posted Apr 9, 2012 6:51 AM by Billy Ng
[
updated Apr 9, 2012 6:53 AM
]
Dear brothers:
It is great to see more than 30 brothers in last night meeting. At the
beginning, Gilbert leads us singspiration using advanced technology - YouTube.
It is working very well. Then Jason shared with us about Dorina's situation and
we all pray for her. God is leading his family step by step. We also feel that
the whole group is walking with Jason and his family in this difficult time.
Thank you for Tony leading us learn more about Adam in bible. After Tony's
sharing, we separate into three groups. There are a lot of laughing, serious
thoughts, heated discussions and deep caring in each group. There are a lot of
touching moments. The whole meeting is really God's blessing.
As we shared in past, we have been praying to start "HangOut" time on
Friday. We received a lot of good feedback from brothers. We will start the
HangOut tomorrow. It will be from 7:30 to 9:00pm every Friday. We will meet in
237 basement of BCEC Chinatown campus. Come to join us!
Have a blessing Friday!
james
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posted Feb 27, 2012 6:51 PM by Billy Ng
今天晚上聚會是弟兄團契的‘開放’日﹐因此﹐我們的晚餐不用付費﹐新舊朋友﹐
一律免費﹗這次聚會有25 人。
MICHEAL領詩 兩首詩歌﹐“乘風破浪”﹐“親愛主”都是用粵語來唱。他總括來講﹐第一首歌﹐期望在弟兄團契﹐能夠建立真誠友誼﹐回想起當年與好朋友一起在少年時﹐滿懷壯志﹐遠大理想, 不畏困難“乘風破浪”。第二首歌﹐尋找自己的角色﹐有“親愛主”的帶領。盼望﹕
A) 在弟兄團契找到﹕好友﹐老友﹐死黨
B) 在弟兄團契找到自己的角色﹕家庭﹐工作崗位﹐教會。
報告﹕
蔡元雲醫生“生命師傅講座”﹐蔡醫生在屬靈成長的過程﹐有不少的屬靈
導師﹐因此﹐在這講座裡﹐特別介紹﹐“與恩師的十堂課 - 我的路”。是在聖經基礎上加一些真實的生命故事﹐闡述師友同行的十個要素。
日期﹕2012年4月3日﹐10日﹐17日﹐24日﹐5月1日﹐8日(逢星期二﹐共六堂)
時間﹕晚上7時30分至9時30分
地點﹕波士頓華人佈道會 - 牛頓堂
語言﹕粵語
費用﹕$50
截止報名﹕3月4日
報名﹕Benjamin
Tang (聯絡召集人) Tel: 617-429-6739
亦可到網上報名www.essentiallifeseminar.org
合辦﹕香港突破機構 及 波士頓各夥伴教會
JAMES﹕用幻燈片介紹弟兄團契的歷史與聚會內容和活動﹕深深感到要有一個弟兄互訴心事的地方﹐剛剛開始﹐四個弟兄聚會﹐慢慢展開﹐後來由陳德修牧師任團牧﹐成立團契三年多﹐每次聚會約有二十多人。活動包括有﹕晨曦聚會﹐邀請長老分享信息。向露宿者分派食物﹐和“波士頓救援行動”機構合作。為“建橋者”裝修電腦課室﹐改換電腦機器﹐增值電腦軟件。分享個人愛好﹐如修理汽車等。每年有退休會﹐曾在RHODE ISLAND
與
ACTON兩地舉行。 還有為有DAVID 與
NORMA 去菲律賓宣教的歡送會。更重要是每個星期六早上六時至八時﹐有晨曦禱告會﹐風雪不改。弟兄團契注重原則﹐準時出席﹔保密隱私﹔不講他人閒話﹔不看不起其他弟兄。
JASON 帶領玩游戲
- 回到35年前的歲月﹕分成四組
A) 包﹑剪﹑鎚
B)列舉: 主日學的課程﹐教會紀念品﹐聖經章節﹐電子用品
C)列舉各組員喜歡做﹔憎恨做。
其中一組得獎﹕有最多電子用品﹐也有最好的答案。 例如﹕喜歡參加崇拜﹐喜歡打乒乓球﹐喜歡參加弟兄團契。憎恨做﹕罪
小組討論﹕分開五組。互相認識和分享。
- 如果你有時間﹔有錢﹔你會做甚麼﹖
- 現今時代﹐男人最大的挑戰是甚麼﹖
- 你對以下的經文有甚麼理解﹖
我願男人無憤怒﹑無爭論﹑舉起聖潔的手﹑隨處禱告。(提前 2﹕8)
茶點﹕由TONY的太太PAT為弟兄團預備。Strawberry Pie。 謝謝﹗
Tonight is the night of “Open House”. Welcome to all! The total was 25 of us, and the dinner was ‘free’.
