Every nook and cranny was filled with plastic bags and random items that his single mother, who battled depression, refused to discard. 

The uninhabitable state of the flat Christopher grew up in.

His two sisters eventually moved out of the flat, leaving Christopher to care for and financially support his mother.

Being short on money, he worked in a hardware shop after secondary school hours. The then 14-year-old also joined a secret society to collect protection money from the brothels in Geylang.

Overwhelmed by the responsibilities of life, Christopher battled with anxiety and depression from a young age.

Young Christopher with his sister and mother

To fund his education, he signed on for the SAF-ITE sponsorship and served as a Commando for five years. He was attracted by its sizeable pay and allowance.

But he was still severely depressed.

“Once, I almost unhooked my parachute during a jump to try to end my life but backed out to avoid being downgraded and losing my allowances as a result,” said Christopher, now 27.

Christopher served as a Commando for five years.

When he left the army, Christopher started a minimart business in Aljunied. It had always been a childhood dream of his to run his own business.

Though he worked six days a week, 12 hours a day, his business still failed. Within two years, he had lost at least S$60,000 of his savings to the business.

Christopher (second from right) with some of his partners and part-timers in front of the minimart.

To cope with mounting debts, he worked at a second job at nightclubs and drank heavily – unaware that alcohol deepened his depression.

Christopher (first from left) with his drinking friends.

At home, his mother’s hoarding had reached a critical point. The flat was uninhabitable – Christopher was forced to sleep in the back of his minimart.

Christopher grew up living with a mother who was a hoarder. Eventually he moved out to sleep on the floor of his minimart.

His personal relationships also suffered. He became paranoid after one girlfriend cheated on him. Last year alone, he ended three relationships.

“I knew I needed help, but instead of seeking medical advice, I self-medicated with my mother’s depression medication, which only worsened my suicidal thoughts,” said Christopher.

He tried to hang himself under the expressway

In 2023, he attempted suicide seven times, including overdosing on pills, trying to drown himself and trying to hang himself in his minimart.

Fortunately, he did not succeed. Instead it landed him in hospital and the Institute of Mental Health.

“I grew up knowing God, because my mum brought me to church when I was young. But I stopped going to church during army days. Last year, I couldn’t feel God’s presence in my life. I felt that He had abandoned me because of all the problems I was facing,” Christopher told Salt&Light.

Last year, he wanted to drown himself in the Singapore River. In the nick of time, he remembered his good friend Joel, who is now a pastor at 3:16 Church. Pastor Joel prayed for him and invited him to church that Sunday.

Joel (left) taking a selfie with Christopher when they were much younger.

“The sermon topic that day happened to be on depression, and I felt God was speaking to me. I felt less alone,” said Christopher, who subsequently joined a cell group in the church.  

During that time, his doctor had increased his medication after he landed up in IMH for two weeks after another severe episode.

Despite the heightened dosage, Christopher continued to feel deep depths of despair.

The day after he attended a rock concert and listened to depressing lyrics, he was filled with such distress that he took a metal chain from his minimart and made his way to an expressway to hang himself.

He sent a farewell message to his close friends and family. To his two closest friends, he sent them a rough location of where he was.

“I was determined to die. But I thought if it’s God’s will for me to live, they would find me,” he told Salt&Light.

It was his way of testing God as he knew there was a very slim chance his friends would be able to find him since the expressway was 500m long and one needed to cross an overhead bridge to get from one end to another.

Additionally, one of the two friends he had messaged was not even in Singapore, but working on an oil tanker near Africa.

Under the expressway, it was pitch dark and all he could hear was cars zooming past.

Christopher hooked up the chain, wrapped it around his neck and lifted himself off the ground. It choked him so badly that he could hardly breathe.

Just then, his phone rang.

It was Nicholas, his friend on the oil tanker thousands of miles away. “Brother, don’t do this to me,” Nicholas begged. He had managed to get reception and called Christopher’s phone.

Hearing his friend’s plea, Christopher wavered. He was the one who had brought Nicholas to Christ during their secondary school days, and he did not want to stumble him by taking his own life.

Christopher (left) and Nicholas in their school days.

He was slowly losing consciousness, but he mustered his last ounce of strength to yank the chain off his neck. He cried out loud as his limp body dropped to the ground.

After some time, Christopher saw a light.

It was not Jesus.

It was the light emanating from the mobile phone of the other friend he had messaged: Nathanael, his cell group leader.

Despite not knowing his exact location under the expressway, the cell group leader had somehow managed to find his Christopher.

“I was about to give up the search,” Nathanael admitted. “But my Pastor Kevin (Zhang from 3:16 Church) encouraged me to pray, so I asked God: ‘You are the One who would leave the 99 for the one, so show me where the one is.'”

Immediately after his prayer, Nathanael was shocked to hear a cry in the dark and he found Christopher.

Christopher was sent to IMH.

The turnaround

At IMH, Christopher tried to hang himself again, this time using blankets. He also tried to climb up the false ceiling of his ward to get to the roof to jump.

His attempts were noticed and foiled.

His sister and church members gave him books to read and prayed for him during their visits. Christopher was also prescribed medication.

After two weeks, he became better.

“It was like I suddenly woke up, mentally. Everything became clear,” he told Salt&Light.

“But IMH felt very draining for me. In prison, at least one knows the length of one’s sentence. In IMH, there is no definite release date,” he explained.

To while away time, he gave some of the elderly patients massages.

During his fourth week there, a fellow patient asked him and a friend for help. One of the two lockers at his bed remained locked though the previous patient had already been discharged. This man wanted to use it to store his books.

Christopher’s friend Joseph toyed with the lock and randomly tried the number combination “677”.

To their surprise, the door of the locker opened.

In the locker was a black Bible.

Joseph took it out the Bible and flipped it open. Strangely, it opened to page 677.

To his amazement, Christopher noticed that Psalm 67 was printed on page 677.

“God must be speaking to me,” Christopher remarked, as he lifted the Bible and read the Psalm aloud.

The verses read: “May God be gracious to us and bless us…so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.”

The word “salvation” really spoke to Christopher.

“I realised that God was with us in IMH and that He wanted me to make His salvation known to the patients there,” said Christopher.

He continued reading aloud Psalm 68, which was on the facing page. When he got to the line about God being “a father to the fatherless”, Joseph interjected.

“I think God is speaking to me too. I lost my father to suicide as few years ago,” Joseph exclaimed. Joseph himself was admitted to IMH after a suicide attempt.

Christopher and Joseph fell to excitedly discussing the astounding way in which God had chosen to reveal Himself to both of them.

“What are the odds that the number combination of the lock, the Bible page in which he unintentionallly flipped to and the number of the Psalm on that page being the same? It was logically impossible. It had to be God,” said Christopher.

So, he made a bold proclamation: “For every day that the devil kept me in IMH, I vowed to bring one person to Christ.”

The next day, Christopher approached the other patient who had asked him for help to open the locker.

“He had witnessed all the miraculous things that happened with the locker and Bible. So, it was easy to bring him to faith,” Christopher said.

The second day, he noticed another patient who was “like a parrot” – he repeated whatever that he heard. That patient had not walked in three months and even had to pass motion on his bed.

“I thought since he kept repeating, why not get him to repeat the Sinner’s Prayer after me?” Christopher recalled. “So he did so, but of course, I doubted whether he was sincere in saying it or not.”

To his surprise, the following day, that patient miraculously got out of his bed and started walking on his own.

“He also took the Bible that we found and wanted to read it. He refused to give it back,” said Christopher.

Over the next two days, Christopher brought two other patients to faith, including a patient with severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder who would not look anyone in the eye.

Finally, Christopher was discharged.

In the four days after Christopher encountered God through the Bible from the locker, he succeeded in bringing four patients to Christ, even though he also received many rejections. 

In those four days, he also started a daily prayer meeting that grew from three to eight people. Making use of the long queue that formed daily to collect medication, Christopher gathered them to pray in one corner, and the prayer group would be the last in the queue, having prayed.

“Through this, I realised that God is not looking for ability but availability. Even at my lowest in IMH, God used me to bring the Gospel to patients there,” said Christopher.

God used his struggles for good

His battle with depression and admission to IMH helped him empathise with his mother better. It was also during his time in IMH that God showed him that he possesses the gifts of salvation and evangelism.

“What the devil meant for evil, God used it for good,” Christopher noted.

He recalled a particular dream he had while he was still suicidal in the early days of admission into IMH.

In the dream, he and three of his secondary school friends were trapped in an escape room owned by an evil landlord. They were left to kill each other, until a sole survivor emerged from the room.

Christopher thought it was just a nightmare. But the next day, a nurse informed him that he had three visitors waiting for him. They were the same three friends who featured in his dream the night before.

As the trio had arrived close to the end of visiting hours, the nurses had left the area and locked the door. Christopher realised that he and his friends were now locked up together in an area, just like in his dream.

But instead of battling, Christopher used the time to tell his friends about the dream he had as well as the supernatural encounters he experienced with the locker and Bible. He testified to them of the God who had revealed Himself to him.

“They were all not believers then,” he said. “Today, one of them is a Christian and another is attending a cell group. Instead of mutual destruction, we chose to bring life and freedom to each other.”

He added: “God is working. We just need to plant the seeds.”

Since his discharge from IMH last year, Christopher has been rebuilding his life. He sold off his minimart business, had his home cleaned up and moved back in with his mother.

He now works as a supervisor for retail chain Muji and has found new purpose in various forms of service to others.

Christopher works as a supervisor in Muji.

He evangelises to Myanmar migrant workers around City Hall on weekends and visits an orphanage in Batam every month, bringing gifts and sharing God’s love with the children.

Christopher visiting children at the Batam orphanage.

Christopher giving out Burmese tracts to Myanmese workers at City Hall.

Meanwhile, he continues to hear the good news of how some of the other IMH patients whom he once shared the Gospel with are now faithfully walking with God.

“For some of them, I did not manage to get them to say the Sinner’s Prayer with me or follow up with them thereafter on whether they are attending church.

“But I realised that all God wanted me to do in IMH was to plant the seeds in their hearts, and He watered the seeds and handled the rest.”

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She had been running three cafes in Melbourne when the country’s infamous bush fires and the global COVID pandemic put the nail in the coffin for her business.

After paying for her one-way ticket home, she had barely enough savings to tide her over for a week.  

Having had a string of four other failed businesses prior to that, the then 33-year-old thought her entrepreneurial dreams were over, and returned home to become a salaried worker.

Within three years, however, her fortunes dramatically transformed.

Gek Teng is now the chief executive of Surrey Hills Grocer Group, which runs five Australian-style café-cum-grocer outlets and three other restaurants. The company is on track to hitting $20 million in revenue this year, with a 500-strong staff team under her leadership.

“I have been an average person my whole life, but God can use anyone. Through my crazy journey, I have come to see more clearly the One who holds the pen of my story … I know who is writing my story,” Gek Teng, now 36, told Salt&Light.

Gek with her two dogs at Surrey Hills headquarters. Her love for pets has prompted her to make some of her outlets pet-friendly, with them curating special menus for those furry friends.

Not one who was academically inclined, Gek Teng did badly for her O Levels.

Scoring over 20 points in a competitive cohort year of dragon babies meant that she could not qualify for most courses at polytechnic.

On the advice of her Chinese teacher, Gek Teng went to private school SHATEC to get a diploma in tourism management. She did well and became one of the course’s top students.

When she graduated, her father had one last instruction for her.

“He told me that I can do anything I wanted in life as long as I get a university degree first. Only then would he feel that he had done his portion as a father,” said Gek Teng.

Gek Teng with her parents.

Uninterested in further studies but knowing that her father’s request was “non-negotiable”, Gek Teng simply searched for a university course that commenced the soonest.

“I wanted to get it over and done with so I didn’t care much about choosing properly,” she said.

She enrolled in PSB Academy, a partner of the University of Newcastle in Australia. The final year of her management and marketing degree had to be completed in Australia. She enjoyed campus life in Australia, and the country gave her the space and freedom to dream about her future.  

When she was done with getting a degree, however, Gek Teng succumbed to external expectations again when she returned back to Singapore. Many of her relatives are in banking, so she also went into the industry.

She joined Citibank International Personal Bank in 2012, handling mainly foreign clients. Though she was an “average” banker, she could pull in up to S$20,000 a month. It was enough for her to splurge on branded goods and invest in two apartments.

Waking up to the alarm clock instead of a purpose 

“But I realised that every day, it was the alarm clock that woke me up for work. I did not wake up to a sense of purpose,” she told Salt&Light.

So she sold off her luxury bags and watches, and used the money to start her own watch business: Daybook Watches.

