Big Apple Bytes Day Five!

Friday, 2^nd December 2011

The 5^th day kicked off with the kids marching into Times Square for the Opening Rally. They warmed up with a new song, “Live It Out” to share with the world what God’s love is all about. The kids in the video finally learned how to make peace and friends with their nemesis.

The kids heard the story of how the Disciples received instructions from Jesus through the Holy Spirit from Acts 1:1-11 during their tour to the Battery Park classes.

The greetings of ‘Sum Reap Sul’ was heard at Mission Central; where they sang a praise song in Khmer, had a special snack of crickets, and a display of some human bones. They took a tour of Cambodia; saw the poverty, their needs, along with their dark past during the Khmer Rouge regime.

For their craft, the kids became automotive engineers to build their very own NY City yellow cab fridge magnet! Honk! Honk!

They learned the detailed moves for “Live It Out” during Music Backstage as well as to put in the final touches to the concert preparations.

Playground 1017 wrapped up the final recreation with a NYC Olympics of 3 short games rolled into one. Well, we saw some ducks racing across the underground car park!

The queue for dessert was the longest we’ve seen so far at Midtown Snacks where the meal was extraordinary Empire Wraps, delicious grappa (grape and apple) juice followed by irresistible ice cream!

Please remember to join us for the Family Day tomorrow at 1.30 – 5.00pm. Bring along your whole family! We’ll have class tours, carnival games, crafts and the Concert itself! On don’t forget your VBS t-shirt and see you all tomorrow!

Big Apple Bytes Day Four

Thursday, 1^st December 2011

It was a cool cloudy morning as the kids in a sea of VBS colours marched into Times Square. They watched the continuation of the video where the kids discovered their nemesis’ situation at home. Again they fumbled as they tried to make friends with her and ended up hanging on the fence, again! They plucked up their courage to share with her about God and tried to be her friend. What happens next? Find out tomorrow! Meanwhile our Ordinary & Regular superheroes have been buzzing around Chinatown, Union Station, and Spanish Harlem learning to connect with others! It's A Bird... It's A Plane... It's Superman ... who dropped in to say Hi!

The Battery Park tour today tells of a story from John 4:1-30, 39-42 of the Samaritan woman who was so touched by her meeting with Jesus that she could not help telling others about the Messiah!

The older kids punched their ticket in Missions Central for a trip to the Land Below the Wind to experience her culture, people, food including tasty red durians and beautiful beaches. They heard the sharing about a mission trip to Sabah. They also had a wonderful time listening the Legend of Batu Bajau.

Midtown Snacks goes Italian with NYC pasta, cupcakes, apple slices and grape juice punch. E' molto deliziozo! The kids have been seen queuing up for seconds! Craft District today had the kids making beautiful mulitcoloured bangles to remind them to tell others about Jesus.

‘You said GO, so I will go. You said TELL, so I will tell’.. the kids learned this new song at Music Backstage. They learned the song so well that they had the time to start practicing for the Family Day concert!

The Subway Whisper at Playground 1017 was a hive of activities in trying tomake the kids forget the message in their heads. They were given a short message and they have togo through a few stations of distractions before reciting the message at the end. Some hilarious finale moments!

Big Apple Bytes Day Three!

Wednesday, 30th November 2011

The Opening Worship Rally introduced a new song today in asking the kids “Why Don’t You” do your ABC? Whew, finally our kids superheroes managed to get themselves down from the fence and discovered how to fall backwards in trusting their friend. In the meantime the OR superheroes learned how to trust their guides while taking a blindfolded tour of NY City! We had a surprise visit from a 125 year old grand dame, the Statue of Liberty who told us all about herself and what she represents.

Today’s a special day as the kids do their ABC:

A – Admit to God that you are a sinner. B – Believe that Jesus Christ is God’s Son and accept God’s gift of forgiveness from sin; and C – Confess your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. They followed the story on how Nicodemus chooses to trust Jesus in John 3:1-18; 38-42 and learned that they too can trust Jesus as their Savior.

Mabuhay! To the kids at Missions Central as they flew in to the Philippines for a mission trip. They explored the poorer areas of the country where they saw how some kids were so poor that they could not even go to school and they have to hang outside the school fence to listen to the lessons. The younger kids crafted out an apple carry bag at Crafts District.

The heroes at Playground 1017 tried their best to stop the wolves from making their sheep into lamb shanks! Phew, didn’t know that shepherding is such a tough job!

Midtown Snacks presented Trust Wednesday with Snoopy Dog & Wedges with real nice ice cream potong with grape cordial.

