Over 40,000 lives were impacted from 23 to 25 October in Yoido Full Gospel Church (YFGC), Seoul, Korea, as Kong Hee, senior pastor of City Harvest Church (CHC) ministered to them.

Kong preached to them a practical message, “What to do when you don’t know what to do”, which was very well-received by the members. There were a total of four services, the first one for the leaders and staff of YFGC on Friday night followed by the Sunday morning service, YFGC Young Adult service and finally ending off with the YFGC International Service. Every service had an atmosphere which was very lively and full of expectancy.

The main highlight of this trip was the Prayer Rally in the Seoul World Cup Stadium, where about 100,000 leaders and members of the YFGC came together to pray for the world. The atmosphere was very powerful, with 100,000 people believing together for God to move mightily in their midst.

During the prayer meeting, Dr. Yonggi Cho, founder of YFGC, encouraged all the members to keep on seeking God and also to pray for peace in the world.

PHOTOS: Andew Teow

Another highlight of the Prayer Rally was the President of the Republic of Korea, Lee Myung-Bak, addressing them in a video clip. He thanked them for their prayers and encouraged them saying that he also gets up at 5a.m. in the morning, as well, to pray.

Eric Soo, personal assistant to Kong, described the atmosphere of the prayer meeting as “Awesome! Especially when 100,000 people shouted to God in prayer in unison.”

Next year, Kong will be taking another team of 300 to YFGC for another study trip. The trip will be held from 4 to 7 January 2010.

PHOTOS: Desmond Tan

On a Thursday evening, about 400 people gathered at City Harvest Church’s premises at The Riverwalk to listen to Reverend Robb Thompson, who spoke on “The Anatomy of Influence”.

It was a relevant and timely message for this regular group of business individuals and professionals who had been hearing related messages emphasizing the need as influencers to wield influence by doing community works.

Thompson, an internationally-renown leadership speaker, author of 18 books and senior pastor of Family Harvest Church in Chicago, said to his audience: “Our main purpose must be to know God; our purpose is not to make money or even do works of compassion.” When the purpose is right, the right works will follow. God-centered compassion is not just about doing the right thing, but about realizing that when we know God and try to influence others to know God, we become people who do what we believe in, instead of believing what we do. And as a result we become people of influence. Just a moment spent with a person of influence can have an eternal impact on our lives.

Robb Thompson also reminded the business group that leaders are people who lead by influence, not position. Hence, employees of corporations can be people of influence. There is good influence, and there is bad influence. A person can choose to influence by force, intimidation, manipulation, position, exchange, persuasion or by respect. Influencing by respect is when a person is influenced by someone to do what the person requests for, and also out of respect for the person.

He also shared 7 qualities of a person of influence: unflinching courage, a submissive heart, deep-seated self-control, integrity, unswerving diligence, uncompromising relationships and a commitment to sow.

Robb Thompson ended the meeting by telling the people that our future is created by something we are doing in the present. He encouraged the people to be people of character. If we lose our wealth, we lose nothing. If we lose our health, we lose something. But when we lose our character, we lose everything.

What would you do if the world was about to end? Would you be the selfless hero? Or would you crumble and become the selfish survivor?

2012, another “end-of-the-world” movie from the producers of The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day, questions humanity in the face of adversity.

With jaw-dropping movie effects, car rides through a crumbling California, plane flights through crashing skyscrapers, an exploding Yellowstone Park… this movie is one big adventure.

As with any “end-of-the-world” movie, 2012 tells the story of Earth in its final days. Due to a solar explosion, the Earth starts heating up like a microwave, causing the Earth’s crust to crumble into pieces, and killing millions of people along the way.

Though scientists discover the devastating effects of the solar explosion and come up with an evacuation plan for the human race, the world starts crumbling a little earlier than they projected. Land literally disappears as the world falls to pieces in a “great flood”.

The world’s political leaders and top scientists are given a seat (together with animals, two by two — sound familiar yet?) on each of the “arks” — ships built by the Chinese government to sustain humanity when the great flood hits.

In a materialistic twist to this retelling of the Biblical tale of Noah’s Ark, one final ark is built and seats upon it offered to the richest of the rich in the world. If you can’t afford a place on the ark — it’s priced at 1 billion euros per person — well, you die.

