MCO Heroes
美佳之窗 His Window 91（ Jul – Sep 2020 ）
Text by Eden Ho-Dawson
The church has left the building as congregations have been asked to halt our
physical traditional services and suspend all group gatherings due to the pandemic of the Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. Fellowship is one of the major factors that keeps the church growing, it’s one of the things that we do best. Every week we meet in youth groups, life groups, coffee chats, tea breaks, bible studies, and more.
So, what happens when churches need to close their doors? How can we find ways to connect, to be a church when physical gathering is out of the question? When the government announced the movement control order, the church had less than 3 days to learn how to live stream, how to pre-record worship, how to ‘move’ the church online, and we had to learn quickly.
We are reminded during this season that the church isn’t just the building, it is the people. In this season we thank God for a group of creative individuals who have stepped up to bring church to our very own homes.
Before we have a chat with some of our teams, here is a rough idea of what happens behind the scenes in order to put together the one-hour service every week for the past 4 months.
How did we spend our time during MCO?
- Worship Team : Preparation and recording // 1 day to prep and 2 hours
to record - Sermon : Preparation and recording // 3 days to prep and 3 hours to record
- Celebration Leader : Preparation and recording // 2 hours
- Social Media Team : Planning, designing, and engaging the online community // 4 - 5 hours
- Video filming / editing / uploading : 15 hours
- Audio editing : 5 - 10 hours
These are some of our many MEGA/MEC MCO HEROES!
Matthew Khoo (Matthew is our MEC video editor and videographer)
What was your thought process when you said yes to being our video editor and videographer during this whole MCO?
The last Sunday before MCO started I was approached to help out with the Sunday broadcast as a videographer and editor, and after some thinking I decided to take up the challenge since I enjoy filming and editing and I could serve God at the same time. However, everybody thought that this was just going to last for two weeks and church will resume back as usual, but it increased from two weeks to four weeks, then a few months and it was definitely exhausting when the MCO prolonged. But, I have never failed to continue to have the passion and energy to continue doing this, and I think that God has called me to be here for a reason, knowing that He has never stopped blessing me with the motivation and inspiration to do so.
What do you think God is doing through the church during the MCO?
In my opinion, God has really pushed us as a church to start doing broadcasting and livestreaming, although we have been relatively slow to do so. The ministry has only been set up at the start of 2020. Throughout the process of filming and editing I have come to the realization that this season is teaching the church to be more well equipped in unforeseen circumstances.
Now that we are slowly recovering and moving back to physical worship, what has God taught you in this season?
I think throughout this MCO period, God has really made a lot of us realize that the church is not just a building but it is people. You don’t have to necessarily gather on Sunday to feel or worship God but you can do it in your own homes with the right heart. God has definitely taught me multiple things in this season such as being efficient and not procrastinating things as I usually would. To be honest, looking back at these few months I am really surprised that I have never failed to constantly put out videos for MEC’s Sunday Livestream and I have so much persistence to never procrastinate although there are times that it was definitely tiring. But I really think and know that God has guided and molded me into a better person during this MCO period.
Brian (MEC Sound crew)
Brian helps with the audio recording of all the worship recording during CMCO and RMCO.
What was your thought process when you started coming in to church during CMCO and RMCO to help with the weekly worship recording?
I’m happy and excited because it is my first time doing pre-recording and it falls on the weekday which means I can rest on Saturday before church reopen. Initially I did struggle because I have to work during the day and it is my first-time doing recording. There was an occasion where the recording “crashed”, and I was completely speechless. I contacted Joshua to assist me with the troubleshooting. I’m glad each time I’m in a difficult situation he’s the angel that is always there. For each recording session I will arrive early to setup, to ensure everything works. Before I start, I will pray at the 3m counter, pat my shoulder and say: Lord Jesus give me your strength, wisdom, peace and grace, I surrender to you, for your honour and glory Amen.
What do you think God is doing through the church during the MCO?
I thank God that during the MCO He never failed to protect us and lead the church through this unprecedented time of trouble.
Now that we are slowly recovering and moving back to physical worship, what has God taught you in this season?
God taught me to listen to my heart, my inner voice, be calm in every situation and to be joyful. Joy is not just a state of mind. It is not a fleeting emotion. Joy is a very real force, and the devil doesn’t have anything that can stand up against it. Just as fear has to yield to faith, discouragement has to yield to joy. Joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, you already have it residing within you. You must develop it, confess it, live by it if you want to enjoy its power. Whatever circumstances you are facing today, you can be full of joy. You can be strong in the Lord. You can draw on the supply of the Holy Spirit within you and come out on top.
Yue Chen (Team leader of our visual media team)
Yue Chen and her team (Brayden, Yue Li, Natalie and Matthew) designs, plan, and engages with our online community weekly through creative and engaging posts on facebook and instagram. The visual media team also engages with our online congregation every Sunday during our live broadcast.
What creative ways and platforms do you use to reach out to people when we can’t gather physically?
As part of MEC’s visual media ministry, we reach out to people and our congregation through social media, mainly through Facebook and Instagram! To keep them connected and informed about what is happening in the church despite not being able to gather physically. The greatest struggle would be getting a burnt-out in coming out with the best/creative way to convey a particular message loud and clear.
Bringing church from the physical to the digital platform, what are the areas that we need to focus on to create an engaging online service?
I personally think that creating an engaging online service is by establishing a sense of community.
