The famous story of Samson and Delilah, along with other Bible stories, comes alive on the screen.

By blending slick anime-inspired visuals with AI (Artificial Intelligence)-generated art, Bible Bento is delivering timeless Bible stories in a fresh, modern way. 

The unique platform that was conceived a year ago, has been captivating children and their parents on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and other social media channels.

The ministry of Bible Bento continues to grow with close to 20,000 followers across Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, with a few million views across various social media platforms, as well as thousands of direct messages received so far.

A WhatsApp group that was formed for better engagement with subscribers to the channel now has 1,000 members who exchange testimonies and share devotional thoughts daily. 

What’s especially astonishing is that Bible Bento, a Singaporean creation, has found its largest audience in Africa. Its Samson and Delilah video on Facebook also went viral among Africans and garnered half a million views across various social media channels.

It all began with a cryptic sentence from God to a former punk rocker, which sparked what may be the most exciting evangelism tool among the rising tide of Christian content accounts.

Bible Bento’s Samson and Delilah video on Facebook went viral among Africans and garnered half a million views across various social media channels.

The puzzling sentence

Twelve months ago, Levan Wee, the former frontman of rock band, Ronin, woke up with this sentence playing clearly in his head: “Children love Bible stories, like Daniel in the lions’ den.” 

Levan told Salt&Light: “It was so clear and complete that I was confused by it because I had no reference. I wasn’t thinking about kids or that story or anything.”

The unexpected experience led the social media professional with a doctorate in philosophy to pray. The idea of creating Bible videos for kids hit him.

“I didn’t naturally gravitate to it because, in all honesty, I am quite awkward around children. It’s not a natural inclination for me so it was a bit of a grapple,” admitted Levan, who turns 43 today (December 5).

Later that morning, he heard the pastor utter the exact sentence, nearly word for word, at a devotion session.

“Children love Bible stories like Daniel and the lions’ den”, sparked off the new ministry using AI art and anime to create Bible story videos for children.

During his prayer time over the next few days, Levan started seeing symbolic visions of Japanese anime and received impressions that pointed towards AI. 

He gradually sensed God’s guidance to combine traditional video-editing programmes with AI tools to generate anime-themed Bible videos designed to teach kids.

Still, the idea was vague and he was uncertain of God’s direction.

Nonetheless, Levan went ahead to create the first draft video, testing out AI to generate anime images that told the story of Daniel in the lions’ den, animated in vivid colour.

He then created videos of other Bible stories, including Jesus’ parables and some fun Bible trivia.

A few weeks later, while praying at a pavilion in his neighbourhood park for God’s clear direction regarding the mix of AI and anime for kids, Levan decided to send an ex-colleague his first video draft for her comments.

Minutes later, a teenager jogged by and initiated a conversation with him. She revealed her hope to be an anime artist. 

Even more specifically, she said her parents thought that AI would make her job difficult but she believed it was possible to work together with AI to create anime art.

Levan took this as a perfectly timed confirmation from God.

 “When God calls us in our various capacities, He will make them clear.

“In the case of Bible Bento, it was confirmations that were specific enough to help me overcome the hesitations,” he told Salt&Light.

Encouraged, he proceeded to ask God for guidance on the audience that these anime videos should reach on social media.

“I assumed this would be for Singapore, Philippines, all the anime popular regions, right?

“Praying further, I saw African flags and symbolisms of African flag colours, which are quite schematically unique.

“I was taken aback because I don’t know much about Africa!

“I’ve never had a real interest in Africa. I don’t know much about the culture. I didn’t even know how their Christian faith was like,” he said.

Levan received more clarity from an unexpected confirmation when the very next day, he heard colleagues at work discussing the enthusiasm African Christians possessed – a topic he had never heard them talk about before.

This reinforced God’s call to him to create anime Bible videos for children in Africa.

A leap of faith

In September, Levan obeyed God’s call to step out of employment and work on Bible Bento full-time.

Now, having left his job as Social Media Strategist and Managing Editor of Stories of Hope at the Thirst Collective, Levan had no visible means of financial support and has had to tighten up his budget.

“There are days I wonder how things are going to play out, but I have no regrets.

“I trust that God will provide in His own timing and I truly believe in Matthew 6:33 – seeking first the Kingdom of God and the rest will be added to you,” he declared, adding that financial provision has come in miraculously each step of the way.

Levan was also prompted in a dream to accept help from Rume Eburu, a Nigerian follower of Bible Bento, transforming the solo effort into a partnership.

When he woke up, he saw he had received a text message from Rume, saying that he had felt the Holy Spirit nudge him to volunteer to help with Bible Bento.

“I was shocked at the perfect timing of all of this. Rume had no idea that I just had a dream about welcoming someone to join me – and here he was, offering his time and effort!

“Other surprising supernatural confirmations happened between Rume and me – things that we both witnessed that absolutely defied probability!” said Levan.

Surprising supernatural confirmations brought Levan Wee (left) and Rume Eburu (right) together to work on the Bible Bento ministry.

God later challenged Levan to pay Rume for his volunteer work.

“I’m leaving my job. I got no income and I’m supposed to pay him?” Levan wondered.

He then sensed God’s prompting to call his mother. 

Levan obeyed, and his mother immediately shared with him about a YouTube video she had watched and talked about God’s financial provision.

He told her about his decision to pay Rume for his help with Bible Bento. His mother suggested paying Rume S$200.

A subsequent conversation with Rume revealed that he was planning to start a family.

Levan said: “This is my way of providing for his prayers, because he has prayed for provision.

“If you provide for him – if you are willing to provide for him – I will provide for you,” Levan sensed God saying to him.

By faith, he transferred S$200 to Rume, while still worried about depleting his bank account.

The next day, Levan had lunch with someone he had arranged to meet some weeks ago. The ministry of Bible Bento came up in the conversation. After lunch, the person sent a text to say that he had transferred S$200 to Levan in support of his ministry.