Singspiration:
Michael led us singing two songs. We sang these two songs in Cantonese. The
name of first song was “Riding Wind and Break Wave” (Translation), this song
reminded us the friendship of our best friends long time ago when we were “a
few” years younger, we were together talking our dreams that one day we would
get accomplished, we hope that we could find this kind of friendship in Peter
Fellowship. The name of second song was
“Dear Lord”. We have God’s guidance to
find our role of a son, a husband, and a father, the roles in the family, in the
work, and in church services, we have been searching for our roles…
Announcement:
Dr. Choi’s “Mentoring” workshops, he had mentors in his
growing up spiritual journey, he will talk about it in this seminar and
workshops, including ten lessons to be a mentor.
Date: 4/3, 4/10, 4/17, 4/24, 5/1, 5/8 of year 2012
Time: 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Place: BCEC – Newton
Campus
Language: Cantonese
Fee: $50
Dead-Line: 03/04/2012
Registration: Benjamin Tang,
Tel. 617-429-6739
or web: www.essentiallifeseminar.org
By: Break-Through and partners of Boston Churches
Brother James gave us slides show of history and activities of
Peter brothers’ fellowship. We fell at
first our brothers need to communicate our concerts and feelings; we started
from four brothers 31/2 years ago, now about twenty people in average in
regular meeting. Pastor Daniel is our fellowship pastor. Our activities
included: Sunrise
worship, Elder Yuen and Elder Jack had been our speakers, we partnered with
“Boston Rescue Mission” to serve food for the “homeless” people. We helped ACCESS
to remodel the classrooms, replaced computers and upgrade software. Sometime we shared personal hobbies, such as
repair automobiles. We have retreats every year, in last two years we have
retreats in Rhode Island
and ACTON. We had farewell breakfast party for David and
Norma who is missionary for the Philippines.
Finally and the most important, we have prayer meeting on “every” Saturday
morning 6 am – 8 am, rain or shine or snow… we our
brothers’ fellowship respect privacy, ,
do not talk people behind their back, do not look down other brothers, and
attend meeting on-time.
Activity: Games Led
by Jason, the fun games which remind us about 35 years ago, we divided into 4
groups:
A) cover,
cut, hammer (a Chinese win-lose game)
B) Lists:
Sunday school course this winter term, things were given by BCEC, Bible verses,
electronic personal items.
C) The
group members all love to do most (list 3 thing), and all hated most.
One group was a winner, have the
most item and they had the best answers.
For example: things all loved to do: 1) Ping-Pong; 2) attend worship
services; 3) attend brothers’ fellowship. Things all hated most: sin.
Group sharing and know each other
We were divided into 5
groups: The questions were in the
following:
-
What do you like to do if you have free time and money
is not a concern?
-
What are the most challenges to men in these times?
-
What is your understanding of 1 Timothy 2:8? (It is my
desire, then, that in every place men may give themselves to prayer, lifting up
holy hands, without wrath or argument.
Why do you think it is difficult to do?
Refreshment:
Pat (wife of Tony) prepare for us: strawberry pies By Brother Ben Tang
This is our first try of annual open house for Peter
Fellowship. Time flies, Peter Fellowship
has been formed more than three years.
What a big contrast with our first meeting in December, 2009. Tonight we had a total of twenty-six brothers
coming from different age groups, backgrounds and fellowships. By far, this is our most divergent men gathering
with brothers from all walks of life. Six
“new” brothers come to this gathering to meet and find out what Peter
Fellowship was and is about. Thank you Billy for heading the meal delivery team and gave
us a filling and delicious dinner. To
honor our newcomers, the Committee gave us a free dinner just for us. Shortly after dinner Michael Ho led our singspiration with
oldies, titled “Ride the Sail, Break Waves”, from a popular HK television mini-series
of the ’70. This good old song did
bring back youthful optimism and kindred spirit. What would a Christian Fellowship be without
a spiritually-inspired song like “He is Lord” to wrap up our singspiration. Ben Tang, our champion and local organizer, remind all
brothers to sign up for the first part of Dr. Choi’s of Breakthrough Essential
Life Seminar series. This is a
simulcast event host origin in Hong Kong with San Francisco, Toronto, and
Boston. Please take advantage of this
mentor-father series or contact Ben Tang.