It makes you wonder, if the Earth really does end the same way (of course, we know it won’t), would the last beings of the human race be the enormously rich and enormously important people of the world (all of whom are mostly old)? Would there be no succession plan for the human race?

2012 presents an interesting assumption on how the world will end, its plot, centered on the author Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), his ex-wife (Amanda Peet) and their two children (and his ex-wife’s new husband who is conveniently killed off). 2012 does call for suspension of disbelief — how many times can you cheat death? — but still, it gives hope that even in the worst disaster, you might be the hero who lives through it all.

Stunning effects, this movie puts you at the edge of your seats — or could it be the fact that you have to go to the bathroom after two-and-a-half hours of explosions and tsunamis?

Rating:

Malaysian-born Annie Gan was just an administrative worker when she started working at a construction firm. Working her way up the ranks, she eventually became a partner at another company — but that was only the start of her uphill climb in an industry that has no place for a woman.

“Annie, I am leaving you,” her business partner dropped the bomb one day in 1996. At 26 years of age, with only a quantity surveyor background and a family to support (she was the eldest child), “I did what a woman does best — I cried and cried,” she said wryly at the Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum 2009 at Novotel Clarke Quay on 13 November 2009. But the pressures of being a breadwinner and the refusal to admit defeat compelled her to pick herself up. Rallying the support of her roughneck subordinates entailed the humbling experience of having to beg them for a chance to work things out together, and buying them meals and drinks. She pointed out the irony: “Who ever heard of the boss having to suck up to the staff?”

Gan has burned her fair share of midnight oil, poring over site maps and studying the technicalities of a trade where a single nail can make the difference between life and death. Many times she has had to conduct investigations at the construction sites late into the night, supervise workers and perform other equally unfeminine duties. “If you do everything with your whole heart, opportunities will naturally come to you,” she says. Learning milestones such as successfully casting columns by herself and the like spurred her on.

In 1997, her company tendered for an MRT construction project, only to have the door shut in her face the moment the contractors saw that she was a woman. With dogged determination, she followed one of them for a month, unwilling to back down without being given a chance to prove herself. Finally, he relented and gave her two weeks to complete a task. Toughing it out, she and her team not only got the job done in 10 days, but did it so well that they were awarded two other MRT projects. Who knew there was such a gritty story behind that mundane commute to work every morning?

PHOTOS: Jayson Lee

Today, the mother of four children is managing director of Jian Huang Construction Pte Ltd. She was honored with the Top Enterprise 50 award for both 2006 and 2007, and won the ASME (Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) Top Entrepreneur Award in 2007. She credits her success to the love and support of her husband, who laid aside his own dreams to help her achieve hers.

Judging by the swanky shopfront of CYC The Custom Shop at Raffles Arcade, you might be surprised to know that the tailoring company used to have to hold warehouse sales just to stay afloat. That was in the 1980s. No wonder Mrs Fong Loo Fern, now CYC’s managing director, had her work cut out for her when she decided to leave her high-flying post in the Commerce Department of the US Embassy in 1992 in order to save her grandmother’s ailing business.

Speaking at the Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum 2009 at Novotel Clarke Quay on 13 November 2009, Fong shared how the drastic changes in the retail market scene caused the company’s market share to plummet, as it was ill-prepared to face new challenges and competition. Unwilling to see the family business fall apart, she ploughed through a series of rebranding and relocation exercises, and gradually managed to pull the company out of the red. But it was an explosive mix of ingenuity and opportunity that set the tills ringing for good for this 74-year-old establishment.

Taking its cue from customers who would come into the shop commenting that they had been buying clothes from CYC for the past 20 or 30 years, Fong initiated a promotion in 2001 for long-time customers to trade in their old shirts for a free new shirt, with the collection going towards an exhibition of old CYC shirts . The quirky offer brought Mrs Lee Kuan Yew to the shop with three of her husband’s shirts — one of which was the very shirt he wore on Independence Day in 1965. The event made its way into the dailies, and generated a windfall of mileage for the shop.

PHOTOS: Jayson Lee

“To this day, people still remember the story. It really helped to elevate our image and create the awareness we were trying so hard to build.”

Ever the shrewd businesswoman, Fong also realized the need to develop a new bread-and-butter business to supplement its tailor-made business. The opportunity to branch off into the corporate uniform market presented itself in 2002, when CYC was approached to make new outfits for the wax figures at Fort Siloso. But there was a catch. How do you tailor clothes for a body with immovable limbs? An engineer on the team offered the nifty solution: Velcro patches fixed to the clothes facilitated not just the creation of a perfect fit but easy changing. Since then, they have built up a corporate clientele that includes UOB, Standard Chartered, the Esplanade and the upcoming Sentosa IR.