She was only in her 20s when she made appointments with suppliers and travelled alone to Shenzhen to meet with them and visit their factories.

Her gutsy attitude also got her watches stocked at Tangs department store.

“I told them it was my first business and they just gave me a space at zero cost,” said Gek Teng, who designed the watches herself.

However, the business, along with a couple of side hustles, did not take off. It left her wondering if she was cut out for business.

Singapore felt like a place of failure for her. In 2017, she bought a one-way ticket to Melbourne to “escape” as she had peaceful memories of the place from her undergraduate days.

“I had romantic ideas that inspiration for my next steps would just hit me while I travelled around,” said Gek Teng.

Instead, what hit her was a healthy dose of reality. She knew she could no longer afford accommodation on a per day rate so she called a few agents and tried to rent a property for the longer term.

“Most property owners did not want to rent to me because if they did further checks, they would have found out that I didn’t even have a permanent visa to live in Australia,” she noted.

However, an agent called her out of the blue one day. The agent also only had one question for her: “Are you a Christian?”

Gek Teng said yes.

She believed in Jesus from the time she first ventured into RiverLife Church as a teen when her good friend had a crush on a boy who was from that church. 

Hearing her reply, the agent immediately asked her to go over to the unit to collect the keys and complete the paperwork.

“That door was open for me. I thought it could be a sign for me to stay on there and see what I could do in Australia. On hindsight, God was with me every step of the way even though I had drifted away from Him,” said Gek Teng.

The place she rented was in Chirnside Park, a suburb near Yarra Valley. It was near many farms and wineries.

The townhouse that Gek Teng rented.

The next morning after she collected the keys and woke up on a mattress in the empty house, she knew she had to get cracking so that she could pay rent. She then hit on the idea of selling protein bowls using fresh farm produce that was easily available in her vicinity.

Gek Teng with fresh produce from Australia’s farms.

Gek Teng with a farmer in Australia.

So she bought a printer and started printing posters and flyers, which featured a picture of the beef don bowl that she had cooked and photographed. She distributed the flyers around the estate and people started calling her to order the bowls.

“I was interested in cooking so I just taught myself by watching YouTube cooking videos,” said Gek Teng.

Surch (a blend of “surprise” and “lunch”) started as a one-man home delivery service, but the farm-to-table concept soon caught on. She later opened three outlets in shopping centres such as Forest Hill Chase and Greensborough Plaza in Melbourne.

Gek Teng at one of her Surch’s outlets.

Things seemed promising but Gek Teng also struggled to keep the business afloat.

It was during that time that she began to experience God more intimately, through her time at Hillsong Church in Melbourne.

“God seemed to speak to me through every sermon that I heard there. That strengthened me and prepared me for another week of challenges at my outlets,” said Gek Teng.

A Surch outlet in Melbourne.

One huge challenge was the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires in Victoria.

“The bush fires burnt most of the crops so the prices of the vegetables soared. My cashflow was really tight,” she said.

She could not pay her staff for three months, yet they stood by her and continued working.

When she told the suppliers to stop delivering fresh produce to her as she could not pay them, they simply told her to just pay them what she had for the day.

No more petty cash in the till 

“I was emptying tip boxes to pay the suppliers so that they would not walk away from the shop without any payment, so much so that on one day, I had no spare petty cash in the till for walk-in customers,” said Gek Teng.

Desperate, she prayed and asked God to help her – if that the day’s customers would all make electronic payments, she would not need to find spare change for them.

“It was near impossible because cash was still the main mode of payment back then. But God came through and everyone who came in that day used card payments only,” said Gek Teng.

“There were so many bigger problems in the world out there but this showed me how even the small things of our lives matter to our heavenly Father,” she added.

The business survived – but not for long. COVID dealt it a final, fatal blow.

In March 2021, Gek crammed all her belongings into one suitcase and returned to Singapore with just A$362 (S$320) in her pocket.  

As she stood waiting for her luggage at the conveyor belt at the airport, she talked to God.

“God, You say You always save the crushed and broken-hearted. Will You really save me?” she asked Him.

She had returned home with nothing to her name, only a string of failed businesses.

Grasping at straws, there and then at the conveyor belt, she decided to go to RiverLife Church’s website and fill up a form to be connected to someone there. She knew she needed all the spiritual support she could get.

In her mind, she also rehearsed countless times the explanation she would give her parents when she took the first step back into their home.  

When she stepped in, however, her parents did not probe about her business failure. Instead, her father handed her an envelope containing S$2,000, which helped her sleep better the next few days.

Gek Teng with her family members.

Conceding defeat to her entrepreneurial dreams, she decided to be a “normal” person again, as her parents often nagged her to be. She sent out 40 job applications, but did not land even one interview.

A friend got her a job in the family’s noodle manufacturing business, but her ideas were considered too “futuristic” for the company to adopt.

A pillar of truth to cling on to

At that time, Pastor Sarah from RiverLife Church – who reached out just hours after Gek Teng’s desperate enquiry – spoke life into her spirit.

“She told me that I am made for a purpose and that I have to trust that this purpose was already created when I was created in my mother’s womb. This truth formed a pillar in me that I clung on to,” said Gek Teng.

It gave her the courage to quit her job, despite knowing that she would be disappointing her parents once again.

She began to dream again, and toyed with the idea of building a business that made crepes.

Eager to start small, she saw a shop unit up for rent online and texted the person-in-charge of it.

“In the end, we spent just five minutes viewing the shop and the other 55 minutes I was telling him my business plan. We hit it off so well that after the meeting, I realised he was the person I needed to work with as his strengths covered my weaknesses,” said Gek Teng.

Through this divine appointment, Gek Teng serendipitously found a willing co-founder for her upcoming business. However, both of them were still unsure of the form it would take.

Gek Teng and her first co-founder, Aiden, at their deli along Battery Road which serves Melbourne-style sandwiches. He has since sold his shares to another shareholder.

While driving one day, Gek Teng had a “download” from God.

“The thought just came to me that God did not put me in Australia for no reason. I knew my upcoming business had to be Australia-centric,” she said.

Leveraging on her former contacts of farmers and suppliers in Australia, she hit on the idea of opening an Australia-centric grocery, with a small café linked to it that would show customers how they could use the fresh produce from the store in their cooking.

Gek Teng sourcing for fresh produce in Australia, such as black truffle, for Surrey Hills Grocer in Singapore.

Surrey Hills Fish Farm, located in Pasir Ris, where barramundi fish and mussels are grown to support their farm-to-table vision.

Gek Teng visiting Yarra Valley Dairy, a brand carried at Surrey Hills Grocer.

This was the biggest idea she has had among all her prior business ventures, and she needed the funding to put it off.

A family friend volunteered to put in S$400,000 without much persuasion as he trusted her.

But Gek Teng was burdened by the decision of whether or not to accept the money. If she failed, her parents warned her that they would not be able to help her to pay him back.  

A guiding vision 

As she brushed her teeth one morning, she had a vision.

Before her eyes, she saw two birds on the thin branch of a tree. One bird asked the other: “What if I fall?”

The other replied: “What if you don’t?” as he spread his wings and flew off.

“This vision came out of the blue. I knew it was God’s guidance. So, I went to collect the cheque from my family friend straightaway,” said Gek Teng.

That was the start of Surrey Hills Grocer, which opened at the D’Arena Country Club in Jurong in December 2021.

Surrey Hills’ first outlet in Jurong, which has since been replaced by its Woodleigh Mall outlet.

Cereal-crusted French toast, one of the brunch items on Surrey Hills cafe menu.

Surrey Hills prides itself on its farm-to-table concept, serving barramundi from its own farm.

Despite its obscure location (a few minutes away from Tuas checkpoint), the pet-friendly grocer-cum café broke even in six months. Its success led to the opening of more outlets in prime areas: Ion Orchard, Raffles City, Woodleigh Mall, One Holland Village and its latest and largest outlet so far – an over 6,000-sq-ft space at VivoCity.

Surrey Hills’ latest outlet at VivoCity.

Surrey Hills Ion has been pivotal to the group’s growth.

Gek Teng’s years of relationship building with farmers from Australia paid off when they trusted her to bring in their produce into Singapore.

The Surrey Hills Grocer Group also unveiled three new dining concepts – Japanese, Spanish and Taiwanese restaurants – at Raffles City this year.

Surrey Hills’ first new brand opening: Mensho Tokyo Ramen at Raffles City.

Spanish restaurant Movida in Melbourne, a brand which Surrey Hills brought to Singapore.

“Looking back, I was not the one who held this entire grand plan. God placed the right people along the way to guide me forward and point me to see things a certain way,” said Gek Teng, who worships at RiverLife Church.

Gek with Ps Sarah (in floral dress) and her husband, with other church friends at Surrey Hills’ first outlet in Jurong.

Knowing how it feels to start from humble beginnings, she makes it a point to use the Surrey Hills platform to collaborate with other small-time or home-based chefs so as to give them more support and exposure.

Gek Teng’s team at Surrey Hills Grocer celebrated her recent birthday by dressing up like her.

Her journey is far from over. She hit the lowest point in her life last year when she was faced with some business and legal troubles. Fortunately, no charges were filed.

“I was very troubled over what was happening because I was afraid it would affect my family or the people who were working for me,” said Gek Teng.

The ordeal drove her to God, and she learnt to trust Him to vindicate her.

Gek was baptised in Riverlife Church last year.

During that time, there was once she was at Sunday service in church when she kept hearing a prompting from God to “go to the Cross and kneel”.

The prompting was persistent during the one-hour sermon but she was equally persistent in refusing to go down. She was seated at the back row in the auditorium and feared what others would think should she make her way down in such a noticeable manner.

“Some of the church members know me as the CEO of Surrey Hills so I didn’t want to embarrass myself as some may wonder what crisis has happened in my life,” she admitted.

A staff gathering of Surrey Hills Group in October this year.

After the sermon ended, she again heard the same instruction from God. Before she could tarry any longer, she felt a nudge on her shoulder that turned her body towards the staircase that led to the Cross.

“No one pushed me. It was a supernatural force. As I made my way down the 50 steps to the stage, I felt lighter and lighter, as if all the burdens on my shoulders lifting. When I reached the Cross, I again felt a supernatural push and I automatically collapsed and knelt at the Cross,” said Gek Teng.

It was a humbling moment of surrender for her.

“I told God I am done with building things on my own strength. I give my life back to Him for Him to do his work in me.”

She felt like a child who had been messing around with the keys of a piano, making weird sounds.

“But when God, the master pianist, came, he didn’t stop me from playing. Instead, He stretched out His arm and played his notes in between my own playing. The result is a beautiful melody – because of His relentless pursuit of me.”

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He was an officer in the Air Force and a sergeant under him had failed to hook up a missile launcher properly.

As a result, the launcher unhooked itself while being transported downhill and suffered surface damage.

“It was a big issue because the equipment was expensive and it was also a safety issue. So, I was about to be charged – going to detention barracks was a real possibility,” said Kyle, now 32.

Kyle in uniform during his army days.

Then a 19-year-old, the prospect of going to prison and having a permanent mark on his record scared him greatly. He went sobbing to his mentor and asked for advice on what to do.

His mentor urged him to trust God and tell the truth of what had happened. The army boys had told a half-truth – that they had done a visual check but not a manual check – when in reality, no checks had been carried out. 

Resolving to tell the truth, Kyle went to tell his sergeant, who was driving the launcher, what he intended to do. His sergeant pleaded with him not to reveal the truth as he was afraid the incident would make his father – a high-ranking officer in the army – look bad.

Tested and found wanting 

“I desired to honour God and trust Him for mercy and intervention, yet I also had very mortal fears. My sergeant’s pleas gave me another reason not to come clean,” he admitted.

In the end, they chose not to volunteer the full truth.

“Despite our wrong decision, God still showed up with mercy and gave me favour with the master sergeant who knew me and knew this was just one momentary lapse,” said Kyle, who subsequently repented of his wrongdoing. 

He was not charged eventually but given extra duties in camp.

Kyle (left) being commissioned as an officer during his army days.

As a young Christian then, this episode showed him that one will only know if he truly trusts God when one is put to the test.

He would go on to experience test after test till his trust in God was refined.

Experiencing guilt and shame from a breakup 

In 2013, when Kyle went to Durham University in the United Kingdom to study law in 2013, he also began a long-distance relationship with a Singaporean girl.

“I was immature and projected many of my insecurities on her. I was a monster and unconsciously made her feel like she was not good enough,” he told Salt&Light.

Wracked with guilt over how he was treating her, he broke up with her a year later.

Kyle (second row, second from left) at a law faculty ball.

