The first thing that I experienced when I landed in Ann Arbor was this acute feeling that things were different. In my first trip back to the States in November 2009, there was this overwhelming feeling of being “back home.” In fact, it was a great feeling. But this time around, things felt so surreal and a bit confusing for me. Maybe it was the repercussions of being out of the country for 8 months. I am not sure. But it was definitely a new experience for me.

So far, on Monday I have met up with the Ann Arbor pastors, the new Jakarta Team, and hung out with Pastor Andrew and his family. Then on Tuesday morning I flew out to Austin. I spent some time with Pastor Ben and his family. In the evening we had a prayer gathering for HMCC of Austin, where I shared God’s heart for what He is doing around the world and what we sensed that God wanted to do in Austin. It was a good time of prayer.

I also met some new faces. I was encouraged to meet people who came to know the Lord this year, as well as people who received Christ last year. I had some great conversations with some of the first members of the church back in 2008. God is truly faithful.

Then I ended up talking to one of the leaders until the wee hours of the night (hence this 4AM post).

We still have a full schedule for the next few days here in Austin and then I will be heading back to HMCC of Ann Arbor to minister on the weekend. Then next week, it is off to visit HMCC of Chicago.

Thanks for praying. God is definitely giving me the strength.

Due to my packed schedule, I am trying to microblog more via Twitter, which then goes directly to Facebook. If you want to keep up with what is happening here in the States, you can follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

More to come…

The first time back to the States in November 2009, I went with a different mentality. I think I went with some trepidation wondering how the church was transitioning without me being there. But to my delight, the church was strong and growing; and the other churches were also experiencing God’s blessings.

I am so proud of our guys. They did not just try to “survive” but instead they determined to thrive in the midst of all the transitions. We have seen many new people give their lives to Christ; and we have seen the spiritual foundations of the members strengthened.

On this trip there are 4 clear goals for me:

I have vowed not to make this second trip as crazy as the first one, where I was going back to back with non-stop meetings, but as I am looking at my schedule, it is not going to happen. It is just too hard with the limited time that I have in each of the churches. Therefore, I am asking for extra prayer and a lot of espressos!

God is doing some great things all over the world. God is moving and we want to be in step with Him. I am excited to come and visit for 2 weeks. I can’t wait to share all that God is doing in Indonesia and even Singapore!

 
 
This is a good reminder, as well as a good challenge.

In HMCC the spiritual fervor for evangelism is set by me because God has called me to lead our church. The small group leaders set the temperature for evangelism because they are leading LIFE Groups. The committed people set the tone for evangelism because they are reaching out to the newcomers in our church.

There is no magic bullet when it comes to raising the spiritual fervor for evangelism.

Over the years, I have learned that it really does come down to the leaders. As one leadership guru once said, “Everything rises and falls with leadership.”

This puts a greater responsibility on the leaders to know the heart of God by spending time with Him; and also, we have to get our hearts lit up by God’s zeal for lost people. Doing a lot of good “programs” or setting up various activities alone will not work.

This fire for the lost comes from prayer.

We always know what people are passionate about just from their prayers.

“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Ps 2:8).

You can read up on some of most recent updates as of March 5th 12:20AM EST) here.

When you look throughout history, you will notice that many revolutions have been started by students. It is during this stage of life where people are driven by ideals; and they are fearless in seeing those dreams become a reality. They haven’t reached the stage of life where the longing for security, success, and significance drive most of their decisions.

As I was reading up on the California situation, I couldn’t help but to think about the potential that college students have to bring forth global transformation. With their idealism, passion, courage and their willingness to take risks, they can be a powerful force for good.

What it would be like if we raised up a generation of college students with a vision to bring the reality of God’s Kingdom to every campus, city, country and continent?

It starts with one transformed life at a time. As students experience the power of the Gospel, they will inevitably want to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I am just amazed that I have the privilege of playing a part in the process.

What a great imagery.

Satan is methodical. Satan is patient. Satan knows our vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Satan has good timing.

This video gave me a fresh perspective on the battle that is constantly before us. Satan waits until we are “napping” spiritually. This is the reason why in the sentence before the Apostle Peter said, “Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil” (1 Peter 5:8, NLT).

We need to stay focused and alert in order to know when Satan is trying to attack. The hunt and the attack are inevitable, but our response is sometimes questionable. This is why we need to look to the One who is in us. The One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world (1 Jn 4:4).
 
 

After our gathering, we all decided to head out to Chinatown and have some good Chinese food. To our surprise, they had a lot of different activities and events going on due to the height of the Chinese New Year. We saw everything from a motor vehicle float presentation to a traditional Chinese dragon dance.

As I was taking in the sights and sounds, one of our alumni gave me a quick Chinese History 101. He explained why the Chinese do some of the traditions and gave further insights to the mentality of the Singaporean Chinese.

I am just amazed how our experiences and our history determine how we behave today. One thing I have noticed very clearly is that in the Asian culture a lot of things are about prosperity, success, safety, and wealth. All too often, these facets are linked together.

In order for Asian people to really live out the Gospel, we might have to abandon certain mindsets that have been ingrained in us through various cultural traditions and expectations; or shall I say, we will have to “redeem” them for Christ.
 
