On 2nd January, 2006 at the Grand Ballroom of the Regal
Airport Hotel at Chek Lap Kok Airport, Hong Kong, 1,000
people came together to celebrate God's goodness, provision
and granting of wisdom, which saw God's guidance and leading
during the Alpha Invitation that was launched in September,
2005.
At
the entrance of the Grand Ballroom, a team of the world's
friendliest and most efficient greeters welcomed our guests.
When they were not ushering, they are Prudential Assurance
sales team. Having all done Alpha they wanted to relieve
the Alpha Hong Kong team of this particular task. God
has sent His angels and helpers.
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tables of 13 were laid out inside the Grand Ballroom and
because of the Christmas season, there were beautiful
lights draping around what were already ornate and sparkling
crystal chandeliers, giving a real festive look. At 6:00p.m.
guests started to come in and the excitement started to
be felt in the air.
The
Dinner started when 7 shofars were sounded 7 times by
7 members of the team, and simultaneously the drop-down
screen at the centre stage was slowly raised up, revealing
the backdrop "The Lion of Judah". The painting
was created and painted on silk by an anointed artist
in the U.S. called Spencer William. The 7'X14' banner
depicts the profile of a lion and amidst the mane of the
lion was an image of the face of Jesus with a crown of
thorns and His precious blood coming down from his head.
A rainbow and a dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit were
also featured in the painting. An Alpha logo was unobtrusively
incorporated into the painting. It was a moving moment
when the whole picture was revealed.
Dancers with tambourines, singers waving their worship
flags joined in the song, "Come on and Celebrate"
led by Simon Ng and his worship team. God has sent His
angels and helpers.
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The
King of Kings and Lord of Lords was ushered into His throne
and the meeting commenced. Famous movie director, Alfred
Cheung Kin Ting and Hannah Miller, National Director of
Alpha Hong Kong were the MCs respectively in Cantonese
and English. God has sent His angel and helper.
Rev. Li Ping Kwong, former President, Methodist Church
of Hong Kong opened the meeting in prayer. An elegant
array of Chinese banquet food was then efficiently brought
to the 1,000 guests.
A
5-minute video was then presented recapping the Alpha
Invitation campaign (which started in June last year).
This included- Preparation: Training of over 2,000 Alpha
team leaders; Prayer: Supported by a 2-month Prayer Handbook
written by Mrs. Fan Chan of Jireh Fund, this allowed people
to follow the prayer pointers to pray for the activities
surrounding the Alpha Invitation. Citywide prayer meetings
were also organized. Promotion: Hong Kong-wide advertising
and promotional campaign drew over 2 million viewers and
the attention of over 200,000 cars, buses, taxis and trucks
per day.
The
climax of the campaign was during the week of 18-24 September
- Alpha Suppers ranging from sizes of 750 persons to 8
persons were held around town. A total of 10,000 people
took part in the Alpha introductory dinners resulting
in many attending the Alpha course that started immediately
afterwards.
There
were a total of 120 courses commencing in the month of
September, 2005 as a result of the campaign. In 2004 there
were only 36 such courses.
During
the evening, representatives from the Alpha Invitation
participating churches were invited on stage to receive
a plaque to commemorate their joyful cooperation between
the church and Alpha. Five presenters were on stage to
present these plaques. With swift help from the hotel
staff to provide extra steps for guests to stand on to
take large group photos, what could have dragged on for
an hour was managed and executed efficiently and speedily.
God has sent His angels and helpers.
Alpha's
goal has never been to focus unhealthily on the numbers
of people that are saved, baptized, or who made a decision
for the Lord. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:6, "I
planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth".
An analogy is often used that the role of Alpha Hong Kong
is as a sheep dog, and its job is to herd sheep to the
sheep pens and in this case, the churches. A recent release
of an independent survey done by the Hong Kong Church
Renewal Movement however proved to be encouraging. The
survey was done on church growth of churches that run
Alpha as compared to churches that do not do Alpha. According
to their 2004 statistics, The Annual Growth Rate (AGR)
of Alpha churches is 10.8% and the median is 7.1%, compared
to non-Alpha churches' growth of 5.4% and the median is
2.7% growth. "Some planted, some watered, but God
gave the growth". Glory be to God.
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A
number of testimonies were heard including a taxi driver
who heard our interview on radio and he was intrigued
by the name of the Course (which in Chinese means inspiration).
He was inspired to find out what it was all about. He
commented that the best thing about the Alpha Course is
its name in Chinese. He admitted that he was rotten to
the core - a flat out bad person. However, he went on
Alpha and on the third talk, he decided to give his life
to Jesus. He got so excited about his new found faith
that he invited some of his taxi-driver friends to come
along to Alpha and at the end of the Course, all his friends
have become Christians. After Alpha, he bought Chinese
Alpha resources and went back to China to start Alpha.
