TRAC School for Intercessors - 16-18 July 2006

This was the first time that TRAC has organized a School for Intercessors. A little history may help the reader. At the last TRAC Prayer Conference (III) held in Port Dickson in February 2006, it was felt that there is a need for more training and teaching in this area of intercession. This School for Intercessors was the result. Ms Wee Lay Ching of Singapore who was the speaker at the February Prayer Conference was invited back to be the speaker, or shall we say, trainer, of the School.

So on the evening of Friday 16 July 2006, 55 people from eight different TRAC churches converged at the Stella Maris retreat center by the sea in Tanjung Tokong, Penang. A first glance at the schedule was intimidating! Up at 6 am in the mornings, followed by a physical workout! And we thought prayer was easy work? On the Saturday it was to be a full day, and I mean a full day! TRAC President, Rev. Ong Hwai Teik, was quick to allay the fears by putting out a more 'relaxed' amended time-table.

Ms Wee Lay Ching sort of continued from where we left off at Port Dickson. In February, beside another stretch of water, we left with the thought that the Lord is seeking to do some great work in the Methodist Church starting from the island of Penang. Hence the choice of venue of the School. Also, Wesley Penang is the oldest Methodist Church in Malaysia, not only the oldest TRAC church. Missionaries from Singapore started this church community on the Straits Settlement island in 1891. This year will be the 115th Anniversary of Penang Wesley.

Lay Ching must have been thinking a lot about the historical background of the churches on the island because she outlined waves of revival that have swept the island. Will a tsunami of revival hit the island? It was interesting that this very venue was one place that was hit by the tsunami on 26 December 2004. Is God going to do a mighty work in our midst starting at the very historical root of the Methodist movement?

Mdm. Khor Kheng Hong, the prayer coordinator of Wesley Penang, shared on the new Hokkien service that started on 30 April 2006 in the church. Again, this was a continuation of what she shared at the February Prayer Conference regarding the miraculous deliverance in September 2005 of a teenager who suffered under demonic attacks. As a result, 9 members (from three families) of her extended family came to the Lord. Other conversions continue right to this day.

The topics Lay Ching dealt with were 'The Makings of a Movement', 'Developing Prayer Models' and 'Dealing with the roots of Prayerlessness'. There were times of ministry where people came forward to be prayed for. The churches represented were also prayed for specifically.

Brief testimonies were shared with one another before we stopped for lunch prior to departure. Most left with a sense of expectancy of what the Lord is going to do and also a keen sense of comradeship as members of the greater body of TRAC. We felt the need for our home church to be praying and interceding for one another so that the 'the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea' (Habakkuk 2:14).

Tan Har Yong
Wesley Methodist Church
Penang

Editor’s note:
TRAC is planning another school from 3-5 November, called “School for Intercessors Season 2”.