Better yet, register to www.essentaillifeseminar.org. After a brief round of self-introduction, James introduces
our mission and vision, general agreement between brothers, events and
activities of Peter Fellowship during the last few years. We hope to build each other and walk
together with our Lord. Jason gave us a memorable moment of childhood game rock-paper-scissors
to heat up our child-like enthusiasm and then totally broke all our ice with a
game of treasure hunt of wits, the Words, and gadgetries. Finally, we gathered into smaller groups to discuss the
questions of brothers and the inner feelings of this generation of men. (What were the questions? They all touched our heart and elicited our
inner voices. Sorry, can’t tell - they
are all private and confidential.) I
personally had not seen so many men freely expressed their feelings in any
other fellowships. At last, but not least, Pat the beloved wife of Tony, baked
us delicious and yet healthy dessert to end our sweet moments of the
night. Brothers, if you missed this meeting, you did miss lots of
brothers mingled with us freely and openly.
Hope to see you all next time. Brother Terry
|
posted Feb 13, 2012 7:26 PM by Billy Ng
Our Peter Fellowship first meeting of the year 2012 was on January 25th. Brother Morris led us in sings-inspiration . First song was “How Great Thou art”. He led us into meditation about God’s creations, how wonderful and how great He is. Then we sang all three verses after that. The second song was in Mandarin Chinese, the translation would be “I gave my prayer before You”. The meaning of the song is about faith in our prayer, when we have faith with our prayers, even a big mountain could be removed.
Announcements:
1) Dr. Choi is going to have a “Simucast” from Hong Kong; joining Boston, Toronto, and Hong Kong three places together; the workshops will broadcast ‘live’ from Hong Kong; start from 4/3 until 5/5 every Tuesday evening 7:30 pm at BCEC @ Newton. The title is “Spiritual Mentor”. The fee is $50 including a book. If you are interested, please see brothers Ben, Tierry, and Nicky.
2) Peter Brothers Fellowship intends to start another meeting in China Town campus, would like the opinions from every one of you.
3) We committee is going to have some activities in February meeting; the secret would be related to “eating”. Brothers Gilbert and Tierry will be in charge.
Message: “The Roles of Peter Brothers Fellowship in church” by Pastor Daniel. He wished Peter Brothers fellowship will become the back-bone of the church, would be similar to “women fellowship” which is the “oldest” fellowship of the church.
The roles of brothers in church:
Men of new creation -- 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:14-15
Men of Freedom – Galatians 5:1
Men of Intelligence – Matthew 7: 24-27
Men of Witness – Isaiah 43: 8-12
Men of God’s family – Ephesians 2:19
Master -- Ephesians 2:19
Servant – Luke 12:42-46, 2 Peter 3:3-4
Worker – Luke 17: 5-10
Christian – Acts 11:25-26
Men -- Ephesians 5:15-29
Pastor Daniel explained clearly each role. He used several examples, such as the example of former CEO of Microsoft. Mr. Bill Gates once said “Life is too short, so one should use time wisely, helping others, value the family”. Pastor Daniel said that Michael Chang and Tim Tebow. One was a tennis champion and another is a football star, respectfully. They have used their own professions to witness God’s glory. o Lastly, Pastor Daniel used another example to conclude his preaching; the life of Tami L Fisk, who was a young medical doctor, even when Tami was young she knew that she wanted to be a missionary and a doctor serving overseas on the mission field. As she grew up and was in high school and made the best student, she was a recipient of summa cum-laude (GPA 3.9 - 4.0), she was accepted by Johns Hopkins University, but she went to Wheaton College instead. She believed studying at college was not just for knowledge but also for character building, she went to Emory College for medical school. She went to China as a medical missionary, but her life was cut short as she was diagnosed with cancer and that ultimately led to her death, she died when she was only 39 years old. In the history of missions, there were lots of female missionaries; their stories were so touched by many others. Our men should be leaders, but sometimes we fail on expectations…
Group Discussion (Summary):
Which role is the most difficult for you?
The role of “men of new creation” is the most difficult, because the old habits sometimes are difficult to change.
How brothers could help each other to full fill these roles?
Brothers could remind among themselves, so, spiritual prayer partner might be needed.
One brother raised a good question which was worth to have a “deeper thinking”, do we know what is the “best”? And will follow the heart leads to? as Dr. Fisk did on hers.
