SPAC Pastors’ School was held from 12-14 May 2016 at Kasih Sayang Resort Kota Kinabalu. The themewas “Word:To preach and Live.” 30 pastors participated in this camp and the Honorary Bishop, Rev. Hwa Yung was invited to give words of encouragement. Rev Hwa Yung spent three seesions to encourage all pastors to build up a keen interest in the Word of God. He said, “As preachers of God’s words we have to read the Bible diligently with the presence of the Holy Spirit. We need to be sensitive to guidance of the Holy Spirit. Besides that, as pastors, we need to live out the words of God; we need to build a reliable good conduct of faith.”

Rev Hwa exhorted all pastors to pay attention to spirituality and morality. He said, “The AUTHORITY of preaching doesn’t depend on your position or hierarchy. A good preacher doesn’t rely on his speech ability, but the enpowerment of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual authority; that is the presence of Holy Spirit. A good preacher needs to influence his listeners, and what he says would have life changing effect on the audience and to bring them to Christ.

Lastly, Rev Hwa emphasized that a pastor needs to have daily devotion and he needs to read a lot of books to enhance his spirituality. Apart from that he must learn to live a prayerful life of one or two hours each day with the Lord. As for character building, a pastor must bear in mind to pursue holiness. With all these, one is only qualified to be a pastor.

During the gathering, the pastors had a great time listening to the teachings of Rev Hwa while they also enjoyed a relaxing time together. Moreover, individual pastorcould also spend time with the president of SPAC or Rev Hwa Yung to get advice, encouragement, blessing and to be prayed over.

Reported by Rev Tee Kwok Chiang
Translated by Christina