Pastors' Conference in Cameron Highlands

Beth, the girls and I travelled 9 hours by bus to beautiful Cameron Highlands in Malaysia this week. Getting off the bus we realized that we had left the heat and humidity of Singapore behind. The temperature at 6,000ft was around 60 degrees Fahrenheit!! We where here to attend and host the 4th annual pastors' retreat for Life Springs Ministries Malaysia. The event was to be held over three days and 2 nights. Our main guest speaker was Lamar & Devora Hahn from Florida.

Session 1: Monday night

Santana Rajan from the New Creation Revival Center in Kuala Lumpur led the group of 30 pastors and leaders in our first session of praise and worship. It was a great 30 minute prelude to the message of ministry of Lamar Hahn. Lamar's message centered around the theme of "Fear Not, Rejoice and Be Glad!!" After sharing this from his heart, Lamar set right into praying for and encouraging the folks. As he was ministering others began to minister one to another. There were no spectators in this group! The room was awash in intercession, the laying on of hands, and folks crying out to God. It was a time of great renewal and refreshment!

Session 2: Tuesday morning

Pastor Jeremiah & Hannah Oei lead the group in praise & worship. Pastor Jeremiah is a jolly man that brightened our day with his selection of fast paced praise songs. Lamar gave us a word on "More than a Prophet." He shared how God gave Elijah a Father's heart for the widow's son. He spoke of intercession being a stretching of oneself over a person or situation. That what we give to God dead, He resurrects!

Business Meeting: Tuesday morning

I announced to the gathered leaders our plans to start a ministry training school for Life Springs Ministries in June. We have partnered with Dean Morgan and South Carolina iPHC to offer this training. In addition, graduates of the school will receive degrees from Advantage College, California. The response was very positive and 5 people in the audience stated their desire to start the course of study. I believe with the introduction of this school we will see a greater quality of ministry coming to Life Springs Ministries and to Malaysia as a whole.

Session 3: Tuesday Night

My dear wife, Beth, led the praise and worship this session. It was beyond belief! The group was ushered into the glorious presence of God for almost one hour! Everyone participated with vigor and fervor! I experienced more freedom to worship God in this place than I have in a long time! Oh, that the local church would allow this freedom to take place on a regular basis. Let's wake up and allow for time in our services and meetings to let God show up and bless us!! Flowing from this worship were many words of encouragement given by several folks in the group. It was a time of refreshing!

Session 4: Wednesday morning

In the last session Lamar spoke of storms in our lives. The main point was that the disciples faced the storm because of obedience. God sometimes orders our steps to go through rough times. But in the midst of the storm we can walk towards the Lord and receive His deliverance and peace! Lamar spent the remaining time praying for every single person in the group. Each one receiving a blessing that covered every aspect of their lives.

Final Thoughts on the Retreat

Since we all felt we had received a great blessing for gathering together with each other and with the Lord, I suggested that we do another retreat in 6 months, this time in Kuala Lumpur. The consensus in the group was a big Amen! These kinds of events are very important to the health and life of pastors and ministers in full time work. They need frequent times of refreshing if they are going to survive their work. Ministry is like being a fighter in a war. Those that don't take time to rest and relax and renew and recover will find themselves in a place of vulnerability and could find themselves dry from a lack of intimacy with God and dead in sin and separateness from God!