1a.m. Blog

1a.m. MAY ENCOUNTER

2009-06-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

There is amazing development in what God has been doing or speaking to us in our journey in wanting to do Change Your World (CYW).

On May 3^rd - 5^th , the team went away for 3 days just seeking God on why “Change Your World”. One of the reasons why we did that is because we’re not sure if it was really God or us being man trying to be heroes. To be honest, there are too many uncertainties and these are just a few things on how we felt:

We are nobody in Malaysia - no one really knows who 1a.m. is.
We don’t have the finance as it takes at least half a million if we want to do 14 States. Yeap our church is too small and do not have such finances to run this.
We are a small church and the amount of man power needed to do this needs what maybe Hillsongs or Planetshakers kind of capacity. Maybe we are too ambitious.

But after a burning bush experience with God, I am not only fired up but the whole band is totally consumed by what God spoke in our retreat. This is the summary from Cuzario, Neil and Kelvin.

Two weekends ago we set for the mountainous hiding place, away from the city, to seek and hear from God hoping that He would reveal His immediate action plans for us in 1am as we unfold yet another new and interesting chapter of our ministry.

This year He is entrusting us with a 2-year project, our biggest so far, called Change Your World; due to kick off in August. Honestly speaking, though fully driven by our childlike faith (as always), we didn’t quite have the clearest picture of what the whole thing should be like. Crazy ideas were aplenty and scattered everywhere but pieced together the effect of braving the approximately 18 degrees centigrade Malaysian winter for a latte night at Starbucks, close to 6000 feet above sea level.

Things weren’t the same after we got our caffeine shot that night

Early the next morning as we battled against our growling tummies, God began to speak to each one of us mostly through His living Word, some pictures. The next few paragraphs are just a few of the amazing things revealed to us

In Luke 5:5 we observed that despite the many hours of trying, Simon did not grunt when Jesus told him to drop his net on the water for what would probably be one of his last attempts that night. Without complaining he did exactly as told saying, At Your Word (some translations because You say so) I will let this net down. Just like Simon we, for most of the time, have no slightest clue of what it takes to labor for or partner with God we come to a dead end without knowing it; typically choosing to stop, drop everything, quit, forget about it and never ever make a come back. But Simon was not a quitter. Instead, as a reward of his obedience, he was able to have the last laugh that night catching most likely his biggest catch in his entire fishing career. More than that, he was able to share the spoils with his buddies too! Being in the boat with Simon, we can’t but so wanting to emulate his feat and of course his great servant hood attitude. We want to obey Gods command like Simon did, believing in His every word without any hint of doubt. It didn’t require much and there’s nothing to lose, really. Because He said so, we will go

Moving on to verse 17 of the same chapter, the sentence that caught our attention was, the power of God was present.

Well, in all honesty, this is our truest desire for all the things we do in our ministry. Never in our mind will we ever take pride in the things we are doing or called to do. Our up most prayer is that for His power to be present so evident that others can’t deny that it is truly by His work we are able to execute everything put into our plates, be it in our small productions or gigantour concerts! All we are about is bringing His presence to every single life around us.

Lastly for this entry then He showed through one of us an image of a compass, one that has a hand as would an analog clock. Clockwise, the hand ticked beginning from the North proceeding to the East; then making a way passing the South at the six o clock mark before wrapping its not-so-complete cycle up in the West. Frankly, none of us knew what this exactly means (and yes, we are still trying to decipher the illustration) but in my humble opinion, I felt that this could probably be the route He wants us to take for this tour. As far as my geographically-challenged mind can go, I remembered we first introduced this tour in the Northern part of our country followed exactly by another state in the West. The third stop was a city in the Southern part of Peninsular Malaysia and the next, but not the last just yet, was in yes you got it right it was arguably to the West (actually North, depending on where and how your standing position is while reading this) of the previous city! So there you go, need me to say more?

Stay with us for more news

God's Kitchen

2009-04-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

It is way past midnight (oh yes, my BEDTIME too!) and I’m still wide awake. The reddish grey cloud outside is already hinting that rain is inevitable while the accompanying cool breeze is saying amen to that! Lovely…

I can’t help myself from munching the hot potato PIK-NIK “Shoestrings” while writing this…it is so addictive I’m beginning to think that if I don’t stop now I’ll continue eating it like an Eat-To-Sleep Chewing Machine! Oh don’t worry, I don’t do that all the time…and my current weight is still bearable…so it’s okay…

By the way, there’s a SMALL bowl of Cruzer’s Daybreak Salad waiting for me in the kitchen!

Hmmm…anyway, I’m just thinking…

If again tomorrow night I can’t sleep, despite the perfect weather, will I drug myself with more junk food or will I turn to the solid spiritual food? Shhh…I know…

Yes; lately, I’ve been so challenged and healthily bugged by the word of God written in Joshua 1:8. It says…

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful”. (NIV)

You see…too many of us, me included, I’m pretty sure we’ve came across this scripture too many times we overlooked the lamb-chop-like juice of truth it contains. Often time I realize I’d focus more on the “God’s Promise” part of the scripture neglecting the “My Action” part. It is as though I was too hungry I couldn’t wait for my lamb chop to cook I ate it raw – far off from His plan for me to enjoy the meat well done.

The thing about me (and probably you too) is that I don’t really love waiting and I want what I want right here right now. That’s how I am sometimes. I wanna be prosperous and I wanna be successful and I want them both fast, minus having to go through any hurdles. It is like I’m demanding for the profit but totally choose to forget about the investments! It doesn’t work that way, right?

But God being the fair Boss, His strategy is different – always! Not that He loves to withhold His promises, but in my own opinion, He is just not a fan of having to fork out salary advances to any of His servants. Unless faith actions are constantly and sincerely shown, He can choose to delay in delivering the desires of my heart…and He will not surprisingly do just that!

The whole experience of being enlightened by this simple verse has really caused me to dig in whatever I read so much deeper with the quest to find a fresh revelation and the whole package that comes with it. Like those who serves in the oil and gas industry, they dig deeper not with the goal to find out more about dinosaurs or fossils they knew ever existed; their prize – the oil and gas itself! Likewise, my attitude is not to just read whatever that is visible but beyond.

That’s just one of the things I learned…would love to share more juice with you again next time…perhaps in one of my other sleepless nights. Til then, enjoy what I’m leaving behind for you…

Cruzer’s Daybreak Salad Recipe:

Chicken Sausages with Cheese and Chili – raw, sliced to your hotness;

Onions, sliced thin enough to remind you of the unnecessary fat you might gain;

Tomato, sliced to the number of hours you have left in bed;

Carrots, sliced enough to shut your Parrot mouth;

Coral Leaves/Lettuces, generously green enough to remind you Jude is a vegetarian;

Sprinkles of coarse Black Pepper, as desired as you would tiny sweet moles on your face;

French Dressing, poured to perfection to romance your taste bud.

*would be nicer with Parmesan Cheese & Croutons!

Best paired with: Iced Lemon Tea chilled at -2°c.

Total Preparation Time: 7 minutes

Accompanying Soundtracks:

Nightminds by Missy Higgins

Water Feels Warm by Electralow

Hide Me by Grandad Bob

Change Your World Tour - Teaser

2009-04-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Guys! GO TO YOUTUBE AND COPY THE URL OR EMBEDDED THIS VIDEO TO PLAY ON YOUR BLOG, WEBSITE OR MYSPACE.

SPREAD IT OUT AND TOGETHER LETS BRING CHANGE!!!!

1a.m. NEW WEBSITE LOOK

2009-04-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

What a crazy month March turned out to be for us at 1a.m.! We are currently in the midst of fine-tuning a project we dreamed of embarking months ago called Change Your World, among others.

Concurrently, we are also in the last phase of upgrading our main website temporarily replacing it with the Change Your World website. If you would like to explore and check out the content, simply log on to our existing address at www.1am.com.my; you might just find something that will trigger your curiosity.

Just a little snippet of what you will find:

Facebook: Join us here and be a part of the 1a.m. community;

Twitter: To get instant updates about what we are up to;

Wordpress: To get details of our daily chores;

Indieheaven: Listen to our music and find out more about other Christian musicians near you;

Merch: Buy our merchandise;

Youtube: Watch our videos; Embed our new promo video to spread change!!!

Nominate Your City: Invite us to come to your city.

Well that is all we have for you this round. Have a great day! God bless..

Sound of Silence

2009-02-06T01:27:00.000-08:00

I don't really have a title watsoeva but this is basically wat i went thru d last 2 weeks o so...d 1st is me, d 2nd part is when God came into d picture...

Engulfed by total silence I didn't know what to say…

Jotting my thoughts down on paper was totally outta the question…

As though it's gonna help translate what's exactly been piling up in the core of my dented heart...

If it could be a color, pitch black would have well painted my disturbed mind…

Saving precious words for deep conversations seemed to be a valid excuse for the prolonged silence...

The silence I befriended and grew fond of…

Who would have thought the lowest decibel could be far greater in volume than the sound of a roaring thunder?

Unexpected occurrence…you left me baffled…

Silence…

Uninvited yet persistently it came, breaking the silence…

As though written in the air I heard every word whispered…

Tearing the separating veil this gentle voice reached for my reshaped heart…

A tone so calm coated in shades of the bluest deep ocean…

Words of comfort and hope it bestowed upon me without restraint…

None of which came cheap but I got 'em for free…

So real were they silence was kept at bay, waiting to just fade away…

Who would have thought silence could effortlessly be erased simply by letting the voice speak?

Predictably unusual…I'm mystified…

You broke the ice…

Cuz1am

God's Ang Pau

2009-02-05T00:05:00.000-08:00

The sight of my apartment in KL…

The noisy cars that pass by everyday…

The view of a warehouse, FROM a warehouse…

( I’ll keep this short since my previous one was amazingly long)

Being back from holidays is always a bummer for most people, I’m one of them and most probably you are too. I made a conclusion that the one that needs a holiday the most are the ones that just had them(insert laughter here). Ah…I remember the feeling when I first touched down to KL last year to join 1a.m., oddly I felt the same when I arrived last night from KK. Oh well, I guess the only thing in life that God wants us to move in is forward.

If you didn’t know I went back to KK for the holiday season and I THANK GOD that I went back, so refreshing and really got me into the holiday mood. As usual for CNY I went back with my family to Sandakan and did 2 things: Eat, and collect Ang Paus. Ok you have to understand this, my grandfather married THREE TIMES…he must be very good looking…and as a result I have an array of aunties and uncles…some I never met before, and the good thing about that is…MORE ANG PAU. (Insert evil laughter here). So really it’s a blessing in disguise, although all of them thought of me as a girl cos of my hair. It was a really good chance for me to spend time with my family specially my brother and dad…since…us as guys don’t spend much time together. I really felt burden specially for my dad, cos since young I was never attached to him (I’m a mommy’s boy), so I took EXTRA effort to really spend time with my dad. Which I did, and really I thank God I did, cos now I feel we’re more bonded together and now we talk more. Of course it was awkward and needs getting used to but it’s a journey I guess.

Well, to share one thing with you guys one thing that God spoke to me this week in my devotion (we call it vedotion sometimes) he made me look at my ang paus…the wonderful time I had with my family…how awesome KK is…all those things…they are of extreme value to me, but will someday be gone. But in my devotion it says:

“Lasting treasures lie in the riches of love, joy, peace,

goodness, grace and mercy that God lavishes on his children EVERYDAY”.

Isn’t that awesome…EVERYDAY!!

Which means everyday is Chinese New Year to us cos he gives us “Ang Paus” that are filled with love, joy, grace, mercy, peace and everything that is for our spiritual, physical and emotional growth and benefit!!

God really open my eyes to see that earthly things though of VALUE to me…is of extreme small value compared to God’s grace and love. I took the time to thank God in every capacity that I can think of...being able to receive ang paus, spend time with my family, serving Him full time, BEING ALIVE, and ALL the awesome “ang paus” that he LAVISHES us daily. He deserves all the glory and honour and thanks in my life.

Ready to receive a daily dose of God’s Ang Pau?

RISE of the LEADER

2009-01-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

So it was a Friday afternoon, I had an Intro to Business class and my word, did I enjoy this class.

A little side note here.... when I was in high school I purposely chose the science stream coz I hated Business. Who would have known that I'll be learning a bit on Business in college again...wahhhhhhhhhhhhh ... definitely not me.

I kinda felt like Jonah where you like try to run away from what your suppose to do or face only to find yourself submit to whatever you are running from =)

Anyway, You got to love God coz for whatever reason you think ain't worth knowing is worth knowing In God's Eyes!

In other words, just move with the flow knowing that God is in Control!!!

We had this game which the teacher kinda like asked us to play in a room with 5 students (The rest must be running away... hehehe). It was a "Survival simulation game".

Now I don't know if it’s true but it’s the same game that companies use when hiring managers. In short the scenario is that you along with your people where in a plane, crashed landed somewhere up north of Canada (How north can you get?!?! =p), its cold, 25 below zero during day time, 40 below zero at night, the nearest town 20 miles away. So you and your surviving buddies manage to salvage a couple of things in the plane....

WHAT DO YOU DO?

The list are (not in order)

A ball of steel wool

A small axe

A loaded .45 Caliber pistol

Can of Crisco Shortening

News papers (One per person)

Cigarette lighter (Without Fluid)

Extra T-shirt and pants for each survivor

20x20 ft. piece of heavy duty canvas

A sectional air map made of plastic

One quart of 100-proof whiskey

A compass

Family-size chocolate (One per-person)

Try doing this and see whether you are manger material =) (Comment or email me personally if you want to know the answer to this)

Anyway, I did mine... And guess what?!?!?!?!

I'll be the first one to die in the COLD!!!! Oh man, that just dropped the nuclear bomb in me and I can hear God say "..... ... ..... . . . . ..."

In other words, sometimes (or most of the times) I get the best of me (overconfident side) to act upon my life rather than listening to Him first and consider the thoughts of others.

When I thought about it, ask me whether my fellow "plane crashers" where part of my survival plan, I'm ashamed to say "NO".

Wow that was an eye opener, heart opener, can opener (however you want to call it) for me. I can see my "humble status" rising as it left a scar in my heart and mind as it’s gonna be one of those memories that you'll never forget. I can be very selfish.

But you know what.... Praise God! He reminded me that He is the perfector of our Faith!

Don’t ever think “that because things are going great for you everything is ok”. We need Jesus all the more.

I'm still amazed with this scene in my life. I still have a lot to learn. I thank God that He's never given up on me despite how many times I feel like giving up.

“A thousand times I failed still your mercy remains,

should I stumble again, I'm caught by your Grace" (plays at the back of my mind when writing this =) )

So I "died" in managerial skills but that’s all part in Leadership training so I guess I'm in the right class in life.

To be a leader is to go through failures not because you’re destined to fail but destined to learn so that you can be a better leader not for yourself, but for God and others.

Rise up!

Neil1am

P.S HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!

WAKE UP SCREAMING!!!

2009-01-22T00:28:00.000-08:00

‘YYYARGH!!!!’

Wake up screaming..sometimes that’s what I do..Well…not really like yell at the ceiling and jump up run into toilet to wash up, but that would be cool…just freak out my roommate once in a while.

