Picturesby Adronicus Koshy
Thanks be to God for this year’s Combined Youth Conference. Youths from like-minded BP churches came to hear the faithful teachings from His servant, Rev Dr Prabhudas Koshy, on the life of Apostle Peter. All of us were blessed richly throughout the conference, not only by the messages but also by the fruitful group discussions led by Elvin, Jason, Simone and Edison.
I thank the conference master William (Calvary Pandan BPC) and the organizing committee for making this wonderful conference possible for our learning and spiritual walk in Christ. But mostly, I would like to thank our Heavenly Father for blessing them with the ability to lead all of us in this conference.
The opening message was from John 1:35-42 on how Peter and Andrew both willingly gave up their fishing jobs and followed Christ. Likewise, we as children of God must be willing to give up our earthly wants for God’s glory.
The opening message was followed by a fun time of ice-breaker: we have to pick an item to represent our spiritual walk with Christ. Jollyn (Gethsemane BPC), for example, chose a water bottle to represent her spiritual thirst for the Lord’s Word. Not only did we learn from this game, we also got to know more Christian friends from other churches and were delighted to share knowledge on God’s Word with one another.
We then settled down into our dorms, and got to know our dorm mates more. Dinner was next, and it was really delicious. Later, Rev Koshy preached on God’s will for us. Matthew 4:19 says: “Follow me, and I will make you fishes of men.” We have to submit to the Lord when He calls and He will definitely prosper us. This was followed by a fruitful time of self-reflection and group sharing. To our many questions, we found answers, all from the Bible itself.
Shortly after, we returned to our dorms to have a time of prayer and fellowship. Idleness was the topic for the boys’ dorm, and so we shared with the others of how we have wasted much time idling, and time spent in the world as well. Comparing that to the amount of time spent with God, indeed I realized that there was a great difference between the two in my life. Thus, I learnt that simple things like doing our QT and saying prayers before our work will please our Heavenly Father, and improve our walk with Him.
On the second day, Brother Joseph Poon preached from Proverbs 14:14 on “The Way of the Backslider.” After that, we had our own QT. Later, breakfast was sandwiches with Milo.
Our conference speaker delivered another two sermons after that, and we had yet another interesting time of group fellowship where we learnt to prepare our hearts before God in order to face life’s challenges.
After a meal of chicken rice, we headed back to the sanctuary for the video screening of the documentary “12 ordinary men.” It was about the 12 apostles’ love for God, and how all of them (except John) were martyred because they refused to deny Christ.
After that, we had a blessed time of Bible games led by Joan (Truth BPC). After dinner, Rev Koshy preached his fifth sermon to us based on Luke 22:31-34, “Watch and pray, lest ye fall into temptation.” He taught us that we need the Lord in our life to sustain and protect us and that without our Lord we will fall prey to the devil.
Following supper was testimony time. As the crackers were being passed round, I could tell from those who shared their testimonies that they were really edified by the sermons preached, and also by the fellowship with the conference participants. I was also touched by how some of them resolved to change their life for the Lord’s glory.
The following morning, Brother Charles Sang preached on the topic “Dealing with your disorderliness” from 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15. And after the final message by Rev Koshy, there was a short time of Q-&-A.
I thank the Lord for allowing me to attend this wonderful conference. I have been richly blessed by everything that happened there, whether it is the message, the Christian friends I made there, or the leaders and the camp committee. I will definitely want to attend next year’s CYC to learn more of God’s Word. I encourage every young person to come and attend the CYC. God bless! And see you next year!
