As we continue to explore what Kingdom Fruitfulness is about in 2025, we can see that God has truly blessed the Lifespring family with many children and young adults. They are such a precious gift. They are seeds that need to be nurtured and cared for so that they too can be fruitful for His Name’s Sake.
Kingdom Kids
In 2023/2024 we had 53 children register. That is about 40% of the church! Personally, I have been the children’s pastor since June 2024 and I have come to the realization – children’s ministry is hard! My conviction to slow down the hiring process comes from the realization that the children’s ministry is not something we do on the side, as they are 40% of the church and as important as every adult and grandparent in this family. How could I, as lead pastor, not be involved with 40% of the church?
This does not mean we are not looking for a children & youth pastor – in fact, we have a job description for them. However, we have been sensing from the Lord to “not look to Egypt” for help and to find someone who will “train”, “mentor”, “coach”, develop”, and “lead” the children – all words that describe a Kingdom Parent – a huios (mature son).
We have an amazing new Core Team led by Deaconess Denise Lafayette. The core team consists of Leona Lee, Amy Fei, Wesley Wong, and Raymond Leung while being supported primarily by Abigail Soon from the Pastoral Team. Alongside the core team, we have an amazing squad of shepherds that truly and genuinely care for the children. We are so blessed by all of our Shepherds and our children are truly favoured to be loved by so many.
We will also do a Baby Dedication for the 4 new babies that have joined the family in 2024.
Wildfire
There comes a time when youth become young adults. To me, I felt that in 2024 – when the youth ran the Sunday Celebration from beginning to end, that moment came. Whenever the youth would sit in worship and experience the presence of God, they would look up and see people like Andrew, Silvia, Ryan, Alvin, Jerry, etc. in the front, on stage and see that the presence of God would come whenever some of these “older” folks were there.
I believe that all changed when Wildfire ran the Sunday Celebration from beginning to end. They did worship, MC, announcements, testimony, and preaching – but the most important thing is that the presence of God came. Something changed that day – if we sing and speak, if we mean it from our hearts, then God’s presence comes! It is not about who is on stage. The presence is not a mystery to unlock – it comes through all of us!
We will care and nurture Wildfire. Working alongside Andrew Pubalasingam, Samuel Lai and Joshua Lee, we will look at pouring into Wildfire while also welcoming in 3 new and very young members of the group, Justus Wee, Dylan Tai, and Ben Lee. As the father of Justus, I have already seen the fruitfulness of Wildfire. In only Justus’s 3rd time going to Wildfire, he listened to Andrew share about how he first encountered the Holy Spirit. That night, we talked and I got to share a couple of fun moments where I encountered the Holy Spirit with Justus. He excitedly exclaimed, “I think I felt the Holy Spirit before”! He said he felt something like a ‘spider tingle’ go from the top of his head to the bottom of his toe and he just felt peace. My son is 11 years old. What an amazing gift to have Wildfire leaders that don’t just talk about the things of God, but impart and share their real life moments and experiences with our young adults.
We hope to continually release responsibility in young adult leadership (intercession, worship, organization, etc.) while guiding and walking with them hand in hand. We also hope to involve other leaders to impart the things God has put in their lives into the Wildfire young adults.
We will also have a baptism in 2025 as Elise Chua and Abigail Soon have expressed their desire to be baptized.
May fruitfulness overtake Wildfire and Kingdom Kids. May KINGDOM fruitfulness overtake them. May His presence be upon them and every shepherd and young adult leader who gives of their time, talent, and treasure for His Name’s Sake. Thank you Father for this Kingdom family. Thank you for being the head of it all. Amen.