God has graciously brought this book into my hands at this season of my life. There are different types of books that I enjoy reading, but God sovereignly directed me to Dallas Willard’s book, which I am thankful. As I start off, I will make a bold statement and say that this is probably one of the best books on the topic of spiritual formation. I am not the only one with this opinion and assessment.

Willard says so many familiar things in a fresh way that it really challenged me to think differently about discipleship, spiritual disciplines, and becoming more Christ-like. He states, “The human spirit is an inescapable, fundamental aspect of every human being; and it takes on whichever character it has form the experiences and the choices that we have lived through or made in our past. That is what it means for it to be ‘formed.’”

So many of our hearts have been “formed” by the things that we have gone through in our lives, but this is where the power of the Gospel comes in. When we surrender our lives to Christ and give Him permission to rule and reign, He will start transforming our hearts into the likeness of Christ.

Willard addresses the various aspect of a human being and he talks about how the heart, mind, will and even social relations need to be radical transformed. It is not the usual approach about praying harder or reading more Bible.

The book was hard to put down. At every turn of the page, there was some new insight to a familiar principle or situation. This book inspired me and reminded me of the importance of spiritual formation and how growing in Christ and seeing Christ-likeness takes not only time but devotion and commitment to the process. But above all, it is the grace of God.

Willard says, “It is the central point of this book that spiritual transformation only happens as each essential dimension of the human being is transformed to Christlikeness under the direction of a regenerate will interacting with constant overtures of grace from God.”

I read an interesting article today in the Michigan Daily, which is the student newspaper for the University of Michigan. There is talk about setting up a program through the university where students can go to Detroit to take classes.

The aim is to start getting some of the students to think of ways to bring positive change in a city like Detroit. They will be strategizing with other organizations to reach out to various impoverished areas of the inner city and even the greater downtown Detroit area.

As I was reading the article, I couldn’t help but to think to myself – “isn’t this what the Church should be doing?” If the people of God are called to be the salt and light, then why are we not doing something about this? How can we be like a city on a hill shining brightly if there is only darkness? By removing the light (everyone escaping to the nice plush suburbs), how can any city really shine?

The city of Detroit has always been last in a lot of categories. Our only claim to fame is our murder rate for which we were ranked number one.

This got me thinking about people in our church. Why is it that so many people after graduation want to flock to the “better” cities and places? When they are challenged, they usually give the typical answer – “because there are no job or opportunities here.”

When I hear this, I think maybe we are looking at the situation in the wrong way. Are we always called to go somewhere because of a job or a good opportunity? How about “creating” or “bringing” more jobs and good opportunities to a place?

I understand that not everyone is entrepreneurial, but this is something that we might have to address or even start talking about in the collective whole.

Why is it that the secular world are thinking about and even doing things that the Church of Jesus should be doing if we are serious about transformation? I am convinced that the cities will play a major role in the future of missions. We need to start from our Jerusalem and Judea so that we can go out to our Samaria and to the ends of this earth.

I am praying for people who will have a vision for the future and have the willingness to sacrifice for that vision. Great cities like NYC, Chicago, LA, Singapore, Seoul and etc. were not birthed by people who were always seeking for the easiest way out. What would it be like if Detroit was known for being one of the most happening places in the United States rather than for its murder rate?

It will truly be a transformasphere moment.

“Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jer 29:7).

Now, we have to wait until 2008 which will be the 100th year anniversary of their last World Series championship. It is hard to believe that the last time that they even played in the World Series was back in 1945.

Only true Cubs fans would know the heartaches of being a die-hard Cubs fan – true loyalty.

God blessed us with a glorious day. In fact, it was probably the hottest and the most humid day in the 11 years of H-Games history. But it was still fun competing with the married couples’ small group and hanging out with some of the other small groups in our church.

This year, the H-Games committee tried to vary things up with a mathematical twist. One event involved solving a math equation (I guess this was to encourage the non-athletic guys). Even with some PhD’s and MD’s in our group, we lost… so much for the brains huh? Haha!

