www.30gigs.com

Hmm 30 Gigs of space for email!! that's a lot of space......anyone interested. I've gotten mine (kevinhan@30gigs.com)

2nd June,8pm - Youth Home Group@Church

This week's homegroup is at church....see you there. Remember to invite your friends!

Declaring God's Favor

The Lord is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words. I sought Your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your word. Psalms 119:57-58

Have you ever declared the Lord's favor in your life? Actually it's quite easy to declare God's favor for our life. "Father I thank You that I have your favor. Yoiur favor is opening doors of oppourtunity and bringing success into my life. Your favor is causing people to want to help me."

So go out with confidence expecting good things to come your way. Anytime you need God's favor in your life say in exams, when you need a parking space or when you are looking for a job shout it out and declare the Lord's favor in our life. Simply declare, "Father I thank you so much for all the things You have done and the things You will do, I thank you especially for YOur Favor and I know You are going to make a way for me to where it appears that there is no way right now" It's sometimes difficult to trust in Him, but keep on persisting and keep on looking till the opportunity arises. And when the opportunity arises remember to thank God for His favor.

Blessings
Kevin

28th April - Off we go to Batu Feringghi

We are going to Batu Feringghi for dinner and shopping tomorrow night. Any of you guys wanna join us??? If you do want to join us....just be at Rachel Spoelman's house at 7pm sharp.

Recommended Book to Read: Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen

Your Best Life Now Devotional - Book

Your Best Life Now DevotionalJoel Osteen
Daily Readings From Your Best Life Now: 90 Devotions for Living at Your Full Potential by Joel Osteen#1 New York Times bestselling author Joel Osteen offers 90 days of inspiration to help people reach their full potential. Joel Osteen's 90 days of motivational thoughts, inspirational messages, and helpful Scripture verses will strengthen our faith-in God, in others, and in ourselves. By applying these truths, we will be able to rise above our obstacles and live in health, abundance, and victory."Allow God's Word to refresh you and to reshape your thinking, speaking, and daily activities." - Joel Osteen

"I've been reading this books and I've really been inspired and touched by the many ways God wants to bless us and to give us His favor. Many times He wants to bless us but we don't let Him do so cause we block Him out of our lives. AnywayI hope you guys and gals will take a look at this book and read it.You will really be Blessed by this book.

Kevin's Recommendation : 4 biji Bintang

21st April, Youth Home Group

Time: 8pm
Venue: Kevin's House

I've decided to have home group at my place this Friday since it's a day off for Aunty Erika. Be nice to me when u're at my house ya or i will let the dogs loose. hehehee. Just joking.

Topic: PRAYER (ARE YOU PRAYING?)

Last night was the 1 and only prayer rally in Penang for the whole year. Believe it or not only 1. Even Youthwave this year isn't doing any prayer rallies. There seems to me that the practice of prayer seems to be diminishing from our daily lives.I personally believe that prayer is our superweapon against the evil one. I confess it's sometimes not easy to pray, but it's utterly important to do so. Let me focus on some fundamental facts on prayer..

What is prayer?
The simple answer is this: prayer is talking with God. We pray when we open our heart to the Almighty.True prayer is honest, humble and personal.

The main reason i'm writing this topic is this -

Why Pray?

1) It is a great privilege to pray. Can you think of any greater honor than to have an audience with the One who rules over ALL creation? We have been invited to talk with the one who put the stars in place. We are invited to seek counsel from the One who is truth and wisdom. We are invited to sit down with the One who knows all things. The Puritan John Preston lays it out very plainly,

2) We should pray because we are in a fierce battle. Constantly we are warned of the Devil's intention to neutralize and demoralize us. We are told that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Eph. 6:10).

3) Prayer is a deterrent to sin in our lives. In the quiet times of private, honest prayer God exposes the rationalizations and the excuses that we use to cater to sin. In prayer God holds a mirror up to our lives so we can see the way we really are. . .and repent.