 
 

 
This is the Dragon Dance where he throws out things to the crowd for prosperity
 
 
 

 
A Singaporean dish called Yu-Sheng, where everyone mixes the food together and wishes each other prosperity and good fortunes
 
 
 

 
The largest Buddhist Temple in Singapore where people go to ask for good fortunes and prosperity

In the assembly, they had a slide show of the event with the song, “Do They See Jesus in Me” playing in the background. At first, the pictures spoke to me, as it depicted the kids sharing God’s love, but then as I listened to the words of the song, it messed me up.

I quickly sent myself an e-mail to look up the song.

When I got home I did a search and realized that the song was by Joy Williams. I, then quickly went on YouTube to listen to the song again. I came across this video with not only the song and lyrics, but with pictures portraying the heart behind the song.

The reason why it moved me so much is because this has been a long standing prayer of my heart. Many times, I don’t feel like I portray Christ very well in my life. But I am constantly asking God to do His work in me. It is only by His grace we are able to even show Christ in us.

I am hoping and believing in the word of Apostle Paul – “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Co 3:18)
 
 

We live in a society, where we wince at the thought suffering, hardships, and challenges. But without challenges in our lives, we will never grow and be the person that God destined for us to be.

In my years of watching and learning from great leaders, I have not found one leader that does not love a challenge. In fact, almost everyone that I respect and know in the field of leadership are constantly motivated by various difficulties and challenges they face. I guess there is something about a challenge that fuels the fire of every leader.

Challenges require faith. Challenges require taking risks. Challenges require leaders to lead. Therefore, maybe challenges are avenues for leaders to shine.

Believe it or not, we will all be leaders to some extent. We will be parents where we will have to lead. We will be managers in a company where we will have to lead. We will be in group projects where we will have to lead. We will be volunteering at an organization where we will have to lead.

Unless we are resolved and resigned to the fact that we will face challenges, we will not be able to lead effectively. This is why being connected to God (Jn 15:5) is a very crucial part in leading. As we are connected to the God of the universe, we are able to not only face the challenge but to overcome it with faith.

John Maxwell, the leadership guru in his article, “A Leader’s Greatest Motivation: A Challenge,” writes,

 
 
If you are serious about growing as a leader, then remember that challenges are your friend and the very avenue in which to develop as a leader.

Usually “cognitive dissonance” is defined as, “the feeling of discomfort or pain when new evidence conflicts with a current belief or perspective, which causes a discrepancy between what a person believes and their behavior. In order to bring some resolution to this state of mind, something must change in order to eliminate or reduce the discrepancy.”

In a state of cognitive dissonance, a person has a few choices – either to discard the new evidence or discard the belief that they have held. Some people would try to integrate the new information and lessen the dissonance.

This is something I see that happens whenever we are confronted with the Gospel. I am not talking about just the intellectual assent that many people in the Church ascribe to but rather the real life confrontation, which causes us to re-evaluate our lives.

One good example is something that I witness every year on the college campus. There are students who come to the University of Michigan thinking that have a good grasp of the Gospel and the ramifications of being a Christ-follower. But they are in shock when they realize that the Gospel and being a Christ-follower demands their whole life. When their insecurities and self-centeredness begin to surface and get challenged, they start feeling the cognitive dissonance.

People start realizing that what they knew about Jesus, His call to discipleship and the local church, do not match up with what the Bible clearly lays out. In reality, people have been shaped more by cultural Christianity that reinforces a consumer-mentality, than the biblical standard.

Choice is clear.

Either discard the belief of easy Christianity and start surrendering your whole life to Christ or discard what Christ has stated in the Gospels.

The only way to do the latter is through rationalization – which sadly to say, many people have done.

This same thing happens to many single working adults. When they graduate from college and start working in the marketplace for the first time, they face this cognitive dissonance. Everything that they have learned when they were in college begins to be challenged. These single adults will usually discard everything that they have learned. The hope is that they are able to integrate the new information and stick with convictions based on Scripture.

But it is not that easy.

Sometimes the easier and the cowardly thing to do is to blame people for the cognitive dissonance. Whether the blame is put on a leader or a church, the lack of responsibility for their spiritual lives is pretty amazing.

This is why I am a firm believer of people going through cognitive dissonance. It really shows our true colors and it exposes what we are truly made of. It humbles us. It makes us more desperate. It makes us appreciate the Gospel that much more.

Jill Carattini who works with Ravi Zacharias wrote an article that talks about this cognitive dissonance in a person’s life, she writes,

 
 
It is only when we are able to process the cognitive dissonance with a God-given perspective that we will find greater peace and freedom in our lives. This is how transformation starts and occurs, until we face the next cognitive dissonance.

There is something about visually seeing things that captures the imagination.

Since we are all so different, we will focus in on different parts of the picture or video. We will interpret things from our perspectives and experiences. I am just amazed how God can use the arts and the media to communicate a message.

I am hoping and praying that we will be able to see more people within our HMCC churches raised up who will use their gifts and talents with the arts and media to share the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Check out this video which was made by Sussex Safer Roads. It is a message about the importance wearing seatbelts. When I first watched it, it was so powerful that it left me speechless. In fact, I was so mesmerized by it that I had to watch it several times.

It is a powerful video with a powerful message.

What would it be like if we can produce a powerful video with the most powerful message of all – the Gospel?