But if that's what it takes to praise You Jesus...

It's about time for an EPIC reflection...lol

Just came back from the EPIC conference. EPIC is a subministry of Cru that is targeted towards Asian Americans. Ate Em, one of the staff, invited our singles group from church.

She gave us a brochure and I just remember seeing words like "gospel" and "Christ-centered." I think I saw this too "Bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world through Asian American students and faculty." I liked how they wrote out that the focus of the ministry was about the gospel and Jesus Christ.

1. Christ's Love.

The thing that stood out most to me were the people and how they showed Christ's love. When we got there someone came up to us and talked to us and asked us where we were from. It's weird, he just came to talk to us and I was like wow..usually people just mind their own business......? haha.

Another encounter was with Alan Tung. He gave a seminar about True Love called "Twu Wuv." I went afterwards to ask him questions. What got me was that he spent a lot of time talking to me and my friends. I was thinking to myself "man if I were him, I'd be so tired and sleepy. Plus, he probably got asked these relationship type of questions so many times already." I myself was tired, but he was still eager to answer our questions carefully and genuinely.

I also thought it was nice talking with Tony Wee. A noteworthy thing he said was that he didn't care about people starting EPIC Movements on campuses (something I'd expect from the EPIC staff), but that he cared about helping people make Christ known.

Darrin Mabuni was also nice to talk to. Something that stuck out to me was when he told us that even if we don't start an EPIC back in UMD, he was just glad that we came. He said that the important part was that we could join them at the conference and be blessed. Then he gave us hugs. I was like wow haha I felt so welcomed there. I know that this is just simple things and it happens a lot but it was different.

2. Praise time

During "How He Loves Us," Mike Kim, the praise leader, made us close our eyes and receive his next verses like they were God's words. In that moment, he was just singing God's promises to us about how He loves us and is our Father. After being reminded of those promises, I felt so relieved and I felt the pressure go away. I always feel like I have to prove something to God. I have to prove my actions that my faith is real. But just remembering how God loves us even while we were yet sinners...how comforting.

3. Accountability/Prayer Time

At the conference, I received a greater understanding of what accountability is and what it means to be brothers and sisters in Christ. After speaking to some brothers, I immediately thought to myself, "wow, we're being so open...so this is what an accountability group is..." After years and years of being a Christian, I never had brothers where we could share and be so open with each other about our struggles and just live life together. There would always be a thin layer of glass that guards our pride. There would be those things that in our lives that we think we can handle on our own and don't need to share it. But after the conference, I realized that I actually have a lot to share with my brothers and sisters, but I've just been so used to hiding them that I forgot I was hiding them.

4. Day of Outreach

Day three of the conference we went out to Livingston Mall to evangelize to strangers. Nathan was my partner and we were getting rejected all day. We only got to talk with 5 groups of people about God. We even got kicked out of Bath and Body Works. Cool...haha. It helped us depend on God as the strength and center of our lives more.

5. Likes

I liked how EPIC had an Asian American emphasis to it. The conferences I've been to are conferences where the people there just happen to be asian. However, EPIC was really an Asian American conference. As a result, I was able to see more clearly what kind of struggles Asian Americans face. In particular, I learned that many of them face identity crises (Asian vs American). The other major one is that many of them also face problems with their parents, how to love and live with them.

I also liked the structure of EPIC, in particular I thought it was interesting how EPIC partners with local churches. This diminishes problem of deciding wether to serve in a campus ministry or at church. With ministry and church partnership, students can serve their churches by serving in their campus ministries at school.

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OK, that's my reflection...whew...I thank God that I was able to go. I had a good time meeting new people and spending time with people from home. =]