ER EMPOWERED 'RISE UP' CONFERENCE (DAY 2)

Reporting from Sandakan
By: Clare Cordova
Pictures by: Empowered Ministry, Jonathan F, Timothy James Michael, Mark Nethanel Michael

Kuching : The second day of the 'Rise Up' Conference (7th June 2013) began with the Eucharistic celebration, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The mass was celebrated by Fr. Jepy Augustine, con celebrated by Fr. John Chia.

The Gospel reading was taken from Luke 15: 3-7. The Gospel is about The Parable of the Lost Sheep. He clarified that Jesus died for us because of his amazing love for us. He elaborated more by telling us that Jesus' love extends even to those who go away from Him. He concluded his homily by telling the youths to bring the Good News to people out there who seek the Love of Christ and to remain in communion with our Lord.

After the Holy Mass, at around 9.30 AM the worship conference commenced with a talk entitled “Inner healing and worship” by Nishant Fernando. Nishant is a 22 year-old young qualified musician, audio engineer and a film editor by profession. He is also a full-time minister in Potta, India. He is also a worship leader and later produced his first album entitled “Revival”. His talk was mainly about having a live connection between us and God giving rise to inner peace. He added it is only possible if you have the desire to let God heals you from your sorrows. All in all, inner healing enables you and others to receive God’s Love through your music. 

The second session on  “Anointed Music” facilitated by Jude Antoine began at 11.30AM.  He explained that we should always be humble musicians and place God the center of our worship. Being a musician for the Lord, we should always have personal prayers that will lead us to spiritual maturity. He added, that a worship ministry should always DISCERN and PROPHECY so that we can hear the voice of God. After his talk, all of us were prayed over ~ God’s spirit was moving inside the Mater Audi Auditorium. Tears of joy, and people speaking in tongues filled the room. 

The next session began at 2.00PM. with Benedict Lo facilitating on “Prophetic Music”. He is an architect by profession. Ben is married and presently is also one of the elders of the Empowered Ministry. Ben shared his early years as a young and humble musician for the Lord. He explained that, music is to comfort, encourage, strengthen, confront and stir the hearts of the people. By having anointed music, it can take us to another level of worship. In addition, he gave us tips on being a musician for the Lord, the two components of being DISCIPLINE and HUMBLE. He added, 'God does not want your abilities, but your availability for Him.'

After, his session we continued with our music streaming session again according to our instrument of choice. During this session, all of us combined together as a whole band to practice for the theme song “Rise Up”. It was really an awesome moment to work with one another creating harmony for the Lord. The practice lasted from 3.00PM to 4.30PM! Session resumed at 7.30PM with “ER 2013: Worship Night” led by Nishant  accompanied by the Empowered Music Ministry. 

After the praise and worship session, it was a time for us to rehearse the music and the theme song “RISE UP”. Although, we did not have adequate time for practice but God is always with us. It was truly an amazing get together and a successful try for us. 

Right after the rehearsal, we attended the adoration and inner healing session. Fr. Simon Poh, led the Adoration and Jude Antoine, the Inner Healing. We began by having a time of worship and then all of us were invited to the inner healing session in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. We felt the presence of Jesus at the center of the Main Hall. His Spirit was moving us. People were bursting into tears during the inner healing and adoration session. It was truly an eye opener for us the richness of our Catholic faith. It was really a good session to end the night of day 2.