Blazing with Rach!

The blog titled  Engaging Community Leaders of a Marginalised Group was first published by Global Proclamation Commission for Trainers of Pastors on 2 May 2017. Do take time to read and feel free to share.

It has been slightly more than week since I returned from the Holy Land.  I am taking longer to recover from jet-lag.  But here I am, finally putting words down so that God's goodness to our Holy Land Adventure team can be praised!  Yes, please give Him all the glory, praise and honor. But let me go back to 2016 and take you down this adventure trail with Christ. Pre-trip Preparation July 2016:  I was really excited that a team would join my often solo ministry trips to just about anywhere.  This was going to be different as only three people in the team actually knew me; the rest were people who had minimal contact with me.  And so, we began praying and meeting via Skype once a month. Especially with the core team of two brothers and one sister, we would prepare ourselves with the Word, intercultural issues and intercession. We were supposed to partner with another ministry in the Holy Land (more about that later). Throughout the next six months,...

So in the midst of all these executive orders being signed by President Trump, Christians and non-Christians taking sides; Americans and non-Americans taking sides, one of my good friends in West Asia asked me a pertinent question:   I assume there's a point where you may say you do not support a policy even if it came from Prez Trump? I wonder where that line is for you.. My response was:  I am waiting for that line too. At this point, I just see the lawlessness of the past catching up with the present.   Watch Mr. Jason Chaffetz on 9,500 visas given to terrorists Watch Mr. Trey Gowdy Q&A - The Syrian Refugee Crisis That's a really good question.  Like I said in my previous blog , I was not a Trump supporter but accepted it because I truly  believe that God has appointed him for such a time as this. Many people are up-in-arms about the current temporary ban on the refugees' entry into the United States of America.  There is also a d...

Alright, it's my perspective and it's true, not alternative fact. You can deny it all you want but you cannot deny my thoughts or experience and the right to ask some deep questions. You also cannot deny that I love Christ and the people of the nations. Trump's Presidency My prayer times with God about the USA and Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were painful and heart-wrenching. I wondered why, all of a sudden, I had God's heart for the USA. Being a prayer warrior, I knew why - I had to be on my knees for the USA and the new President. And I began to pray that God will expose all the lies, deceits and be so clear as to who His President should be. Without a doubt, three days before the Nov 8th election in 2016, I knew that Donald J Trump was going to be the President of the United States of America. But God's heart was too heavy for the USA. He was not lifting His hands yet. Thank you Jesus! And I knew that it would be landslide victory. ...

The year is 2016.  The fire-crackers and fire-works are going off in my city in Honduras.  Latin dance music is blasting from a home nearby and I am unable to tell if this sound is coming from next door or from the back of my house.  People are celebrating one of the most popular holidays in this nation.  Christmas, generally, seems to be about feasting with family, friends and strangers who become friends over the feast. To the Christians, Christmas is about reflecting on the birth of Christ some 2000+ years ago in a town called Bethlehem. Another Christmas weekend and I am home alone in a foreign land.  Christmas Eve was special to me this year. I usually wake up very early - as early as 3 or 4 in the morning.  It's one of the best times to be awake and have a conversation with God.  Sometimes, I just think about God and listen to worship songs.  But this Christmas Eve, I woke up exactly at 3:33am.  I immediately thought of Jeremiah 3...

I wrote a blog a few days ago, referring to Dr. Jackie Roese's article, for GProConnext .   I came across an article by Dr. Jackie Roese accidentally.  But I must say her writing resonates with me, and perhaps with other men and women of God.  This issue of women in leadership has been contentious for the longest time.  Why must it be so?  Coming from Singapore, one of the most educated nations in the world, it is extremely difficult for me to fathom that Christ-following women's leadership is limited to certain categories of the church population - mainly to children, youths and women.  Worst still, in some sectors of God's kingdom, it is expected that the woman follow instructions from a male leader.  Or put it another way, women can be leaders but there is a limit to how far they can advance in the kingdom.   My interest lies in the faithful usage of gifts and talents given by God.  If a brother is far more gifted...

We are three-quarters into 2016.  It's that time of the year where most of us, missionaries or not, probably look into our budget and see if we have enough to move forward, whether we need to make some adjustments along the way and how we can possibly live within our means. Most of my friends know that my ministry depends on donations given by cheerful givers.  Personally, I value the prayers of our intercessors and definitely appreciate the timely financial gifts that sustain  Faith Ablaze International Ministries ( FAIM ).  But this time, I was compelled to find out some personal beliefs and thoughts about why some Christians would want to pray or give financially towards missionaries.  Here's a biblically based article written by David Peach that might interest you:  http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/importance-of-missions-7-reasons-to-support-them/  . The assumption here is that both prayer and giving financially are ministries.  T...