Poem - Christmas

All alone on Christmas night
Not an ant or rat in sight
there ain't no need janitor said
besides at home there is a bed
 Left forgotten Why not die?
A pull of a trigger Why not try?
Stringed together Was a lie
From the shadows of the sky.

 Samuel Huang Xi.

Yelp. Something to think about.

Ever heard of the phrase, "Don't Judge" or ever heard someone saying to you "Hey, are you trying to judge me? Could you not judge me?"

 Now the meaning of the word judge(when used as a verb) according to  dictionary.reference.com/browse/judge is as follows:

1. to pass legal judgment on; pass sentence on (a person): The court judged him guilty.

2. to hear evidence or legal arguments in (a case) in order to pass judgment; adjudicate; try: The Supreme Court is judging that case.

3. to form a judgment or opinion of; decide upon critically: You can't judge a book by its cover.

4. to decide or settle authoritatively; adjudge: The censor judged the book obscene and forbade its sale. 

5. to infer, think, or hold as an opinion; conclude about or assess: He judged her to be correct.

 Now we will be looking at the 3rd, 4th and 5th meaning for the current context that we are in. Now to "judge" for that matter per se means to infer think or hold an opinion. An opinion is a view of one or more persons. Now to view means to look at or inspect. So doesn't that means that as long as we have viewed someone we have judged them? That would be subconscious judging, or people watching.

So this means that as long as we have opinions about someone we are judging them. So what is the right word to use when others judge us for what we do? Or what should we say when we want to express disapproval? Firstly, I have to say this, be sensitive. Tactfulness will be much appreciated. Don't constantly look at their bad points in that area, look for good ones to talk about to encourage him. However do not be fake. Being fake is easily noticed, and while they may give you the benefit of the doubt, they would have already subconsciously lowered your credibility.

 Now, let's go on. When you express your disapproval for let's just say, a particular action made by the other party and you say, hey that's childish and you start approaching him and that's also cause you care for this good friend of yours. Now first off tell him that you feel a little surprised(or very surprised at his action depending on the extent but no exaggeration please). Now express your point of view and why you feel disappointed/whatever you are feeling. For me I would give analogies
(if you read my blog long enough you know I use analogies(metaphors, poems) all the time) to state my point of view. Now ask in a very tactful tone, what is his take on this behaviour, or his point of view or his reasoning behind it. Now you must force yourself to fit into his shoes, walk around in it, and understand where he is coming from.

If it makes sense, accept his logic and say something like: "Ahh, I see where you're coming from." But also please DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT be FAKE. If his logic is "MEHHH. Cant be bothered." Then just leave the matter hanging there, and since you took the time explaining it to him, most likely he is a good friend of yours and he means a lot to you. Then try to change him by having the attitude you want him to have. In Chinese there is this saying 近朱者赤近墨者黑, which means the people you mix around with will affect how you will behave, and likely you be like them.

 Another saying is "Iron sharpens iron" quoted from 27:17 from the Bible, and it means that mixing around with good people helps to sharpen the blunt aspects of your life. So be a good iron. Help your friend. But remember, don't be fake, and be very tactful. Oh, and PS: if they accuse you of judging, bring them to this post. Everyone judge, ok. By saying someone is for example, pretty, you have already judged her. In which you pass her in your 'judgement' instead of fail. Tell them that you are expressing disapproval, which is a subset of judging. Therefore you are more concise.

From Rick Warren

A lot of people have great vision. But you’ll never see your vision become a reality unless you communicate it well to others. Many great God-given dreams die in the vision-casting stage. In fact, there are seven particular things you need to make sure your people understand in the process of sharing your vision with them. 1. Who you are. 2. Where are you going 3. Why you are going there. 4. What it feels like to be going there 5. What people can do 6. How you're going to do it 7. What the rewards will be For more, read here: http://pastors.com/how-to-share-gods-vision-for-your-church/2/

Research In Motion

RIM, also known as Research in Motion, is a company that was once one of the brightest shining stars in the technology industry. But now, this company has fallen. And you may say, "Hey, you sure crican? I have never even heard of this company, only heard of apple, samsung, nokia." Then I will tell you, "How about Blackberry?" And you should probably say yes by now. If not, go here: blackberry.com Blackberry was the named coined for a brand of phones that was introduced by RIM, headed by Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. They created the first Blackberry phone back in 1999, but their first famous model was in 2002. (Note: the word famous in this case is subjective, and up to my discretion) So i feel sad for this company because they were not able to adapt to the shift from hardware to software. This reminds me of a story. Widely regarded as the greatest chess master of all time, Garry Kasparov, was the Champion from 1985 to 2000.

