Recent Journal

The memorial service for Rev. Philip Lee Hui (founding pastor of CCCNY) draws near. I've been tasked to do video presentation of the 3/23/2013 Saturday service. A time consuming project of turning two choir pieces for that service into an official pinyin versions had been completed, though the my pastor had decided that English was a better choice for one of the piece. All that matters, is that we present the best.

This project had reminded me of the wonders MuseScore has to offer. It could really motivate one to be a good composer. On usability, it is the best, even beats Finale or Sibelius, not to mention its cost (free).

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Last week, I had upgraded my program (Transcript to Subtitle) so that I could embed subtitles to Dr. Tong's Romans Series video quicker. A brief fine tuning (removing newline characters, etc.) and auto paste to new window, I've sped up the inputting speed by a 12th (from a quarter to a third of the normal video speed). My next step and possibly last step is to use system hook(click link for a good resource - note important small correction to class coding in comments). After this, the next venture, voice recognition, is beyond my capability.

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CEA accreditation interviews had been done at NYGC last week (2/28-3/2). It would seem that there's much to be done. I just hope that the burden on my part is not too heavy and that the commissioners will be gracious enough to us. After all, despite its imperfection, NYGC has really striven to provide the best facilities to its students.

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Last Sunday, my wife and I, with my brother-in-law went to the "Credibility of Christianity" class after 5pm service at Westside Redeemer. The short term class is taught by Craig Ellis, a Harvard graduate, executive assistant of Tim Keller. I had to look up what exec. assist. is:

The work of an executive assistant differs slightly from that of an administrative assistant. Executive assistants work for a company officer (at both private and public institutions), and possess the authority to make crucial decisions affecting the direction of such organizations, and is therefore a resource in decision-making and policy setting. The executive assistant performs the usual roles of managing correspondence, preparing research, and communication while also acting as the "gatekeeper," understanding in varying degree the requirements of the executive, and with an ability through this understanding to decide which scheduled events or meetings are most appropriate for allocation of the executive's time.

An executive assistant may from time to time act as proxy for the executives, representing him/her/them in meetings or communications.

An executive assistant differs from an administrative assistant in that they are expected to possess a higher degree of business acumen, be able to manage projects, as well as have the ability to influence others on behalf of the executive.

At first, I thought I was listening to a radio as Ellis seemed to narrate everything from his ipad. Fortunately, the promised Q&A session came after his "lecture". Many brought challenges, including my wife. Though, half of the questions went off topic to the subject of predestination. The topic of the day was where does morality come from. I supposed, that the reason many rejected the relationship between God and morality due to failure in understanding God's sovereignty, on top of the question of His existence.

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My wife and I celebrated Tante Lyna's belated birthday with a visit to a Thai restaurant, after our periodical work on the choir database project. During the meal, I believe it was clearly revealed that Tante Lyna, even Rev. Lin or Michael Liu had wanted me to become a preacher/pastor. Then it is obvious that whatever rivalry they have amongst themselves, were purely due to them chasing after their individual fantasies. I merely said, IF I am to go to seminary, I would ONLY go to Dr. Tong's seminary. Nowadays, church leaders and evangelical preachers have become so dormant that they can't wait to push some fresh blood into seminary, just so to prove that they have done their "part?" as Christians: adopting children they failed to produce. Some have seen enough to be more watchful, yet due to the same laziness and cowardice, the same fantasy continues to plague them. I have learned much during my pilgrimage in the States to deal with any kinds of these. Friendship and fellowship are very distinct relationships. The mixture of the two results in a lot of church problems today. Oh, how I long for that Holy Club founded by the Wesleys! When Tante Lyna tried to introduce the need of a single church as "base church", I immediately retaliated with "the whole city IS my church!", knowing Wesley's quote, I'm sure, Tante Lyna crumbled with such perplexity I could see the conflicts she now had when she ignored certain individuals or pastors when they advised her to follow certain puritan way.

I am part of CCCNY in many ways. I just do not associate myself with them when it comes to preaching and teaching. So, my response to Tante Lyna to whatever could easily be: Sure, as long as I do not associate myself with you in preaching or teaching, I can help out. These people have been so lazy in the Gospel that they lied to Dr. Tong about me planning to go to his seminary. What then? So that they could brag that they have found...no....they have "produced" someone who is going to seminary from their church?

No, unlike those who accept just any churches with their emotional flavors, I do not treat Redeemer as my base church. There is no such thing as "base church" or local church in the Bible. It is a doctrine birthed out of jealousy. Watchman Nee had it wrong, confounding many who couldn't stand people leaving to other churches, competing with other churches. If one uses the name of the city for the church, it is simply the first church that uses that name. Any consequent churches in the same city are therefore free to choose any name they wish under one universal body of Christ. Thus, the name of the city for a particular church, could simply be the universal church of that city. What then, should we now give a standard territorial measurement of a local base church which has sole ecclesiastical jurisdiction in that area? My church is not just Redeemer either. But to say which church is most evangelical in the city, I'd say Redeemer and therefore a better candidate to seek fellowship with. Com'n, which is it? Redeemer? CCCNY? etc.? To use a Malaysian phrase: Both also can lah! The jealous type can therefore find their need to criticize my "church" somewhere else, for they may very well have criticized their own churches in their "mission".