Amongst the first people I met when I started going to GBC. Paul was the 'enforcer' for the after-service meal and turned out to be an excellent chap as well. My biggest memory of Paul is disagreeing with him over politics. We had all been round at (Pastor) Dave Brown's house to celebrate someone's birthday and Paul came out with something that just seemed so narrow-minded. I got wound up and left in a huff. The problem was, I couldn't find my shoes amongst the mass outside the door, so I started walking to the MRT station in my socks. At some point, I realized just how ridiculous this was, so turned around and went back. I sort of apologized to Paul, but I left (much more politely this time!) not too long afterwards.
When I arrived home, I was still upset. I tried praying about it, but struggled to get any sort of breakthrough. The next day, there was an email in my inbox from Paul, which contained a very humble apology. This, for me, spoke volumes about what sort of guy he was: strongly opinionated, yes, but humble and definitely someone who valued friendship. He developed the Christian Monitor.com website to highlight the persecution of Christians around the world, and I contributed to the weekly newsletter for a while.
Paul has one of the most oddball senses of humour that I've ever come across - quite Monty Python-ish - and is a huge amount of fun. I'm an eternal disappointment to him in that I can't engage in much sporting banter with him; he's more likely to know if England has just won the rugby or cricket. Never mind! He's good enough to find other things to chat about, just to humour me... This guy is no clown, just in case you're wondering. He takes the serious things of life very seriously indeed, but is determined to enjoy life at the same time. He's someone you can count upon at all times; you just know that, if he makes a commitment, he'll keep it! A faithful friend, and great fun to boot!
Queenie lives out a very visible life of devotion to God and has been a mainstay of GBC's evening service worship team for a long time. Looking back, what really impressed me about Queenie is how she carried herself during the upheaval at church in 2007. Bob Greene, the interim pastor, had clashed with Kevin, the worship leader, over a relatively minor issue, which led to the entire worship team being disbanded. For a while, the music was led by people that we didn't really know, many of whom were not evening service regulars. Queenie eventually took over and brought much-needed stability back to that part of the church. She did her best not to take sides, either with Kevin and the team or against them, which was an immensely difficult thing to do when feelings were so strong. She must have invested a lot of prayer in it, and showed a lot of courage to step forward when asked.
When I arrived home, I was still upset. I tried praying about it, but struggled to get any sort of breakthrough. The next day, there was an email in my inbox from Paul, which contained a very humble apology. This, for me, spoke volumes about what sort of guy he was: strongly opinionated, yes, but humble and definitely someone who valued friendship. He developed the Christian Monitor.com website to highlight the persecution of Christians around the world, and I contributed to the weekly newsletter for a while.
Paul has one of the most oddball senses of humour that I've ever come across - quite Monty Python-ish - and is a huge amount of fun. I'm an eternal disappointment to him in that I can't engage in much sporting banter with him; he's more likely to know if England has just won the rugby or cricket. Never mind! He's good enough to find other things to chat about, just to humour me... This guy is no clown, just in case you're wondering. He takes the serious things of life very seriously indeed, but is determined to enjoy life at the same time. He's someone you can count upon at all times; you just know that, if he makes a commitment, he'll keep it! A faithful friend, and great fun to boot!
Queenie lives out a very visible life of devotion to God and has been a mainstay of GBC's evening service worship team for a long time. Looking back, what really impressed me about Queenie is how she carried herself during the upheaval at church in 2007. Bob Greene, the interim pastor, had clashed with Kevin, the worship leader, over a relatively minor issue, which led to the entire worship team being disbanded. For a while, the music was led by people that we didn't really know, many of whom were not evening service regulars. Queenie eventually took over and brought much-needed stability back to that part of the church. She did her best not to take sides, either with Kevin and the team or against them, which was an immensely difficult thing to do when feelings were so strong. She must have invested a lot of prayer in it, and showed a lot of courage to step forward when asked.
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