The thing was, he lost in 2000 to one of his former students Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik, without winning a single game. As a great fan of his, one day i bought a book written by him and in it He said that one of the reasons he lost was because after being world champion for 15 years, there wasn't really anyone who would tell him if he had gone wrong. He didn't do as much research as before, didn't feel that he could lose. After all, He's Kasparov! Not that he couldn't won and was not good in chess, it was actually just a blunder that cause him to lose. Complacency. He didn't think he could lose. He forgot what his weaknesses were(forgetting it as in thinking that no one could exploit it). The same thing happened for research in motion.

 In an article written by The verge, RIM's staff said that they should have made the change to their old and outdated operating system the moment when the Iphone came out. However, due to their change happening a few years late, they experience a drop in market share and also found themselves stuck between changing and upgrading all their phones to the new OS and damaging the phones that would not receive the new OS update. Dr. A. R. Bernard, rated one of the most influential New Yorkers, said this, that a strong organisation is one that can handle continuity and change. RIM couldn't handle both. There was a bad handover involved for RIM to its next CEO and change, well they couldn't move from hardware to software. However in light of their newest phone BB10, I hope they succeed in doing what they set out to do. We search emotion. Without having the passion, RIM got caught up in just making phones, not revolutionary devices. Don't lose your passion. Search for your emotion.

What am I thinking, you say.

Well, I'm always thinking. People always ask, what are you thinking? And I'm like, woahhhhhhhhh. I'd love to tell you but it's weird when it's face to face. So basically this week i was thinking about what happens when one jump. Well basically, there would be a force that pushes up, exerted by our body, Then air resistance and gravity comes into play, and we will reach a height when gravity and air resistance adds to give the equal to the amount of force exerted to make the upward movement. So what would happen when it is in a train> does the same thing happen? Well, yes. because gravity is still the same(Gravity does differ from place to place even on earth, but the difference is less that 0.01ms-2). Now what if the train was moving? I have been wondering how does air resistance affects us when we are inside a train moving 30-40 miles per hour. Does the context of the air resistance change? As in, does the amount of air, temperature of air inside the train, amount of vacuum space inside the train affect the change that air resistance affects us in comparison to outside the train, in the environment, the outside atmosphere? So when we jump in a moving train, what exactly caused us to land on the same stop(as per before the jump)? Is it because the air resistance does not include the air resistance outside? And yes, that is what I have been thinking of. If you could explain it logcially to me, feel free to leave an unprecedented first comment, or email me @ iamchio@hotmail.co.uk AUF WIDHERSTEIN ADIEU!

Being thankful.(:

Today was a wonderful day. Period. (:
I was just reminded of Paul after reading Ephesians chapter 1.
What was I reminded about?
The need to be thankful.
Really, the truth is Paul could say, hey you need to do this and that and this and that, you're cool, yes, but do it if you want to be a better Christian.
But what did Paul do?
He said, I always thank you in my prayers.
You see, Paul is not "Looking for something to Thank God for because He has nothing to thank God for" or "Trying to increase his prayer time" or "consoling himself", no.
Paul is looking at the positive change that happened to the people he truly cared about, and was encouraged deeply by them. Thus He thanked God.

Now, it is true that when we come before God, we must be truthful. We can only thank God for something that we are really thankful for. Thus, we must instill into ourselves a thankful spirit. When we start to thank the people in our lives of the little things they do in our lives, we will start to become more thankful. And slowly but surely we will become a more thankful person, maybe even unknowingly! We must always carry the right attitude towards one another. Now for me, this is very crucial. I have alot of pride in my heart and I really, really do these things subconsciously and I will only know that I did something wrong after I did it. Which is quote sad. And the fact is I really want to change. For the better. But now that it has become somewhat a part of how I connect with my friends, it is hard to break from it. Now the only think I could do is pray. But now, I'm going to pray, and I'm going to start thanking God for the things that He has done, the people that he has placed in my life, especially the people who are an encouragement to me List: encouragements in my life; James Clement Paul Sianghock Amelia Andrea Ngoi Guohao Rachel Bennie Zhenying Yilun Ziying Junrong Szeyin Wesmond Huizhen Andrew TY Heokyong Kaihwee Terran Vivian Zhongyee Fenrong PC Ivan Weixuan So many. Haha. But the people that really encouraged me every step of the way, man, I love them. They are: Andrea Tianyong Szeyin Clement Amelia Guohao these friends are best friends. Great friends. Good leaders. Such an encouragement everytime I see them. ((: Be thankful! Who can you be thankful for? Not sure? I have an answer((: I'm thankful for him too(((: Special list to thank: JESUS((((:

So yea.