_____________________________________________________________________________
弟兄團契在元月廿五日晚上聚會﹐是今年第一次聚會。Morris 弟兄帶領我們大家詩歌分享。第一首詩歌“你真偉大”默想神創造奇妙可畏﹐然後才把這首詩歌唱完﹔接著一首詩歌“我以禱告來到你跟前”,詩歌中的意思提到﹕我們對神要有信心﹐禱告的能力﹐令大山可以挪移。
報告﹕
1)蔡元雲醫生﹐將會在本年四月三日(星期二)開始﹐連續六個星期﹐在牛頓堂每個星期二﹐晚上七時半﹐與香港﹐加拿大的多倫多市﹐同時直播﹐講題“生命師傅”。每人收費$50﹐包括書本在內。由Ben, Tierry, Nicky 弟兄負責。
2)弟兄團契打算在華埠堂加開一個聚會﹐目前目標與方向未定。歡迎大家提供意見。
3)二月份聚會﹕準備搞一些活動﹐秘密透露與“食”有關﹔由Gilbert 與Tierry 弟兄負責。
信息﹕弟兄/團契在教會的角色﹔由陳德修牧師主講。陳牧師期望弟兄團契﹐能夠成為教會的骨幹和支柱。與婦女團契一樣﹐成為教會的支柱﹔據陳牧師﹐婦女團契是華人佈道會“最久”的團契。
弟兄在教會的角色﹐要做﹕
新造的人﹕林後5﹕17﹐ 加6﹕14-15
自由人﹕加5﹕1
聰明人﹕太7﹕24-27
見證人﹕賽43﹕8-12
神家內的人﹕弗2﹕19
主人﹕弗2﹕19
僕人﹕路12﹕42-46﹐彼後3﹕3-4
工人﹕路17﹕5-10
基督人﹕徒11﹕25-26
男人﹕弗5﹕15-29
陳牧師清楚地﹔深入淺出地﹔解釋每個角色。他引用幾個生動的例子。如微軟公司的前總裁 Bill Gates說﹕人生真是短暫﹐要把握時機﹐多做善事﹐珍惜家庭。張德培(Michael Chang) 和Tim Tebow﹐他們利用他們的職業與名氣﹔一個曾是網球健將﹐另外一個是美式足球明星﹐他們都為主做見證。 最後他用了一位女醫生 Tami L Fisk的的生平為結束﹐她在學生時代﹐成績卓然﹐曾是summa cum-laude (GPA:3.9-4.0),因此約翰﹑霍金斯大學(Johns Hopkins University)收了她﹔但是她卻去了惠頓學院(Wheaton College)她認為唸大學不只是為了知識﹐也為了造就品格。她很早就有醫療宣教目標﹔她在Emory College 唸醫科﹐畢業後去中國做宣教士﹔可惜英年早逝﹐因為身患癌症。39 歲就離開世界。宣教歷史裏就有許多女宣教士可歌可泣的動人故事。弟兄本來是“領導”的角色﹐但是教會一般事奉近況﹔姊妹比弟兄熱心。
小組討論(摘要)﹕
對你來說﹐以上最難的角色是那一個﹖
“新造的人”因為一些舊習慣不容易改。
弟兄們可以怎樣互助來完成這些角色﹖
可以互相提醒﹐ 故此, 可能需要屬靈禱告夥伴.
一位弟兄提出令人深思的問題﹕Tami Fisk 女醫生深深知道﹐並且作出“上好”的選擇。而我們呢﹖是否知道“上好的”﹖並且作出選擇﹖
By brother Ben Tang
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posted Nov 17, 2011 8:54 PM by Billy Ng
Dear Brothers,
We had another fruitful night last night. Everyone was very engaged in the discussion of "Brotherly Love", led by Elder Jack Lee.
Thanks to James who led singspiration with us and reminding us that Jesus is our friend. Thanks to James and Terry who got us some healthy dinner from Chinatown, yes, with lots of vegetable in the dish, and those healthy dessert from Bernie.
"From Friendship to Partnership", Elder Jack referenced the book of Samuel about the affection and love between David and Jonathan. Some refered to their relationship as homosexual because they talked about love, love that is more than a woman's love, Jonathan giving David his robe and armor, and even kiss between them. How do we as Christian, stand up and object to this type of accusation?
Before we split into smaller group to talk about that, Elder Jack reminded us that having a partner as a brother in Christ takes time investment and committment, common interest, and open up yourself first before you expect other to open up. It takes trust, loyalty, accountability, and Christ centered to build up a Brotherly relationship. We talked about why men so seldom talk to each other even though there are many channels, i.e. phone calls, facebook, email, meeting. We even don't talk that much to our so called Buddy. A brother mentioned that we may never open up like we used to when we were young because we have too many shields and reservation. Another brother mentioned that the good old time with a friend might not really be the same type of friendship we need now. When we were young, we probably have a common interest like chasing girls, or play a common sport, but now our life stage is different and we need to make a friend that will fill our need and give us support, a new "good old time" friend.
