Glorious Inaugural Hope NY Camp April 2012

Posted on April 5, 2012 by

Dear pastors:

Praise the Lord, we had a great camp! Enjoy the pictures!
We had a wonderful awesome camp/retreat over the last weekend. Some 25 of us packed in this retreat place in New Jersey. We had sound system, great praise & worship, 5 sessions of teachings. We had a couple of folks from Boston & CT too.  People gave very positive feedback, more coming. The teachings were solid in expository form on Acts 1-2 and people were far more tuned in than the last time I taught Covenant church.
 
Think the session climaxed for my self when I said in my preaching that as I was preparing for the camp,  I prayed to the Lord I wanted this camp to succeed so much because of previous failure experiences in retreat. I cried out to the Lord that I  stake my reputation on this camp, and the Lord spoke to me, “No, its not yours, it’s mine.” Amazingly I never cried when I prayed that, but as I said that in my preaching, I choked and broke down and wept in front of the camp folks. At that time, the atmosphere was intense and the presence of the Lord was tangible. Sarah said that was pretty powerful! (I guess I realized that God said He staked His reputation on this camp! Imagine that!! )And she learnt more from this camp than any others. I spoke on the truth & the power of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit and preparing a life altar for the Lord to pour out the fire.
 
Our invited speaker Ashley Byrd, a full time staff with Inter Varsity-Columbia spoke well and gently with inspirational story about the struggle of a 15 year old African prince who had to carry her dad for 15 km a day to get a pill.-pretty inspiraing. He spoke on ”Who you are is more important than what you do for God”. 
 
God willing, we will host another retreat in the Fall with the freshman students in.
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Surrendering Your Dream to Have God’s–Matt 19:16-25

Posted on February 19, 2012 by

Sunday Sermon (Feb 12)
Surrendering Your Dream to Have God’s

When a morally upright rich young man came to Jesus, he felt empty and asked the question: What do I still lack? He seemed to have everything. Money, power, morally upright life. But Jesus gave an outrageous answer and he walked away grieved. Is God asking us to surrender your dreams and have his dream?

Matt 19:16-25 16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only one who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” 20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

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Making choices in life-Your plan & God’s plan   Proverbs 11, 16

Making choices in life makes you or breaks you. It is profoundly important that we find how God works and what does it mean and how to receive God’s guidance. One of the MOST important subjects we need to grasp and have in life facing all the choices, decisions, in this turbulent world. We shall take a look at some of the great men’s lives like Paul, Joseph in the bible. Come and find the wisdom of God and what is God after and why is He so silent some time?–What does it mean to trust God utterly?

Prov 11:3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. Prov 12:5 The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful. Prov 12:15 The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. Prov 15:22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.  Prov 16:1-5    To man belong the plans of the heart,  but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue. 2 All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD. 3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. 4 The LORD works out everything for his own ends — even the wicked for a day of disaster. 5 The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. Prov 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course,  but the LORD determines his steps. Prov 16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. Prov 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap,  but its every decision is from the LORD.Prov 21:5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.Prov 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

Posted on February 19, 2012 by | Leave a comment

NT Wright has it powerfully nailed.This is very new to me, but profoundly important. He said: What the New Testament really says is God wants you to be a renewed human being helping him to renew his creation, and his resurrection was the opening bell. And when he returns to fulfil the plan, you won’t be going up there to him, he’ll be coming down here.

I think there is so much truth in that God wants us to be renewed first and then renew the world we live in. We are not going to leave this world and join God in heaven and leave the world to rot on its own. But rather we are here in this world for a purpose, to renew this world we live in!! To renew the city we live in.

Hence the revised Vision/Mission statement for Hope NY Church:

To be a renewed person joining God to renew his creation, the world and to proclaim the gospel to the city with words, power, and the Holy Spirit & deep conviction . Also to build a community towards fullness in Christ in New York, and through it, to the world.

Fullness in Christ: Means our being (character) and our serving/obeying (purpose).

