As For Me and My House We Will Serve the Lord - James Taylor

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"
this is a quotation from the book of Joshua when he challenged the Israelites to swear their allegiance to God. In today's world, this saying is widely used by many christian family as a motto and prayer for their family.

Many have committed to do so, but how many can really live out their faith and serve the Lord as one family? On this day, I am honored and glad to hear from the descendant of one of the spiritual heroes in the modern day whom I admired very much: Dr. James Taylor IV.

Dr. James Taylor IV is the great-great-grandson of Dr. James Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, founder of Overseas Mission Fellowship (then China Inland Mission), and is currently serving in OMF.

He, as well as his father, and his father's fathers were all born in China. If we have heard of a Chinese born in US, we will call them ABC - American Born Chinese. For the case of the Taylor families, it is only apt if we call them White Chinese. White, because they are white people, but they are even more chinese than many of the chinese in the region. He preached better in Chinese than in English that in one occasion, a congregation member exclaimed that "Dr. James, I can see that your mother tongue is not English"

Resided in Taiwan, he married a taiwanese chinese wife and has three children: James Hudson Taylor V (see the pattern now?), Selina Amelia Taylor and Joy Leone Taylor. The unique part is in their chinese name. Hudson Taylor's chinese name is Dai De Sheng: 戴德生, James Taylor IV's chinese name is 戴记中，James's 3 children are 戴成约，戴成书，戴成亚， respectively. If you combine the last character of each name, and you will get the name 约书亚 or Joshua. It is his desire that his children will continue the family tradition and commitment to continue to serve the Lord in China.

I thank God for the chance to see the descendant of a legendary figure in Christian History, particularly in China. I thank God for his family that continue to serve the Chinese people. I hope that through their example and ministries, more people will come to know Christ and follow them, as they have faithfully followed Christ's example.

Results for Assignments/Quiz so far

There are many quizzes, assignments for the course that I am taking in SBC. Because it is a master course, we are required to do a lot of thinking, and of course, research, and papers. Due to different nature of the subjects, each subject required different kind of approach to force students to think, so that they can get the full grasp of what is it that they are studying.

For Greek, it is like learning a new language. Therefore, it is required to force the students to remember lots of words, grammar and other stuff. This subject must be studied continuously, and last minute studying will do you no good. To achieve the maximum result, we are bombarded with quiz after quiz every week. So far my result has been good ( 20/20, 24/25, 20/20), however the last homework that I submitted was poorly done and I got a Minus sign for the homework. Hopefully for the next one I can spare more time to do it.

For OT Background, this subject is full of historical background about what was happening during the OT times. There are many readings, including old poetry, poems from other civilizations. In order to force us to read, we are given quizzes also. For the first quiz, I managed to get 91/100.

For Theology of Mission, I have to say, that this is one of the most intellectually challenging subject. We are forced to think, and discuss, about mission in every perspective. Past, Present and Future. I have submitted a paper on this, but no result is given so far.

For Survey of Church History, I like this subject a lot. Only recently do I find that history is actually a very interesting subject. It is not just about remembering of the dates, but rather the sequence and consequences of each event in the history. Once you got that right, then all that is required to be remembered will fall into place accordingly. I write a paper "Eusebius" on this subject and I think I got a 9/10.

Christian Spirituality. This subject is rather vague and abstract. How do you actually mark a person's spiritual level? hehe... like, how often do you pray, or how much faith you have, etc. you can't. But this is one of the most important subject, because it concerns about the heart. If your heart is not right, then perhaps you are not supposed to stay in SBC. I do hope that I can always attune my heart to God, and benefit from this subjet. We are required to write 1 paper this week on the book of Ecclesiastes, and another paper next week on a spiritual book that we read.

Hermeneutics. So far no paper submitted yet. There will be two however, one on the book of Ruth, and the other on the Letter to the Philipians. This paper require a lot of thinking out of the box, require a combination skill of science and art to decipher what is mentioned on the surface, and below surface level of the scripture.

And... for my field education. I am required to read Uncle Cam (Cameron Townsend) the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translator's biography and present a book review.

Paper and assignment and quiz and readings... hopefully I can manage my time well and not to forget time for fellowship with one another and with God

Happy Birthday SBC !

