Andy (Section 6)

Sometime in the year 2003, the then N261 cell group members were discussing signing up for various ministries to serve in in church. I was indecisive at that moment as most of my cell group members had signed up to serve in the choir ministry. As I was the cell group guitarist, ultimately I was "recommended" by my cell group members to sign up for choir.

After submitting the form, I was approached by my Zone Supervisor, Brother John Lim, who encouraged me to sign up for the Usher Ministry instead. Brother John gave me words of encouragement and I remembered him saying that I should utilise my gift in the area of hospitality to serve in ushering. I took a step of faith and started my ushering ministry then.

Serving as an usher is never an easy task. Most of the time, you'll get to see and deal with lots of angry/impatient faces, especially when the delegates are approached to move inward along their rows or when you have to check whether the seats are filled. You will need lots of perseverance especially when you are not in the mood to serve. But I constantly remind myself that I'm serving the Lord in His House. I'm representing God in serving so I've to put up a cheerful smile each time despite the circumstances I'm in. There is always a sense of satisfaction whenever my tasks are fulfilled.

From my 2-3 years of serving, I have learnt to be more understanding, tactful and enduring towards people that I've met in church, in my workplace and to my family. I believe that by serving, God will open the door of destiny for me especially in the area of my career and finances. God is my potter and I'm his clay; I know that He is using ushering to mould my character, especially in the area of handling difficult situations with the congregation. I shared my experiences with the younger and newer ushers to teach them to be more tactful in handling tough situations during serving.

Through His moulding, I have developed good leadership and delegation skills that I can put to good use at my workplace as I am in the Sales & Marketing Industry.

It is known that ushering is not a glamorous ministry compared to the choir, for instance, as it involves lots of sweat and physical payout. By the grace of God, I find it to be a very challenging ministry. As I serve weekly, I find myself enjoying serving more and more and I now crave to serve, regardless of whether I am ushering in the area of seats, traffic control or busing.

I want to thank my family for their support especially when I'm on busing duty - after the service, my kids and wife would wait patiently for me in the car despite the long wait without the air-conditioner on in the car.

A few weeks ago, while serving during busing duty, I encountered a brother questioning a younger usher. She was unable to answer all his queries on the church moving to new premises, loads of questions on what Pastor Kong plans to do with the old building and why must we give again etc. It was a tough situation for this young usher so I stepped over to answer all his queries and I even asked if he belonged to any cell group. Thank God that I was able to convince this brother to put his trust in Pastor Kong's leadership.

God has blessed me for my hard work. My boss has made me fully in-charge of the Penang office. I thank God for the open door to my destiny and I will continue to serve the Lord for the rest of my life. I am encouraging my elder boy to take up ushering as I believe if God could use ushering to mould my character and perseverance, He can also mould my son to be an even better person with destiny and purpose.

My 7-year-old son was so motivated by my serving that he began serving as a Greeter and Usher in the Children's Church ministry, and he's now gone on to singing in the Children Church Choir.

Last but not least, I would like to encourage more brothers and sisters to take up ushering as it is a really challenging ministry. Thank you, Brother John Lim for your encouragement and guidance.