We splited up into 3 groups and discussed the following points:
1. Love - We talked about the love in Christ, a spiritual unity which will give us the love to care and support between 2 brothers.
2. More than women's love - Sometimes only a man can understand the feeling of a man because a woman might not have the same perspective/view points, so it's more than a woman's love and can only be filled by another brother.
3. Give a brother the best - we don't give our wives the best? What's best to a brother might not be best to a wife. Something only a man can appreciate, like sport and car, and more in depth the sin and weakness we so commonly have among men and ask for accountability.
4. Kiss - this was the custom at the time and even in other European countries right now except in U.S.
Elder Jack mentioned that there are 247 times in the Bible that talked about love but 80% of those are not about sexual love. We are so society affected these days that any hint of love between men will point to homosexuality. There was an artical about 2 penguins being viewed as homosexual just because they normally go with each other to everywhere!
Thanks to Elder Jack's reminding us that yes, Brotherly Love is possible with us because we have Christ as our center. Of course we need to have a balance in that we don't try to spend more time with a brother and neglect our wives who is the most important partners we have. Having said that, we are reminded that something can only be filled by the support of a brother. Let's continue to raise the bar and pray that God will guide and help us in getting from friendship to partnership.
-brother Billy
P.S. Sorry if I did not capture everything since we covered a lot more. Hope you will join us more often so these discussion can be captured in your heart, learned and affect each other.
|
posted Oct 30, 2011 5:39 PM by Billy Ng
Hi Brothers,
We had a great health checkup on our last meeting :-) Thanks to Dr. Ernie Yep who gave us a talk on Men's Health, but before that, I would like to thank all the Brothers who celebrated my 50th birthday with a delicious cake! (Now you know I have been faking to look young :-). What a surprise! I feel so blessed to have Brothers like you who have given me support and love. Let's keep this kind of brotherly love in this fellowship. See attached photo (courtesy of Martin).
The importance of health maintainance by doing checkups, exercise, and eating. A good tip on eating, usually you feel full after 8 to 10 minutes after you eat, so therefore it's good to eat only 70% full since you will feel 100% full after 10 minutes. Otherwise, we keep over eating everytime! Dr. Yep talked about cancer among other illnesses. What is cancer? it's really out of control of cell growth that produce the tumor. Some can be prevented, others are genetic. Some that have no symptoms that need to get a screening to detect. Normally, doctors recommend you take certain test at different age level, take it! Common cancers among women are breast, cervical (can be contagious) and colon. Men's common ones are prostate and colon.
Dr. Yep also told us what Advanced Directives are. It's in case of emergency, that you should have a proxy who will decide on what to do from your prior instruction. Instructions such as DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), DNI (Do Not Intubabe), and CMO (Comfort Measure Only). This is to avoid confusion and dispute among relatives and friends during an emergency. Some brothers questioned if this conflicts with our faith. Dr. Yeh reminded us that God has His own timing (Ecclesiastes chapter 3, and chapter 11 verse 9).
Let's really take care of our health Brothers, so we can use it to glorify God and to enjoy those golden years with our love ones.
We will be going to help out with Celeb fellowship to South Cove Nursing home on November 12 from 10am to 1pm. Stay tuned for details.
-Brother Billy
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posted Sep 29, 2011 6:53 PM by Billy Ng
Dear Brothers,
We thank the Lord for gathering us again last night. We welcome 3 new brothers who joined us! Benny, Kwok Wah, and Siu. Both Kwok Wah and Siu are also in Pastor Steve's men's group. We missed those brothers who could not join us.
Congratulations to our brother Patrick who just got married to Peggy last Saturday. Peter Fellowship gave them a wedding gift and wish them the best with our Lord's blessing (we will reveal the gift once they opened it :-). They are now in their honeymoon in Bar Harbor, Maine.
The movie Courageous opens tomorrow in theaters near you. This is a Christian movie about the struggle of men and their fatherhood. We encourage all to watch it so the movie can stay longer and others will have more chances to get closer to the Gospel.
The ACCESS computer upgrade project was successfully completed. Thanks to all the brothers who gave up their personal time and energy to serve our community. It was also a great opportunity to get to know some of the brothers better during the project, a real hand in hand support. Please refer to our website for some project photos. We will have another chance to work on a 2nd phase of the project, which is to upgrade all staff computers. Stay tune.