In 1996, three months after Valerie Tan set up her automobile retail company Pinnacle International with her husband, all four of her salesmen walked out on her to join a competitor. “Why are you in this business? You’re too small — no match for your competition. Go home,” they told her.

With a maximum of four cars in their inventory as compared to the industry average of 30, there was some truth to their ex-staff’s words. Tan realized at that point that one of the biggest obstacles for a start-up was to get the right people who believed in the same values and visions as she and her husband did. Hiring from outside the industry where people had no preconceived notions about how things should be run became her strategy of circumventing the problem; it also made it easier for her to share her dreams with her employees.

“It’s so important to share your vision with your employees, so that everyone moves in the same direction. You cannot succeed unless the people under you want you to succeed.”

Giving her first public speech during the Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum 2009 at Novotel Clarke Quay on 13 November 2009, Tan shared personal stories about a dysfunctional childhood where her parents divorced when she was 12, leaving her without a proper roof over her head. It forced her to grow up fast as she was the eldest of three siblings, and had to help her mother bring home the “dough.”

At 19, she had the opportunity to work as a receptionist in a car company, which was to be the stepping stone that would lead her to where she is today. She was promoted to salesperson within three months by virtue of her keen product knowledge, and Tan has not looked back since. “Grab every opportunity, you never know where it will lead you.”

PHOTOS: Jayson Lee

On leadership, Tan says, “You need to build trust by being open with your employees such that they will not second-guess you when things get tough. Even when things are hazy and you can’t really see what’s ahead, they need to believe that you can, otherwise they will jump ship.”

Being a woman in a male-dominated industry, she is used to getting no’s, despite having grown the company into the global brand it is today. To sift out the real advice-givers from the naysayers, “Ask for justification every time someone says no,” she says. Also, being a woman entrepreneur does have its advantages: “Your perceived weakness can be your strength, if you know how to use it correctly.”

PHOTOS: APEC 2009 site

Speaking at the last session of the Leaders sessions at the APEC, Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew gave his candid take on the countries of the world after the global crisis. During the 45-minute discussion, the Minister Mentor spoke frankly on the issues various nations are going through. Moderated by TIME magazine’s International Editor Michael Elliot, MM Lee took questions from the multinational APEC audience and even shared anecdotes from his own experiences.

What has changed after the global crisis?

When asked what he thought were some key changes in the world after the global crisis, MM Lee said that he expected a shift of economic weight from the Atlantic to the Pacific, though how quickly this would happen is uncertain. However, he did say that he would not expect consumers in Chinese and Indian consumers to replace the American consumer. “Chinese consumers spend one eighth of the American consumer and the Indians, one sixteenth.” The differences in magnitude are too large to make up in the short term, he believed. He did emphasized that the manner in which the USA exits the crisis will still have crucial implications for global geopolitics. If America could keep the dollar as the dominant currency, and to maintain confidence, the world order would remain stable, and probably be better off. But “if Americans allow their deficits to grow and grow without provisions to make up the deficits”, Lee warned of the dangers of fundamental changes, uncertainty, and potential collateral damage. But he chose to suspend his verdict until things became more apparent on how the country was dealing with the economic crisis.

Is the US a declining power?

Talking about the US’ role in the Asia Pacific, MM Lee commented that its presence had decreased, and the country had had to reengage or risk losing the “economic race”. He said that the reason was that America had been preoccupied with Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran so much that it had left its relations and affairs with East Asia fallow. For example, the USA had so far only ratified one FTA (with Singapore), while the only other signed FTA with Korea was still incomplete in Congress. In contrast, China extended a free trade agreement to all of Southeast Asia, strategically extending “early harvest” benefits. Moreover, “if the US continues this anti-free trade, anti-outsourcing [practice], its economic interest in the Pacific Asia and also in the Indian Ocean will decline,” he warned. The administration has the right priorities but populist sentiment and the nature of the democratic system makes it unlikely that any pro-trade legislation will pass Congress. He also expressed belief in the current Chinese government, that they are very capable, and have an admirable long-term focus. He mentioned the constant flow of well-educated, increasingly sophisticated leaders, not decided by the “whims of election.” When Elliot mentioned China’s stand on democracy, MM Lee replied candidly that China was not looking to catch up with the rest of the world. Rather, he felt that the Chinese people were more interested in having lives like the ones they are seeing in Hong Kong and in Singapore, than they are in having voting rights or free speech.

