After a five-year hiatus, Emerge returns to celebrate and inspire young people.

Contributed By Dawn Seow

CN PHOTOS: DANIEL POH Last bands standing. The four finalists for Live Jam: A. AZ/AN/CL/WYZ Zones; B. KEL Zone; C. ET Zone; and AN Zone.

Emerge is a youth movement within City Harvest Church that is in its ninth year running. This year’s event, which happens on July 16 and 17, will gather the talents and memories of all the June youth camps for a grand finale.

Emerge is a CHC trademark, a platform that showcases the many different talents of members under age 25, with powerful messages for the youth that help them to focus on their God-given purpose and passion. The conference has proven to have such positive long-lasting effect that churches in other cities, from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei, have adapted its format to fit their own youth populations to great success.

Next weekend will see the culmination of five exciting competitions: Live Jam!, a Christian youth band competition; Center Stage!, a drama competition; Cut!, a video competition using footage from the June camps; Your Best Shot!, a Youtube talent competition; and Oh My Word!, a Bible knowledge competition.
Be warned: it will be loud and live!

LIVE JAM

The selection round on July 1 saw 10 bands coming together for a tough fight. At the end of the three-hour long praise and worship session, the judges selected the following four: the band from KEL Zone will compete against the band from ET Zone on July 8 during “Your Best Shot” selection night while the band from AN Zone and the band comprising members from AZ, AN, WYZ and CL Zones will be leading worship during the Emerge weekend. Some bands won but every band was unique. City News presents the bands.

KEL Zone
The criterion of the competition was to have a four-piece band, but KEL band exceeded expectations and brought a full band onto stage! Their dance team also had a beat-boxer, adding spice to the hip-hop number,  pumping the atmosphere with “Can’t Stop Praising.”

MJ Zone
Lights flashed as two dancers from the zone led by assistant pastor Lim Meng Chin did a unique dance item with Glosticks. Unbeknownst to many, the dancers and the band only managed to practice a total of two times as a full band in a studio. “Even though we didn’t have much practice, we still want to show God that the youth in the next generation are hungry for Him and we are here to rise up,” said team leader Gerald Chan.

MY & VIC Zone
This band with musicians from zones led by zone supervisors Liang Meiyan and Victor Wong ended their repertoire with a praise song. This unique combination plus an original number gave an element of surprise to their performance.

VER Zone
Choosing congregation favorites, such as “Great Is Our God,” “Nothing Is Impossible” and “Let Your Glory Fall,” the band from the zone led by Veronica Tang, zone supervisor, was out to please God and the crowd. And they succeeded in bringing the house down.

AZ, AN, WYZ & CL Zones
This band combines musicians and song leaders under the pastoral care of pastors Aries Zulkarnain, Wu Yuzhuang, Audrey Ng and zone supervisor Catherine Lee. The challenge was for the members of different zones to come together to practice. Although there wasn’t enough time to practice together, they put up an outstanding performance.

AN Zone
This is the only zone brave and talented enough to bring on a rapper to psych up the crowd during praise. Rapper, Sean Iniyan wrote the rap especially for the praise song “Happy Day.” He said, “Since this is a youth event, we wanted to do something that could interact with the youth, hence, a rap.”

WR Zone
“God is a God of new things, that is why we love to sing new songs,” said Bryna Low, worship leader of the band from the zone led by Ong Weiren, zone supervisor. This band presented three songs from Hillsong that have never been sung at CHC’s services. They had managed to teach them to the youth during their youth camp and believed that the crowd at the selection round would enjoy the songs too.

YL Zone
The band from the zone led by Tan Yah Lan, assistant pastor, surprised the crowd with a lyrical number, accompanying the praise song “I Will Fly.” “The idea was to dance to the lyrics,” shared leader of the dance team Melissa Lim. “We wanted to portray the lyrics of the song with dance steps, as a form of worship to God.”

YK & LEI Zone
The glory of the youth is indeed their strength. The band from zones led by Goh Yock Kiang, pastor, and Leila Tan, zone supervisor, has the youngest drummer (12 years old, inset), a 17-year-old music director and a 16-year-old song leader. They wowed the crowd with their energetic praise and worship.

ET Zone
While the other bands engaged a  dance team each; this band had their zone members dancing with them! The youths under the pastoral care of Edmund Tay, assistant pastor, taught simple dance steps to the crowd. On cue, when the chorus of “One Way” began, the people on the floor started to jump and twirl with the beat.

CENTER STAGE

LEI Zone
The words “think out of the box” spoken to them by zone supervisor, Leila Tan, inspired this drama team to come up with an “art-sy” script for the competition.

The team took the audience by surprise when they went on stage with loud music and no lines. Dramatists expressed emotions without words as dancers took the stage with contemporary dance and ballet, expressing despair, depression and hope.