Yup. This is what I always do.
Set new trends and never keeping it for long but, Yea.
So I just posted a poem by WIlliam Blake, Tyger(it should be below) and I just want to say it is an excellent poem, sound so much better and feels more awesome when you know the beat to say each syllable. So much meaning, so powerful.

So as I am posting this from the Library, it is because I borrowed a book containing many poems and one of them was Tyger. Well, I heard Tyger before in sec 4 so yea. And the poem is really one of the best poems so I thought I would share it here. Anyways.

So expect a few more poems. If i feel led to, I may post dulce et decorum est and dig deeper in it.

But just yesterday I was talking to one of my friends from China and he is a professor in Singapore, a really nice guy. (i live in Singapore by the way)

So he was telling me about how he doesnt use twitter but uses weibo and how he feels that twitter is quite boring because it is filled with people who posted about things like: What am i eating now, Where am I going, Who am i meeting,
But weibo is so useful where it can be used easily for politics and business and it is more meaningful.

Now to this I can respond now saying, it is as usual about the aspect of life ratio.
You see, when people sign up for twitter, they are signing up for a microblog.
A micro blog is a blog that is smaller than average.

Definition of blog: A Web site on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information, etc. on a regular basis.

So when people go to their blog, it is like going to their home. They are at ease to talk about almost anything they want.
So if people who sign up for twitter are younger people, than obviously you would not expect them to be talking half the time about politics, but about what they are feeling, and what they are doing with their friends because that is what matters to them.

However weibo is mainly users from China.
Most people there are very driven to succeed in life and be better than the rest.
Thus that is their more important aspect of life.
And whatever that is in your heart, you will talk about it more because it concerns you more.
Thus it is very expected that weibo is used for that.

You see, to me, both weibo and twitter are micro blogs. I think both are interesting, but to different groups of people. It is just like, basketball and chinese chess. Both appeal to different age groups, but I can only say this: You can only find something that interest you useful.
If you are more mature, than you would most probably prefer linkedIn. And if your friends are all on twitter and not facebook or myspace or QQ or SinaWeibo then obviously you would use twitter because it becomes like your home. And when you feel at home, you feel at peace.

So my take? Anything works fine. Not everyone is the same, so definitely the microblogging style and talking about food may not suit everyone, what matters most is the person's character, as long as you find solitutde, and you're happy, that's what matters most.

Ok, BYE FOR NOW:D

The Tyger

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forest of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chair?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

What the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger, Tyger, burning bright,
In the forest of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake
Amazing poem, I love it best when I speak the poem, it sounds fabulous, taste fabulous, feel fabulous. Just pure AWESOMENESS

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Rick warren- 4 Pillars of a strong lay ministry

I was talking with some people after a weekend service once, and I mentioned that we really needed someone to create a multimedia video for an upcoming event. The person I was talking to said, “Why don’t you get her”?

And he pointed to a woman standing a few feet away.  I walked over, found out the her name, and asked what she did. Her reply was, “I’m the chief video production director for Walt Disney”.

Another time, I mentioned that we needed a flower designer to decorate our our worship center for Mother’s Day. Someone pointed to a person in the crowd and said, “He designs many of the prize-winning floats for the Rose Parade”!

It bothers me when I think talent like that could go unused.

You have talented members sitting in your congregation, and you need to uncover, mobilize, and support their giftedness for ministry.

This is vital because your church will never grow any stronger than your core of lay ministers who carry out the various ministries of the church.

Based on Romans 12:1-8, I believe there are four pillars of lay ministry that our churches should be upon –

Pillar #1: Every Believer is a Minister

To be a Christian means being like Jesus. He said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. (Mark 10:45)

We believe these two activities — service and giving — are the defining characteristics of the Christ-like lifestyle expected of every believer.

At Saddleback, we teach that every Christian is created for ministry (Eph. 2:10), saved for ministry (2 Tim 1:9), called into ministry (1 Peter 2:9-10), gifted for ministry (1 Peter 4:10), authorized for ministry (Matt. 28:18-20), commanded to minister (Matt. 20:26-28), to be prepared for ministry (Eph. 4:11-12), needed for ministry (1 Cor. 12:27), accountable for ministry, and will be rewarded according to his or her ministry (Col. 3:23-24).