MEC has set up “Conversations at Hebrews” with the idea of bringing the conversations we usually have at Hebrews Cafe online! It is a solid 15 minute before the online service for the congregation to connect with one another and get excited for church like how they usually did when we were still able to gather physically.
We also have moderators serving every week to keep the chat flowing. Welcoming and encouraging one another with the word of God. So that our congregations, especially those who are doing online church alone every week, would not feel lonely, knowing that there are so many more people who are doing church together with them!
Now that we are slowly recovering and moving back to physical worship, what has God taught you in this season?
During the MCO, I’ve learned that God never intended for us to live the Christian life alone. I’ve learned that community is essential to practicing faith and that we are all called to be committed to the community. Because a Christian life is meant to be lived in the community and a Christian community simply means sharing our everyday life in Christ: serving, loving, forgiving, encouraging, building, correcting, praying for one another, and bearing each other’s burdens.
Silver (Audio Engineer)
Silver helps with tuning and mastering the audio for the worship recording every week during MCO and CMCO.
What was the process involved doing a home recorded worship set?
It was an-eye opening process! Tuning and mixing wasn’t exactly my forte, it was something I’d usually have to do once per semester in university for my finals and definitely something I dreaded. But the fact that we had to do this every single week was a really good training ground! Throughout the weeks, I could see everyone improve and getting the hang of how things flow. Even though it was a simple 20 minutes worship set, there was actually a lot of work put into it behind the scenes. From Eden and Daniel recording and leading in one take, to me tuning their vocals and mixing the instruments to make everything sound nice and balanced, and Matthew editing the videos for worship, sermon and everything
else, all in a single week! It was definitely quite the process. I’m really grateful for the chance to get to work with such an efficient and talented team of people! Also very thankful that God placed me here, back home during a time like this so that I’d be able to help out.
What do you think God is doing through the church during the MCO?
I definitely see God moving during this MCO. The church has been helping out a lot of people. Be it the church as a whole or the people individually, it’s really comforting to see the community help each other out at times like this. Yes, there are definitely factors that are challenging but despite those factors, time and time again God has revealed a lot of things that really made us regain faith in humanity and most importantly faith in the Lord.
Now that we are slowly recovering and moving back to physical worship, what has God taught you in this season?
During the MCO period, I got the chance to watch online services with my family and it’s been awhile since I’ve got to do that, because both my parents, my brother and I attend different services. But I think attending church online with my family has really brought us closer than ever. God has also made me appreciate being able to worship in church physically. As we slowly go back into physical worship services, it’s definitely be slightly different because of the new SOPs but then again, fellowship is a part of worship and being able to fellowship and worship with other brothers and sisters physically would definitely be nice!
Pastor Matthew (MEC Pastor)
What was your thought process when the church can’t gather physically for a long period of time, and the thought process of bringing church on-line?
When the announcement came that church was going to be shut down for two Sundays, I knew that it would be longer. Covid-19 was beginning to spike in Malaysia, and indeed, we were shut down for more than just two weeks. My first reaction to the suspension of physical church was, “What will I do on Sundays?” Having been in church on every Sunday of the week every year, since I was born, this was something weird and unusual. However, the next thing I did was to actually remind myself that church was not shut down, church is still going on, albeit differently.
Going online has allowed us to explore a different avenue of reaching out to our congregation and beyond. So, we as a team decided right from the start, that our content has to be creative, exciting, and engaging. It was certainly exciting to watch the team with all its gifts and talents coming together weekly, contributing ideas and thoughts to make our broadcast better. We were certainly kept busy with the hassle of weekly contents, and having to work around the restrictions of MCO. But, it was all worth it when each Sunday, the content we produced could be a blessing to those watching.
What do you think God is doing through the church during the MCO?
Throughout the MCO, I believe, God is positioning the church in an “uncomfortable” situation, to help propel us even further than before. It is so encouraging to see the church serving the community even more, praying even more, and being even more united in fellowship, worship, and service. It is my firm believe that the church will come out of the MCO with a renewed vision and mission to serve their neighbours and to be innovative and creative in bringing the gospel to the world.
Now that we are slowly recovering and moving back to physical worship, what has God taught you in this season?
Personally, the MCO has really taught me how to live out the words of 2 Timothy 2:42 to be ready in and out of season. It was not easy coming up with sermons, and Bible study materials (all while trying to handle a cranky toddler), but I have certainly grown to be more efficient and most importantly, dependent on God. As a church, I believe God has brought us through this season to teach us that we are indeed a congregation blessed with many gifts and talents. If we come together in unity and generosity, God can certainly use all of us for His great purpose in our church, and in our community.
So, we are back to physical worship (with restrictions), and it is refreshing to be back in our worship space, being able to see each other face-to-face (with masks and distancing), most importantly, with wonderful memories of how God is still faithful to us, in spite of the current ongoing crisis.
A total of an approximately 3 days was spent to put together our one-hour service every week. MEC are blessed beyond words how God used these amazing individuals to devote their time, gift, creativity and heart into our online church. We would like to do a quick shout out to everyone that was involved behind the scenes, behind the camera, tirelessly recording and putting up content to serve our church and the people: Our Celebration Leaders - Philip Tan, Mark Dawson, Yue Chen Foo and Dylan Loke; Our Worship Team - Daniel Woon, Dylan Loke, Jia Qian Toh, Andrea Goh, Eden Ho, Silver Lim, and Jia Wei Gan. Couldn’t have done it without our amazing team of volunteers.
May all glory and honour and praise be unto our Christ Lord Jesus, Amen.
