Bible Conference in Vancouver: “A Family Church”
Pastor Simon Eng and his wife, Lai Eng, were our special speakers at this year’s Hope Vancouver Bible Conference, themed “A Family Church”. Pastor Simon shared specifically about building strong relationships between husband and wife, parent and children, and brothers and sisters in the church, and also taught about boy-girl relationships (BGR). Sister Lai Eng shared about the "Buffalo and Butterfly": the differences between men and women in their character and strength and how despite this, they can complement one another.
Pastor William Ao
Hope Vancouver
Hope Toronto, Canada Camp
Pastor William Ao from Hope Vancouver shared his experiences at Toronto Camp.....
[Reno & Sharon Chow - Hope Toronto Leaders]
The trip to Toronto camp and retreat was exciting and fun. On May the 17th, my wife and I took the first flight out of Vancouver at 6:00 am. The early flight meant that we had to be up by 3:30 am. We were met by Daniel and his wife, Loretta at the airport when we landed at 1:40 pm. They drove us straight to the camp. The scenery on the way was beautiful. There were many lakes and many unique small towns and people were fishing by the lakes. When we got to the camp, we were greeted by the rest of the brothers and sisters from Hope Toronto. There were 17 adults and 9 children all together.
I shared the following messages at the camp:
- The Hearts of the Parent,
- How Jesus Values His Church? And
- Building Up Godly Characters for Ministries.
On Saturday we had a great program with a roast pork dinner dessert. In the evening, there was praise and worship, games, and a campfire. The kids had lots of fun with barbecuing sweet corn, sweet yams, and marshmallows.
On Sunday, everyone was up early because we could not wait to spend precious time with one another and with the Lord. We had a great breakfast and then went straight to the meeting room. The meeting started with the Morning Prayer. In the prayer meeting, everyone was touched by the presence of God. Many brothers and sisters sung spiritual song to praise the Lord.
We then had the praise and worship where many sensed the spirit of God in their midst. We sung spiritual song again for a long time and words of prophecy was given in the meeting.
Then, I preached my first sermon at the camp. The response to the sermon was overwhelming. Every couple came out to the altar call, including a visiting couple. The new couple accepted Christ at the altar.
The Sunday afternoon was fun because we played basketball. Everyone had a chance to score and we had a great time. In the evening, we had another wonderful time with the Lord in Praise & Worship and the teaching.
Again, the response to the teaching was overwhelming. Everyone’s spirit was lifted up when the evening was over.
Monday was our last day at the camp. The day was beautiful. We had one last opportunity to spend time with another in the presence of God. The Praise &Worship was again awesome. The teaching drew a strong response. We then had another game of basketball. Finally, we all headed home sweet home. I hope to attend the camp again next year with more fun and more people. It was such a great camp.
Testimony written by Pastor William Ao
Hope London Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival
Recently God opened another door for me in the market place ministry. I joined the Committee of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers UK Chapter and I was given the task of organising this year's Dragon Boat team. The London Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival is an annual event sponsored by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London.
By the 8th June, The Dragon Boat Day, I managed to recruit a team of 21 paddlers and one drummer, mostly engineers plus three of our church members.
There were 44 teams entering this year, including 3 club teams or the "professionals". Each team had three heats, with the best eight entering the Final. All our members were novices, with only a few having any dragon racing experience. With just one practice under our belts, a top ten finish would have been an amazing result.
The secret of dragon boat racing (involving 16 paddlers) is synergy, not power. 16 paddles working in unison will generate more speed than 16 powerful paddlers who are not. That’s what I tried to work on and emphasised in my briefing before each race. The result was an excellent team spirit .
The race was a 250m dash. Each heat was a four boat race. We won the first heat comfortably in 1 min and 18 seconds. Our 2nd heat improved by four seconds, beaten only by a club team. We won the 3rd heat again with 1 min. 18 seconds. Amazingly, our best time of 1 min 14 secs got us into the Final. Although we did not do well in the Final, since by then, we were all totally exhausted, it was incredible that we got into the Final nonetheless and I give all the glory to God!
Through this event, we have learnt a valuable lesson on the power of synergy. We have also made more than 20 new friends. We are working on activities to reach out to them. I pray and hope that all of them will be saved one day!
Hope Auckland Camp: A Mission - Minded Church
The theme of this year’s annual camp was called a “Mission-Driven Church”. We had a total of 52 adults and 13 kids. The camp was held at the start of May in the beautiful foothills of the Waitakere Ranges in Auckland. Amidst the beautiful greenery of the camp site, the church received a fresh challenge to impact the world with the message of the gospel.
