Contributed by Wayne Chan

Over 300 parents were presented the harsh reality of how disconnected they really are from their children.

Dr Tim Elmore, Founder and President of Growing Leaders Inc, gave these couples a two-hour crash course on 19 November at the Success Resource Centre on what he calls Generation iY.

A term coined by Dr Elmore — stemming from the impact of iTunes, iPhones, iPods and the fact that life for today’s youth is pretty much about “me, myself and I” — Generation iY presents a unique paradox to parents today.

Sheltered yet pressured, visionary yet vacillating, high achievement-oriented yet high maintenance, social yet isolated by technology — Dr Elmore detailed a list of contradictory characteristics in Generation iY to help give an idea of what parents today are up against.

Dr Elmore says children today are confused, and live in their own unreal “High School Musical” world where they shun responsibility and put off growing up.

According to Dr Elmore, most American children today believe that they only grow into adulthood when they first become parents, which is typically after their 27th birthdays.

Research throws up various reasons for this phenomenon that cause children, like the lost boys in Peter Pan’s Neverland, to never want to grow up. Video games, the media, damaging parenting styles, outdated teaching methods that fail to engage, growing social affluence and liberation, and even chemical contaminants in food are apparently to blame.

So what can parents do to unplug their children from this virtual world, and lead them into adulthood and maturity?

Dr Elmore offers three simple steps:

Step 1: Understand how to connect with this generation

Children today are very well connected and exposed to a plethora of ideas through various media. Everyday, they deal with information overload and are offered a variety of choices on who and what to believe or follow. To connect with their children, parents must understand the media platforms that their children interface with and the sort of content they are exposed to.

Google, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter are just some simple examples of places parents can start to discover the digital world young people live in today.

Children today are increasingly image-driven (especially with the advent of phone cameras) and very curious about the world around them. Parents need to find new engaging ways to connect to their children amid the increasing buzz of external influences.

Step 2: Understand that every child can be a leader

According to Dr Elmore, there are three different leadership styles that your little leader at home can be defined by.

a) Drivers — Strong-willed and with their own ideas, drivers are good at executing tasks and doing things but need to learn diplomatic skills.

b) Diplomats — Loving harmony, diplomats are well loved by people and are natural leaders but need persuasion to take up leadership. But when they do lead, they can put their innate relational skills to good use.

c) Dreamers — Born visionaries, dreamers are imaginative. To get dreamers to be leaders, you need to present them with options and engage their creativity.

Step 3: Find time in your day to mentor your child

There are four junctures in a given day that parents can use to coach their kids, and four corresponding roles that parents can play:

a) Meal time — Help your child to “unpack” and make sense of the day’s events at the meal table. Your role is teacher.

b) Travel time — A good time to help them interpret the world through God’s eyes, while riding in a car. Your role is friend.

c) Bed time — Make sure your child’s heart is right before he goes to sleep at night. Your role is counselor.

d) Morning time — Motivate your kid, right at the start of the day, a fine time to reinforce right attitudes. Your role is coach.

With these simple tips, Dr Elmore hopes that all parents out there will be better equipped to grow their children into mature, responsible and godly adults that are ready and willing to make the world a better place.

Whether they’ll become the next Mother Theresa or Adolf Hitler, Dr Elmore says your children are likely to be in a position of leadership in the future.

So what kind of leader do you want your child to be? That, dear mothers and fathers out there, remains almost entirely up to you.

For more information and insights from Dr Tim Elmore and Growing Leaders, visit www.GrowingLeaders.com or www.Habitudes.org

Dr John Avanzini was in Singapore on 4 December 2009, spending the evening, at 1 Jurong West Street 91, in an auditorium with a crowd that spilled into the overflow areas. To the people comprising mainly business owners, entrepreneurs and working professionals, he extolled the importance of devoting time to studying the Word of God.

Dr John, or “Brother John” as he is called by millions all over the world, has been sharing revelation he has received concerning prosperity since the 1970s. This 73-year old man has written 52 books, which has generated 12 million copies. Dr John through his revelatory teachings has raised more than US12 billion dollars for the work of God’s kingdom all over the world.

