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I Believe – CFCI Singles Conference 2013

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Blossom Rodrigues, declared the Conference open and explained the theme of the conference saying “Believe in the one whom he has sent” as given to us in the bible.

Tito A.V. Jose who welcomed the gathering of singles, told them that they would become different people as they leave the place. He urged them to ask the Lord to open their eyes, so they may see wonder and heart so they may invite Jesus to dwell there and lead their life.

Praise and worship in the morning was lead by Basil Rodrigues who shared that as he saw the excitement of the singles there, he was excited as well.

The first teaching given by Jerson James began with an exercise where the singles were asked to write down their experiences in listening to God and listening to their friends. When most of them found that they had difficulty in listening to God, he spoke about three main reasons for this – We have rejected God, We are indifferent to him and we have chosen to act in ways, which “hide his face from us”.

Myvilia Dias shared her testimony on how difficult it was for her to forgive people in her life and how she struggled to do this, despite the challenge.

Day one had an eventful afternoon where the teams were asked to perform various tasks. Each task was assigned to one CFCI Single who saw to it that the task was done by every team member. On the completion of one task the groups were given the next.

The groups were seen singing hymns, doing action songs, singing and solving puzzles among other things.

Dolrich lead the singles into worship for the second half followed by the next session on the Heart of God, given by Levin Gomes.

Levin while speaking about the Love of God stressed that no matter what; God has not stopped loving his people. He said 'God is who he is. It has nothing to do with what happens to us'. Therefore hurt is a result of the choices made by man and not God’s choices. — Levin while speaking about the Love of God stressed that no matter what; God has not stopped loving his people. He said ‘God is who he is. It has nothing to do with what happens to us’. Therefore hurt is a result of the choices made by man and not God’s choices.

Brian shared his testimony on how he had made bad choices in his life. He said that despite the bad choices he made, God still loved him and tried to bring good out of those situations.

The next session was conducted by Joshua Cordeiro, who spoke about God’s will. He stated that God does not have a definite blueprint for each person. He spoke about certain misconceptions such as God having a definite plan for marriage, career, family and death. He stressed that the will of God is only to know him, love him and serve him and everything else should fall in doing this will.

The final attraction for the day was Wear your Pun, where each delegation had to come forward and present their puns through actions and costumes.

The award for the best puns went to the Mangalore delegation.

The second day started with rosary, followed by mass celebrated by Fr. Justin and led by the Bangalore delegation.

After breakfast the singles gathered for praise and worship, led by Elvis Dias.

The next session was the Open Forum, conducted by Fr Justin, Jerson James, Joshua Cordeiro, Levin Gomes, Blossom Noronha, Tita Suzette de Sousa and Ehrlson de Sousa. They cleared certain questions that the singles had on the sessions that were given earlier about God’s will in people’s lives. Fr Justen, speaking at the forum, urged the people not to read random verses from the bible that are out of context and try to apply it in life.

It was followed by a session conducted by Tita Suzette, was an examination of the conscience, an inspection of the areas in life that were not aligned to God. With the Blessed Sacrament being exposed on the altar, Suzette asked the singles to open their heart and go through the examination of conscience. She requested them to have a confession, if they felt the need to do so.

The next session on seeking the will of God, given by Ehrlson de Sousa, spoke on how not to seek God and how to seek God. He stressed that God’s will cannot be determined through séances, counselors, randomly opening the bible and relying on signs and human reasoning. He spoke about the ways in which to discern God’s will which includes God’s word, Godly counsel, Personal Bent/Desires, Divine Inspiration, Circumstances of our life and Signs. He said that we need to weigh the pros and cons of the situation we are in and make a decision. He said a decision making process should have a clear goal, knowledge, experience, consultation and time taken to think.

The last part of the day was the red and black party which started with a game where each of the teams were asked to come forward and show the maximum use of a prop they were given.

This was followed by dance and ended with a praise fest.

Day three started with rosary, followed by mass celebrated by Fr Justin.

The singles then gathered for praise and worship, which was led by Chernoll Mendonca.

The final session of the conference was given by Prajwal Pinto who spoke on the Road to Transformation. He spoke of trying versus training to align our lives to God, i.e. trying is not sufficient, but training is required to achieve a goal. He explained how one can achieve the fruit of the Spirit by training for it through various ways such as the Holy Eucharist, Reconciliation, fasting among others. Deidre shared her testimony on how the Sacrament of Reconciliation helped her in her efforts to overcome lust. Marissa Andrews also spoke about her life and testified that the Holy Eucharist had helped her in her struggle to love.

