GETTING READY: The crowd at their own seats waiting for the programme to start.
SIBU: Heavy downpour did not dampen the spirit of 10,000 Christians gathering for the grand finale of the Methodist Prayer Convention 2011 at Sibu Town Square on Sunday evening.
Carrying umbrellas and raincoat-clad, many were there as early as 6.30pm.
Rain pelted down at 6.45pm but stopped 15 minutes later just as the night’s programme was about to begin.
President of Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference (SCAC) Rev Datuk Dr Su Chii Ann started the ball rolling with his acknowledgement of God’s blessing of the special event.
The place was filled with roar of cheers when Dr Su said God had showered upon his blessings to the event through a change of weather to start the programme.
Sarawak Iban Annual Conference (SIAC) president Rev Steward Damat who spoke later, won thunderous cheers.
During the praise and worship session, many participants were moved to tears as they lifted their hands and looked heaven-ward.
The combined choir led in the singing of Psalm 1 and the Prayer of St Francis at the Zion Methodist Church-led praise and worship session.
There was also a prayer session led by Rev Tie King Tai, and a sermon about spreading Scriptural Holiness and Transforming the Nation given by Rt Rev Bishop Hwa Yung.
“When the early Methodist Wesley Church was asked ‘What did God raise the Methodist for?’ The answer was to reform the nation and in particular the church to spread scripture holiness over the land,” the bishop said.
He also said that transformation could only take place if people could learn the lesson from Methodist Church founder John Wesley in his effort to transform the nation.
According to him, Wesley emphasised the power of prayer, holy living and blessings to make transformation a reality.
The bishop gave examples on how those three ways had brought about the changes in England, Africa and Korea.