Brethren 'Idol'?

A short report (hehe) on the recent Evangelistic Music Festival

(by one of the 'oldies').

We had the pleasure of attending the annual Evangelistic Music Festival (or EMF) at Port Klang Gospel Hall this past Saturday. From what is understood, the festival is a combination of an evangelistic event and a talent competition, or more apt, a 'battle of the bands'. This year there were three churches participating: Sunway GC, Shah Alam GC and BUC (woo hoo). Representing us and working ever so hard (months before the actual event, if I am not mistaken) were the Ho Ming brothers, Chung En (flown in from the UK) and Hui En (also flown in from UK/Europe for the event), our resident baby faced (but actually also very young-lah) drummer Jia Yein and a special import into BUC just for this event, Donny.

Our team practised weekly and put a lot of effort into it ... and creativity as well, as evident from the original composition (Little by Little BUC style) and the vocal arrangements for the unplugged number. More on that soon.

Those who were not participating (the wall flowers) made our way to Port Klang at about 545pm from elder Ho's home. We went in three cars (deaconess Yoke Kheng, elder Christopher Leong and Adrian) and stopped subsequently for an early dinner at a mamak/McDonalds (majority at McD's). After that it was off to the church.

The church was a pleasant looking building with a lot of land :). It had been renovated and it looked quite cosy within (this writer especially liked the slanted windows ... haha). There was already a crowd and the church was filled up nicely. We started at about 730pm (or was it? This was after our team H.I.S (Him I serve) wolfed down a lot of McD's stuff) with a worship session. All of the songs were more or less contemporary and the church was filled with praise and worship to our Lord Jesus.

Three judges were appointed, one of them being our very own worship ministry team leader: Ling Yoke Teen @ Mrs Lai @ momma to be.

The first act started soon after: Shah Alam GC. Please be informed that this is not intended to be a critique of the performances. For that you can ask our judge (or even better, allow me to introduce to you our brother Adrian :) ). I am merely highlighing the event. SAGC sang an original number ( a complex one) and also their unplugged song. They were good performers and good sports.

Our team, H.I.S followed up and started with the unplugged song, a classic Psalty the song (or is it hymn) book song: well done. I was told that Jia Ling layered their performance with parts: a nice touch, JL. The second song was From the Inside Out, followed by their original composition and ending with a very robust (if that is appropriate) performance (an equally creative medley). YT even remarked after that '... Well done. I thought I was in a rock concert ...'.

The last team, Sunway GC presented 'The Nazarene' and also Grace/Praise around the clock (very 50s sounding) and Little by Little, complete with dance moves (and a strong vocal).

Uncle Dexter then gave a message based on 'Welcome to my life' by Simple Plan and he tied it in to the SOS-es of life. Very inventive and well done. God the Holy Spirit clearly spoke that evening.

The evening ended with an encore performance by all three bands and eventually the winner was Sunway GC.

Uncle Hok Seng has an interesting suggestion (or was it Nai Kyn): next year BUC should send two teams: a junior team and a senior team. Hahah ...

Overall, The EMF is an excellent platform to invite pre believers to a musical event, that should be enjoyed by many, and to listen to the Gospel presented in a non threatening setting.

Conratulations to the winners and the other teams.

To H.I.S: please do not be discouraged. We'll get em next year ... :)