The singles were asked to do an action plan wherein, they were asked to find three problem areas in their life, the desired fruit based on these areas and the corresponding discipline. The singles were encouraged to work on this action plan to help them attain the fruit of the spirit.

After this, the pray over session was conducted wherein the Blessed Sacrament was placed before the singles and the formators prayed over each of their singles.

Elton and Vanessa Andrade were the compere for the conference guiding us through the course of the conference.

Faith Band, led by Glen Rodrigues, along with Jessica, Vanessa, Gavin, Errol and Jerry were the music ministry for the whole conference who led us into all praise and worship's and adoration, helping us come more and more closer to God, by singing and dancing in praise to our creator. — Faith Band, led by Glen Rodrigues, along with Jessica, Vanessa, Gavin, Errol and Jerry were the music ministry for the whole conference who led us into all praise and worship’s and adoration, helping us come more and more closer to God, by singing and dancing in praise to our creator.

Tito Jose addressed the Singles at the end of the conference encouraging them to come forward to serve God. He shared the conditions in which the youth of North India were serving God. He encouraged them to be open to serve God and to have hundreds of spiritual children.

Levin Gomes, National Singles Coordinator concluded the conference thanking God for his abundant blessings he had showered on us all these years, and interceding for every singles they might "believe" and practice this belief as they go their way. — Levin Gomes, National Singles Coordinator concluded the conference thanking God for his abundant blessings he had showered on us all these years, and interceding for every singles they might “believe” and practice this belief as they go their way.

Report by Petula Dias along with Official Conference Photographer Ian de Noronha
Check out a few more glimpses of the conference below.
Where you a part of this conference? Then do share your wonderful experience in the comment section below.

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Comments (12)

Jeminah Fred
ReplyOctober 21, 2013

The conference was truly the best, we felt so blessed for being there. Everything was so planned & yes, the interaction sessions, the games was awesome. Amazing job done by our couple co-ordinators & the entire confy team. God bless..
Maria Laveena
ReplyOctober 22, 2013

I truly don’t know whether i’m a happy and friendly person, as I come across. I even do not know whether i’m loved by all, but I had always considered to be one such person until recently.

A particular incident in my life had led my joyous ride, to utter dissappointment and desolation. Though I started to seek God, the ways to know him better was finite.

That was when I got introduced to the CFCI family, in Bangalore. It has been nearly five months now. God’s love has just transformed my life, in a magical way.

But sometimes, no matter how much God pours out his blessing in your life, you just keep doubting his handiwork.
Yes, you got it right! I was one such poor soul.

And to open my eyes wide open, I needed the CFCI National Singles Conference.
I could easily relate myself with every teaching, that was given.
God spoke to me many times, in various ways. When I was hearing a particular audio, I could hear a clear voice inside me… I immediately took my book and noted down.
The words were, “I have saved you before anything could go wrong.“

I realised that I had been wasting all my precious tears, instead of rejoicing in the Lord for protecting me and safeguarding me all the time.

At the conference, Deidre Fernandes’ sharing truly helped me to consider the value of forgiveness and it’s importance in my life.

Above all, during Joshua Cordeiro’s teaching, I realised that I have to start looking for jobs where i’m good at. With my previous company’s shut down, I was desperately looking for fancy tech-related jobs, rather than places where I can use my biggest advantage, my ‘Communication’. Thus, I have resoluted to apply for communication oriented jobs, than technical jobs.

I’m now truly happier, than I’ve ever been, to Know Him, Love Him, and Serve Him. Thank you for the amazing experience. Thank you for the best conference that I had ever been part of!

God bless 🙂
Mercy Joseph
ReplyOctober 22, 2013

It was indeed a blessing to have recently attended the National Singles Conference. I went really not knowing what to expect, yet excited and craving to know God better. With every talk, the dust before my eyes got lifted. The first talk itself hit me hard, when I realized there were so many areas in my life where I had rejected God that I wasn’t even aware of. In the next talk on the Heart of God, I understood deeply how God is love, love and only love. The session on God’s will completely blew my mind at first, but slowly I realized that God doesn’t have a specific plan. I am just called to do His will, that is to know, love and serve Him. It was scary yet liberating to know that I had to take control of my life in accordance with His will.
We also had a wonderful time bonding during various games conducted. It felt amazing to be a part of such a large, loving family. We also had a beautiful Lords day celebration. After the adoration and confession I felt extremely liberated. Another inspiring session on how to discern God’s will answered many doubts I had in my heart. Finally the session on the road to transformation emphasized on how we should train and not try, and enumerated various spiritual disciplines to deal with various areas of temptation. It really simplified many things for me so I knew exactly how to go about working on those areas through an action plan.
All in all, it was a weekend well spent, a refreshing eye opener in many ways and more importantly it inspired me to strive towards holiness with more conviction than ever.
Elvis Dias
ReplyOctober 24, 2013