Peh Jia Yu and Sheila Jang, the scriptwriters and directors of the drama, broke the script up into different scenes and met the dramatists of each scene individually to work on their expression. “It wasn’t easy for them to express themselves without lines so we added in lines for them at the beginning. As they got more familiar with the expression they were supposed to portray, we got them to act without the words,” said Peh. She shared that their strategy was to choose songs that have powerful lyrics and are able to evoke strong feelings.

AZ, WYZ, AN and CL zones.
If you are a fan of the Channel 5 comedy series The Noose, you will definitely enjoy this hilarious drama by the team from the AZ, WYZ, AN and CL zones. Dubbed City Noose, the skit was first performed at the finale night of one of the camps held in June, but adopted a more “CHC” flavor. According to the team, the script for City Noose was initially purely for entertainment purposes but was later changed to suit the “life-changing” theme for the Emerge Center Stage! competition. Shawn Goh, coordinator for the team shared how the inspiration to do City Noose came from the dramatist themselves. “The team members are hardcore fans of The Noose. In fact, the characters they play in this drama are those they portray the best. For example, the dramatists acting as Barbarella and Leticia Bongnino are sisters who love imitating them all the time. So when the time came for casting, we had no doubt who to choose for the roles.”

OH MY WORD

“It is always good to memorize the Word of God. Only when we memorize the Word can we go into the next level of meditation and application,” said Lee Yilun, the zone supervisor in charge of the “Oh My Word!” challenge.

Participants of this year’s “Oh My Word!” challenge will see a change in the way the game is played. Unlike “Word Power,” a similar competition held in previous Emerge conferences, the verses and Bible questions in “Oh My Word!” will be limited to the four Gospels. The number of verses has also been reduced from 60 to 25 verses for the preliminary round.

A total of 77 teams (four members in each team) with over 300 participants have signed up for the challenge.

YOUR BEST SHOT

This is CHC’s Youtube video contest. The Emerge committee has picked out the following 15 contestants based on the quality of their videos as well as the number of views and the number of “Likes” they have garnered. These 15 will compete in a showcase event on July 12, at Jurong West. The final three selected will perform during the Emerge weekend and the winner of the competition will be announced during the service on July 17.

From April to June 2011, Kong Hee, senior pastor of City Harvest Church, visited 13 cities, preaching in churches and conferences, encouraging believers to hold on to the visions and dreams given by God.

Contributed By Dawn Seow

MALAYSIA

Kuala Lumpur (APRIL 26-27)
This year, Kong had the privilege to be part of the Church Growth International Conference held in Malaysia. Kong shared the stage with Lee Young-Hoon, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, Lee Tae Keun, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church Pundang Ward Satellite Church, Lee Jang Seck, executive director of Korean Church Growth Research Center, and others.

Penang (MAY 27-29)
Over three days, Kong preached four sessions in City Harvest Church, Penang. The members were blessed as they learned about the Holy Spirit, visions and dreams, and the importance of staying faithful and loyal. An evangelistic meeting was also held on the last morning which saw many coming to Christ.

JAPAN

Fukuoka (APRIL 25)
In the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake, Kong made a trip to Japan to bring a word of encouragement to Christians there. He preached at Fukuoka Harvest Church, ministering to 53 pastors from different parts of Japan and also spoke in a conference for 140 believers.

TAIWAN

Kaohsiung and Ping Tung (MAY 10-12)
Since CHC’s crossover project in early 2000, Kong has been making regular trips to Taiwan every year to minister and plant churches there. On this trip, Kong’s first stop was Kaohsiung where he preached in Wu Chang Church. He then headed to Ping Tung to visit CHC’s affiliate church there, a vibrant congregation pastored by Ge Zhao Xing and his wife Josephine.

Taipei (MAY 13-15)
Kong ended the Taiwan trip in the city of Taipei where the Taiwan revival first began a decade ago.  Apart from preaching in the various CHC affiliate and partner churches (Taipei Revival Church, Grace Church, Passion 99 Harvest Church, Taipei New Life Church, Hsin Tien Covenant Church, Taipei Truth Church), Kong also took some time out to fellowship with the pastors and leaders during the three days he was there.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Chicago and Florida
(JUNE 12 & 15)

In a trip to the US, Kong ministered at Family Harvest Church, Chicago, headed by internationally-renown leadership speaker Robb Thompson. Thompson is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading teachers on personal excellence and character development. He has spoken not only in CHC’s weekend services, but in leadership seminars with the church’s marketplace ministry as well.

Kong later went on to Florida where he ministered at Abundant Life Christian Center, Fort Lauderdale headed by Bishop Rick Thomas.