Will India grow as fast as China?

MM Lee felt that India’s enormous bureaucratic impediments would be a major hindrance to growth and business. “India is going at about 60 per cent of China’s rate of change. Can they go faster? Yes they can. How? They need to change the system. Can they change the system? [This is] very difficult. Their system is set in stone and very difficult to change,” he says. However, he added that India, unlike China which is made up of a population with 90 per cent Han Chinese, is a multiracial society, and that their current system helped to keep it in one piece, though some speed of their growth would be sacrificed for the sake of that unity.

How does he see the greater interaction of Russia in Asia?

Relations in Russia are strengthening, with increasing investment in Vladivostock in particular, but that would take effort and time. He felt that the infrastructure in Russia’s east is not as developed as it is in western parts, for example Moscow. But he felt that Russia was keen to build on these areas.

What is the future of ASEAN?

“It is what we make of it,” said the Minister Mentor. He explained that the ASEAN as a collective of Southeast Asian countries provided a common market that was at the least comparable to India, a goal that was not possibly to pursue if the countries operated merely on an individual basis.

Is North Korea the greatest uncertainty to East Asia?

Lee said, “I do not think it is the greatest uncertainty in terms of how Asia will develop. The uncertainty merely lies in whether they choose to make a nuclear weapon.” He felt, however, that China’s relationship with North Korea would help it to keep a more balanced stand as he felt China would not want them to make a nuclear bomb, but at the same time, China would also look out for the interests of North Korea and not want it to disintegrate. He spoke of a recent piece of news in which Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao went to visit the grave of Mao Zedong’s son who was killed in the war. He felt that it was a sign from China saying to North Korea: “We have spilled blood for you, we will not let you go down, so please listen to us and be reasonable.”

What is his take on the future of smaller economies like Vietnam and Taiwan?

Lee described Chinese Taipei’s current position in the context of what he sees as years of missed economic growth that occurred in the 1990s and 2000s as Taiwan tried to stem the flow of investment to the mainland. He felt the current policy position of the Taiwanese government would be more conducive to growth, which if achieved would ease political friction in the country. He spoke well of Vietnam, calling it the most dynamic of all ASEAN countries. He spoke of his experience with Vietnamese students who come to Singapore and “are the most serious, score high marks, and go back to build Vietnam.” In 20 years Vietnam will be a “big tiger or a small dragon,” he said.

For Asia’s recovery in the financial crisis, will it depend on the government or on enterprises?

The Minister Mentor said that governments must ultimately carry the main burden of recovery. Only then would private enterprises pick up and carry on. He also cautioned against overzealous government policies like limiting salaries and bonuses, which could affect the the nature of the successful American system of rewarding the people who make the companies successful. He finally ended by giving America the benefit of a doubt.

“Suspending judgment, I’m waiting to see what emerges out of America.”

Entrepreneurial skills are not gender-specific, but because of society’s demands, women entrepreneurs have a harder time succeeding than men. Here’s how six of them have stayed the course.

It was a no-holds barred gathering right from the get go, when Dr Rosemary Tan opened her keynote address with an epiphany of sorts. “What’s so different between us and the men? Well, we women want everything. We want to have the most beautiful bag. We want the biggest rock. We want the perfect family. We want to be the slimmest, tallest, and so forth. And honestly, there’s nothing wrong with that at all.”

The CEO of the multimillion-dollar medical diagnostics company Veredus Laboratories was speaking at the Women Entrepreneurship Forum 2009 held at Novotel Clarke Quay on 13 November 2009. Organized by SIM (Singapore Institute of Management) Professional Development, the event saw a turnout of 120 participants, mostly women. “The government is constantly emphasizing the need for more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to act as a buffer against the economic shock that withdrawals of MNCs can cause to our economy. However, local SMEs today are run predominantly by men as witnessed by the entrepreneur awards winners in the last few years. Through the sharing of successful women entrepreneurs, we hope they can inspire more ‘unpolished gems’ to take on entrepreneurial roles,” says Chia Chye Teck, senior manager of SIM Professional Development.

