My worship pastor, Dave Wong, and I had the privilege of ministering to the worship ministry of Sungai Way-Subang Methodist Church during their annual camp from 8 to 10 November 2024.
In this current season, our worship ministry focus has been “Presence – Community – Influence”. As far as “influence” is concerned, we believe that we are blessed to be a blessing.
Several months ago, the Worship Director of Sungai Way-Subang Methodist Church (SSMC), by the name of Su-Ai, got in touch with our church office to invite Pastor Benny or (if not Pastor Benny, then) “his” worship pastor to minister at their worship camp.
To my surprise, Dave said “yes”. In fact, I later told Su-Ai that she should also be surprised, because Dave seldom says “yes” to external ministry engagements, let alone one which would require overseas travel!
I got involved a bit later on after Dave had shared with me that he had been invited to this camp and the number of sessions he was required to teach/preach. I asked him if he would need some help and if so, I was willing to pay my own way there. Amazingly, when this was proposed to SSMC, they graciously agreed to pay for me to go too!
Two days before we were due to fly, Dave came down with a bit of a stomach ailment. This became much worse as we were on the plane headed to Kuala Lumpur. But we sent the word out for prayer, and despite Dave’s not being instantly healed, the Lord sustained him throughout the time we were at the camp and Dave was able to deliver every session for which he had been scheduled.
We were met at the airport by SSMC’s Worship Director and brought back to a fancy serviced apartment in Petaling Jaya near the Church.
The next morning, we had the opportunity to meet SSMC’s Pastor and to tour their church building.
SSMC has a congregation of about 500 to 600 people. Their building is right in the middle of a kampung (or village), which is a lower socio-economic area. The Pastor expressed that his main calling was to missions and mentioned how God had called the church to minister to the needs of the local kampung. More so, he said that 51% of the church’s operational spend was given to missions!
Next year would also be the Church’s 50th anniversary or Jubilee Year!
After lunch, we began a two-hour drive to Kampar, a small town in Perak State, where the worship camp was to be held. Thankfully, “camp” did not mean a literal camp site or dormitory-style accommodation. In this case, it was a 3-star hotel. About 35 of the 60 or so of the worship team came for the camp.
Here’s a view of Kampar from my hotel room.
The camp began on Friday evening with Dave’s leading worship and SSMC’s Worship Director setting the vision and tone for the camp, being a call for the team to Assemble, Align and Advance.
The next morning, I led worship with Dave accompanying.
One thing that was quite serendipitous (even in the simple task of leading worship) was that the Worship Director told us that most of the songs that we had chosen were on her heart. Not having led worship in SSMC before, and realising that different churches can have very different worship vocabularies, we had asked for a summary of the songs they had done in their Sunday services for the past 6 months. To our surprise, the list comprised 150 songs! So the fact that we were able to be aligned on our song choices was definitely a work of the Spirit.
Dave then taught on “Defining Worship” and “The Worship God Desires”.
One of the defining characteristics about SSMC is that it is an intergenerational family church. Many in the worship team had been there for a very, very long time. There were parents in the team with their children.
Whilst what Dave shared was quite fundamental, many needed the reminder that worship was broader than just what the team did on Sundays.
One thing I felt that really resonated with many was what Dave shared about “worship in truth” – that it wasn’t just worship according to Scripture, but worship that was “honest and transparent”. We are often told to leave our burdens and brokenness as we focus on God in worship, but Dave shared that worshipping in truth meant worshipping through (and in spite of) our burdens and brokenness. I think a lot of people felt a lot freer with that shift in understanding.
I then shared on the role of music in corporate worship as modelled by the Tabernacle of David specifically that God was seeking an unhindered intimacy with His people. At the end of the session, I sensed that God wanted His people to return to their First Love and spent some time praying for the team along those lines.
After the session, Su-Ai told me that this was something that God had indeed been speaking to the church about, with their former Senior Pastor having given two very strongly-worded sermons in the preceding two months on returning to their first love. It was apt, she told me, that I would now address the worship team specifically on this.
I really felt that God had used me to speak to the worship team, without having any knowledge of what had transpired beforehand.
That afternoon, we broke for team building activities and games, including a few vigorous rounds of Captain Ball. The team was able to let their hair down and have a lot of fun. Dave and I were impressed at the camaraderie (and competitiveness) between the team members. We felt that this was a team that genuinely loved each other and which had developed strong bonds.
Dave also immersed himself into the games despite how he was feeling physically.
We had a short break, during which Dave felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to change his evening session entirely. How Dave managed to re-write an entire sermon in less than a couple of hours was beyond me.
That evening, after SSMC’s team led worship, Dave shared on hungering and thirsting after God (from Psalm 84). When he called for ministry, a large group of people streamed to the front. Many were crying and weeping. We began to move through the crowd to pray for those at the altar. There was a real sense of breakthrough, with many sharing with us that, after such a long time being in the worship team, they had forgotten how to hunger and thirst for God and His presence.
On the last morning, Dave preached on unity and shared communion with the team before having the team surround Su Ai and her leadership to pray. I released a word of encouragement over the leadership team from Isaiah 35.
After lunch, we debriefed with the leadership before being driven two hours back to our hotel in KL.
It was actually more exhausting a trip than I imagined.
I asked Dave if he would do it again, and I was glad he said that he was open to it.
I think what surprised me most (and you might say I shouldn’t have been) was how the Holy Spirit moved through us during the camp. We just preached and taught as we normally would, but the Holy Spirit moved and touched the people beyond what persuasive words could achieve.
Even in “down moments” when we were able to speak to the leaders, it felt that God gave us the right things to say to them and we were able to encourage them in their ministry.
I am again reminded that “no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind can conceive of what God has in store for those who love Him”!
Thanks for all your prayers for making this a memorable ministry trip, as we brought FCC Worship overseas! We definitely sensed that our team was behind us even though it was just Dave and me physically being in Malaysia. May God continue to increase our influence as a worship ministry!
The Worship Revolution 