INDONESIA

Bandung (April 1)
Kong ministered at Apostle Ministry, preaching to a crowd of around 200 people on the importance of walking with the Holy Spirit.

Jakarta (May 16-18, MAY 22 & June 26)
In the month of May and June, Kong spent a total of five days in the capital of Indonesia speaking to seven different churches. Apart from preaching his signature message on Visions and Dreams, Kong also challenged the congregation to live a Spirit-filled life as he preached on Fourth Dimensional Living and the Love of God.

Pekanbaru (APRIL 19-20)
This was the first time Kong visited GBI Pekanbaru in the Riau state of Indonesia. The first meeting was very well-received as the crowd responded to the preaching of the Word with great hunger and excitement. His message titled “What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Do?” ministered greatly to the people. In a separate business meeting Kong attended, one of the team members traveling with him, Wahyu Hanafi, a successful businessman, shared his testimony on financial breakthrough.

PHOTOS: Xie Jiahao & Rayvin Hsu

Melbourne (APRIL 16-17)
Kong ministered at CityLife Church pastored by Mark Conner—a regular speaker at CHC and two-time guest speaker at the Festival of Praise in Singapore. In his two days there, Kong preached on the Love of God and the Fatherhood of God.

Sydney (APRIL 11-15 & JUNE 27-29)
Together with his wife, Sun, Kong spent three days at the Presence Conference (April 11-14) organized by Phil Pringle, senior pastor of Christian City Church. Kong preached a heartfelt message on God’s unwavering love as he shared the grim journey he faced the past 11 months, and also spoke on visions and dreams in a subsequent meeting. One of CHC’s worship leaders, Mark Kwan, also served as a backup vocalist in the night sessions.

Sydney Harvest Church, CHC’s affiliate church welcomed Kong during their weekend service from April 14-15 and again for their Transformation Conference, June 27-29.

Volunteers from City Harvest Chinese Church bring the joy of companionship to the elderly at Fei Yue.

Contributed By Dawn Seow

The elderly folk participated enthusiastically in the activities. PHOTOS: Koh Yong Hui

Sixty-five volunteers from City Harvest Chinese Church spent two days celebrating Parents’ Day with the elderly folk in Fei Yue’s Seniors Activity Centres.

“These elderly folks are mostly from low income families and many of them have been abandoned by their children,” explained Lau Lee Pai, a social worker from the center. “The party organized by the volunteers brought warmth to them.”

The CHCC members organized the parties with the aim of bringing some fun into the lives of the elderly, and at the same time, to appreciate them as parents. Even if their own children did not do so, the CHCC team wanted to show these senior citizens that their efforts as parents were not insignificant.

The first party at Fei Yue Seniors Activity Centre on June 16 reached out to 45 elderly folk, while the second event, held at Fei Yue Teck Whye Seniors Activity Center on June 21, brought enjoyment to 38 residents.

Lau also told City News that some elderly live far from the center, but thanks to the volunteers who took the trouble to pick them up from their homes, these individuals did not miss out on a meaningful event.

“It takes me 15 minutes to walk to their homes, so it may take even longer for the elderly to walk to the center. The volunteers not only went to their house to pick them up for the celebration, they also sent them home after the event,” added Lau.

Sun Xiao Yun and Chen Ya Zhi, who hosted the event, led the residents in some simple games to warm the crowd up. The elderly participated enthusiastically during the sing-a-long sessions and was very responsive during the sharing session.

The highlight of the party was a magic show performed by one of the volunteers, Ian Lim. The 15-minute show drew much laughter and gasps as the elderly watched every act in amazement. They were disappointed when the show ended—many exclaimed, “No more?” in Mandarin after Lim’s last act was over.

There were also heartfelt moments when two volunteers presented song items for the elderly. Zhou Ling, a volunteer, sang her original composition about a mother’s love.

Following the entertainment, the elderly folk were treated to some light refreshment and each one brought home a goody bag prepared by the volunteers.

Leong Yan Chee, a pastor of CHCC, said that the elderly were deeply touched by the effort the volunteers made.

“They kept saying thank you and shaking our hands after the event,” he said. “They were very happy and wanted us to come back again.”

While much effort was put into the organization of the party, that was not the secret to the success of these events. Leong noted, “Winning [the elderly’s] trust and showing genuine care and love is the real challenge as many organizations and corporations have held events for them. I am very proud of the Chinese Church volunteers who really demonstrated love to these elderly, and they felt it.”

This design duo deploys art as social comment with a paper installation at the recent International Furniture Fair.

Contributed By Jonathan Teo

Dora Tedjosiswojo and Ethan Lin. PHOTO COURTESY OF DORA TEDJOSISWOJO

In a recent issue of Home & Décor, a popular interior design magazine, two graduates from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts were featured for their concept and design for the International Furniture Fair/Asean Furniture Show.