Pillar #2: Every Ministry is Important

There are no “little people” in the Body of Christ and there are no “insignificant” ministries either. Every ministry is important.

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.”  (1 Cor. 12:18-22)

Small ministries often make the greatest difference. The most important light in my home is not the large chandelier in our dining room but the little night light that keeps me from stubbing my toe when I get up to use the bathroom at night. It’s small, but it’s more useful to me than the show-off light (My wife Kay says that my favorite light is the one that comes on when I open the refrigerator!).

Pillar #3: We Are Dependent on Each Other

Not only is every ministry important, every ministry is intertwined with all the others. Since no single ministry can accomplish all the church is called to do, we must depend on and cooperate with each other.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, every piece is required to complete the picture. When one part of your body malfunctions, the other parts don’t work as well.

One of the missing components in the contemporary church is this understanding of interdependence.  Our culture’s preoccupation with individualism and independence must be replaced with the biblical concepts of interdependence and mutuality.

Pillar #4: Ministry is the Expression of My S.H.A.P.E.

S.H.A.P.E. is an acronym we developed years ago to explain the five elements that determine a person’s ministry.  Those five elements are:

Spiritual gifts
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experience
Each of us is uniquely designed — or “shaped” — by God to do certain things. If you don’t understand your S.H.A.P.E., you end up doing things that God never designed you to do.

When your gifts don’t match the role you play in life, you feel like a square peg in a round hole. This is frustrating, both to you and to others.  It is also an enormous waste of your talent, time, and energy.

Napoleon once pointed to a map of China and said, “There lies a sleeping giant. If it ever wakes up, it will be unstoppable.”

In many places today, the church is a sleeping giant. Our pews are filled with members doing nothing with their faith except “keeping” it.

If we can ever awaken and unleash the massive talent, creativity, and energy found in those pews — if we can mobilize the ministers in our midst — Christianity will explode with growth.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

I was very impacted by what Pastor Rick Warren has shared. It is important to be released into ministry, so that we van fufill the great commandment, the great comission and the cultural mandate.
Hope this repost was useful!

Pastor Rick Warren is the pastor of Saddleback church, one of the biggest churches in America with over 10000 members.

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Having a heart

Luke 17:10
So likewise you, when you have done all the things which were commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'
Unprofitable means not yielding profit, or financial gain.
To me: it means to produce zero personal gain.
Servants means a person who performd duties for others, one in a state of subjection or bondage. One who serves, or does services voluntarily or on compulsion; a person who is employed by another for menial offices, or for other labour, and is subject to his command; a person who labours or exerts himself for the benefit of another, his master or employer, as a subordinate helper.
To me: Someone who serves, following the exact instruction and direction to the fullest possible.
Thus to me, an unprofitable servant is:
Someone who serves following the instructions given to him exactly, to the fullest possible while not generating any personal gain.
If we are to serve the Lord Jesus for the rest of our lives, we have to have a heart set for the kingdon, setting our eyes on the things above, making a paradigm shift in our mindset, so that when we serve God, we are able to do it wuth a pure heart.
2chronicles 25:2
And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal(true) heart
2 kings 14:3
And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his father David...
When we do the things of the Lord, we must do it thinking about the will of God, not our will(self centeredness). It is only when we do it unto the Lord l, no agenda,not about the desire for praise, not about the desire for recognition.
Attitude counts more than achievements.
As we carry out our duties with a cheerful and willing heart, the we can say what was written in verse ten;
So likewise you, when you have done all these things which were commanded, say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.
Thanks for reading! Just sharing my 2 cents of revelation.
Because I think it is very scary when we do the right things for the wrong reason, and God will actually look at that.
I am now more convicted to pray and do all the things I do, now for the right reason(:
I pray you are too.
Don't do things for a moral obligation, don't come church for a religious routine, but whatever you do, do it heartily unto the Lord. (:
To aspire to become like David, a man after God's own heart.(:

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Newton's law.

Every cause has an effect. When something is done, a result will appear. Even when the thing done produce no result, there actually is a result.
Even when for example, you push a wall, but nothing happens, something actually happens and the thing that happens unconsciously is that you lose energy.