The first session was on Christmas Eve, second session
on New Year's Eve (since China does not observe western
new year). This gentleman is now full of the joys of the
Lord. If Alpha is a good thing, he commented, he does
not want to keep it all to himself. Hallelujah! Glory
be to God.
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Another
highlight of the evening was a quick demonstration of
how to set tables for an Alpha dinner. This was given
by Jane and Patrick Wilson. The transformation of some
inexpensive items, coupled with a lot of imagination and
some hard work, turn the mundane into something magnificent!
A total of three themes were presented in the space of
five-minutes! A mid-autumn theme using red and gold lanterns;
a blue and silver theme table using blue and silver gift
wrapping papers and silver-coloured Hershey's Kisses!
And, a Chinese New Year theme table, using silk chilli
peppers as the centre piece. Colours were bold, fun and
attractive. Judging from the flash lights from cameras,
this part of the programme was well appreciated by the
dinner guests. We pray that the sparks of creativity will
be contagious and other course administrators maybe encouraged
to go that extra mile in 'table setting'. God has sent
His angels and helpers.
The
keynote speaker of the evening was Pastor Raymond Lee,
Pastor of Faith Community Church; our Alpha Adviser and
also Chairman of Oasis Hong Kong Airlines. His lovely
wife, Priscilla Lee, who co-labours with Pastor Raymond
in both church and airline work, translated the talk from
Chinese to English. A teaching based on Barnabas' story
in the Bible, Pastor Raymond pointed out the four benefits
of helping people:
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1. Creating a piece of heaven on earth: The early church
was persecuted so poverty was prevalent and there were
many needy people, but it was also an opportunity to
live out a Christ-loving life. Barnabas sold his piece
of land to give to the church, so "there were no
needy persons among them".
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Seeing the biggest miracle - the transformation of the
heart: Pastor Raymond recalled that when they were in
Boston and their church often held pot-luck dinners.
There was one person who brought the least but ate the
most. He also took home some leftovers from the dinner.
This annoyed many mature Christians and left a bad impression
on the new believers. However, because this person was
accepted and loved, rather than rejected, in time, his
heart was transformed. He not only volunteered to bring
more food and drinks to the pot-luck, he even offered
rides to people who did not have cars. Later on, he
went on to become a small group leader.
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The ability to influence history: After his conversion,
Paul (previously known as Saul) was not trusted by those
who followed the Way given his past record of persecuting
the church. Barnabas, however, was one who made a bold
move in accepting Paul. We now all know and agree that
Paul was one of the most influential persons in the
history of Christianity.
- Helping
fallen heroes to resume their identity as heroes: When
John Mark was in the pits, it was Barnabas who gave
him a helping hand. John Mark then went on to write
the brilliant chapter in the Bible, now know as Mark's
Gospel.
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Sharing of Rev. Raymond Lee
Pastor
Raymond's talk encouraged all to give sacrificially so
that God's Kingdom be expanded on earth. This was echoed
by Hannah's sharing on her own walk with Christ in the
lesson of giving.
Inspired
by Pastor Robert Morris' book, Hannah recounted how she
had a discussion with her husband Steve. They decided
that their calculation on their tithing in the past (the
sum total of what they gave to church and ministries)
needed to be re-evaluated. In obedience they decided that
their tithing should go back to their home church. Immediately
after this action, God moved the hearts of a Christian
couple, who called Hannah and expressed the Lord's prompting
to pay for the whole Thanksgiving Dinner (HK$250,000)!
God has sent His angels and helpers!!
Hannah
urged all to consider seriously tithing to their own home
church and only after they have fulfilled that in obedience
should they consider giving to Alpha. However, Hannah
also asked church pastors and leaders to consider to put
Alpha on their list of ministries to give regular support.
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Sharing of Ms. Hannah Miller
Another
wave of excitement followed when the names of three winners
were drawn to attend the Alpha Conference in London in
May, 2006. Three ladies (!) were the happy recipients
of a round trip to London. One lady was from a local Chinese
church, another from an English-speaking church and the
third from a Pilipino Fellowship! Only God alone can orchestrate
such a perfect combination. Praise Him.
The
grand finale of the evening saw many of the dinner guests
joining the Alpha Hong Kong team on stage, rejoicing,
praising and dancing. At the unanimous shout of "Happy
New Year! Glory be to God!", new year crackers were
pulled simultaneously and a rain of ribbons, graffiti
and glitters showered down onto God's people who all came
together for the sole purpose to glorify His name and
to give Him praise and thanksgiving that is due Him. AMEN.
Please click following link to view all the Thanksgiving
Dinner pictures:
