March 02, 2012      2:51AM

Living with Purpose! (Part 3) Phoebe Ng

With my graduation from UCLA fast approaching, I began to worry about how to make money and survive in this terrible job economy (neither of my positions were paid), and I decided to further my chances of securing a job after graduation by applying to internship programs at well-known multimillion-dollar gaming companies. Once again, God helped me through the application and interview process and I was accepted as an Editorial Intern at Nexon America, where I worked diligently to learn the tools of the trade for three months. It was hard work! Adjusting to the corporate business world was tough and learning how to interact with my coworkers was a bit of a challenge in the beginning, but I came to really love the team of people that I met there, and I sincerely regret not having had more time to get to know them better.

Looking back on all these experiences now, I am surprised to see how much God used them to shape the person I am today. I can see how in each setting I was molded not just on an emotional and spiritual level, but even on a technical level. Each of those job experiences played a vital role in developing the skills that I now use on a daily basis. In fact, you.....

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January 14, 2012      4:37PM

Living with Purpose! (Part 2) Phoebe Ng

Needless to say, my second quarter at UCLA was characterized by a lot of tears, a profound sense of helplessness, and ultimately a stark recognition that my relationship with Jesus was all that I had left. Having no other options but to put all my trust in Him, I made the paramount decision to give my future over to Christ. I cast aside my personal whims and desire to pursue a niche in the gaming world, and instead, I was led to be open to whatever future He had in store for me.

Sadly to say, after that decision, classes weren't any easier. I continued to struggle through my winter quarter, and on the verge of failing another class, I made the painful decision to switch majors. By then, my dreams of Christian gaming had been completely trampled by the woes of college life, and now, all I wanted to do was survive. By the grace of God, I barely scraped by with my grades that quarter and was able to continue my studies at UCLA for a third quarter when I swiftly altered my class schedule to pursue the most opposite courses to computer science that I could think of. In the end, I chose English.

Life, at least on an academic level, became much easier after that. Classes were.....

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January 08, 2012      4:20AM

Living with Purpose! Phoebe Ng

Ever since I was a kid, I've been fascinated by video and computer games. For many people, it was either the stellar graphics, the intricate gameplay, the killer action, or the test of skill that drew them in, but for me, it was always about the story. Those age-old fables, tall-tales, heroic legends with a hint of romance— they always gripped me, cut me to the heart. Just like in the fantasy and sci-fi novels I read, I saw the human condition portrayed so clearly in those games. Even though the scenarios and environments that those characters lived in weren't real, their emotions, struggles, and desires couldn't have been more real to me. As time passed, my interest and fascination with these games and the gaming industry grew. By the time I was in high school, I was firmly convinced that my ultimate goal in life was to make video games for a living. Declaring this in front of my mom one time, I was satisfied to hear her express support:

"I'm perfectly fine with whatever career choice you make as long as you do it for God."

"No problem," I responded.

"Good," she replied. "So you plan on making Christian video games then right?"

"What?!"

I couldn't speak......

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January 03, 2012      9:10PM

Team FTW! Annie Wong

Annie here. I'll be doing the 13.1 Marathon Los Angeles benefitting Team World Vision at Venice Beach.

For those who don't know, I've been working at World Vision International (WVI) since my graduation at UCLA this past spring. We have a large group Chapel once a week at work, and during one of those weeks a speaker named John Huddle shared his testimony of how God healed his knee (even though he was told it needed surgery) and he ran a 13.1 marathon with Team World Vision (TWV).

Amazing! Our God is amazing and we have been restored for the better through Christ. There is currently a devastating drought in the Horn of Africa. We know there is pain and injustice in the world, and I believe that followers of Jesus we are agents of healing and reconciliation.

My goal is to raise $1,310.77 that will go towards funding water and sanitation projects in the East Africa. Every $50 provides clean water for 1 person for life. I take for granted the basic necessities of water-- and I didn't even consider the fact that it's *clean* water. People in the Horn are suffering from this severe drought. Any amount makes a difference!

Race day is Sunday, January 15! Team World.....

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January 03, 2012      1:11AM

CMC Reflection Day 4 and Onward Phoebe Ng

Hey guys,

We are glad to report that our entire team had a safe trip home from San Diego—just in time to spend the New Year's holiday with our families.

Overall CMC was amazing. It was our very first time acting as exhibitors at an event and we certainly choose a fantastic event to debut at!