“Despite the break-up, the guilt kept me from feeling that I deserved any grace or forgiveness. I was very hard on myself,” said Kyle, who suffered constant self-condemnation.

“To cope with all of this, I drank a lot. I found that I could only sleep if I drank.

“(Then) I started to sleep around and stopped going to school. I lost all will to lead a proper life,” he said.

“I loved God and believed in Him, but my life was still led by the flesh. I placed my own guilt above His grace, out of pride,” he added.

Kyle during his partying days in university.

Failing key modules in law school  

He failed two core law modules – criminal and land law – during his second year of undergraduate studies, and had to retake them to be promoted to the next year. Had he failed one more module, he would have been kicked out of school.

That year, while back in Singapore for his term break, he tried to study for the retest.  

“I just kept reading the same line of my notes over and over again. I realised I couldn’t process what I was reading,” said Kyle.

As he struggled with studying in his living room, a strange yet persistent thought instructed him to “call IMH” (the Institute of Mental Health).

He heeded the prompting and called IMH, and after seeing a doctor, was diagnosed with depression.

“It was God’s grace and mercy that I got an official mental health diagnosis. Though I failed the first retest, the school allowed me to take a gap year to rest and recover before taking the two exams again due to my illness,” said Kyle.

During that gap year, Kyle began to heal mentally and spiritually. God provided him with authentic Christian community and role models in the form of a loving housemate and a church called Bethshan.  

Kyle with some friends at Bethshan church in the UK.

It was also during this time that Kyle volunteered at a school for special needs children and juvenile delinquents.

“I fell in love with teaching and journeying with young and lost people,” he said.

One of the youth that Kyle taught at the special needs school.

However, it was still difficult for him to study as he was still depressed. He could read and reread the same paragraph for a whole 20 minutes.

Thus, when he retook his exams at the end of the gap year in May 2016, Kyle knew he might pass his criminal law exam, but not the land law exam.

When he came back home after the exam, he sank into a heap on the floor.

“You have given me so many chances. I am retaking this for the third time with a full year to prepare for it. It is already so much grace, yet I still squander it,” Kyle told God.

Coming Home to God 

He felt like the prodigal son who did not know how to go back and live with the Father. He had hit rock bottom.

At that moment, a song began playing on his Spotify radio. It was “Come Out Of Hiding” by Steffany Gretzinger.

Written in first person as if God Himself was speaking, the lyrics spoke deeply to Kyle: “Come out of hiding, you’re safe here with me… ’cause I loved you before you knew it was love.”

“It ministered to me because I realised it is not about my understanding of grace and love. It is His love and how He wants to interact with me. I told Him I cannot do this myself,” he said.

In that moment of utter surrender, Kyle promised God: “Where You go, I go. Where You stay, I stay.”

Fortunately, he had one final chance – the fourth time ­– to retake the land law exam as students could retake their final exam once per summer for each academic year.

However, the adventurer in him (not knowing that he would fail his exam again) had already applied to work as a counsellor in a US summer camp that summer break. There was no time nor space for him to study there as he was overseeing children there.

The US Summer camp –called Camp Chen-A-Wanda– that Kyle volunteered with.

“Obviously, I wasn’t going to pass the land law exam for the fourth time,” said Kyle.

Kyle, who was a counsellor to these young adults at a US summer camp

At the end of the summer break, he was due to fly back to the UK from JFK airport in the US to take the exam.

But he did not make the flight.

A terrorist attack at the JFK airport 

He heard what sounded like gunshots. It was believed that an active shooter was on the loose at the JFK airport at that moment in time.

Kyle and other passengers were told to lie flat on the floor as the SWAT team moved in to tackle the terrorist threat. Needless to say, all flights were grounded.

JFK airport after all the passengers were evacuated post terrorist attack

Kyle had official documentation from the authorities to state why he had to miss the flight and by extension, his upcoming exam.

“You can’t make this stuff up,” he told Salt&Light.

“At this point, the school just decided to move me up to continue my third year without needing to take that exam.”

By the time he was in his third year, he was mentally strong enough to focus. Against all odds, he graduated with Second Class (Upper) Honours.

“I don’t know how that happened. I just surrendered to God and there was a miraculous unlocking of my brain,” said Kyle.

“It reaffirmed to me that God is really in control. There was nothing I could do to plan such a sequence of events. It was unmerited grace that got me to where I was and I knew that He is a God I can trust.”

Still, Kyle knew that going into law after graduating was not the path for him.

Having felt purpose and passion in his previous teaching role at the special needs school, Kyle planned to remain in the UK after graduation and continue teaching and walking with the vulnerable youths there.

Alas, those plans were not in line with God’s plans for him.

Kyle (pictured with his parents) graduated with Second (Upper) Class honours in law, despite failing core modules multiple times.

A few months before he graduated in the May of 2017, he went for a church retreat.

On the first day after the sermon was preached, the church members were given some quiet time on their own to respond to God.

As he sat in the silence and prayed, Kyle received an open vision. He saw himself walking with Jesus along some cliffs. When Jesus jumped into the water, he followed. The deeper they swam, the darker the ocean appeared to be.

“In real life, I was feeling actual palpitations because I was fearful,” said Kyle.

Because of the fear, Kyle stopped swimming. Jesus also stopped.

“Jesus told me: ‘I can show you where you will end up or where you need to go, but that is not what you need to know. All you need to know is to follow me,’” recounted Kyle.

Jesus then snapped His finger and the ocean lit up and became clear. After that, Jesus snapped His finger again and they continued in darkness. When they reached the bottom of the ocean, Jesus stepped across a threshold. Kyle followed suit, somehow knowing that the place he had stepped into was Singapore. He felt peace when the vision ended. 

Kyle hanging out with some friends at the church retreat where he received visions from God.

When he came back to reality, Kyle wondered whether he had just been daydreaming.

“What I saw just didn’t make sense. God led me to the UK and I had a beautiful church and a beautiful job there. I didn’t want to come back to Singapore. I assumed that what I saw must be from the devil,” he said.

A day later, after another sermon, Kyle received another open vision.

This time, he saw himself on the stage of Grace Methodist Church (GMC). He knew it was GMC because he had been there once before and recognised the distinctive glass Cross that stood three storeys high.

In the vision, God told him two things, said Kyle.

“’I want you to lead worship in a way you have not known before. I want you to bring hunger.’”

“When I asked him what did both statements mean, I began to understand. I had only led worship in the form of music, and God wanted another type of worship.

“He also revealed to me my underlying fear of why I did not want to come back to Singapore,” said Kyle.

“I had a church community in the UK that was really hungry for God, like the church in the book of Acts. I didn’t want to lose that as I remembered what a number of Singapore churches were like – outcome- and event-driven instead of people-focused,” he added.

Bethshan church members having some outdoor time during their church retreat.

After receiving the second vision, he could not deny any longer that God was calling him to return to Singapore and to go to GMC.

“I could not logic this second vision away because there was no way I would think about GMC. I had only been there once before and it is under the Chinese Annual Conference umbrella (Mandarin-speaking Methodist churches), while I scored C6 for my O level Chinese exam,” said Kyle.

By then, he had experienced enough of God’s grace and love to desire to obey Him completely, just as he had promised.

“It was a hard decision to make. But I made the right decision to honour God, unlike making the wrong decision back in my army days,” said Kyle.

Returning home to Singapore and its Church 

In December 2017, Kyle returned to Singapore. His flight landed on a Saturday, and he made his way to Grace Methodist Church the next day.

When he stepped into the church and saw the glass Cross, he knew he was where he was meant to be.

The glass Cross at Grace Methodist Church

Kyle told Salt&Light: “I realised that my whole time in the UK was just meant to bring me to the end of myself and to bring me back to Himself.”

He assumed that he was just meant to serve in GMC, so he subsequently went to work in two different roles in the education sector, which were in line with the teaching passion he discovered while he was in the UK.

In 2019, God opened the door for him to consider an internship at GMC, and the possibility of full-time ministry thereafter.

“I never thought of doing full-time ministry when I was so young and early in my career. I was tempted by other job possibilities in education and law, which paid so much more,” Kyle admitted.

Yet the timing of the open door and a significant prompting from God eventually led him to take up the six-month internship and enter full-time ministry after that.

Kyle hanging out with the youths as part of his ministry work.

Fortunately for Kyle, who has a much stronger command of English than Mandarin, GMC is an outlier among the Chinese Annual Conference churches and its services are in English.  

In 2019, Kyle began serving full-time in Grace Methodist Church, taking up various responsibilities such the Young Adults ministry and Alpha programme.

Kyle serving and having fun with the teens during youth camp.

Kyle preaching at Grace Methodist Church.

Challenges abounded in the next four years of his ministry, which coincided with COVID.

“There were times of disappointment when I also questioned my calling. I felt my ministry didn’t really grow,” he admitted Kyle.

His pastors, however, saw otherwise and encouraged him to go for further theological studies, with a view to become a pastor.

In late 2022, God gave Kyle the confirmation that he needed to start his next season of studying for his Masters in Divinity at Trinity Theological College, as part of preparation for pastorship.

Kyle (bottom right) with fellow classmates during the orientation programme at Trinity Theological College.

Once he is ordained, he knows full well that it is highly likely that he would be posted to any of the Mandarin-speaking churches under the Methodist network of Chinese Annual Conference churches. Thus, on top of his heavy workload now, he is also taking weekly Chinese tuition.

“Many of the decisions or paths in my life don’t make logical human sense. I may not know what’s happening but my prior years of experience with God leads me to the point where I choose to surrender and trust God, and follow Him,” said Kyle.

“This is not the life I had dreamed of or planned for, but it is a beautiful, abundant life. Our choices matter, as they interact with the will and providence of God.

“God really has a plan for each of our lives.”

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A friend of his, a missionary, had chanced upon an Indian woman in a coffeeshop. The woman kept looking at the missionary and her friend, and when they left the coffeeshop, both of them heard God telling them to go back and talk to her.

They obeyed. They learnt that the Indian woman’s husband had died from a brain aneurysm while at work. The woman, Reeta, was left with two very young children to support, but the insurance company did not want to pay the $200,000 in workman compensation due to the deceased’s family.

The insurance company challenged the fact that the man’s death was work-related, arguing that the rupture of the brain vessel was a random event and not due to stress faced at work. They offered to pay 10 per cent – $20,000 – of the full workman compensation.

“When my missionary friend told me about this, I knew it was not a strong case,” recalled Ee Yang, 41.

“We not only had to prove that he was stressed due to work, but also that the work-related stress resulted in the bursting of the blood vessel.

“But I felt I needed to at least try to help this widow, even if we may end up failing.” 

Ee Yang (second from left), seated with his missionary friend June Chuah. In the foreground is Reeta, the widow whose legal case Ee Yang took up.

The insurance company engaged a foremost neurosurgeon to provide evidence and testify that the brain aneurysm was a random event.

“There was no doctor I could find who was willing to support our case. Another neurosurgeon said he did not want to be seen as going against the word of the other top neurosurgeon.”

Ee Yang was desperate. If he did not even have a witness, they would definitely lose the case.

While doing his quiet time one day, he cried out to God tearfully: “What do I do now with this case?”

He heard a reply: “Since the ones who treat the living don’t want to help you, why don’t you enlist the one who handles the dead?”

He recalled: “It felt strange and spooky to hear that. But God had just given me the idea to look for the pathologist who did the autopsy.”

He made an appointment to meet her and she agreed to testify on the cause of the man’s death.

A day before the trial, she sent him a research article with data from Japan that established the link between stress, blood pressure spikes and brain aneurysms.

In the end, Ee Yang won the case for the widow and she received the full compensation of $200,000 from the insurance company.

“I learnt that God works in mysterious ways and that prayer brings breakthrough. God is also a God who really cares about the needy, the widows and the fatherless in our midst,” said Ee Yang.

The reluctant litigator 

Ee Yang had a bumpy start to his legal career when he graduated from law school in 2007.

Ee Yang (top row, centre) at his law school graduation.

Thinking that he was not suited for litigation as he did not have the gift of the gab, he went through a tough first year working in the corporate department of one of the big four law firms in Singapore, WongPartnership.

“I was so stressed and paralysed by fear of work then.

“But because of that, every day I woke up earlier to spend one hour with God at a café opposite my office before I started my work day. That was how I gradually learnt how to hear from God,” said Ee Yang.

After one year, he switched to litigation and experienced God’s favour: He had many opportunities to shine in the big law firm.

Ee Yang at his work desk in WongPartnership.

But after four years at the firm: “I did not feel excited to act for big corporations who were suing one another. I felt called to the man on the street, as the Bible pays special attention to the weak and powerless,” he said.

