Graduating class waxes nostalgic about time at school over celebration dinner.
Endless chatter, radiant faces and camera flashlights filled the Hall at Keppel Club on 7 August as over 600 students celebrated the end of five life-changing months at City Harvest Church’s (CHC) School of Theology (SOT) Graduation Dinner.
In his speech, Dean of Students, Bobby Chaw, aptly summed up the period at SOT as a “Kairos time” or the opportune moment where 636 people of varying backgrounds made one common decision to enroll and be trained for God’s purposes.
Reflecting on his special time at the school, business owner, Peter Ngion, mischievously described it as the “School of Terror” and “Trials and Tribulations”, which slowly evolved into the “School of Transition” and “Transformation”, before finally becoming the “School of Triumphs”. Ngion was also voted Mr. Charisma during the evening.
For Andrew Tan, graduating from SOT was another significant step in his path from darkness to light having previously “graduated” from a boys’ home and reformative center due to a past of drugs, gangs and violence. To Tan, SOT was not just an ordinary experience, “but really about experiencing God and encountering God at a whole new level.”
Echoing his views was Zhou Sheng Dan, who cited that her most important lesson was the need for fresh revelation from God’s word daily so as not to tire and give up in ministry.
Miss Charisma for the evening, Korean, Bae Jin Hee, shared that the event during SOT that impressed her most was the inaugural International Idol. The student-run talent competition creatively reached out to Singapore’s multicultural community, dispelling notions of church as boring.
In fact, according to SOT Administrator, Cindy Chaw, the creativity of graduates from year to year is growing as each batch of students becomes more bold in shining forth their talents.
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| PHOTOS: Lee Boon Bee |
No surprise then that the dinner itself proved a showcase of creativity — from the rap, dance and song performances to the students’ fashion forward attire.
The evening fittingly concluded with students singing along to evergreen number, ‘That’s What Friends Are For’, as they celebrated the warm camaraderie that would be dearly missed as SOT Class of 2009 comes to a close.
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