Another wonderful day at VBS and see you all tomorrow!!

Big Apple Bytes Day Two

Tuesday, 29th November 2011

What a wonderful beautiful sunny morning to start the second day of VBS! The kids warmed up in Opening Worship Rally with the theme song and a brand new song, “Love You More” which reflect the lesson for today – Connect with Love! The kids watched the continuation of the video from last night where our ‘superheroes’ ending up hanging on the fence talking about the love while the older superheroes zoomed around Central Park to deliver the pizzas of love. Huh? Not sure what the storyline is? No worries, just ask your kids!

The kids in the Battery Park classes learned to connect with Love in the bible story where “A Woman Responds with Love” in Luke 7:36-38, 44-48. The woman at the Pharisee’s house showed her great love for Jesus in her deeds and heart and in response; Jesus forgave her of her many sins.

The kids practiced their kicking and screaming skills at the Playground 1017 in the human foosball game! The younger kids had a great time at Crafts District in making a bookmark with a Statue of Liberty proclaiming “We love because He first loved us” from 1 John 4:19.

The children journeyed to India with Missions Central where they learn about the people, school, food and fashion. They also watched a video taken by a medical mission team to a village where the team was welcomed with a wonderful song and dance. The team was also accorded the traditional welcome by the villagers where their feet were washed before they enter the village.

The Music Backstage kicked into a high gear with “Love You More” amidst the swaying, bouncing and laughing. The kids were challenged with an interesting question, “What do you love the most?”.. Your iphone? Your dog? Your toys? Your PC? Ask your kid to sing for you to find out the answer! Oh we also have the songs CD for sale for RM5 each. Midtown Snacks served up Love Tuesday menu with Piola Pizza/bun with yoghurt and grape juice punch!

How time flies when you are having fun and in a blink of an eye we have already said goodbye to Day 2! Take care, stay safe and see you all tomorrow!

Big Apple Bytes Day One

Monday, 28^th November 2011 ... Daily News in Small Bites

The first day of the VBS Big Apple Adventure 2011 tour dawned to be a beautiful sunny morning with easy breezy traffic due to the replacement holiday!

The registration counter opened at 8.00am with streams of excited tourists (kids) pouring in. The tourists were assigned to their respective tour groups and ushered by their Tour Guides (teachers) into the Times Square for the Opening Rally. The worship team kicked off with Negaraku, pledge to the Bible, prayer and introduction to the Big Apple Adventure theme song!

The tourists then moved into their respective Battery Park classes where the tour guides shared with the story from Matthew 8: 5-13 on how the Centurion acted in faith to trust Jesus to heal his servant from afar! Now they also know that they can have the same faith in Jesus!

For Missions Central, we had our Nepali visitors from the foot of Mt Everest to come share with the older kids a slice of their culture and country. They learnt some Nepali phrases, praise songs and had a visual culinary meal of Dhal, Bhat and Tarkari!

The kids created a photo frame for their memories keepsake of the tour at Crafts District.

Midtown Snacks offered a Faith Monday menu with Liberty Burger & Fries, a slice of apple, Ice Cream potong and apple juice which earned two thumbs up from the kids! “Infinitly super good!!” were the many comments.

Detouring into the recreation Playground 1017, we encountered a mad underground bus rush where the blind folded bus driver, with a bus load of screaming kids trailing behind, was trying to navigate the city streets guided by the GPS. What a hair-raising ride but at the end the kids learn how they too can have faith in God to lead them through their lives.

The kids grooved into Music Backstage where they learnt the lyrics and moves for their second song, “By Faith.” They watched intently the moves being taught by the worship team and before you can say ‘Viola!’ they’re already up on their feet dancing to the beat!

What a great start for the first day and we look forward to share the next 6 days with the wonderful kids! See you all tomorrow! Do drop in to our blog site for more photos from the day! See you all tomorrow for another slice of news! God bless!

Countdown to 28th November - 3 more days to go!

Phase 2 of the deco is in operations right now as we speak ... The Main Sanctuary is being transformed! Deco team has taken leave in the last few days and running their own family muscles recruitment to get the beautiful deco up in time! Wonderfully great job folks! You outdo yourselves year after year!

The rest of the preparations are in full swing now for the classes and rotation sites! Don't hit the panic button if there seems to be a mountain ahead of you! No need to break glass.. just pick up the prayer phone to the Lord and commit to Him! See what He cannot do.. ha ha... I have learnt that there is a lesson in everything, good or bad, so just have faith and trust in Him! After all He said, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matt 28:19-20. To the very end of the age!! Wow!!