A season of hiddenness in a small law firm

In 2012, he left the big firm life and its attendant big pay cheque to work in a small firm in Fortune Centre.

“The cases were lower profile but God gave me a vision to provide affordable legal services to all in the community,” said Ee Yang.

At that time, he was newly married and had to consider expenses such as the mortgage for his new home and supporting a newborn baby.

Ee Yang got married in 2011.

The firm did not offer him any fixed salary; he was placed on a profit-sharing scheme where he would earn more if he brought in more clients.

“My first pay check was $800 and I decided to honour God with my firstfruits by giving it all to Him.

“Subsequently, He blessed me with much work that streamed in so that I could give even more back to Him to support missionaries and other kingdom work,” said Ee Yang, who has three children now.  

Ee Yang and his wife and baby having their new home blessed by their pastor in 2012.

Ee Yang with his wife and three children in Hong Kong Disneyland in 2023.

The scholarship miracle 

In 2015, the Singapore Law Society sent all members an email that advertised the Singapore Academy of Law Overseas Scholarship Award.

The scholarship is open to individuals with fewer than 10 years post-qualification experience. Successful candidates would be sent to the United Kingdom to intern under the Queen’s Counsel and gain international exposure.

Ee Yang felt a very strong nudge from the Lord to apply.

“I told God that I didn’t even graduate with second upper class honours, why would they take me? But I felt the Lord told me to try regardless,” he said.

He applied and was interviewed by the Attorney General, two senior judges and a senior counsel.

“By God’s grace and favour, I was awarded the scholarship. Out of the five candidates who received the scholarship, four of them had first class honours. I was the only exception,” said Ee Yang.

On hindsight, God had a purpose in sending him there. The opportunity to go for the attachment at Essex Court Chambers in London was a catalytic event for Ee Yang.

Though he was there for only six weeks as he had to juggle it with a practice in Singapore, it grew his professional experience and stature.

Ee Yang during his UK attachment days.

One weekend in the UK, he went to the Bible College of Wales with his wife. He had heard about the missionaries sent by Cornerstone Church in Singapore to manage the college and wanted to check it out.

A structure at the Bible College of Wales which he visited in 2016.

During his visit, he got to know about the legacy of Rees Howells – the founder of the college – and bought a book about him titled Intercessor.

“I started to read the book and couldn’t put it down. I was convicted of subtle things that had crept into my heart, such as my ambition, love for money and pride,” he said.

“I want you to start a law firm”

In a bid to consecrate himself, he subsequently went on a 40-day fast where he only ate one meal a day.

At the end of 40 days, Ee Yang was exercising on a gym bike when he heard God whisper into his heart.

“I want you to start a law firm,” said a soft voice.

This came totally out of the blue for him as he had never thought about starting his own firm before.

He then sought God for further confirmation and asked Him for a name for the law firm.

The next day, as Ee Yang read Isaiah 59:2,1 the words “Covenant Chambers LLC” dropped into his heart. He knew it was the Lord’s confirmation as the word “covenant” is a legal term for contract but theologically it refers to the kind of relationship God wants with His children and which He died for.

“It’s relational, not transactional. And it is what we hope to cultivate with our colleagues and clients,” said Ee Yang, who is also vice-chairman at the Law Christian Fellowship and chairman of the board of elders at RiverLife Church.

Ee Yang (second from left) at the Law Christian Fellowship’s dedication service in 2013.

Ee Yang on a a mission trip to Pahang in 2013.

He spent the next three months looking for a premise and Covenant Chambers started operations at the turn of the next year on January 2, 2016.

Covenant Chambers’ first office in 2016.

The legal firm is in its ninth year, and has more than 20 lawyers now.

Almost every year, Covenant Chambers would handle a case significant enough to be reported in the news.

Ee Yang and his team have also handled pioneering cases in the area of revoking deathbed gifts as well as the law of deposits.

He has also tried to stay true to his vision of fighting for the underdog.

In 2017, he helped a woman in her 60s fight off unscrupulous moneylenders who had charged her excessive fees on loans she had taken.

In 2022, he helped relatives of a wealthy widow with dementia fend off efforts by “friends” who wanted to care for her and take charge of her considerable assets.

Ee Yang with his team after winning a case at the Court of Appeal this year.

In managing the law firm, Ee Yang’s key challenge lies in fulfilling the radical goal of building a sustainable culture for young lawyers who often find themselves burnt out in the industry.   

“We hope to build a firm where young legal eagles can thrive in a healthy ecosystem, while balancing the demands of building the practice.

“We hope to have a culture of trust in which young lawyers who have too much on their plate have a platform to voice out and have their feedback taken seriously,” he said.

Faith in the marketplace 

What has been the most fulfilling for Ee Yang, however, is people coming to know God through his firm.

Ee Yang with guests in his office.

There was a friend who came to him seeking divorce advice a few years ago. She asked him about the procedure for divorce and how the assets would be divided.

“I put on my lawyer’s hat and gave her professional advice. But after that, I took off my lawyer’s hat and asked her, as a friend, why she wanted a divorce,” said Ee Yang.

His genuine concern helped her open up. She shared with him that her husband was having an affair with a foreign woman. From her account, Ee Yang sensed that  the situation could involve black magic.

“She told me that was also what the spiritual leaders of another faith had told her.

“I asked her if she would like to try getting to know Jesus,” he said.

Ee Yang brought her to church and she gave her life to God.

Ee Yang joining in prayer during RiverLife Church’s anniversary service in 2023.

However, her marriage continued deteriorating. Ee Yang felt led to visit her home and remove certain religious items from her past. Thereafter, her husband miraculously had a change of heart. He ended the affair and returned to her. Now, he even follows his wife to church once in a while.

In another instance, after their weekly office devotion session, a pre-believing colleague of his was moved and came to him in tears. He invited her to church and she gave her life to God that weekend. Now, she and her husband attend his church every week.

Ee Yang speaking in church.

“I thank God for His faithfulness and goodness and for the opportunity to partake in what He is doing in this day and age,” said Ee Yang.

“He is a God of signs and wonders and He is still at work this day to bring the divine into our lives. May we see His fingerprints in our daily lives.”

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When the visiting Indonesian pastor shared that his ancestors cannibalised the first two missionaries who came to their tribe, no one wanted to share a room with him afterwards, he mused.

Similarly, when his life was threatened in a mountainous jungle area so remote “that not even a motorcycle can get to it”, he told the village chief: “I come from the Batak tribe in North Sumatra. I crossed two oceans to come here. I am not afraid to die.”

Chandra, now 42, told Stories of Hope: “God gave me the wisdom to reply.

“The village chief ran away from me.” 

The great explorer Marco Polo was said to have described the Bataks as ferocious people who ate the “rump to stump” of others in their practice of ritual cannibalism.

So fearsome was the reputation of the Bataks as man-eaters, it extended through and beyond the era of European colonialism.

Family history

Chandra was 10 years old when his grandfather shared the story of their ancestral history that had been passed down orally from generation to generation.

“The Batak people practised animism. But they also sacrificed humans to their god. 

“They killed and ate the first two Christian missionaries who came to witness to them,” said Chandra.

The third missionary almost suffered the same fate.

He was Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen from Germany, born in 1834 – the year that the earlier two Baptist missionaries from America lost their lives.

“Nommensen almost got killed by the Batak people. But before they could do it, there was a great thunder. The Batak people thought it was a sign from their gods, and released Nommensen,” said Chandra.

“Nommensen had understood that the Bataks were cannibals.

“He had spent two years on a hilltop praying for the tribe before speaking with them and sharing the good news of Jesus’ love, compassion and forgiveness with them,” said Chandra, recalling what his grandfather had told him.

Chandra and his wife Uria at Salib Kasih (The Cross of Love) on top of the hill at Tarutung (Chandra’s hometown). It marks the area where Nommensen, a Lutheran missionary, had spent two years praying for the Bataks.

“He had prayed, ‘Lord, whether I live or die, I will be with this nation to preach Your Word and Your Kingdom’.” 

The tribe’s influential chief, Raja Pontas Lumbantobing, became Nommensen’s friend, and the first Christian in 1865.

“Through his conversion, many of the Batak peoples became Christians,” said Chandra, an 18th generation Tobing from the Toba clan – the first group of Bataks to become Christian. 

Chandra at the pulpit facing the outdoor worship arena at the prayer mountain at Salib Kasih.

“Thank God, He turned heart of the people to become believers,” said Chandra. 

“The practice of cannibalism stopped when Christianity entered Batak land.”

They also did away with other rituals. For instance, Batak clans usually had a pair of statues that they invited the spirit of ancestors to inhabit. 

When the Toba clan accepted Christ into their lives, they did away with these. “Because our ‘statue’ is the church,” said Chandra.

“To prove that the story he was telling us was very real, my grandfather showed us facts – like pointing out the first Batak church that Nommensen built,” said Chandra.

Today, the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (the Batak Christian Protestant Church), is arguably the largest church group in Indonesia; it also has a presence in Singapore. The church is affiliated with the Lutheran Church in Germany, and still has connections with the descendants of Nommensen. 

Nommensen also established schools, hospitals, and a theological seminary in the 54 years he spent among the Batak people. He was buried in Tarutung when he passed away in 1918. 

At the statue of Nommensen – the Apostle of the Batak – at Salib Kasih. There are also small houses where visitors can pray at the prayer mountain.

“Tarutung is blessed by God,” said Chandra, recalling what his grandfather had told him. 

Chandra’s grandfather also shared that the village where the two early missionaries were cannibalised “was very dry”.

“Whatever is planted there does not grow. It is believed that God cursed the land where the two missionaries were persecuted and killed,” said Chandra.

They brought their own coffins

“My grandfather also told us that many Tobings are serving God as pastors because we have the meat and blood of missionaries in our body,” said Chandra.

“Our clan was very ferocious. But thank God, He changed us in a positive way – to have a boldness to share the good news of Jesus.” 

In time, Chandra would became a pastor – the first from his grandfather’s line to do so.

Chandra would also learn that that missionaries from some 150 years ago “didn’t just bring the Bible, but also their own coffins because they are ready to die” – whether from persecution, illness or storms on long voyages.

“Not just the missionary, but their family understands that the price of sharing the gospel may be their life,” said Chandra.

It is a risk that he, too, understands and accepts.

Bribed to go to church

However, when Chandra was growing up, Christianity “was a religion without understanding”.

For young Chandra and many of his relatives, their passion for Christ had dulled over the generations. Chandra estimates that he is a sixth generation Christian.

Still, he looked forward to going to church every Sunday – for all the wrong reasons.

“I was from a poor family. We had no pocket money when we went to school during the week.

“But on Sundays, many parents gave their children money – to bribe them to go to church. So for example, if we were given 100 rupiah, 50 rupiah was to put in the offering bag, and 50 rupiah to buy snacks and drinks from the stalls outside church. But many of us only put 10 rupiah into the offering bag.”

(Chandra estimates that at that time, 100 rupiah was worth about S$0.50, the cost of four pieces of cake.)

“He knows us by our name”

When he was 12, his family moved to Medan city, 10 hours by bus from their village at Tarutung.

As part of the curriculum in junior high school, his teacher gave the students a notebook to write a report on Sunday’s sermon at church.

“We had to answer questions like ‘Who is the pastor?’, ‘What is the sermon he shared?’, ‘What was the Bible verse he used?’ 

“We then had to get the signature of the pastor with the stamp of the church. And on Monday, we would hand up our notebook to get a score from the teacher.

“So this forced me to go to church.”

When he was 14, his lukewarm feelings towards the faith changed. 

“We were staying in the slum area in Medan. I thought nobody noticed us, nobody cared for us.

“One Sunday, the sermon and an old Indonesian song said that God really cares for us. He knows us by our name. He loves us so much.

“I experienced the love of God, and something changed in my heart,” he said. 

When the pastor invited those who wanted to ask Jesus into their lives to come to the front, Chandra went forward. 

“My parents were also encouraged in their faith when our pastor diligently visited our small home in the slum and prayed for us.”

Chandra became a pastor in 2003. He is the general secretary of the Gereja Kristen Kudus Indonesia (Holy Christian Church of Indonesia) which has 114 churches across Indonesia, including nine in Bali.

After giving his life to Christ, Chandra noticed that God opened opportunities for him in school. 

“I got better in my studies, made it to the top class, and became more confident.” 

Slightly under half of the students at school were Christians, and he became their leader.

Chandra “felt joy” when encouraging others in their faith, in and outside school.

“Several friends and pastors thought that I would become a preacher. I started to pray about it,” said Chandra.

But he grappled with the decision.

“I wanted to study hard and get a good job to help my family,” he said.

Surrendering his “highest goal”

As a top student, Chandra had a through track to university.