Posted on February 4, 2012 by | Leave a comment
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

Dear friends,
Personally, 2011 has been a wonderful and challenging year for me. I
got a new job with ConEd, which is a very big and stable utility
company, which gives me more time & energy to serve the Lord. It’s a
miracle in this time of economic downturn, and a fresh breath of life
from the Lord. God has continued to bless my family, with Rachel’s
acceptance to Columbia University, and Sarah’s, Paul’s, and Rebecca’s
continued success in their schools.

Hope NY Church has also grown in 2011 both in number and quality. The
most important change is the gradual transformation of the church to a
more Gospel-centered Church. A number of new college students continue
to be added to our church including some salvations. I am very
thankful for the leadership team that stood with me all year, coming
together for the Hope North American Camp and progressing even further
as a team in the months afterwards. I am sure they have grown in the
Lord as much as I have over the year. Thank you guys!! I’m very proud
of you!! It’s been a sweet and tough year.

Looking forward to 2012, I am certain that God has greater things for
us! We are praying to move into Manhattan from Long Island, embracing
the principle of living with the people to whom you want to reach out.
God has taught me to love and respect the city.

Finally, we wish you all a very happy & prosperous New Year.  May the
Lord shine upon you and guide you to truth, filling your hearts with
joy & peace! Like Mary says “My soul glorifies the Lord and my heart
rejoices in Him.”

In Christ,
Albert, Doreen, Sarah, Rachel, Paul and Rebecca.
New York, December 2011Image

Posted on December 31, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Dear Pastors, …

Posted on December 26, 2011 by

I have been praying about the NACC camp Vs local NY Church camp over the last few weeks. What’s the best for our local churches. I am leaning to host our local church camp, and today it’s all confirmed. I spoke to Minyu from Hope London, also Jon Ah Chern from Hope London and Jon Foo who was from Hope London too. They confirmed that in Hope Europe they no longer do the annual Europe camp anymore, instead they have ELC (European Leadership Conference). I am totally in agreement to this.

I propose we abolish NACC Camp and substitute it with ALC (American Leadership COnference). Our own local church members will have local camp, just like London, Berlin, Oslo etc.
I subsequently brought it up to our core group meeting today in our leadership meeting and my core team totally & unanimously agreed to the concept of Leadership conference for N America, and local camp for members. (Life Gp leaders and above). Thats what we in Hope NY will do in 2012 onwards. I ask that all pastors consider this and pray about this. There is a reason for Hope Europe to do that and honestly, they are doing better than us. I believe that the benefits of spending thosuands and thiousands of dollars does not justify it. We should mobilize ALL our members for local church camp at like $100/person for 3 nights, 4 days. That’s what we plan to do in NY.
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Dear Pastors,

 
I have been praying about the NACC camp Vs local NY Church camp over the last few weeks. What’s the best for our local churches. I am leaning to host our local church camp, and today it’s all confirmed. I spoke to Minyu from Hope London, also Jon Ah Chern from Hope London and Jon Foo who was from Hope London too. They confirmed that in Hope Europe they no longer do the annual Europe camp anymore, instead they have ELC (European Leadership Conference). I am totally in agreement to this.
I propose we abolish NACC Camp and substitute it with ALC (American Leadership COnference). Our own local church members will have local camp, just like London, Berlin, Oslo etc. 
I subsequently brought it up to our core group meeting today in our leadership meeting and my core team totally & unanimously agreed to the concept of Leadership conference for N America, and local camp for members. (Life Gp leaders and above). Thats what we in Hope NY will do in 2012 onwards. I ask that all pastors consider this and pray about this. There is a reason for Hope Europe to do that and honestly, they are doing better than us. I believe that the benefits of spending thosuands and thiousands of dollars does not justify it. We should mobilize ALL our members for local church camp at like $100/person for 3 nights, 4 days. That’s what we plan to do in NY.
BTW, today my real self preaching came through with 20% Keller’s intellectual stuff, and 80% my won from Hope training and the atmosphere took off. Thanks for listening guys.
In Christ,
Al
Posted on December 26, 2011 by | Leave a comment