To Levan, this was yet another confirmation from God. 

While he may not have absolute clarity on the journey ahead or the potential difficulties, with the many supernatural confirmations he has received from God, Levan is assured of God’s guidance.

“It’d be worth it if it means walking in the Holy Spirit at this level,” Levan told Salt&Light.

AI for the Kingdom

While AI is rapidly evolving with daily breakthroughs, Levan noted that creativity from the human touch is crucial and irreplaceable by technology.

He uses AI to a certain extent, then manually employs design, animation and video apps like Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro to polish up his videos.

“In some areas of the process, there are simply no shortcuts,” he told Salt&Light.

“Ultimately,” he added, “God must remain at the centre of the project.”

Videos on Bible Bento are created using AI along with programmes like Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere and others.

“When it comes to using AI for Kingdom work, I believe we should always pray to God for inspiration, craft the message He wants to share by hand and use AI wisely – as a tool to bring that vision into reality rather than something we rely on solely,” he said.

He believes AI, just like social media, if used the right way, can help Christians share the Gospel in fresh, exciting ways and reach people far more efficiently than before.

“I don’t think the Church should shy away from using it just because it’s new. We shouldn’t let fear cause us to miss the opportunity to reach more people,” urged Levan.

“New tools can bring new ways to serve others! But as we do this, I feel it’s essential to stay focused on God and people and not get swept up by the latest tech just for the sake of it.”

A box of surprises 

The Japanese bento box is a compact, compartmentalised container designed to hold a balanced meal comprising a variety of foods. The box is often beautifully arranged, emphasising aesthetics and balance, both nutritionally and visually. 

This was the vision Levan received when he prayed for a name for the ministry.

Similarly, Bible Bento has been nourishing thousands in Africa through its unique storytelling of Bible content, encouraging believers in the faith.

Levan told Salt&Light: “What excites me most is seeing how many amazing believers from Africa – especially from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa – are truly on fire for God.

“So many have this deep love for Jesus Christ. It’s been such a joy connecting and fellowshipping with them across our platforms. Their faith truly inspires me!” he said.

Many parents have sent positive feedback, encouraged that their children have uplifting, Christ-centred content to watch, especially with the pervasive influence of today’s mass media.

Encouraging feedback from subscribers about the Bible Bento ministry.

“We’ve also heard from people struggling with depression who found comfort and hope through our fun, biblically-focused videos.

“One woman shared that she’d had a troubling dream but felt a sense of peace wash over her after seeing one of our posts about Jesus being right here with each of us.

“I never expected to hear such things from others and I’m just so thankful to God for these moments,” said Levan.

He is also humbled that there are people interested in translating Bible Bento’s English videos into their native languages to share with others.

“I always say yes because it’s truly a blessing that they’d want to do that! I believe that the heart of every ministry should be about serving people in Christ.

Bible Bento engages with subscribers who exchange testimonies and share devotional thoughts daily.

“I’m just grateful for the chance to do that through anime Bible videos, of all things!” he added.

Bible Bento is a ministry specially meant for Levan. Born with albinism, he has more physical constraints than the average person.

“I can’t do missions in the hot sun. I can’t get scorched. God is helping me to be very effective within the areas that I can do that are natural to me,” he said, referring to his capabilities in digital media. 

“By God’s design, He called, according to what He knows I am able to do and not able to.

“Even with limitations, there are so many ways God can use you and multiply – if you are willing.”

Looking back to when Bible Bento was conceived, he said: “This ministry is not about me, because I know that it’s not my idea, and I know all this comes from first saying yes and stepping out first, then God walks with you.

“We don’t have to wait until everything is in place before we start moving.”

The song “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” by Hillsong United has served as a powerful reminder to Levan that the Holy Spirit would guide him. Another song “Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me” by CityAlight reinforced the importance of humility, reminding him that everything is achievable solely through Christ.

Just enough light for each step

“God has been teaching me the difference between having a spirit of excellence – doing our best for Him and the traps of perfectionism,” shared Levan.

“I’ve struggled with perfectionism for a long time. In the beginning, I fell into the habit of trying to perfect every video frame, driven by my own unrealistic and, honestly, silly expectations.

“But over time, God has been humbling me, showing me how to let go of that unnecessary perfectionism day by day and focus instead on the teaching value of each video and the people they can serve.

“It’s about others, not me,” said Levan.

For most of his life, Levan has also done things solo, no matter the project.

Speaking about how the partnership with Rume is progressing, he said: “We’ve learnt to lean into each other’s strengths while following God’s guidance and I really couldn’t do this without him.

“On days when I feel discouraged or low on focus and energy, Rume is there to keep me on track and lift my spirits, reminding me of all the ways we can share God’s love with others through this ministry. His energy is infectious!”

With tendencies to micro-manage, Levan has also learnt to trust Rume with more tasks.

“It’s been so liberating to let go of that need for control!” he declared.

For now, his goal for Bible Bento is to keep growing its reach with more content that encourages people to draw closer to God and His Word.

Looking ahead, Levan hopes that the ministry will one day generate revenue and eventually shift away from AI art and hire freelance anime artists.

“I love the idea of supporting creative people in their dreams, especially believers who are passionate about their art and sincere in their desire to glorify God.

“It’s such a joy to think of reinvesting God’s provision into the artistic aspirations of others, so that both creators and viewers are uplifted and encouraged.

“That’s the vision – building a community where we can all grow and glorify Him through our gifts,” he said.

With his passion for music, Levan will also return his talent for God’s glory.

In collaboration with That’s Worship, he will release a new music video next January. Two other songs that he recorded are scheduled for release in February and April, with one of the music videos featuring familiar faces in the Christian community.

“I hope this music will inspire other Christian musicians in Singapore to release fresh, fun music that expands the ways we can worship the Lord across different genres.”

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The post God is using him to cook up a Bible Bento with anime, AI and Africa appeared first on Salt&Light.