Dr Tan, whose company broke even within two years, shared her golden rules for aspiring entrepreneurs before turning over the floor to the other five speakers: one, make sure you are running a business you are familiar with; two, always work with people whose skills complement, not mirror yours and finally, use your own money to start your business; that way, you can pace yourself at a comfortable level.

Building blocks of victory

Throughout the full-day event, as the women shared personal anecdotes about their trials and tribulations, several common denominators stood out: each went through fire and storm with a never-say-die attitude.

For Jocelyn Chng, managing director of Sin Hwa Dee Foodstuff Industries which manufactures the well-known Chng Kee sauces, having to take over the family business at age 21 in order to support her family was hard enough. The company’s finances were in bad shape, and she had to work in the sun fermenting beans while her peers high-heeled their way into marble-floored banks upon graduation. Adding to the heat were strong words of discouragement from her relatives and industry partners.

With an eye for opportunity, a clearly defined goal and countless hours of sheer hard work, Chng managed to expand the business overseas — the company now supplies to 30 countries worldwide. Not one to rest on her laurels, Chng’s company recently tendered for a major project with the Integrated Resorts. Out of the four short-listed companies, they were the smallest. After four rounds of audits and presentations, they were rejected. “We couldn’t bear to give up just like that, so we went back and enquired about what went wrong. It turned out that they were not confident about our financial ability to carry out such a big project. We promptly sought out our banker to back us up, and I also wrote a long letter expressing our keenness to take on the project.” This ultimately led them to secure the deal. “As an entrepreneur, don’t ever give up,” she says.

Echoing her determination, Susan Chong, CEO of environmentally-friendly packaging solutions company Greenpac said, “Self-motivation is tantamount for any entrepreneur. One must be flexible enough to change in the face of obstacles and come up with creative solutions. This is because in business, one can take calculated risks and still come across unpredictable situations sometimes.”

The other speakers included Valerie Tan, CEO of automobile company Pinnacle International, Annie Gan, managing director of Jian Huang Construction and Fong Loo Fern, managing director of CYC The Custom Shop.

Work-life balance — a myth?

PHOTOS: Jayson Lee

Being working mothers, the issue of work-life balance inevitably cropped up. And while the women, all married with children, agreed that family is the most important, they also admitted that “work-life balance” is a term easier and more often said than done. Fong, who herself missed out on her daughters’ growing up years when she was devoted to reviving CYC, called work-life balance a myth.

Sometimes, though, it is just a matter of doing one thing at a time. Says Chong, who has four children, “When at work, focus on your work, get it done and out of your head so that when you are at home, you can devote quality time to your family without anything else dangling over your head.”

For Chng, striving for balance extends beyond managing one’s own time. “The skill to delegate is equally important. Outsource household chores. Teach your children to be independent. As mothers, your role is to guide them, not to handhold them all the way.” To illustrate, her domestic helpers run the household errands and her children schedule their own extra-curricular activities, freeing her up to concentrate on the things that matter.

Tan has another strategy — she involves her 8-year-old daughter in the daily affairs of her business as much as she can. “Once they are involved, they don’t view your work as an enemy that takes you away from them.”

These women were neither born with silver spoons nor superhuman powers, but they worked at what they had to the best of their ability and simply refused to back down when the going got tough — that’s inspiration enough for the rest of us.

Contributed by Valerie Wang

Encouraging young entrepreneurship.

While most kids might find parting with their old toys and books a painful experience, nine-year-old Keefe Liew was more than happy to sell his off at the Junior Trade Fair organized by City Harvest Children’s Church (CCH) held at the Singapore Expo, Hall 8 on 31 October 2009.

The Junior Trade Fair aimed to encourage entrepreneurship in the young, as well as to inculcate a spirit of giving from a young age. Proceed from the sales went directly to City Harvest Church’s building fund.

“My parents and I felt that this was a good opportunity to give to the church and besides, I’ve never used any of these items which were just sitting at home,” says the Primary Three Ponggol Primary School student who brought water guns, pencil cases, bags, CDs, CD holders and magnets to be sold in the fair.

A total of more than 400 children aged seven to 12 participated in the fair held in accordance with the monthly elective programs organized by CCH. Past elective programs include music, art, grooming workshops and talks by doctors and entrepreneurs.