The duo, Ethan Lin and Dora Tedjosiswojo, both 23, are recent NAFA 3D Design graduates. They were invited to pitch their project for D’Space, a showcase at the IFF. Out of five competing design ideas, theirs was selected by the Singapore Furniture Industries Council to be produced for the Fair.

Their concept was “Chaos in Silence.” “The paper strings in the Furniture Design Award section represent chaos, while there is silence and calm in the Design Inevitable showcase,” explained Lin. “It also displays the wide contrast between serenity and excitement,” added Tedjosiswojo.

Why did they pick paper as the main material for their design? Tedjosiswojo explained that the paper forest— a visual irony since paper is made from trees—was meant to address the issue of sustainability.

The challenge of creating the paper forest proved to be as huge as the display. The pair initially created a mock-up with a few strings and made a friend walk through it to make sure that people didn’t get entangled in the paper forest. To create the forest, they used 60 pieces of paper attached to 800 “paper strings” measuring nine meters in length. This installation impressed many visitors at the Fair.

Lin and Tedjosiswojo, both City Harvest Church members, have taken The Parable as their design studio name. This came out of an encounter Tedjosiswojo had last year when she was feeling far away from God, but was reminded about the three parables in Luke 15 in the Bible: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. The duo decided this name would be a constant reminder to stay close to God and not be lost again.

Lin said, “We have always believed that God is the source of our inspiration. For this project, we were pitching against four other established design companies. So, we prayed

to God to give us inspiration that would outshine the rest. Truly, it came to pass.”

The pair also received encouragement from their lecturer, Bacus Boo. “He knew of the problems we had, and he continued to encourage us, especially during the construction period when there were a lot of doubts that the paper would be done properly and stay in place. Mr. Boo kept supporting us in prayer, and reminded us to keep the project in our prayers too,” shared Lin.

Thanks to the good response at the Fair, Lin and Tedjosiswojo are now offering services at their design studio. They dream of becoming a leading design name in the industry, and hope to be an inspiration even as they are inspired by others. “We also hope our design will help create a better environment,” said the duo.

Singaporean bloggers came together to celebrate the inaugural Singapore Social Media Day at *Scape.

Contributed By Dawn Seow

SGSMD 2011 Committee and ambassadors celebrate the end of a successful day. PHOTO: Ma Xianrong

On June 25, blogshop owners and Youtube performers went offline and turned up at *Scape on June 25 for Singapore’s first ever Social Media Day celebration, proving that there does not need to be a disconnect between the real world and the virtual.

Social Media Day, started by social and digital media news site Mashable, is celebrated internationally on June 30 in recognition of the media revolution that has taken place in recent years that allows users to get real-time information, connect with those located miles apart at almost zero cost and, most significantly, bring about social and political change such as that seen in Egypt at the beginning of this year.

The Singapore Social Media Day was organized by a group of 10 local bloggers and supported by bilingual news and entertainment web portal, omy.sg.

Mint Leong, 25, a coordinator from the SGSMD organizing committee said that the event was organized to bring awareness to the social media scene in Singapore on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs. She said, “Many of my friends don’t know about other bloggers beside Xiaxue; they are not aware that there are many different categories of bloggers who blog about different things. That is why we want to use this event as a platform for people to get to know us (bloggers) and other social media users.

“People have the misconception that when we are active on social media sites, we are detached from the ‘real world.’ Fact is, we only tweet and blog content of actual events happening in reality, and we use social media platforms to follow-up on new friends we meet at these events. There is so much more to the social media world—we do meet new friends and network at these events,” Leong explained.

The Fat Short Boys performing at SGSMD. PHOTO: Conan Seow

SGSMD also saw blogshop owners taking their sales offline, setting up stalls to offer various products during the event. Leong shared that for many of the blogshop owners, it was their first time experiencing offline sales and they were very enthusiastic about it. As it was a charity event, all profits made were donated to the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.

Besides shopping and performances, visitors also tested their social media prowess at four game stations nearby. Visitors to the Twitter booth were given content to be summarized into “Twitter-sized” blurbs no longer than 140 characters; the Youtube booth held a Q&A session while the Blog booth utilized photos and URLs of 14 bloggers as content for a memory game.

There was an eight-by-12 foot “Social Wall”; visitors were encouraged to write on the wall as a gesture of raising funds for the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.

The event also gave local Youtube performers including Ashmie and Afwan, Joshua Alexis and Jeremy Khoo, Shimona, Angie Wang and Echo Music a leg up in their profiles as they performed in front of a live audience.

The event also allowed participants to network with other netizens. At the end of the day, new friendships were formed and networks were built. In fact, Leong found that her Twitter account increased in followers from 280 to over 300. While there are no fixed details, she has shared that the committee is planning the next year’s Social Media Day event.