“But my parents told me, ‘We have no money to put you through university.’

“My pastor then suggested I go to missions school in Batam which was free of charge.”

The one-year course prepared its students to offer help and hope to others. Afterwards, the school sent Chandra to a remote part of Bali where tourists were not seen.

“When you are in Bible school, you feel on fire for God. But when you go into the field, it feels like a bucket of cold water has been poured onto your fire.

“The culture was very different from mine, and I had no idea how to offer help and hope to the people,” said Chandra, adding that “loneliness is what kills cross-cultural workers”.

After two difficult years in Bali, Chandra applied successfully to do a Bachelor of Theology in Singapore. He believed at that time that “this was the highest goal”. 

“I felt, ‘Wow! This is a miracle from God’. My reasoning? If I graduate from Singapore, I will have a better paying job as a pastor, and a better life and ministry.

“But during my stopover in Singapore to visit the school, God visited me.” 

While reading the Bible that night, Chandra came across the passage on Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-17).

“When Moses saw the burning bush, he heard God tell him to take off his shoes ‘as the land is holy’.

“Through the passage, I sensed God telling me, ‘Bali is holy. Go back’,” recalled Chandra.

He asked God, “Why?”.

“God then gave me a vision. He said, ‘Nobody wanted to die on the cross, but I went there because I love you. If you love me, go back to Bali.'”

His new hometown

“Now I understood that God wanted Bali to be my new hometown,” said Chandra.

So he started making long-term plans for his work and life there – never mind that the Bible school was no longer obliged to support him with a small allowance after the two-year mark.

He also formed relationships with people God put into his life. 

“Before I understood my calling from God, I didn’t really pour my heart into the work in Bali as I kept praying for Him to take me to another place,” Chandra admitted.  

“Ministries take time to grow. You can’t just be in it for two years,” he said.

When Chandra complained about his lack of finances to God, he sensed God tell him: “You’re still young, you have your hands and legs. Do something.”

“We require our workers to support themselves,” said Chandra, who got trained in marketing and entrepreneurship to inspire church members to start their own businesses. Uria is a trained makeup artist.

Chandra tried his hand at a variety of businesses including giving guitar lessons. He also started work as early as 2am, making cakes which he sold at the market, or producing coconut milk to supply to a restaurant – something he still does today. 

“Copying” themselves

As workers were few, and the needs were many, God gave Chandra the wisdom to “copy” or multiply themselves.

With the help of a small team, Chandra started Promised Land – Bali in Denpasar to train young people to offer help and hope to various parts of Indonesia and beyond. It started with just four students in April 2004.

Today, they have about 80 students in each cohort.

They include a handful of students from remote mountainous jungles of Papua “where it is impossible to build roads to connect villages”.

One student, the child of a pastor, took nearly a month to get to Bali: The journey included walking for two weeks to get to the nearest form of transportation. Such is the hunger to learn to serve their own community.

Chandra and his team have been working to improve the lives of communities in Bali.

Pastor Chandra (second from left) with a mission partner Community for Christ Church (CFCC) from Singapore. CFCC supports Promised Land – Bali through prayers and finances. Photo courtesy of Teo Tee Loon (left).

“We were limited financially, but other churches and NGOs came alongside us to supply water tanks, build roads and start schools for villages,” said Chandra. 

Promised Land – Bali also formed a mobile clinic to treat the sick, and brought in wheelchairs for the handicapped. Photo courtesy of Teo Tee Loon.

“After a few years, we had a good relationship with people who rejected us previously. 

“They wonder, ‘How come you are helping people who oppose you? There must be something different about your religion.'”

The biggest surprise

“When I gave up my highest goal to get a degree and chose the bottom position – one with no money, nothing – to follow God, I was sure that no girl would want to marry me,” Chandra said.

“But I didn’t care, as long as I followed Jesus.”

He also trusted God to provide for him. He said: “I have never heard of a cross-cultural worker who died because they didn’t have food.” 

When he obeyed God, Chandra was in for an even bigger surprise. 

As soon as he shared with his classmates in Batam what he was planning to do, a female classmate came up to him and shook his hand. 

Once Chandra obeyed God and started to plan for his life in Bali, God brought him his future wife.

“She said, ‘Thank you, I am really encouraged by your testimony. You really decided to obey God, and recognised that it is His agenda, not yours.’

“I knew then that she was the one for me.”

Chandra and Uria in 2004 – the year before they got married.

Two days after they first spoke, Chandra told Uria that he felt “comfortable and at peace” when he was near her. She understood what he was saying, and asked for five days to pray about it. They tied the knot after a two-year courtship.

The Tobings with their three sons.

The Tobings have three sons who are now 17, 10 and 8.

“They are copying whatever we are doing,” said Chandra, with a father’s pride.

The Tobing boys serve variously as small group leaders and worship leaders in services for kids their age.

“My oldest son, whose English is better than mine, also started his own business selling cakes so that he has his own pocket money,” said Chandra.

“My second son gives five-minute sermons to the kids.

“Recently, one Sunday School teacher visiting from Singapore asked for help to translate a sharing for the kids. My second son said, ‘Hey, I can translate’. My wife and I were so amazed. He did it perfectly; he never studied English.

“My youngest son, 8, has been leading songs and playing the keyboard during the children’s services for more than a year.”

And so the legacy that Nommensen started in the late 1800s lives on, seven generations and counting.

This story first appeared on Stories of Hope.

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My dad tells me that he and my mother were in a Nazarene church and heard a sermon that was, in his view, so powerful and wonderful that he put his hand on my mother’s tummy. 

She was six months pregnant with me, and my father put his hand on my mother’s tummy and said, “God, give me a son who will preach like this man.”

Fast forward 18 years later. I’m in Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee, and we had to go to chapel every day. Over the years at Trevecca, I had heard hundreds of sermons but I only remember one. 

A man came and preached a sermon based upon Hebrews 11:5, that Enoch, by faith before he was translated, had this testimony that he pleased God, and I remember how the preacher emphasised Enoch didn’t please people, he pleased God. 

“By faith, Enoch was taken away so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God. Now without faith, it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:5

For some reason, I was so moved by that sermon that I went straight to my dormitory, got on my knees by my bed, and pleaded with God, “Lord, please, let me be like Enoch, a man who just pleases you.”

Well, an hour or so later, I got a phone call from my father. I said, Dad, “I heard a sermon this morning in chapel that moved me like I’ve never been moved in my life.” He said, “Well, who was the preacher? I said it was a man by the name of CB Cox. 

Dad said, “Son, that was the preacher who was preaching when your mother was six months pregnant with you, and I laid my hand on her tummy, that one day you would preach like that man.”

For many years, I wanted to preach on this subject, and I wrote a book a year or so ago. It’s called Pleasing God.

Enoch, before he’s taken away, had this testimony that he pleased God, and that’s my motive. I want to please Him by everything I say.

Prophetic integrity and hermeneutical integrity

Now, I want to say this before I get in to the context of pleasing God: Would you know what I mean by hermeneutical integrity? 

I wrote a book three years ago called Prophetic Integrity. The reason for the book is because open theism, a dangerous teaching has crept into the charismatic movement in the last 40 years.

The idea is that God does not know the future, but looks to us for input to know what to do next. They take the view, “We believe it. This is what we want. Let’s claim it.” The mistake they make is saying God wants that just because they want it. We’re dealing with many people who are well known, well respected by some, but are not giving us the truth. 

So I mentioned prophetic integrity, but there’s such a thing as hermeneutical integrity. 

Four things. Number one, what did it mean when Paul wrote to the Galatians? Second, what does it mean now? Third, is this what you believe, what Paul wants you to believe? And fourth, would you preach it? 

Those are four things for hermeneutical integrity. In other words, you’re treating the Bible with the deepest respect, and you want to convey what the Apostle Paul taught. 

And so I say, with fear and trembling, I would urge you to get to know the Bible so well, and to know the gospel so well. Because what I fear more than anything in the world is that we have departed from the pure gospel. 

There are three keys to pleasing God.

1. Do not depart from the pure gospel

“I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called you by the grace of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel, not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him, as we have said before. I’ll say it again if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, a curse be on him. Am I now trying to persuade people or God, or am I striving to please people. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:6-10

Apostle Paul warned: “So soon have you gone into believing another gospel?” He said, “Well, it’s not really a gospel, but it’s what you’re now believing.”

The hardest thing in the world to maintain is the preaching of the pure gospel. By gospel, I mean the good news as revealed mainly in two books in the New Testament: Romans and Galatians. 

Now, mind you, I believe all the New Testament, of course, but Romans and Galatians give us the teaching of justification by faith alone. That turned the world upside down in the 16th century, and many today have forgotten this gospel. 

Paul warned the Ephesians that one day the devil would get in. And when Jesus addressed the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2, He said: “The one thing I have against you, you have left your first love.” 

Now, many hastily jump to the conclusion and think that that means enthusiasm, passion, emotion, being excited. And I can see why they would say that, and there’s some truth in it.

“If it’s the approval of people you want, you should get out of the game altogether. This is for people who want just to please God,” said Dr Kendall at the conference.

But an examination of what was being preached toward the end of the first century and the early second century would show what Jesus meant by that: That it was not so much that they lost fervour, but rather they lost insight as to what the pure gospel really was. They lost a vision that we are justified by faith, plus nothing.

The pure gospel: That Jesus died on the cross having lived a perfect life. 

He said in Matthew 5:17, “I have come not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it.” If I could quote my mentor Martyn Lloyd Jones: “(In) Matthew 5:17, Jesus makes the most stupendous statement he ever made. He said, ‘I will fulfil the law’.”

When it came to the time to die on the cross, His last words were in the Greek: “Tetelestai”, which is a colloquial expression found in the ancient marketplace that meant “paid in full”. 

When Jesus said, “It is finished”, it meant that He’d kept His word. He had fulfilled it, and He had gone through everything He was required to go through, including the suffering. So that those who transfer their hope in good works to what Jesus did for you – that’s how you’re saved. 

2. A true prophet admits it when he’s wrong

This is the thing Paul wrote to the Galatians: “I’m amazed that so soon you would turn to something else, because the devil does not want you to believe that you’re saved by what Jesus did.”

(The devil) wants to put the emphasis on you, on your good works, and before you know it, you’re always testing for good works to make sure you’re saved.

(In my book) Prophetic Integrity, I urge all these prophetic people to come clean and tell the truth if they got it wrong. But I found out that these people don’t want to admit that they got it wrong, because they say, “People won’t believe in my credibility, and I can’t admit to making a mistake.”

Can I tell you the proof of a true prophet? It’s when you’re willing to admit you got it wrong. 

Take Nathan the prophet. He comes to David the king, and he knows what David wants to do more than anything in the world: David wants to build the temple. And Nathan the prophet says, “God is with you. Go for it.” And David is so excited. 

And then as soon as Nathan gets home, God says to him, “I didn’t tell you to say that… You go back to David and tell him the truth.”

If Nathan were like so many, he’d say “I’m never going to admit I made a mistake. I’m just not going to do it.” But Nathan was a man of God. He knocked on David’s door and said, “Sorry about this, but I messed up. You’re not the one to build the temple.” 

Now, that is prophetic integrity. 

My question to you, dear friends, is how much do you want a greater anointing? How important is the anointing to you? If you want a greater anointing, you’ve got to be a true man or woman of God and be willing to be embarrassed if you make a mistake. 

Because if it’s the approval of people you want, you should get out of the game altogether. Stop. Just go to do something else. Get a different job. This is for people who want just to please God. 

3. Get your joy from just pleasing God

Now it says of Enoch that he had this testimony before his translation, that he pleased God. I would hope that you would want that more than any thing in the world: That you pleased God. It doesn’t say that Enoch pleased his parents. 

See, God will find you, but maybe you’ve grown up knowing that you didn’t have the affirmation that you wanted of your father or mother, and that can affect you for life. But you see, God will take you as you are and get your joy from knowing you’re just pleasing Him. 

I take the view that there’s a reason John 5:44 became my life verse. In 1956, John 5:44 came to me and so gripped me that it became my life verse, and as far as I know, governs everything I say. 

John 5:44 – the words of Jesus to the Pharisees who did not believe in Him: And Jesus said to them, How can you believe, who receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that comes from God only? 

People ask: How could the Jews have missed their Messiah? It’s because they were not consumed with the honour of God. They only wanted people to affirm them. They didn’t want to be put out of the synagogue, and they just made sure everybody believed what they believed, and the honour or praise that comes from God wasn’t even on their radar screen.

That should have been the first thing to govern them, that they want the honour of God. No. Jesus said, “The trouble is, you want honour one of another, and you don’t want the honour that comes from the only God, and that’s how you miss your Messiah.” 