Conference was just ‘AWESOME!!’. It was my first singles conference and a really amazing one. Gained knowledge of God and His word and the best was getting to know about his plan in a whole new way… POPE to POPSTAR!! That was an awesome clip… Kudos to Josh!! Praise God!! Nobody threw a shoe at him…

Faith band was Uplifting as always, and leading worship along with them gave me an altogether different experience of worship… I couldn’t stop praising God! This is where I had my experience of the presence of Christ and the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
The other sessions, Jerson, Ehrlson, Tito Prajwal, and Levin were enlightening in their own entertaining way.
The Open Forum session, is where reality was met, at this session solutions to daily problems were made available and doubts cleared, was a lovely panel.
Fr. Justin was the show stopper for me… the Holy Eucharist couldn’t get any more interesting and meaningful if it weren’t for him leading us through it and teaching us the meaning and importance of it, and more over the presence of Jesus, he made the intangible, tangible. Adoration and the pray-over was renewing and refreshing for me and my spirit.

And over to the action… The Pun ‘n’ Fun committee did a great job… the team I was in, won… all the more reason to rejoice!! 😛
Had a great Conference and am looking forward to many more in future. Till then… I Believe!! N I will Profess my Faith!!
This is Elvis… Diving of the boat!!
Amulya Rodrigues
ReplyOctober 24, 2013

I have been to many conferences before, as a CFCI youth and CFCI single. However, my experience this time was very different compared to the rest. I wish, I could say I was refreshed and my burdens were lifted, but no things took a different turn. I felt, I was commissioned for a battle; not the one that involved bringing people to Christ, but the one that dared to look into my own heart.

I didn’t want to take responsibility for my life and the way things are going. Attributing that responsibility to God helped me live with myself, I was afraid of losing. Throughout the conference and a while after that, the theme of the conference spelt “NO ESCAPE”.

But the fact was that I wasn’t afraid, I was proud. I couldn’t see myself lose, so I always tried remaining in my comfort zone. I kept telling myself, ‘You better be sure, you are taking the right step this time’, and hated myself whenever I failed.

My conference was not the three days that I spent at hotel Orion, but the weeks that followed after that. I had to fight my strongest enemy – myself. With the help and guidance of my pastoral leader and the support I received from my accountability partner, I didnt feel that I needed to “escape” anything. I took every step forward in Belief, knowing that I am weak and i’m bound to fail again.
I BELIEVE that every action is a learning experience,
I BELIEVE that my god is with me even when I hurt him,
I BELIEVE that his blood washes me, when i’m unworthy to praise him,
I BELIEVE not in the boat that I sail in but in the cross that I hold.
Kelvin Castelino
ReplyOctober 24, 2013

It all started with a super duper excitement of having a conference after break of two years. This time I was all set, no expectations set, was going to be open minded for all, see only the good things, grasp as much possible, and come as much closer to God.

So with all this in mind and heart stepped into a super duper conference i have ever attended I could say. Super duper not coz of the place, the arrangements, the food, the stay nope nothing of that sort of.
Superb coz of the knowledge I got in knowing and reflecting on the part, where I had gone wrong, where and how my stand was in front of God. With a roller coaster life, with knowing God’s love, where did i still stand in experiencing it, what was my level of Faith.

The poster of the conference actually spoke to me all about where I was stuck. That one step outside the boat was what I was scared of. I was happily cuddled up in my safe zone, but this conference allowed me to open for God to speak to me saying it was time I took that step out.

The most important part was also not just stepping out of the boat, but the part of holding onto cross, holding onto Jesus my saviour, by whose grace I had to step out, not on my own strength, but by the strength of Jesus.

Today some days after the conference,with the fire still burning in my heart, I could say yes, this conference did kindle a fire in almost everyone’s heart who gathered there. All who were thirsting for that relationship with God, were able to take their little baby steps just like I did.

