On 5 December 2008, People Of Destiny (POD), the youth centre launched by City Harvest Community Services Association, held its second LOUD party. It was an event that saw more than sixty youth and young adults coming together in a time of games, performances and great music.

LOUD, which stands for Living Out Ur Dream, was created by POD who believes in empowering and challenging youth to pursue their dreams. The LOUD party is the first of many events that POD has lined up.

This year’s LOUD party was held in *scape Youth Centre, the venue sponsor for the event.  The party began at 8 pm with song performances and an energetic dance segment by the LOUD Crew, a dance group mentored by POD.  There was also a unique juggling performance with tops and other objects by Jeremy Tan, an 18 year old awaiting his ‘O’ level results.  His impressive act wowed the crowd and drew the loudest cheers.

The crowd was also treated to a fashion show, complete with runway models clothed by Jean Perrie, a sponsor for the event.  Anchoring the program were emcees, Lucas Chia, 20 and Gloria Wong, 21. The duo had good stage chemistry and were instrumental in building up the atmosphere of fun and energy throughout the night.

The party drew to a close after a rousing swansong by the band Dust 2 Destiny.  Buses were hired by the organizing committee to shuttle the party-revellers back to the POD headquarters in Tampines while others lingered on at the Centre, soaking in the after-party atmosphere.

Stay tuned for an even greater LOUD party in 2009.

SINGAPORE, 21 NOVEMBER 2008 — AS THE SAYING goes, life is not a bed of roses. Obstacles and trials abound in life, and cause many to fail in some areas. For some people these failures and adversities ignite a great amount of distress, as well as major disruptions and chaos in a person’s everyday life.

The Conference workshop “Adversity Quotient and Emotional Quotient” aimed to better equip delegates with the practical know-how of dealing with such stumbling blocks in life. It also educated participants on emotions and moods.

This class was taught by two members in City Harvest Church’s Business Breakthrough Group, Benjamin Cheng and Nanz Chong-Komo. Cheng delivered the first part of the module, sharing on how to have a healthy emotional quotient, imparting his knowledge on things like the differences between feelings and emotions, as well as association and disassociation with an object. Chong shared on adversity quotient, teaching delegates how to deal with a major setback or failure in life.

The elective was a very refreshing one, as Cheng and Chong’s teaching styles were both animated and lively, constantly eliciting a good laugh from the audiences. There was nary a dull moment in the room, and both speakers managed to engage delegates very well. This elective received such an overwhelming response, that even on the third and last day of the electives, the doors to the conference room had to be left open in order to accommodate more attendees.

Though “emotional quotient” and “adversity quotient” could have proven to be heavy topics, the two speakers made the lesson very easily understandable. Both drew on personal experiences to supplement their lesson and illustrate ideas.

PHOTOS: Gay Sen Min

Chong was very open about her failed business, and shared about it bravely. From owner of a multi-million dollar retail company (the now defunct One.99 shop), to the franchise going bankrupt, and then rising from the ashes again to become a successful author and speaker, she is indeed the poster girl for someone who has faced adversity and then conquered it.

This workshop opened the delegates’ eyes on how to better have a healthy emotional quotient and adversity quotient, and equipped participants with some knowledge of how to understand and control emotions, as well as how to cope with a setback or failure.

SINGAPORE, 20 NOVEMBER 2008 — EQUIPPING MEMBERS WITH better skills and upgrading their package: these are things that Kong Hee has made his personal goals. In order for a person to better improve himself and increase his value in society, it is vital to gain new practical skills and acquire more technical knowledge. The Conference elective “IT System/Church Management System” served to do just that.

Though the elective might have seemed intimidating to some people who weren’t so IT-savvy, delegates flocked like doves to this surprisingly accessible class.

Chan Kai Kong, the systems manager for City Harvest Church, delivered the lesson with much panache. Certainly, with his experience running the management system of a church that has a proven standard of work excellence (CHC became the first church in the world to attain ISO 9001:2000 certification for quality and process management), Chan was able to impart valuable knowledge in this area to the attendees.

