June - Unstoppable

I have just come back from Downtown East. More specifically, Unstoppable camp (12th Jun - 15th Jun '09). I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart that this has been my best camp since joining YWAM in what, February '08? March '08? Unstoppable was my third camp as a full-time musician. I could potentially say that The Ultimate Dare camp in '05 was one in which I was more moved, but there's no real comparison since I believe that the 2 camps impacted me in different ways.

Unstoppable camp. From the first day, I already knew things were going to be different. There were teachings that went deeper than I've ever come across, apart from Know What You Believe WFL class (Eschatology), and End Times Workshop in JB Leadership Conference last year. I never knew what the "living stone" concept was about until the teaching on the first night, for instance (the knowledge of that brings new meaning to certain songs, and new insights regarding God living in us! =D), and I definitely didn't really understand the parable that is described in Matthew 25:1-13 even though I'm certain I've read it more than once. I never realised that the oil in the passage refers to righteousness and we can't "borrow" righteousness from the lives of others as we make an account of our lives to God. I suppose numerous jokes about being awarded golden toilet bowls in Heaven when we do something for God (like bringing people to Christ or doing some other noble, self-sacrificial act of service) gave me a kinda hazy impression of that. What if we stand before God and say, "I brought 'insert-incredible-number-here' to know You oh God, and many of them have risen to be awe-inspiring leaders of the church!", or (as Yao further expounded and contextualised), "Many people were blessed by my prophetic playing during praise and worship, and were inspired to take up the mantle for you God!" and God goes something like, "Who're you? That's funny, I've never heard you talking to me prior to this. Have I met you somewhere before?" Wow, I've never quite heard "doing determining your being" being explained in such a thought provoking manner before. From that teaching onwards, I knew that this camp was going to be one that I would thoroughly enjoy.

I really enjoyed the morning teaching on the second day too! I think passages from Revelations are always difficult to teach and convey properly, and yet I think Gideon did a great job doing just that. Like many others, I was struck by the third point in this teaching - about having good intentions mixed with wanting approval from others. It reinforced being determining our doing as taught in the first teaching. I especially like the part where Gideon used the example of Peter and the rooster. God used the rooster to remind Peter of his repeated denial of Him. Does that make make the rooster spiritual? This led me to the question of whether I'm walking right with God, whether my intentions are solely for Him, even if He works through me when I minister on stage.

180, revealed on the second night of camp, was something refreshingly different from a number like "1000 youths for God"!!! It's always easy to say "They should've done something like that in the first place!" because I bet the leaders racked their brains and spammed their prayers ever so hard to come up with something like that so I won't say it. Oops, did I just say something? =P Anyway, worship that night was incredible. I haven't felt God speak to me like that since The Ultimate Dare. Man, the feeling of exhilaration as God wrought His changes was so surreal ( to borrow what seems to be a favourite new teaching word from Dennis. ^^). Anyway, it was a 6/8 song titled Here In Your Presence. Don't normally dig those, but who cares as long as God works. Hmm who cares... That reminds me of Jialing's testimony during the third teaching. She shared about apathy and that was a great reminder of how my personality and my attitude towards things may be like. I think that sometimes, when the going gets tough, shreds of apathy and perhaps cynicism worm their way into my patterns of thought - something that I must look to reign in as I continue on in my walk with God.

Somehow the next day swept by in a daze (curse the lack of sleep), and then suddenly, it was time for the Extended Prayer Meeting (EPM). I actually felt a tinge of nervousness as I was waiting for it to start! I guess it was because of the sheer number of songs - half of which were new songs at that! I enjoyed myself on stage though, and when we were asked to gather in our caregroups during worship, all the YWAM guys on stage came and clustered around Yao to pray! We had a great time of prayer, led by Shan, and Yao shared that the only thing he can think of now to make an impact on the world is songwriting. I suppose that it IS time that we took a tentative step in that direction. I do hope I can contribute something there. After that there was a time where we were to go to our shepherds and pray for them. Peter came over to me and said that he hadn't prayed for me yet during the camp. Well I shared some things to him - short & long term goals, about discipleship, and about ministering. Time to plan things out, I think! I prayed for him too, after that. Anyway, EPM was a blast - some Uni Group people came to visit during EPM and they mentioned their enjoyment. Hope they felt ministered as well! =)

Anyway, enough about camp - the new YWAM caregroup structure is out and though Gwen said the changes weren't that big, I sorta disagree from my point of view. Goodbye to wacky people and hello to different quirky people haha! I'll most definitely miss MinOps 2(G) very, very much. There's still the Serangoon gang, but it's not really the same as being in the same caregroup... Then again, for growth to occur, there must first be change, and I sure pray that we'll grow, and that we'll grow together inevitably, not always quickly, but powerfully, and most importantly, in the name of God. In other simpler terms - let YWAM grow unstoppably (if there's actually such a word...)!