RECORDING FOR RELENT HAS BEGUN!!!!

Well…for drummer Cuzario to be exact…I did the guide tracks though…and...some other things…things…Do keep us in prayer…My turn comes when I come back from CNY in KK…

Which means I have to practice without my normal equipment at home…

Anyone wants to sponsor me a rig or two? (another guitar would be nice…)

ANYWAYS…

Yesterday night I took the guys out (Cuz, Dan, Neil, and Kel) for a steamboat buffet dinner on me…since it’s better to give than to receive…we had the most…um…weird experience of eating in Yuan (yes the chicken wing place…it’s not all that..if you go there JUST for the chicken it’s ok…but the buffet stuff suck so much it can clean the house…) where people just QUEUE UP to get them wings…and in the end return disappointed because they only have ONE on their plate and about 6 thousand other wings on the floor because people just can’t…um…make them go to their plate.

And Daniel made spicy ice cream fudge!! Check it out!!

It’s so gruesome and awesome and endearing in a way we had to blog about it…

(I’m really not into this way of blogging…it’s just not my thing…)

Anyway…ingredients are:

Yam ice cream

Vanilla ice cream

Corn ice cream

Tom yam soup

Chicken breast meat

Chicken gizzard

Chicken heart

Fungus (black and white)

Egg

Some overcooked Veg

Onions

Shrimp

Shrimp Shell

Chilli with lime and some other condiments

1 extremely experimental Indian

1 Indian saliva

1 Filipino saliva

It’s intriguing yet disgusting at the same time so it was a bet on fire!

RM100 bucks to the guy who finishes it…

No one barely even looked at it..

And since Kel was there he decided to do some discipleship with us…as he usually does:

Came a time when he ask:” What do you think is your life message? “

You know…like…if you were on stage suddenly and a group of people wants to hear what made you who you are…what made you do things the way you do…what speaks most loudly in your life that you believe in it and you don’t have to prepare a full length sermon to tell of your message….

I felt my life message is kinda obvious that time…music has always been my thing…and I wanna use this God given talent and use it for his glory…

I want to be such an influential musician that I can grab people’s attention,

and then God will take over from there.

Then Kel ask an extremely simple question:

“Then what?”

Those are two words that changed the way I think…”Then what?”

Really there are so many possible answers…But only one will matter to God…

I thought and thought and thought for the next few mins…

“WHATS NEXT!?”

I screamed in my heart…like I do waking up…nothing…

Nothing rang in my spirit…

Nothing sounded the bells in my head…

Nothing made the Jude inside respond…

Can that be it?

Play music and….and…what’s the next sentence?

GOD!!! HELP!!!!

I DON’T KNOW!!

Never in my life I felt so uncertain..

I need God more than ever now…

I need his directions even more clearly laid than ever…

I need his wisdom more than bread…

I need his grace more than the song meant…

I am weak…

Frail..

Brittle as hair..

Momentary as vapour…

Small as insignificant….

Where was my confidence..

Where was my zest..

Where was my passion..

I went home…bamboozled as monkeys on branches…Went to bed asking God..

“What now God?’”

“And then WHAT God?”

“I need you…”

I’m probably the only one in the band that listens to weird music (when I say weird, I mean things that scream, have weird odd time signatures, 45 min length songs, saxophones bleating and nose blowing a tower full of cabbages in upstate downtown sunrise!), I was listening to the song ‘A Small Spark Vs. A Great Forest’ by Norma Jean..

And some of the lyrics that got my attention (besides being a cool song):

Rip this tongue out by the root.
Shake the walls of this pale grave.
A blaze, a blaze is set upon the hills.
An open grave from which a great forest will rise, the fire collapses.
The corpses I've made.
This should not be.
Oh, how we curse.
The tongue is a flame.
Let there be grace.
Fight fair.

I wanted to be like the small spark..igniting the WHOLE forest…letting the world know how awesome is my God..

Oh how we curse ourselves…I speak of things I know not of myself..LET THERE BE GRACE…

In this season of Chinese New Year to come…I pray God will show more grace…and slowly reveal “WHATS NEXT”…

I want my life message to spark the great forest out there…But until then…I’m in need of him..more than ever…

What’s your life message?

…

“then what?”

Jude1am

FALL-LOW or FOLLOW?

2009-01-20T02:40:00.000-08:00

Wasabi!!! How’s everyone’s weekend? Good I hope.

We just finished our 7 Day prayer and fasting as a church.

Let me break it down spiritually and physically.

- Physically I was hungry =p. Lost some kgs so it’s a good thing hahaha.

- Spiritually it was great. In a nut shell in conjunction to what I feel God spoke to me personally and ministry wise (which is the year 2009 is the “make it” or “break it” year) I felt God spoke to me about “starting right or miss out”. I mean think about it, if we start our day right with God (quiet time) the rest of the day would be perfect. Not that you won’t have challenges along the way but the strength, peace, grace, mercy, love etc of God is with you as you go through your day. Why? Coz you started your day right. Now this about this, how much more if you start youryear right?

I went to TGIF the other day with PC (Pastor Cat).

It was a dinner blessed by Roger, the dad of our youngest 1a.m. intern whose name is Eu Wyn, and had my favorite Jack Daniel Burger! It was amazing. I want to thank Manchester United for if it wasn’t for them thrashing Chelsea 3-0 I wouldn’t be eating at all… hahaha. Seriously.... Thanks Roger!!! You Rock!!! Man Utd Vs Intermilan next ;-)

Well today starts the 1^st week of our Change Album recording. So it’s official. Cuza goes first so do keep him in prayers that he delivers the best in him for this album.

Yesterday me and Jude were doing guide tracks (What are guide tracks? They are songs that should not be heard online due to bad recording. For drummers only =p). We did a video blog, so you’ll probably see it online soon.

It short, the change album will be coming out in the middle of the year so please be excited!

Anyway, I led worship last weekend and had a conversation with God based on Ps 23.

Now most of us know what Ps 23 talks about. It’s where it famously starts with

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want”.

One of my challenges this year that I agree to work on is really pray and grow deeper in terms with the word of God. So I read onwards and stumble upon verse 6 where it goes

“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life...”

I paused for a while and chatted with God a bit and asked Him “Why couldn’t goodness and love go ahead instead of following?” Not that I doubted His word but I guess its just one of those ways you use if you want to hear God speak back juicy stuff. You got to ask questions! =)

So I asked and He immediately replied (Love Him=)) and this is what He told me to think of.

In life, we move forward. Our life moves forward not backwards.

Imagine if goodness and love do go ahead of us, in other words we follow. Now there’s no guarantee of what life may bring tomorrow or maybe the next few hours so if we fall somewhere we “sort-of” miss out because goodness and love was ahead of us. Its like having 2 of your best buddies run a head of you to get movie tickets where along the way you tripped over the pavement and there was no-one behind you to help you out because your buddies are in front of you.

But lets say, the same incident as the first, goodness and love follow us all the days of our lives that when we fall, we sure won’t miss it.

Wow, to me that was comforting. I hope it is to you too.

I don’t know where your journey is today but be at peace that you won’t miss out the goodness and love of God. And even if you feel like it’s ahead of you or you’re falling behind, know that our God the Father is watching, turns back, picks you up and puts you on top of His shoulders.

That’s the God I love and that’s the God I serve.

Neil1am

2009?

2009-01-15T01:34:00.000-08:00

I can't believe 2008 is gone. Neither am I aware that today is actually the 15th day of 2009! To be honest, I don't even think my new year have begun...I'm still in my holiday mood!

At this point of writing, my dry throat feels like it's gonna tear really soon. It hurts so bad I wanna shove a bucket of ice cream right now...but I can only dream on as it is fasting season now for us here in our church.

I am also feeling a bit tired after making a short but exciting trip to Singapore & Indonesia last weekend together with my drumming family from Drummer For Christ. It was indeed a fun trip for me as I had the opportunity to drum together with this crazy bunch of guys who happens to be the world's finest drummers:

Arthur Kam (winner of Modern Drummer Undiscovered Talent under-18 category for 2008);

Rolf Wam Fjell (Hillsong Australia's very own drumming monster);

Lim Kok Yen (Malaysia's famous drum guru);

Vince Seah (Founder of Drummer For Christ Malaysia);

Derrick Siow (Malaysia's very own Aaron Spears);

Josh Wong (probably one of the good Jazz drummers/bassists in Malaysia).

Travelling with these guys has not only benefitted me in terms of my skills and everything else that has got to do with it but God also have given me the confidence to release words to some of the members of the team…something which I'd reluctantly do not too long ago. Though simple or nothing to brag about, the fact that I was able to confidently speak into their lives has boosted me to avail myself to be a voice that God would use to encourage others even more.

Back track a little bit…Christmas Production – The Heavenly Gift…I truly had fun playing Val, a nerdy angel with a thousand and one and a half questions! It never crossed my mind that I could play that role but I surprised myself & the show went well…

Next week we'll be hitting the studio again to record 1am's 5^th (my 2^nd) album which should be out, if everything goes as planned, in May or June. It's gonna be a great album. Hmmm…but we pray that it'll be more than just a great record…we want it to be a conduit of the defining moment in the lives of its listeners!

My throat is really uncooperative now…please join me in prayers for its complete healing. It's a bit annoying now I feel I better stop writing here. Will give you guys a buzz again real soon. My head's spinning too! Be blessed…

Cuz1am

F(e)asting to CHANGE!!!

2009-01-15T01:03:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all those that are a bit slow on the dates. Like me, my new year was postponed due to a fever that I got from my younger brother. A day before New Year! It’s sad but I loss a lot of weight, so that’s something to be happy about.

Year 2009 started with a 7-day prayer and fasting, we do this every year but I decided to do something different, I’m going for the Daniel fast, not because my name is Daniel, but because Pastor Timothy the senior pastor of our church made an awesome statement that got me thinking (and also because I rarely eat vegetable. LOL). Seriously.

He said (I quote, not the exact words) Jesus fasted 40 days because that was what needed for His ministry, and Daniel (the dude in the bible) fasted for 21 days because he wants to change that nation. So my question to myself was this,

What am I fasting for and in what capacity of fasting does it require?
What is the amount of magnitude do I want to see change in me and around me?
Am I going to do it? yeEEEAAAAaaaRR~~~~

Take Zack Hunter for an example, he is a 15 year old dude that take the extra mile so abolish modern day slavery. Just like Bono, helping people in Africa. Why do these people go the extra mile to help others? Why don’t they just live in their own comfort? That you ask yourself and find out whether you want to be a world changer or a person just going to pass by without a legacy to pass on (rock and roll hand motion). This reminds me of john Meyer’s song Vultures.

Anyway, back on track, by fasting we die to our body and what seems comfortable for us. I’m not going to say that fasting is easy for me; in fact it is the hardest thing to do for me. I love to eat, hence the body size. I like to play computer games, sleep and yeah… you get the picture. But if I want to see change, a sacrifice of the flesh is sufficient to bring me to another level of my life.

I believe that everyone is meant to live so much more (switchfoot?) than what we are living for. We cannot do great things if comfort is what we desire and not change.

We as a team in 1AM is looking forward to our tour this year, and we pray that we can change your world.

Cheers. Dan1am

Grace Amazing

2009-01-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

This week for the awesome Jude...

Or they call awesome hotness...

Or just hotness...

Or just awesome...

A new year has dawned...a new start to do things differently...

Newer challenges...newer things to learn...ANOTHER CHANCE to make my year glorify God...

Gosh so excited for this year. Relent recording is gonna resume again after a short hiatus. We just practiced and finalized arrangements for our songs...

Not to boast...but our songs are just so awesome...ok that’s boasting but it’s a God given song...so it’s for His glory...

What song doesn't need bells?! WE NEED THEM BELLS!!

Not to mention the tour we're gonna launch into this year...so much God has in store for us its just exciting..

If you dunno what I’m talking about then STAY TUNED!!

It’s the 1st week (2nd technically) but God has already started to reveal so much to me thru my time with him (sometimes I call it a date...lol)...

I remember on a particular Monday (actually that’s just a few days away) I was doing my devotions and the devo book mentioned something about God's grace...

Long story short, this guy was floating in the sea stranded...and almost got killed by sharks...but God's grace was upon him and he survived.

Many a times my surroundings fail my eyes...my existence blurs my heart...my work dulls my senses... and I, in turn fail to see that it was God's grace that made me Jude today...

Are my achievements fueled by my aptitude?

Are my moments of peace fed by my solitary shell?

Is my disposition shaped by my own understanding?

Neither...

WHERE I AM TODAY IS ENTIRELY BY GOD'S GRACE.

I have failed in many areas, yet God's grace pushes me to move.

I have stumbled many a times, yet God's grace picks me up.

I have shut my ears and ignore, yet God's grace spoke through my heart.

I remember during a concert 1a.m. was playing and I COMPLETELY MESSED UP MY GUITAR SOLO... (macam telinga mau koyak bah) no guitar sounded as cheap/weird/tormenting/hancur/all-in-all-really-bad as my guitar that moment... (which I quickly reacted by lowering my volume slightly to avoid further destruction of ears) but the spirit of God moved in the concert, and many people were touched. It wasn't my playing that moved the people (it moved them one step back though...lol)...but God's spirit...

I remember PC saying this so clearly...until now it has been a benchmark in what I do in ministry:

"WHAT WE DO IS NOT A MEASURE OF RELIGIOUSITY,

BUT A MEASURE OF GOD'S GRACE... "

I may be in the worst moments of my life,

be the worst guitarist of all,

be the worst person to have to cut your hair...

but God's grace makes the worst obsolete.

I thank God for his grace that carried me through...and I encourage you guys to give thanks to God for his never ending grace...

If not you even might not have a chance to read this...

God is awesome...

Jude1am

2008 ..... The year that passed - Neil

2009-01-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

The year that passed ….

2008 I believe was a year where the Lord has been doing a lot of maintenance in my life. Honestly I feel I haven’t done much but if I am going to base my year on the things I do physically (no wonder I’m growing in size) then I’ve missed the point on what God has been doing internally.

Unlike 2007, we didn’t travel much but like I said, MAINTENACE!

It has been challenging as a musician, a leader and a discipler but I believe it’s for the good for the year 2009.

Musicianship – I believe there has been growth in 3 areas. First is my songwriting/arrangement abilities. I remember praying to God about really bringing me to the next level in terms of my writing. I struggled as I worked my way through in writing not just worship songs but mainstream song where at the end of the day I wrote more than I expected this year. I’ve been also listening to a lot of today’s music, just to know what’s in and out. With that, I’ve been open to a bit of Jazz and classical music which so broaden my creativity. There has been so much soul searching adding depth to what I write so yeah….Praise God!

2^nd and 3^rd, my vocals … hmmm… became better, rockier according to Daniel and my guitar skills… well I bought an Electric Guitar (GRECO 79’) so that should answer my abilities. I still play rhythm though.

Leadership – Wow…. I had to step up a lot in situations I felt needed the most. You have to understand that I’ve always labeled myself as the “Laid Back Leader”, just chillin’. I’ve been reading a leadership book where what struck me was that “A leader is one that steps into the uncertain. You as a leader can afford to be uncertain but cannot afford to be unclear in terms of moving forward.”