Today is the founder's day of SBC, or in other word, is the birthday of SBC.

God has used SBC greatly. Since the start 55 years ago until now, SBC has produced over 2000 God's servant, serving in 40-50 countries in various ministries.

We thank God for this wonderful day, and we shall not forget about how SBC has come to life 55 years ago.

The rise of SBC and other Theological Seminaries across south east Asia, owes a lot to China. The rise of communism and the lost of the KuoMingTang has pushed missionaries from China out to Hongkong, Singapore and Indonesia. Without them, there will not be SBC, there won't be SAAT.

If SBC exist because of China, then should not SBC help to train workers for the growing need in China? Just as the China churches caught the vision that since the Gospel come out and reached China, and it has the duty to pass the Gospel Back To Jerusalem, so SBC felt the same way, that we can grow faithful servants for God's use in China.

May God continue to use and bless SBC, the staff and students that together we may continue to glorify His name by continuing in His good works.

Happy Birthday SBC

SBC Fund Raising Concert Result

I am trying to make it a habit to write a blog in the midst of the busy schedule in SBC. So even during weekday, I will write some short articles, whereas during the weekend I may be able to update with more illustration.

We thank God for the Fund Raising Concert that was done last saturday-sunday. As mentioned, the concert aimed to raise a total of 100k SGD for the redevelopment of block 5 SBC. We managed to raise 70K SGD in total for the tonights, including donations, CD sales, and ticket sales.

We thank God for the participation of the Bruce Greer's family, for the wonderful performances and to witness how God has bestowed so many talents upon one person (singer, composer, arranger, pianist, etc). The wife Kim, and the sons: Gavin, Mitchell, Preston and Corbin also participated in leading the congregation in a live worship band! And unlike most artists invited for fund raising concert, they only require the school to cover for their return air tickets and accommodation in Singapore. For the CD sales, they donated the entire proceeding to the Fund.

May God continue to use Bruce and his works, bless him and his family, that they may continue to be a blessing to others, through music and other ministries.

For more information about Bruce, you may want to visit his website:
www.brucegreer.com

Free Bruce Greer's Concert Tonight - For me only

Yes, the free concert is for me only.... I got a complimentary ticket :)
so, don't call me or ask me regarding where to get the tickets ok?

Let me tell you more about the concert.
The concert is actually a fund raising concert, and Bruce Greer and his family travelled from Texas, stranded in Phillipines, arrived in SBC, just to help us raised fund for the rebuilding of block 5 in SBC and if we have any excess, for renovations of other blocks as well.

Why block 5? it was quite old, and previously house only 18 students. After renovation, it will be a taller building able to house 120 students, thus provide for more foreign full time students or those staying in punggol or pasir ris.

The entire project costs 7.5 Million SGD, and thank God, we have reached the 6.8 Million so far, and from the concert, which is not free (tickets priced at 55SGD and 110SGD) we hope to raise another 100k SGD or so.

Below is the picture of Bruce Greer, his wife Kim, and their four sons:


Bruce Greer is an accomplished singer, pianist, arranger, composer, multi-talented artist who has won many awards. His wife's accomplishments is no less than Bruce. In the Concert, Bruce will play piano and sing, Kim will sing and lead SBC Chorale, the four sons will perform as a live band, and so I think tonight's performance is something not to be missed.

If possible, I will post more details about the concert after tonight.

SBC Class of Year 2007

Jesus combined a group of most unlike people together with Him:
4 fishermen - who only knew how to catch fish,
1 tax collector - who is known to side with the Romans,
1 zealot - who is known to rebel against the Romans - a terrorist to be exact,
1 scientist - who doubts the thing that he cannot see,
1 calculative accountant- who will ultimately betray Him,
4 others - whom I dont know how to describe

He grouped them together as the twelve Apostles. The stories are all inside the Gospel, and subsequently from ancient church literatures we know about their great achievements in spreading the Gospel until the point when they died gloriously in martyrdom.