Watch Camp Video Camp
During the camp, many were inspired, as evidenced by the number of people who responded to the call to be involved in the mission field in one way or another. It was truly a heart-warming sight to see numerous people rising up to the challenge of future roles in the pastoral ministry. Even as the word of God began to stir within the hearts of the more mature, the younger ones were not left out either.
Two newcomers to our church, both still in their teens, made decisions to be disciples of Jesus Christ during the camp. At the end of the last service, many lives were deeply touched, as people wept openly and prayed for one another.
Truly, the presence of the living God was amongst us during the camp. May the Lord of the Harvest continue to call and rise up many workers with a missionary outlook from our church. It is not the church of God that has a mission in the world, but the God of missions who has a church in this world. [View Camp photos Website]
Pastor Bernard & Angela Soh
Hope Auckland, New Zealand
Hope Games Malaysia Central Region KL
May 1st is a blessed day where workers can take that well deserved break. However, this day means more than just a holiday for Hope KL churches. It saw everyone rise up very early to prepare their hearts, minds and soul and head to the UNITEN Sports Stadium for HOPE GAMES, with this year’s theme being ‘Unity, Fellowship and Spirit’.
The stadium was filled with people wearing their team colours. Hope KLCC came in blue, Hope Serdang in white and Hope PJ in their favourite red. Praise the Lord that our daughter churches Hope Mentakab, Hope Ipoh, Hope Kuantan, Hope Kuala Terengganu and Hope Kota Bharu made their first appearance at HOPE GAMES. However a special mention to the special group of ‘men and women in black’ from Hope Serdang who formed the strong and dedicated committee team.
HOPE GAMES kicked off with representatives from each centre marching in. This year, we were blessed by the 3rd Company of KL Boys Brigade. The boys, in full uniform and with elaborate instruments, wowed the crowd with truly impressive performances. With songs praising our Lord Jesus flooding the stadium, sister Jenny Kee and team led the Hope Family in morning warm-ups.
After that, the Games officially began! Simultaneously, basketball, volleyball, athletics, netball and even chess were played. There was even a program catered for the kids to keep them entertained.
There was indeed something for everybody, even if they weren’t competing. Some were cheering loudly for their favourite team, or busily writing down names for the ‘My Family of 30’ challenge. The idea is find the names and contacts of 30 new friends from the stadium with prizes up for grabs.
As the day progressed, the sky suddenly darkened with a few drops of rain. I believe many started to pray for rain to go away because the Hope people want to play! Praise God, it was just false alarm and soon the sun shone again and people applied more sun-block and joined the long queue at the ice-cream stall.
Speaking about food, there was something for every stomach with the delights from the stalls too tempting to ignore. All proceeds went to a very good cause: church building, funding for camps etc. Even the children contributed selling their ice-cold drinks.
Finally, after a tiring but fruitful day, the Hope family gathered to watch and cheer for their teams in the final event: the tug-of-war. They also stayed back to watch Hope Serdang received the trophy for overall champion.
However, we were reminded that winning was not everything but it’s the Unity, Fellowship and Spirit binding this family that counts. As Pastor Moses said, “All of us have a journey (a race) of faith to win”. And all glory from that victory goes to God and God only.
Hope Hong Kong: Blood Donation
Praise the Lord for giving us brothers and sisters who have a willing heart in being the salt of light for our God in serving the community. 90 brothers and sisters gave their support by coming to donate their blood, with 72 giving successful donations. The invaluable willingness and support of our brothers and sisters created a loving and caring atmosphere and is crucial in our mission for being the salt and light for the community.
At 4pm, upon the arrival of the Red Cross, Hope Centre was creatively changed into a blood donation centre by 4:30pm. Volunteers who came to donate blood were welcomed at the Registration Bay. Upon completion of a medical history form together with a private medical screening, haemoglobin tests were conducted on all the volunteers. The most exciting moment was when the 72 successful volunteers actually donated their blood. If the donor weighed less than 110 lbs (49.5kg), they could donate 350ml of blood. Other donors were able to donate up to 450ml. The Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service finally departed around midnight. The Red Cross staff members was pleased with our willingness and sacrificial spirit and eagerly anticipates our next blood donation event.
We thank God that some of our blood donors brought along their friends to join us for this meaningful event. By being the salt and light for our God, we hope that we can show the love and care of God to the visitors and touch their spirit.
Praise God for the willingness and sacrificial spirit of the donors and those who coordinated and assisted in this event. It is a blessing that we can serve the Lord and serve the community together. Let's continue to take good care of our bodies and pray that more brothers and sisters will be willing to lend their support by giving blood and love.