4) Prayer makes a difference. I can't tell you how it "works" . . .I know that circumstances change when people pray. Diseases are sometimes healed, strength is imparted, guidance is given, hearts are softened, needs are met. I know that when I pray for others it helps them. But I also know that when I pray, I am changed.

I've also added some additional points here as to why prayer changes things:-

(This were taken from a missions pamphlet)

PRAYER CHANGES THINGS
1.Prayer obeys Jesus’ command to ask the LORD of the Harvest to send out the workers
2.Prayer brings us into God’s presence, which changes us.
3.Prayer reveals to us God’s plans so we can cooperate with Him in them.
4.Prayer invites God’s participation & presence in the process
5.Prayer removes hindrances to the Gospel
6. Prayer prepares the hearts of unbelievers to hear the good news.
7. Prayer releases resources necessary to accomplish the task.
8. Prayer insures protection for workers and their work
9. Prayer releases spiritual power to fulfill the call.
10. Prayer exercises divine authority to change situations & people.
11. Prayer IS the battle! <------------ i like this one, when i was younger i always imagine myself in battle with the enemy, now with prayer i imagine a battle with the enemy and i imagine the enemy losing the battle. How can i imagine that the enemy will lose the battle? See next point
12. Prayer maintains the Victory. With prayer we will maintain the victory....so do you want to let the enemy gain a foothold in your life or in your family, in ur home, in ur workplace, in your heart? The answer is a 100% NO. What must you do to stop all the enemies deceitful plans? I tink you know the answer. My challenge to all of you reading this is to start praying and remember that if we don't pray we are losing the battle.

Dutch Sheets writes: Tell my leaders to PRAY more and work less. The sense he had was this: If we pray more we can work less.

Some interesting Prayer Websites for prayer

http://www.24-7prayer.com/cm/

Mall Hunt 2

Youth Home Group 31st March
We are having another mall hunt....it will be more xciting, fun and certainly more challenging....
Please meet in church at 7pm sharp before we take off.

Cross_music@fpbc

Remember to invite ur non -Christian friends to this concert, we want to plant the seed into their lives......let's together make this concert a success for Jesus by being bold just by bringing a fren whom we can bring and pursue him or her to come for this concert ya.

How Sixteen Hours in a Van is a Really Good Thing

The Power of Relationships on Youth Mission Trips
Note from Kevin: After returning from Chiang Mai i will have to say that we have built a stronger relationship with each of the team members. (As i was surfing the web i came across this article-hope you guys will read it and be encouraged by it)

Taken from YouthMinistry.com

OK, see if you can top this story.
I once drove a 15-passenger van...loaded with teenagers...and Christmas presents...through heavy Chicago traffic...in the snow...to the Cabrini Green Housing Projects...with (are you ready for this)...the music cranking loud while the youth sang along. (Cue: thunderous applause!)
I know, I know. Please. No, really. You're too kind. Don't. Stop it. Oh come on, now, you can really stop applauding. You're embarrassing me. Really. I mean it now.
What?
You mean...you're not that impressed?
You say you've got a better story?
Actually I probably do, too.
Youth leaders have great traveling stories. A good friend of mine, Rob Ratliff, took his youth group on a mission trip to a reservation in South Dakota. The driver of the second van didn't notice the driver of the first van had stopped and WHAM! Plowed right into the back of it. Van number two was undrivable. They were in the middle of nowhere with no phone service and no help. To make a long story short, they left the van there, tried unsuccessfully to get Triple-A to tow it, and eventually met the police later to discover the van had been completely burned while they were gone!
But I tell you what--the kids on that trip will never forget it. It only made the story of their mission trip better.

Back in 2000, GROUP Magazine conducted a survey of Christian college students. GROUP asked what happened in their high school years to make their faith so strong they maintained it during college. Of the top four responses, three had to do with trips they went on with their youth group. (The top four in order: mission trips, crisis experiences, big events, camps.)
In other words, going places together is a big deal to helping kids develop a strong faith in Jesus.

