Sharing the Gospel through Sports? (part 1)

Its been an pretty productive day today, as i went down to Emmanuel house(SYFC HQ) to meet up with my ex soccer coach Ngiap Tai (Sports&Adventure Ministry Co-ordinator) to do an interview about sports ministry and to discuss with him on a personal project that i have been doing as a sports intern, also got the opportunity to interview Eric another person working in this ministry there! And i'm certainly really excited as i got back so many insights from them on this area of Sports ministry! =)

Below is just a preview of the sports ministry hypothesis that God has inspired me to do, and been working on it the past month! Hope to share the entire article with you all here soon! So do catch it! =D

Sharing the Gospel through Sports? –Ben Lau

¹⁵He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Mark 16:15 (New International Version)

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Short conversation with a pre-believer friend...

Ben: Want to join my church team for this soccer tournament?

Friend: Yea sure, but it’s not an evangelistic programme right? If it is I won‘t go.

Ben: Nope, Its only just soccer!

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1) Introduction

These are the usual responses for people nowadays when they hear of Christian events! Thus, outreach at the ”PRE-Evangelism” stage are carried out where words like God, Jesus etc. will hardly be out rightly spoken of in such events, the most only in a very subtle ways.

Sports is one platform that brings a non threatening background where almost anyone can relate to in some way, be it in the pool, field, court etc. And these are platforms where the church can meet the community.

Currently as a Sports intern in church, I will be sharing my journey in this personal project that God has inspired me to do. I will be consolidating my thoughts of both my passions of serving in the church and relating both sports & evangelism. As I looked back my life from my secondary school days, to my poly years where I also started to actively serve in Church in the youth ministry. It’s amazing to see how God has placed certain activities, ministries and inspiring spiritual leaders to influence me to what I will be sharing here.

"God plans life in such a way that the greatest treasures are concealed, waiting for you to discover them. And there is no thrill like the thrill of making a great discovery. - Selwyn Hughes"

2) Abstract

I would like to share the context of this article, starting with a short background of my life as these are the circumstances that came across my path over the years that influence the way I view the ministry that God has called me for. And it’s amazing how God has use all this to give me some sense and preparation of where God has called me to serve.

What I’m about to share is a vision that God has impressed on my heart so strongly once in my initial seeking of my Calling in life, dated back on 7 October 2008. I have never publically shared this before but I believe now I’m ready to share it. This was what was impressed on my heart, “To reach out to the world, by starting with equipping the people in the church to prepare them for outreach to the World.”

Catch the rest sooooooon... =) Its going to be the biggest write up that God has ever inspired me to do in my life so far! =)

YM@ SENTOSA 2009!

It sure was a fun hot sunny sunday, at Palawan Beach,Sentosa with my sec 1 small grp, God's Everlasting Love (GEL)!
It was the biggest small grp attendance for my sec 1 grp, with quite a number of new comers! With about 24 of us in total! And i'm really sure everyone "Gelled" together really well! =)

This was also the first crosstrainer event for quite a long while, that i decided to be with my grp more instead of the crosstrainers! Sry XTs, but got more priority to be with my sec1s this time.

(GEL!... before the event started!)


(some of the lovely crosstrainers!)


(Some icebreakers we did before the main event!)


(Watch how shy marcus & grace were when we were supposed to hold each other hands! =)
Such a cute couple..hee )

The 15 task we had to do!

(JUMP into the sea, do a human pyramid)

(bury a member in the sand)

(Video of thaddeus getting buried in sand)

(Video of GEL doing a dance around a public couple)

Killer dodgeball!




(Video of the Killer dodgeball!)

PALAWAN BEACH DEATH RALLY!

(XTs preparing the floats for the PALAWAN BEACH DEATH RALLY RACE!)


(GEL preparing for the PALAWAN BEACH DEATH RALLY RACE !)

(The starting position!)

(GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)



(Videos of the PALAWAN BEACH DEATH RALLY RACE!)


(PICNIC!!!!! Our usual succesful picnics where everyone brings food!)

(THE LOVELY G.E.L group!)

The 40 000 Visitor Challenge is open again.....

WHO WILL WIN THE 40 000 visitor to my blog this time????