Praise the Lord that David and Norma got their financial clearance to start their Philippines mission. At the same time, we are sad to see them leave. Peter Fellowship will have a farewell breakfast for David and Norma on Saturday Oct. 22. Stay tune.
We thank David, Jason, and Nicky for leading us in MIB last night that started with an interesting skit performed by Gilbert and Terry putting us in the context of the MIB topic: Nebuchadnezzar, "Do I Act and React with Pride or Humility?". We thank them for their effort and time in preparing for us.
If you really think about it, Pride is really the root of ALL sin. Rather than submit to God, we put ourselves above God and think we know what is best and right. Some of the manifestation of pride are:
1. Idolatry - worshipping the results of our own labor
2. Hatred - opposing anyone who does not agree with us
3. Discord - the result of pushing our own ideas and ways
4. Fits of rage - our reaction when others reject our ideas
5. Selfish ambition - considering our own desires above others
6. Dissension - becoming aggressively belligerent
7. Faction - getting people on our side
8. Envy - not liking it when others are recognized
We fall so easily into these pitfalls and many times God will break us down with reminders from our spouses, our friends, and (yes, let's raise the bar here) our Brothers, like Daniel who advised king Nebuchadnezzar, that everything belongs to God and that He is in control. Pray that God will humble us, empty ourselves, and continously purify us so that we can become fit vessels for God's kingdom, thereby helping us pay off in our relationships with our wives, our relatives, and our friends.
In our next regular meeting (10/26) we will have Dr. Ernie Yeh who will give us a talk on men's health. Now is a good time and a great opportunity to start and invite your guy friend (whether a believer or not) to come to our fellowship. Please help spread the word.
-brother Billy |
posted Aug 26, 2011 7:50 PM by Billy Ng
Dear Brothers,
First of all, welcome Anthony Liang to our fellowship! We were also joined first time by Pastor Steve's men's group (7 of them came)! Praise the Lord bringing us together with another opportunity to learn and share with each other.
We give thanks to David leading us singspiration with Norma playing the piano. A special thanks to Michael Ho for translating the whole workshop given by Pastor Steve.
We were blessed to have Pastor Steve giving us a talk on the subject of "How to Commuicate with Our Children". General feeliing is that father is not important but the Bible gives us a different view. Paul addressed that father is the servant leader. Training children in the Lord is the responsibility of the father. So what is important? Communication is the key. There are always challenges, especially for the first generation Chinese parents in America, with generation gap, culture difference, lanuage difference.
Dad needs to be more active. How? We need to spend time with our children. Even in this age of high-tech, still nothing can substitute face to face time. There was a survey done on the average of time spent with the children per day: 15 to 20 minutes per day, and with a recorder put on, there is only 37 seconds in talk time! We can talk to them verbally or nonverbally. Non-verbal means listening. Find out about their hope, their dream, their frustration. Do not lecture them. This would discourage them from talking - that's why they don't talk to you :-). Ask open ended question such as "how do you like about your new teacher?" instead of "how was school" which they would just say "Good". Draw things out from them. Observe your children - expression, posture. Instead of lecturing, do it by example. Pastor Steve gave an example of one time going out to a resturant and they were looking at both the adult menu and children menu. Most things are about the same except the price. The children menu is for age 12 and under, but since his daughter just turned 13, he could have just ordered from the children menu saying she was 12. Pastor Steve decided that he cannot lie so they ordered from the adult menu. His children would see the action he took and would get molded by his honesty. We can even share our feelings sometime so we can become vulnerable to them so they can feel more comfortable opening up too, and they can learn how to handle emotion.
When do we find good time to communicate? There are formal and informal times. Formal time can be to provide training and instructions. Pastor Steve and C mo did devotions with their children. Devotion should be age appropriate, fun & interesting. They did them before bed time for 5 to 15 minutes consistently til they went off to colleges. Informal time can be dinner time, which is a very good time to share with the family (with no TV on), or just when driving them around.
What do we communicate? There was a study with a top 3 answers: 3rd - Be quiet, 2nd - Can't afford it, 1st - Too tired. We need to communicate "posession", that they belong to us, they are an integral part of the family. Children feel uninsured if that is not communicated well. For a typical Chinese family, we don't tend to show love and affection, unlike an American family. Pastor Steve gave an example during the time he went off to college and when his father dropped him off, he saw other families hugging and kissing, but his father just shook his hand with him and took off :-). God gave an example of this from Mark 1:11 - And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son (posession), whom I love (affection); with you I am well pleased (affirmation)".