Why? Well, I think it has everything to do with the power of trips to increase relationships.
And relationships are huge when it comes to discipling people--youth and all other ages.
In 2004, Group Publishing contracted Gallup to conduct a survey on the importance of relationships among church members. What they found was rather dramatic, even to people who already know how important relationships are. Basically, the results were clear that the more churches do to help members develop relationships with each other, the more those people grow closer to God!

The full results, along with helpful tips on developing relationships among all age groups in your church, are in Friendship: Creating a Culture of Connectivity in Your Church (Group: 2005). The author of the study, D. Michael Lindsay, wrote: "Perhaps most important is the finding that spiritual development--long a priority of church leaders--is not dependent on a particular program or initiative. In fact...the key for helping parishioners deepen their faith is relatively simple: Create a faith community that values relationships, spiritual transformation will follow. The 'silver bullet' for spiritual depth is not a successful outreach program or an in-depth Bible study; it is, instead, a faithful community of love and friendship."

Which brings me back to those youth mission trips.
There's something special about riding in a van together for hours on end. Think about all the things that happen in the van...you have to figure stuff out together like who sits where, what CD to listen to, what to talk about, when to stop to eat and pee, what games--if any--you're going to play...plus the students are sitting close together for a long time...and can't leave!
It creates the perfect cauldron for what M. Scott Peck wrote about in A Different Drum: Community Making and Peace (Touchstone, 1987). The two stages that stand between Pseudo-Community and Community are Chaos and Emptiness. Spend enough time in a van with a youth group, and you'll go through both of those stages...and probably a few others Dr. Peck never knew about!
(While vans are primo youth group--especially youth mission trip--transportation, buses are great, too. Years ago when so many kids wanted to go on our church's youth mission trip, I hired a bus...and it was great! I could make personal contact with every kid and adult on the trip. Some adults taught kids a popular card game, euchre, and we played that stupid game for hours and hours on end. One of the guys even organized a double-elimination euchre tournament with brackets and the whole bit. And he'd get on the bus loud speaker from time to time to give tournament updates. Such fun!)
Fun was a huge deal in the Group Publishing study on relationships in the church. If relationships with each other are key to a growing relationship with Jesus, fun is the key to relationships. Group's study found that churches that provide opportunities for members to have fun together foster better relationships. Well heck, we youth ministers have been having fun with our youth group kids forever! Van (and bus) rides are prime youth ministry locations for having fun.

So since you're going to be doing so much good while you travel together with your students, here are some tips to take advantage of your time...

1) Gary Rohs develops van devotions for his group's mission trip every year. At 10:00 a.m. on the first day, every van is supposed to play the devotion CD he and some leader students created. It's based on the theme of the mission organization they use each year.

2) Remember safety first at all times. No exceptions. That especially means no driving through the night. Really bad idea.

3) The youth can choose the music, but the driver controls the volume. You don't have to accept any music, however. One time our youth sang an angry profanity-laced lyric while listening to one of their CD's. I calmly ejected the tape (it was that long ago), rolled down the window, and threatened to throw it out. Instead I tossed it back over my head. They got the message.

4) If you're in a van, insist that a youth ride shotgun. The driver gets to know that student more, and the other adult or adults get to ride in the back and get to know the other students.

5) If you're in a bus, don't allow all the adults to sit up front while the youth sit in the back. Get back there to where the kids (and the fun) are!

6) Have a plan of what to do if you break down on the road. Don't fret about those little set-backs--they just make the stories better later. Handle them like a pro.

7) Tim Casey, a youth leader in the Chicago area, doesn't forbid personal head phones in their youth vans, but he makes it his goal to always be more interesting than what's on the headphones...engage the kids enough to make them see the value of taking off the headphones and building relationships.
One year while planning our youth mission trip, one of the girls spoke up to encourage us to go farther away than we were planning. Why? Because she enjoyed the bus rides so much she wanted as much time as possible in it!
Oh those great trips with your kids! You'll never forget them and neither will they. Take every advantage of the wonderful opportunity you have to build relationships while you travel...and enjoy seeing your kids grow closer to Jesus in the process.