The CEO of Inter Education Consult (IEC) Sdn Bhd, based in Sabah, Malaysia, has forged a unique path for her company, building a diverse suite of services spanning various fields.

Originally providing English classes and further studies counselling, IEC has expanded under her leadership to offer baby ballet, speech and drama courses, and Maxwell Leadership training programmes.

Over the past 20 years, she has found the confidence to take the road less travelled in Christ, whom she acknowledges as the Source of her business strategy. “He is a redeeming God who cares deeply for our businesses,” she said.

She shares three lessons from her own journey of learning to depend on God, in hopes of encouraging leaders who feel unfulfilled and inadequate.

#1: With God, we can find creativity 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11, NKJV)

A born dreamer, Jasmine loved ballet and the performing arts as a child. One of her earliest memories is reenacting scenes from Swan Lake, with her parents as forced cast members.

After university, she joined IEC which her father had started in 1981. Her love for the performing arts lingered, but she could not find a place for it in her new job.

Throughout Jasmine’s leadership journey, her parents Casey and Datuk Adeline Leong (right) have provided invaluable guidance and counsel. Her younger brother Andre (first row, left) is now also in the family business.

In 2011, however, she was given the opportunity by Skyline SIB Senior Pastor Philip Lyn to helm her church’s performing arts ministry, SkyArts.

“I truly appreciate him for being able to identify our individual strengths and giving us the opportunity to grow. I think that’s part of what good pastorship is,” she said.

Through SkyArts, she was able to pursue her passion for performing arts through church productions and musicals.

But Jasmine wanted to take her dream beyond the church walls. She knew the power of performing arts in building confidence and discipline in people, and wanted to include it in her business.

As she leaned into God for wisdom, He showed her a way to intertwine her passion with the business.

In what seemed like a strange move, Jasmine started offering speech and drama classes as an add-on to her English courses.

While getting the buy-in of parents was initially challenging in the academically-driven community, these parents quickly saw the transformation in their children’s confidence.

“The Holy Spirit presides over everything, and every production is filled with God’s love and presence as we pray over the students, classrooms and presentations daily,” Jasmine shared.

#2: With God, we can see transformation

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NKJV) 

With her father, Jasmine does prayer walks around the company building every day to dedicate the centre and people who walk through its doors to God.

“I can testify that whilst we do have challenges, overall the spirit of gratitude, hope, trust and love prevails in the company and people who come through,” she said.

Jasmine (seated, in black and white) openly shares with her corporate coaching clients that she is a Christian, and that she trains based on godly values.

For business owners who feel stuck, her encouragement is to invite Jesus into the workplace.

“Never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit. There has been a stark contrast compared to before we started prayer walking,” she shared.

When we work to the glory of God, His presence will change the way we strategise, see and run our businesses, she added.

#3: With God, we can have confidence

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessings if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9 (NLT)

In 2021, Jasmine embarked on a rebrand of IEC as it celebrated its 40th anniversary. As part of the rebrand, the IEC team and consultants came up with the tagline, Building Confidence from Cradle to Career.

“We realised all that we do leads to building confidence. Once we have confidence, we can truly reach our potential,” she said. “If I may take it one step further (for believers), Christ-centred confidence is liberating.”

Having Christ-centred confidence has given Jasmine the courage to try different things and embrace failure, because she knows that the success or failure of her business does not define her. First and foremost, she is a child of God.

Armed with Christ-centred confidence, Jasmine embarked on a unique diversification model and introduced new offerings at IEC such as baby ballet.

Being a child of God also means that she does not work for herself, but for Him. “All of my clients know that I am a Christian and bring with me Christian values and principles,” she said.

Jasmine has realised over the years that the more she reached out to God and made herself available for His use, the more He expanded her capacity.

“As business owners, the journey is rarely easy. Listen to Him. Stay close to Him. He will never leave you nor forsake you. As we follow Him and do good, we will reap a harvest of blessing.”

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The post God minds our business: One CEO shares 3 truths for Christian business owners who feel stuck appeared first on Salt&Light.

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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The post “I have the meat of missionaries in me”: Descended from the cann*balistic Batak tribe, he wins souls for Christ appeared first on Salt&Light.

These are used not by a brooding teenager who games on his sofa all day long, but by customers who have come for a haircut.

Nicholas Fheng has converted the bedroom that he shares with his wife into a barber shop, complete with the quintessential spinning barber pole of red, white and blue stripes mounted on the wall.

If the barber chair is occupied, the next-in-line customer would wait at the sofa.

“They can play some games or watch movies while waiting. I hope people feel at home, as if they are going to a friend’s house to get their hair cut,” said Nicholas, 29.

Space in the room is well optimised and comes complete with a table bearing haircutting tools, a sizeable mirror and a shelf full of the latest men’s hairstyling products.

Why is a graduate from Singapore Management University operating a barber shop out of his own bedroom?

It is also clear from the get-go that Nicholas and his wife live life unconventionally in many other ways. The couple has just returned to Singapore after travelling for nine and a half months abroad, when they visited a total of 40 countries, including obscure places like Serbia and North Macedonia.

About a third of the trip was spent learning from the best in men’s hairdressing: Menspire Academy in England and Schorem’s Old School Barber Academy in the Netherlands. Nicholas had forked out a whopping $12,000 to enrol in those courses.

How it all started 

Nicholas’ barbering journey started back in 2019 when he was in his second year of university. After classes, he would cut hair for his friends and customers in his bedroom. After graduation, he held full time corporate jobs but continued this side hustle after working hours.

To date, he has given slick cuts to some 7,000 heads of hair.

“Earlier this year, God challenged me to use these skills to serve others and do it full-time,” said Nicholas.

His journey into barbering started with a divine meeting and a healthy dose of curiosity.

Nicholas, then a first-year university student in 2018, went to have his hair cut at a barber shop called Splice at Suntec City after discovering that his usual barber shop had too many customers.

