Being A Disciple

"Yet our work only begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation. Our work is not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace, and our work as His disciples is to disciple others’ lives until they are totally yielded to God. One life totally devoted to God is of more value to Him than one hundred lives which have been simply awakened by His Spirit. As workers for God, we must reproduce our own kind spiritually, and those lives will be God’s testimony to us as His workers."
- My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers

These few days, I've been reminded what Ethnos is about. It's not about the music , the band, the forms, the expressions... it's about the heart of worship, the life of a disciple, and knowing God. Those of us in Ethnos have been shaken up to give God a blank page and let Him lay this foundation in our lives.

Regina

Courage to Decide

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." - e.e. cummings

The Ethnos band had a session with Joe yesterday night, where we got talking about what we were into this for: to fulfill a calling on our lives OR simply because of an interest in music. CALLING OR INTEREST? CALLING OR INTEREST? Some of us couldn't even answer this.

We talked about core issues: managing expectations; pride & bad attitudes; our inner being; demands from family, from serving in church, from the daily grind of work. It was heavy, yet refreshing. Unnerving yet insightful.

For young adults, their inner life with God lacks nuturing because of the daily grind. They face burn-out everyday. Tension between serving in different areas. Lack of time for oneself.

But one thing struck me. It was the need to make a DECISION about what your life is gonna be.

In the hearts of young people are questions about their destiny: What was I made for? Who am I supposed to be? Yet when the rubber meets the road, they have little clue how to get from point A to point B. There's a dearth of processing sturctures within them.

There's the tendency to 'go with the flow' and see where this leads us. People shy away from the hard decisions. The sense of calling is a fuzzy idea, until the test comes and the courage to decide is called for. Courage to decide who you're gonna be and who you're gonna live for, how you're gonna live and run for what you're made for.

That's where the whole Ethnos band is at now. We wanna run for what we're made for. We're in the midst of making important decisions for our lives, because we know that this is a year of destiny and living fully in God. The road ahead looks difficult, entangled with family expectations, material desires, sacrifices and discouragement, but we're sticking it out.

If we're to impact any young people in this world, it starts with ourselves.

What's In The Pipelines... Pray for us!

Hi everyone!

Here's an update on Ethnos activity! Since I came back from Timor Leste, it's been a mad rush everyday: team-building, forming a core team, writing proposals, setting up trips, etc etc.... One thing I remembered in all this speed and often strength-draining activity was - our BEING (heart) is more important than the DOING (outward activity). And, we'd better not jump ahead of God or rush into doing more, coz building foundations is essential for the long-term and these take time to form in our lives. That's my little devotional for you!

Now, let's see what we have on our hands... please PRAY FOR:

Ethnos Band
Thank God for bringing a band together. It's a mix of working adults in their 20s who're trying to juggle ministry and the daily grind. Pray for us as these 3 months will be a crucial time of asking God to give unity and common vision, building team dynamics and deepening friendships. We wanna get on our way to see God worshipped in the nations!

Cafe Gigs
A place to meet the public and share our lives with them through music, nuggets of truth and conversations. We trust God for the song list and message. Pray that many will be blessed with a knowledge of Jesus through us being relevant.

Guitar Classes to RTC Boys
We're trying to start up weekly guitar classes in the RTC on Saturday mornings, so there'll be more time to get to know the youth there, walk through a journey together, model to them kingdom values, etc. We hope to recruit a pool of volunteer instructors who have a heart to walk through 6 months with these boys, and the more volunteers we have, the better. Sign up with me. *wink*

Street Artists/Painters/Street Dancers
There's lots of opportunity to reach out to youth in Singapore using these expressions. Painting a larger-than-life picture in a public place; hanging out at creative spaces; meeting people with the same hobbies. If you're interested, sign up with me *wink wink*

Our Needs: Join us in trusting God to provide.
- Able-bodied guys who can help us move equipment during set-up or pack-up
- Mike stands, music stands, an AER amp
- A van or transport to move our equipment for practices and gigs, OR taxi fare for the trips we have to make in doing so

And not to forget, Justin starts his DTS this week. I can't wait, haha.

