What a wonderful delight it was at the Opening Dinner Banquet in the Jade Garden Restaurant to hear Ms Jennifer Kwok of the Wing Kwong Pentecostal Holiness Church lead us in singing the theme song written for this special global assembly entitled, “Place of Hope, People of Promise.” Pastor Timothy Poon gave her a magnificent introduction. Jennifer Kwok has a pleasing voice that exudes confidence, faith, and victory that she has discovered in knowing Jesus Christ as her Savior and Lord. She knows how to get a large audience, some 500 of us at the banquet, to sing this glorious theme song.
Let me share with you the words that were printed on our Program for Opening Dinner Banquet:
“Place of Hope, People of Promise”
Composer: Ernece Ma
Lyrics: Donavan Ng, Ernece Ma, Jennifer Kwok, Jonathan MagreCongregate us, O Lord, in this holy place,
You are the King of kings, the centre of our praise,
We worship You from pole to pole, day by day,
To recount Your salvation and grace.O come, Holy Spirit! Fill us body and soul,
Equip and anoint us, we’ll do as you say so.
Help us enlarge the place of our tent,
Strengthen our pegs and lengthen our cords,
To the right and to the left, we spread abroad.Empower us! We are a Place of Hope, a People of Promise!
Empower us! We are a Place of Hope, a People of Promise!Refreshed and renewed, we will serve in Your Kingdom.
We trust in You for this is true wisdom.
We will stand with the strong and the weak,
manifest Your love and justice.
We magnify Thee, we exalt Thee and we will glorify Thee.
[Editor’s Comment: I was filled with love and adoration for Almighty God as we heard Jennifer Kwok sing this glorious song accompanied by a pianist. She sang it twice so we could get the gist of the song, the melody and the words that were printed for us in English. Then, she led us in singing our theme song, “Place of Hope, People of Promise,” a couple of times.
In my mind and spirit I thought of God calling my mother to go to China. In the early 1900s God was calling young men and women to go to China and India. Anna Dean Cole had been called and mother met her in our church in Birmingham. Julia Payne was her name. She grew up in the Baptist church, but met some Pentecostal Holiness people who invited her to go to church with them. She accepted the invitation, and the rest is history. My mother entered into the experience of Sanctification followed by being baptized with the Holy Spirit. She was Pentecostal Holiness through and through. She loved to sing, to pray in the Spirit, and she could shout and preach with great anointing and power. When she spoke, we listened.
To prepare for the mission field she learned of Holmes Bible and Missionary Institute headed up by N. J. Holmes the founder and first president. Paul F. Beacham was there and later become the president. Julia enrolled at Holmes and graduated from this great Bible College. W. H. Turner and his wife, Orvine, arrived in Hong Kong the year before my mother, Julia Payne and Laura Hylton and others arrived by ship in 1920, 95 years ago.
As we sang this theme song, “Place of Hope, People of Promise,” I thanked God that my mother, Julia Payne, obeyed the call of God to come to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Hong Kong. As I realized that fact, I felt I was standing on the holy ground of young men and women who came at great sacrifice to obey the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. I thanked Him for the fact that my mother imparted to me a great love for Chinese people deep within my spiritual DNA.
This week, many members of the Wing Kwong Church have taken a leave from their work and career field to ministering angels to us. Donavan Ng, Field Superintendent of Hong Kong, IPHC, dispatched one of his top leaders, Steven Cheng, to be our escort, interpreter/translator. He and Alfrid Chau, greeted us at the airport, and took us to the Hotel. We are calling them ministering angels.
Then, I thought of Stephanie, our beautiful daughter, who died on August 3, 2012. I began to cry and tears flooded my face as I wanted her to be here too. We had planned a trip as a family when Stephanie was alive. However, in the providence of God, that trip did not materialize.
Debra Cook, Asia’s Regional Coordinator for People to People Ministries, was sitting next to Melvine, and said to us, “If they (those early missionaries) could see us now.”
I didn’t say it at the time because I was so full of awe and adoration, but later thought about the Great Cloud of Witnesses mentioned in the Book of Hebrews. It is recorded in . . .
Hebrews 12:1-3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider Him Who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
NIV
Somehow in the scheme of God’s overarching purposes, those early missionary pioneers and those Chinese people who responded to the claims of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom were looking on this evening with rejoicing and cheering us onward.]
Posted on Thu, May 7, 2015 by Hugh Morgan