Personally, I feel I’ve used my brain so much this year in terms of thoughts, thinking of a clear direction. I may not know the outcome but so far there has always been a direction with a positive outcome. And even if it didn’t turn out right, it gave room to grow and learn. This goes out in all the areas I lead may it be as an assistant to Kelvin in terms of our 1a.m. ministry at church, the main band whenever Kel and PC is not around on tour, the youth band(Relent), Creative life, Discipleship etc.

Discipleship – Well I didn’t reach my faith goal in this area but I’m happy that the people I follow up grew the next level whether it’s their walk with God or serving. I had an additional friend added up in the group and he’s been doing great so far!

To see them serve in more than their natural ability is a blessing. I am determine to raise leaders who does not serve where they find comfort but push them to areas where I believe will help them grow and even so determine to raise people who loves God, fueling their passion to serve.

Relationship with the opposite sex – FAILED! Hahaha. Let’s see what 2009 has in-stored! I guess I’m still searching. I saw one but I maybe looking at the wrong one. I don’t know. Well whoever it may be, I hope she’s looking out as well. Bottom line is, what I feel, should be from God.

Enough said.

Overall God has been great in my life. He filled every void that needs to be filled with love and poured so much grace even when I don’t deserve them.

What do I mean by that?

Well being foreigner and living in Malaysia away from my family (miss you guys. Dad take-care of yourself, praying for you! I’ll see you guys soon) and friends I grew up with can be tough. It’s not like I can pay a few hundreds to go back home, I would need a few thousands for the flight and that’s a lot so I really thank God for being there always and giving me friends here to grow with.

Grace? How truly sweet the sound of grace is! I am not perfect as a worker at the office, a minister in or out of church, a friend. I mean I didn’t graduate as a business man, a good communicator, a super talented guitarist. At times I really feel inadequate with what I do. To be honest there are times I feel I am not the smartest, on top of that I have my challenges. But again, Praise God for it is Him who sustains me, in my weakness He strengthens me and pours out that sufficient grace, that amazing grace I so need everyday in my life.

Serving God, serving the church, serving the people has been a pleasure. I find no regrets.

I’m excited for next year. Everything that took place personally in my life was so that I can step into a bigger picture that God painted for 2009. I know its going to be bigger, better and greater. All for His glory and I know that YOU all are in it!

RELENT is coming soon. Don’t know what I’m talking about?… stay tune!

2008 so far - Daniel

2008-12-29T21:40:00.000-08:00

This year have been a wonderful, purposeful and also a bittersweet one. The team has grown older, wiser and fatter, that’s why Neil and me are working out almost everyday now.

Earlier this year, one of our band mates, Mr. TJ Tan, who played the electric guitar left to Australia to further his studies.Just when he left God sent Jude Limus, a talented brother that can play various instruments. God is amazing.

This year we were busy with a lot of recordings, especially planning for next years album. This year we recorded two albums and that is Secret Place, which is our Chinese album and Adoration, which is the instrumental album.

I personally spent a lot of nights just recording and editing, fixing and more recording and editing. We recorded a lot, arranging guitar parts and thinking of ways to make our sound sweeter, bigger and more AWESOME. But one thing that I learnt throughout this tough, muddy, dirty, grueling process was I cannot make the sound in the recording bigger or sweeter or awesome if I depend on my own strength. Philippians 4:13 say I can do all things through Christ that strengthen me. I realized there was a time when I was exhausted and I felt like I cannot go on with the recordings, it was because I depended on my own strength and I did not rely on God.

It is the same with anyone out there; you need to draw strength from God daily. But how do you do that? By just coming to God daily before you start your day in prayer and reading His word. I have to admit there are times I struggle to read His word everyday (I know you guys struggle too) but I make it an effort to meet with Him almost everyday. I'm confident you'll start your day right and also He will provide you sufficient strength, anointing and blessing as well through out the day. God Bless.

2008 Briefly - Cuzario

2008-12-26T22:30:00.000-08:00

Looking back, 2008 was like a roller-coaster ride for me personally.
There were lotsa ups and downs almost everywhere all the time.

Compared to the year before, there weren't many tours in 2008 but itdoesn't mean we didn't do much this year. What I personally perceive is that God kept us for a season just to prepare us for a greater year ahead.

Through this time of confinement God truly have brought us as a band to really dive in deeper into the ocean floor, understanding a new level of what worship is all about. Finding new revelations about how great God really is was almost like having an incurable brain tumor! Even mind-boggling doesn't come close to describing the magnitude of this God we are serving!

Generally, especially in the 2nd half of the year, we enjoyed our time ministering, empowering, equipping & training a few worship teams from some local churches around the country. Besides, we also prioritized to strengthen our own worship teams at home.

Personally, it was and still is a very emotionally-challenging year for me as relationships with friends turned rocky and all that. Worst, I had to fight with time as God welcomed some (in the last 2 years) of my dearest home to be with Him forever a bit sooner than I
could imagine.

In my brokenness facing the reality of life I'm thankful that God is still so ever faithful in having so much interest in every area of my imperfect life. I cannot but keep thirsting for more of Him each day. It's His grace that fuels me to lift my heavy feet as I drag my own cross daily knowing that in my weaknesses I'm always made strong. More than often His comforting living Words has never failed to keep me sane and grounded each time unexpected storms came by, which in some desperate moments made me feel as though I'm clinging for my dear life on a sinking boat only to realize He's always there to grab me from sinking deeper into the troubled waters.

Overall, the journey this year wasn't easy at all but definitely rewarding. Surrendering everything to Him is still the best choice and the right thing todo. As I lay here waiting for a better tomorrow, all He's asking me to do is to be still and let God be God! So...I'll just stick to that in obedience. After all, He's the One who's in control over this broken
life.

~cruzer~

The year that was 2008 - Jude

2008-12-22T20:49:00.000-08:00

Since joining 1a.m. on the 17th Feb 08 ( YES EXACT DATE.. )

My journey has been a most exciting one though its only a short amount of time. I remember being exposed to the different fields of work, like managing an entire academy, to overseeing the whole musical department as music director in training, things I'm not good at, but which 1a.m. had the confidence (or audacity) to entrust me with. But it is by God's grace the academy and music team is still surviving! (insert laughter here)

But really, journeying together with 1a.m. has really broaden my view towards God, from God only being my comfort and provider, to God being BIGGER THAN ALL MY PROBLEMS, and seeing him in a bigger worth. Being my 1st time away from home, often times I go to God for a "home security", which is good cos I i believe he wants us to go to him as often as we are able to.

But as God slowly reveals to me himself more and more, I felt God saying "MY PRESENCE IS BETTER THAN ANY HOME ON EARTH". So kinda like God became bigger than any castle mansion made. God has been so gracious even before I joined 1a.m. and I realized that often times I only acknowledge Him whenever He provides, intervenes in my problems, or when he delivers me from my grief.

Being with 1a.m. has open my eyes in worshipping Him, and honoring him EVEN WHEN HE SEEMS TO BE QUIET, or when things doesn't go MY WAY. God is always in control of everything regardless of different situations that we face. My heart has always been music, playing music, and anything to do with music, and when God gets involved in the music it just makes it even better. I've always wanted to play better, improve in my skills, learn everything possible, JUST so that I can equip myself. But...slowly God change me, as I journey with 1a.m. I now realized doing all the work, practicing 100 hours a day, trying to play faster than that speeding bullet, became secondary as MY HEART WAS MORE IMPORTANT ABOVE ANYTHING ELSE.

God changed me from WANTING TO BE ABLE TO PLAY EVERYTHING TO EQUIP MYSELF to WANTING TO IMPROVE MYSELF SO THAT I'M ABLE TO SERVE HIM BETTER.

This year has been awesome, 1 year flew by without me noticing the red light.

Throughout the year I met many a challenge, most of them made me feel extremely inadequate. I specially remember one of them where my playing styles completely differ from the current band members.. ( I grew up listening to classical, jazz and Prog Metal and music like Japanese pop...yes, worlds apart... ) Everyone was either...rock...or...not-classical-not-jazz-not-metal kinda thing... So a lot of times it was extremely hard for me to gel with them, to play skillfully up to an expectation, ( everyone thought highly of my musicality's apparently ) and being a musician it's hard to change instantly and suck in your pride. But I thank GOD for THE AWESOME journey He hooked me up in '08, for being such an AWESOME GOD, for BEING SO REAL, and walking me me thru all the moments where I felt I'm inadequate, cos that's where i feel him the most. Of course God is slowly changing me as well musically, at least now know jazz is not the band's thing :) ....

I look forward for '09 to come, cos I know God has in store for me MORE AWESOME THINGS that He wants me to experience.

It's been good being a guitarist for God, I regret nothing...

Philippines Tour Day 12 and 13

2008-09-24T01:16:00.001-07:00

Philippines Tour Day 11

2008-09-21T06:49:00.000-07:00

Philippines Tour Day 10

2008-09-19T00:38:00.000-07:00

Philippines Tour Day 9

2008-09-18T21:01:00.001-07:00

Philippines Tour Day 8

2008-09-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

Philippines Tour Day 7

2008-09-18T03:44:00.002-07:00

Philippines Tour Day 6

2008-09-18T03:44:00.001-07:00

Philippines Tour Day 5

2008-09-18T03:44:00.000-07:00

Philippines Tour Day 4

2008-09-13T00:16:00.000-07:00

Philippine Tour Day 3

2008-09-12T23:34:00.000-07:00

Philippines Tour Day 2

2008-09-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

Philippines Tour Day 1 - Vlogs

2008-09-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

Philippines Tour Day 1 - Vlogs

Malaysia's Independence

2008-09-02T03:00:00.000-07:00

The independence of Malaysia is different from much of the independence of other countries. What makes it so different? It is a peaceful independence achieved by holding talks with the British. No other country has ever done that before Malaysia. Addtionally, the Malaysian independence was realised by three people with different culture and religion. It is amazing how independence was gained that way. On the glorious day of 31 August 1957, Allahyarham Tunku Abdul Rahman proudly declared the independence of Malaya (now Malaysia) by shouting out "Merdeka" seven times at the Merdeka Stadium.

1a.m. is proud to be Malaysians and we believe that God has great plans for our nation. Please pray for us as we declare our 51st independence day.

Please go to our 1a.m youtube website to view our song “Malaysia Shout Your Praise” and you can download the song for free also at our website at www.1am.com.my .

God bless

1a.m. team

Malaysia Shouts Your Praise - Music Video/ Testimony

2008-08-29T02:08:00.000-07:00

Here is 1a.m's new music video

This just came out last week. A collection of pictures showing what Malaysia's all about. A reminder that we should love our country. God Bless Malaysia!

Testimony of Malaysia Shouts Your Praise

The story behind the song: Malaysia Shouts Your Praise

2008-06-01T04:11:00.000-07:00

The story behind the song: Malaysia Shouts Your Praise

I have met many Malaysians leaving the country for "greener" pastures. While there may be valid reasons for them to migrate, it saddens me whenever I hear negative comments made towards their own country.

They remember very little good or only the bad things that made them leave. That often makes me question myself, "Are we not responsible for our own nation? God cannot be making a mistake by placing us in the nation we were born in. If we leave, then who is going to reach this nation for Jesus?"

Many of us have forgotten that God has a purpose for placing us in a certain country. We often complain about the ills and forget the great things He has done in our country. We must believe that God is sovereign and HE can transform our nation.

We need to stir our hearts to love and begin to pray for our nation that God will bring revival to our streets, towns, cities, state and our country. Let us stand together united in ONE ACCORD and declare "Every Nation Shouts God's Praise."

I pray that the song will bless and inspire you to pray for your own nation.

God bless

Kelvin Lim
1a.m. director

Loving God Part 2

2008-05-10T04:09:00.000-07:00

Loving God Part 2

When growing up, let’s say between 4yrs to 10yrs old, have you ever felt that you will be taken care off for the rest of your life by your parents.

- no need to buy food, clothes

- Shelter/Protection, Money, ETC…

Not that my parents never spoke about me living independently, its just that I was so loved that I never thought about it.

But as we grow older, REALITY checks-in

- Parents don’t live forever. There only on earth for a while.

- Parents stop providing at 18 (Well does not technically apply for all but it was for me

But you know what?

Praise God that we have a God Yesterday, Today and Forever

Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Continuing from what God spoke to me about loving HIM (Loving God), I felt God challenged me in 3 things base on the verse:-

1) Think of the God of Yesterdays but DON’T love Him like Yesterday

I say this because I believe God deserves the best everyday in terms of our love, our devotion, etc

· Let’s not love God with leftovers of yesterdays love. Remember Him and love Him more.

Ps 25:6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old

2) Think of who God is Today and love Him more.

· How do we do this? By doing things better all for the glory of His name.

For example: - If you think you worked better than yesterday with what you did, then challenge yourself to do better today. Even if you go beyond your daily routine, then do it all for Him, for His glory.

Ps 59:16 But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.

3) Think of what God does Tomorrow (Forever). So be Excited

Ps 100:5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

· Everyday is an opportunity to meet God. So be excited on what is God going to do and speak in your life

I am challenged, what about you?

Neil1am

Road to Next Level: - Simplicity – Fallen Branch Thought

2008-05-05T04:04:00.000-07:00

Road to Next Level: - Simplicity – Fallen Branch Thought

Have you ever seen or heard of a branch that came off a tree, rooted itself on the ground and became fruitful? If you had, please email me at neil@1am.com.my, HeHeHe

Anyway, I was reminded of the story in the bible when Jesus spoke about “The Vine and the Branches” on John 15.

You see, we dream about great things taking place, talk about “how to accomplish a dream?” or “See a vision come to pass” but you tell me, do you think that we will be able to see what we dream, what we envision to come to pass by not doing what is simple and that is to be connected to the Father?

What do I mean by connected? Does it mean…

- Read the bible 1 week ago and do Gods call?

- Hear the word of God once a month at church, read the bible whenever I feel and do Gods call?

- Pray today and pray only when reminded?

This is what Jesus said,

John 15:5-8

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

Well I don’t read the bible almost everyday but I make an effort to read it everyday. Remaining in Him does not necessarily mean read the bible everyday but I guess it simply means this –

Do we start the day thinking about God in whatever our agenda maybe?

In what ever we do, are we connected with Him whether reading, prayer, humility, submission, etc

Our Next Level is around the corner and to do so is to do the simple things first which is “BE CONNECTED”

This may sound easy but its not. Sometimes the simple things are the hardest to do but I believe once you get a hang of it, it would be smooth sailing.

Leakage

2008-05-05T04:01:00.000-07:00

Leakage

God painted a picture in my head some time ago where I see a bottle, a bottle that is no obvious defect or abnormalities and the bottle that I saw was filled with fresh water. At first glance, you won’t find anything wrong with it then until the bottle was turned upside down. Then I start to see a drip, a small drip and it started to become bigger drips.

When I saw that picture, it’s like God is reminding me the state of our spiritual life as a band and as a person. Sometimes we think our bottle is full , thinking that our spiritual life is strong, not realizing that there’s a leakage at the bottom of the bottle that is slowly leaking out, sometimes we are unaware and sometimes we are just plain ignorant of the fact that our bottle is leaking.

