Fan Into Flame Conference 2006

27 June 2006
5:30am - Alarm rings.
6:30am - Wake up. Mutter mutter.
6:35am - Plonk self on toilet bowl. No luck - too early for such activities. Mutter mutter.
7:00am - Leave to pick Adrian Ng from SS12 house. Flight was at 9:50am, but Adrian wanted to be early. Mutter mutter.
7:15am - Head for Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) for the first time. Ever.
7:50am - Arrive at LCCT. Early we were. Wait for check-in counter to open at 8:30am. Mutter mutter.
8.35am - Check-in. Head for breakfast at cafe.
8.40am - Get fleeced by said cafe. Mutter mutter.
9.15am - Head for departure hall.
9.25am - Announcement. Start lining up.

Golly, where IS everyone?

Oh.

9:45am - Board AirAsia Flight AK307. Find seats.
9:50am - Spot perfect Engrish!

Understooded!

11:30am - Arrive at Kuching International Airport (KIA).
11:50am - Received by tag team duo of Julius and his mum. Head for a short tour of Kuching town before heading back to Julius' place for lunch.

Kuching International Airport.

St. Joseph's Cathedral.

Seminary chapel.

1:30pm - Arrive at Julius' place. Meet Marikar, Tina, Alice and Nica of the Elim community who are bunking in his house. Very sweet bunch of girls/ladies. Manage to find out their real ages - Am Very Surprised. Tuck into lunch.

L-R: Julius, Tina, Adrian, Alice, Aaron, Marikar.

L-R: Julius, Eyette, Nica, Aaron.

2:30pm - Head for Bread Of Life (BOL) Covenant Community centre to unpack, rest, and wash up.

Bread Of Life Covenant Community centre.
"Near RH Plaza, Taman BDC, above Green Gallery, next to Expert Food Court..."

2:50pm - Enter centre to find that we guys would be sleeping in the chapel, on mattresses on the floor. Bum around.
3:30pm - Sleep.
5:30pm - Wake. Lumber over to bathroom to shower. Adrian proclaims arrival of KA Youth at the centre whilst in the shower. Mutter mutter. Meet Gifford (reunited after decades of not seeing each other), Christobel, and Shireen. After I've come out from the shower, that is. Fully-clothed.
6:00pm - Head for Fan Into Flame Welcoming Dinner.

Catholic Church near BOL centre.

Blur sunset in Kuching.

6:30pm - Arrive at hotel for dinner.

Adrian and I clearly under-dressed for the occasion.
In between us, Uncle Peter Lau, Julius' dad.
On the right, line of welcoming dancers.

7:10pm - Praise and worship. First time experiencing charismatic praise and worship at a buffet-dinner in a hotel. Interesting experience.
7:25pm - Wait for queue at buffet-line to dwindle.
7:40pm - Queue at buffet-line dwindles.
7:45pm - Head to collect dinner. Eat.
8:15pm - Speeches and performances.
9:50pm - Meet a few others from the Elim community.

L-R: Christobel, Kiddo, Shireen.

L-R: Aaron, Anton, Jef.

10:15pm - Head back to BOL centre. Bum around.
11:00pm - Head downstairs to Expert Food Court. Tried Kolo Mee and the Five-Layered Tea. Kolo Mee was about average, probably wasn't the best place to try it. Five-Layered Tea tasted like cendol. Me like Five-Layered Tea.
11:30pm - Head back to BOL centre. Bum around.
1:00-sumthing am - Sleep.

Evening came, and morning came. The first day.

Message From Lorenzo "Kiddo" Cosio

of the Elim Community in Manila, Philippines.

**********

GenRev in Malaysia

The lights went out and the people went wild. It was time for GenRev Live in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Over a thousand people had come to spend the night in crazy worship. The comedic intro video played on the two large screens on either side of the stage, much to the delight of the now restless crowd of young people. The action was about to begin and they could feel it. We, the team waited in the wings for the time to get out on stage. We could feel it. It was in the air. God was moving.

Behind the Scenes
The past week found a team from Elim in Kuching, Sarawak (the biggest state in Malaysia, if I'm not mistaken) for the Fan Into Flame Conference and Concerts. The conference went great, with many leaders and members of communities from all across Malaysia in attendance. Throughout the sessions, God was manifesting Himself in a special way, revealing Himself powerfully.

There were two concerts scheduled during our trip, one of which was GenRev Live. And so we found ourselves backstage, feeling the electricity in the atmosphere, ready to get out onto the stage and give our all to God. We had prepared, practiced and prayed up for the past few months. We had come a long way and were at the moment of reckoning.

So we got out on stage...

The music played...

And the place blew up in praise.

It was insane.

People were singing their heads off and dancing like crazy in worship. Leading the people in worship, I didn't know if I should laugh out loud or cry because it was that awesome. So I did a lot of both - laughed and cried - as everyone rocked out. God is awesome, and He was there in power.

The Youth of the Nation
The Malaysian youth are amazing people. Even while preparing for the conference and concerts, I could sense how much God wanted to do through the youth of that country. A deep love for them had already been welling up in my heart as we prepared for the trip, and it just came forth during those days of the conference. I could just look at their faces and feel the potential, have a little taste of the vastness of what God could do through them. It was is if God was saying, "Hey, Kiddo, get a good long look at these people. I'm gonna use them to change the face of the earth."

And that's biblical. Jesus said that He would send His spirit and we would be His witnesses to the World, we would stand for Him, we would do the great things He did - and far greater, as well. And Psalm 104:3 says, "When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth." God is going to use people - us, young people included - to change the face of the earth, by the way we live, because we are filled with His Spirit.

I guess that's what I saw happening in Malaysia the past week. I saw it as such a privilege and honor to share the company of the youth in that part of the world. Young people, taking a stand for God, choosing to live for Him above all, giving their lives to Him in worship, and being filled with the Spirit. Spirit-filledness is world changing.

Thank You
To the Malaysian youth (and yeah, even the older people), thank you for being a light to me. I know that our team went to your country with the hopes of sharing something with you; but I feel like we received so much more than we could have ever imagined. This little essay doesn't do justice to the impact you have had on my life (and I'm sure I speak for many in the GenRev Team as well).

Thank you for the love and warmth, for the hospitality and for being so generous. Thank you for being yourselves, because it was such a blessing to be with you. I believe that there are so many great things God has in store for you, and your country, and us and our country as well. So, together let's stand for Jesus and change the world!