You see, these Jews were so sure that “When Messiah comes, I’ll know Him. I’ll know Him.” Now here He was, right in front of them, right in front of Him, and they missed Him. The reason you can miss an authentic work of God is because you’re only thinking, “What will people say if I affirm that?”

Get your joy from pleasing Him. A  long as you’re looking to each other, you’ll miss what God is in.

The apostle Paul said, “If I please man that I’m not a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10) So Enoch had this testimony. It didn’t say he pleased his parents, didn’t say please his friends. And it didn’t even say that he pleased himself. It just says “he pleased God”. 

It says of Jesus in Romans 15:3, “Christ pleased not himself.”

This excerpt was taken from Dr RT Kendall’s first session at APCCS’s Lift Conference, on September 25, 2024. It has been edited for length and clarity.

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Satan’s strategy to destroy the Church is not unlike the turning point in America’s fight for independence.

In the Battle of Saratoga of 1777, the British had more weapons, more gunpowder, more soldiers and more ammunition.

A certain American military officer, Daniel Morgan, told his men – farmers: “Save your bullets. Don’t shoot just any soldier. Shoot the officers.”

Satan has a target. His target are leaders. So don’t be surprised when our leaders are attacked.

The British officers were easy targets because of the special epaulettes they wore.

On the second day of the war, the British still had more gunpowder, more soldiers, more weapons and more ammunition. But they surrendered.

Why? Because their officers were decimated.

It was a brilliant military strategy.

Do you realise, the Church is in warfare?

Satan has a target. His target are leaders. So don’t be surprised when our leaders are attacked left and right.

Research shows one in three church leaders fail due to four common mistakes. Photo by Keng San.

4 reasons why church leaders fail

Years ago, my professor told me that  75% of Christian leaders will not finish well. The research was done by Bobby Clinton.*

According to two years of research done by the late Professor Howard Hendricks (from the Dallas Seminary) on 246 full time ministers,  leaders fail because of the following reasons:

1. Neglecting personal time with God

This happens when you get so busy with ministry and you neglect your time with God. That means you are no longer dependent on Him. So be careful with your time with God. Guard it and maintain dependence on God.

2. No boundaries with opposite sex 

… (or the same sex in some cases).

In our movement, we don’t want our pastors to have private meals or travel alone with members of the opposite sex.

I tell our pastors, it may be more expensive to bring your wife, but the church does not mind paying for it, because it is more costly if you fall. So always travel with your wife.

3. No accountability

Accountability is where a group of men who love you have permission to confront you, to ask you questions if something is not right.

Our discipleship structure has a 360-degree evaluation every year, where our peers, subordinates and our own family members evaluate us, and send the report to another pastor.

These accountability partners are more than just friends.

Rev Dr Peter Tan-Chi spoke to a capacity crowd, revealing how church leaders fall to attack and what can be done about it. Photo by Jonathan Tan.

Because friends don’t have to listen to each other. Whereas accountability partners – people you meet with often or work closely with – do. (The one exception, of course, is if your leader asks you to do something against the Bible.)

Because as a leader, I cannot see my own weaknesses, and sometimes I will say things that hurt people.

Friends don’t have to listen to each other. Whereas accountability partners do.

I praise God that in our movement, we have pastors who are willing to correct me. We meet once a week. My accountability partners include my family and my group members.

If you don’t have an accountability system in your church, I suggest you get some good friends and say: “Since we work together closely, let me give you permission to tell me what is wrong with me.”

I found having accountability partners very useful because there are things I may be doing that I am not aware of.

4. A pride issue 

… also known as: “It won’t happen to me”.

Satan’s strategy is to mislead leaders into thinking that they do not need to follow guidelines.

Members of the opposite sex want to talk to the pastors, especially the ones that are a bit handsome. By the grace of God, we have a culture where women know that the ones who will counsel them are the wives of pastors.

So it is important to have “buy one, take two”; that is, the wife of a pastor ministers with him. 

This ensures that the principle of “men discipling men, and women discipling women” is always followed.

3 important passions for finishing well

My whole discipleship paradigm changed when I realised why many leaders do not finish well.

I decided I wanted to focus on discipling leaders from another perspective: No longer knowledge, no longer just transfer of information, head knowledge. We need to disciple people in the head, the hands, skills and the heart.

In order to not just start but finish well, leaders need to nurture three passions.

The Bible offers guidance on this through verses like 2 Timothy 2:15: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

“Make it your ambition to do God’s will,” exhorted the speaker. Photo by Erik Nam.

1. Passion to please God

The first simple observation from 2 Timothy 2:15 is to be diligent to present yourself approved to God.

Jesus Christ is the best example of one whose passion was to please God.

In Matthew 3:17, God says about His Son: “… This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

My heart’s desire is that God will say that to me.

The Bible tells us that Jesus’ life ministry, is the outflow of His heart’s desire.

God is not just “pleased”, but I am “well-pleased”. Why was God so happy with His Son, Jesus?

The Bible tells us that Jesus’ life ministry is the outflow of His heart’s desire.

That is found in Psalm 40:7 and repeated in Hebrews 10:7-8: “… I delight to do Your will, O my God; your Law is within my heart”.

If you want to live a life pleasing to God, make it your ambition to live your life pleasing to God, to do God’s will. Why is it so crucial?

Because the reality is, your ministry, your life will be tested and challenged by circumstances, by people.

For example, have you been disappointed by church leaders? By family members? 

This is the reality: No one is perfect. So I tell people: “I will sooner or later disappoint you.”

However, I’ve told myself and all our leaders: Let us fix our eyes on pleasing God.

Because people will disappoint us, but God will not disappoint us.

There are three passions a church leader must possess in order to run the race and finish it well. Photo by Jonathan Tan.

Satan’s strategy is not just to get us to commit blatant sins like cheating, sex or money.

Satan’s technique is very subtle – he wants us to be discouraged. And we are most discouraged when our leaders or people we love, fail to live up to our expectations.

When we get discouraged, we open our heart to Satan and may no longer say, “I want to continue serving God”.

This shows that something is wrong with our primary motivation (to please man).

May I suggest we each examine our ambitions to ensure that our primary motivation is pleasing to God?

So if our motivation is to please God, it’s okay if you disappoint me.

If you are discouraged, compare your life to Paul’s (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). Have you had 39 lashes, been beaten with rods three times, shipwrecked three times, stoned, and been in danger if at all, or as much as he?’

2 Corinthians 5:9 says: “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” 

May I suggest we each examine our ambitions – whether it is in building a church or business – to ensure that our primary motivation is pleasing to God?

Because in 2 Corinthians 5:10, we are warned: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Many Christians are not taught the reality that all of us, even though we are saved through faith, will still be held accountable for how faithful we have been in doing what our ultimate boss – God – has assigned us.

2. Passion for excellence

The second observation from 2 Timothy 2:15 is to “be diligent”. Be conscientious. Do your best.

It is a command to make yourself “as a worker who does not need to be ashamed”.

It means, Christians, we should have a passion for excellence. Don’t be ashamed of your work.

The Bible tells us in Colossians 3:23-24: “Whatever you do, work heartily (that is, do your best), for Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

Photo by Jonathan Tan.

God has something special that only you can do that I cannot do.

If you put in your mind that you want to finish well (and not just survive), have a passion to please God in everything you do. 

God told us: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Poiema is the Greek work for workmanship. You are God’s masterpiece.

God made You special to do special work. God has something special that only you can do that I cannot do.

“Talent is cheap; dedication is costly. God has gifted you; you better work hard to develop your talent.”

Michelangelo, who painted the Sistine Chapel, was first a sculptor. One day, his teacher Bertoldo di Giovanni noticed him playing around while sculpting – he was not giving his best. His teacher took a hammer and broke whatever Michelangelo was toying around with.

His teacher said: “Talent is cheap; dedication is costly. God has gifted you; you better work hard to develop your talent.”

Excellence requires dedication. 

In one movie, it took Jackie Chan 2,900 takes in 40 days to perfect one sequence – for one scene that lasted only a few seconds. 

If Hollywood pursues excellence for a movie, what about us? 

Pursue excellence: If you’re a mother, be the best mother. If you are a pastor, be the best pastor. Do it for the Lord. 

3. Passion for God’s truth

… and sharing the truth in love.

Today, truth is compromised. Even many sincere pastors are not willing to preach hardcore truths on controversial topics.

Truth is not truth because the majority of people believe it … Truth doesn’t depend on how one feels.

My advice is: Balance truth and love.

Many from the LGBTQ community come to our Bible studies, where they know that they are loved. Secondly, they are also taught the Word of God. It’s painful. But they listen and their life is transformed. They know that we don’t compromise on the truth.

You have to balance truth and love. They know they are loved, they are transformed, and by the grace of God, they are inviting their friends. Truth is powerful. But you have to declare it properly.

Truth is not truth because the majority of people believe it. Truth does not cease to be true even if you don’t believe it.

Truth doesn’t depend on how one feels. That is the problem today: We gauge truth based on what the majority are thinking or how we feel. That’s not the way to judge truth.

Truth must correspond with facts, with reality.

Why do you insist that 4×4 = 16? Why not 15.3 or 16.5? Because truth matters.

Imagine you are an accountant applying for a job, and the boss asks you what is 4+4.

If the applicant says: “Boss, it depends on you, what number do you like?” He will never hire that accountant.

Common sense tells us that two contradictory claims cannot be true at the same time.

We have to teach people critical thinking.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says: “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

Scripture is not just for teaching, it’s also for reproof, for correction. It is not enough to declare the truth; you and I must live in accordance to the truth. It’s easier to speak and teach the truth. It’s harder to live out the truth.

So when the Bible says to “accurately handle the word of God”, don’t just limit it to teaching. You’ve got to live it out as a follower of Jesus. It’s called modelling.

Church leaders must achieve balance of truth and love. Photo by Jonathan Tan.

You also have to guard yourself, that you do not deceive yourself and compromise the Bible truth, by adding something else to it. For example, Christians can look at one verse and twist it if they are not careful. I’ve seen people using Bible verses to cancel other Christians.

My wife was counselling a woman who said: “I’ve forgiven. But give me time.”

My wife said: “Time will not cure. It is obedience.”

This woman obeyed (and hugged the person who had hurt her).  

A simple principle for us to practice every time we are faced with a hard choice is to ask ourselves: “What would Jesus do?”

The founder of a drug rehabilitation centre in the US told me that heroin addiction is the hardest to cure. About 90% of those in recovery relapse.

But their success rate is 90%. Their secret? 

The founder said: “People get into drugs and alcohol to numb their pain; many have been abused by parents and other people. They have a lot of hurts.

Unforgiveness is a real problem. And that is Satan’s ploy.

“We ask them to write a letter to their father, for instance. Then we fly them (to read it to the person who has hurt them). Or if the father is dead, we fly them to the cemetery, where they will leave the letter.” 

Unforgiveness is a real problem. 

God’s truth tells us “you have to forgive people”. They will disappoint you. They will wrong you. And that is Satan’s ploy.

In my experience, in casting out demons, in many cases, is because of bitterness and unforgiveness.

My prayer is that all of us will finish well.

In 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Paul is saying: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

The race for a church leader is not a hundred-yard dash, it is a marathon, Dr Tan-Chi pointed out. Photo by Keng San.

Finish the marathon

The implication is: Finish well.

Like the Olympic runner John Stephen Akhwari from Tanzania, who joined the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.

At the 19km point into the 42km marathon, someone bumped into him and he fell and hurt his shoulder and knee.

You cannot last if you don’t depend on the Lord for His power.

Most people would have stopped. But this guy continued running even though he was limping, and finished the race one hour later. He became a hero.

When asked why he continued, he said: “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race, but to finish the race.”

You have started a wonderful race. Your race is not a hundred yard dash. It’s a marathon.

I want all of us – five, 10, 20 years from now – to be excited, to be thriving.

But you cannot last if you don’t depend on the Lord for His power.

What is your part?

Ask God to give you a passion to please him, a passion for excellence, a passion for God’s truth. 

Sometimes some of you might fall. But I encourage you to get up, because Jesus is waiting at the finish line.

Japanese runner Shizo Kanakuri holds the world record for taking the longest time to complete a marathon, with an official time of 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours and 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds. He ran the 1912 Stockholm Olympic marathon, but collapsed from exhaustion and quietly withdrew from the race, leaving him as “missing”. But he was located more than 50 years later and flown back to the Olympics where he finished the race. 

Sometimes some of you might fall.

But I encourage you to get up, because Jesus is waiting at the finish line. His arms say “come”. He is never going to say “No, no, no”.

