WORSHIP MISSION TO TENOM
By Patrick Leong
TENOM, SABAH ⋅ WORSHIP TRAINING ⋅ 20-22 July 2018
On the Friday of 20th July I took a flight from Kuala Lumpur to KK en route to another 3 additional hours by road just to reach the small little town Tenom famous for its “Tenom Coffee”. Though coffee isn’t really my cup of tea, it was really evident of the landscape surrounding Tenom where coffee plantations were nurtured in natures best.
My mission was to empower in greater depth the subject of worship to about 40 children from the interiors. A place that had been running for the past 3 years funded and built by DUMC (Damansara Utama Methodist Church) in housing children from the ages of about 11 to 15 years old.
Majority of these children are not only poor, but due to their geographical locations of where they come from cannot afford transportation fees, let alone afford the school fees. Many of whom I met have come from single parental upbringing to being entirely abandoned.
Aunty Irene the centre care takers as she is fondly called together with her husband Mr. Kok has been stationed there as missionaries sent by SIBKL. Their heart of compassion, care and skill sets have been pivotal in sustaining the centre with the instilment of discipline, moral and educational guidance to all the children.
My part in this as mentioned earlier representing Grace Assembly PJ and as an independent Gospel evangelist had tremendous conviction and urgency to teach and bring to a deeper understanding about worship. Many in this day and age do not realize the extent of the preparation it takes even before laying our hands on an instrument.
Before these wonderful children are captivated with the visual aspects in worship based on foreign references, I had to ensure that they come into an alignment to understanding the Holy Spirit and God’s law of holiness being the primary foundations.
Many of these children have tremendous potential. All they need is guidance and an alignment to the right approach and preparation in worship so that they too will not be caught up with trends to replicate and follow blindly. A worship culture today that is very much lacking in reverence and holiness concerning the preparation and the platform entrusted to us as worship leaders and teams driving worship to become almost performance based.
I took the children through 4 courses which began with Matthew 15:8 expounding on the context of worship, a crucial foundation to understanding the scope of how God sees and expect His worshippers to reckon with how He is to be worshipped. Followed with the addressing of the mind, that first needs to adhere to being renewed, having the mind of Christ and to live in the understanding of the Holy Spirit and how He “speaks”.
Next a chart to help them understand better of how to present themselves daily in prayer before God, through stages that will establish a building and foundational relationship with God.
Apart from the deep teachings, we had simple meals together throughout the duration of my stay in the hostel. On the Saturday evening however, there was a sudden blackout and just after dinner, everyone gathered at the porch area with the car lights beaming and just worshipped. It was lovely to see the hearts of these children, who love God and sang their hearts out.
Come Sunday morning service which I was accompanied by 3 of the children to form the worship team as I led them and the choir in their morning service. The musicians John, Prince and Mark were just awesome. Young and full of zest as the rest of the children formed the dance and choir team. Truly something you don’t get to hear and see in the churches of Kuala Lumpur.
As we progressed, into about the 10-minute mark during worship, suddenly a lady in the back screamed and collapse. She was then taken to the hospital without a pulse. About an hour plus into the service the senior pastor made the announcement that she came back to life mid-way during transporting her to the hospital as the service concluded with praying for the lady. However, I am waiting to receive an update from Irene about the account.
Otherwise it was such a fulfilling outing, simply to ensure that the foundations of worship were set in place so that these generation will be those of whom will worship in spirit and in truth, responsible for the coming revival in Tenom by God’s grace.