As he sat in the barber chair, Nicholas started talking to the barber, and asked him how he started cutting hair. Then, without much thought, Nicholas casually asked the barber if he would be willing to teach his craft.

“I thought he would be apprehensive to teach – it was like asking a chef for his secret recipe. To my surprise, he was open to it,” said Nicholas.

The day of the haircut when Nicholas asked his barber if he would be willing to teach him barbering.

Keen to pick up a practical and fun skill, Nicholas would go after university classes to the barber’s HDB flat in Yishun to learn from him. Once or twice every week, the barber would set up a chair in his HDB corridor and Nicholas practised his cutting techniques on supportive friends who volunteered to be his guinea pigs.

Nicholas learning to cut hair from his teacher at the staircase landing of his teacher’s flat.

“I remember a customer thanking me for his haircut and it resonated with me. I also heard a whisper from God: ‘Why don’t you do this for more of My children?’” said Nicholas.

The following year, he decided to open a barber shop from his bedroom and charge $10 for each cut. He presented a faith goal to the Lord: To have 100 appointments within four months.

Nicholas’ very first cut in his bedroom with his friend Jeremy. He was so scared to cut his friend’s hair that he almost wanted to skip the appointment.

God came through and brought in for him double the number of appointments. Word about his services circulated through social media and word of mouth.

“I knew this was just the beginning and that God was inviting me to partner Him on this adventure,” said Nicholas.

The first version of Nicholas’ barber room.

He continued cutting hair while studying in SMU. When COVID hit, he still ran his home-based business while adhering to the existing guidelines.  At first, he simply called his outfit “Nic’s Barber Room” or “nbr” for short.

Nicholas adhering to COVID guidelines when he cut hair during the pandemic.

Saying goodbye to his very first barber chair in 2020. His mom gave him some money and he ordered the cheapest one he could find on Taobao.

In 2021, God impressed upon his heart the verses in Mark 12:31 that commanded a believer to love his neighbours as himself.

“It was then that I realised my ‘nbr’ should be a place where that commandment is lived out.

“Everybody in my barber chair is my neighbour and every cut is an opportunity to love on them like how God first loved us,” said Nicholas, who then rebranded his barber shop as “nbrhood”.

Nicholas in his barber apron.

After graduating with a business management degree in 2021, Nicholas found a job at Airbnb as a safety specialist.

“It was a well-known company with good pay. It made sense because I could still continue barbering on the side,” he said.

A year later, he tried his hand in another role of doing tech sales.

These jobs not only enabled him to save up for marriage but also to fulfil one of his dreams to go overseas to study men’s hairdressing.

Taking the opportunity after marriage and before they were tied down with children, Nicholas and his wife quit their jobs to head to London. Nicholas enrolled in a three-month course in a reputable barber academy there.

An appreciation dinner he held for his customers cum friends in nbrhood before he left for barber school overseas.

“God provided for us every step of the way, including securing accommodation near the academy at half the usual price,” said Nicholas, who attended a second, shorter hairdressing course in Netherlands thereafter.

Nicholas getting trained at Menspire Academy, St Albans, England

Nicholas cutting hair as a trainee at the Old School Barber Academy, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

He and his wife also took the opportunity to have an extended honeymoon, In the end, they travelled to 40 countries to visit friends and sightsee.

Nicholas’ family in Barcelona. They visited him while he was studying overseas in barber schools.

Towards the end of their nine-month travel adventure, Nicholas and his wife made a stop in Cambodia to visit their local friend and his church there.

Nicholas and his wife Lee in Laos.

Since they were there, Nicholas volunteered to give haircuts to church members from the village.

Cutting hair for teachers at a local school in Poipet, Cambodia

As he began snipping hair at the doorstep of the church before its service started, Nicholas felt a feeling of warmth overtake him.

“I felt a warm feeling of joy and fulfilment. Then I heard God say to me: ‘Don’t you feel truly happy doing this? You are doing exactly what you are meant to do. Step out in faith and do this full-time,’” said Nicholas.

All along, Nicholas somehow knew he would end up being a barber. He just did not expect to be “called” into the trade in that season of his life.

“I had just gotten married and we have an upcoming BTO flat to pay for. The extended travel trip and barber courses had already eaten up most of my savings. I thought the day would only come when I felt more ready and stable in life,” he said.

Two weeks of wrestling 

Thus, he began wrestling with God over the decision to be a full-time barber. He tried to run away from the “call” by applying for other full-time jobs online. After all, he was due to return to Singapore in two months and needed some runway to secure a job by then.

He figured that getting a sales job would provide him with the income and flexible schedule needed to support doing barbering as a sideline.

However, as he mindlessly applied to various sales jobs he chanced upon online, he felt empty.

“It felt hollow as I did not even care about what I was selling,” said Nicholas.

While he was on a six-hour van ride as he and his wife made their way from Hanoi to Sapa, Nicholas found himself tearing up as he texted his mother and confided in her.

“Do you believe that God led me to my barber teacher six years ago? Would you support me if I do this full-time?” he asked his mum.

His mother told him that following God’s leading was the most important thing to do, and reminded him about how Abraham obeyed God even though he did not know his destination.

Nicholas’ parents have always been supportive of his work – he and his wife currently live with them and the five-room flat that his barber shop operates out of belongs to them.  

Nicholas shares a close relationship with his mother.

Still, there was fear lodged in Nicholas’ heart.

“God, if this calling is from You, close all the doors to all my job applications,” he prayed during that bumpy van ride.

Barely one hour later, when they disembarked for a toilet break, Nicholas received an email from one of the most promising job prospects he had.

“We regret to inform you that we would not be proceeding with your candidature for the job role,” a line from the email went.

By then, he had applied for 20 to 30 jobs, but he was either rejected by them or did not hear back from them.  

During their homestay in Sapa, Nicholas stared into the vastness of the tea plantations before him and spent time with the Lord.

In Sapa, Nicholas had time to pray and seek God in the midst of nature.

As he prayed and worshiped, he felt his fears about doing barbering full-time transform not only into peace but into excitement.

