雜崩能閱讀報告
JBL Reading Report

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My greatest thank you should go to my lovely wife, Constance Wun. Her wholehearted support for me to selfishly and willfully engage in this academic endeavour and in my ministry, which often translates into her lonely effort in raising the family and running her race, is a sacrifice that I can never repay. She has been, is, and will be my most treasured partner in serving the Lord together. With my deepest love and affection, this thesis is dedicated to her.

I am also indebted to my two sons, Alpha, 6 and a half, and Archer, 5, for hiding in my office and not spending enough time playing with them. I hope someday they will understand that their sacrifices are for the benefit of Christ's church; and thus I hope they will be merciful to their father.

I must thank my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wai Shing Yu, my aunt Ms. Lisa Chan, and my parents-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Patrick Wun. Without their help in taking care of my children (and also me and my wife) and allowing me a lot of free time for studying and traveling, my academic pursuit would not be possible.

My gratitude goes to my former and present colleagues at Ambassadors For Christ in Canada, who tolerated my rather frequent absence in the office to finish this degree. They have also offered help in executing this research project in countless ways. The members of The Jubilant, who agreed to be my guinea pigs by participating in this project, should be acknowledged, particularly for filling out the one-hundred-and-twenty-questions spiritual assessment twice. From within the above two groups, special thanks goes to Matthew Lee, who diligently recorded and edited the worship discipleship sessions for me; Maggie Cheng, Janice Lau and Karen Chan, who created for me the feeling of a full band with only a piano; Lorraine Cheung, who gave me advice on evaluating the project and more importantly prayed for me with persistence; my dear brother Wayne Kwok, who would do whatever I ask him to do, including acting, singing and reading four chapters of John in one pass; and finally Chi Kin Ho, Erico Chan and George Chan, for an unmentionable reason.

I would like to thank King Long Tse, my research assistant, who has taken care of the tedious tasks of data entry, data analysis and translating all the Chinese materials into English amidst his most busy schedule. His faithfulness should be honoured.

I wish to say thank you to my pastors Rev. Gladys Tsang and Rev. Anders Tsang at Westside Baptist Church, Vancouver, British Columbia for their continuous prayer support. I thank also my adult Sunday school classes who diligently attended my early morning classes on worship. Through teaching them, many of my ideas on the theology on worship were sharpened.

I should also acknowledge Professor Darrell W. Johnson of Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia, and my supervisor for my master's research. He was the first one to challenge me in pursuing further study on worship theology for the sake of the Chinese churches. I thank God for his vision and encouragement.

The instructors and staff members at the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies have been my inspiration in many aspects. I am truly grateful that this school even exists. It changed my life and the lives of many others. Special thanks go to my thesis supervisor Dr. Jack Van Marion, who always kept his promise by returning my email within four days as well as gave me timely encouragement; and my thesis directors Dr. Gerald Borchert and Dr. Keith Ray, without whose ruthless scrutinizing and challenging of my ideas, the proposal for this thesis could not be formulated.

Last but not least, how can I not give tribute to the Heavenly Father? While people admire my ingenuity in pursuing doctoral education, only He knows how unworthy I am for my achievement today. None of the merits generated by this project, my ministry and my life should be awarded to me but only to Him. Amen.

Labels: Personal

Posted by Alan Yu on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 9/29/2009 10:03:00 PM | Permalink