Now, what do we have when this group of people gathered together:
7 Singaporeans (two of which are a couple)
1 New Zealander
1 Aussie
1 Naga
1 Mongolian
1 Japanese
1 Malaysian
1 Indonesian
1 Philipino

We are the first year student in SBC studying under MDiv BS, MABS, MDiv PM programmes!
May God bless this group of people so that we will continue to work together, to help each other to learn and grow, not just in studies but to know God better.

End of Week 4 in SBC

Life in SBC is definitely tougher than what I expected.

For the survival of my stay in SBC, I have decided to start to using English for the future blog entries. The reason is simple. In SBC, even in my first semester, we are required to write various papers for each and every subject. The only paper that I have written previously was my final year paper in NTU, and I do not remember writing any other essays. I definitely need more practice.

Today (Friday, 17 August 2007), we are required to subject 2 papers:
1. Reflection on "A New Eusebius" by Stevenson
2. Compare and Contrast between OT and NT Theology of Mission

Eusebius is the first Church Historian. He lived around AD 300, and thus had access to many ancient documents dated after the Apostolic era. The book basically described all sorts of persecution faced by the early Christians and how they persevered to the end.

The second paper is trying to dray a golden thread between the old and the new testaments, and conclude that God indeed is a missionary God, that He, through different time and era, used different people, conditions, circumstances to achieve His Mission, that is to reconcile mankind back to Him, through the Man and Work of Christ.

Many hours was spent to complete the two papers. Prior to writing, we need to read and research quite a many number of pages. The readings alone took a lot time, not to mention to put them into writing. My best record was about 300 words per hour, and I spent the whole last night to write the second paper. I was not alone. I think half the class did not had a good sleep last night, and some didn't sleep at all.

However, I think it is a good start to have a feel of what is the REAL thing in SBC. It is either you love the food too much, that your Stomach Biggerthan Chair, or you study too much until you Slowly Become Crazy. Some of the subject and workloads here are Simply Beyond Comprehension of your human mind, but I think that is where God and friendships come into play.

Both papers will be published in the next entries.

Starting to get overwhelmed ?

Belakangan ini agak jarang update blog. Ini karena:
1. Reading assignment banyak yang ga kekejar
2. Waktu tidur yang kurang, sehingga tidak ada energi buat ngeblog
3. Kondisi tubuh yang sudah ga prima, gejala flu kelihatan sekarang.

Memang, ini baru melewati minggu ke-2 di SBC, tetapi kenyataannya buku2 yang harus dibaca begitu banyak. Banyak hal yang setelah dibaca juga tidak dimengerti. Benar2 harus mengatur waktu dengan baik neh.

Selasa, Kamis, Jumat adalah hari-hari paling sibuk di SBC. Selasa, Jumat kuliah dari pagi sampai jam 3. Sedangkan kamis ada paduan suara sampai 5.30. Rabu adalah yang paling santai dengan 2 jam kuliah dan 1 jam spiritual group sharing (semacam CG). Senin masih ada kuliah dua jam tapi 3 minggu lagi hari senin bakal kosong untuk belajar di rumah.

Selasa sampai Jumat, jam 10-11 itu disebut dengan Chapel Hour. Setiap hari acaranya beda:
Selasa: Testimony / Sharing dari student. Masing2 sekolah adain di tempat masing2, SOTE, SOTC dan SOCM mengadakan terpisah
Rabu: Spiritual Group Sharing. Semacam CG. Mengenal satu sama lain di satu group dengan lebih dekat. Pergumulan, beban, etc disharingkan disini.
Kamis: Combined Chapel worship. Ketiga skul gabung di worship hall untuk memuji Tuhan bersama dengan mendengarkan kotbah dari salah seorang dosen.
Jumat: SMF Hour. Student Mission Fellowship. Setiap minggu students (SOTE) berkumpul untuk mendoakan satu people group.

Intinya, kegiatan di SBC lumayan pack. Dimana ada waktu kosong, kiranya waktu itu bisa dipakai dengan baik untuk belajar. Tetapi tidak baik kalau tidak sosialisasi juga. Bersyukur ada senior dari MDiv PM2 (pastoral Ministry 2) dan MDiv BS3(Biblical study 3) mau ngajakin bertemu dan memberikan survival guide di SBC. Kita diencourage untuk ketemu sesama teman kelas untuk saling mendoakan dan belajar bersama.

