It’s that time of the year again!! Yup! It’s Thanksgiving; a time where we really show our appreciation to each other! And the theme this year was Celebrities!

Everyone really came prepared to look like Celebrities and dressed up to the nines!

Some came like a character in Counter Strike and 步惊云 in 《风云》, while others came dressed as celebrities, like Tony Leung.

To start it off, we had “Guess Who Am I?”, hosted by Joanne and Lucas. We had a fun time playing Scissors Paper Stone to get a chance to guess who the celebrity was!

After a great time of fun and games, we had some powerful testimonies.

If 2008 had been not quite a great year, we can still do the best we can and be an overcomer! The testimony that Darwin shared, reminds us that, when the going gets tough, the Tough gets going! So don’t give up waiting for your breakthrough, it’s just around the corner. Who knows? You might be the next Darwin; encouraging people with what you have overcome!

As for those who had a great 2008, you can identify yourself with Vincent. He shared about how he was able to go from glory to glory in the year 2008. Even though he was just a normal ordinary person, but with God, he was able to rise up to the occasion and shine extraordinarily at home and in school. He even became one of the Manhunt finalists at the very first Asia Conference!

Drum roll…

The highlight of the whole Thanksgiving was The Grammys Awards! For the past one year, many had sown in much time, effort and love in to our cell groups. So this was the time to show how much they are loved and appreciated.

First up, we had the Magnet award – for those who had plowed with love and sown in much time and energy into reaching out. These people attracts people to them, presenting the people of charisma!

Next, we have the Nobel Prize award – these noble awardees practically did everything in the cell group! They had been working hard, so now showing our appreciation, we had some Noble prizes for them.

For the third award, we have the Best Support Artist award – they are the Barnabas in the cell group, always giving encouragement to those around them.

We also had the Most Generous award – these people not just show love through giving their energy, but also in areas of their time and finances!

Not forgetting the Rookie of the Year award – to encourage our new brothers and sisters in Christ. They had been very willing and teachable in many areas.

Last but not the least, we had the M.V.P. (Most Valuable Player) award!

These people have one of the fastest growing connect groups in their cell group. Some can be said to be the Most Visible Player and the Most Vicious Player.

Before we ended our meeting totally, how could we miss out on a chance to honor our leaders? Just as everyone was about to leave, we ushered them back in and showered them with gifts and cards, showing how much we loved and appreciated them.

What a way to conclude 2008 and start 2009!

What some of them have to say about the Thanksgiving!

Yi Ling (E316):

It was FUN, UNEXPECTED and THRILLING!

Dannon (W212):

This is a good end to a great 2008. Felt so loved and appreciated. It was a good time to show our love and appreciation to Jared and others as well.

Reported by Trudy Quek N351

It had been a long while since all the leaders in ET zone – both cell group leaders and connect group leaders – gathered together to pray and seek God’s face. Thus, when we received information that we were going to have our first leaders’ prayer meeting of the year on 20th January 2009, many of us were very excited. We knew deep inside of us that it would be yet another time where God would move and minister to us.

On Tuesday itself, the leaders started streaming into Riverwalk as early as 7 pm even though the prayer meeting was only going to start at eight in the night. The different leaders came from their workplaces, schools, and homes respectively. The many leaders travelled all the way down to Clarke Quay from the various parts of Singapore for one common reason- to catch all that God has in store for them individually and corporately.

When asked before the prayer meeting started what she expected out of it, Santy Lim from W433 mentioned that she expected to witness the “power of God” and catch “God’s visions for us”. She also believed that she would be “renewed and empowered by the presence of God”. Lenny, N430, said with strong conviction that she expected herself to “be refreshed”.

Cell group leader of N317, Wong Ming Hui, was interviewed and in response, she gave her trademark sunshine smile and exclaimed, “I want to see more connect group leaders inspired to become cell group leaders” through the prayer meeting.

As the clock struck eight, we settled down and began to enter into a time of prayer and worship. While the leaders worshipped God with one song, the presence of God began to fall upon us. Personally, I felt as though I was being brought to a place where I could connect with God directly. I believe many other leaders felt the same. We prayed and claimed God’s promises, bearing in mind that God would answer persistent prayers. We were like an army of God pounding continuously onto heaven’s doors, believing with all our hearts that God would eventually pour down His blessings upon us.

Before the prayer meeting came to an end, Brother Edmund ministered to us. There was one thing which he said that left a deep impact on me – we should never fear that we are inadequate and not up to what God has called us to do, but with all that we have, we ought to serve God to our best. The prayer meeting came to a close with many of our lives being touched and transformed.

Wong See Wan from E99 commented, “It was awesome and God really spoke to me. It was very, very good. It is like God is preparing me for something ahead.”

Through this one prayer meeting, God refreshed many of us. We are deeply convinced that He is preparing us for greater things that have yet to come. God was also bringing us back to our essential fundamentals, such as prayer, so that we can run well and stay strong in this race that we run.

Just as Weng Lok from N178 said, it is all about “going back to the basics and relying on God and not depending on our own ideas and strength”.

Most certainly, just as Psalm 73:26 says, God is the strength of our hearts and our portion forever.

Reported by Gwendolyn Tan N317

Leaders’ Retreat (31^st Dec 2008 – 2^nd Jan 2009)

After a year of sweat and hard work, the ET Zone leaders got together to end 2008 with a 3-day, 2-night retreat at Aranda Country Club at Downtown East.

This year, an organizing committee, consisting of the newer leaders like David, Tian Yi, Sandy, Bernice, Kai Lin, Seowshi, Joycelyn and Jing Jing, were tasked with planning all the indoor games and an Amazing Race for the rest of the leaders!  A daunting task indeed, as they attempted to shout their instructions to the overly-excited and rowdy audience – majority of whom knew almost every trick in the book, and who used that to their advantage to try and cut corners to score more points!

Jin Lian from N430 commented that the Race in particular was tiring for some of the leaders more accustomed to planning rather than playing the games, yet it was a fun and memorable experience.  The games were innovative and well-led.  Most importantly, it served as an avenue to create stronger bonds amongst the leaders.

“The games, fellowship and laughter has definitely brought us closer to one another”, says David Ang from E316.

Right before the countdown to 2009, our zone supervisor, Edmund Tay, shared a message using the acronym, “L-O-V-E” – ‘Leadership’, ‘Openness’, ‘Vision’ and ‘ET Zone’ – the building blocks on which the success of our zone stands upon.  After all, without “LOVE”, we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2-3).

Soon after, we had our Thanksgiving ceremony, where the different leaders were not only honored for their different contributions in 2008, but spoofed for their unique attributes and personalities as well.  I suppose that is what makes us all “Extra-Terrestrials” (ET).

Taking a step back from all the confetti and commotion of the countdown, I saw the evident love and strong friendships the leaders had with one another.  I believe that these genuine relationships were birthed forth through them continuously serving God and serving one another.  Just like what the Bible says in Proverbs 17:17 (The Message), “Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble”.  This close-knitted family truly has gone through thick and thin together – from long nights of planning and preparation for various events, to discipleship at Edmund’s house.

In the past few years and even more so recently, we have seen our zone’s leadership grow in numbers.  These new faces, according to Jin Lian, is what made this retreat different from the previous years’.  But of course, these opportunities to rise up and serve God even more would not have been possible without Edmund and Jia Hui’s love, passion and vision for the zone.  So, on behalf of everyone in ET zone, here is a big “Thank You” to Edmund and Jia Hui for being such awesome role models for us all!

Reported by Karen Wong N415

Aisa conference Thursday & Friday Night!