Bethany International Church

Tuesday, 19 August 2008

A Night of Joyful festivity – Happy 10^th Birthday Bethany International Church!
by Cindy

After a fulfilling family seminar, the celebration for Bethany International Church’s 10^th birthday continued with the real festivity taking place on August 16 2008. The event began with a short speech from the chief of the celebration committee, Ps. Yohanes Wijaya. After thanking every guest for their attendance and every members of the committee for their hard work, Ps. Yohanes Wijaya led everyone into prayers.

The praise & worship team was up next. Wearing matching black suits (complimented with pink scarves for the women and red ties for the men), the singers were in full energy to sing along with the worship leader, Laura Setyadi, who graced the stage that night with her confidence and passion to sing for the Lord. Together they sang a total of five songs, a mix of catchy, lively, and joyful praise songs and slow, touching worship songs.

The musicians were also in great shape. Led by Christina Soewondo as the arranger, the team, which include Willy Nuradi as keyboardist, Gabrielle Tandjung as violinist, Kevin Bachtiar as bassists, and Arnold Setyadi as drummer, the team had practiced for months for this occasion. Their music was great, different from the usual arrangement, and quite professional. Months of hard work had finally paid off when the guests enjoy the praise and worship and were singing along with the worship leader and the singers. Let the glory be to God only.

After praise and worship, the guests were entertained with a drama performance. The drama emphasized the importance of choosing the way we live carefully, because the actions that we made while we live will determine where we’re going after death – heaven or hell. For example, in the drama was a story of a family of two kids. The kids were believers, but the parents were not. No matter how hard the kids tried to convince them, the parents still refused to accept Jesus as their Saviour. The parents said they would accept Jesus when they were old. But just as they were finished talking, the four of them got into an accident and they were killed. It was too late for the parents, as the devils were already too happy to drag them to hell, while the kids were happy in heaven. We will never know when we will die, so if Jesus is touching your heart today, don’t wait, just open your heart and let Him take over your life.

This celebration was also made special by the performance of Ps. Ade Manuhutu, who used to be a popular Indonesian singer back in the ‘80s. Now Ps. Ade no longer sings worldly songs, but has dedicated his angelic voice to God alone. He sang a total of three songs, which were performed so well it was difficult not to clap loudly at the end.

Afterwards Ps. Ade invited everyone to open their Bibles and began sharing the word of God. Ps. Ade talked a lot about how all men should repent from their old, evil ways and come back to God, because the end is near. If we repent, God is a great God. He will forgive our sins and if we let Him, He will come into our hearts. He will send the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us so we never turn away from Him again. It is just a matter of opening our heart. We will never be able to experience God if we keep hardening our heart. Jesus is there knocking our heart. If you have left Him, think about His love for you. Has he ever stopped loving you? No. So open your heart and let Jesus takes care of the rest.

The celebration lasted three hours. It was a huge success. Senior Pastor Marcel Kanon, Ps. Yohanes Wijaya, the singers, the musicians, and the drama performers were singing and dancing out of extreme joy after the event. They prayed together, giving all glory to God. After all, there would never be a Bethany International Church New Zealand if it wasn’t for the Lord’s kindness and blessings.

Happy belated birthday, Bethany International Church! Keep up the good work and may God continue to use this church in a mighty way, to bring people from every nation closer to God.