What I am talking about today is snowball off a hill. When a snow ball runs down the hill, don't we love to stand halfway between the hill and push it? And the thing is this, our push has very little effect on it's already tremendous speed, but what has more effect is that our palms upon contact with the ball, steers it a little off its original direction, a little left, a little right. Now there's someone standing at the bottom of the hill and he is your teammate, and his task is to catch the ball. Whereas you and the rest of your friends try to steer the ball towards him, his task still remains impeccably more difficult-pressing the stop button on the bomb, which lies in the snowball.
It is a race against time as if he misses, it will hit the old granny's home, and the old granny, weal and fragile inside, does not know about the bomb. Thus little noise is allowed.
You and your friends try to push and assist your , and as it approaches your teammate, your teammate stops it- but not quite.

He failed to hit the middle of the bomb.

His hands were a centimetre wide, and he broke the snowball.

The bomb fluttered a little along with the snowflakes, and your teammate in devastation, runs and dived and clutch the bomb.

It's still ticking but he couldn't hear it under his own tears and cries in desperation.

It exploded as the rest of you watched, stunned.

As his teacher saw it, he gasped. The teacher was befuddled as a limb broke.

Wha-t happened???

Who was responsible?!

But knowing their game, and after realising the whole thing was the team's idea, and that the teammate has actually volunteered for the fun of it, the teacher became full of angst and was in utter despair.
He was dismayed.
That teammate.... was a good student.
Many a times he was the cheery pupil, sensible and full of knowledge- but this time he came short.
The teacher did not know what to do.
He just knelt beside the child and said, please, for the love of God, wake up.

He woke.

But after the moment of enlightenment that the child wasn't really hurt, and that limb that seemed broken, a part was actually buried in the snow, the teacher's remorse, changed to anger.

The other pupils stand at attention, bewildered.

Why did the teacher change so fast?

Is he going to be ok?

And that form teacher, said only one sentence.
"Let's go to my office and talk."

The child went.
After all, nothing much was wrong.
The bomb was after all just a self made jack in the box with snow.
Not really snow but more of a big ice cube. The icecube merely hit his hand, but due to the sheer size of the icecube, it was scary.

What was more scary is what is about to happen

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Life

Well so what's going on in my life?
So i have been busy reading up news, just trying to make sense.
well like the iphone 5 news, along with samsung and its new camera and stuff~
nokia lumia 920, with it's in house gps....
just so muh tech news.

also been trying to keep up with the stocks of apple, which have already crossed 700.
not to mention, a whopping 2million iphones preordered within 24 hours.
not only that but the presidential race, mitt romney and obama, with obama being on reddit and stuff...
i havent had much time for survivor.
but new season with russel swan of galu(samoa) coming back, it would be fun.
and now off to sleep!

lastupdate: im buying a blacklightattack shirt!
search blacklightattack kbmod shirt and you will see it!
bye~~~

The way i treat my friends.

Well everyone treats people differently.
For me, I have treated you differently from others subconsciously.
:O
Not my fault.:)
I try my best to be equal to all, but as animal farm goes, some are more equal than others.
(Gosh, i love animal farm.)
Acquaintances: hey, hi, whatsup? Yea man~, hi 5!
Friends: hey look, cheesecake!
Good friends: loooook, cheeseeecakeee, look, birddddd, heheeheeheeeehehehhheheheheheehehehhee
Heheheheheheehehehhehheheheeeehehehheeeheeehee.
, eh sorry ah, heehee.
Hey, how are you? :D
Inserts lame joke
Talks about personality stuff, world, politics.
Close friends: everything in good friends,
Cheesecake,
Survivor,
Coffee,
Survivor,
Cheesecake,
KFC,
Survivor,
Random shouting,
Survivor,
Explaining of my ways and methods,
moar personality stuff,
Very bullying side of me,
Very caring side of me,
Trolling people till they laugh on the floor,
Allow you to troll me till i'm on the floor.
(Actually, yes. I have been rolling on the floor laughing many times in 2011.... )
Survivor is coming(((((:

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The art of conversation- building friendships.

Wait what. That's not what i want the title to say. It is suppose to say, awesome friendships i have.

So yea, this is a repost of another infj(:
Makes so much sense.
Till now, I have not found a single infj who makes lesser sense than me. Proves something.(:

The Best Kind of Friendship
Not long ago, I was asked to describe what friendship means to me. I thought about the friendships that have meant so much to me throughout my life and what made them so special.
This is what I think matters the most…

-You trust each other.
You can tell each other anything, without any fear that it will be repeated or used against you. - You can always be your true selves. You feel secure telling each other what you really think and feel, no matter how weird it is. You know that they won’t judge or belittle you. Even if they can’t relate, they will appreciate it as part of you.