“I actually felt excited at the thought of running my own business and being in charge of my own schedule,” said Nicholas.

With the support of his wife, he started operating his barber shop full-time out of his bedroom after they returned home two months ago.

Nicholas opens nrbhood seven days a week, from 8am to 10.45pm as some of his customers prefer to have their cuts either before or after work. On average, he has about three to eight appointments daily. He charges working adults $35 for a 45-minute cut; students pay $28.

Barbering has allowed him to reconnect with old friends, maintain existing friendships as well as make many new ones.

Nicholas with Pastor Norman from 3:16 Church, who is his regular customer, and singer Benjamin Kheng.

During the pockets of time when he is not booked, he blocks out those periods for personal time, rest and church commitments. He and his wife currently worship at Life Church.

Running a home-based barber shop has its fair share of challenges.

“It took me some time to get used to not having the assurance of a fixed income each month, having no workplace benefits or paid leave, and facing a very direct correlation between my income and the number of hours I work. So, every day I depend on the Lord for bringing in my portion for the day,” said Nicholas.

Nicholas sometimes plays host to group cuts in his barber room.

Despite the challenges, he has experienced how God continues to be his provider.

He had always wanted to install a wash basin in his room so that his customers can lie down comfortably for a wash, instead of having to stand up while washing in his HDB toilet outside.

“I thought it was not possible as the plumbing can be quite complicated. But recently, God sent someone who runs a plumbing company to my barber chair and he told me it could be done,” said Nicholas.

Equipping the called 

God has also been equipping him to be both a competent barber and His minister.

Firstly, God has enabled him to multitask – to talk and cut at the same time – in order for him to achieve his double goals of giving his customers beautiful cuts yet be able to minister to them at the same time.

“It’s a privileged position to be in the audience of a person for a prolonged period of time. Many people open up in the barber chair; there’s a saying that barbers are the cheapest therapists. I hope to use these opportunities to speak life and the truth of God to them. Initially, I used to have to pause to talk before resuming haircuts but now I can do it easily,” he said.

Secondly, God has expanded his memory ability so that he is able to remember details about each customer. This is no mean feat as thousands of them have sat in his barber chair over the years.

“Some of them tell me that every time they go to a barber shop elsewhere, the barber would make small talk and ask them the same few questions of what’s their names and what do they do,” said Nicholas.

“But they told me that in my chair, they feel seen, heard and known because I am able to remember where they work at and which season of life they are in. So, the next time they came back, we are able to chat about the latest development or concern in their lives,” he added.

Nicholas’ belief: My chair, His Throne.

Nicholas desires for his barber chair to be God’s throne – a place where his customers can encounter God.

So far, he has been able to bring two of his customers to church.

“Both of them had relationship problems and I encouraged them and shared my faith. Their curiosity were piqued and I accompanied them separately to church. One came to faith and the other rededicated his life to God,” said Nicholas.

For the many others who are not ready to step into a church, he simply listens to their struggles and prays for them if they wish to.

Often, his customers are also the ones who encourage him whenever he feels tired or discouraged.

Going forward, it is Nicholas’ dream to secure a van and a portable barber chair, so that he will be able to move around and do corporate and neighbourhood pop-ups. This would in turn help fund his community work of going into nursing homes and dormitories of migrant workers to give pro bono haircuts.

Nicholas serving at a local elderly centre in the early days of 2019.

“Barbering is more than just the haircut. Every person is precious to our Father and I hope to use every 45-minute session to serve them and see God work through a barber chair.”

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The post SMU graduate turns his bedroom into a barber shop: “My barber chair is His throne” appeared first on Salt&Light.

In fact, there has been a growing demand for faith-driven films in recent years as Christian filmmakers answer the call to be salt and light in the industry.

“(The uptick in Christian content) started with community-based movies that some would say preach to the choir, but that was needed as Christians were a huge untapped market,” said Rachel Tan, a film producer in Hollywood.

The former Miss Malaysia added that Christians were looking for content that reflected their values: inspiring, clean films they could watch with their families.

Rachel runs Kingstreet Pictures together with her husband, Dan Mark. The couple, who are also entertainment lawyers, are based in Los Angeles.

As pioneers in Asian-American content with a faith slant, the couple’s path is not an easy one.

“Every day is like a battlefield in the entertainment industry,” said Rachel. “But God orchestrated our move into this space and has been with us every step of the way.”

When fame and wealth did not satisfy

Though they were born into Christian families, the couple shared that their faith only became real in their twenties.

“I experienced sudden fame, being the first Malaysian to win the Miss Chinese International Pageant and signing with the Jackie Chan Group. When the company suddenly folded, God was steadfast,” she said.

As film producers in the US, Dan and Rachel face daily challenges in living out their faith, especially because so many in the industry have been hurt by the Church or those who profess to be believers.

Dan, on the other hand, was moved to faith after witnessing the passing of a close cousin from an aggressive form of cancer.

“Despite not being able to speak, having his tongue removed and a hole in his neck, I saw him have unshakeable joy in his salvation and relationship with Jesus,” he recounted.

At the time, Dan was enjoying the glitzy life of a high-flying lawyer.

Yet, it struck him that he had nothing while his cousin, who had been stripped of his health, future, and life, seemed to have everything.

“That’s when I turned the keys of my life to Jesus for good. It was in that period of personal revival in both our lives, when our hearts were 100% after the Lord, that Rachel and I met,” he said.

Together, they started an international testimony ministry on social media, OurWitness, and eventually got married.

Bringing God’s love into films

The step into film production came naturally for Dan and Rachel.

As they gave advice on legal matters in entertainment, clients began consulting them on the business aspects of production and even the script.

In 2016, the couple established Kingstreet Pictures and donned new hats as producers, with the desire to elevate Asian Americans and advance godly values through their work.

“I think God orchestrated this very well for us. It wasn’t that we were thinking of the market, but more so of us being authentic to who we are,” Rachel said.