I am personally really glad that I had the opportunity to come here and constantly be encouraged and reminded of God's faithfulness by so many others. Just chatting with other exhibitors and missionaries helped me to see how beautiful it is when the body of Christ moves together in unity. All the booths and exhibitors there offered something different and unique. It was as if there was this spirit of partnership, and we were all moving forward with one vision to bring the gospel to the unreached. It was an awesome feeling!

It was also such a blessing to be able to meet so many wonderful individuals that really love the Lord and are sincerely seeking ministry opportunities to be involved in. The last plenary session was especially touching when young and old, individuals and couples, stood up in a declaration of their ready willingness to dedicate their lives to full-time.....

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December 30, 2011      2:32AM

CMC Reflection Day 3 Matthew Lum

Hey guys! neo here. I am one of the webmasters at RE:NEW. I also tagged along with Phoebe and Leslie for CMC West Coast.

Day 3 was pretty exciting. Our team is still sleep deprived from our holidays and the team has been working hard around the clock to inform people about RE:NEW and make sure we keep posting updated content for you guys!

Today I got a change from our regular program by volunteering to help out the Youth group at a Karen (Burmese/Thai) church. We got to serve one of the church families by bringing cleaning supplies and cleaning their house. Our family was really nice and had several young children who kept us entertained between the cleaning and scrubbing. Afterwards we got to hang out at the church and meet several Karen families and play some games. The Karen were also nice enough to serve an authenticate Burmese dinner.

Watching the youth group brought a lot out of emotions for me. Even though I grew up attending church on Sundays I never really got to experience a real church family. My experiences with churches in the past have often been very lonely and can still bring out bitter memories from time to time. I wonder what it must be like to be raised.....

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December 29, 2011      3:26AM

CMC Reflection Day 2 Leslie Tam

Today was the second day of CMC at San Diego. The day did not start off so well as I was having chest pains due to the lack of rest in the past few days. But, regardless of the pain that I could not ignore as I breathed and moved around, God really reminded me of something important.

Today was the first night we had small group discussions. Everyone attending the English portion of the conference was divided into small groups. In my group, I was able to meet some really awesome college students and youth pastors. As the small group discussion began, we started sharing about ourselves and what church we attend on regular basis. Of course, after everyone had shared, I began to share about RE:NEW and what I was doing at the conference. After sharing, we broke into discussions about our SHAPE. We went around the table and shared about one of the elements of SHAPE and how we could use it in a missional context (how can God use you). I started to share about my spiritual gifts of teaching, encouragement, and mercy. I am not sure how strongly I have been gifted with each of those gifts, but I do have a.....

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December 28, 2011      2:20AM

CMC West Coast Reflection Day 1 RE:NEW

Running off of a combined total of 9 hours of sleep from the night before, Matt, Leslie, and Phoebe had quite an eventful day. A brief rundown would look something like this:

• Wake up early and leave the house

• Meet at the office

• Load the cars with promotional materials

• The long trek to San Diego!

• Arrive at Town and Country Resort and register

• Run around looking for parking T.T

• Set up the RE:NEW booth!

• Attend the pre-convention event with Francis Chan

• DINNER! (Our first meal of the day!)

• Joint Opening Ceremony with Francis Chan

• Waiting for people to say Hi to us at the booth =]

• Reflect on the day with a Dev blog post

Continue reading and see what happened on Day.....

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Developer's Blog Introduction Phoebe Ng

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November 23, 2011      11:00PM

Nothing To Lose Phoebe Shen

I was born into the church, so I have known who God and Jesus were for my whole life. However, until recently, that knowledge was just head knowledge. As a church kid, I went through the motions of going to Sunday worship, going to Sunday school, going to choir, going to our children's fellowship, Kids for Christ, participating in Bible Drill, and then going to the junior high fellowship, Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Church used to be "the place I went to on Sunday and usually Friday and maybe another weekday" and had no other role than that. My home life was free of trouble. I am fortunate to have a loving family, and life was very pleasant and easy.

It was not until high school when I began to realize the true implications of the Christian faith and how much I truly needed God to be in my life. Before high school, I claimed to love God, but it was just lip service. My freshman year of high school was fun, but difficult as well. I was sick with pneumonia, and that frightening experience gave me a firsthand glimpse of the frailty of the human body and of God's infinite mercy by allowing me to fully recover. Another difficulty I had was not another sickness, but something.....

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