Celebrations of Social Media Day around the world saw Internet users tracking and tagging #smday to their comments on Twitter, Instagram, Flickr and YouTube. In fact, Mashable reported 1,419 meet-ups with more than 8,500 attendees on World Social Media Day in six continents. Nine cities and one state in the US have also declared the day official.

Find out more at SGSMD’s website at http://blog.omy.sg/sgsmd/.

MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY ASIA 2011
Exploring the theme of memory, MOP Asia 2011 showcases three highlight exhibitions, one of which is Walls Between Peoples, an exhibition of photographs taken by Alexandra Novosseloff and Frank Neisse offering a glimpse into the lives of people affected by man-made divides resulting from unresolved conflicts. From June 29 to Aug 7. Various venues and timings. Log on to www.mopasia.com.sg for more information. Free admission.

CATCH OF THE DAY
Plaza Brasserie is having a fish buffet featuring fresh pomfret, sea bass, snapper, sea bream and tilapia. You can request for your fish to be prepared in various styles like Hong Kong, Thai lime and chili, or deep-fried in sweet and sour or black bean sauce. Fish head curry lovers will also have their fill and more. If that’s not enough, the chilli crab and roast duck at the live cooking stations should seal the deal. For dinner only from July 5 to August 31 (Mon-Fri) at Parkroyal on Beach Road (7500 Beach Road, Singapore 199591, +65 6505 5710). S$45/pax (S$27 for children).

PARENTING IN A NEW MILLENIUM
What makes today’s generation of kids tick? If you have children born between 1984 and 2004, sign up for this seminar by parenting whiz Tim Elmore, who will walk you through topics such as how to connect with and win the hearts of your child, why their minds work the way they do, and knowing when is the appropriate time to approach and invest in them. July 23, 9 a.m.-noon. Suntec Theatre. S$15 per person (S$25 per couple) from www.chc.org.sg.

AN ODE TO PENGUIN
BooksActually bookshop is presenting Singapore’s first Penguin books exhibition featuring about 1,065 unique book cover art pieces which started in 1935. Alongside other Penguin memorabilia, it promises a visual and historical journey of a vision which made the world of literature accessible to the everyman. July 8-16, The Arts House Gallery. S$9 from http://hellobooksactually.blogspot.com/

THE NTUC INCOME KITE FESTIVAL SINGAPORE 2011
Wanna know how to fly a kite indoors or in a windless environment? Presented by ACT 3 International theatre company, the Indoor Flying Fiesta is back and better—for the first time ever, a host of international kite flyers will be displaying their indoor flying prowess at HDB Hub. July 15, 5-8 p.m., July 16-29, noon-8 p.m., HDB Hub (480 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh). Part Two of the fiesta will be at ION Orchard from July 29 to Aug 7, 6-9 p.m. daily. Free admission.

THE CRANBERRIES LIVE IN SINGAPORE
The Cranberries, one of the most successful rock acts of the 1990s, is hitting our shores with a full-scale concert. Back after a six-year hiatus, the band will be dishing out signature hits such as “Zombie”, “Salvation”, “Dreams” and “Linger”. Aug 1, 8 p.m. Singapore Indoor Stadium. Tickets at S$38-S$198 from Sistic.

The inaugural Higher Conference in June proved to be a time of holiness for this group of young adults.

Contributed By Chng Shi Jie

The young adults were renewed in their purpose for God. CN PHOTO: Shaun Neo

On a trip to Malaysia with his cell group one day, Wayne Choong, a cell group leader in City Harvest Church overseeing eight cell groups, felt God speak to him and impress upon him the need to uplift young Christian adults into a holier and purpose-driven life.

Choong mooted the idea for a young adults conference, and just months later, the Higher movement was born. Over 100 participants from the zones of Audrey Ng, a pastor, and Catherine Lee, a zone supervisor, embarked on a 30-day sabbatical, during which they fasted from certain activities in their lives, and used the time to seek God and to read the book of Matthew, one chapter a day. The end of this sabbatical culminated in the Highter Conference in mid-June at Pulai Springs Resort in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

The first session at the conference was helmed by CHC’s senior pastor, Kong Hee. He delivered a short but powerful message about the Holy Spirit and His faithfulness, recounting events that happened to him in the past year along the way. All who were present were strengthened in their faith because God showed Himself faithful to their senior pastor.

Next was a time of bonding, where teamwork was fostered using a series of cooperative games, such as river crossing and untangling a human knot.

Day One ended on a high as the leaders surprised everybody by treating them to a feast of fruits, including durians, rambutans and watermelons.

