It was an awesome start to the School of Theology 2009 (SOT) for the 673 students enrolled in City Harvest Bible Training Centre (CHBTC). Over 22 nationalities from lands as far off as Nigeria and Sweden underwent their registration and orientation activities on Monday, 30 Mar 2009, which was incidentally the official opening of the new school term.
From as early as 7am, various SOT Team Leaders and Helpers could be seen buzzing about City Harvest Church’s premises at 1, Jurong West St 91, setting up help counters to aid in the matriculation and registration of the students. An air of excitement was evident as local and foreign delegates alike interacted and shared expectantly about what the first day of school and the next five months of SOT would entail.
The official launch of the new school term had guest speaker Dr Phil Pringle, Senior Pastor and Founder of Christian City Church International (CCC) address the students as well as the staff of SOT. He brought along C3 Band from CCC Sydney to lead in praise and worship. The congregation of SOT students and staff grooved and sang through a set of their praise and worship songs off their latest album For Your Glory, such as ‘Eternal Salvation’ and the crowd favorite, ‘Help Me’.
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It was a great precursor to stir the crowd up for what was to come next. Phil Pringle then took the stage and delivered not just one, but two sessions of teaching on church growth and leadership. He covered topics such as repentance and the importance of leaders focusing on their strongest members.
“Whatever you focus on, you will get,” he declared.
Pringle issued a needful reminder to the crowd to constantly renew their minds by reading the Bible, the Word of God; and that repentance, new attitudes and mindsets make up the foundation for Christ to build His Church upon.
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| PHOTOS: Elvis Chiu & Gabriel Seow |
Orientation activities began in the late afternoon. Following the usual icebreakers to warm up the cohort, the various SOT teams were instructed to act out skit with themes such as love, power and faith, by incorporating elements from contemporary movies such as The Matrix, Spiderman and The Incredibles. It was great fun and enjoyment as the students entertained the judges and one another with their amusing three-minute skits.
The day done, the students were then treated to a sumptuous dinner organized by CHBTC.
Kuang Jing Xuan, 22, currently studying in NUS as well, had this to say, “People usually look very tired on the first day of school. However, the SOT students really turned that image around today. Everyone was so pumped up and energetic, it makes me look forward to the rest of the five months in SOT!”