Afterward, the group followed up with many good questions on the topic. We then splited into our regular 3 cell groups with some brothers from Pastor Steve's men's group mixed in. Besides more sharing on the topic, we also exchanged and shared ideas/experience between our 2 men's groups. Pastor Steve's men's group has been meeting for the past 15 years! They usually meet every other Wednesdays. They usually read from a book and do the sharing. We also shared with them on our format. May God continue to use our men's groups to become good servant leaders.
Thanks to Toan, David and Norma who brought us delicious desserts!
In addtion to our regular meeting next month, we will also have SunRise worship on Saturday September 24. Elder Jack will lead us a talk on top of the mountain. Please reserve that morning from 6:00am to 9:30am.
-Brother Billy
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posted Aug 13, 2011 8:24 PM by Billy Ng
Dear Brethren:
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Our invitation has no specific title. We turn our activity night into a challenging and yet touching program. A total of thirteen brothers attended this monthly meeting on time in Newton Campus
Hosted by Ben Gee and Gary Lee, we collectively turned a pleasant cool day into a heart-warmed night. Lead by Ben Gee, several brothers literally spilled their guts out about their relationship, both spousal and multi-generational, into first-time mano-a-mano open-hearted sharing. After a grueling long moment of absolute silence our meeting started with a courageous brother who dared to first open his heart with his personal family issue; we in turn all took our first steps toward a closer relationship with each brother by tearing down our walls and be vulnerable at the same time. Some brothers shared their long-time struggles with their spouses; some had resolved specific issues and ready to move on a better stage of marriage, other had been exposed with fresh perspective with spouses and children, other shared their experience with female at large, and other showed their personal weaknesses in anticipation of future relationship improvement with spouses and/or children. We certainly need prayer and supporting prayer for all of us.
In any cases, we did these sharing to urge our brothers to pray for each other and not to judge our brothers. We also reiterated the importance to keep all sharing in private and confidential manner. We vowed not even to mention to our dearest other halves. (Sorry, guys, if you missed this meeting you certainly missed an unprecedented male-bonding session of the year.) We certainly missed all those brothers who could not attend this meeting. However, with the guidance of the Holy Spirits, we pray we may share the manly feelings amongst the brothers inside this purpose-driven fellowship in the not some distant future.
After our sharing session, we did what a man got to do. (Of course, men are men. What can a man do without his stomach filled?) We went to a local restaurant to enjoy dinner in the absence of our dear chairman who travels with his family. After dinner, we shared our expectation for Peter Fellowship. We probably witnessed a historical and meaningful moment of Peter Fellowship. By far, this was the first and best time for every brother to “raise the bar” and started expressing their inner manly feelings. For those who were hesitant to share before dinner, did freely admit their feelings with open-heart. Slowly and surely, we are building trust and confidence with our own band of brothers.
At the end, Terry promise to detail the naming of Peter Fellowship for Connections in the coming edition.
Written by Terry Yip on behalf of and in the absence of Billy Ng.
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posted Jun 23, 2011 8:17 PM by Billy Ng
Dear Brothers,
It was rainy, gloomy, and lots of traffic (as Micheal mentioned, he inched his way there :-) last evening, yet 20 brothers came. Praise the Lord! May God continue to give us this kind of desire and motivation to build up ourselves and do great things for Him. We do miss those who could not make it last night.
I am kind of addicted to the good food we get from Chinatown now :-). Thanks to James and Terry getting the food for us. Jason led us with a couple of great praising songs in remembrance of our church's 50th anniversary. How great Thou Art for blessing BCEC the past 50 years!
We had MIB sharing on "How God Have a Plan for My Life?" Thanks to Tierry, Brian, and Ben for leading each cell group and for their time in preparation. We learned from examples of John the Baptist, how God's plan on his life was revealed even before he was born, and Samuel, how God's plan were shown to him. For most of us, we are not quite clear on what the plan God has for us. Although God doesn't always foretell His plan to us, He still has one. We need to study His word and listen to His voice. Does God have a special plan for my life? Is there a special work He wants me to do? What's God's will in other areas of my life, such as my marriage, my leisure time, my future? God sometimes use our defeat, our wrong choices to accomplish His plan for the good of me. God also delegates some responsibility for man to bring about His will which would not happen without some involvement of man to fulfill a special plan of God's.
