Psalmist Generation Worship Conference 2010

I chanced upon the advert for this conference by chance actually. Psalmist Generation came to be the main band at our ICF rally and I'm really interested to get to know more about them. So, what better way than to check out their home base in Ipoh, which happens to be Lerdie's church too. I've signed up for sound operator training also, to get some knowledge on how to operate the sound machines. I had the opportunity to have a good night's sleep and had a fresh morning on the next day. My first taste of Ipoh food came at one of the kopitiams just outside the place I am staying and I had a hearty lunch of a Duck Drumstick Herbal Soup Noodle over there that leaves me craving for more..lol.

The conference's registration period was until 2pm but it starts only at 4pm. So, to kill time in between, we went to the nearest shopping center for the air-con and also Lerdie's old house and waited there till it was time to go. It was fantastic to see an old friend from ICF, Nic Soon at church too..haha. Anyways, the conference is divided into two types, one being the combined session and the other is workshop training. I find the sound training rather interesting although it was quite technical. I did discover the mysteries on what kind of sounds does the subwoofer produces and why music sounds better with the bass emphasis from the subwoofer. Not only that, an original non-mp3 music clip that is plugged into an audio machine could be divided into its different instruments. I also had an opportunity to check out the photo workshop at the last session.

Overall in the conference, I picked up a few important pointers and summary from the speakers. Firstly, a new song does not neccessarily mean renewal if it is not sung with a renewed heart. With that being said, an old hymn from the past will still be relevant in today's world when it is sung with the right heart. This is because the underlying foundation of all Christian songs is God's love, and no matter what musical style it is in, the message is still there. The other thing is that God never cease to amaze us during worship and surprises us in many little ways.

We had around 5 combined sessions and the most significant session for me was on session 4, which was Saturday night because it was there that I felt that God had touched me personally. Since Camp Cameron, I'm quite impacted and impressed by Barnabas, who is also known as the Son of Encouragement because it speaks alot about my life. In many ways, he had quietly supported Paul in building and supporting him up although alot of them has been behind the scenes given the little amount of mention of Barnabas in the Scriptures. It was also Barnabas who introduced Paul to the other Apostles and was able to see his potential although the rest were suspicious of him. Without Barnabas, Paul would not have been the great theologian he was and he was even willing to submit to Paul's leadership although he was the teacher and the person who made him.

As I said before, I've always find myself working in organisations in such a way that I work behind the scenes providing vital support to the main person leading and overseeing the whole organisation to ensure that things run well. I find myself often as the second person supporting the leader - the Merlin behind King Arthur, the Gandalf, the Obi-Wan, the Tun Dr Ismail, the Ryan Giggs and of course Barnabas. I will step up when there is a need, but never at the forefront. There are times when I do aspire to be at the forefront leading instead and I did ask God where do I stand in His ministry with me doing much of the behind the scenes work. For some reason or so, the name Barnabas sort of ran through my mind throughout Saturday night and I asked God whether it was His will or His calling that I'll be the Barnabas of my generation. I needed answers and confirmation. And the most amazing thing was that within 5 minutes, the Pastor suddenly spoke about Barnabas! There were so many examples he can be using but he had to use Barnabas! It felt like a train that went "Wham!" in my face on the speed of God's answer. Truly, God never fails to amaze me in many ways..haha. I thank God for the answer he has given me on Saturday night and I'll continue to strive my best to be the son of encouragement to those around me.

It's a wonderful conference and when I look back on the past few days, I can only say that God had provided the way for me to come and even provided for my needs after the conference. Ipoh has fantastic food, and I did get to taste the taugeh white chicken rice. Since Lerdie and her family needed to leave Ipoh on Sunday, I went to stay one night with my godmother before fetching mama from the bus-station on Monday morning. The next 1 week or so will spent on holidays with my family :)