This is what happened when we do not constantly check our lives, thinking everything is alright without realizing that our spiritual level is low or sometimes even empty and yet we are still ignorant of what is happening. Sometimes our leakage is too small that even we won’t realize it; sometimes we need someone else to tell us that is leaking because sometimes at first glance, we think that everything is alright.

God showed me this picture to remind us that we have to constantly check ourselves, making sure we have no leakage in our spiritual lives and we need to take actions to patch it up if we have been shown or convicted of the leakage that has been happening.

Cuz1am

From the desk of 1a.m. director

2008-04-29T03:55:00.000-07:00

From the desk of 1a.m. director

2007 has been a wonderful & fruitful year for 1a.m., we went to 3 different nations which were U.A.E, New Zealand and Philippines. We also ministered in many different states in our own country, Malaysia.

What was more fruitful was to hear many testimonies of how God has transform their lives and now they found freedom in serving & worshipping God in a greater measure. Having an extended family all over the world is such a blessing. Truly “WORSHIP BRINGS CHANGE” in every area of our lives.

Our church ECF began 2008 with dedicating a fast of 7 days to the Lord. To seek His face and to know what is the direction that God wants us as a church to head towards. As directors of 1a.m. with Pastor Cathryn, we both felt God wants 1a.m. to reach the potential that God has for us. 2 things I felt God spoke to me. Firstly what is 1a.m’s life message? Secondly 2 strong words SPIRIT & SUBSTANCE.

In summary 1a.m. life message is Worship Brings Change. So can worship really bring change? Yes only through His Holy Spirit and gaining spiritual SUBSTANCE in our life.

This is the 1^st journal of many journals as I journey and understand what the Lord is revealing to me. I pray that it will minister & bless you to keep you wanting to know more about what God is doing in 1a.m.

2008-04-29T03:54:00.000-07:00

Loving God

Have you ever been in a relationship where you have been asked one of the toughest questions like “Honey, why do you love me?” Some of us find it hard to reply back. Some of us sweat blood just by thinking really hard. Some of us simply say “Because I love you” which in some cases is just too general for the recipient.

What about proving your love to the person? How do you prove your love? I remember one of my friends answered “by doing the 5 love languages”. I was like, “ok… which one?” and he said nothing after that and we just laughed.

I’m sure some of us went through the things I just mentioned. I know I did.

What about when it comes to God? How do you respond to “why do you love God?” To be honest, my response to that would be “because of what He’s done on the cross, because He loved us first”. There are many ways to answer this question. A lot of us having a similar respond.

But how do we prove our love to God? Well its not that we don’t know but I guess for me when I picked up my bible and read John 14:15

“If you love me, you will obey what I command”

It was a reminder for me.

How many of us do remember showing our love to God? More than words, does our action, even the decisions that we make reflect our love for God or is it just mere words hitting in the air?

One morning (it’s was a holiday) I woke up with a burden to follow up on those people I know. Normally I’d bum around my house doing nothing but that day was different. I decided to make a couple of calls, text people to see how everyone’s doing.
One of the plans I made was to go to a campus and meet up with a guy to help jump start his journey with God. (You have to understand that this guy just recently received Christ.)
So there I was, called 2 of my friends to join me fellowship but one couldn’t make it because his lunch break was an hour earlier then the time set-up and the other got stuck at home with his family to eat lunch.
All of a sudden an open door to “back-out” or “pull-out” of the meeting with the guy in the campus was opened causing me to shrink back and just stay at home but before I could shrink any further I was reminded about John 14:15.

I got myself together took my bible materials called for a cab and went to the campus and the rest of the story is all for God’s Glory!

To love God is to do what God has called you to do. Now if you’ve forgotten what God has called you to do or have been ignoring it, wake up!

God loves us no matter what and it’s only right to love Him back ;)

Neil1am

April moving forward

2008-04-01T03:52:00.000-07:00

How is everyone doing? Well we're in our 2nd quarter of the year.

We're still in our season of taking a break on touring but as June approaches we're getting ready to kick-off our tour which is "Worship Brings Change Tour" More details will be posted up including tour dates as well.

PRAY with us as we head to towards this journey, including for open doors in other Nations.

We are also in a process of recording our 3rd album - all I can say is that its different, so keep us in prayers.

On the mean time, enjoy reading our Blogs posted up every week.

God bless

1a.m.

Shining as Stars

2008-02-28T03:49:00.000-08:00

Shining as Stars

Ever wondered why do people complain so much? Maybe it’s because they think they are better? Maybe they think that they know more? Maybe they think that they don’t deserve what they are going through now. Maybe it’s because our human nature that is in us that makes complaining so natural. Come to think of it complaining has become part of our life so much we don’t even realize it when we complain. Can you agree to that?

Have you ever been in a situation where you complained? I’m sure everyone has, including me. Pause for a while and think this thought: what is our reaction when we complain? What happens when we complain, and what are the consequences? It goes no where right?

Now there are two possible reactions:

- The Human Nature

- The Godly Nature

The human nature is very obvious. We keep complaining and complaining but we never do anything about the situation we complain about. In the end, nothing gets done and things continue to go wrong.

Whereas the Godly nature is found in the book of Philippians 2:14 – 15,

“Do everything without complaining or arguing,

so that you may become blameless and pure,

children of God without fault in a crocked and depraved

generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe”.

The word of God clearly states that in everything we do, we do not complain nor argue. WHY not you may ask? In verse 15 it says that “so we may become blameless and pure”.

“WHY do we want to become blameless and pure then?” you may ask again. Well, imagine the stars you see at night. What do they do? Stars basically SHINE. They are bright, they are public, and they are noticeable. When people see stars (us as Christians), they see a blameless, pure star. Don’t you agree that we can really be influential that way? Don’t you think people would want to know more of why we do what we do when they see a difference in us?

The word of God also states that we may be of “without fault in a crocked and depraved generation”. This relates to the 1^st point above, that when we are a blameless and pure star, in a very dark universe, in a generation where it is crocked and depraved, we shine out brightly without fault, with the identity that we are indeed Children of God.

So if we are in a situation in our life that’s really down on the dumps, just remember that we are to shine like stars, and that we persevere in our life without complaining or arguing, so that we may be blameless, pure, and without fault in the dark sky!

Jude1am

Jude's Testimony

2008-02-24T03:47:00.000-08:00

Jude's Testimony

I was serving in my church back in K.K, Sabah ( the best place to live! ) and I though that I served without much complaint, I thought that I gave God my all, and that I gave him all that I have. But as the years went by, I felt that it was getting a bit boring for me, I felt really complacent, and in the end I felt that it became a routine for me. I wasn’t improving musically and definitely not improving spiritually.

Then one day I came across a verse from John 4:23, which went like:

“And the time will come when TRUE WORSHIPERS will come and worship in SPIRIT and in TRUTH, for these are the kind of worshipers that the Father seeks"

It hit me then, coz’ I did not feel that way, I felt that I wasn’t a true worshiper, and I wanted to understand more of being a true worshiper, I wanted to know what does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth. I wanted to change myself. Thus the search began

I heard of 1a.m and their ministries years ago when they 1^st came to K.K back in the year 2001, coz’ they were doing some workshops and stuff like that. They came again at 2007, and one thing that caught me was their PASSION. I saw a passion in them that reflected in their worship, in their lifestyle, in their actions but I couldn’t really piece out what it was. Then during a Sunday service 1a.m led a worship session, and right after that I felt something different in me. I felt changed! I felt that I wanted MORE of God. Then I understood the vision that 1a.m has: WORSHIP BRINGS CHANGE. So I thought, I wanted THAT, and I wanted to be with a group of people whose heart is to worship, and inspire worship as well.

So I fasted and prayed to God, asking Him for his plans and His will to be done in me, coz’ I really wanted to change. So one day one of the 1a.m members came up to me and asked me if I would consider joining 1a.m. I KNEW that God answered my prayers! Eventually I said yes, and now I’m serving together with 1a.m, and it’s been a blast.

I know in my heart that I can live a lifestyle of the vision that worship really does bring change together with 1a.m, and really to understand how to become a true worshiper is really my worship to God changes me inside out, and I’m still changing today.

Jude joined 1a.m on Feb 17, 2008.

Are YOU Fresh?

2008-01-05T03:44:00.000-08:00

Are YOU Fresh?

Are you Fresh? Ok, lets rephrase that into “do we keep ourselves fresh” or “what keeps us fresh?” or “ what refreshes us?”

This blog was meant to be out a fews months back during one of our church worship team practice. So this is what happened.

We had our band practice with the 3^rd team where every week we practice on how to “move prophetically” in the spirit during songs. We aren’t there yet but have seen and heard a lot of improvements over the months of just “moving in faith” in this area.

Well I can’t really explain much of how and what we do during practice but I can tell you testimonies where people (musicians and singers) during our practice are just “refreshed” after a long day of work through worship.

It was a confirmation for what God has placed in my heart after hearing every ones heart through a prophetic song or a word (testimony)

It was when we were singing “Majesty” by Delirious? that I began to sing words such as “Humbled by your grace so free, humbled by your love so free, humbled by your power, awesomeness… etc…” These are words that we normally hear or read of everyday, every week through times when you have your devotion on your own or fellowship with your friends, and you know what? Though we’ve heard them over and over again, it never fails to amaze us, strengthen us, encourage us, rebuke us, build us, refresh us.

We can read the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation and read the whole thing again from cover to cover and still get something new out of it. Why? Coz His words are alive, It never fails to amaze us!

I was reminded of a story in the book of John which spoke about Nathanael’s encounter with Jesus :-

48"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

50Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that."

Nathanael was "blown away" during his encounter with Jesus.

What is it that God amazes you? What "Blows" your mind?What is it that God has “told” you today through His word, His Love? There maybe a lot of things that He may have told you that had left you standing amazed but let me tell you this… “You’ve not seen anything yet”

Just like Jesus Said "You shall see greater things than that".

For now…. I encourage you to hear from God and allow yourselves to be amazed by Him.

Neil1am

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T03:42:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

A new year, a new start. We have no idea what the year has in stored but we know God does.

We'll make sure that we'll keep you updated in whatever God has been doing in our lives,devotion, ministry, tours, etc.

We're excited. Hope you are too!

1a.m.

The Greatest Gift Testimony

2007-12-28T03:40:00.000-08:00

This is a testimony for "the Greatest Gift" song
_______________________________________
The Greatest Gift Testimony

First of all, Merry Christmas to everyone. I assume everyone is having an awesome time together with Friends, Family, Spiritual Family etc...

Well I'm alright. Christmas day can be pretty pressuring especially when it comes to buying gifts. I couldn't breathe when I was buying gifts. I had a list with my friends of the people who had blessed us this year and man, every time we would shop for someone, a "name" would pop up and the list kept growing and growing and our cash kept decreasing and decreasing. Wahahahha!!!!! Guess what, I just realized I still missed some people out.

At the end of the day, it's the thought that counts. If I spent, I spent to bless. Which is a good thing cause I was and still am pretty much a receiver than a giver.

Anyway, what did you get for Christmas? If you look back and think of the gifts you've received all the years of your life during Christmas, what would be the best gift?

I haven't received the best yet but the Greatest Gift I have.

I wrote a song a few months back called "the Greatest Gift". The song talks about Jesus being the Greatest Gift. If you ask me what was my Greatest Gift, it would be Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I sound religious and all but seriously He is.

Oh yea, though our production was called "the Gift", the song was never written for the event but we used it anyway ïŠ. Kelvin added the second verse of the song and now sounds complete.

You see I was going through a time where I felt I was useless. Not good enough to serve in the ministry God called me in. Surprised? Well I guess its just one of those days the enemy tries to lure you down. You have to understand that when I was a teenager, there was a time I asked myself that "What am I gonna do when I become an adult in the working world (This was before I knew Christ). I was never good enough in the things that I do or studied. What I've started, I've never ended. There was one thing though that stayed and had seen improvements and that's the area of music. I've noticed that through out the boy-band era of my life, my ability to write songs, sing and play the guitar has improved. Accepting Jesus in the next few years changed my life and made me want to serve Him with the talents and gifting He gave. If you noticed in some of my mails that I've written, I mentioned "I know nothing but to serve". That is an honest statement because the truth is I really don't know anything else but to serve Him with what I got which is music.

That night when I went back home from one of the worst worship session I led, I came before God asking "am I ever good enough? Do I have anything that's good and am good at?" I was in my bed thinking and in silence I heard God speak that "I have Jesus and the music given to me is what He is gonna use through me". I wrote the song that day and in a week the song " the Greatest Gift" was written. Quiet long to finish a song but I wanted to make sure that this song spoke strong.

You must be wondering why I received the Greatest Gift and not yet the Best Gift. What is the difference? You see, I remember PC(Pastor Cathryn) mentioned that the best gift she received are those that she can't get but given to her and so the same for me. I'm still waiting and that gift is salvation for my family.

To watch the video, click on the link provided below http://carolyong.multiply.com/journal/item/352/The_Gift_-_a_song._You_HAVE_to_see_this

Greatest Gift

Verse 1

I'll sing to the one
who is worthy to receive all blessing, honor and power
I'll sing to the one
who sent His one and only son
The greatest gift, the greatest gift of all

Chorus

I'll sing about the love
about the love I didn't deserve
I'll sing about a Father God
A Father I ignored
Coz now I've learned to love because you love
You showed it on the cross for all
Your the Greatest Gift, the greatest gift of all

Verse 2

When I was weak you gave me Strength
You gave me Hope when all seems lost
Why do you love?
Why do you care for me?
You pick me up each time I fall
You never given up on me
You are my friend
The greatest friend of all

Bridge

Forever Jesus
Lord Jesus
Here I am, Forever I will worship
Lord Jesus
My Jesus
Here I am, Forever I will worship you

1a.m. 2007

Teenstreet

2007-12-15T03:38:00.000-08:00

Six days spent within a community of hundreds of teens from various parts of the globe was truly a great experience…and it was truly a privilege and great honor to be used by God to inspire worship to this group of people.

It was a picturesque moment witnessing these kids letting go off and denying themselves in worship. In the eyes of any human being it was like the usual hysterical moment at any other concerts, but in His eyes it was the kind of a heart-melting show that He is well pleased with.

Every evening our showmanship was jeopardized as we ushered the young crowd to experience genuine worship. It was not just mere music that connects people we were playing; it was a melodic symphony that unites us with the Creator.

In between songs as several challenges were made, seas of teens were seen making commitments to pick up their own cross and carry the call to live a purposefully contagious life especially among their immediate sphere of friends and families. Some were also convicted to get out of their comfort zones to exist as sold out ambassadors for God…leaving behind their old self and starting enthusiastically afresh.

Above all, many of these young lives were liberated and set free during the expressive and yet intimate moment spent with God in worship. It was never about us…not even them…but truly about Him and Him only. For most, the entire experience was totally something fresh. For us…it’s one of the only things we knew what to do best.

