FALL-LOW or FOLLOW?

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

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

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!

Philippines Tour Day 7

Philippines Tour Day 6

Philippines Tour Day 4

Philippines Tour Day 1 - Vlogs

Philippines Tour Day 1 - Vlogs

Malaysia's Independence

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

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

Jude's Testimony

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?

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

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

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 . 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. .