I think it is the age… without the brawn, we cannot keep up with the younger guys. Christina and I were sharing how we have been doing H-Games or mini-Olympics (this is what we use to call it when we were in college) for close to 17+ years. I think it is time to hang up our shoes :-)

Overall, it was great seeing the whole church come together.

On my flight back to Ann Arbor from Dallas, I had a conversation with an ER doctor. It was a pretty interesting conversation as we talked about everything from religion to raising kids. In the midst of the conversation, we realized that we had a common acquaintance in Ann Arbor… small world huh?

But the part that resonated with me was her passion for what she does. She loves the emergency room because it allows her to be in the intense action and the quick second decisions that have to be made on the spot exhilarates her. We also talked about how there are many residents who declare bankruptcy because of all the loans and spending that they accrue over the years. Even with their salary, it is just easier for them not to take responsibility.

I think we both silently agreed that some people go into medicine because of the money. But this should never be the reason why we go into a specific field or vocation.

I am always amazed to see people who do things because of their passion in what they do and hence they find pleasure doing those things. This is when life is meaningful and significant. Ask around and I think you will come to the same conclusion.

May we find pleasure in what we do because we are passionate about it. If not, then we have to look hard in the mirror and ask ourselves some tough questions.

Tomorrow we have our annual HMCC H-Games. All the small groups in our church gather together for a crazy time of competing against one another in various events and games. Everything all culminates to the last event, which is the tug-of-war.

I always look forward to the H-Games because:

It is going to be awesome… bring on the war paint… ah-whoo!
 
 
 

 
Here are some very focused married couples… who is that man with the long hair?

 

 
 
 
Today is the International Day of Quds which is observed by many Muslims around the world as an event to proclaim their opposition of Israel’s control of Jerusalem. It is practiced on the last Friday of Ramadan where all Muslims join together in solidarity for their support of the Palestinian Muslims.

The picture above was taken by the Associated Press in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. These kids look like they are about 7 or 8 years old. This picture epitomizes everything about discipleship and training the next generation. With guns in their hands (even if it is a toy gun) and slogans that depicts hate, it just shows what we are faced with in the next 10-15 years when some of these boys will turn 18 and 23 years old.

This is why Christians need to wake up and start discipling a new generation of Christ-followers who will be willing to lay down their life, not motivated by hate for the infidels and a false belief that there will be 72 virgins waiting for them in heaven if they die as a martyr, but by the incomparable love of God through Jesus Christ.

God is doing some awesome things in HMCC of Ann Arbor and in HMCC of Chicago. We are trying to publish a “HMCC Highlights” newsletter to keep all of you up-to-date of what God is doing in our churches. It is an opportunity to brag about what God is doing and to make Him famous.

We are trying to keep all our alumni in the loop of God’s faithfulness to HMCC. Also, as our church is growing we are trying to keep all the various lifestages up-to-date with the other lifestages.

It is my prayer that through this avenue we will be able to see God’s Goodness and worship Him for His Greatness and constantly trusting in His Graciousness.

You can check out some of the highlights here.

I pray that many of the alumni can write in and share with us how God is using you to send ripples out to the nations. We would love to hear from you.

Yesterday was another full day. It was packed with some great stories of God’s transformative power in the lives of people and even in nations. We heard from Suliasi Kurulo, who serves in Fiji and has planted 1,000 churches in 100 different nations; and also David Sobrepena, who serves in Philippines has trained up 270,000 leaders.

As I interacted with some of these leaders, I was reminded that they are ordinary people who have the passion, humility, and the obedience to follow hard after God. In the evening, there was a banquet for all the conference attendees. But the highlight of the banquet was the commissioning service. There were men who were getting commissioned in the men’s ministry and they all received a sword as their badge of honor. It was pretty inspiring to see these men lift up their swords as they consecrated themselves to God.

I am convinced that we need to raise up more godly men in our church. This is the only way we can reach families, communities and the world.

This morning we had one of the giants of the men’s ministry come and minister to us. Pat Morley, who wrote “Man in the Mirror,” shared from his life some powerful stories about what happens to several generations of families when one man makes a decision that is not in line with God’s will.

Then we ended the gathering with a powerful time of anointing. Some of the leaders anointed the participants with oil and prayed for God’s anointing on our lives.

