Faith . Hope . Love — which will last forever

Please pray for Eri's pregnancy condition

Photo at Tomoki's athletic festival

Three weeks ago, soon after Tomoki’s kindergarten activity, Eri had bleeding. We paled and rushed to her personal clinic. Thankfully our baby was okay but Eri was diagnosed with placenta previa. Her doctor advised her not to do hard work. So Taka helps her as much as he can, especially in shopping and taking care of Tomoki. We hope her pregnancy condition will change into normal one during these two months. Please pray for her pregnancy condition. Read more

Journeying with the pre-believers

Wailing (front row, 2nd from the right) with ISM staff & students

Wai Ling (front row, 2nd from right) with International Student Ministry staff & students

I am enjoying my ministry very much and often I feel that I am on a mission trip every week when I meet students of different nationalities. Missions is really right at our door step! I personally had the privilege of leading 6 Chinese girls to Christ. I am able to connect and relate to the Chinese pretty well but when it comes to sharing Christ with the South East Asia students I lack confidence. I realized that there is so much to learn in sharing Christ ‘cross-culturally’. I need to understand the background of these students and how they are influenced by their upbringing, cultural and educational systems. If I don’t understand their worldviews it would be difficult to engage in a meaningful spiritual conversation with them at the heart level. Read more

God’s Word is not chained

Jeremy and Dr. Ho in the center, with a couple of students from Hong Kong

Jeremy and Dr. Ho in the center, with a couple of students from Hong Kong

Last month, Dr. Ho and I spent two weeks in China teaching the New Testament. The class consisted not only of local students, but also representatives from Singapore and Hong Kong as well. These students remind us of the Bereans “for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). They left deep impressions on us because of their diligence in working at their quizzes, exam, presentation and written papers.

This trip had pushed me a step further because I was required to translate all my class notes, and lecture in Chinese. However, my visit to the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition helped me see the dedication of many heroes who gave their lives to the translation of the Bible. For God’s Word to be truly unchained, it must be heard by people in their mother tongue, their hearts’ language.

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Lessons in leadership

Lisa Sim's student cardIn May this year, Lisa graduated from East Asia School of Theology (EAST), with a Master of Divinity after 4 years of studies. She was also awarded the President’s Award for Leadership for her exemplary
leadership among the other students.

This is what Lisa shared: “It is tough to try to sum up everything that I’ve learnt but in my reflection 2 words came to my mind – RETREAT and ADVANCE. I came to EAST with the initial purpose to retreat and rest in the Lord so that I can advance forward in my future ministry. In the process, God showed me that truly I need to retreat, but not from ministry and people but to retreat from myself. That is as I become less, God can then advance forward and reveal more of Himself to me.”

Lisa is now serving in the SOLEAD (School of Leadership and Development) team at Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC). She is excited to be involved in the training and mentoring of the new staff.

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To bare my heart before God

Whenever I go for my personal retreat, I would usually have an agenda in mind on the things and issues I want to talk to God about; to process through those thoughts and to seek His guidance. The recent retreat was a few days before our International Student Ministry (ISM) staff planning. I was asking God to tune my heart to hear His direction for this ministry but God changed the entire course … He was dealing with my heart rather than my work. As I was listening to a song, tears kept flowing and I realized that I was going through a period of loneliness mixed with frustrations in my re-entry back to Singapore. My age and stage of life contributed to a different and unique set of needs I have. It was good to bare my heart before God and to allow Him to bring comfort to my heart. I still have my concerns but I feel relieved because I have left those burdens at the feet of Christ. There is one thing I brought home from the retreat — God is the STRENGTH of my heart. Please pray that I will be patient and allow God to teach me new things as I walk with Him in this transition journey.

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