Not all of their projects are faith-based, but every project is grounded in values of kindness, redemption, healing and restoration, they said.

“These are the values we hope to bring into the world,” said Rachel, noting that the entertainment industry has been getting darker in its content.

Flipping the narrative from darkness to hope

There was a time when narratives on being lost and broken were in trend. But that did not sit right with Rachel and Dan.

“We don’t have to stay (in our brokenness), because Jesus redeems us and gives us beauty for our ashes. When you reach your low, there’s hope for you. That’s the hope of glory,” Rachel said with conviction.

Each of their movies carry a redemptive thread. Their latest project, Sight, which was released earlier this year, traces the journey of Dr Ming Wang as he went from an impoverished prodigy to a renowned eye surgeon.

Sight, a biopic tracing the life and work of renowned eye surgeon Dr Ming Wang, was released in Singapore by Shaw on August 1, 2024.

The biopic, which stars Terry Chen and Greg Kinnear, has since received a 74% critics rating and 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

“(The numbers show that) thankfully we’re not alone – there’s a growing movement that’s changing content now and redemptive stories are starting to gain traction,” she said, encouraging believers to champion the types of films they want to see by buying cinema tickets or watching them on streaming platforms.

Actions speak louder than words

As Asians, Rachel and Dan are part of a minority in Hollywood.

Being the only woman on the producing team, Rachel often has to fight to have her voice heard. Rejection is a common experience in the industry, but they continue to trust in God’s sovereignty.

“When it is yours, it will be yours. God will open doors that no man can shut. But you need closed doors to find the right path,” Dan shared.

(From left to right) Rachel, actor Terry Chen and Dan on the red carpet launch of Sight.

Living as followers of Jesus Christ also presents its own challenges.

“Living out our faith is a daily struggle because, at least in America, many people have been hurt by the Church or by family members whose actions didn’t align with their professed faith,” Dan acknowledged.

Yet, the couple believes that in both their work and daily lives, Christ will be glorified through their faithfulness to Him.

“I remember one of the lead actors in one of our films said it was the kindest movie shoot she had ever experienced – and she’s been in the industry for years,” Rachel shared.

To them, this is proof that the Holy Spirit guides their projects and that God’s presence permeates every step of their journey.

Doing the work of prayer

Looking ahead, the couple remain committed to elevating Asian-American talent and bringing talent from the East to Hollywood.

Their next project, Worth the Wait, is a rom-com featuring Lana Condor, Ross Butler, Andrew Koji, Karena Lam and Sung Kang.

The film is set to be a warm, heartfelt exploration of long-distance and cross-cultural relationships, loosely inspired by Rachel and Dan’s own story.

Last year, Rachel and Dan were in Kuala Lumpur with the crew and production team to shoot Worth the Wait, an upcoming rom-com inspired by their own love story.

Though it’s been 10 years since they first stepped into the role of producers, they know there are still mountains to climb and opposition to face as they shine God’s light in a notoriously secular industry.

Yet, they trust that God will gently guide them to where He wants them to be and what He wants them to do.

“We can’t help but be ourselves and be drawn to stories that reflect our own journey. We want to create content that carries goodness and kindness, with God’s heart in it,” Rachel shared.

Actress Elodie Yung (left) in conversation with Rachel and Dan on the set of Worth the Wait.

They also acknowledge the reality of spiritual warfare.

“Any time you disrupt territory for good, you will face opposition. That’s why it’s so important to be armed with prayer. We can’t do what we do without the prayers of so many people covering us,” Rachel said.

“And remember, you have something that sets you apart. At your right hand is the Lord your God, and if God is for you, who can be against you? Why should you be afraid? Only He dictates your steps,” Dan added.

He concluded by sharing one of their favourite verses that encourages them daily:

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

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The Managing Director and Regional Head for DBS Group Research, who oversees a 70-strong team of economists, strategists and investment analysts in six Asian offices, believes that even though his job is secular, God is working through him in the marketplace for His good purposes.

Timothy also co-leads Movement Day Singapore, an expression of the Lausanne Movement, and has been leading the Alpha course in The Book Café for the past 20 years.

On a panel at this year’s Intentional Disciplemaking Church (IDMC) conference, Timothy shared how he discovered his purpose at work on the edge of burnout, what has helped him to honour Christ in the marketplace and some tips on how to operate in a workplace that holds to different values.

Below is an excerpt of his responses. It has been edited for length and clarity. 

All of us want to find meaning in our work beyond just making money. How did you find that?

Timothy: It was an interesting journey for me. I started my career in 1993 as an analyst and eventually became Head of Research for Vickers Ballas, which is a local stock holding firm, and then for DBS.

The good thing is that I really enjoyed my work, but it was so consuming, so tiring, that by the time I was in my late 30s I was feeling a little bit burnt out.

Interestingly, I still remember I was at church camp and it happened to be my birthday. I was doing my quiet time and I felt the Lord drop this question into my heart: “Tim, are you going to spend the rest of your life working, or are you going to do something on behalf of the 600 million in Southeast Asia?”

Now some background, I’m a pastor’s kid. My dad, who has gone home to the Lord, was an Anglican pastor and church planter. My brother is a pastor. People always ask me: “When are you going to be like your father and go into the ‘family business’?”

When you’re a pastor’s kid, you’re always ready to make this pivot into the family business. So I thought that was my escape from my mid-life crisis – I’m so tired with work, there’s a “holy” reason to now tender my resignation and go into the “family business”.

But none of the doors seemed to open. It was out of that frustration that I finally came to a point where I asked God: “What’s the deal here? I thought you wanted me to quit my job and serve You? How come now none of the doors are opening?”

And that was when I heard, not an audible voice but a prompting, a still small voice, saying: “Tim, I asked you if you would serve the 600 million in Southeast Asia. I never told you to quit your job.”

So that was a very powerful moment for me because, one, I no longer had this angst that I needed to quit my job and go into full-time ministry.