Lynn Tan, Zone Supervisor for CCH explains, “We aim to help the children adopt an attitude of giving. They could either make a craft to sell, or donate some of their own usable items that are in a good condition, for sale. It is a great opportunity for them to learn about entrepreneurship by raising funds to build God a house.”

Crafts and items were sold from booths manned by some of the children while others milled around carrying boxes of cookies and sweets, cajoling cooperative church-goers to buy them. These entrepreneurs-in-training must have been very convincing, as so far, they have raised approximately S$1,000 for the building fund in the first week of this two-week long event.

Said Silas Tan, a 39-year-old accountant, “I think they are doing a good job especially with the crafts. The home-made photo frames were really well done. This is truly a good introduction to entrepreneurship for the kids, and I’m glad to purchase something since it’s going to the building fund.”

PHOTOS: Ryan Ng

Janet Chew, whose daughter Bess was also selling her old toys, agreed with Tan saying: “This has been a great experience for my daughter and she’s been so occupied with planning what she wanted to sell so as to do her part in contributing to the fair.”

However, the insight into the business world was not all fun and games for some of the children who experienced the bitter taste of rejection for the first time.

Bryan Lim, a nine-year-old Wellington Primary School student says: “I have found out that it’s very difficult to be a businessman! I had to interest the customers in buying from me while wishing I had more time to talk to them as they were either rushing off to find a seat or rushing off to go home.”

“But I did help raise about S$10 for the church so I can’t wait to do this again!”

Thrills and spills were aplenty as more than 2,000 churchgoers streamed into Hallow’n Land, a Halloween themed event with a wide array of activities and games on 31 October 2009. “Characters” clad in their best Halloween apparel were seen traipsing around City Harvest Church, which was well decorated with a mix of orange and black balloons and fake cobwebs for the occasion.

While it may seem like an unlikely location for a Halloween party, the organizing committee of Hallow’n Land stressed that they were not celebrating the ancient Celtic tradition where people used to disguise themselves with scary costumes to ward off spirits.

The spirit of Halloween and the meaning behind it has changed over centuries. Many still regard it as a holiday that allows people to be someone else, by wearing a fancy costume with a mask or using face paint to disguise their appearances.

“We are not celebrating Halloween, we are just using the occasion to conduct a carnival and have a fancy dress contest. Many of our members enjoy dressing up in various interesting costumes. At the same time, it is an opportunity to connect with friends who are not from the church,” said Wu Yuzhuang, the service pastor.

The fancy dress contest was held after the church service, where 14 finalists gathered to parade their elaborate costumes to a panel of judges and audience. Most of the finalists, who stayed completely in the characters of their costumes, amused the crowd with their jokes and catchphrases. One finalist, who dressed as a clown, had her face painted completely white. Another finalist came as Darth Vader, the menacing villain from Star Wars, complete with a light saber.

“I was a totally different person in my costume. It’s the first time that I’ve ever dressed up like that for any event so it was a really fun experience,” said Lim Jinyu, 19, who came as a mad scientist.

A total of 24 game booths were set up on levels 3 and 4, where the participants had to complete a game card to qualify for a lucky draw.

The games were challenging, as the people had to execute tasks such as bouncing ping pong balls into a lantern, battle each other in sumo wrestling, and catch marshmallows and apples bobbing in water.

Despite the gross factor in the forfeit for a failed attempt at a game, the booths were still popular with the crowd who were willing to give the games their best shot.

22-year-old Bernard Chua was one of the participants who failed in his attempt to get as many ping pong balls into a lantern and as a forfeit, he had to find submerged objects in a bowl of fish worms.

“It smelled so bad and it looked horrible! But it was fun. I’ve never tried anything like this before,” said Chua.

“How often do you get to wrestle with your friend? I really enjoyed myself even though I lost. It was really fun just falling over in these suits,” said Chen Zhiqiang, 29, an IT engineer, who tried his hand at sumo wrestling.

PHOTOS: Gary Sim and Jayson Lee

The aim to organize a fun event to engage the members and their friends was achieved with the success of Hallow’N Land.

“Our objective was to connect with unchurched friends in a fun way and many of them really enjoyed themselves,” said Wu.

21-year-old student, Yuliana Goh, also agreed and felt that Hallow’N Land was a creative idea.

“My friends really enjoyed themselves and they found the Halloween themed party in church to be something fresh and new. It totally changed their perspective on what the church is about,” remarked Goh.