PASTOR PN MESSAGE

SOLD OUT FOR CHRIST

The Hope North America Camp this year was held on 25-27 July at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. There were 181 attendees, which is the highest participation we have had. This has shown us that the churches in North America have been continuously growing.

Next year, the camp will be held at Seattle and over 200 people are expected to join. This year’s camp was entitled ‘Sold Out for Christ’ that is our lives are totally sold out for Jesus, so we belong to Him and commit to Him. The speakers of this camp included Pastor Ben, Pastor Dinah, Pastor Sunee who was a blessing to many Thais and me.

We can see that the church of God has been growing. Now, in Canada we have Hope Vancouver and Hope Toronto and in US we have Hope Seattle, Hope LA, and Hope Chicago. A new group has just started in Minneapolis. Next San Jose and New York City will start and then Montreal. We thank God for His blessing that we can open many more churches in new cities.

In the camp, many people accepted Christ and many got baptised in water and in the Holy Spirit too. In the early morning, we held a prayer meeting to pray for the sick, and those who were in trouble and had needs.

Thank God for the great things He did at the Hope North America Camp this year.

God bless you
Pastor PN




Set in the beautiful Pepperdine University campus in Malibu, this year's Hope NA camp was always going to be special. The thought of going to Malibu was enough to get many of us excited. The drive along the Malibu beach was everything I imagined. [View Camp photos]

Praise Report:

• A camp first to see delegates from Michigan, Minnesota & New York
  
• A camp first for life-station fellowship times
  
• A camp record of 180+ delegates (representing 20% increase from 2007)
• A camp record of 6 salvations
• A camp record of 14 people water baptized, ranging from 16 to 59 years old
• A camp record of 12 people who got baptized in the Spirit
• A member healed from backache and another of knee problems

Significance of Commitment

Our main speaker Pastor PN took the first session on Friday night. His video presentation introducing the concept of commitment took us by surprise. It was an amazing footage of wildlife. He had put in a lot of effort to communicate the significance of being sold out. He rounded off the session with an altar call for healing.



Pastor PN took the second session on Saturday morning. He spoke on the characteristics of people sold out for Christ. His natural story-telling style was a hit among the audience. Then the afternoon featured a keenly contested soccer game between the pastors against a younger but equally committed team of members.




Renewing Commitment

I took the Saturday night session on losing commitment. As I prepared, I felt that I should emphasise loving Jesus. We as Christians are people who are in love with Jesus. We just want to help people know Jesus.

We want to help people prepare for that meeting at the end of time. At the end of the session, guests walked out to make first-time commitments to Jesus as Christians walked out to renew their commitment to Jesus.

Camp Workshops

Sunday morning started with workshop sessions. The culture track featured a workshop on homosexuality. This was important since California had just recently become the second state in the US to pass a law allowing homosexual marital unions.

Workshops led by Church Leaders

• Sold Out for Christ Students (Youth Track)
• No Man Left Behind (Leadership Track)
• Ministering in the Spirit (Worship Track)
• Evangelism for the Evangelism-challenged (Evangelism Track)
• What Does God Say about Homosexuality? (Culture Track)
• Thai Workshop (Language Track)

After this was water baptism in the university pool. Then Dinah took the afternoon plenary session on Growing Commitment. She had prepared special participant notes. She taught with her trademark clarity and conviction. A member from Canada said afterwards that he appreciated the change in pace and her practical teaching.

Mission to the World

Pastor PN took the Sunday night session. He preached from Genesis after showing a video of Africa missions. He interspersed his sermon with stories of Thailand national missions. He gave the altar call and people just came forward to give their lives to missions. We prayed for those who responded. Many got baptised in the Holy Spirit.



Then I spoke about missions in the Americas. We rejoiced that a care group has started in Minneapolis and we will start soon in San Jose and New York City all in the US. We rejoiced that two leaders just landed in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We hope to land a team in Montreal, Canada soon. The challenge was that we are not yet in Central America and the Caribbean. So we prayed corporately for God to open the way for us starting in Mexico City.

Memorable Moments:

• Powerful life testimonies from David Lee (Seattle), Richard Chau (LA) and Joan Collison (New York City)
• Annual Soccer Game: once again the pastors prevail 3-2
• Inspiring preaching by Pastor PN on Mission Americas Night with over 70 people giving their lives to world missions

Reaching North America for Christ

I took the final Monday morning session on the commitment of the early church. Joan had just testified earlier about the burden for New York City. Now I spoke about a culture of commitment, that the world today is starving for the milk of human kindness. God was looking at the hearts of people for sold-out people to reflect His character. I reminded that we had to be committed to start new churches and help new churches thrive.

At the response time, I asked the people to imagine what if the Evangelical Christians in North America would pray and witness daily. What if all 37 million of us intercede daily. What if all 37 million share their testimonies daily.

What a difference this would make! So I challenged each person to build a culture of commitment - in their life, in their circle of influence and in their church. That we would build this culture and then come back at next year's camp in Seattle to tell of all the Lord has done because we did. The people said "yes". So we held hands and prayed. That brought Camp 2008 to a fitting close.

Pastor Ben KC Lee with input from Annie Tran