Sabah Trip

2007-08-31T03:33:00.000-07:00

As a full-time worship ‘minister’, it doesn’t take too much before certain things begin to feel a little dry. Suddenly trying to stir people’s hearts in the presence of the Lord becomes something it should never be; nothing more than a duty, a responsibility that you bear the burden to carry. Even as you get more skilled at playing the songs, or more accustomed to building the environment with your instrument, there is still a stark difference that shows and comes through when you’re not there yourself for God, not tuned in to worship yourself. It’s something that can’t be explained.

Our first concert in Sabah went pretty well by technical standards, hardly any mistakes, the flow went down smoothly, a ‘performance’ by any means in which you’d expect a roaring uplifting of great enthusiasm from the congregation. However, sadly the reality was they didn’t sound much more than polite claps, it didn’t look as if they were ministered to very much if at all. There was something missing that night; it was the tangibility of the Holy Spirit. If there was one thing I learnt this trip, it’s the most important component to any worship service. Too many times we over emphasize the importance of skill, playing the right notes at the right time, and while nevertheless important, we forget the most important part, the part that makes the biggest difference; the Holy Spirit.You could visibly see the difference in environment when it came to our second concert. This time we took the time to prepare our hearts, internally and externally, to make it a point to worship him ourselves, and repented for not doing so in the concerts we did not. Most important of all, we humbled ourselves, that despite all we’ve been through, we still needed God to do anything at all.

To be frank, the 2^nd concert wasn’t that much different in how well we played. However, it was how we worshipped, and how we brought worship. The congregation went crazy, they lifted their hands, some bowed, some cried. The difference? It wasn’t us, it was presence of God.It teaches me that you can’t depend on yourself to make a difference in worship.

Make a prayer to God when you minister, we need Him.TJ1am

Kuching Trip

2007-08-31T03:31:00.000-07:00

Kuching Trip

It was a journey home for me, back to a familiar territory…my comfort zone, the land I left not too long ago before God challenged me to walk on waters. This time around I didn’t head home for what would normally be a leisure trip for me; it was more of an assignment...the kind that caused us all to settle for nothing less than being totally Sold Out to His call. Secularly, it felt like a Home Coming Concert for me…in my dreams…

The few days spent in the land we call the Cat City has evidently helped me, or us all as a band, unearth some of the needs the locals are desperately seeking help in. For most, they know very well it is about time for them to escalate their worship to greater heights but there is just no clear direction on how to get there. Some are just hampered by the absence of a visionary in their midst. The whole picture is like wanting to drive a car forward but can’t keep your eyes off the rear view mirror.

From our own workshops I personally discovered the importance of being able to gel with people of different generations especially when the only language you and the other person could converse in is music. For the young punks, they’d grumble about the elders for not being able to fulfill their demanding musical needs. On the other hand, the seniors can always be heard nagging about how intricate the music of today’s shocking generation has evolved. More than often, this is one of the main and obvious reasons we seldom see a mixture of age groups being put together to serve in the same band. Imagine the blend of flattering sounds produced should the best of these two worlds are being put together!!!

Another significant moment worth freezing from this trip is when I took the band for a simple dinner with my clan…to the historic spot where I was ejected from my mum’s womb. Though the food was traditionally exceptional (and it was fun witnessing Neil confessed to enjoying something his taste bud has been rejecting) but it was truly the chance for the band members to speak into some of my relatives’ lives that caught my attention.

On one end, Neil was seen paying undivided attention to every word my uncle spat out while Kelvin was caught mingling and exchanging thoughts with my dad. On the other end I saw PC was engaging in a deep conversation with my other uncle who once was a faithful servant in the house of God until the storm in his life struck causing him to not wanting to be associated with church at all. I have no clue what PC said or how God used her that evening but two weeks after that short talk with her, that very same uncle of mine finally found his way back to the church he left more than 10 years ago! I was just so amazed at how God could timely use a deliberate person to defrost a frozen heart!

Overall…convinced with our growing strength and passion, in the course of this trip I’ve seen God helped us unlock doors which were right in front of us (or was it only me?!) but never saw. No details can be confirmed yet but definitely something hot is in the pipeline for the very near future. Somehow we are all so inspired to do greater things as were sinking into 2008!!! Slowly but surely are we gonna be stepping really hard on our spiritual accelerator pedal as we are gearing to yet another exciting new year. That I can be very sure of…

Do what we do best

2007-08-31T03:27:00.000-07:00

Do what we do best

Bangkok Jazz experience was just cool. It was a good night for the band as it helped us increase our confidence in the things that we do for God. It was also totally awesome. Why? Coz God was present.

After a night of worship concert on Saturday and an opening service of our sister church (ECF Damansara), I can tell you that the band was already tired. Daniel the most since he had to help out with the videos for the opening service and play for Sunday service in the morning.

When we got there, I could hear music from outside, songs being played by other bands. There were about 18 bands all together I believe, and 1a.m. were the second to the last band to perform. The bands present were not bad. Some had skills, some really surprised us with their skills like there was this really young band and man they ROCK! I’m in my early 20’s and I’ve got areas to improve in music but they look like they’re just 15 so imagine with me on how they would be when they reach my age?

Well, as our turn to play drew near, I was in a position that I really needed God. Personally, I was nervous, how would the people react? Will they boo us off stage? Joke about us? You have to understand that we are playing our original songs from our next album and man the songs clearly speaks of our creator, our savior, our God right on the dot. This ain’t switchfoot.

I went back in to listen to the other bands for a while, did my normal stuff to observe how the sound was and just when I was doing that, Doris, one of our church members who came along to support the band came to me and praise the team that we’ll do great but the thing that caught my attention was when she said that “ Do what you guys do best”.

When she said that, I asked myself the same question “What do we really do best? And in a few seconds the answer to that was “Worship”. With that, I found comfort. We may not have the best musicians or vocalist in the world but it is worship that we do best. A responsibility that we as a worship ministry do is bring down God’s presence and man we wanted Gods presence to be there. Guess what? The presence of God was there in fact HE was there watching His kids play. Front row, front seat.

Just before our turn came to play, I gathered the team and reminded them about what we do best. I reminded them to worship God with the talents God had given us and not be distracted by how good other bands were. Our goal was to bring down the presence of God in Bangkok Jazz and there he was.

God was so good were just before our turn came, the band before us were singing praises to the Lord. We were shock coz we thought we were the only Christian band there. Hearing them sing that, I could tell that set the tone for us 1a.m. Personally my spirit man worship and praised God when that song was playing and was ready to do what I’m called to do at that moment, at that time and place. A moment prepared by our God for us as a team.

So here we were. On stage, sound check done and ready to worship in front of different people, cultures and religion. We struck the first chord of the first song (Pour Out) and when the music came out of our instruments, I felt that Spirit of God just explode in that room. (It was like a grenade that exploded).The respond was quiet receiving that they enjoyed it. We ended with our second song and the rest is in the history books of heaven. We came out with a very positive respond that after our “so called GIG” people approached us and said a lot of overwhelming comments. Glory to God! The team gathered together with the people who came to support us outside Bangkok Jazz and prayed to God giving Him the Glory.

I am excited for what the future brings for this ministry, step by step God has opened doors and I tell you, it’s always challenging than the previous which only makes us stronger and better ministers of God.

We did the show to represent the God that loves us by doing what we do best which is “Worship”. People may have not understood what we did but we planted a seed. And in faith, just like a seed, God would cause it to grow and at the end of the day God’s people will reap a harvest.

Worship!

August 07 Onwards

2007-08-31T03:23:00.000-07:00

Wow...

A lot of things has been happening and this section hasn't been updated. Sorry for the delayed updates in a lot of things. Will try to update everything as fast as I can.

Heres whats been happening (in short) and what to expect :-

1) The band has toured around East Malaysia, Kuching and Saba. Did a couple of concerts in Kuala Lumpur. The most recent one is @ EFC,PJ. We're gathering up testimonies from the team to be posted up here in the blog soon. Bangkok Jazz testimony will be up as soon as I'm done with this.

2) Win an IPOD promo is out. 80 Gb guys so who knows, if GOd is willing, YOU might get it. Plus loads of other cool prizes to be won like Ipod Nano's, etc,etc...

3) Indieheaven Momentum Award 08 is up so Vote for 1a.m. Oh by the way, the song "Always in your heart" is up so go to FanFaves and vote the song to climb up the charts. www. indieheaven.com

4) 1a.m is in the process of releasing its 3rd album. This will be different as the youth will be taking over. An EP album is planned to be released early next year before the main album so stay tune. Previews, V-blogs will be up in a few weeks so be excited ;)

5) 1a.m future tour dates 08 will be up soon. Please email us early if your local church or some event (regardless of whatever nation) wants to invite us .We will need to plan and arrange dates so that it doesn't clash with what our local church(ECF) is up to.

Thats it for now,so keep logging in.

SOLD OUT

Neil1am

Day 16

2007-05-16T03:22:00.000-07:00

Date : 16 May

Day : Wednesday

Event : Time to fly and go home! Back to Malaysia! Uh oh, we were kind of late again. The stress of checking in, is so bad. We had the challenge again, as usual. This time, we were in excess again (not new, huh?) Anyway, PC again explained to the officer and we didn’t realize there was this new ruling. We learnt that different airports have different requirements and rules. Now we’re smarter. Praise God, the officer let us through and we managed, just to pay our taxes and dashed to the gate! Again, it’s another adventure. It’s always exciting with 1 a.m.!

We took off and arrived in Singapore. It didn’t even feel like a 10 hour flight, thanks to the great selection of movies that was offered. The thing now was that we had to stay in Changi for another 10 hours before our flight back to KL. Changi has great facilities i.e. free internet. You could see so many people logging on and chatting with friends.

Anyway, we slept at one of the airport lounges, allocated specifically for those who are tired and weary from traveling. We met again later, at the appointed time and headed towards the departure gates. It was really tiring but it was good to heading home.

We finally got home, touched down KL at about 6.30 am and we went our ways. God brought us back safe and sound, with great stories to tell, with much more wisdom and growth. We could never have done it without God and the support of the church. You never know how blessed you are until you go out and see what’s happening in the world out there. Pastor Tim, leaders and ECF – you’re the best and we love you!

In summary

We are so honored and bless because God has always been there before us wherever He takes us to. He protected us, assured us and the best is He anointed us just like what he promise us in Isaiah 61. We have seen salvation, healing, people liberated from their mindset, people who are bound set free to worship God and many other testimonies. We just want to give God the glory for what He is doing in 1a.m.

If you are reading this and you want to know Jesus, please do write to us and we are more than happy to walk that journey with you.

Day 14 and 15

2007-05-15T03:20:00.000-07:00

Date : 14 May

Day : Monday

Event : Breakfast - then the guys came over from Alf’s place to Pastor John’s place which is just 5 minutes from each other. That’s pretty cool. The plan for the day was to go to the beach, which isn’t very far away as Auckland is pretty much near the sea. That was really nice. Pictures again? ;p

Lisa didn’t’ join us because she wasn’t feeling that well but on the other hand, she got to bond with Kelly and Cindy.

Blessings : Cindy cooked Bak Kut Teh for us! That is sooooooo yummy! We are so very blessed!

It was sooo good that we saved the soup and then bought more meat so that Kelly could cook another meal with it. Mmmmmmmm

That night, we had the core worship team over. This time it was like a forum and there were many things shared. PC and Kel shared about how the structure of 1 a.m. is like and how it is run, how we grew and the history of the ministry. They also fielded questions from the worship team and you could sense that they really want to move to the next level of worship. They also shared their concerns and what they want to achieve for their worship. It’s really humbling to see all this and to be grateful that we have such visionary and great leaders.

Date : 15 May

Day : Tuesday

Event : Shopping! Buying souvenirs in town! Visiting Parachute. We were so privileged to meet with the Parachute Marketing Director. Parachute is such a big name and they hold a concert every year which draws about 20,000 people. The great thing is that they are looking for true worshipers and not just great musicians. (We think alike!) We left our CD with him and pray that the door will be opened, all in God’s will and timing. It also got TJ thinking about his deferment and calling, ha ha ha! However, we all know that our lives are in God’s hands and we need to know what He wants and obey. His plans are always better than ours, always.

R & R : Then we went shopping with Alf. We also got to go to the city of Auckland. We got more souvenirs! Ha ha ha!

PC however, had a meeting with one of the leaders doing the ZEAL program for youths in Auckland and is currently doing very well in the high schools. It’s also recognized by the government. God is really doing something in the midst of all that is going on in NZ. The country is facing much onslaught from the enemy; the new PM is passing laws i.e making prostitution legal, possibly even making it a subject taught and acceptable in school, passing a bill where parents can’t smack their kids, legalizing gambling, legalizing the marriages of gays and lesbians; claiming to be a liberal country but going against the principles of good and the Bible. However, we believe that God is raising people in that country, young people to be a standard against the enemy. It reminds me of that scripture “when the enemy comes in like a flood, God’s Spirit will raise up a standard against it”.

Event : Pot luck dinner at a church sister’s home with the worship team. We were asked to share a few things that we learnt while being in NZ.

It was nice to see so many people. We made a lot of friends i.e. Sale, Ulu, Daphne, Sisela, Samantha, Ola, Joe, such great and talented people. We really enjoyed their company, exchanged gifts, e-mails, etc. It was kind of emotional at the end. However, I was already homesick…..!

Tonight, it’s time to pack though, we leave the next day.

Day 13

2007-05-15T03:14:00.000-07:00

Date : 13 May

Day : Sunday

Event : Morning to set up and sound check at Northside (Pastor Ken Dew’s church), Rosmini College. That day was the celebration of Mother’s Day. This place is quite big and very nice and could fit about 300-400 people? We were a bit slow on the sound check so we started about 5 minutes late.

The Line up of the songs were The Anthem, singing & Living, Take It All, Dive In, Secret Place, My Father and Sold Out.

This was the praise and worship session that we ministered. As we ministered to God, the presence of God was also evident in the hall. We did the same flow but PC didn’t share the Word this time but instead we sang and flowed prophetically. Again, we got to do Dive In, and you could tell that not only the youth but the whole church were into it. It was fantastic! All glory to God again.

We were so blessed with all the encouraging words that came from Pastor Renee (Pastor Ken Dew’s wife), the leaders and all the people. One of the Pastor’s wife went up on the stage to actually promote a women seminar but she kept on raving about how she enjoyed our worship songs because she felt the tangible presence of God. It’s humbling, because we know that it’s not us that did it, but God’s anointing. Without God, we’re nothing.

God moment : We were not meant to get a collection of the offering for that day but we did. Pastor Ken Dew called Pastor Richard from the States to instruct him to do that. That was totally divine. That was God. Isn’t that all the more evident that God really moves, even without us asking. He knows and that’s so cool. ;p

Fun : After that, the church celebrated Mother’s Day. That was very sweet. There was a “Mother of the Year” contest. You get a foot massager. That’s cool! A treat for tired, worn out mothers, ha ha ha!

R & R : That afternoon, we were given a tour or Mission Bay by Calvin, a Malaysian who’s now migrated to NZ. We went for another bout of fish & chips and this time, a bunch of the other Malaysians came with us, together with a few of the locals. It was great! We also took a lot of photos at the bay….hmmmm posing again!