Stay cool, take the time to throw a frisbee, enjoy a coney dog, munch on a pretzel, and take a deep breathe as you plunge into the preparation work! Plug in your live wire with the Lord and let Him lead you!

Let us also take this time to remember and pray for our brothers and sisters over in Subang as they wrap up their Day 5. Do keep the children who are attending the VBS in our prayers and that the Lord will move their hearts, if not this week, eventually at some point of their lives ahead of them!

3 more days to go!! See you all in church and Oh, don't forget to stay back for the commissioning by Ps Marvin during the 2nd service this Sunday and wear your past VBS t-shirts! Take care, stay well and please keep everyone especially the kids in your prayers!

God bless!

Transformation...

Take a peep as our wonderful Deco team transform the main sanctuary into Times Square! Thanks to Man Hon for his paranomic iPhone picture!


Which ones do you like? I love the Best Love Story. I laughed with the Kung Fu Praya and rejoiced with Les Victorieux. Did my biblical history revision with Eve.ate.it.

Stay tuned for more to come! Oh if you have the spare time and muscle to spare, the Deco team would love you! Drop a note in the comment if you can make it and we'll get Mun Loong to give you a holler!

Commissioning Prayer for VBS 2011 on Sunday, 27th Nov

Pastor Marvin would like to conduct a commissioning prayer for the VBS Volunteers this Sunday, 27th November during the 2nd Service (after worship). If you attend the 1st service, can you please stay back for a while for the 2nd service for this. Ps Marvin was so blown away by the magnitude of VBS that he had decided to change the upcoming Sunday sermon topic to fit the occasion. So pray for him for God to impart His message for us all especially as we take this step to minister to the children!

Please do wear your past years' VBS t-shirt proudly for this occasion! Let the Big Apple adventure begin!

Deco Team: Hats Off!!

The Deco team has been working very hard over the weeknights, weekends and public holidays to get all the decorations ready for VBS 2011. Do keep them in your prayers that they will be able to find the time away from work and family to do and for God to keep them in good health. If you have some free time, do give Lisa a call or Mun Loong to see how you can help out. All hands welcome!

Class Names

Update: Please note the correction for the following class names:
P3 & P4 - Metropolitan Bankers to be changed to FDNY Reds; and
P5 & P6 - Central Runners to be changed to Metropolitan Bankers.
Thanks!

Howdy Folks! It was good to have Lilian Beh to take us through the training last Saturday and now half of you knows how to get around the Main Sanctuary with your eyes closed!

Just to keep you updated with the names of your classes:

Nursery:
Broadway Strollers - Jeya

Kindy:
New York Giants - Esther Wong
Brooklyn Knights - Kathleen Tan

P1 & P2:
Hudson Hawks - Mirande Sie
Hampton Cougars - Julia Ong
Columbia Lions - Harro Koopmans
Carnegie Cats - Lillian Yap

P3 & P4:
FDNY Reds - Kun Chee Meng
Liberty Rangers - Jess Tan
NYPD Blues - Andrew Robless

P5 & P6:
Wall Street Raiders - Sherry Ann
Metropolitan Bankers - Joy Chen
Rockefeller Rockers - Ravi

Rotation Sites:
Music Backstage - Worship
Midtown Snacks - Snacks
Playground 1017 - Recreation
Crafts District - Craft
Missions Central - Missions

Have fun!

VBS Teacher’s Training Program : Relationship with God, Fellow Christians and Children

Welcome to the 2nd VBS training where we will find out for ourselves what it means to be connected to Faith, Life, Others, Trust and Love! We'll have a surprise facilitator who will help us to look at:

• Evaluating our own life and does it reflect God's image in our lives;
• How does God look like in our lives?;
• To build "Christ-like" relationships with Others - co-workers. To "com-fort" and to fortify (to give them strength and sustain them in Christ); and
• To build relationships with children and show who God is.
  

Come and join us at:
Date: Saturday, 24th September 2011
Time: 2.00 - 5.30pm
Venue: Main Sanctuary, Pantai Baptist Church

See you all there!

Children Registration

Please note that the children registration for VBS 2011 starts from 4th Sept to 2nd Oct 2011. We are doing 1 session in Pantai Baptist Church for this year so come and sign up early in order to get a place. Don't forget to get passports for your kids! If you do not have any yet, get together with your kids and pray about it and start asking around!

You can register at the VBS 2011 counter in the foyer of the Main Sanctuary from 10.30am - 1.00pm every Sunday from 4th Sept till 2nd Oct 2011 or when we run out of places in the respective age groups.