With past winners..
Simon Lin for the 10 000 visitor award!
Glenda Lau for the 20 000 winner award...
Stacy louis Lorayne 30 000 winner award!

Current visitor count as on this post...38981 .... 129 more to go! QUICK TAGGG your counts!!!!

To be eligible!
Do TAG on my board your visitor count each time u enter! And if its the 40 000 count! REMEMBER to take a "PRINT SCREEN" and save it to a JPEG file and sent it to me to verify your win!
AND YOU STAND TO WIN SOMETHING GREAT FROM ME! =)

(Flash back entry... Wednesday, September 03, 2008

(The photo of the 30 000 visitor challenge that made Stacy eligible for the award!!!)

(Flash back entry... Thursday, November 22, 2007)

THE WINNER OF THE 20 000 VISITOR IS...........
GLENDA LAU!!!! from wesley ym!.... CONGRATULATIONS!!!!


(the printscreen taken from glenda)

(Flash back entry... Tuesday, March 06, 2007 )
WINNER OF THE 10 000 VISITOR to my blog!!!!! this is also the 252 post!!!
and the winner for the looong awaited 10 000 visitor is to my faithful blog reader FOXIN! aka SIMON LIN from RP CRUSADE!!!!!CONGRATULATION!!!!!!!

First Runner-up in my debut Tchoukball tournament!

I'm really HOOKED onto TCHOUKBALL now! After just competing in my first ever tchoukball tournament! Courtesy of Reon inviting me to his Paya Lebar Kovan team!
It sure was a great experience as i played as a Centre Pivot (CP) role for most of the matches and one match as a Right wing(RW)! Im also really grateful for great members in this team who really helped me a lot in the techniques and positioning as i tried a taste at my first tournament! And WOW, im sure amazed that we all got all the way to the Finals, sadly to lose then after winning all the matches in the grp stage. Well im quite contented winning the "Mah Bow Tan Tchoukball Tournament" First Runner Up medal on my first taste of a such a tournament!


(photos of the other match up!)


(The toughest match in the preliminary round! We beat them to Top the group to face YDC 1 in the Finals!!)

(The Pre-match talk before the EPIC Finals between the experience YDC 1 and us the Paya Lebar Kovan!)

(reon sharing the tactical play before the finals)



(The EPIC match up between the National World Games Team against the National Training Squad Team! This is the highest level in Tchoukball in Singapore!)

(First Runner up- KOVAN!............ YDC 1 - The champions!)

(the Kovan jersey that Ian lend me!, the Silver Medal we won! =)

At the end of the day, that 2 days tournament sure got one nice bad bruise on my hip(from diving at the second line), and also got 2 of my thumbs,& abt 4 fingers really strain from the intense back to back matches, but its all worth it for this game! Really inspired to train even more from now on!

Even today coming across an article about this new sports in the straits times got me really excited at where tchoukball is going to in Singapore! With more and more schools and communities being aware of this Sport! Im just so excited to be part of it!
TCHOUKBALLLLLLL! "A Sport for all" =)

TCHOUKBALL!!!!!

Been playing quite alot of tchoukball suddenly the past week! 4 times in 5 days to be exact!
It all started when we had a tchoukball coaches meet up on tuesday, and after the meet up, was somehow call in to join Reon's tchoukball team for a competition next weekend, so had my first official tchoukball traning with the Paya Lebar Kovan CC which is supposedly the one of the best club in singapore! And wow! were they super good! It was such a high level training that made me all the more wanting to train up my techniques on this sport!

The following day,weds, was called up to play a friendly tchoukball match against a girls team, and the next day on thurs, we had tchoukball training with the outram team and had a wesley ym vs outram friendly after, and on satuday, just yesterday, the whole day was spent with the outram boys as they took part in their first ever B'Div inter school tchoukball competition! And they came in top 6 in singapore! not bad arh! hhahas! oks bcoz there was only 8 teams! Almost had a winning streak of 3 wins in the last matches of the league, but only won 2 in the end... =) Anyways! Good job boys!

Thursday

(outram vs wesley ym)

Saturday
B division Inter school Tchoukball

(outram vs pinyi!)

(Clash of the titans! Watch how fast their game were! Pinyi vs Bendemeer!)