Addressing the crowd, he fondly recalled how when he first came to speak at City Harvest Church (CHC), he saw bicycles in the car park. Today he sees cars. Dr John first preached in CHC way back in 1993. Many of the phrases that have spurred and challenged members of CHC were coined by Dr John; phrases like ‘open heaven’, ‘end-time harvest’ and ‘memorial prayer’.

The main thrust of his message on Friday evening was that believers should not allow traditional interpretations of the Bible to mask the truth of what God is trying to say to Christians today.

Dr John proceeded to expound on the bible passage found in Genesis 4 where Abel’s offering of the “firstlings” was accepted by God, while Cain’s offering was consequently rejected. Dr John encouraged the Business Breakthrough crowd to remember that giving to the house of God ought to come before the worldly concerns of rents and bills etc., and not the other way round.

PHOTOS:  Albert Soh, Lee Boon Bee and Daniel Poh

There was an atmosphere of openness and liberty at the end of the evening as the people gave to the offering with prayer. While the offering buckets were brought to the front of the hall, people were seen running up with their offerings.

As with how Dr John’s words stirred the church to give freely to the church building fund years ago, resulting in the S$42 million structure the session was held in that night, the business people were inspired and motivated to build a memorial before God, and mix their faith with their giving.

In commemoration of World AIDS Day, City Harvest Community Services Association (CHCSA’s) FIRST Hand (Friends in Reaching and Serving the Terminally-ill) carried out a special fund-raising event over the weekend of 28 to 29 November 2009. A 40-strong team of dedicated and hardworking volunteers sold red ribbons to church visitors at both the Jurong West church premises and Singapore Expo Hall 8.

The support for HIV/AIDS patients was evident by the droves of people who bought the ribbons. Some even bought several ribbons to give away to family and friends.

David Chin, who bought a red ribbon, said, ” I think it’s for a very meaningful cause. I bought a red ribbon because I want to encourage the HIV patients, and I know that the donations will go towards helping them in their needs and in other programmes that FIRST Hand carries out.”

For Regina Neo, she also wanted to show her support and acceptance for the patients. “The red ribbon is a symbol for me to show that there is hope and acceptance among the public,” she said.

PHOTOS: Alvin Loh

The proceeds will go towards the beneficiaries of FIRST Hand, such as for the purchase of groceries for needy HIV/AIDS patients, and towards future plans and programmes dedicated to serving the beneficiaries more.

This is the first time that FIRST Hand, who had collaborated with other organizations in the past, has organized an event on its own. The event was a tremendous success, with an impressive 4,200 red ribbons sold over two days.

Jeremy Choy, a project manager in FIRST Hand, felt that the event was simply the beginning of more things to come.

Said Choy, “There is still a lot more work to be done in raising awareness and breaking misconceptions among the public, both among Christians and Non-christians, about HIV/AIDS. This event was a good opportunity to do so, and we hope that there will be an increased level of acceptance and love for HIV/AIDS patients.”

Contributed by Jezereel Teng

It’s her first time singing for a Christian group, but Rachel Chua felt at home immediately.

This 15-year-old student, who is the runner-up for Campus SuperStar 2009, was performing at the Live House, an event organized by City Harvest Church (CHC) on 5 December 2009 at Singapore Expo Hall 8’s conference room.

Chua made her guest appearance alongside Da Feng Chui, runner-up group for SuperBand 2008, and Lin Jiayu, lead singer of Mantou, a finalist group in SuperBand 2006.

Chua is no stranger to performing before big crowds. She recently represented our nation at this year’s Taiwanese reality TV singing contest One Million Star V Singapore PK Challenge.

She was invited by Estella Sia, the keyboardist of Da Feng Chui, to perform for the church. And both said there’s no divide despite the artistes present that evening having different religious beliefs.

“Music brings all of us together,” said Chua.