Drop me a line anytime. regina@ywam.org.sg

Peace on earth,
Regina

Flashback: Amsterdam Team at the Esplanade

Here's a video of the Amsterdam DTS team hanging out at the Esplanade basement last year. We hope more teams will come by...

Ethnos Band at Food For Thought Cafe

Sorry Eddie, can't see you behind there, but sure can hear you!

Timor Leste, March 2008

Guitar course at Cocoon

Hello, World...

Greetings, earthlings! This is an attempt to document the journey of Ethnos, thus far... We started in May 2007, with a simple group jam. Along the way, in a Super-Mario-Bro-esque fashion, we picked up little goodies, blessings, and important friendships that brought us through ups and downs (when we had to bounce onto giant mushrooms and off).

I wanna acknowledge the milestones and precious people who played a part in our formation, and those who made possible for us to live this dream, by playing for us, providing gear, prayer, and blessing us in your many secret ways. Truly a testimony of God's grace.

- Our 1st jam group: Jackie, Lionel, Ben Wu
- Joe Chean and the YWAM Leadership Team, for championing us and believing in this
- The YWAMers, especially Grace Lam, Theresa Cho, Maria, Sam Koh, Roy Christian, Eleana, Adeline Goh, Tee, Kim, Elaine Mok, Jumi, Irene Yeo, Adeline Chiang... Thank you for your prayers, input, listening to me meltdown, rant and panic, and simply showing support through encouragement. Your words mattered. Your prayers were answered.
- The guys in Aletheia, also Lester Zeng and Anais Lee, for your support at our 1st gig at Touch Learning Centre
- Lishan and Siew Lee, your seed fund saw us through our 1st 6 months
- Pravin Menon and Jachin Pousson: thanks for breaking new ground with us at the RTC! Rain Down!!
- The anonymous blesser whose gift of $2500 provided me my Korg TR. This gift came 1 day before our 1st gig and we'd been praying for it. Isn't God amazing?
- Matthew: God has a plan for you. Switchfoot forever! Thanks for being a friend and supporter.
- Julie Yap and Simon Tan: Thank you for the brand new Stillwater amp. It was like receiving treasure from a King.
- Jiahao: Thank you for filling in for the 2nd RTC gig. The presence of God was so strong.
- Our churches:
Pastor Lilian and Kum Yan Youth Connection - thanks for the covering, total support and releasing us to use the premises for jams. Appreciate this family.
Chapel of the Holy Spirit, Brandon and the young men who help carry stuff at our gigs - thank you for supporting Justin so wholeheartedly
- Ben Soh and the Perth Art Evangelist School: I learnt the art of evangelism from you guys. You sowed much into Singapore's scene!
- David Heng and the funky bunch at Food For Thought Cafe: Meeting you was a milestone for us. You gave us our 'big break'! Appreciate your openness, hospitality and partnership... hope we will be a blessing to you guys too.
- Daphne Khoo and family: Thank you, Khoo family, for partnering with us at our 1st public gig. Dafie, I love you lots. Keep your heart real.
- Dennis Oh: Glad you're back and it was timely coz we needed your support and maturity to get through. Looking forward to running the guitar course with you!
- Last but not least, the Ethnos Band: Justin, Ben Wu, Edward, Jiahao and maybe Dennis... what can I say, guys? God is God and I am not. You guys are an answered prayer.

Here're some pics from the past few months!

Aletheia's gig at Jackie's school


Lionel, you came a long way to stage your 1st performance! So proud of you...

Jackie sharing his testimony to his schoolmates... You go, boy! Bravery!

Fooling around during Thursday Jam Group!

Jackie, Lionel, Justin, Ben... our history-making jamming disciple group.

Live painting by Perth Art Evangelist School outside North Bridge Centre