Kalau melihat beban pelajaran, tugas, etc, memang semuanya sepertinya banyak. Tetapi dengan bersandar pada satu sama lain, dan bersandar pada Tuhan, harusnya semua tantangan ini bisa dilewati.

First week at SBC

Baru satu minggu sekolah, setelah istirahat otak selama 6 tahun, rasanya udah kewalahan....

Selain selasa dan jumat yang kuliahnya full 5 jam ++, masih bakal perlu bikin tim buat membahas assignment, ada pastoral care group hari jumat, ada FE conselling hari selasa, ada choir practice hari kamis, tentu saja ada FE di wycliff hari rabu. Ditambah pelayanan di gereja, satu-satunya hari libur cuma hari senin, dan itu pun ada 2 jam audit class untuk research and writing.

But... I am not complaining. Terus terang, selain merasa sedikit overwhelmed, sebenarnya saya cukup merasakan ini sebagai tantangan dari sisi positif. Masih lumayan positif untuk bisa manage waktu dengan baik. Tentu saja dengan dukungan doa dan tidak bermalas-malasan.

Di samping ini adalah gambar semua lecture notes yang sudah dibagikan, workbook untuk Greek ada di atas. Setiap hari ke kampus seperti membawa satu ream kertas.

Dan bukan hanya itu. Foto di bawah adalah foto-foto semua text book yang sudah dibeli, dan itu beli lengkap, karena masih ada beberapa yang tidak dibeli karena kemahalan, atau bisa dipinjam. Lumayan 'menantang'.




Buku paling atas yang paling tipis itu adalah "Surrender to Love" Supplementary reading untuk pelajaran Christian Spirituality. Harus tulis satu paper untuk buku itu. Buku utama pelajaran ini belum dibeli: "Discipline of Spirituality".

Buku kedua, "How to read the bible for all its worth". Buku panduan untuk Hermeneneutics. Itu relatif tipis dibanding buku terakhir di bawah: "Introduction to Biblical Interpretation". Itu adalah buku utama untuk Hermeneutics.

"Turning Point" adalah satu-satunya buku untuk Survey of Church History. Itu karena 2 buku lain yang harus dibaca sudah difotocopykan dan dimasukkan ke dalam lecture notes (lecture notes posisi paling bawah, paling tebal di atas).

"Readings from the ancient near east" adalah buku geografi untuk OT Background.

"Transforming Mission" adalah salah satu buku yang harus dibaca untuk pelajaran Theology of Mission. Tebalnya 500 halaman. Dan lecturernya sangat berbaik hati untuk mengatakan selain buku ini, kita cuma perlu membaca 300 halaman lagi dari buku2 lain yang berhubungan dengan misi.

"Basics of Biblical Greek" adalah so far buku yang paling saya enjoy. Walaupun tebal dan mahal (80 dolar seblum korting). Tetapi dibandingkan dengan buku2 lain, ini satu2nya paling gampang dicerna, at least sekarang. Satu encouragement dari gurunya, di akhir dari satu tahun ini, kalau kita sudah menghafal 320 kata2 Yunani yang muncul minimal 50 kali di NT, maka kita sudah bisa membaca 80% dari NT. Menarik yah?

Kata salah seorang dosen, masuk ke dalam SBC bisa membuat kita makin jauh sama Tuhan. Kenapa tidak? setiap pelajaran memerlukan jam membaca sekitar 9 jam per mata kuliah per minggu. Dipotong waktu itu, kita cuma punya waktu tidur, jadi ga ada waktu doa dan saat teduh lagi :) ... semoga gak deh haha..

Undergoing Holistic Transformation

Pendidikan di SBC adalah pendidikan yang Holistic, mencakup seluruh aspek kehidupan. Ketika hal ini diceritakan dalam orientasi, sebenarnya saya tidak tau apa yang akan terjadi. Setelah melalui masa orientasi dan pelajaran berapa hari, barulah saya mengerti apa artinya di'kepung' dari berbagai penjuru mata angin. Boleh dikatakan seluruh aspek dalam diri saya diserbu dan dituntut untuk belajar kembali.