I am ready to come back to the HMCC family and start giving out the rally cry for men to be “uncaged” and live out the purposes of God that He has given specifically to the men in this generation.
 
 
 

 
We had a powerful time of praying over Paul Cole, the son of Ed Cole who is now overseeing the whole Christian Men’s Network
 
 
 

 
We had a great Q&A session with a top notch panel
 
 
 

 
I squeezed in a picture Pat Morley after he signed my book
 
 
 

 
I really want one of those swords – an emblem of honor
 
 
 

 
I love it when they give out free books at conferences – more books to read!

There is something about being in the midst of people who are flowing in a higher dimension that brings inspiration to a person’s life. I have been inspired by some of these world leaders at this men’s conference. It is hard to describe in words what God is doing at this forum.

Last night we heard from Pastor Robert Barriger and Sunday Adelaja. There were powerful testimonies of how these two men are changing their nations with God’s favor and anointing. Even this morning, there were world leaders who were sharing about some of the things that God was doing all over the world. It just reminded me that God is a global God and that He desires to use the local church.

There was one thing that resonated with me this morning. One of the speakers said, “When you start realizing that God is speaking to different people around the world with the same thing, then you have to conclude that it is the Holy Spirit and not man!” Almost all the speakers were talking about to some extent the whole transformasphere movement that we have been talking about in our church. It was just incredible! At first I was incredulous, but the more I started to think about the situation, I realized that God is up to something BIG. He is moving in the hearts of God’s people to respond to bringing transformation to the various spheres of society. And it is happening… it is truly amazing!

Also, I have been getting a greater burden for the men’s ministry. It is great just being around men who know the importance of discipling other men. The cries in our prayers are deeper and we have been giving high-fives like crazy out here :-)

Here are some quotes and phrases that ring true:

Today, I am heading out to Dallas for the Lion’s Roar Men’s Conference that I was invited to. It is sponsored by the Christian Men’s Network, which was started by Ed Cole who is often known as the grandfather of all men’s ministry.

It is going to be pretty inspiring to be around some giants in the faith who have proven themselves in the men’s ministry and have discipled hundreds, if not thousands of men for Jesus Christ. In this historical forum, they are trying to launch a global men’s ministry. It is a movement throughout the world, where tops leaders are trying to raise up and disciple men for the Gospel.

I am looking forward to spending some time with Pastor Robert Barriger and getting to know some other leaders around the world.

I had a great time with the guys in Chicago this weekend. As soon as I arrived, some of pastors and I, went to downtown Chicago for some Malaysian food (this is one of our family’s favorite). I wanted to taste try this one restaurant that people have been talking about it, but it was closed until the beginning of October. Therefore we had a choice between “Three Happiness” or “Seven Wives Seafood”… hmm, we stuck with Three Happiness Chinese Restaurant. It was a good time of fellowship with pastors.

Then on Sunday, we celebrated our one year anniversary of God’s faithful in HMCC of Chicago. I preached on the whole transformasphere movement. We are praying that God will continue to network various people in our churches as well as in the AMI community of churches. We also had a picnic near the beach. We praised God for the beautiful weather. It seemed like September 30th was a day of b-days. We ended up celebrating Pastor Jimmy’s and another member’s b-day.

I then met up with Pastor Reggie Ramos from Immanuel Community Church. It was great hearing about some of the things that God was doing in his church.

Afterwards, I quickly rushed over to downtown Chicago for a meeting with some of the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) students. We have started a small group right on campus and we are in the process of developing a greater presence on this growing campus. We realized that there is a good possibility of us starting up a site here on this campus. The need is tremendous as we see thousands of people who are in need of the Gospel.

The vision of reaching the campus, to reach the community, to reach the city to then reach the world is becoming more of a reality.

Afterwards, I was introduced to one of the best gyros on the face of this earth in Greektown. My spirit, soul and stomach were truly blessed this weekend. Oh, the joys of serving the Lord.
 
 
 

 
Our HMCC of Chicago 1 year b-day cake
 
 
 

 
UIC small group which is blessed to have 3 freshmen sisters, affectionately known as “The Trio”