And all the singers and musicians were well loved by the church members.

Even before the doors opened, more than 100 youths were gathered outside the room, eagerly waiting for the performance to begin.

Da Feng Chui started the evening’s program before an enthusiastic crowd, which clapped and cheered exuberantly. Refreshment was also served as the music played on.

Next, it was Lin Jiayu’s turn to showcase his vocal prowess.

On the stage, he was asked to share his formula to success.

“This journey is filled with hardship,” said Lin. “But if you are passionate about something, you must be daring to try!”

Finally, Chua took the stage and brought the house down with Stefanie Sun’s ‘First Day’ as a finale for the evening.

PHOTOS: Gay Sen Min

She told City News, “It’s exhilarating to perform before such a warm and excited crowd. I’ve heard that Christians are very friendly, and I see that for myself now.”

Soo Jia Hao, 17, an ITE student, who said he enjoyed the mini-concert thoroughly, summed it all up aptly, “It was exciting for us to have fun together. Most importantly, the performances were very inspiring.”

The plot is mind-numbingly lame, the creative direction blandly one-dimensional, and the pace so drawn out that even a 100-year-old vampire would tire himself out sitting through it. And yet we have to admit … it was crassly entertaining, for some admittedly unjustified reasons.

In this sequel to last year’s blockbuster Twilight, the vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) breaks up with his human love Bella (Kristen Stewart) and leaves town, in order to protect her from getting harmed by his bloodthirsty kind, after a most unfortunate event at a party at the Cullens’ held in honor of her 18th birthday. She spirals into depression, but is pulled back from the edge by a rekindled friendship with her newly buffed-up childhood friend, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).

Their relationship is complicated by Jacob’s growing romantic feelings for her, and his own coming-out as a werewolf. But even then, Bella cannot help but mope about her lost love, and when she discovers that every time she puts herself in danger she gets visions of Edward, she goes into self-destruction mode and during one of her suicidal rampages, she almost dies. When Edward wrongly interprets that she has indeed died, he pulls a Romeo and Juliet and goes to the Volturi (the clan responsible for law enforcement in vampire-dom) to plead for death as well.

Now on the bright side, the sluggish pacing actually allowed for some serious chemistry to brew between Bella and Jacob. There’s plenty of humor, that’s for sure — we’re talking about the unintentional kind here, especially at parts that are so obviously scripted in with the sole purpose of eliciting squeals from the fangirls. When one of them let out a whoop of unbridled pleasure during a particularly chesty scene, a wave of approving chuckles followed suit — you gotta love the camaraderie at these Twilight screenings. There is another scene of Bella and Edward frolicking in the forest, in some sort of wedding-inspired getup, that is so helplessly corny it could’ve easily been mistaken for an SNL or MTV spoof.

And while the makeup is as inexplicably bad as it was in Twilight (you can almost smell the strawberry flavors on the rouged-up lips of His Royal Pastiness Edward), the special effects rendering the werewolves’ feral manifestations are undeniably impressive. Of course, the stupendous physical transformation of Taylor Lautner deserves mention. Yes, it is a tad odd seeing such a babyfaced mug (he’s only 17) tacked onto a frame that even Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine would envy, but it actually uhh, adds body to what would have otherwise been a downright tepid outing.

Counting down to June 2010 …

Rating:

Contributed by Antonia Lim

20 -22 November 2009: It was a power-packed weekend at Sunway Convention Centre, as City Harvest Church KL (CHC KL) held its Emerge KL 2009 conference with more than 3,000 delegates from Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and its home country, Malaysia.

The conference started with a bang as the church’s African choir and dancers performed Black Eyed Peas’ ‘I Gotta Feeling’, while the crowd danced along.

This year’s conference theme was “Emerge Rising”, and it lived up to its name in many ways. The conference saw 103 competitions, with a total of RM50,000 worth of prizes to be won from sponsors like Crocs, SenHeng, Celebrity Fitness, Everlast, Echopark, Bubba Gump, House of Picaso, Culture Couture, Imago Dei, Seasky Restaurant, Elite Optical and Spectacle Hut.

