Leading to Archippus Awakening’s 7th anniversary celebration on 20 August 2021, congratulatory messages poured in. Naville wrote to Pastor Henson, “Archippus Awakening is not just one person’s journey from AA (Assembly Area) to AO (Area of Operation). On this 7th Anniversary, you are joined by countless others. ‘Awakened. Aligned. Assigned.’ shall also no longer stand as a motto, but a mandate. Onward, Archippusses. All for Him!”
How aptly put!
At the event, Pastor Henson was joined by more than 150 guests from Singapore and the nations. In the slideshow put together by Soon Hin, featuring the seven initiatives of Archippus Awakening, we saw one man running. Then, faces after faces flashed past and towards the end, many ones were running. These were not merely pictures of different events of Archippus Awakening, these were testimonies of God’s grace over the past seven years. From one man running, Pastor Henson is now joined by ‘countless others’ who are awakened towards kingdom assignments for the glory of King Jesus.
When Team Archippus first viewed the slideshow, a few of us who had been praying with Pastor Henson in the early days of Archippus Awakening were close to tears. Our hearts welled up with gratitude towards faithful God who answered our prayers to see the message of Archippus Awakening go out. Prayer undergirding the work of Archippus Awakening came through strongly in Siew Hoon’s testimony that evening. Another ‘pioneer Archippus’, Anna, articulated how she witnessed God bring Archippus Awakening from day one till now. It was a heartfelt and beautiful testimony that touched many hearts.
In an opening activity, Andrew got all web-cams of Archippuses from Singapore turned off so that only Archippuses from the nations could be seen on the screen. What a prophetic sight it was, to see that the message of Archippus Awakening has reached beyond the shores of Singapore to the nations. In fact, I have come to believe that the three most-spoken words that evening were not “Awakened. Aligned. Assigned.” but “Archippus Awakening….Beyond”.
Beyond Singapore, from Uganda, Juuko shared how he connected with Pastor Henson after receiving the teaching on “Knowing & Fulfilling Kingdom Assignments” at Tung Ling Bible School. He testified that since receiving the Archippus Awakening message, he found that his entire perspective of ministry has shifted from the four-walled church to the greater mission of the kingdom of God. Hallelujah!
Dr Amos, our guest speaker for that evening, hit the Archippian nail right on when he reminded Archippuses to advance the kingdom through our kingdom assignments beyond the church. As Pastor Henson would say, isn’t this ‘building the arc’ – a community of almost anonymous ones faithfully bringing kingdom influence into our areas of operation and spurring one another on. Daryl, our young Archippus, put it this way, “…what leaves the deepest impressions is having the AA message speak directly into my daily life, and to have the privilege and joy of knowing and journeying with fellow Archippuses.”
Right after Pastor Henson delivered his message on God’s faithfulness and awesomeness in and through the work of Archippus Awakening, the shofar sounded a clarion call “Into the 8th year… and Beyond”. In his message, he reminded us simple yet powerful principles as Archippus Awakening moves into the 8th year, “Don’t compare with others. Don’t commend ourselves. Don’t covet or crave others’ assignments. Don’t cross into others’ AOs. Boast only in the Lord. His commendation is the only commendation that matters.” Amen.
Pastor Henson’s senior pastor at Full Gospel Assembly, Pastor Rhordon, prayed a powerful prayer of blessing over him and the work of Archippus Awakening.
Before I conclude, special mention must be made of Elaine who led the team to put the celebration together, Pastor Susheel and his worship team (Christina, Evelyn and Fayth), Reuben and the emcee team (Lay Leng, Maria, Gideon and Augustine), Cecilia and Yeen Peng and the welcome team. Salute Team Archippus!
Archippus! The days are evil. The time is short. Would you join me to pray and ask God how you should run your race in these urgent times, beyond Covid-19, beyond the church, beyond Singapore.
He is worthy of it all.