Seluruh aspek di sini bisa dibagi dalam 4 bagian, yaitu psikologis/mental, pikiran/ratio, perasaan/emosi, dan perbuatan/tindakan.

Aspek psikologis/mental:
1. Kita diuji apakah kita punya penyakit jiwa atau masalah pengontrolan diri, melalui test TJTA. Dari test ini mungkin akan diketahui apakah saya ini penipu atau seseorang dengan dua atau lebih kepribadian :p
2. Kita ditest apakah kita kuat mental berhadapan dengan orang dari latar belakang budaya yg berbeda. Berhadapan dengan orang yang makanan sehari2nya mata kuda, paha onta, dan bagaimana menjelaskan kalo udang dan kepiting itu bisa dimakan.

Aspek pikiran/ratio:
1. Daya ingat diuji dengan belajar Sejarah Gereja: Survey of Church History. Mempelajari perubahan-perubahan gereja sejak awal hingga sekarang.
2. Pelajaran geografi kembali diuji: OT Background. Mempelajari peta zaman perjanjian lama, gunung, lembah, sungai, dataran rendah, tinggi, peternakan, pertanian etc.
3. Pelajaran bahasa kembali diuji: Greek Introduction. Dimulai dengan menghafal alpha, beta, gamma, hingga menghafal 20 kosakata baru setiap minggu.
4. Pelajaran bernyanyi: Church Music Ministry. Ikut paduan suara SBC. Tapi kali ini saya dicaplokin ke Tenor dah.
5. Daya analisa diuji: Hermeneutics. Apa yang kelihatan simple, apakah memang sesimple itu? ataukah ada yang lebih mendalam daripada apa yang tertulis? atau memang simple tapi kita yg sengaja mempersulit?

Aspek Emosional:
Kita belajar untuk mencintai.... di dalam pelajaran Christian Spirituality. Intinya kita mencoba merasakan tentang ministry kita, tentang hati kita, perasaan kita, terhadap kehidupan kita.

Aspek perbuatan/tindakan:
1. Kita diajak bergotongroyong. Bersih-bersih bersama, cuci piring bersama, belajar bersama
2. Kita diajak berorganisasi.

Intinya, segala aspek dari psikologis, otak, hati, tindakan, semuanya secara holistik dilatih di dalam SBC. Ini semua cuma apa yang terjadi/akan terjadi di semester pertama. Saat ini sudah penuh dengan segala macam tugas bacaan yang harus dicover. Semoga saya bisa menjalankan segala tugas dengan baik.

SBC Orientation: 19-20 July 2007

Kamis/Jumat: 19/20 July 2007

Dua hari ini adalah hari-hari pertama saya di SBC. Orientasi. Tidak seperti Ospek di indo, dimana mahasiswa baru di'plonco' oleh senior. Juga tidak seperti di NTU, dimana kita dikerjain, tetapi kita menikmati kebersamaan dalam banyak permainan bersama.

Orientasi ini diawali dengan ibadah bersama. Berbeda dengan ibadah di gereja, ibadah ini dijalankan dalam dua bahasa Mandarin/Inggris (saya tidak pernah setuju kalau ada yang mengatakan adanya penerjemahan dalam ibadah mengganggu jalur ibadah. Itu Nonsense menurut saya). Ibadah ini diikuti oleh mahasiswa/staff/dosen dari mungkin lebih dari 25 negara. Hmm.. sedikit dari apa yang akan terjadi di Surga nanti.

Session pertama diawali dengan perkenalan terhadap SBC oleh Dr. Albert Ting (kepala sekolah). Dijelaskan visi dan misi, dikenalkan para dosen, diceritakan keadaan financial dan pembangunan yang ada di SBC. Setelah itu ada sharing dari Staff lain spt Dean of Academics, Dean of Students, Chaplain, Student Council, Field Education Coordinator (ditunda hingga senin), dll.

Tentu saja yang paling penting adalah mengenal sesama mahasiswa dan guru. Di kelas MDiv yang saya ambil ada sekitar 20 orang yang bakal sering ketemu, dengan latar belakang dari hampir 10 negara dan beraneka denominasi. Syukur di hari-hari pertama ini kita sudah bisa mengenal satu sama lain dengan baik.