The competitions were plentiful, giving the congregation of CHC KL many opportunities to show of their myriad talents. Among the most popular were the Parade of Schools, Emerge Got Talent, Beauty Pageant & Manhunt, The Biggest Loser, Nintendo Wii games, Arm Wrestling, Jacket Design, TV Commercial, Fashion (Harajuku) Competition, and Sports Mania.

It wasn’t just one big mass competition. There were also many special performances by local celebrities throughout the weekend. Singer and songwriter Theng Xiao Kang, who wrote ‘Qing Fei De Yi’, the theme song for famous Taiwanese drama series Meteor Garden, performed and shared about how his life was transformed when he found God. Singer Wan Chean and beatboxer Shawn Lee also took to the stage to share their talent as well as their testimonies of how Jesus worked in their lives.

On the final night, singer and songwriter Will Tan, who is currently based in Taiwan, gave an awesome performance and shared about how he has been blessed by God and the church. In fact, he is currently serving in his church in Taiwan as a cell leader and a worship leader. This was a great inspiration for many of the young people present — it was powerful to see how one can reach for his or her dreams, while staying faithful in serving God.

The highlight — and the main point — of the three days of exuberance was the Word of God. Kong Hee, senior pastor of City Harvest Church (Singapore) preached powerful sermons throughout the conference that anchored the audience’s experience. He taught the youth to have the spirit of Caleb: to have a good dream that is in line with God’s will, and to have courage to work hard for it. He also instructed the congregation to always stand in unity, and to always be loyal and committed to God, their leaders and the church.

Kevin Loo, senior pastor of CHC KL was touched to see the youth rise up to a whole new level of creativity and commitment during this season of Emerge, and he hopes to continue to build a strong church together that would leave an indelible mark of revival for our generation and generations to come.

Emily Liong Mei Ling, a member of CHC KL, said, “This Emerge conference gave me an opportunity to do things that I had never done before. With the encouragement of my cell group and friends, I learned to overcome my fears and have been transformed into a more confident person.”

PHOTOS: Andrew Teoh

Even first-time visitors were deeply moved. “I love Kong’s preaching, as it is very relevant and able to penetrate to the younger generation,” said David, an engineer. “The praise and worship was excellent, and I feel that there’s a strong presence and anointing of God here.”

The spiritual atmosphere was strong throughout the five sessions of the conference, and many attendees left with a new mindset and a renewed spirit, ready to emerge and rise up to their next level.

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.

Kelvin Yew, 32, a General Paper teacher at Millennia Institute falls into the category of “great teacher”.

His performance at school had led to him being nominated by three of his Third-Year students for the annual Inspiring English Teacher award.

The award is given to outstanding English teachers who have been played a strong role in motivating their students to master the English language. This year, a total of nine teachers received the award, including Yew.

So what formula did Yew adopt in his teaching that has made him an inspiration?

“There is no fixed way to teach English,” said Yew. “You need to engage the students, teach in different ways, crack jokes and also conduct group activities to keep them on their toes.”

Yew’s out-of-the-box teaching style has helped keep students like Atikah, 19, a current Third-Year student in Millenia Institute, engaged with the lessons.

”Mr Yew always comes into the lesson with new things to share with us, to keep us engaged and interested in the subject,” says the student.

Yew also employs the use of media and new media to better illustrate his lessons. One of his recent initiatives led to his students’ letters being published in The Straits Times’ YouthInk section, and their thoughts being aired on 938 Live during a campus forum.

“Still, they did not have good argumentative skills,” said Yew, which he emphasizes very much to his students in learning the language.

Yew believes that part of mastering the language requires being able to argue one’s case, which would mean one has built up the ability to be understood, whether in speech or in writing.

PHOTOS: Lee Boon Bee

To develop these skills, he encouraged his students to inculcate the daily habit of reading the newspapers and even online blogs, at least to have opinions on relevant global and social issues.