PHOTOS: Raymond Lee

He shared briefly about the CHC structure and the hierarchy of some departments. He then explained the various modules that one could access via the CHC church management system, such as the membership module, the cell group leader module, the growth module and the bible study module. Administrative work is then done by the different personnel online after they log on to the respective modules.

The one-hour elective allowed attendees to get grounded in the practical know-how of running a management system. The knowledge gained was not just relevant in a church setting, but applicable for the workplace too.

SINGAPORE, 19 NOVEMBER 2008 — LEADING PEOPLE into the presence of God is not a talent simply inborn, as some people believe. It’s an art acquired through much practice and experience. The elective “The Art of Worship Leading”, taught by City Harvest Church worship leaders Annabel Soh and Alison Yap, was designed to impart crucial pointers to equip individuals in this area.

This particular elective saw an overwhelming response even in the registration process. On the first day of Asia Conference, there were people turned away from the door because the room was packed to capacity. Despite the cramped environment, the crowd buzzed with excitement even before the session started.

Soh kicked off with a little getting-to-know-you session. There were many overseas delegates, but there were also some participants who came from local churches outside of City Harvest Church. Some attendees present were existing song leaders in their respective churches, some were in charge of song leading in their cell groups, while some were merely attending to learn more for interest’s sake.

The brief interaction session and prayer by Soh and Yap warmed up the attendees successfully. Soh taught on the vital characteristics of a song leader, while Yap delivered technical advice and imparted practical tips to the delegates. People familiar with this song-leading duo got to see a different side of them — their lighthearted one. Their teachings were often interspersed with jokes and hilarious examples and experiences that cracked the participants up.

PHOTOS: Tan Song Kow

The lesson was over in 40 minutes and the remaining twenty minutes was allocated for a question and answer session. The participants were curious about many things such as how Yap and Soh as worship leaders chose songs for any particular service’s praise and worship sessions.

Other queries — how they protected their voices, or how they engage a church congregation during church worship, and how they became worship leaders — surfaced during the question and answer segment. Attendees walked away, blessed to have gleaned so much advice from two very experienced and anointed worship leaders, and to put their newly-learned skills to practice.

SINGAPORE, 18 OCTOBER 2008 — Few would expect to see a droolworthy display of well-toned bods and gorgeous faces strutting their stuff in a church setting, but City Harvest Church put that traditional mindset to rest once and for all by holding a Manhunt and Beauty Pageant during their Emerge! Conference in 2007. Following the immense success of that event, the search has now begun for the next king and queen of good looks to be crowned at the upcoming Asia Conference 2008 this November.

The preliminaries were held on 2 October at the Research University for Leadership auditorium at The Riverwalk. Due to an overwhelming response, this round took more than four hours to wrap up. Contestants were put through a gruelling series of tests, consisting of a catwalk parade, self introduction and a Q&A session.

One of the judges, Audrey Ng explained that the judging criteria included physique, confidence, eloquence and overall appearance.

Many of the contestants had never walked a catwalk in their lives, much less take part in a pageant. But despite nerves, most maintained their poise throughout the competition. Some were even bold enough to throw in a few slick moves – this was certainly the perfect time to put to good use Pastor Kong Hee’s life motto of “zo lang ai zai” (Hokkien, meaning “be cool”).

When it came to the self introduction and public speaking segment, some of the non-Singaporean contestants faced a language barrier as English was not native to them. However, most came well-prepared and delivered their answers confidently.

PHOTOS: Daniel Poh

More than just a chance to win the coveted title, this competition is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. “The Manhunt and Beauty Pageant is a platform for our members to display their talents in front of an audience, to step out in faith and do something they may not have dared to do previously,” says Ng. Contestant Desmond Tan echoes his views. “I wanted to invest in the talents God has given to me, to use those talents to glorify God,” he shares.Another contestant, Michele Tan says that win or lose, she is here for the experience. “I just have fun out there,” she says.

The finals for the Manhunt and Beauty Pageant will be held during the Asia Conference 2008, which takes place from 19-23 November at Singapore Expo Hall 8.