Even when you don’t feel like running anymore, I want you to think: “The arms of Jesus are waiting”.

If you fall, get up. Just finish the race well.

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In addition, this housing model was to also offer education, healthcare and social services as part of a holistic solution to uplift lives and build community.

Undertaking such a project would be almost impossible, Daniel thought.

However, he knew that such a tall order had to be from the Lord.

After three months of walking the ground and assessing potential partnerships, Daniel and his team feared that they would not be able to find a partner that was both trustworthy and had excellent ground execution capability.

Soon after he “gave up”, God showed up and delivered the partner of their dreams on a silver platter to them: NHO, run by a group Christian Koreans.

In June 2018, NHO’s executive director Kim Kyoo Chul extended an unusual invitation to Olive Tree Estates to participate in four of its ongoing projects on a cost-to-cost basis.

In order to join in, Olive Tree and Providence would have to raise USD$30 million for the projects.  

“I felt it was impossible,” he said. “Olive Tree had not much capital and Providence did not have the track record in Vietnam nor the asset class experience in affordable housing to persuade investors to put in the money.

“I wrote off our chances.”

(Read the whole of Part One here.)

Daniel had low hopes for joining in NHO’s housing projects, but God was not done.

One day, Charlotte, a friend from church told Daniel about a vivid and unusual dream she had of him.

In the dream, Daniel was at an event with Natalie, a bespectacled youth leader. He introduced Natalie to everyone and encouraged those around him to support her. As Daniel lobbied for people to attend the event, God reminded him that He is the Lord of hosts and that He would bring in the guests. All Daniel had to do was to “cook”.

“Charlotte had no clue what the dream meant and asked me for insight. My only impression at that time ­– strange as it may seem – was that the bespectacled Natalie was actually Kim,” said Daniel.

Daniel’s church friend Charlotte who shared her dream of him with him.

A few weeks after he returned from Vietnam, Daniel happened to have a coffee catch up session with a friend, Sherman Kwek, the group chief executive officer of City Developments Limited, a multi-billion dollar market-cap property developer in Singapore.

The two friends had never talked business before, but when Sherman asked him what he was up to, Daniel brought him up to speed with the latest developments that involved Olive Tree, NHO and the “crazy” Koreans.

Sherman’s associate, Andrew (a former intern at Providence’s and Daniel’s ex-Sunday school kid) reached out to Daniel and revealed that following their coffee session, Sherman was keen to find out more about the housing projects.

This resulted in Daniel sharing further about the projects with CDL a month later.

During this time, Daniel continued looking for investors to raise the requisite USD$30 million in order to participate in NHO’s offer.

“I did not panic over raising funds because to me it was impossible to be done. We didn’t even broach the topic of the US$30 million fundraising with the property developer team because in my mind, it was impossible for their company to support us,” admitted Daniel.

After his sharing, the interest from the CDL team was piqued and they wanted to visit NHO in Ho Chi Minh City to explore a new market for potential investments.

In September 2018, the CDL team visited NHO and NHO’s North Vietnam projects in Ha Long Bay and Haiphong.

Sherman Kwek (third from right) and his CDL team, with Daniel, in North Vietnam in the September of 2018.

Sherman was so moved and impressed by NHO’s achievements and purpose that he told Kim that he wanted to significantly enhance NHO’s impact and footprint in Vietnam through massive financial support.

The Korean’s reply was unexpected.

Daniel related: “Kim told him that one billion or two billion (dollars) is not important to them. What’s important is that they follow hard after Jesus and do what He tells them to do.

“Kim added that it is far more important for him that Sherman gives his heart to Jesus.

“In the marketplace, as we know it, we have never met anyone who would be willing to priortise the well-being of a person’s soul over extremely significant financial support.

“This was a very special moment where everyone was able to glean the heart of the Koreans and what drove them.”

Kim told Sherman that he should “try” to get to know Jesus and teased that in the meantime, he and NHO would work with Olive Tree instead.

Daniel found Kim’s response astounding, given that Olive Tree had comparatively no financial resources at that point in time, compared to Sherman’s CDL.

Sherman Kwek (second from left) was moved by NHO’s social housing projects in Vietnam. NHO is run by Kim (front, on the right). Daniel is sitting next to him at this dinner gathering in Vietnam.

So much money in so little time

Though his offer of financial support was turned down by NHO, Sherman indicated his desire to help Daniel and Olive Tree when they returned to Singapore.

But Daniel had doubts.

“Once again, the word ‘impossible’ came into my mind. Why would he help us, seeing that his company had no pre-existing relationship with Olive Tree and NHO? Would his board even agree? And why would the company agree to take a passive stake in our fund for the housing projects when they are often a pro-active investor that takes the leading role in real estate developments and investments?” 

Daniel and his team were informed that Sherman was willing to stand behind a US$20 million commitment to Olive Tree’s Emerging Markets Affordable Housing Fund (EMAHF), pending board approval.

It was a complete surprise to Daniel. “I didn’t expect them to secure the necessary board approval for the proposed investment in EMAHF.

“But Zechariah 4:6 was about to come alive again,” he said. 

The CDL board approved the US$20 million investment in EMAHF at the first sitting and soon after that, additional investors added on to bring EMAHF’s fundraising to US$29 million.

Daniel with Terrance (his Providence’s co-managing partner), alongside Kim and his Korean NHO colleagues and Sherman (Group CEO of CDL) at CDL’s diamond jubilee celebrations in 2023.

It was clear God was in this with Daniel and his team. Their journey was signposted with miraculous opportunities, unmerited favour and all manner of confirmations.

The same month Olive Tree received its funding from CDL, Daniel received a photo from a friend.

Pastor Song Tjoa was a former venture capitalist who was an investor in Providence’s first fund back in 2007.

The pastor had suddenly sent Daniel a picture of himself with the Koreans from NHO, and asked him if he knew of them.

As it turned out, one of Pastor Song’s church members in Vietnam had introduced him to the Koreans. Daniel met up with the pastor and shared with him the story of how NHO had miraculously become Olive Tree’s local partner in Vietnam and how they had amazingly received commitments for US$29 million to date.

Two months later, Pastor Song agreed to round up the funding to the target amount of USD$30 million.

“I was ecstatic,” said Daniel.

“Providence has never raised so much money in such a short space of time to support investments in a product class and in a geography where we have absolutely no track record as fund managers.

“When the investment agreements were signed, the doubting Thomas within me started to really believe that God was standing solidly behind the mission of Olive Tree Estates and NHO.

“God kept showing up again and again through Zechariah 4:6 moments,” he marvelled.

In January 2019, after EMAHF had successfully raised US$30m, Daniel spoke to Kim over the phone.

“I jokingly told him that the ‘baby and intern’ has graduated and that maybe he can and should regard us as a value-adding partner from here on,” he related.

Kim laughed and told him that the reason why he offered the four projects to them on such preferred terms was not because he saw them as a partner but because he regarded them as brothers-in-Christ.

Daniel with his Korean partners at a NHO’s New Year party in Ho Chi Minh City in 2020. On the far right is Kim.

A covenantal partnership, a vision come to pass 

Shortly after Olive Tree managed to raise USD$30 million, Daniel met his church friend Charlotte again.

She happened to remember the dream she had of him and asked him if she had told him Natalie’s family name. Daniel said no.

“Charlotte told me that in the dream, she somehow knew that Natalie’s surname is Ho. My jaw dropped and my heart skipped a beat,” he related.

“Suddenly, everything made sense: Natalie’s initials were NHO.”

Truly, Olive Tree and Daniel’s journey had nothing to do with might or power. It was all orchestrated by the Spirit of God.

“With the benefit of hindsight, I think what God was saying was that I should let go of the feeling that I needed to bring in all the guests to support Natalie (NHO),” Daniel said.

“God, as the event host, would bring in the guests and all I needed was to stay in the kitchen and cook for the guests (managing the meetings, paperwork etc).

“Indeed, it was the Lord who brought the investors in and raised the money for us to partner with NHO to do the work and mission in Vietnam,” he added.

In March 2019, the covenant partnership agreement between Olive Tree Estates, NHO and EMAHF to invest in four projects to build over 6,000 affordable homes in Vietnam was signed.

Signing of the covenant partnership agreement between Olive Tree, NHO and EMAHF to invest in four projects to build over 6,000 affordable homes in Vietnam.

Daniel (centre) with Kim and the other Koreans and representatives from CDL reviewing a parcel of land for purchase.

To date, around 1,500 apartments and townhouses have been built. Four family resource centres and two kindergartens have also been established alongside the housing developments.

The completed affordable housing development in Ha Long Bay, where a two-bedder sells for about US$50,000. It even has a sky gym and an infinity pool.

Their holistic impact and outreach solution calls for community amenities and services such as family centres in as many of their estates as possible.

Olive Tree Estates’ social impact advisory board member John Ang training undergraduates at Sunshine Kindergarten at NHO’s social housing estate in Thanh Loc, Ho Chi Minh City.

Daniel bringing a group of Singaporeans – including Pastor Eugene Seow, his wife and Radion International’s Eugene Wee and his wife – to visit Sunshine Kindergarten (their second kindergarten), earlier this year.

In 2022, another US$40 million was raised for a second fund to support the work in Vietnam. Over the next decade, the Olive Tree and NHO collaboration will see more than 26,000 affordable homes being built.

Signing of another USD$40 million agreement in 2022.

Olive Tree Estates partners with the University of Labour and Social Affairs in Ho Chi Minh City, bringing in expertise for social work training.

Daniel believes that God has a redemptive plan for business and the marketplace.

Along the wide spectrum of spending and giving, he said that people, investors and consumers largely understand profit maximisation to be one end of the arc and charity on the other.

“Well-meaning believers in positions of authority have encouraged me to pivot Olive Tree’s business model, to focus on maximising profit. They suggest that such profit can then be paid out as dividends to shareholders who will then decide how to deploy these funds for charitable and philanthropic purposes,” said Daniel.

“But I believe God does care for what occupies the middle ground ­– the Olive Trees of the world where businesses are forces for good and change.

“These are businesses where profit that is generated is not maximised but rather, optimised because emphasis is placed on addressing pressing social and environmental issues, concerns and problems.

“But for these middle-ground enterprises to succeed, investors and consumers need to support them,” he added.

He hopes that believers will move some of the capital that they have allocated to invest in profit-maximising companies to creative enterprises which prioritise transformational impact and holistic returns. 

At an affordable housing conference organised by the World Bank and the Indonesian Government, Daniel presented Olive Tree Estate’s affordable housing and community development proposition.

The launch of the third family centre at NHO’s social housing estate in An Giang province.

Daniel in the reading section of one of their family centres.

Although Daniel experienced open doors and confirmations that he was on the right track, “we (Olive Tree) had to contend with all manner of trials and challenges from 2020 to the present.

“To be honest, hardly a day goes by without me telling God that the burden is simply too heavy to bear,” he admitted.

“But I am reminded that His strength is made perfect in my weakness.”

Some of the challenges they faced include COVID exacerbating project delays and lengthening investment horizon for their investors, facing massive delays in obtaining permits due to land law reform, as well as political uncertainty in Vietnam that caused greater gridlock and difficulty in securing approvals.

Daniel said: “I don’t know what the future holds for Olive Tree, though I hope ours and NHO’s impact footprint will scale to new countries.

“What I do know is how God had walked with us through mountain highs and valleys low.

“What if the whole point of this journey was to train us in obedience and to refine us? Would that be enough for me?

“And if every effort comes to nought, all investments fail and the world see us as failures, shouldn’t we be at peace if we know that we have sought to be faith-filled and faithful throughout the journey?”

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The post “To my surprise, CDL pumped in US$20m!”: How God used a small Singapore company to pull together a multimillion dollar deal for affordable housing in Vietnam appeared first on Salt&Light.

Changjiang Fertilizer Holdings was a failed legacy investment for the first fund of Providence Capital Management.

The investment had long been written off but the managing partner of Providence Daniel Long and his co-owner decided to resuscitate the defunct company that barely had a dime to its name, via a reverse-takeover exercise.

“We wanted to revive the fortunes of the company to recover some value for its long-suffering minority shareholders,” said Daniel, 54.

What was supposed to be a six-to-nine-month exercise, however, dragged on for two years. By then, Daniel and his partner had put in substantial time and money into this endeavour.

Thus, when the company was finally successfully re-listed as Olive Tree Estates in the December of 2017, Daniel had plans for it to become a successful real estate developer.

Over the years, Providence’s portfolio of funds has invested and co-developed more than $2 billion worth of real estate in Singapore and its know-how could be leveraged for Olive Tree.  