-You are loyal to each other.
You know where you stand with each other at all times, regardless of the circumstances. - You defend each other. If someone said something untrue or malicious about you, they wouldn’t hesitate for a second to defend you.
-You truly care about each other’s happiness.
You each show interest and concern for the others well-being, and genuinely want them to be happy.
-You learn about each other’s interests.
You want to learn more about their interests, hobbies and goals, even when they aren’t shared interests, because they are an important part of both of your lives.
-You support each other.
You support each other through life’s challenges, such as by listening, encouraging and offering a helping hand. No matter how busy things get, without hesitation, you would always be there for each other when it mattered.
-You push each other to do the best you can.
A good friend sees all that you can be and wants to see you succeed, even if they have to be hard on you sometimes to push you along.
-You can laugh together.
You can laugh over life’s ups and downs, your shared experiences and your “inside jokes.”
-You find ways to let each other know that you think about them.
Even if you don’t see each other as often as you would like, you find ways to let the other one know they are important to you - that you are thinking of them even when you are apart and are always hoping they are doing well. We should all be so lucky as to have at least a few of these people in our lives. If you do, and you’ve never told them what they mean to you, maybe now is the time. :)
May my friendship with my close friends last long...(:

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The art of conversation-remembering names.

A repost of Pastor Rick Warren, one of the biggest churches in America, senior pastor of Saddleback Church in America.

Pastor, you set the tone and atmosphere in your congregation. If you want to know the warmth of your church, put the thermometer in your own mouth.
I’ve visited some churches where the pastor’s lack of love is the main reason the church isn’t growing. Some pastors, by their cold demeanor and lack of personal warmth, virtually guarantee that visitors won’t come back. And in some larger churches, I’ve gotten the impression that the pastor loves an audience but doesn’t like people.
Great preaching without love is just noise in God’s view.
Every time I speak to at Saddleback, I repeat a simple reminder to myself. I never preach or teach without thinking this:
“Father, I love you and you love me. I love these people and you love these people. Love these people through me. This is not an audience to be feared but a family to be loved. There is no fear in love; perfect love casts out all fear.”
Let me suggest some practical ways that you can demonstrate your love:
Memorize names.
Remembering names shows that you’re interested in people. Nothing sounds sweeter to a second-time visitor than hearing you use his or her name. While I don’t have a particularly good memory, I work hard at remembering names. In the early years of Saddleback, I took pictures of people and made flash cards to help me remember their names. I knew every person’s name in our church up to about 3,000 in attendance. After that my brain fried.
I ask new members in the membership class to tell me their names on three different occasions to help me remember it. When you work hard at remembering people’s names, it pays great relational dividends.
Personally greet people before and after services. Be approachable. Don’t hide out in your study.
For the first three years of our church, we met in a fenced-in high school where everyone had to exit through the same gate. Each week, I personally greeted every person that came to our church. They couldn’t get out without passing by me! One of the best ways to warm up a crowd is to meet as many people as you can before you speak to them. Get out among the crowd and talk to people. It shows you are interested in them personally. Touch people.
At Saddleback we believe in a high-touch ministry. We give a lot of hugs and handshakes and pats on the back. Today our society is filled with lonely people who are starving for the affirmation of a loving touch. So many individuals live by themselves and have told me the only loving physical contact they ever get is at church. When I hug somebody on Sunday morning, I often wonder how long that hug will have to last.
Study the ministry of Jesus and you see the powerful affect of giving people a look, a word, and a touch. Look people in the eyes when you talk with them. Eye contact says, “You matter to me.” Give everyone a word of encouragement. Offer a warm, personal touch to show you really care.
Use a warm, personal style in writing to visitors. We have a series of letters I’ve written to first-time, second-time, and third-time visitors, telling them how glad we are to see them. I don’t sign them with “Dr. Warren” or even “Pastor Warren.” I simply sign them as “Rick.” I want visitors to feel they can relate to me on a first-name basis. If you send a letter to visitors, write it like you talk to people, not in stilted, formal language. I received a visitor letter once that said, “Our church would like to acknowledge your presence with us last Sunday and extend to you a cordial invitation to return on the next Lord’s Day.” Does anyone really talk like that? Instead say, “It was really great to have you. Hope you can come back.” One of the most important issues every pastor must decide is whether you want to impress people or influence them. You can impress people from a distance but you have to get up close to people to love and influence them.

I am truly impacted to remember my cell group member's names and the new friend's names! It is SO IMPORTANT! (; Striving towards excellence~

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