Get ready to head to the Big Apple for some cool adventures!

2nd VBS Training

FLASH!

Lock the date into your calendar! We will be having our 2nd Big Apple VBS 2011 training on:

Date: Saturday, 24th September 2011
Time: 2.00 - 5.00pm
Venue: Main Sanctuary, Pantai Baptist Church

For information to come!

PBC VBS 2011 Volunteer List

Hi All!

Please find the Volunteer List below:

Nursery
Jaya
Kirsten Cheong

Kindy (2 classes)
Stella Jane (Facilitator)
Teacher 1 - Esther Wong
Assistants: Cheng Leng
Zachary Paul
Angeline Oh Abai

Teacher 2 - Kathleen Tan
Assistants : Grace Chong
Chew Qi En

Std 1 & 2 (4 classes)
Teacher 1 - Miranda Sie (Facilitator)
Assistants: Shawna Lim
Lizabeth Loh
Miraclyn

Teacher 2 - Julia Ong (Facilitator)
Assistants: Jennifer Oh
Joanne Leong
Paul Sie

Teacher 3 - Harro Koopmans
Assistants: Chow Wing Harn
Esther Ong
Ryan Lam

Teacher 4 - Lillian Yap
Assistants: Charis Wong
Zech Chan
Rebecca Chan

Std 3 & 4 (3 classes)
Teacher 1- Kun Chee Meng
Assistants: Kitty Foo
Roger Koo
Kevin Thomas

Teacher 2 - Andrew Robless (Facilitator)
Assistants: Chan Yew Thai
Wang Wei Yang
Jonathan Yong

Teacher 3 - Jess Tan (Facilitator)
Assistants: Rebecca George
Joyce Cheh
Cha Hou Yean

Std 5 & 6 (3 classes)
Teacher 1 - Sherry Ann (Facilitator)
Assistants: Mary Vergis
Emily Cheh

Teacher 2 - Ravi (Facilitator)
Assistants: Ng Lai Na

Teacher 3 - TBC
Assistants: Anna Lim
Lily Yeo

Worship
Tony Toh (Head)
Julian Lau
Yvonne Chin
Natalie Gan
Cheryl Woon
Alex Shiew
Samantha Robless
Rachel Ooi (Family Day)

Craft
Elsie Yong (Head)
Denise Wong
Cheong Yi-Mei
Lee Soo Ling
Lois Lee
Low Peih Venh
Karen Kerr
Esther Wong
Siew Ling (Pre-VBS)
Ng Ay Yin
Chen Nyok Kim
Rachel Yong
Ng Soo Yen
Alice Ng
Rose Yap
Foo Wee Lee
Koo Yee Hui

Recreation
Thomas Yap
Silas Woon
Colin Loh
Eugene Ong
Ng Jer Jinn
Matthew Yong
Justin Yap
Wesley Peh

Snacks
Chuah Siew Har (Head)
Gladys Yau
Annette
Au Wei Lien
Wong Kim Ching
Sugi George
Grace Wee
Janice Soong
Hwee Na

Missions
Annette Phoon (Head)
Rosalind Chong
Sue Shiew

Media
Lee Henn (Head)
Sean Koo
Nathanael Hew

VBS 2011 Training on 25th June 2011

Join us for a tour of one of the busiest cities in the world....The Big Apple!
LifeWay, Pantai Baptist Church (PBC) & First Baptist Church (FBC) together with Canaanland are proud to present - Vacation Bible School Seminar 2011!

Date: Saturday, 25th June 2011
Time: 1.30 - 5.00pm
Venue: Main Sanctuary, Pantai Baptist Church

We will be joined by our other brothers and sisters from other churches for this training session. The agenda will cover:

1. Welcome Note;
2. Opening Prayer and Address by Rev. Marvin Wong;
3. History of VBS;
4. How and when to begin planning a VBS;
5. Worship - the Big Apple way!;
6. A Day in VBS - a taste of rotation simulation;
7. Tea Break;
8. Post VBS initiatives & Q&A; and
   
9. A word from Canaanland.
   

Please do make time in your calendar and join us for this training in gearing up for our VBS! Oh, why don't you wear your previous years' VBS t-shirt along as well!

Tour Guide Sign-up!

Grab a cab and come sign up for the Big Apple Adventure, Where Faith and Life Connect! As tour guides, you will help the kids to explore New York City and learn how to step out in faith, connect with Jesus and share the message of Christ with their world.

Sign up as a Big Apple Adventure Tour Guide at the registration counter at the foyer from 27^th March to 17^th April 2011.