But actually the more important point was that if I had been ready to tender my resignation, then at any point in time from then onwards, if I ever get fired – better still retrenched, so I get retrenchment benefits – it’s okay.

From that moment onwards, I said: “God, if you have me here to accomplish Your purposes, then any problem I have is now Your problem. You solve it for me. If it doesn’t get solved and I get fired, then fine, I can move to the next thing that I want to do.”

Now I have to share that because I was raised as a pastor’s kid and always had in mind this idea that one day I may go into full-time ministry, I did organise my finances so that getting fired from a job wasn’t going to be a problem.

We lived so that I wasn’t living to pay off my mortgage, so I didn’t have that financial pressure. That was really important.

Was there anything else that helped you to discover meaning at work?

There was a second moment that was very pivotal in, not just redeeming the notion of why God has me in my job, but redeeming the very work that I do.

I read a secular business strategy book called Completing Capitalism: Heal Business to Heal the World. It was co-written by Bruno Roche, an economist that from early on in his life had been fascinated by the idea of the Jubilee (Leviticus 25).

To cut the long story short, they wrote that the purpose of business is not to make a profit, but to find profitable solutions to the problems of people and planet. Therefore, if there are problems in the world out there and you find a solution to it that is profitable, then it means that the bigger the problem, the more profit you can potentially make.

So that was very revealing because now I understood why God has me in my job: It’s to help businesses to recognise that actually even businesses have a purpose that can be redeemed by God.

That was a huge epiphany that has affected me. It’s what gets me up every morning and going to work, and being excited about what I do.

What has helped you remain walking with Jesus in the marketplace for the past 20 years?

For me, it’s interesting: One of the things that has helped me in my relationship with God are problems at work.

The bigger the problem, the more you recognise your own frailty and inability to really solve that problem, and therefore that brings me to my knees in prayer.

If everything is actually smooth-sailing, there is a tendency to feel that I’ve got this covered and I can just handle it.

So when I face challenges, I feel that is a way that God just reminds me of who I am – just a frail human being.

Nonetheless, He reminds me of who I am as His child, and I can go to Him in prayer and have Him either give me wisdom to solve the problem, or solve the problem for me.

The second thing that has been essential is really the Word of God. I’ve gotten into a regiment where I read through the Bible in one year and God just speaks through His Word daily as I read through Scripture.

The third thing that has really helped me is community. I have a co-worker who has been with me in the same department and she tells me that God put her in the department to pray with me and for me, specifically for the issues that we face at work.

Another one of my co-workers in DBS felt that she wanted to start a morning prayer meeting. When Covid happened, we switched to (Microsoft) Teams. And interestingly we started having people from around the region join in.

Timothy (right) shared the stage with Jamie Lim, CEO of local furniture brand Scanteak (centre), and facilitator Pastor Chua Chung Kai (left).

From 8am to 8:30am every morning, we just get together. We’re praying for everyone – from our CEO all the way down to our cleaner in the toilet – to encounter the Lord of Lords, and if anyone is facing a problem at work we’ll just bring it to the Lord in prayer.

I’d say that this community aspect has been really one of the things that has kept me going in terms of knowing that God is present in the workplace each day.

How can Christians operate in workplaces that are aggressive in promoting values different from ours?

The solution is not throwing them the Ten Commandments or the Old Testament. It’s the power and the presence of the Gospel, the power and presence of Christ. 

If you take the Singapore statistics, out of a village of 100, there are going to be roughly 12, 13 Christians. What that means is that in your department, there are going to be other believers.

Gather the believers to just pray and worship. Open the heavens, change the spiritual atmosphere in your company. As you open the heavens, then you don’t need to go on the offensive. God will begin to move hearts.

How many of you are familiar with One For Jesus? They have a simple BLESS strategy. 

B – Begin with prayer. If you have 10 people in your department’s Christian fellowship, each of you take five people that you want to pray for. Pray for them regardless of their religion or sexual orientation. Just pray for them daily.

L – Listen to them. You don’t want to void people who are different. Listen. Understand who they are, where they are coming from, what are their pains, what are their challenges, and treat each of them as a person.

E – Eat with them. Jesus was a friend (to all). Go and embrace people. Eat with them.

SS – Serve them. As you listen to and eat with them, God will show you where their pain is. Then go and serve them in their pain.

The change will happen from the inside out. It will happen. No one can resist the love of God, expressed through the people of God.

Today’s generation says that you can be whoever you want to be. How can we balance this drive to be the best you can be with the sovereignty of God?

It’s not to be all you can be, but to be all that God wants you to be.

I’ll go back to my story – I’ll work in this job for as long as God wants me to be in this job and no one can get rid of me unless He decides it’s time for me to go. 

The other thing that I’ve never ever done – and I’m not meaning to boast – but I’ve never gone to my boss and asked for a promotion or a pay increase.

The moment that becomes your identity – getting a promotion and then you start to work for that promotion – you go down a slippery path. You get envious: “How come that guy got a promotion and I didn’t?” Then you start comparing pay.

There is no end to that. You get sucked into this system of the world.

I believe that if you don’t follow the money, the money will follow you, because if you’re passionate about what you’re doing and you work as unto the Lord, God will supply and will provide for all your needs.

The second point is – and this is what I struggle with – the truth is that a lot of who we are, our identity, is wrapped up in our work, in our position, our title. This is something that we have to daily die to ourselves, take up our cross.

I’m quite sure the day I get a pink slip it will probably still hurt. But I think that’s why our identity really needs to be anchored in the Lord and who we are as sons and daughters.

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The post Can challenges at work build your faith? Head of research at DBS Timothy Wong on finding meaning in the marketplace appeared first on Salt&Light.

Marked with iridescent colours, Joanne Lim’s distinctive calligraphy style has been described as “ribbons” on paper: The strokes look like they are unfurling in a spontaneous flow of motion.