Daniel Long with his wife and two children in December 2017 when Olive Tree Estates was successfully listed.

“I felt that the years of uncompensated sacrifice which we had put into rehabilitating the company would perhaps bear some meaningful financial reward further down the road,” Daniel explained to Salt&Light.

One month later, while waiting to run an errand at the Central Depository building, Daniel did his quiet time reading on Zechariah 4.

“I half-joked to myself that Zechariah 4 – which speaks of two olive trees feeding oil into a bowl that trims seven lamps – was a sign that Olive Tree would become a very successful real estate company.

“I was looking forward to some fair compensation for my past efforts,” he admitted.

But those thoughts did not find resonance in his inner man.

Instead, he received an impression from God that Olive Tree should be repurposed as a social impact company to provide social and affordable housing to the masses in emerging markets.

In addition, this housing model was to also offer education, healthcare and social services as part of a holistic solution to uplift lives and build community.

The goal was to optimise profit so as to maximise the social impact for the communities there.

The unmistakable whisper too loud to ignore

“A disquiet kicked in right away. What do we know about social housing in developing countries? What do we know about establishing early childhood education facilities, healthcare and family service centres?” said Daniel.

More questions and doubts continued to flood his mind.

“Would building affordable housing generate sufficient margin and cash flow for us to provide quality education and healthcare?

“How would we ensure a fair return on investment for our shareholders?

“We have been taken for a ride so many times in emerging markets, how would we be able to find a trustworthy local partner?”

Undertaking such a project would be almost impossible, Daniel thought.

However, he knew that such a tall order had to be from the Lord.

“The unmistakable whisper from within grew into a deep conviction which was impossible to ignore. ‘If this is You,’ I told God, ‘we will explore this’,” he said.

Daniel and his team began weekly travels from the February of 2018 to neighbouring countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia.

As they walked the land to assess the needs, they saw many homes that were so poorly constructed and dangerous that they ultimately became abandoned slums.

“I used my finger to dig into a brick in a one-storey subsidised housing unit,” he recalled. “To my shock, a part of the brick disintegrated before my eyes. The builders must have used a lot more sand than cement to put the bricks together.”

A social and subsidised housing site in Indonesia. Poor quality and a lack of community amenities led to these developments turning into abandoned slums over time.

“The vision we have, unlike other developers out there, is not to simply build, take profit and go home. The rural poor not only need safe and quality homes to go home to, but they should also experience a vibrant community life through the provision of other critical amenities such as family resource centres and kindergartens,” he added.  

Yet after three months of walking the ground and assessing potential partnerships, Daniel and his team feared that they would not be able to find a partner that was both trustworthy and had excellent ground execution capability.

The reality was that the sanctity of contract and the enforceability of law may not be guaranteed in emerging countries.

“Everywhere we turned, doors closed before us. In some cases, we were saved from potentially catastrophic outcomes. Later on, it became clear to us that we were being prepared as ‘lambs to the slaughter’. I told God that the task was near impossible,” said Daniel.

Soon after he “gave up”, God showed up and delivered the partner of their dreams on a silver platter to them.

An unexpected partnership

An investor happened to introduce them to one of his former staffers based in Vietnam. The meeting was to take place at the end of a long day at a noisy bar.

Understandably, Daniel did not hold much expectations for it.

However, he discovered that the acquaintance was one of the principals of the National Housing Organization (NHO), one of the largest social and affordable housing developers in Vietnam.

This acquaintance shared that NHO is mainly owned by a Singaporean and run by a team of Koreans based in Vietnam.

In the last 12 years, NHO has built more than 10,000 affordable homes across eight provinces including Ha Long Bay, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

The organisation is not only known for building quality homes but over-delivering on product specifications instead of trying to maximise profits by cutting corners.

In April 2018, Daniel and his team met the team from NHO for the first time – an unforgettable meeting for him.

It turned out that the Koreans were children of Christian missionaries and pastors, and they had come to Vietnam to answer God’s call to serve the people there. In the region, they had been funding and running schools, social enterprises and various social impact projects.

Daniel at Handong University in 2023, where many of his Korean partners graduated from. Handong University is a Christian University in Pohang, South Korea.

“As we moved around their community and observed how they conduct themselves, it has become clear to us that the group of Koreans never perceive relationships through transactional eyes,” Daniel noted.

“For them, people who are brought into their lives are divinely-appointed opportunities to help, encourage and bless.”

At his first meeting with the Koreans, Daniel excitedly shared with them what he felt was God’s divine blueprint for Olive Tree Estates.

Kim Kyoo Chul, Executive Director on the board of NHO and its de facto CEO, did not seem to share Daniel’s excitement.

“Your vision is big, while my vision is small,” Kim said to him.

“It was essentially his way of saying that I was talking way too big for my tiny little shoes. Later I learnt that he was questioning whether the vision for Olive Tree was God-originated or man-engineered,” said Daniel.

In the weeks that followed, Kim would constantly refer to Daniel as the “baby and intern”.

“It was to help me posture myself correctly in a new country and environment. I was reminded that I cannot simply take templates and solutions from the Western and developed countries and apply them to emerging markets,” he said.

In June 2018, Kim extended an unusual invitation to Olive Tree Estates to participate in four of its ongoing projects on a cost-to-cost basis. In order to join in, Olive Tree and Providence would have to raise USD$30 million for the projects.  

“From a business perspective, it made no sense for them to do it as there was nothing in it for them. The projects were already had their own investors and one of the projects had already completed the first phase of the development,” said Daniel.

In order to bring Olive Tree on board, NHO had to persuade its other investors to cease their existing investments.

Daniel and Kim, who were guests at a wedding. Regarding the unusual offer by NHO, Kim told Daniel: “I did this for you not because you are my partner but because you are my brother.”

Unknown to Daniel then, Kim and his team had been praying that God would bring them the right partner in season for the next lap of NHO’s journey.

They felt that Olive Tree was to be their divinely-appointed partner, even though Olive Tree, being a freshly listed small-cap company, had no track record in Vietnam and very little in the way of finances to grow NHO’s footprint.

They had been presented with this unbelievable offer, but Daniel did not think he and his team would be able to raise the money.

“I felt it was impossible,” he said. “Olive Tree had not much capital and Providence did not have the track record in Vietnam nor the asset class experience in affordable housing to persuade investors to put in the money.

“I wrote off our chances.”

With God, nothing is impossible?

During that time, Daniel received a diagnosis of a frozen shoulder. MRI scans showed that he had two torn tendons. His surgeon felt that reconstruction surgery was required and warned that he would have to contend with an extended period of rehabilitation.

“To raise US$30 million, travelling, pitching and multi-geographical meetings were inevitable. It was again impossible to do the needful,” said Daniel.

Despite these work and physical challenges, Daniel went for his church’s family camp in June. He currently serves as the General Superintendent of the children and youth ministry in his church, Barker Road Methodist Church.

During the church camp, the guest speaker Pastor Jeff Yuen spoke about healing and the church members were encouraged to practise what they had just learnt.

An enthusiastic young adult seated in front of him prayed for Daniel’s shoulder, and asked if him it was better.

“I didn’t want to discourage him so I said it seemed better,” Daniel recalled. “But of course, I still went for my scheduled surgery to resolve the frozen shoulder and mend the two torn tendons.”

What was meant to be a three-hour operation took only an hour because his surgeon discovered that the two torn tendons had miraculously mended.

The post-surgical report that documented the healing.

“It was impossible for the tendons to mend itself naturally in two weeks,” he marvelled. “My doctor gave me the green light to go to Vietnam the next week.”

The healing was a powerful encouragement to Daniel.

“That was when I knew that God was behind all of this. Zechariah 4’s word of the Lord that the impossible becomes possible ‘not by might nor by power, but by His spirit’ began coming to pass.”

Would Olive Tree succeed in raising USD$30 million in order to realise its vision to provide affordable housing for the underserved masses in Vietnam? Read Part Two of the story here.

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“In Malaysia, more than 15,000 tonnes of food are wasted on a daily basis. That’s enough to feed 12 million people, three times a day,” said the 37-year-old.

Struck by these facts, and with a passion for social and environmental causes, Clara decided to tackle the issue from the ground up.

From 10 boxes a week to 50 a day

In 2019, after spending seven years serving low-income families and students with a non-profit organisation, Clara decided to open Graze Market, a surplus food grocer, in Petaling Jaya. 

The first six months of running Graze Market was challenging. She had opened a physical store with only RM15,000 (S$4,300), and little clue about how to run a business.

“But I felt I needed to just stay in the game,” said Clara, who has a degree in finance.

Several months later, the pandemic hit. Overnight, Graze Market’s veggie boxes became a hit.

“We went from 10 boxes a week to 50 boxes a day. I then realised that low-income families without much access to technology would be impacted, so we worked with corporates to sponsor fruit and veggie boxes,” she shared.

These boxes were a blessing to the underprivileged community, as many food aid boxes were filled with dry goods such as rice, oil and flour.

When the pandemic passed, Graze Market reopened its retail space to sell premium food nearing their best before dates. The team now also produces its own sauces and marinades, and is venturing into the catering space to increase its impact.

More recently, Graze Market started venturing into catering as a sustainable, high-impact way to tackle food waste and encourage responsible consumption.

What can the Church do?

Food wastage is not just a problem in Malaysia, but worldwide.

According to global statistics, a third of all food is wasted.

Graze Market started with surplus fruits and vegetables, but has since expanded to making their own sauces and marinades.

Food wastage means also discarding the energy used in growing, harvesting, preparing, transporting, packing and distributing it. Furthermore, wasted food produces methane as it rots in landfills, contributing to the problem of climate change.

She noted that in Christian circles, evangelism and social work are often the focus.

“Not many churches emphasise the need to protect the planet. But God made the earth, and we are called to tend it (Genesis 2:15),” she said.

“When we cause our earth to degrade faster, we are doing the future generations a disservice,” Clara added matter-of-factly.

Apart from damage to the environment, food wastage also affects people – in particular, the poor and needy.

The reality is, the world is growing enough food for everyone. But because so much is going to waste, millions of people are paying the price.

The ones who suffer most are the poor and underprivileged, who often lack access to nutritious food and the financial capacity to manage increasing prices.

Today, as many as 309 million people in 72 countries live with chronic hunger every day, according to the World Food Programme.

While Clara acknowledged that there are Christian impact investors sowing into creation care, she believes the Church can do more.

“In general, the whole idea of food waste applies to everyone. How can we spearhead such initiatives as a church? These are questions we can be asking,” she said.

Giving the business back to God

Since its inception, Graze Market has distributed imperfect fruits and vegetables to more than 10,000 people. The young entrepreneur knows more lies ahead.

“A big part of running an organisation is your internal growth, learning to rely on God. It’s easy to think it’s all just us. But when we realise it’s all by God’s grace, and that He can give and He can take, we grow,” she said.

Having been at the helm of Amazing Graze for five years, Clara has learned to sow not just into her business but also into her team.

Clara is also a member of Accomplish Asia, a community that inspires impact-driven leaders to transform businesses and enrich lives.

“When I started, I had a purpose from God. But when struggles came, I went into survival mode. Now I’m asking, ‘How do I give this business back to God?’ I’m trying to put that into practice,” Clara mused.

A member of Accomplish Asia, Clara is learning how to be a faithful steward of her business and lead with Christ-centred values for true success.

This shift in perspective has given her renewed courage to take risks.

“I have a tendency to hold back on funds, but I’m learning to sow. And it’s not just about resources, but the people we work with,” she explained.

Living out God’s purposes

Asked how we can know that God is calling us to initiate an idea that brings His purposes to life, Clara answered: God’s presence.

“As you spend time with the Lord and share moments with Him, you will have a sense of God’s heart,” she said.

A practical check is to ask if this initiative will help you to know God and make Him known in whatever space you’re in, be it the workplace, in service or in ministry, she added.

Next to the surplus food market, Graze Market also runs a small cafe, Graze Eatery with a menu based on the available surplus produce.

“If you’ve ticked off these two points, then it’s time to take the step of faith. In the beginning, it can look like you’ve gone off (track), but just staying in the game and being faithful will bring you to a place of God’s unfolding,” she said.

For Clara, stewardship means being faithful in whatever opportunities God gives her.

Through the vicissitudes of life and running a social enterprise, the young entrepreneur holds onto John 14:27.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Her focus is to ensure she’s living out God’s purposes for her daily.

She said: “I didn’t plan to be an entrepreneur. But having been in this space for five years, I now see it as a God-given opportunity to serve Him, care for our planet and love others.”

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The post Reducing food waste has lots to do with good stewardship: Founder of Malaysian surplus food grocer, Graze Market appeared first on Salt&Light.