The time of adoration, the time of reflection, the worship was all in all, just an time of awe for me to feel the presence of my dear Lord in me. Just felt that I wanted to bask in that moment forever. But thats when the Lord asked, not only you, but bring more and more people to me, so that they too may have the same experience just like you did.

So now, not that I am all super duper hyper actively going to people and sharing the word of God, no that much courage is what I was not able to build up at once, but one step at a time, yes one step near the edge of the boat has been taken, and this time no looking back, no feeling guilty, no crying if I fall, coz I know that my Lord will never let me go, and that I will never let him go. I Believe 🙂
Petula Dias
ReplyOctober 28, 2013

I believe – CFCI Singles conference 2013, was an eye opener or rather a shift in the way I thought was God’s plan. It definitely came as a surprise to me when I got to know that God does not have a definite plan for us, but his plan is to love him, know him and to serve him.
While this will take some time to digest, I now know that being in a particular place or taking a particular job is not what God has planned for me. I know I need to make my decisions based on what will glorify him and what will help me come closer to him.
The first talk to the session helped me to realize how I have shunned God in certain areas of my life and made me understand I need to ask God to take over. While we were speaking of the fruit of the spirit and had to take a questionnaire that gave us our scores as to which fruit is manifest in us and which is not, I was dumbstruck. I thought I was a good enough and kind enough person, but I was in for a surprise as I finished the questionnaire. I learnt I had to work on these areas.
The road to transformation, the last talk of the session helped me to pick up few areas of my life that I need immediate attention where the fruit can be manifest and how I can work on making these areas better. I also learnt about something called – training against trying, i.e. to train to achieve the gifts and not just stop at trying. By asking us to make an action plan, the team gave me the initial push I required.
The conference has certainly given me much to think about and lots to be accountable for. I know I need to base my decisions anymore on what will give glory to him. I cannot take the escape route that says – It was God’s plan all along!
Ligia Ribeiro
ReplyOctober 29, 2013

When I got to know that the National Singles conference was going to be conducted, I was super excited as it was going to be my first singles conference. As the conference began, meeting all my friends, the games and the gospel songs got me all the more excited. But when we received the first talk by Jerson, that’s when I came back to reality, came back to thinking about the life I led, about how I had rejected God, chose to work and act in ways that didn’t please him, and gradually I hid from him. Levin later said that ‘God will not stop loving his people, no matter what has happened to them’, motivated me to continue loving him even more. Joshua’s talk startled me initially when he said, ‘No, God doesn’t have a blue-print of your life. But I am called to do his will by knowing, loving and serving him; and that meant that I had to make my own choices and decisions. Erhlson’s and Prajwal’s session were one’s that I wished i had known earlier, about how to go about seeking the will of God and making Godly decisions.
It was a really amazing bonding time with my brothers and sisters from Mumbai, Goa, Mangalore and Pune. Conference was a real eye opener to me.
Amanda Monteiro
ReplyOctober 30, 2013

The conference was an awesome experience. It was more like a learning experience for me, as I learnt about the wonderful plan of God, for each one of us in our lives.

I learnt on how it is necessary to take charge of our lives, and take responsibility of every decision we make, and not put it all on God. I learnt how to discern God’s will in our life and how to make every decision based on His will. How to discern God’s will was something that I always kept wondering about, and yes I got my answer at the conference.

Something that really struck me during the conference was about training vs trying. It really made sense for me, as I always kept trying and kept wondering why do I fail each time I try, and I realized that I wasn’t training myself.

To sum it up every conference has something new and wonderful to teach us. I am looking forward for the next conference.
Andrea Vas
ReplyNovember 25, 2013