Calvin is a very generous guy as he opened his home to us. We had a great time getting to know him and the people. It was nice as we even went for Spiderman 3 (which was a disappointing movie for us). Lisa went out with Samantha and Oka They are all such great gals, especially Ola. She’s so sweet, she actually wants to audition for 1.a.m. ;p Awesome! They bonded big time!

While we were doing all that, PC , Kel and Calvin went to Pastor Renee’s home for dinner.

After all that, we got back and talked a bit about what we would do the next day i.e. Pastor John wanted to spend time with the band. ;p

Sad moment : Charlene was leaving for home. Work commitments. We’re so blessed to have her though. Love her. .

Day 11 and 12

2007-05-15T03:04:00.000-07:00

Date : 11 May

Day : Friday

Event : Morning devotion – we got together to pray for the people of Auckland. We wanted to do what God wanted us to do here. We prayed for the acoustic session for the night’s street evangelism. We also found out that day we didn’t have drums. What a challenge! We haven’t had that experience before. Well, there’s a first for everything! We were doing this by faith.

Felt that God wanted to test us and wanted us to grow in our faith. It will be to see whether we will come forth as gold. Word 1 Peter 1:7 and Job 23:10

We practiced and the line up : My God Is So Big, Secret Place, Singing & Living, My Father, All I Wanna Do and Sold Out. It was the first time we’ve ever done street evangelism. We had the pre-event prayer where everyone gathered round to pray for the city and the people of the city.

Felt that God really wants to reign in this city and the country; we needed to pray for God’s presence to be strong in the people and the city, to declare Jesus’ name high in this land. That God wants to raise great leaders in the nation to do something, to rise up.

Event : That night, the band that was on before us was very skilful in every way and it was very intimidating for the guys. They also had people coming up to testify about what God did in their lives. It’s powerful and challenging. It’s different for us because we can’t do this in Malaysia.

We got off to a shaky start because we couldn’t get the sound right. It’s a bit awkward as well as this was our first time doing anything like this in a city, out in the open. But despite the rocky start, despite the cold and despite the rain, we were able to get into worship and everything changed from there. Then PC started to sing and prophesy to the city of Auckland and you could see that it was powerful as the presence of God was there and you could see that people, strangers were engaged and “locked on”! God was doing something great and Kel started to pray over the city and declare over the city that God reigns .

God moment : pastors who headed this ministry came up to PC and talked about the anointing that was of God when we ministered. It was very encouraging to hear that and this is another confirmation that God can use anybody, despite our level of skills, despite us not having any drums, to reach people.

Fun fact : We didn’t even have drums! We only had a toy box (a yellow Sesame Street toy box) as our drums and a funny looking shaker. It was a fruitful night. God is glorified ;p

Date : 12 May

Day : Saturday

Event : Gathered together to discuss the workshops because we didn’t do a good job the last time in Christchurch. We talked about what to share to the people as they are so skilful and the best way to go is that we shared our own testimony, intimacy with God, the flow of the HS and worshiping with our instruments.

The workshop was supposed to start at 2 pm but we started at 3 pm due to the traffic. We shared :-

being a contagious worshiper
the 3 H’s
shared testimonies
worshiping with our instruments
Word – not being too familiar with worship

God moment : Again, we had technical difficulties. No instruments to show dynamics but we shared from our heart and our experiences. It was fruitful.

After the workshop, we fellowshipped and had pizza for dinner. It seems like we’re having a lot of pizza lately? ;p It was great, we got to talk to some people and got to know them a bit better.

Concert : it was supposed to start at 7 pm. Venue : Rotorua Girls School (Southside) The line-up was the same as Christchurch. PC shared about the prostitute and Simon the Pharisee and I felt that this time around, she was preaching it so much stronger! (way to go PC!) people began to be liberated and especially when we hit Dive In; it was amazing! People were dancing! Again, we were told that was something new and liberating! God is really awesome in His power! All glory to Him. God really showed up that night. When we did My Father, you could almost feel the tangible presence of God – The Spirit of God filling up the place. 2 salvations and about 10 or more pledges to be Sold Out to Jesus! ;p

Lisa’s personal thought : When we were worshiping, I saw the Spirit of God fill up the whole hall like His robe, covering everything, every person and it reminded me of His glory when the train of His robe fills the temple – Isaiah 6:1-3. .

Day 9 and 10

2007-05-15T03:02:00.000-07:00

Date : 9 May

Day : Wednesday

Event : We got up, had our breakfast. There we met 3 Singaporean guys who had just finished their NS training. They went skydiving and showed us the pictures. It sounds exciting but for me, it was too expensive. Everything is pretty expensive in NZ. All the fun stuff, was way out of our budget.

After breakfast, we went for a walk around town. It was a nice day and a great souvenir shop but was warned by Kel not to carry too much stuff.

We wanted to go to Subway but the offer was only for dinner so we walked back to the hostel for Maggi Mee. Praise the Lord for creating that! ;p

Today was “free and easy” day. We were given the freedom to do what we wanted. So we split into 2 groups.

1st group : PC, Kel, Charlene and TJ. They went hiking and had a toboggan ride. They had a fun and exciting time, ended up with aches and cramps.

2nd group: Dan, Neil and Cuz. They went walking. Lisa, on the other hand, stayed in to catch up on writing the blog. The weather wasn’t that nice, it rain.

Fact : We discovered that we all have different ideas and different interests.

Date : 10 May

Day : Thursday

Event : Morning - check out from the bed & breakfast and leave for the airport. We had to all go to the airport and then return the cars to the car rental company. It was all pretty organized.

At the airport, PC shared a story a from a Max Lucado book and about understanding one another. She then suggested that we all write notes of appreciation and of encouragement to one another. It was good, to promote unity. We all need to be in the right spirit and the right frame of mind if we are to be strong together. We need to be united in the spirit and heart.

Check in point : we always seem to have some form of challenge or other when it comes to this. It’s interesting that somehow or other, God pulls us through. We didn’t have to pay for excess weight. It’s also always very interesting to note that Daniel is always the one that has a bit of a snag(?) He had to go back to the check in point even after passing customs to check in his hand carry luggage. And it always seems that PC has to talk to the authorities to explain our situation. Thank God for leaders! ;p

God Moment: God is always looking out for us. We are so blessed. Every time we step out, even though we face challenges, God pulls through every time. Even in the instance of the luggage, the authorities here are pretty strict. They would charge $5 per kilo so we were quite worried because 2 of our bags were over the limit. But we are so grateful that God gave us safe passage and smooth travel.

Arrival in Auckland!

Alfred and Kelly came to the airport to pick us up. We were so very, very happy to see familiar faces. It’s great to have family wherever you go. ;p

We had to go get some food and stock up before we go to Alf’s home. Five, big guys to feed is no easy task. We went to Alf’s place and caught up, with our e-mails! It was quite funny to see 3 laptops hooked up on the dining table at the same time!

R & R : That night, we had dinner and fellowshipped with Ken and Millie. It was a surprise for us as we had met Millie at Christchurch on the day of the dedication of the new church. It was nice to see another familiar face. We chatted a bit and caught up. We had lamb, mushroom chicken and hell’s pizza. We then talked about the people and how they were like here; the culture, the style of worship. It’s very Israel Houghton here.

PC and Lisa had to stay at Pastor John’s place. It was a great place. .

Day 7 and 8

2007-05-15T03:01:00.000-07:00

Date : 7 May

Day : Monday

Event : Getting ready to leave for Lake Tekapo. We rented 2 vehicles; 1 was a van, the other was a little hatchback. Neil and Kel were the designated drivers. Kel drove the little car and Neil drove the van. It was exciting and we didn’t know what to expect.

The journey south as we were driving was really beautiful. The land, the hills are so picturesque. So many sheep and cows! We reached the motel at Lake Tekapo. Lake Tekapo town was really small and quaint, with just 1 street of shops, a supermarket and restaurants. There were many tourists so you know that it’s really a tourist attraction/spot.

God Moment : gathering and worshiping by the lake. It’s breathtaking. One cannot help but stand in awe of God’s creativity. His touch of blessing on this country is something that is so very special. We begin to see and understand how great our God is and how great the works of His Hands are. We praise and give thanks and just truly appreciate Him. God’s beauty inspires praise and worship. There were new songs birthed and written here at this place. ;p

There were picture taken by the lake. It really look like we were in postcards. It seems surreal.

We also took time to watch the United DVD. Again, we learn that to do great things, takes a lot of faith and grace. We also had to learn to ration our food. We were on a budget and we needed to eat sensibly.

Date : 8 May

Day : Tuesday

Event : touristy stuff! We would go check out the tourist spots around the Lake and throughout the journey to Queenstown, the most beautiful place in the South Island. That was our next stop and it would also be the point where we would fly to Auckland.

We got up early, had our breakfast, and went to a little church and it looked like a little house by the lake. We took pictures there. (our next album, maybe?)I think 1 a.m. are such a bunch of posers, ha ha ha!

We took a drive up an observatory point. There we found that the land was like Marlboro country. Up on the point, there is a little café where you can look through a power telescope and admire the view or study the stars. The owner is a professional photographer and he had a photo album, with really impressive pictures. We took some more photos and the view? Marvellous!

Hopped into the cars again and off we went. We were on our way but we stopped several times to take pictures (?) we also stopped for fresh salmon – yummy! Save some for later. TJ and I shared our money to buy a pack of salmon. We went on and the further south we went, the more beautiful and awesome the country was. Rolling hills and mountains, clear, blue, streams, green and brown terrain; it was a feast for the eyes.

On our way, we stopped at Puzzling World. That was fun! We (Pc, Kel, Charlene, TJ , Cuz and me) went in though some of the guys didn’t .It was really interesting because the whole place is a big puzzle! My favorite is the room with the following eyes and faces, really cool! The other is the room that explains the technique the directors of the Lord of the Rings used to create the illusion of the different sizes between the hobbits and the humans.

We then headed to Queenstown. We got to the Bumblebee, a bed &breakfast place. Here, again we needed to watch our food. The place was small but cozy. The guys got a room by themselves while the girls had to share.

We went for a little stroll around Queenstown to explore it a little. We looked for a place to have dinner and found a little food court. It was good. We had northern Indian food. It was authentic, too. We all shared our food. We walked to the lakeside and took more photos. The water is so clear, it’s unreal. It’s just to pretty here.

It was getting late and around 8 degrees so we got back and watched a video – The Lord of The Rings. It was nice. It’s my favorite anyway.

Day 6

2007-05-15T02:59:00.000-07:00

Date : 6 May

Day : Sunday

Service : A prayer for every nation was prayed for by each person who represented their home country. There was a “Haka” dance and an interpretation dance – that showed the message that 1 heartbeat, a pulse that signifies life, can beat and cause others to come to life, too. We sang the NZ national anthem. It was interesting to note that the lyrics are very Christian! Then there were also prayers and prophecies by the pastors for the church. Finally, there was the dedication of the church and breaking up into groups to pray for the church and the nations.

PC and Kel led in a prophetic worship for the nations .

R & R : After the service, we took refuge at Ray & Gloria’s house. The guys had some fish & chips and barbecued mussels. Boy, are we blessed! PC and Lisa fasted, though. ;p

Word : Exodus 33:12-20 We came back to church and set up. Some of them were late because they got lost walking. PC & Lisa practiced what we learned from Pastor Bob – praying the scriptures. They are very powerful. They prayed that God will draw people into worship and encountering Him.

Challenge : soundcheck took forever – a problem with Kel’s laptop. It was giving problems. There’s no lighting – just white light. We worked with whatever we had.

Line up : The Anthem, Singing & Living, Take it All, My Father, Secret Place, MY God Is So Big, All I Wanna Do, Dive In, sold Out, You Are All/Lift The Name, Reprise, Dive In.

PC shared about the message of True Worship Matt 26:6-13, about the prostitute’s attitude. During All I Wanna do, there was the blessed draw and for Dive In, there were giveaways. You could tell that people were really enjoying themselves and letting loose – FREEDOM!!!

Concert : we were very thankful that some of the people that we invited, actually turned up. It was great to see that they were also joining in. According to one of the leaders, there was quite a famous Christian band that came just before we did and only about 60+ people turned up, but for our concert, God drew about 150 people. Praise God! It certainly wasn’t our doing. ;p

The atmosphere was totally different after the concert. There was the liberation of the people, they jumped and danced! People started opening up – people were inspired and began to see that there is freedom when you worship. We realize that due to their culture, they weren’t free; that there is another level worship, which is engaging in the Spirit. It was fruitful.

Many came to us later and shared that they had never been so free to worship God ever in their lives before. This is their first time. The Lord used us as what Isaiah 61:1 says “To proclaim liberty to the captives”. That is what exactly what we can see they felt, free from what was holding them back.

Fun : Supper at Denny’s. We had a great time, fellowshipping. Neil did some magic tricks. Paul and Tanya did some games. Relationships and friendships were strengthened, especially with Jody, Paul, Tanya, Brad, Sian, James, Ray and all the people in the worship team.

Day 5

2007-05-15T02:49:00.000-07:00

Date : 5 May 2007

Day : Saturday

Event : Prayer Conference by Pastor Bob Perry

God is taking back the music world by raising more and more Godly musicians. IHOP – Pastor Mike Bickle’s church.

Word : Acts 13:22

Interesting fact : Chris Tomlin’s songs are the most popular songs and most sung in the US.

Worship should be vertical – praise the name of the Lord, pray and sing the Psalms and scriptures. It’s not all about the horizontal – what we ask for, what we need, our petitions. The Cross’ vertical line is longer than the horizontal line. ;p We need to give worship and prayers more towards God then we will see God doing His miracles, salvation etc.

God is drawing His people into intimacy with Him; to grow to know Him more, and in knowing Him more, there’s power.

Event : We showed the community video *sigh* there were technical glitches again. However, we were all in good spirits. We wanted to convey the message that there are people out there, that need God’s love and we need to remember them.

During the worship, people were encountering God, getting touched and healed by the Father’s Hands. The Lord wanted to restore the people to Him; He wanted to heal them and their relationships. People were responding.

Lunch : We went to a Chinese Restaurant with Paul and his wife Tina, who’s a great cook. She makes a mean lasagna! Yum! But we were very blessed by the Filipinos that are there. They’re so warm.

Fun : We went to the city and visited a church, the landmark of Christchurch. The church is very historical, very old and pretty. There, in the middle of the city, you can see the people. We also visited a souvenir shop. Shopping, yay! ;p

Later we went to Ray and Gloria’s place to crash. We got to sleep! Yay! They guys chilled. Then it was time to get to church. We were to meet Pastor Bob Perry at his request. We didn’t know why but we went. PC knew him from long ago, though.

What a great time we had talking to him. we learnt so much just from that chat. We learnt that :-

when we obey God, others around us may not understand. He shared about what god wanted him to do and yet people around him did not see or agree.
We are pioneering a powerful worship movement – what we’ve done; coming out with an album, going to nations, etc. isn’t heard of in the Every Nation movement.
It’s very encouraging to have almost a whole band going full time – many can’t do what we do due to many things for e.g. support financially, support from the leaders, etc. We are so very, very blessed!
That prayer & worship is not a new thing but has been done since the old testament. That this is the end time generation, where in the book of revelation the waves of prayer and worship is the wave that we are going to see God move in these last days.

