FESTIVAL OF PRAISE!!!

Sunday 7th August 2005

FESTIVAL OF PRAISE!

This has to be my first time at the FOP! Really excited…wanted to go on Friday with CN and Mingzhu but…..sad to say we were the cut off part in the queue..awwwwwwww…L Mingzhu was rather disappointed..me too! Cos from where we were queueing, we could hear the music starting…me made a joke telling Mingzhu..let me sing for you lah we saw many younger people beating the security and slipped in through the loading and unloading entrance!!…in the end the Friday night was spent at Marina Square where we had desserts..we are famished…had Bread talk during the queue..

Okie straight after service, me was very enc to know that Listia, Lisiong and Hendry wanna go the the FOP too…met Spencer..he messaged me where he was and went as early as 4pm to queue! I went with Listia and Lisiong to join him in the queue…we had to squeeze up bus 16..i din even manage to tap my card!! The crowd is terrible I tell you…we totally filled up the taxi stand and the covered bridge at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and it was only one entrance!!..you should have been there to see the crowds!! The organizers must be pretty amused cos I spotted an “ang moh” walking around with a camera to film the crowds!!

Hhahah the heat is blistering.…we all sat down at the floor and Hendry was really sweet to buy for us sandwiches and drinks…haahahah finally the doors open at 6pm and there was a mad rush to stand up and go into the Indoor stadium it was hot and packed and we are literally shoulder to shoulder with the person next to us…being the tallest there…they asked me if the air was fresher from where I was standing…I told them plainly…”I smell CHICKEN RICE”. No, not that someone was carrying the food around its just that…I smell hot and sweaty bodies! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeyewwwwwww..

Really glad to finally go into the auditorium…the effort was really worth it..We started with prayer and all of us were pretty excited when we spotted out church’s name “Hope Church Singapore” in the FOP booklet. We are part of the organizing 120 churches for this event which combines Hillsongs and Delirious?

Yeah after prayer, Darlene Zchech came in with a song from the new United Album..was really great to see more than 20,000 worshippers together in one place praising and worshipping God! Revelations 4:4 “ I see multitudes worshipping the Lamb!”

I personally was really touched by the worship and teared some more…it’s amazing..how a new song can also minister to us when we allow the Holy Spirit to minister to us..Delirious the renowned Christian rock band from the UK came in with praise “Did you feel the Mountains Tremble?” the atmosphere peaked to a high…the band from Delirious was better..the guitars were very loud and its was macham a rock concert…the lead singer Martin Smith had a very clear and loud voice that really rang out throughout the stadium..”Paint the town red with the blood of the Lamb” had all of us joining hands in the air and jumping together..we even spotted babies and young children in the crowd! Parents carrying babies were swaying with the music with their young children!

There were also times set aside for prayers and sermon, there were prayers for the government and rulers and authorities.
When Darlene made the altar call for non believers to accept Christ…it was a touching scene when at least hundreds stream down from their seats and dedicated their lives to God for the first time. The crowd was overwhelming and they filled up the front part of the stage. Darlene led them with prayer with tear-stained face.and there were many who teared too…its really a beautiful scene for God! I was personally very touched..Really hoped that my family and friends were there to see it…

Then Delirious came on again with my one of my favourites “History Maker” and then after that the whole worship extended to 11pm as it was the last night of the Festival of Praise it ended with Martin Smith singing in darkness with a candle lit, “There’s a light in the darkness, His name is Jesus..”…our group who went there really felt refreshed despite not having dinner…

We went back tired but happy that we made it to Festival of Praise..Delirious Rocks!!!!

“There’s a light in the darkness, His name is Jesus….”