LiveSg Stories

Grooving to God’s heartbeat

Up-close-and-personal with ForeRunner’s Team Leader

Meet Manson Koh, our freshly-minted team leader of ForeRunner, Cru Singapore Creative Ministries’ music arm. 2018 was a steep learning curve for him, adjusting to both marriage and leadership. We caught up with him in between his hectic schedule to hear his journey.


Hi Manson! Thanks for having us! There’s been so much going on with the music team of Creative Ministries this past year. How’s it going?

Oh yes! God has been doing an amazing work with our team in 2018. And things are starting to look really exciting for 2019 too! For us, one highlight was The Ultimate Road Trip (TURT) 2018, our signature music missions project.

Last year, we gathered 12 volunteer musicians from the campuses and marketplace and embarked on a music outreach tour to Tokyo, Japan.

Being the very platform that drew me to join Cru as a music staff 14 years ago, TURT 2018 gave us massive opportunities to train and disciple budding musicians to minister through music, share their stories on stage.

Of course, what gave me immense joy was to witness the Japanese receiving Jesus into their lives as their Saviour and Lord throughout the trip!

 

TURT team in Tokyo 2018

 

 

Was there any particular instance that moved you during TURT 2018?

A veteran missionary who’s been serving in Japan for the past 25 years shared with us, “Personally, in my years of ministry here, I have not experienced and ministered in evangelism like this for a long time. Joining you and helping a little during your time here has been a big blessing. I believe God has used TURT to spark a fire/flame in me again for the lost.”

God did not just use us to reach out to the lost and disciple musicians, but also reignite a long-time missionary’s passion. All glory and honour to our Lord Jesus Christ who breathes new life.

May we not lose sight of His resurrection power in our life and ministry.

 

TURT in India.

 

What an amazing project it was! And what blew our minds away was how ForeRunner embarked on TURT 2018 right after launching an online free-to-download devotional album!

Yes! It was a crazy period. I remember my laptop crashing a few weeks before its launch, plus all that coordination with our artistes who were based in Canada, USA, West Asia and the UK–I almost thought we wouldn’t make it. But God pulled through–we’ve to give Him all the credit for the birth of Holy Week Devotional (HWD).

We initially embarked on HWD simply wanting to provide some simple listening pleasure on scripture reading and hymns for people during the Holy Week. As more artistes were pulled in, it became an international project!

Not only that, as we experienced the music, we also saw the transformative potential in ageless hymn, like My Jesus I Love Thee, that God could use to touch lives and change hearts.

 

How did the HWD project turn out? Was it within your expectation?

It most certainly was not! God exceeded far beyond our expectations and imagination! Our whole team was simply floored to hear stories of how people were ministered by God through these songs. There were a lot of good feedback that took us by surprise, really. Special thanks to our friends all over the world who lent a hand!

HWD clearly grew our confidence in God to embark on such “faith-projects” in the future.

 

Your thankful attitude is infectious! Looking ahead at 2019, what are some exciting upcoming projects we can look forward to or be a part of? 

This year, we hope to multiply the vision and skillsets of TURT to churches and other potential partners who are interested in launching their own music missions initiatives. We really want to see God use music gigs as a platform for outreach. Do get in touch with us for more details on this.

Locally, we’re committed to our annual concerts reaching out to youths in local mission schools. If you are a singer, musician, sound engineer, visual designer, photographer, etc., with a heart for campus students, do reach out to us at cm@cru.org.sg to volunteer for this upcoming project.

 

Lastly, what is one lesson you learnt in 2018 that will benefit our readers in their walk with God also?

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.” – Psalm 37:3-6.

During one of my devotional time, while reading Psalm 37:3-6, God spoke about three responses He asked of me: 

  1. Trust in Him and do good; 
  2. Delight in Him; 
  3. Commit my way to Him.

I used to think it’s a pretty simple response, but it’s really not so when rubber meets the road. Whenever fear, doubt or disillusion flooded my mind during setbacks the past year, I’ve learnt that the best way forward is to keep focusing on trusting God. Through which, I’ve encountered a new found trust and delight in Him. Fear not because Emmanuel, our God is with us.

 

Thank you Manson! Thanks for summarising ForeRunner’s 2018 journey so well and sharing with us the precious gems from your ongoing relationship with God. We’ll be praying for you!

David is an extroverted introvert who can rewatch Japanese dramas from the early 2000's over and over again. The one thing his fridge will never lack is a bag of potato chips. 

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