I had always believed that whatever happens in life is for the best and it’s God’s plan in my life.. Little did I realize that it really wasn’t meant to be that way.. The CFCI Singles conf’ I believe’ totally changed it all and kept me wondering about so many things that I was unaware about.. This conference really kept me thinking and brought a lot of my confusions to rest.
The first session made me realize as to why I struggle to experience God‘s closeness in my life..My lifestyles and worldly desires had prevented me from feeling his awesome presence. The questionnaire gave me an idea to what fruit I was lacking and gave me a closer look about my life..
The next session was about the heart of God.. the one thing that struck me was whatever come may but the Lord’s love is everlasting and he is the same and will be the same forever and because of his love, he gives us the free will. The choices we make in life is because of the free will given to us…but God brings good out of every situation..and every situation is an experience of knowing God better and closer.
The 3 session was about God’s will in my life and how to apply it in life thru r relationships and day to day living. And that my choices should lead me to God and bring ppl to his love.
The further sessions was about God’s plan in our lives.. but his perfect plan involves us making choices that are coinciding with his plan in our lives. In every choice we make whether right or wrong, god is actively present being our strength and brings out good out of every situation.
Session 5 was about returning to God. Examining one’s self in areas that we disobey God and response to it is by truly repenting to our Father and trusting him that he will lift us up and make us new.
The 6th session was how to/not to discern God’s will in our lives. That how we need to take a decision that is right with God and that every experience will lead to understanding of his will in our lives.
The road to transformation helped me work on the fruit that I lack and working on the corresponding discipline has helped me grow as a better person, helped me respect my relations with my family. The true meaning of participating in the Eucharist has given me a whole new experience of how great is God s love for me and how much I mean to him.
Summarizing it all, if we truly believe in his mighty power and focus on him, we can experience the change in our lives and this conference was eye opener to me in understanding his will in my life and gave me awesome realization of his everlasting love.
Alvin
ReplyDecember 11, 2013

Life has been like a rollercoaster ride to say the least. There have been exciting highs and sometimes frighting lows, going through my stressful and busy life I missed out on small important things. I had seen myself turn into man of sawdust, who just blew and followed the wind.. whatever people would say, whatever was popular was fine with me. I always second guessed myself, never really found myself on solid ground. All my values, principles and morals were nothing more than a blurry image. Coming into singles for christ and going for the conference helped me realise the important things in life. Making time for God, personal pray and living in accordance to christian values. Somewhere it made me realise who I really was under the superficial me. How my expectations from my religion should be what I can do for you God ? and not what God can give me? How I could look to scripture for guidance. Attending the conference gave me confidence that i am blessed with Free will and God will bless my decisions in life, this has helped me be more self, assured in my decisions and not feel like a puppet in the Master’s hands.
Biron D'Souza
ReplyDecember 12, 2013

The context in which I got into the conference is so important when I look back at it now. I had a pretty bad 2012, probably the worst year spiritually since coming to the Lord in 2004. Questions about everything that were strongholds in my heart cropped up. And the few months running up to the conference, I was just in a contemplative mood, unsure of what I wanted to do for God or how to do it. I had switched jobs in order to make time for Him, but I was still not satisfied deep down. I made a decision based on my own understanding of what I needed to do, but was this what God wanted me to do? A question that would be answered soon, but not in the way I imagined. I wondered how to respond to the desire I had for Christ. I would get answers for this as well. But before the conference, I began praying and ‘tilling the soil’ of my heart to prepare myself for the Word. All I heard from God was ‘Peace, be a person of peace’.

I walked into the conference, asking God for humility and for peace. I was excited indeed, but not in the usual way. Not the jumping for joy and expecting a great time with the bigger family way, but to get these answers I was looking for. It was humbling indeed to once again receive the love of brothers and sisters, Titos and Titas who I have known for years now. Things were peaceful; I was in safe waters, sailing well. Now was the time to step out of the boat. Well that started with Jerson exclaiming “Biron, you have forgotten what you wrote – ‘I don’t fight Lusts in my life… I Crucify them!’” What else had I forgotten, more important whom else had I forgotten? As the colourful report and the witnesses above testify, we learnt so much about how God’s plan is really simple and how we need to make decisions that are in accordance with His Divine Will.

Know Him, Love Him, Serve Him, Bring others to Him. Big bold letters formed in my mind with these words. The double-edged sword carved these very words on my heart. Now it’s time for action. I unfortunately couldn’t sit through the entirety of Prajwal’s talk, but I managed to read through the extensive content in the workbook at the airport layover in Bangalore. There it was – a clear path, a God-led action plan to come closer to Him, to answer the question of what to do with free time. There were so many ways to discipline myself to live according to His will and so many things to do to help other people come to Him. Areas in my life like Patience, Goodness, Kindness were never improved upon mainly because I thought I only had to battle Lust for the rest of my life. But now there was so much more to do. So much more to achieve – to walk on water like Christ, to be Christ.

I knew exactly what I had to do when I went back to Chennai – increase my knowledge of Him by merely spending more time with God; love Him by loving others around me; serve Him in whatever way including small, seemingly insignificant ways; bring others to Him, not through ‘high and mighty’ speeches and arguments (that I was used to) but by being Christ to others, by manifesting the Fruit of the Spirit. This is what I took away from this year’s Singles Conference, along with the lovely memories of being with this family I love the most. Thank you God for CFCI and for CFCI Singles. 🙂

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