Over time, his efforts have paid off as most of the graduated students that have entered university and are doing well in terms of language.

But in closing, to all other teachers who still find teaching a struggle, Yew has this to say.

“The pure motivation for teaching must come from within — wanting to give into the lives of the students. In your lessons, students are given a chance to speak good English, a chance which some of them may never have at home.”

Contributed by Jaromel Gee

Halloween was first celebrated as a Celtic harvest festival. The Celts believed that the ancestral spirits of the family would return to earth and be honorably invited home. However, the invitation would attract unwanted harmful spirits. As a means to ward off these harmful spirits, the members of the family would wear costumes and masks to scare them off.

However, the name Halloween and many of its present-day traditions, such as trick-or-treating, derive from the Old English era.

In Singapore, the celebration of Halloween only became popular in the last few years. It was not until the clubs and bars popularized this Western holiday did Singaporeans realize the fun it had to offer. On 31 October, as one takes a walk down the clubbing streets of Singapore, there are people dressed up as their favorite comic book action heroes or pop singers, or more traditionally as mummies, ghosts, skeletons and witches.

This year, Halloween enjoyed a fresh twist as Love The World Soul Rock Bistro and Bar organized its first ever “Hell-No-Win” concert party. On just about any given night at this Christian bar at the Singapore Flyer, local musicians and bands entertain the crowd with inspirational pop and gospel soul rock music.

Initially named “Love Singapore Soul Rock Bistro and Bar”, the owners soon found out that the name was already taken. Happily, Love the World Soul Rock Bistro and Bar was birthed, with the owners drawing its name from the Bible.

The event drew a crowd who quickly filling up the seats before the stage. The entertainers, who sang in English and Cantonese, included Susan SK, Evangeline, Justine, Melvin and Slingshot. It was a great night of friends getting together — and even families showed up at the event. Although it was drizzling and cold outside, the warmth of the bar pulled everyone closely together and the sounds of the entertainers got everyone out of the spooky Halloween mood and brought them into a time of celebration.

PHOTOS: Lee Boon Bee

Seong Koon Wahsun, an equity volunteer at the bar, said, “My brother [owner Samuel Seong Koon] came up with the idea of the party. People celebrate for fun today but we Christians celebrate everyday!” She added “As a mother, I wouldn’t mind having my 15-year-old son visit the bar for the music, making it a place for families to hang out as well.”

Daryl Lim, 24, says that “On Halloween, it is delightful to see that there is a bar in town that doesn’t have drunken zombies walking around to scare people.”

Love The World Soul Rock Bistro & Bar is located at 30 Raffles Avenue, #02-05 Singapore Flyer. Tel: +65 6333 4117. Website: www.lovetheworldsoulrock.com

Contributed by Ang Yu Ying

Springing onto stage with energy and vibrancy, Casey Treat instantly captivated his audience with his sense of humor and charisma, before delivering a life-changing message at City Harvest Church on building core strength for success in life.

Treat, Senior Pastor of Christian Faith Center, the largest church in the Pacific Northwest region of the USA, is known internationally for his messages on renewing of the mind by the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit, through which Christians can live a victorious and prosperous life here on earth.

At this session, he shared that core strength is one of the most important foundational bricks in the life of every Christian. Having a strong inner man will propel us to success in life. Many times, people depend on their skills and experience to get them ahead in life. However, Treat reminded the congregation that without core strength — that is, the spirit man built up by the Word of God — one will not be able to weather the storms of life and skills or experience may not suffice under these circumstances. A strong inner man is the key factor to success.

To make building core strength achievable, Treat broke it down into seven action steps that every Christian can follow in their daily lives. In summary, to build up core strength, we must connect daily with God by ensuring that our lives are in line with God’s will, praying (both in the Spirit and in understanding). Next, it is crucial to meditate on the Word of God and be Kingdom-minded. By following these action steps, we can focus our bodies, minds and spirits to God, thereby solidifying our core strength.