How do we discover God's plan for my life? Sometimes we only know the next step. God uses our family, our friends, our men's group, our co-workers to fufill His plan. Sometimes we don't even know what the next step is, sometimes waiting is the next step, but God is faithful. He is guiding us constantly. Through prayers and meditating on His word, once confirmed, we need to step out (踏出一步) to do what we believe He has told us. Don't step out in the flesh, put the burden on God to get the message thru us. Let us do our part in discovering God's plan so we don't just muddle through life on this earth, but have an abundant life on earth and eternity in Heaven.
I have a feeling that, which I am sure you have also, the state of each of our cell group is not doing so great :-), let's pray that in the coming days, we will step up and step out of our comfort zone to think of some activities we can do together, so that thru these activities, we will be more naturally in creating those bonding that we always hope for in our group. You know how men are :-(.
Below is a story that I thought is very suitable for the topic we just studied. You might have read it before:
-brother Billy
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Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, 'Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty.'
Then the second tree said, 'Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take Kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull.'
Finally the third tree said, 'I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest Tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.'
After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, 'This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter, 'and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.
At the second tree the woodsman said, 'This looks like a strong tree. I should be able to sell it to the shipyard.' The second tree was happy Because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.
When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, 'I don't need anything special from my tree, I'll take this one,' and he cut it down.
When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.
The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end.
The third tree was cut into large pieces, and left alone in the dark.
The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.
Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.
Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said 'Peace' and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.
Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.
The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, God will give you great gifts.
Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined.
We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His Ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.
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posted Jun 1, 2011 5:28 PM by Billy Ng
Dear Brothers,
What an experience we have, with God, sharing with Brothers, and great food! (almost with beers :-).
Usually there are other big groups in this site, but we had the place all to ourselves last weekend. We thank God for providing such a big house with many bathrooms :-) and a very reasonable rate for us. We started with BBQ on Friday evening. It was a feast (let's keep that from our wives :-). Thanks for the thoughfulness of Gilbert and hard work with his team preparing such a balanced and delicious menu for us. He balanced us with healthy food the next day.
James started us with singspiration which prepared our hearts into this retreat. He reminded us what this retreat was for and the expectation. We then played a game which was supposed to be around a Camp fire but due to the mosquitos and humidity outside, we did a virtual camp fire inside :). We played "邊個食左我屋企果大西瓜" with clappings and gesture (need good coordination :), and taking turn to call out each brother's name for eating the "西瓜", and penalize a brother to do something if he called out a name more than once. We had some great shows from those brothers.
The next part we used "我們都是一jar人" (in Mandarin, jar is 家) for each brother to draw a question from the "jar" and share his thought on the question. Brothers really opened up and shared with each other. There are many good reminders and something we learned from each other, and gotton to know each other better. We shared into after mid-night. Even though we started to get sleepy but the sharing kept us awake and wanted more.
We had an early morning prayer on Saturday to praise and thank our God, repent our sin, and to pray for each other. Pastor Daniel arrived in the morning, and after a healthy breakfast, he gave us a short talk on what a Silent Meditation is like. Silent meditation is not a lonely time, but alone with God. It is with this individual time with God that we draw our strength and get answers from God. It will help us to have a better fellowship among our group from this so we can share with other brothers what we experienced. Meditation is to meditate on one thing, to be near and feel God, to focus our mind and really put in the effort. If you know how to worry, then you know how to meditate, but turn that into an optimistic view. The meditation could be on a verse from the Bible or it could be on a physical thing like a flower. In the first 10 minutes of meditation, your mind could be all over the place, but with effort and focus, later part will go into revelation of what God will show us using the thing that we meditate on.
Afterward, each of us found our own spot in the retreat site (what a quiet and peaceful place) to do our Silent meditation. We thank Allen who prepared a very good material for us to use and meditate on, and really helped guided us into a deeper meditation. We also had a second part for brothers who finished earlier on the meditation to do a Bible study. Thanks again to Allen for preparing that material.
After a healthy lunch (we know what we were doing :-), we had a trail walk around the area, then we came back and had some good sharing on what we learned from our meditation. We really see how wonderful God revealed to each of us the things we don't usually take time to think about, so many treasures for us to discover! A brother shared with us how he realized the perfect plan God provided him in his life thru his meditation. We really come to appreciate how God work in each of our lives.
We thank God for the opportunity in this retreat for this experience with Him and with Brothers. We pray that we will not forget this experience and use it to further our bonding and build up ourselves, preparing the foundation to further God's kingdom. We are already looking forward to the next one.
Please visit our website for some photos. Also uploaded our brother Toan's baptism photos.
-Brother Billy |
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