The second day kicked off with a morning run, after which was a sharing session. Gathered into their teams, everyone took turns to reveal what God had spoken to them from the Book of Matthew during the sabbatical.

Ng took to the stage to give a message on the need to build a personal altar to God, that in times when even fellow Christians and leaders fall away from God, it is important that our own relationship with Him remains strong. Ng began to move in the gifts of the Spirit and prophesied over the lives of many. The session ended the way it started, everyone on their knees in surrender to God, who had touched many in a great way.

Worship leader Mildred Zee, who had to work 14 days in a row in order to attend the conference, said “[This conference] is like an invigorating breath of fresh air, no words can describe how I feel.”

On the third and final day, Choong led the conference with a message. He shared that the three most important things to young adults today are community, justice, and authenticity. He challenged the young adults present to fashion the world the way they wanted it, not how the world sees it. He reminded each one present that who he or she is, is a total alignment of head, heart and hand: what one thinks, feels and does.

He then gave an altar call for those who aspired to be cell group leaders just so they could serve God in a greater capacity, and nearly the entire room surged forward, as all felt a strong call upon their lives to serve.

Derrick Chen, an undergraduate who responded to the altar call, echoed the thoughts of many when he said, “This is truly the turning point of our lives.”

The young adults returned home from the Higher Conference encouraged in their hearts and emboldened in their actions to live out their calling for Jesus; that above desiring change, they want to be that change by living life on higher ground.

For Elijah Ted Ng, age is no barrier to making a difference.

Contributed By Christal Ong

Ng (left) meets and greets the beneficiaries of Project Vision in Medan. PHOTOS COURTESY OF ELIJAH TED NG.

At just 15, Elijah Ted Ng is probably one of the youngest social entrepreneurs in Singapore. His art business, Art With A HeART, was started with the original intention of funding his tuition fees. He earns his keep entirely by providing art auctions and services twice a month at his pushcart stall at VivoCity. As his business grew, Ng began to look for ways to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged children.

This year, Ng came up with an initiative, Project Vision 2011—Vision With A HeART. Project Vision 2011 is a five-year plan that benefits underprivileged children in countries such as Indonesia, China and Africa. This idea was sparked off during a learning mission trip to Jakarta organized by City Harvest Children’s Church when Ng was only 10 years old. Moved by the plight of the children living in dilapidated slums and poor living conditions, he realized that he was very fortunate living in Singapore and wanted to help the less privileged children in other countries.

Ng kicked off Project Vision this year with its first program: Project Vision, Love The Student. The objective of this project was to fit myopic children with proper spectacles so that they could see clearly in class and would not be disadvantaged at school. At the same time, this initiative supports the local optical businesses, bringing revenue into their home country. Ng was told that Medan was particularly receptive to this initiative.

During Ng’s birthday celebration with his relatives and friends in March this year, he took the opportunity to raise funds for this project by selling his own paintings. Guests could also “adopt” a pair of non-prescriptive spectacle frames at S$50 each—these were later prescribed for the needy children in Medan.

On June 16, Ng, together with his parents, traveled to Medan to carry out this project. Over three days, they worked closely with a team of workers from Indonesia Harvest Church, an affiliate of City Harvest Church Singapore, of which Ng is a member. The team from IHC had sourced for professional opticians to prescribe the lens for the children. To ensure smooth operations, the young beneficiaries were informed in advance of the project and free shuttle buses were also arranged by the team to bring them to see the opticians.

Ng’s community work was publicized in a local newspaper in Medan

In all, 197 children in Medan benefited from Ng’s project: each received a free eye examination and a pair of prescribed spectacles of their choice.

“Previously, the children had to copy their classmates’ work as they couldn’t see the blackboard clearly. Now with the prescription spectacles, they can finally see clearly,” Ng said. Taking his cue from the Bible verse in Proverbs 29:18 that reads, “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” Ng firmly believes that these children deserve to have a future and a vision; and to know that someone cares for their needs.

At the opening ceremony of Project Vision in Medan, Ng’s effort caught the attention of the secretary to the sub-district head of Medan, who was impressed by the young man’s enthusiasm to help the children of Indonesia. News of Ng’s deed was published in the local newspaper in Medan.

Now home, Ng has been nominated as one of the top 10 youth in Singapore who are making a difference in the community. The top three outstanding youth will receive The Stars of SHINE Award. This award, organized by the National Youth Council and Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, serves to highlight and profile young role models as a source of encouragement and inspiration to other youths. In order to clinch the title, the nominees will need to undergo a panel interview with the organizing committee, and receive as many online votes as possible from supporters via Facebook.

Find out more at http://shine.nyc.sg/stars-of-shine/. Online voting is open from now till July 24. The awards will be presented at the SHINE 2011 Festival Closing Ceremony on July 30.

