“Organising the 50th Anniversary was a faith-stretching adventure for me,” quipped Mr Yong Chee Yee, the overall coordinator. Chee Yee is also Cru Singapore’s Chief of Staff, assisting the Country Leader in day-to-day affairs, leaders’ coordination, and staff care.
Working with Gail Tan, Corporate Communications Team Lead since September 2021, to run an in-house contest for the anniversary theme (which eventually was “His Story, His Glory”), Chee Yee soon discovered an important aspect of his role: balancing act.
Having grown to a 19-ministry organisation, our staff's and volunteers’ needs are diverse, with a cacophony of peak and lull seasons. Moreover, this year is also Athletes in Action (AIA) Singapore’s 10th Anniversary and our sister organisation, East Asia School of Theology’s (EAST) 30th Anniversary.
“My first concern was how to mobilise our donors, former and current disciples, and churches to participate in our different events.” On top of that, the variety of events should fulfill the objectives of bringing the body of Christ together to give glory to God.
“I was also concerned with whether we have enough expertise and manpower to pull off all these events, given the wide variety and tight timelines.”
Higher Ground webinar series: "Practical Christianity" with Bishop Emeritus Robert Solomon
God proved Himself strong by bringing Rev Liong Kwok Wai, Dean of Academics from EAST to help anchor the very first event, Higher Ground, as a co-curator. Despite the proverbial “Zoom-fatigue”, it was well attended and won rave reviews from members of the public.
One of the participants, Yuh Min, who attended the Jesus in Conflict webinar by Dr Keith Shubert shared, “I simply love Dr Keith's very clear and appropriate Bible references to explain the sequence of events leading to Jesus' death and his eventual resurrection. Thank you very very much because it affirms that my faith in a Living God is the most wonderful decision that I have made in my life 43 years ago.”
Kwok Wai shared, “Due to the pandemic, many people miss travelling overseas and getting themselves refreshed. We had to cancel our annual Holy Land Tour for the past two years due to border restrictions.
Since travel is still uncertain, we decided to create an online experience of the Holy Land Tour. That's why we chose to run four webinars on the life of Jesus in Galilee and in Jerusalem.”
“(Over the last two years), many felt physically and emotionally isolated as well. Therefore, we decided to run a webinar to help people gain insights on how to abide in God and go through this difficult period.”
“Looking back, what blessed my heart was witnessing firsthand the teamwork to pull off Higher Ground. Staff members worked on publicity, production, and programming together, and helped one another whenever someone was down with COVID-19.”
LoveVerdun: National Day celebration with the elderly at King George' Avenue Seniors Activity Centre (KGA SAC)
Talking about surprises and mishaps, no one would understand it more than Maggie Tan, the Personal Assistant to the Country Leader. Maggie was co-helming the year-long campaign with Chee Yee and leading the LoveVerdun project.
Just weeks before the Cru50 Anniversary Celebration, Maggie discovered that she was expecting. A challenging first trimester led to doctors ordering bed rest for her. This meant coordinating everything remotely.
“Various ones stepped in to be my hands and feet on the actual day. I had to leave it all in God’s hands because I cannot possibly be in control of everything.”
“The core team executed the entire programme beautifully! When I heard feedback that the attendees enjoyed the event thoroughly, I was truly touched. Seeing the post-event photographs of people mingling and engaged in conversations over coffee, I felt super thankful.”
“Only God could engineer the perfect programme.”
Indeed, much more stories could be told of the many unsung heroes behind Cru50. But one thing for sure, we are deeply certain that there is ONE story that truly matters and there is only ONE to Whom all glory should go.
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