The ICA Worship Team was band #2 at the Philippine independence celebrations held at the Phil Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand.

The Kingdom of God was there as the team sang His praises with all their heart!

HATAW!!!

Bloopers from my FULL SUNDAY SET yesterday... it's getting annoying.

Blooper #1 - 1st Worship Service [9:30am-11:00am]

• Welcome to ICS...
• My excuse: 12 years of ministry @ ICS.  Gotta learn to say, "ICEhhyyy..."

Blooper #2 - 2nd Worship Service [12:30pm-2:00pm]

• This morning...
• My excuse: hunger...

I'm now getting ready for this coming SUNDAY, minus (-) the bloopers.

stay tuned...
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NEW POST on my SERIOUS BLOG hehehe... "Good preaching, pastor!"

Yesterday I had a taste of my Senior Pastor's (H. Maurice Lednicky) Sunday schedule.  They are currently in the USA for ministry so I have the task of Sunday preaching.

We have 2 Worship Services and a Sunday School in between.  I got in at 8:30am and the venue was still empty.  So I initiated the set-up (air-con, lights, auto-run ppt announcements).

Pastor, has to do this every Sunday.  We'll be glad when we move to a bigger venue and are able to congregate as one body and have one service.  It's a good problem to have :D

Saturday - Party @ the Park.  One of the pinoy kids, Madeline celebrated her birthday at the Queen's Park.  It was 4pm and the sun was just going down, so it began to get cooler, but still warm. 

Sights & sounds: Pigeons, a squirrel, kids everywhere, families, picnic mats, food, park police, tai-chi, love-brids (the people kind), chatter, whispers, laughter, shouts, squeels, chirpping, turtles, catfish, fountains (for a short time only), runners, treasure hunters, agawan base, longest line, pinoy spaghetti, internationals, sand, shipwreck, lake, trees, manicured grass, tall buildings, snack bars, people feeding themselves, each other and the wildlife... 

Sunday - ICA worship services, sunday school, another pinoy party for another kid & table tennis.

Sights & sounds: rain drops, car screeches, singing, music, people worshipping, kids running, greetings, hugs, kisses, going up, ding, elevators, 23rd floor, preaching, laughter, prayer, chatting, snacking, 12th floor, tables & chairs, teaching, laughter, fooling around, families, kids, teens, singles, yuppies, refugees, internationals...silence...thai food, kids, families, parents, singles, kids playing, people chatting eating, games, pabitin, sablay na magician, fathers playing monkeys, balloons popping, cake cutting, gifts being given and opened, music blasting, palayok na hindi, bratz look alikes, grumppy kids, happy kids, shy kids, boisterous kids, noisy-happy-pinoys...ping-pong, twos, singles, asaran, kantsawan, pawis, tubig...kwentohan, kainan (uli), kweto pa kont, tulogan...

Last night marked the beginning of the Young Professionals' Ministry of the International Christian Assembly, Bangkok.

Check out the pix here.

GOOD FRIDAY.
170pax filled the ICA auditorium for a Communion service which exceeded our expectation.  Praise God!  Many braved the infamous Friday night traffic jam of Bangkok just to be there.

After the service I went with Micah to The Emerald Hotel on Ratchadamri to see & hear part of the ICA worship team doing their thing.  The Metropolis is a professional band currently entertaining guests at the hotel.  They're now on their 8th year there.  3 out of 5 members attend ICA.  All Filipinos by the way (syempre :)

SATURDAY.
Grocery day with Renee & Nav at Carrefour & Lotus on Rama IV.

SUNDAY.
Sunrise service @ ICA @ 6:30am.  I know the sun's already out by then but hey it's something new for the congregation @ ICA.  About 100 people woke up and showed up for that.  It was a blast hearing from 5 different people of various nationalities share what the resurrection of J.Christ means to them.  Thanks for sharing Jonathan, Marilyn, Richard, Rebecca and Cecilia.

Breakfast fellowship was had afterwards.  Good time to catch up and get to know more people.

Service 1.
Full service. Encouraging message.

Youth SS.
17 pax and part 3 of Esther's saga.

Service 2.
Encouraged for the 2nd time but beginning to feel the weariness from the days early & full activities.

Afternoon at home. Fam time. Yey!

Photo:  Sunrise service 23rd floor overlooking Bngkok city @ 6:30am (GMT+7).

The moment I passed the immigration line at the NAIA Terminal 1 there was no turning back.  To follow Jesus where He leads is a commitment I made when I decided to make Him Lord of my life.  It's been an exciting adventure since I chose to do that at age 13.

A new chapter is once again being written in my life as I together with my family venture into the unknown.  Knowing only that it is He who called us and is faithful to the very end.  May He find the same in me.

On the day of departure 26 Feb 2008 we had to make a decision which I didn't like.  That was for Renz & Nav to stay behind to finish up the clearing of our rented house in Pasig.  We didn't want to leave Mommy Vaisy crying because of the still a lot of things to sort and clean up at the house.  We'd rather her crying because she will miss us ;p  So reluctantly I left Tuesday night.  Thanks to Bro. Jessie & Sis. Choleen Lema who took me to the airport together with dad Pete, ma Vaisy, Renz & Nav.

I need your help.  I'll be meeting a group next week to brainstorm about the possibilities of creating a radio program for youth/young adults in the Philippines.  We need some raw data to help us plan. 

Can you answer some of these questions?  Post your answers by replying to this post. 

Thanks.

1. How old are you?
2. Which part of the Philippines do you currently live in?
   
3. Why do you listen to radio?
4. Which band do you tune in more to AM/FM? Why?
5. If you could create your own radio show on the FM band what would it be about?
6. Which do you listen more to FM radio or your downloaded mp3s?
   

This was posted by http://timschmoyer.com on YouTube. He's a youth Pastor in the USA.

Tim says:
"While flying into Dallas last Saturday, I watched a recent interview on my laptop between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at the All Things Digital conference. During the interview, both of them answered a question from a man in the audience who asked for advice about his company. The reply Steve Jobs gave reminded me exactly of youth ministry."
Link: http://timschmoyer.com/2007/07/03/steve-jobs-on-youth-ministry/

Passion is key in almost anything we do not just ministry. But we have to remember to balance zeal with knowledge & vise-versa. This is a little tricky.

I've always longed for older, wiser, seasoned ministers to intentionally mentor me. It still hasn't happened.  At least to my understanding.  Maybe they did and I just didn't see that as mentoring.  I understand mentors to be those who intentionally come alongside another to help them achieve their life goals and plans by asking how they can help them and giving their opinion based on experience and gained wisdom known as active mentors, the closest to which I have is my father Abraham V and he has been a good one.  I guess the Holy Spirit would probably be another :)  Timothy had his Paul & of course the 12 apostles had Jesus.

Passive mentors impart their expertise in a more general fashion through books, large group talks and other media.  Of this I have many, from John Maxwell to Bill Hybels,  Eli Javier to Steve Murrell just to name a few.  Out of the four, I've met one personally.

Still waiting for that elusive mentor...  Will ever come?

The challenge to effectively minister to those living inving in the urban jungle is great. The link below is a blog post of what some of our young adults did last Sunday in sharing God's love to those below the poverty line. This was a partnership with Sidwalk Sunday School and The Redeemed Stage.

Link:
http://jegabelle.multiply.com/journal/item/27

On Saturday Nov. 19, 2005 @ 6pm I together with 16 others were publicly presented and prayed over as Ordained Miniters of the Assemblies of God in the Philippines.  All glory be to God!  pics have been posted.