Later after service that night, we were again invited to Jody’s home for Pizza and dinner. We played games and fellowshipped. Jody’s parents are also pretty great. Her dad is a prison warden. We had a great time. For the games (Peckock! Peckock!), the Malaysians won – ahem! ;p

Day 3 and 4

2007-05-15T02:47:00.000-07:00

Date : 3 May

Day : Thursday

Event : Morning Devotion together. The band prayed and shared what they heard from God. It’s amazing to see that all the Words that came were related and close. There’s a “new thing” that God wants to do in NZ and it’s going to be something great. God will give “new zeal”, “new life”. Word was Isaiah 42 and 51

Event : Going to UCSA to invite the students to the concert. It’s a bit scary and intimidating at first. But we’re doing this for a cause – this is mission. ;p

We were amazed to learn that all our food was so very well organized. The Kiwis are very organized people. They had everyone scheduled to cook food for us so that we don’t starve. I’m very thankful for that! ;p

They would come to church and lay out a spread for us each mealtime. We are so very blessed. We have home-cooked Kiwi food!

Band Dynamics workshop at night – didn’t go very well

It started late. There was time limitation. We were not organized. Some of us dragged on, some were too short. Conclusion : we needed to be more prepared.

We also began to learn that the Kiwis are very particular about time. No more “Malaysian timing”. Punctuality is good! ;p

Date : 4 May 2007

Day : Friday

Event : Morning Devotion together – PC shared about the prostitute and her attitude of worship. It was a reminder to all of us to have the right attitude/the right posture of worship. We should always remember that God knows our thoughts, our hearts, our intentions; He knows ALL. Even though what we way may not be what we feel inside. In short, we humans can be so deceptive.

Lisa’s personal thoughts: We learn that humility should always be our posture. We should always remember that every time we sing our songs and as we live our lives, we should practice it. It shouldn’t be just a form and worship should always be fresh – KEEP IT REAL!!!

Kel shared again on how God is going to move in this nation; how He’s going to bless New Zealand.

Event : Prayer Conference led by Pastor Bob Perry

Word : Isaiah 61 (sound familiar, guys? ;p)

Interesting fact : Worship and prayer is the next wave of the prayer movement. People nowadays want to have more, they want to know God in a greater measure. This is the cry of this generation! Prayer is also moving by music. David has done it.

Word : Knowing God Revelation 4 & 5 ( doesn’t that sound familiar? That’s the title of our last album) ;p

We ministered to the people with “My Father” leading them to encounter God, the Father. Though the people here are used to the R& B/Israel Houghton style, we feel that God really moved in the midst of the people. He had already begun to do a great work in the people. Many were touched. We also did My God Is So Big and Secret Place.

R & R : Jody took us to Hadley’s Park. That is a very beautiful and scenic park located in the city of Christchurch. It was very nice. We saw a lot of ducks and the little streams are so clean!

We then went to Jody’s home. It is very beautifully and artistically decorated. We got to meet Jade, who is a great girl, a worship leader with a great voice. Unfortunately, she’s got the flu. We also met Alicia, the cute and perky dancer. It’s was like a Girl’s afternoon out, away from the guys. That was nice. ;p

Fun : We went up to a hill, by the sea. The view was breathtaking. We prayed for Christchurch. We took pictures and then it was time to get back to church.

We went back to church later to attend the night conference

Day 1 and 2

2007-05-15T02:46:00.000-07:00

Tuesday May 1st

Event:

Departure from church – PC was late! Rushed to the airport. Praise God we reached in time – SQ’s pretty strict…weight – always a problem. Uh-oh 5 kg overweight! Had to transfer a few thing from check-in luggage to hand-carry. Each extra kg is worth RM100?! We were a bit discouraged.

James and I prayed.

Word:

“Don’t let these events dampen your spirits”

Fun:

Charlene and Cuzario were the smallest – they sat at the back and were both squeezing theselves all the way to the airport. They didn’t say a word till they reached KLIA. When they arrived, they said, “ We survived” =)

it’s just the beginning – we should persevere to see what God has in store for us.

Event:

Transit in Singapore. Hung around the lounge in Changi. Had a cup of coffee and muffins – yum! Wrote the notes.

Wednesday May 2nd

Event:

Arrival at Christchurch. Wasn’t as cold as we thought it would be. Met by Paul, Chris (Pastor’s son), took us from the airport straight to the church. Met Pastor Bernhard and Pastor John. It’s a new church building. =)

The nation’s population 4 million ~ only 4% Christians (and probably not even active) ~ a great mission field. The impression we get is that it’s very “hard ground”. Relationship take a long time to build…it takes a long time to reach the lost. People are very laid back as well – apathetic, passive.

Met Jody, briefing on how we promote the concert, brainstorming via a survey. Going to the university campus (Canterbury) nearby.

Word:

It’s time for a breakthrough – Isaiah 13.

Fun:

Tea is equivalent to dinner time! Interesting…we had lunch then all of us slept – we were knocked out! Fish & chips – very very yummy and cheap! But not the healthiest.

Event:

Our 1st workshop – led by PC (on worship) and Dan (on sound). The song used – “My Father”. Presence of God was there – PC taught about the awesome power of the POG and how miracles happen through that; how we need to constantly seek God/ turn our face to Him. Kel + PC ministered on God’s love and God as the Father. Felt that God wanted to encourage and restore those that are far away – to restore lost relationship that, He wanted to shower His love.

Word:

Exod 29:42-46

Tour New Zealand

2007-05-03T02:43:00.000-07:00

Tour New Zealand

Arriving in Christchurch was an evidently refreshing outlook, even from the moments of leaving the airport; fresh weather, beautiful scenery, and great people; all the prerequisites for a great trip. Rallying the people in a laidback country took slightly a little more effort than we were normally used to; going campuses ourselves to promote our own concert, how often does that happen?

Nevertheless it was an awesome experience chatting to the locals, some foreign students, and definitely some cool campus ministers. Our first workshop went as usual, the ideas came through. It is odd to note, however, that the kiwis down south don't usually worship with contemporary music, but with R n' b.

The folks at Christchurch were really good in their organization and punctuality. Go to bed early, wake up early; a way of life. Our first worship concert took stage; and by God's grace and miracle we actually had the place packed with people. It was definitely encouraging to see students from the campuses we were at usher in excitedly. However, of all the things to note about what occurred, it was the obvious liberation of the people, dancing, laughing, shouts of praise; apparently something that's a little harder to come by in this part of the country. It was great.

We spent the next few days in New Zealand on a road trip further south. We visited what must have been the most beautiful views, Lake Tekapo, Queenstown, and even Puzzle World!

Just a few hundered miles up though, Auckland stands to be an extremely different change of pace; a hustling city with far fewer trees and scenic locations :). That's not necessarily bad, the ‘Aucklanders' are the warmest mix of people; pacific islanders, kiwis, Asians; Auckland seems to have every nation of the world in their church. The most notable hosts were of course though, the homes of whom which we stayed; Alfred, Kelly, Pastor John and Elaine.

We kicked off our Auckland tour with a street concert right in the middle of the city square. Other than the fact we had never played on the streets, and that we had never done an acoustic set before, and that we had no real idea what we were dong, it was something we were totally used to. God came through, we aren't the most skilled, nor the best entertainers, but the city street was definitely awed in worship that night.

The next day followed up with a workshop and our second concert. Of all our expectations, this concert totally rocked! The tangibility of God heightened, lengthened, lifted us powerfully; there aren't really words to describe it when you feel Him all around you and within you. People were awestruck. People got saved, people were on their knees, people were crying. Of the things to remember that night, were the famous words by Pastor John "I now have something extra to add to my favorite things about Malaysia; Nasi Lemak, Mee Goreng, and 1a.m.! Malaysians should be proud.

We finished off our tour with praise and worship at North shore the next morning. Once again the presence of God tore through the roof. It has to be God when leaders down in the congregation start comparing us with Hillsongs :)

New Zealand received new zeal (no pun intended), a ‘Sold Out' message, and a liberation only God can give. We ministered and were greatly ministered to. It is truly nothing short of a miracle to be able to experience God wherever you go in this world, especially in a place so different and so far from home. Of all the things we gave, we can only say that we were grateful we received even more. Beyond all expectations, we did take something home, a contract with the biggest music distributor in New Zealand, world famous Parachute Music. Our albums began distribution nation-wide August 2007. A hallmark in 1a.m.

Statement by Pastor Aljay - Dubai

2007-03-08T02:41:00.000-08:00

Statement by Pastor Aljay - Dubai

hi bro,

I'm doing fine now. all i needed was a 2 day sleep. Cant cope up with your fire and energy. All of you were on fire man.,

Here are the summary of the impact you all have made while visiting us.

FAITH: Faith has been stirred up in the hearts of the people in the UAE as we've seen 1a.m. band members so young yet making an impact in the nations.Your voices were heard not just in Dubai, Sharjah, and Jebel Ali but to the many nations represented during our Spirit filled worship concert. The same way the walls of Jericho crumbled in the days of Joshua, i believed that a lot of demonic strongholds went crushing down as you declared the praises and worship of our King Jesus here in the Middle East.

Worship: All of us were inspired by how you worshiped our King. Our worship team have been challenge to bring His worship to the next level. The workshops helped them see the bigger perspective of unity and teamwork.

The message of Sold Out: One can be sold out to anything or anyone but theres nothing like living a life sold out for Jesus. Its not just the songs and the melodies, but your lives spoke the real meaning of Sold Out.

- Pastor Aljay Lumapas,
Every Nation UAE

Day 8

2007-03-08T02:37:00.000-08:00

Day 8

It's time to go home to beautiful sunny Malaysia. We had only 2 ½ hours to do our shopping for gifts though we left in the morning as the traffic took us a while to move around.

Pastor Rouell just came back from Phillipines early in the morning that day but came to see us off at 4pm.He mentioned he heard so many great report from his pastors and the church members that they were all really bless by our ministry. He then drove us to the airport and while in the van, he shared with Kel that the weather should not be as good as it should during this time of the month. It should be scourging hot and the wind should be blowing hot air.

That was when we realise God did another miracle for us, He gave us a beautiful weather, He showered His rain down twice in that week we were there and we believe that the Holy Spirit ministered to the people of U.A.E. that week.

We are so bless by the people in U.A.E. The Pastors and the people there are all servants of God always ready to bless us. If you are reading this all you people of U.A.E. ... YOU GUYS ROCK!!! We thank the Lord for you all and we are so bless to have known our Every Nation family in U.A.E. Keep the flame burning hotter than the heat over there

Day 7

2007-03-08T02:33:00.000-08:00

Day 7

Some of us went for trhe safari desert adventure and some went shopping. But before that all of us went to the desert and did the quadra bike. It was totally fun for all of us.

On the way back Pastor Aljay's car over heated and he drove all the way back, which was at least almost an hour drive away.But God was great because nothing happened to his car. Praise God for another miracle

Day 6

2007-03-08T02:31:00.000-08:00

Day 6

We were given a tour of a beautiful hotel called the Madinet Jumeirah. It is built by the sea and the waterways are open i.e. the seawater flows into the waterways built in the hotel,felt like we were in Venice. It was an exotic and beautiful place, very romantic, ha ha! It's a famous spot. The architecture is beautiful. It looks like a Morroccon palace.

After the tour, it was time for us to have some fun! We went to the Wild Wadi.It was right next to the Burj Hotel (rated 7 star). It was fun for the guys. We played together. We were also blessed to know that one of the church members, Dong worked there so he could get us in for only dhl15 (normal price dhl150). We were so blessed.

During the drive to the malls and wid wadi, Pastor Aljay shared with us how inspired the worship team was. The fact that Daniel only 20 years old, TJ going 21, Cuz and Neil in their early 20's took the step of faith and showed what God can do with the talent God has given them, inspired many of their musicians who may be much more talented than us yet we were in faith to show that God can use us. What more with them who has greater talent and yet not use it for the glory of God.

He also mention that many people were SOLD OUT through the worship and preaching messages to know that they have a greater calling in Dubai not just their carrier but a purpose to reach out to the nation of U.A.E. We thank the Lord that God used us to inspire and challenge the people.

Then we went to one of the malls to have a look around. In that mall, there was the skiing place as well as a lot of shops.

Day 5

2007-03-08T02:27:00.000-08:00

Day 5

We got up late today because we had such a late night on Friday. But this time, before we had lunch with the leaders, we got together. PC wanted us to take some time together to think, meditate on what we can be thankful for, and what God has taught or shown us during this trip. It was evident that God impacted each and every one of us. It's so profound and yet life-changing. Each shared 1 or 2 things that God has taught us, plus things that we are thankful for. I personally was so blessed!

Suddenly someone came in to announce that our chicken was ready. The announcer came in the form of Pastor Rouelle's son. We were also blessed with a giant pot of beef briyani and barbecued chicken!!!

After that, we prayed and got ready and headed out to the DECC Maranantha Hall. But before we did that, we went to the shopping mall near the DECC. It was very beautifully designed. The name of the mall was... We went to Starbucks to kill time and then we went to the DECC to prepare for the concert.

The hall is great, very big and spacious. Apparently Matt Redman did a concert in the same hall. We were expecting about 500-600 people.

By this time, our Sold Out cd's were all sold out! Our t-shirts as well. We're so blessed. We're so amazed.

The worship concert was supposed to start at 8.30 pm but we waited till 9pm to start. In the beginning, we didn't see that many people but towards the later part of the night, the hall filled up. It was fantastic.

Our line up this time was fewer songs:-

The Anthem

Freedom

Singing & Living

My Father

Breathe

All I Wanna Do

Blessed Draw

My God Is So Big

Always In My Heart (community video)

PC exaltation

Sold Out

PC exaltation

Lift The Name of Jesus

Dive In

The Presence of God was evident. Even from the start.

PC then gave a word of exaltation. It was about encouraging people to take little steps of faith wherever they were; she gave illustrations on David, as he was just doing his chore and to deliver food to his brothers in the battlefield and instead he became a hero because he was ready to move and to act in faith. The people were ministered by the Spirit. We felt that God told them that they can do it.

We were amazed at what God did at the concert. We could feel His presence and we found that we were also touched by His Spirit. We were doing our last encore which was " Dive In". The people yelled for more so we did "Freedom" again. In the middle of the song, Pastor Cathryn dragged Daniel to the front of the stage and he had no choice but to do a solo. He was in the flow of the Spirit. Then it was Cuzario's turn; as he beat the drums, you could tell that there was an anointing. Last but not least, was Tj! He seemed a little shocked at first but the Spirit took over and he belted out an amazing instrumental unto the Lord.It was unbelievable as they had never soloed in a concert before! All of them were amazed by how God used them.

Again, after everytime we do P&W, we prayed and gave thanks to our Lord for all that He's done and thankful that He's chosen us as His vessels. All Glory to God!!!

The concerts & workshop was finally over! It was a spiritual experience for all of us.

Day 4

2007-03-08T02:20:00.000-08:00

Day 4

We had an early start. Today is a very, very packed day. It's morning service at Holy Trinity at 10.30 am, then lunch at Pastor Mar's Villa and then afternoon service at St Martins at 2 pm and then back to the Villa in Dubai for Workshop/Q&A.

