I live my life based on a simple principle: Chasing that which produces eternal value or what I call Net Kingdom Profit. I want my life to count for the Kingdom.

But if I’m being honest, I spent a fair bit of time vacillating between cynicism and dutiful hope in the lead-up to the Celebration of Hope (COH).

Before I served in the social media team at COH, I had my doubt that a mass evangelistic rally was the way to reach young people. I thought something more personal like relational evangelism or Alpha groups would be more effective.

But on the Wednesday before COH, as I looked up at the bleachers from the pitch of the National Stadium during a recce trip, that was when I realised what this was all about. 

Standing in the hot air hanging in the stadium’s dome, I internalised that I had been given a small role to play by God.

Every time I wrote up something based on what a COH leader like Bishop Rennis Ponniah said, or covered mass events like PraySingapore that heralded the “big one” that was coming in May 2019, I had played that role and now there was going to be fruit of eternal value.

That was the first time I began to feel genuinely excited for COH.

On Friday evening, as I walked up the flight of stairs to the Media Tribune area and saw thousands of people streaming in to take their seats for the first rally, I became excited. As worship reverberated throughout the stadium, I was stirred with passion.

And as I saw thousands listen to the Good News and come down to respond to the salvation call, something clicked within me.

I’ve long heard it said that even if there was one person on the world, Jesus would still die for him or her, but the power of that truth never sunk in until the moment I looked upon a stadium pitch packed with souls.

I realised then that even if only one person had responded out of all the rallies, COH would still have been a success.

Because what are a few years of effort compared to the life of the Son of God?

Hours after the first rally, I boarded a taxi to get home. And tired as I was, I found myself sharing about God with the driver — something I hadn’t done in quite some time.

It was humbling to realise that for someone who’s so big on Net Kingdom Profit, I had been hiding my laziness to share Christ in the excuse that I would be better served evangelising in a more relevant setting to my peers. I guised my apathy to my fellow men under the notion that mass rallies were passé.

As the driver thanked me for the conversation, I realised I had spent enough time engaged in unproductive, passive cynicism. That was the point I fully embraced the privilege of just doing whatever it takes to share Christ and glorify God — whether in big stadiums or small cars.

As I reflected over the weekend, I just kept thinking back to this one phrase that had popped into my head on Friday night: All you can do, is all you can do.

I’m certain now that I must be faithful to what is placed in my hands.

If I could turn back time before COH, I wouldn’t have wasted time doubting or giving excuses – I’d just do all I can. Man, I think we complicate a lot of things when it comes to the Gospel. 

All that matters is that we do all it takes, to reach all we can.

Were you at the Celebration of Hope? If you have a memorable encounter to share, we’d love to hear about it. Email us at [email protected]!

For more personal reflections on the Celebration of Hope, read How much more is there to talk about hope?