Wednesday, September 5, 2007

DAY 1 at Children Ministries' Conference 2007

I had the honour of attending the annual children Minitries' Conference at Emmauel Asssembly of God at Upper East Coast Road....So far away! Then i woke up too late, like at 7.45am, I think i will sleep earlier tonight and wake up on the 1st time i wake up because i tend to go back to 'rest' for a while more before finally waking up...ok, i will do that tomrrow morning. Referred to the public transport book that i had at home to make my way there...the Nearer bus stop had bus service 14 from Bedok interchange....I waited, apparently, 14 just left...and I did not courageously go and take buses 197 0r 196 that will alight me further away, but i think that would have been faster...why? Because i counted FOUR 196s came, then bus 14 came....maybe i too kan choing, was late on my first day of conference....

Got there....quite a tall building, 4 stories, I think talking about my church, Moulmein Church Of Christ, when the building wil be rebuilt, i think it will look something like this Emmanuel Assembly of God Church Building.

First session -Opening the Bible with Children in Life-Changing Ways
Speaker: Patrick Phoon from Scripture Union
I think i lost the 1st 10 minutes of this talk, it was teaching the children about how to read the bible, like readng it more often, not forced but children really want to do it...The very conference way, we were given NOTES, and additional things to take down too..It's how to encourage the children to read the bible? there's was this abbreveation- EAR, Encourage your child, Assist your cihld & Respond to your child. At the back of my brain, there was this thought about the speaker trying to tell us that you can get this book and that book, perhaps the books really helped him, that's why.....well i think the books do look helpful, have not gone to check it out yet.

There were many stalls that were seeling things, puppets to books to curriculum....quite cool, but pricy, so i thin i will get one, but will have to decide which one i would like to get.

Second session- Kids EE- Evangelisim by Kids Anytime....Anywhere...
Speaker: Winnie Phoon
I didn't realise that this is the wife of the 1st speaker, until she referred to the speaker as 'my husband' and further more 'dear' haha....she's like quite a motivational speaker, tleling us the harsh realities of the world, what is happening in the south east Asian nations....lots of children being sold to the Sex industry, i gasp....but that was a true fact, that's quite sad though. the 2nd half of it was this speaker, forogt her name though....Kids EE stands for Evangelism Explosion. so it's a 14 unit class that their church teaches, using simple crafts and stories for our cuhrch kids to understand and they can explain it to their friends too. she covered 2 of the 14 units...A little confusing becasue i ran out for 3 misnutes to find Xiang who came from her school, Jurong Junior College(JJC)

Xiang was like calling me, i couldn't answer the phone, sorry Xiang, , i was sitting right in front, not very nice to take out phone, disrespectful i think.I ran out and she was there alrady, thuoght she lost her way....lol

Third session- Finding the Clown in You
Speaker: June Previtt
Clowns galore....quite cool, this lady had a character, 'StarBurst, her personal character taht she personally knew..that's about finding your personal clown in yourself. StarBurst had an age, 6years old. so you need to keep all the details in mind, who is this character that you take up? There are like 3 types that were in the notes. (1) WhiteFace (2) Aguste (3)Tramp. The Tramp is the hardest to do...was giggling to myself, sounded like tramps as in mistresses...haha, wanted to volunteer for her to paint my face, but not brave sia...wah piang, once in how many chances do you get this...i shall be more gun ho in the days to come, will sit in front and listen more attentively....Then i didn't take pictures!Arhhhh, am bringing my camera tomrrow....quite technical but i mange to talk to her at teh end, her clothes for StarBurst were so pretty,it's white shirt that was dyed and decorated shoes were pretty(handmade too).and she shared about her experiences in clowning...tips like not wanting people to have a fear of clowns, you can play with bubbles in the courtyard before going in, don't force them to like you, might scare them further....
-Finding the Inner Clown in you-

4th session: Giant Puppets for stage & Street
Speaker: Dave Previtt

This guy is really good with his construction work....June, his wife said, " it's really scary, whatever he can think of, he can make."Cool.Dave made this fish for the story Jonah & the big fish....that's the only one so far, but it's cool. The point was to inspire the kids, like something that they will remember even after they grow up when they rethink of their childhood, something significant to them....many materials to use...not very. Using the giant puppets to put it on the streets, like a parade, which we don't usually have here....huge flags that they use...

Was jsut thinking of my close lecturer words, Geraldine about American lecturers' notes are not as important as what they are speaking...which was quite true...notes were like ok, what they had to share was like 'cool!' Didn't mange to take many picture with a flat phone, not brave enough again! I had to opportunity to talk to him after class, so helpful, it's like he had lots to share and wanted to tell the whole world about this great thing he had. he had this belief about using what God blessed you with to bless others...i think that was the phrase...

Tomorrow is DAY 2...shall bring my camera, be thick-skinned a bit and pray that whatever choices i picked for conference will speak to me in deeper words!(:

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