscapes of the world.

During dinner, my brothers and I talked about how the conference revealed fresh truths for us as a family. CNN Hero Efren Penaflorida’s testimony of how the gospel changed his life and led him to give back to his community confronted us with a new question. How are we treating our hometown now that God has blessed us here in the city? Like Efren, we also came from the poorest of families in a distant village in Leyte where McDonalds was never heard of. Like Efren, God blessed us in our chosen careers. But the similarity ends there. Efren gave back. We relocated. Ouch.

The preacher from India and the pastor from a restricted country both shared powerful messages that are too long to recount here. (Again, you can listen to the full podcasts at EN2010.com). The one major point that I got out of their messages was the unique way they both encountered Jesus. One of them met God in the rain (and got saved through a McDonalds hamburger) while the other felt His touch as he was left on the side of the road, dying.

These testimonies are emotionally moving but what made them more interesting and more dramatic was the fact that the guy from the restricted country met Jesus through a Filipino missionary. This simple bit of information was enough to drive me to tears. It made me think of World Partners Program and little things we can do to help send missionaries abroad.

A few years back, I attended a Victory church service in U-Belt where the pastor not only preached about mission theories but really brought in testimonies fresh from the mission fields. Young people who have just been through ten-day mission trips reported on the harvest they witnessed. I remember sitting there feeling skeptical about their reports.”Ten days!” I thought. How could ten days change a nation? Are they even sure these kids are not simply taking vacation in a foreign land? Forgive my raw thoughts. I have long repented of my ignorance and I’m ashamed that the thought even crossed my mind.

Yesterday, as I heard the preachers speak of how they met Jesus through Filipino missionaries, I was sharply reminded that the money we sow into the lives of these missionaries are actually producing multiplied results in the international spiritual landscape. Whoever partnered with the Filipino missionary who reached the student (who is now leading a significant movement in the restricted nation I just mentioned above) would never have known that the money he sent is now making endless ripples in that country and the world over. The money that was used to buy McDonald’s hamburger is now being rippled back to the Philippines, setting so many hearts on fire, triggering renewed commitment among those who heard that testimony.

As the day came to a close, I saw before me the crumbling down of my own walls of excuses and alibis. I’m certain that something in me was forever changed after I saw this coming together of many nations. I can never look back now. I know that even if I am just as small as an ant crawling in a majestic cathedral, I have within me the power and the potential to make a difference in this big wide world. If I could just touch a soul, or give a thousand pesos to a student missionary, or do one to one discipleship with someone who will later become a key figure in a society, then I would have made a lasting impact on this world, an impact that would later send ripples everywhere.

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