We went early to Holy Trinity. It's interesting to see the people doing the set up again.

This time, people knew us and there were more people today. It is a holiday - Prophet Mohammad's birthday so the next day was a public holiday.

Service starts at 10.30 am and finishes at 12 noon.
Our line up :- Take It All, Singing & Living, Our God Reigns, Sold Out

Neil led worship here and did very well. We finished and quickly packed up and left for Sharjah (Pastor Mar's villa). It was interesting, the van was stuck because Neil didn't see a hole and the wheel of the van got stuck. But it's so good to see how the brothers in the church took over and helped us to get the van out. Praise God for spiritual family!

So we went over to Pastor Mar's villa for lunch. The food was great and we had a great time of fellowship with Pastor Mar. He opened his house to us and is a very gracious host. We rested and relaxed. Then at around 1.30 pm, we left the villa for St Martin's. The sound team had already gone ahead and set up the equipment while we were at the villa. They are pretty organised. ;p

So service started. Our line up was:- Majesty, Take It All, Here I Am to Worship and Sold Out

Pastor Cathryn led worship and this time, Kel took the pulpit. He preached about David and how Sold Out was evident in the scripture. He shared about his dreams and his call. He even showed a physical example of Goliath and David.People were touched and encouraged. He challenged the people to live a Sold Out life. The church in Sharjah is also starting a new service in one of the hotels. We pray that it will be another breakthrough for them. They have to be very careful and watchful. By the time we finished at Sharjah, it was already around 4.30 pm.

Then straight after that, we went back to the Villa to prepare for the last workshop on Vocals, Sound and Q&A. that was supposed to be at 7 pm. So we waited for the equipment, setting up, etc.. we had to also wait for the people to get to the Villa after work. We finally started our workshops around 7.30 pm.

Each workshop was fruitful. I felt that people received and the response was good. We are sooo thankful and grateful to God that we can be a vessel in this area.

We finished around 10 pm and headed out to the beach for a barbecue. They arranged for food and invited the people who were in the worship teams to come and fellowship.

The event was great. We didn't have much time at the park/beach but it was fun. We got to fellowship, build relationships and shared our lives even more. As the place closed at 11pm, we went to another beach, near the Burj. It was amazing. There were many people there. People from different backgrounds were at this place. This place was full of life, even so late at night. It goes to show that people in Dubai don't sleep!!! We left this place at 1am (another sign ), which was again about 5 am in Malaysia!!! But it was worth it.

Day 3

2007-03-08T02:15:00.000-08:00

Day 3

Today, we had Praise and Worship at Holy Trinity in Dubai and then the workshop later on at night.

We were given time to rest, we got up and did our devotion together. We were all asked to pray and meditate about what God wants to do and what God was saying to us personally, to share what was one thing or some things that we are grateful to God for. We were all expressing our thanks to the Lord and it was refreshing to always remember that.

During our devotion Kel shared that he felt that God wanted to heal the dry bones (Ezekiel 37) of the Christians in Dubai. He asked the Lord for a sign to confirm whether it's really from the Lord. In the morning, it rained and we all thought that it's normal since we often get rain in Malaysia. But we later found out that some people who have lived 5 years there only experience rain twice. We knew then that was a sign from the Lord that he wants to heal the dry bones. We also recalled the prophetic word that Pastor Mar prophesied that God is pouring His presence down on U.A.E. We were excited to see how God is moving.

During this time, Pastor Mary joined us and told us that did we know that there in our conccert 4 people came to accept Jesus as their savior. We thank the Lord truly " worship brings change". We did not even make a salvation call but because of the power and presence of God through worship that people can't help but know that He is truly a living God.That was our greatest desire in our worship to see people save and delivered.

The next thing, we went downtown for lunch at a local Filipino restaurant. It was interesting for a lot of us as that was the first time. We ate a lot and then returned to the Villa to get ready to get ready for Praise and Worship in Holy Trinity at 4.30 pm.

It was quite amazing to see the people in Dubai do their set up. Holy Trinity, like St Martin's is a compound that is the assigned place of worship. There were quite a number of churches in the same place. It's pretty amazing. Each church comes into a hall, at their scheduled time, take 15 minutes to set up their equipment, instruments, etc. and be ready to start their services. Service ends after 1 hour and a half and then they pack up their things in 15 minutes and leave so that the next church is able to come in and use the hall. It's something that makes us so grateful to God that we don't have to do this. They have such limited time. We are so blessed!

The line up for this service was :- Take It All, Dive in, Breathe, Cause I & I Lift the name of Jesus

Kel led worship and the service starts at 4.30 pm and finishes at 6pm. We then had to rush back to the Villa to get ready for Band Dynamics and Worship Leading for the Dubai P&W Teams.They call it the "WAP" teams.PC was left to preach the Word. She preached on Sold Out.Many of the people there gave their feedback that they were ministered and convicted by the message.

We had some technical glitches at Holy Trinity. The keyboard was set on "transposed" and so the whole time, we were in the wrong key and weren't able to do our best. Kel didn't anticipate. That taught us something. So straight after, we had to get back to the villa but due to the traffic, we got back at almost 8 pm to the Villa. This was for Band Dynamics and Worship Leading Workshop that was supposed to start at 8.30pm. We had to wait for the equipment, setting up, etc.. and we also had to wait for the people to get to the Villa after work. Many people finish work late plus the traffic doesn't help. We finally started our workshops by about 10 pm. We did the same as for Sharjah, except that this time, we had more time to finish everything as we paced ourselves better. By the time we finished, it was about 12.30 am. That was 4.30 am Malaysian time.

We were so bushed!!!But one thing, I'm very proud of us, is that we were all in great spirit and were united.

Day 2

2007-03-08T02:04:00.000-08:00

Day 2

Cuz is unwell. He has a tummy problem. Lisa still has her cough. It's annoying. She can't sing properly and we're sure that Cuz can't play properly as well. Lisa felt that is was a test, to see if she can worship God without her voice at it's best. Tonight, it's the Worship Concert at St Martin's Sharjah

Devotion : we came together in the morning. Thanking God and the word that came from Kel was Ezekiel 33:31-32 and from PC was Psalms 4:4. We prayed and asked for a Word from God for the people. Tonight is the first concert and it was to be in Sharjah. It's exciting.We are going to declare how great God's strength is and that there will be redemption. The people needed healing in all areas and God will show Himself. We also needed to think of God, think of His thoughts and not have our own way of thinking.

Sharjah is a more conservative place and foreigners are expected to adhere to their dress-code; we're not supposed to expose our flesh too much - no mini-skirts, shorts, tank tops, no sleeveless tops ; on the other hand Dubai is very modern and open. It's something that we need to get used to.

The hall in St Martin's was able to fit about 400-450 people. It was quite big. We had to be there by 5.30 pm to set-up. When we arrived, they hadn't opened the doors yet. Finally, the doors opened at around 5.45 pm. Every minute is precious. There were problems during the sound-check especially for the vocals and the keyboard as Kel was using only 1 keyboard. The structure/layout of the stage is a bit cramped and there are 2 marble pillars on the sides. We had to work around it. The sound engineers did their best and we learned to work around the situation.

Before we started, we prayed and asked that God's glory be shown.The songs that we did are :

The Anthem
Majesty (Planetshakers)
Take It All
Community Video - sharing by Kel
Breathe (altar call by Kel)
Neil's Testimony
Sold Out
Exaltation by PC
Sold Out
All I want Do
Blessed Draw
Here I Am
Here I Am to Worship

There were people of all ages in Sharjah. At the beginning, there weren't that many people but later that night, there were more. It seemed that it was almost full. For the first altar call at Breathe, we couldn't tell how many people were ministered as Kel encouraged them to stay where they are and to worship from there. The young people and the leaders of the church were standing in the front rows. They were so responsive and you could see that the Presence of God was strong. For Neil's testimony, quite a number of people responded as he's their "homeboy" and knew him personally. People were blessed and encouraged. Then for Sold Out, PC preached to the people, encouraged them to live a Sold Out Life for God - she preached on Peter's call; the question that burned Peter's soul - on whether he truly loved the Lord enough to live the Sold Out Life.

This time, the 2nd altar call, people were encouraged to move to the front. They were challenged to come up to give their lives; to recommit and live "Sold Out" for God. The leaders and PC prayed over the people as we sang Sold Out.

By the time we finished, it was around 11 pm. We prayed and thanked God. That will always be the first thing that we do whenever we finish something. God is to be glorified, always. In fact, the center space on stage is for God, nobody else takes that place. It's His rightful place of honor. We weren't able to finish all the songs that we lined up due to time constraints. The pastors also came up every now and then to give a prophetic word. One of the prophetic word's Pastor Mar gave was that he felt God open the ozone layer and He is pouring His presence down upon U.A.E. He also prophesied that 1a.m. is a fertile ministry and it will bear much fruits.

We went back, came together and talked about it. It certainly wasn't our best musically or technically. We had to straighten the kinks, we discussed what could be improved and discovered that timing and execution needed to be improved. We also discovered that we needed to reflect even more and rely even more on God. This was truly a test of our faith.

PC exalted us to think and focus on God before we rested. That we needed to quiet the other voices and listen clearly to the Voice of God. PC is very wise. She constantly reminds us to condition ourselves so that we didn't fall sick and be able to minister at all times.

Day 1 - Dubai

2007-03-08T01:58:00.000-08:00

Day 1

We arrived, got settled. The place where we stay - is a huge bungalow! A Villa! It was also their office. It's very comfortable and the bathrooms are big!

Today, we all gathered just before lunch and did our devotion. We came together and prayed and meditated. The word from Kel was Matt 10:39. What stirred us most is the fact that Jesus was talking about a Sold Out life. We needed to reflect again on our lives and what a Sold Out life should be like. That reminded us and aligned us.

We had lunch with all the pastors. Our host was Pastor Rouell (the Senior Pastor and his wife Pastor Febs) and then there was Pastor Aljay, Pastor Mar (the Senior Pastor of Sharjah church). There were also a few other people we met from the technical side, like Peter, Roy, etc.

After lunch, we had a quick discussion on our itineraries. Today we are to prepare for a workshop in Sharjah. But we had to leave the Villa by 4pm even though the workshop was at 8pm because of traffic. From what I can see, Dubai and Sharjah are like KL and PJ. So the distance is about the same. However, we went to the Megamall in Sharjah to have lunch. We discussed on how the workshop will be conducted. We talked about how we can inspire the church.

We were quite prepared as we ran through again all the things that we needed to do. We were rather unsure of what to expect. On the way, we looked at the place. It is a desert - the land is dry.

We arrived at a compound, where all the churches are built. In the UAE, you're not allowed to worship anywhere unless they were designated places/are. So all the churches are in one area/compound. You can meet at people's homes but it has to be done very discreetly. You can't have your own building. The people are praying and we should stand together with them.

After the workshop in Sharjah, according to Pastor Aljay, we did very well. We felt though that we didn't time ourserves well enough. However, we learn and by God's grace we will do better the next time. We felt that we did what God asked us to do and felt God's presence. We did band dynamics with "My Father" and Pastor Cathryn did the workshop on worship leading. The Lord ministered and the people received.

As Dubai is 4 hours behind us, it takes some getting used to. So when we finished at 11.30pm, it was actually 3.30 am in the morning.....

Destination : Dubai UAE

2007-03-08T01:49:00.000-08:00

Destination : Dubai UAE

Today is THE DAY. The preparations that led up till today were indeed one filled with challenges; we felt like God was molding and working in us to be better vessels. ;p Each of us were growing in our faith and also getting to know each other better. We had much to do: equipment lists, itineraries, schedule practices, prayer, worship etc... these were the main things that we concentrated on and it's different this time. Why? Not only because this is a new line-up but also because we are 7 different people learning to be with one another for more than a week and doing things together as a team. We have to be united.

There was a buzz of acitivity leading till today. TODAY, we will depart but before we left, our heart and mind were filled with questions, uncertainty, excitement and anxiety at the same time. It's not that we are not in faith, but just that it feels surreal. It's hard to get a grip on what's happening. And this mission, this call for 1 am is sooo BIG! How does one begin to actually understand what God is doing? It amazes us, everytime we see how God moves; how this trip came about, how the band got together, how the album came about, there's no denying that they're all divine works of God. We serve an awesome God; too awesome to comprehend but the important thing that we learned is this: when He calls, you gotta give your all.;p

These are some of the comments from the guys prior at KLIA while waiting for our flight :-

TJ : nervous but excited

PC : excited - "I always wanted to minister to the Middle East people. Can't wait to see what God will do. Going to have the opportunity to get to know the boys better".

Kel : excited. 1am's first trip and feeling a sense of anticipation of what God's gonna do

Neil :Just wants to go home!

Dan :?

Cuz:Pictures

Lisa: excited, wondering what God will do and very, very honored to be a part of this

We are so blessed by our church, ecf. We received many messages, prayers and well wishes. That's so encouraging to know that we have the church standing with us. We are not alone. ;p We wanna make God and our church proud.

Scripture : Psalm 10 and 1 Peter 3:12

Most memorable thing : TJ's bag doesn't lock; the Idol guitar sound?

Our flight was delayed!!! But that wasn't the only thing, we had to run!!! The gates were changed - which was quite a distance for us to cover. However, we got there in time - Praise God! It was final call ;{ But we managed. What was interesting was that we lift off at exactly 1 a.m. in the morning! Thought that was a sign of confirmation from the Lord. ;p We can't wait and we pray that He'll really reveal Himself to us and to the people in Dubai. May there be great things and great reports,

in Jesus name, amen.

Tour Dubai

2007-03-08T01:41:00.000-08:00

Tour Dubai

With finally a tedious flight and formalities out of the way, we happily trudged out of the airport onto official Dubai soil. Pastor Aljay met us excitedly, a great guy, passionate speaker, and awesome host. Of course, as humble ‘missionaries' we never expected for Aljay to put us in a huge mansion for our weeks stay. Then again, nearly all homes in Dubai are huge mansions.

It wasn't long before we had work on our hands. Our first workshop in Sharjah was fruitful, as a band still learning to reach a certain standard of public speech, our delivery of ideas met well, well absorbed. People were excited; our concert the next day was chocked full. Crowds met excitedly in praise and worship, you know the presence of God is strong when you find out the next day 4 people gave their lives to Christ without an alter call, even though we didn't play that well.

The rest of our trip consisted of more workshops, praise and worships sessions, getting to know the ‘Dubai-ans', which are a socialite bunch of photo-loving, warm, and fun people; even though a little extreme at times.

Of course we had our grand finale concert in Abu Dhabi, once again chocked full with people. Congregation was wild, people's hearts open to worship; it was definitely a blast. More than just playing well, the presence of God was definitely strongly tangible in the theatre; so tangible in fact the band burst out into solo performances - something we've never rehearsed or done before.

We've accomplished what we've come to do; bring aspects of worship to bring their team to the next level, preach the gospel, helped others encounter God. One of the prophetic words Pastor Mar received was God opening the ozone layer and pouring His presence down upon U.A.E. He also prophesied over 1a.m. as a fertile ministry, and will bear many fruits to come. People were SOLD OUT!