Did you attend RICE Regenerate Praise: Still and, like us, are blown away & excited by what God is doing in our midst? Were you personally challenged to stop and be still before God?
We’re really amazed at how God is using RICE Regenerate to bring people together under His name & to get us all fired up & passionate to see revival in our churches & our city.
A personal testimony from someone who attended STILL: “I was reminded on the night that being still before God is to trust & rely on Him for strength & wisdom. When I get too caught up the busyness of life & especially in ministry, it is then that I rely on my own human strength & abilities. For me, being still is remembering that it is God who sustains me & reenergises me & I’m just His vessel – as if He needs me to do His work! Acknowledging this truth refocuses my heart, humbles me & helps me remember my place before Him. I was reminded at STILL how important this is if I’m going to be effective in ministry in the long run.”
We thought that while the night is still fresh in our minds that you’d love to meet again with us to mingle & chat over casual drinks & dinner at the highly anticipated Regenerate Bar Night. 
It would be a refreshing mid-week break away from the busyness of work & life.
DETAILS:
Slip Inn (downstairs Garden Bar)
6 May, Thursday
111 Sussex St, Sydney (map)
5.30pm-9pm (Stay as long as you like!)
Why not come along & share with us & each other what you took away from Still? – we’re sure that each one of us were moved in different ways. And if you missed out on the night, come along to find out what the buzz is about & how you can get involved with what God is doing with RICE Regenerate!
See you & your friends there!
As part of the program for Still, we asked 2 artists to paint ‘live’ on the night. The idea was for them to paint spontaneously as they were inspired & prompted by God. It was the first time we tried something like this at a RICE event. As it turned out, one of the paintings received such overwhelming response that we’ve asked the artist (who wishes to remain anonymous) what they wished to do with it. As requested by the artist, the amazing piece of artwork is going up for auction!
The artist would like to share the story behind it:
“I never expected such a response towards this painting, & I’m deeply grateful that God has used me in this way to worship and glorify Him. I also want to thank Regenerate for giving me this opportunity to try something new.
I could never have created this painting without inspiration from God. For starters, ever since I was asked, I’ve been fretting about what I would draw or how I’d do it. I looked up the internet for ideas & considered just using one of them because I couldn’t come up with anything myself. I spent some time praying about it & others prayed for me as well. Up till a couple of hours before RICE Regenerate, two ideas just came to my mind within the span of 15 minutes! I was like, wow, I spent the whole week thinking about it and all of a sudden these great ideas just popped into my head! I became really excited but at the same time unsure, especially with the storm painting since I didn’t think I’d be able to paint the picture in my mind. For starters, I always spend hours, like at least 5-6 on a painting, & I’d never done speed painting before because I’m very meticulous. Secondly, I tend to use references when I paint, just cause it’s much easier & I’m not skilled enough to draw freehand. The place was pretty dark as well, and so I wasn’t sure how the colors would turn out. Last of all, I’d be painting in front of heaps of people!
But everything turned out GREAT. I had a BLAST painting & singing & worshipping, zero nervousness. It was the most fun I’d ever had painting a picture like that. When I had a chance to step back & look at my painting from a distance, it was much better than I thought. Painting up close I couldn’t really see it like that. I thought it captured the idea of being still quite nicely.
Anyways, I’m not sure if I can paint like that again. But I know that despite my doubtfulness God is great and I hope He’ll continue to use me to paint for Him because it’s something I do enjoy!”
As the artist has requested, the proceeds from this auction will go towards RICE & South Summer Youth Camp (SSYC).
If you’d like to take part in this auction, visit the Facebook event. Bidding will commence at 10am on 1st of May & end at 10am on 3rd of May. Bidding will start at $1.
Photos by Sam Koh
Music: “God of Second Chances” – Carlos Whittaker
Thank God for an amazing Spirit-filled & Word-Centered night at Still! It was wonderful to see over 300 people gathered together in Kirkplace auditorium (some sitting in seats & others on the floor) for the one purpose of praising God.
The theme rang out loud & clear throughout the night, with great music, short video clips, skit, paintings & the creative response all coming together to steer hearts toward God. It was amazing to hear everyone sing with one voice -
“The people behind the sound desk kept having to raise the volume of the band just to keep up with the congregation!”, commented Trevor Hodge who led the music.
Pastor Peter Ko gave a talk on Psalm 46, which challenged us to reflect on where our identities lie & what/who our idols are – whether we’re so caught up in our work or even our ministries that we’ve forgotten our place before our mighty God, the One who can calm the fiercest storms & make wars cease. He reminded us that the only way we can be still & stop is when we remember who God is & focus our lives on the cross of Jesus. And as people responded in repentance to the message, it was so encouraging to see the creative response wall being plastered on with descriptions of who God is.
We hope that everyone who attended Still took away something from the night. It might have been an opportunity for you to refocus your life onto God. It might be that you were challenged to slow down in your work or your ministry. It might have prompted you to reflect on who/what defines you. Or you might even have responded by committing your life to God for the first time. Whatever it is that God spoke to you through the night, we hope that you would continue to talk to one another about it. We were so encouraged to see people praying together even after the formal part of the evening.
But it doesn’t just end there. Our prayer is that as we respond by aligning our hearts to God’s, that it would make an impact on every area of our lives & overflow in the way we love one another, serve in our churches & bring the wonderful news of Jesus into our city & our world.
Thank you to all who helped out in every way – it was great serving with you! But most of all, we praise our awesome & wonderful God, who so graciously put everything together & whose Spirit was at work in people’s hearts. To Him be the glory forever & ever! Amen.
In His service,
The RICE Regenerate team
If you’d like to share & encourage everyone about what you personally took away from Still, do drop us an email at regenerate@riceevent.org.au. We’d love to hear from you & may post some of your responses up on the blog (with your consent, of course)!
Due to a number of requests, we’ve posted up the songlist from Still on the ‘Songs’ tab. Enjoy!