A Soule For Every Soul

Another youth role model nominated for the Stars of SHINE Award is Justine Lee Fu De, co-owner and co-founder of Soule. With a vision “to provide a sole for every soul,” Soule was birthed by Lee and two other friends after a humanitarian trip to rural China where Lee saw children who were so poor, they couldn’t afford shoes. Soule adopts a buy-one-give-one concept where for every pair of footwear sold, they will give a pair of school shoes to a needy child in China.

Emerge—City Harvest Church’s youth movement which happens this weekend—has transformed the lives of scores of young people since it began eight years ago. City News meets two of them.

Contributed By Dawn Seow and Glynisia Yeo

(Clockwise from top): Veroy Chua led the closing number during Emerge 2003; Chua songleads in CHC’s main service; Krystle Liew in CHC’s 2009 Easter drama—The Final Solution; Liew emerged as champion of the preaching challenge in 2003. CN PHOTOS : Alvin Loh, Kenneth Lee & Michael Chan.

In June 2003, several thousand young people crammed into the main auditorium of City Harvest Church’s Jurong West premises to attend the church’s inaugural youth event, Emerge. For nearly an entire week, these youth came to church early in the morning to hear the Word of God. In the afternoon, they participated in friendly competitions, and at night, they returned for a time of deep worship, prayer and the preaching of the Word by CHC’s senior pastor, Kong Hee.

The first Emerge proved to be a huge success, an event that inspired the young members to get grounded in the Word even as they showcased their creative and sporting talents. It was evident that God was stirring the hearts of the youth. By the end of that week, many lives had been transformed and each one went back to their cell groups, friends and families to testify of what God had done in their lives.

Among the youth eight years ago were two 16-year-old students, Veroy Chua and Krystle Liew, whose lives took an exciting turn as they stepped out of their comfort zones and attempted things they had never done before. Their simple faith in God was fueled by the magnitude of the whole experience—taking on new challenges and encountering God in a personal way.

A LIFE LESS ORDINARY

From Plan E to Plan A: this sums up Chua’s experience during Emerge 2003. That first year of Emerge, he joined the talent competition with four other friends to perform a spoof of Star Wars called SARwars (the SARS epidemic happened that year).

He recalled, “This drama included a rap segment about SARS and how to be free from it. Everyone else in the team tried it out but couldn’t do it. In the end, I just asked if I could try that part—and the rest is history. I believe that opened the way for me to lead the final closing song of the conference, which was a heart-pumping number called ‘Shake This Planet.’” From the confidence he displayed, others would never have guessed that he suffered chronically from stage fright.

As a young believer attending the conference, Chua was also inspired by the long praise and worship sessions, the endless energy from the youth at every session, and the sense of freedom in the place that everyone seemed to enjoy in expressing their passion for Jesus. But what touched him the most was one of Kong’s messages on raising up the next generation of youth in Asia.

He said, “I was really impacted when Pastor Kong talked about a new generation of youth. When he said that God was looking for that one boy or girl who would say ‘Yes’ to Him, I made a prayer to God and told Him, ‘God, I know I’m not much but if You can use anything, Lord, You can use me.’” It was a simple, heartfelt prayer that probably no one else heard, but God did.

At the end of the conference, Chua ended up leading the entire congregation in praise to God. “Everyone was so pumped up in the place that even after the song ended, the people stayed on and wanted more. I remembered Pastor Kong coming up to me and asking me to do the song again—which I did! This turned out to be my first song leading experience.”

Life changed after that first Emerge as doors opened for Chua to get involved in the Children’s Church ministry, and subsequently become a singer for J7, a children’s pop group. He was also a backup vocalist and later, became a song leader. He now oversees the singers in CCH. Chua helped to co-produce CCH’s  (2010) praise and worship album, God Of My Universe, wrote songs, and helped to train the kids’ band.

Today, Chua, 25, is pursuing his degree in Communication Design—incidentally, he designed the Emerge brochures this year. And the gift God released eight years ago at Emerge has made him a main service worship leader and backup vocalist in CHC today.

Today, Krystle Liew oversees more than 50 youth in her cell groups. PHOTO COURTESY OF KRYSTLE LIEW.

Krystle Liew’s personal encounter with God took place during the first preaching session at the first Emerge. “I remember the moment as crystal clear as it happened eight years ago,” she said. “The night before Emerge, I made a very simple prayer to God that I would experience Him in such a tangible way so that for the rest of my life, it would be my spiritual bedrock. The next day during the altar call, I knelt for the first time in my life and heard a whisper, ‘Krystle, I love you.’ These were four simple words, but they became to me a lifetime of knowing I belonged to Jesus; they formed a relationship I have with God that I know the world can never replace. They are the altar which I always return to.”

