Everything we do communicates something about who/what our church is about.

Aim – Think about who you want to reach. The church? The community (here mainly referring to the people in the surroundings of our church)?

Brainstorm – About the media to use/how to reach those you want to read. Via emails, texts, letters, newspaper ads, radio ads or outdoor media?

Communication – Important to indicate on the selected media what it is we want them to do, who we want them to talk to/contact. Think about the media and the people, whether it is “fleeting” e.g. videos, person in a congregation can’t rewind a church announcements video if they miss a certain detail.

Design – There is no point in design if a message is lost. Push yourself. Design is a chance for you to grab attention and give the ‘wow’ factor. We may use inhouse designers or sometimes even the congregation has some pretty skilled designers!

Experience – You want receivers of the message to buy into it. Focus on creating the experience. Think outside of the box. E.g. product packaging can be specially designed such that the unpacking of the item is an experience in itself.

Fundamentals – The church LOGO. It has to be on everything.

GOD factor – The one thing the church has: The God factor. Use the right language, even scripture.

Highlight – Give an edge. Using foil and fancy stuff is perfectly fine.

Intricate – It’s the small things that make things great. About excellence, details details details!

Judge – Judge your work from the target group’s perspective. Is the message effective?

Kids – Church is about people, and people have families and kids. Be sure to use language that can also communicate to them.

Language – Clear and concise. If you want people to do something just say what you want to say. People need to be able to relate to it.

Mistakes – learn from them. Mistakes cost money, money that could be put to use in a much better place.

Normal – Don’t make things too complicated or theological. At the end of the day the gospel is simple. Think through the eyes of your unsaved friends.

Outside of the box – Don’t think of the box and then go out of it. How do we do something that we haven’t done before?

Proofread – Don’t proofread yourself. Sometimes the mind plays tricks on you. Read it backwards.

Q – I didn’t get this! But it was about saving money, with paper sizes, etc. Always ask printers how you can save money.

Relationship – Build a good rapport with your printers, it will really help!

Style – (he came up with this on the fly) Have a good style.

Take criticism – Take it as it is and move on. Learn from it. The final design used in the “A Beautiful Exchange” CD was the 47th iteration!

Unified voice – An approach is more effective if website looks like a video. Clear message.

Victories – Celebrate/enjoy, and use for the future. What was it that worked? But still remain fresh.

Worship – At the end of the day, hard work is for worshipping God and this can be your worship. Ecc 9:10

Xcellence – Strive for excellence, work hard. At the end it comes down to a choice.

You – Don’t let yourself get in the way. Take out the ‘you’ and let God use you. It’s better than ‘you’.

Zeal – Passion. Get passionate about it. You get to be the visual person to communicate the message. Ask God for the zeal.

We went to The Rocks market after that and walked around, Nalinee joined us and we went to Bondi Beach to chill and take lots of photos! Haha. Beautiful la, beautiful.

Thrilled to be here. All the more thrilled to be here with my church family. Can’t wait for the conference to start!

– Posted From My iPhone

And so we arrived in Sydney via Melbourne (we almost missed our transit flight!!!) and every where we turned I couldn’t help admire the buildings, the activity and what have you. Beautiful place, Sydney. We went to Paddington’s market (got a new wallet) and watched WICKED!!!! It was… WICKED LAAAA. On another random note, I don’t have mobile data, and the nights are really cold (love the weather every other part of the day though!)!

allow me to explain. some two hours ago I was still frantically trying to shove information into my brain for the exam at 1pm. man, even at 12.56 I was still trying to memorize stuff.

a friend reminded me yesterday night that i shouldn’t stress cause God is with me. and I heaved a deep breath and mentally reminded myself of that and Rhordan’s message last week on being empowered. deep down I don’t really think I believed that? I sort of knew I was still relying on what little IQ I thought I had and whatever study method I thought worked best.

so I just got back from my communications and new media research methods paper and I could actually do every question! everything just came to mind when I read each question! aside from the question on “define a ‘thick description’ and its importance in ethnography” which I’m sure everyone went “huh?” at (I even vaguely remembered reading that)… I could do everything!

don’t get me wrong I’m not the great one here. four minutes before the exam started I thought I was doomed. I couldn’t remember more than half of the stuff I wrote down in my notes.

what can I say? my Daddy God is awesome laaa! now when I say “He is with me” I will remember this. woot!

T-minus 73 hours and 4 exams.

– Posted From My iPhone

Location:Science Park Rd,Pulau Bukom,Singapore

the experience thus far has been surprisingly pleasant. dancing under F and WN have been really fun. i guess the choreographer/teacher really makes or breaks the experience. i’ve been feeling really jaded with the whole dance thing. felt like i couldn’t dance etc. but i thank God for putting me through this.

details for the concert are in the poster attached k! haha and the photoshop/design skills i learnt from principles of visual communication have been put to good use! woohoo.

¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

² When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

³ Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

⁴ One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

⁵ For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

⁶ Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

⁷ Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.

⁸ My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, LORD, I will seek.

⁹ Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
O God my Savior.

¹⁰ Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.

¹¹ Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.

¹² Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.

¹³ I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

¹⁴ Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

v1:
My child, I’ve hoped and I’ve prayed for this very day
Since you were just a little one
And oh how my heart swells with pride
As I watch the man that you’ve become
But this life offers no guarantees
And though my time on this earth had to end
I’m sure that your heart would know peace
If you could just see where I am

c:
From here, the race has been run and love’s already won
I see clearly the end and the start
From here, I’m cheering you on
So live out each breath with all that you’ve got
And know until I hold you close
I’ll be holding you dear in my heart
From here

v2:
I’ve seen your tears as you’ve waited alone
Longing for that special one
And now all the waiting is done
As you gaze into her eyes
Seeing the reflection of love
Life’s road may seem rough up ahead
And for now you see only in part
So hold onto each other and know
That there is an end to the dark

br:
Heaven is calling and my heart keeps longing
Looking so forward to the day
When we’ll be together forever in eternity
Just you wait and see

i’ve had this song in my phone for a while and i just paid attention to the lyrics yesterday… ahhh! can cry! i just don’t really agree with the second verse but other than that, awesome song!

the story goes, that the owner of a company wanted to retire and was looking for a chief executive officer (ceo). he had shortlisted 4 candidates – a journalist, an engineer, a lawyer and an accountant. he decided to choose his ceo based on the answers they had for just one question

with the journalist.
owner: what is 2 and 2?
journalist: you put 2 and 2 together, you get 22!
owner: thank you.

with the engineer.
owner: what is 2 and 2?
(engineer takes out a calculator and after a while)
engineer: the answer is between 3.99999… and 4.09999…
owner: very precise, thank you.

with the lawyer.
owner: what is 2 and 2?
lawyer: based on the case of X vs. Y, 2 and 2 was proven to be 4. so 2 and 2 is 4.
owner: really smart, thank you.

with the accountant.
owner: what is 2 and 2?
(accountant stands up, closes the door, comes back and whispers)
accountant: how much do you want it to be?