(the outram boys!)

(Video of outram vs KCPS)

(Outram vs KCPS)

(Outram beat ACS International!)

(oh well 6th place in the end! not that bad for a first tournament and a team who has only been training for like 2mths?)

Oh my...im starting to prefer Tchoukball then soccer now!!! =/

Temasek Design School Graduation Ceremony 2009!

After 3 memorable years in Temasek Design School, we have all finally graduated!
This batch is supposedly the MOST number of graduands! Also with the highest scoring combined grades overall in TDS!

And looking at the different prize winners! Its amazing to see how this were the people that you use to know at year 1, I still remember the days at our First design orientation camp in 2006 and now seeing how they have all grown so much in the 3 years here, and i definitely can say that many of them will soon be TOP DESIGNERS in the industry in the future!

(Some of my wonderful IAD classmates!..all dress up before wearing our gown! =)

(Derek (our IAD lecturer!) the emcee for the ceremony!)


(A video of me collecting my cert)

(One of my good buddies in IAD ... Gifford zhang about to collect his cert of Merit & Prize!)

(The final dance segment for the TDS Ceremony 2009 )

(some of by buddies from IAD!!!!!!!!! will miss this guys!)

(Me with my graduation gown and Cert!)

(my Mom, me, dad)

(My Diploma in Interior Architecture & Design! & i had my new year resolution achieved of my GPA of 3.01 to end my 3 years here! After scoring a B+ for my FYP, almost got an A but pretty contented with thi score! =)

Arms Open Wide

I'm so glad this song by Hillsong United is finally officially out!!! Just hearing this song reminds me so much of one of the greatest YM CAMP in 2008 ever! When ever i hear this song again, it reminds me of the worship sessions we had at the PGP auditorium!

The lyrics of this song is really meaningful! The importance of just laying it all with full surrender of open arms to the Lord!

Do hear it! A reallyyyyy niceeeeeee song! =)

ARMS OPEN WIDE (Hillsong United- Tear down the walls album 2009)

VERSE 1:
Take my life I lay it down
At the cross where I am found
All I have I give to You oh God

VERSE 2:
Take my hands and make them clean
Keep my heart in purity
That I may walk in all You have for me

CHORUS:
Oh here I stand
Arms open wide
Oh I am Yours
And You are mine

VERSE 3:
Take my moments and my days
Let each breath that I take
Be ever only for You oh God

BRIDGE:
My whole life is Yours
I give it all
Surrendered to Your Name
And forever I will pray
Have Your way
Have Your way

IAD@SENTOSA... Happenings!@The Third Place!!!

IAD@ Sentosa!!!

Monday!
Had a nice reunion with some of my IAD coursemates, as we gathered at sentosa also to celebrate Gifford and Jayden's birthday! It was a nice gathering as we started of with alotttttttt of foood! Mainly buns from junwei's breadshop, a bunch of sushi, alot of packet drinks & J.CO donuts!

The gathering started off, with us playing some beach games, and we were desperately looking for a ball,so we found this 1.5 litre bottle and use it to play touch rugby with it! hahas! thats how desperate we were! later we bought a cheap red rubber ball(with a smiley face) and had some more beach games, tried CONTACT RUGBY for the first time! It sure was SUPER FUNNN!!!!! Banging and running past each other on the beach! And with some fun games of captain ball too! =)


(We split the teams for the captain ball match!)

(The exciting captain ball match began!)

During the match, scrabed my foot on this rusty screw that was portruding out of the sand! And that screw was unremovable! sighhh....


(the exciting match up!)

Click links below to video of Rugby & Captain ball match!

Video to The Rugby match!

Video to The Captain ball match!


(The 15 of us that made it for this IAD gathering!)

Headed to VIVO!


(we celebrated gifford and jayden's birthday! using the donuts as the cake! we litted candles to it too! )

The happenings over the week at the THIRD PLACE!

I'm sure enjoying myself on my 3rd week at the third place now! Getting to know this wonderful bunch of outram students! =) And learnt some skills of pool from thist talented bunch of pool players!

(bala teaching the art of pool!)

(Jamie showing that he can use a "KITCHEN GLOVE" to play pool too! hhaha!)

(We did a record height for this Janga! game)