After that encounter, Liew took part in competitions at Emerge in subsequent years, clinching a few top positions along the way. Her pursuit of excellence and unwavering dedication to the craft or skill she chose to compete in paved the way for her to become successful in both her academic and career achievements. “Emerge gave me the confidence to carry myself well in front of a large audience and to be confident in public speaking,” she said.

When she was in university, Liew and three other CHC members participated in the Chartered Financial Analyst Global Investment Research Competition and emerged  champions during the final round held in London, beating 200 other university entries from around the world. The four of them believed that despite their youth, they could shine for God not just in their local campus but on a global level as well.

“As a result of our win, I was invited by Bloomberg to share our investment views on national television. Thereafter, the blessings kept pouring in. Before my graduation, I was offered my first job in a top investment bank, which also meant a six-figure annual salary. My other team mates also found jobs in investment banks and hedge funds after graduation, and we are all actively serving God today.”

Fast-forward to July 2011, Liew is now 24 years old and a trader in a commodities firm. She is a cell group leader in the church and is regularly involved in the church’s drama productions. “Emerge made me believe that young people can shine in the marketplace and still walk closely with God. It challenged me to constantly expand my capacity when I was a youth, and that was what set my lifestyle in my career and ministry. I learned to be able to manage relationships, cell groups, drama ministry—and still excel at my workplace.”

Excited for Emerge? Follow what’s happening on Twitter @chcemerge.

WHAT TO EXPECT THIS WEEKEND

A NEW Praise and Worship Team

Finalists from the Live Jam! competition will take the stage to lead the congregation in praise and worship. One team will emerge as the champion of this competition.

COUNTLESS

Performances

Finalists from the Center Stage! Competition will present their winning acts: Music In Motion (Goh Yock Kiang and Leila Tan’s zones) and City Noose (Wu Yuzhuang’s zone).

Four finalists from Your Best Shot! will be showcasing their creative talents this weekend. Get ready to be wowed by Amos Ang (music and vocals), Nathania Ong (vocals), John Christopher (dance) and Dawn Lin (music) as they vie for the top place in this competition.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

The first-ever Cut! Competition demonstrates the video editing skills of CHC’s young crowd. The entry that puts together the most creative and meaningful footages from the recent June youth camps wins!

A Brand New Bible Memory Game Show

Oh My Word! is a brand new Bible-based competition and the top three young finalists will compete on the four Gospels. Speed and accuracy count in this exciting tournament. Watch out for the Trump Card which either doubles the points of the team or wipes out their points completely.

The Emerge Years

2003 The successful launch of the Emerge movement paved the way for the youth in CHC to strengthen their walk with God and embrace the Cultural Mandate.

2004 The first Parade of Schools was held to champion the cause of campus revivals in Singapore.

2005 Emerge welcomed overseas visitors from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, USA and Australia, mostly from CHC’s affiliate churches.

The Preaching Challenge was introduced. For the first time, non-Cell Group Leaders in CHC had a chance to preach in front of a crowd of about 100 people.

2006 The Emerge movement went to Taiwan and sparked off a revival among the youth there. In Singapore, Emerge saw performers like Singapore Idol Taufik Batisah, Project Superstar winners Kelly Poon and Hong Jun Yang, and MediaCorp artist Belinda Lee grace the occasion.

2007 The number of competitions doubled to 61, allowing the youth to showcase varied talents and gifts.

Emerge was broadcasted “live” for the first time on God TV to 122 million homes in more than 200 nations.

The Millenial Orchestra celebrated fathers with a special concert two weekends ago.

Contributed By Gwengolyn Tan

The Millenial Orchestra performing for fathers. PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREAS LOH

There was music in the air on Father’s Day, June 19, as the Millenial Orchestra held a special mini concert at the Suntec Theatre for fathers—a rare occurrence. It was a channel TMO wanted to use to appreciate fathers who have tirelessly sacrificed their lives to lead and provide for their families.

The performance attracted a crowd of 300 people, mostly families. The set spanned a wide range of music genres, including Japanese anime, Western classical music and military band music.

What made it even more special was that this was a concert of wind instruments. Of all the pieces they performed that day, trumpet players Lester Lee and Cindy Oh both found “First Suite in E flat” by Gustav Holst to be the crowd favorite. The piece consists of three movements of three different moods, going from lively to slow and melodious, explains Lee, hence its appeal to different types of listeners.

The Father’s Day concert was held as a opportunity for fathers and children to enjoy music together, enhancing their relationship. Oh says, “Music is unsung words. Many a time, it speaks of what is in your heart and expresses things that normally cannot be put in words.”

TMO’s next performance is planned for last quarter of 2011, and will feature familiar classics and works with a Christmas touch. The orchestra will also be auditioning soon for its upcoming concert.