PHOTOS: Alvin Loh and Raymond Lee

“This message reminds us not to neglect our daily devotion with God and it is very important,” said Jennifer Leow, commenting that many Singaporeans are hectic city dwellers who are often under the pressures of daily life.

“This is truly a word in season for me,” said Robin Wang, a member of City Harvest Church. “It encourages me to carry on building up my walk with God and emerge (from the recent recession) stronger than before.”

The service concluded with a time of ministry to help the congregation to re-focus their lives on God.

Nanz Inc.com, an online partnership between entrepreneur Nanz Chong-Komo and editor Theresa Tan, was launched with an outdoor bash at the Prive Waterfront Bar on 29 October 2009.

The party was an intimate gathering of business partners such as Sony, Intel and Make Up For Ever, as well as supportive old friends such as Nanz’s modelling buddies — Celia Teh, Jane Chong and Wendy Liong.

“I’ve known Nanz since our modelling days and she never ceases to surprise me,” said Chong, a former top model and currently a homemaker. “She just has such incredible energy and no matter what role she takes on — whether as a mother, friend, businesswoman — she always does it so well. Knowing her, there’s always something more to look forward to and she’s definitely just getting started with this latest venture!”

A Twitter competition rewarding the best tweets took place and Fly Entertainment CEO Irene Ang was among the winners who walked away with Post and NuZeaBee hampers. A moving moment occurred when Chong-Komo gave her thank you speech expressing her gratitude for all the love and support from the many people who believed in her.

Chong-Komo and Tan met more than a decade ago when Tan, then the editor of Female magazine, interviewed Chong-Komo. In 2005, they collaborated on Chong-Komo’s bestseller One Business, 99 Lessons. Both ladies hit it off so well that they decided to embark on a business venture together. They shared a common vision of creating a business that would enable women, but especially Asian women in particular, to “do life better” — through living their dreams, starting their businesses, practising integrity, loving and valuing themselves. As a result of this shared vision, Nanz Inc.com was born.

Positioned as a networking and information platform for Asian women, both ladies strongly felt that social media was the only way to reach as many women as possible. As Tan says: ‘Many women are active on social media. Reading the papers or a magazine takes time and effort but getting information from Facebook or a website takes just a click.”

Believing in the power of self-worth, passion and a positive mindset, Nanz Inc aims to establish itself as a key source and go-to-portal for like-minded women who desire to achieve success at work or in business while enjoying the full benefits of their multiple roles as “mother”, “daughter”, “best friend”, “colleague” and much more in life.

Highlights of the website content on Nanz Inc.com and its related activities will eventually be transported into live seminars a few times every year, eventually building up a community of women who network for ideas and support from one another.

When asked how Nanz Inc.com is different from the myriad of websites out there, Chong-Komo had this to say. “We only say and share what we have experienced. We do not preach from books. We are also very Asian — we are very practical and unpretentious — so people can be themselves with Nanz Inc.com.”

PHOTOS: Albert Tan and Jeffrey Tan

According to Tan, “there isn’t a website dedicated to the myriad of interests which Asian women have and which addresses the multi-hyphenate that every Asian woman really is. Also, Nanz’s strong reputation as an entrepreneur is really our defining difference. So many women want to own their own business and if they want to find out how, nanzinc.com is a good place to start.”

Aimed for impact and outreach, the various sections of Nanz Inc.com such as “Be A Business” offers tips to business owners, documents lessons from inspiring personalities and presents a checklist of ideas that can guide readers in their quest.

The “Money” section dispenses quick tips on sustainable financial health and success and how one can simply live better, by being aware and addressing the natural tendencies and anxieties many associate with money.

Other useful columns under “Inner Self” and “Style” feature write-ups on inner healing, general well-being, self improvement and other style/fashion-related topics.

In five years’ time, both Chong-Komo and Tan envision the website becoming the “authority” and “friend” in every Asian woman’s life. They hope Nanz Inc.com becomes a “resource that women naturally turn to in order to find solutions, answers and a community that cares and shares.”