Joanne was at the forefront of one of the hottest art trends back in 2014 when she came on to the art scene in Singapore with her version of modern Western calligraphy.

It was created with a paintbrush and a splash of colours, instead of a calligraphy pen and black ink.

Colourful brushwork calligraphy done by Joanne.

Very quickly, individuals and companies saw her art on social media and came knocking on her door.

OCBC Bank printed her design on its Frank credit card and engaged her to conduct a calligraphy workshop for young adults, a market it was targeting. Design Society Singapore and Tatler Singapore ran interviews with her.

Through other collaborations, her designs were soon featured on items such as ice cream tubs and artisanal leather products.

Joanne’s distinctive calligraphy art that was carried on OCBC credit cards.

Not many people know, however, that God was the real Pioneer behind her art.

Even fewer people are aware of how, beneath the shiny exterior of success, Joanne went through a wilderness season in her art and spiritual journey.

“My creative journey is a reflection of my relationship with God. What the artist carries within is revealed on the canvas. It doesn’t lie,” the artist, now 42, told Salt&Light.

Joanne with her family.

The first feeling of awe 

Joanne started out as a graphic designer at various advertising firms. While working at a design house, she was fortunate to work under a boss who taught her how to think differently and who trained her in the craft of typography.

However, after close to eight years in the industry, she was feeling burnt out. She longed to find deeper meaning and a spiritual purpose to her work but it eluded her.

At that time, a colleague gave her a flyer for a calligraphy talk by Tim Botts, a Christian calligrapher from the US. During the talk, he shared about how he would meditate on a verse and use calligraphy to express his response to it.

Joanne was intrigued and inspired to use her creativity for God.

She did not know how to do calligraphy then, so she used what she knew – typography in black and white.

Her first piece featured the verse in James 1: 2-4, “Consider it pure joy…”

In her design, she used different font sizes to emphasise what she thought was important.

“I was using logic: Since the verse was about trials, I made the word ‘trials’ very big, and the main focus. Somehow the design just couldn’t work, it didn’t look right,” Joanne recalled.  

After struggling with it, she decided to jumble it all up. This time, she changed the emphasis to “pure joy” and in that instant, she felt the design fall right into place.

One of the typography prints that Joanne designed.

“I still remember that feeling of awe,” she said. “The Holy Spirit was teaching me which words were truly the emphasis. It was precious because I got to experience His word in a personal way.”

Designing these typography prints became her side hobby that refreshed her from the humdrum of full-time work. She sold those prints on postcards at a gift shop and at the Food for Thought café, which generated good sales as Christian merchandise was rare at that time.

Meanwhile, Joanne was feeling increasingly burnt out with commercial design work. The last straw for her was when she made a mistake and used the wrong thickness for a line in a newspaper ad for a client.

“Nobody blamed me for it but I beat myself up over it,” she admitted. “The difference in thickness was just the width of a strand of hair but I had imposed these expectations on myself.”

Joanne quit her advertising job in 2012.

She had a friend who was training to become a missionary. The thought of becoming one allured Joanne.

“At that time, I felt that what would count in my life was to do things for God. I was trying to get away from ‘worldly things’ and being a missionary was a very clear spiritual ‘job’ to me,” she said.

Joanne filled in the form to attend a school for missions and had to get an elder in her church to sign it.

“She came back to me and told me she didn’t have peace for me to go but if I really wanted she would still sign it for me,” said Joanne.

In the end, Joanne decided not to go. Deep down, she knew she was turning to it as a form of escape.

Instead, she decided to use her gifting for the church and became the media and design lead at Petra Church.

Joanne doing design work at Petra Church.

All staff of the church were sent for inner healing training. During the session, Joanne was led to confront various issues in her life. This led her to forgive herself as she may have been too hard on herself in life.

“After the session, it was as if my choked pipe was being flushed out and I had this renewed passion for beauty and design. I was overflowing with ideas and the desire to create again,” she said.  

The years of working in church was one of the highlights of her creative journey.  They gave her the freedom to create and she enjoyed delivering biblical truths in non-conventional ways.

For example, during Passover, her team made the experience tactile by conducting storytelling through a “museum” exhibit format. They had a replica of the huge nails that were used to crucify Christ and thorns were brought back from Israel that were the same species that were used to make the crown.

“It was my playground but I still did not really know God’s heart then,” said Joanne.

The museum-like exhibits, including the crown of thorns, at Petra Church

Western modern calligraphy 

In 2013, a friend gifted Joanne with some calligraphy tools from Japan. She was very drawn to them but could not find any calligraphy courses to take in Singapore at that time.

The first calligraphy tool that Joanne’s friend gifted her.

During a sabbatical, she went to New York and found a calligraphy talk to attend. In the roomful of participants, many of whom where calligraphy teachers, Joanne worked the room and pleaded with them to take her on as a student while she was in town for a month-long holiday trip.

One teacher finally agreed and Joanne spent all the money she had with her to take lessons from her in her kitchen.

Joanne doing calligraphy exercises in New York.

When she returned to Singapore, a friend found a rental space in Shaw Towers and asked her if she wanted to share the space and rent. It would be a space they could use to try out any ideas that they had.

The rent was cheap and so she took a plunge to quit her church job to give calligraphy a shot. She named her enterprise “The Letter J Supply”, as “J” could both refer to her name “Joanne” and her Saviour “Jesus”.

Joanne started playing around with visual art using a masking ink technique that she once used in her designs for church. It is a fluid that is used to mask off and protect areas of the paper from watercolour paint so that when it is peeled off, it reveals the white paper underneath. Designs are created by painting the background boundary surrounding the negative space.

One day, when Joanne went to the store to stock up on masking ink, she was horrified to discover that they had run out of it.

An example of the masking ink technique.

Once back home, she began thinking about how to do her calligraphy artwork without having masking ink.

It was then that suddenly an idea to simply use the watercolour paintbrush to do the calligraphy strokes dropped into her head.

“As each letter required a few strokes, it allowed me to use different colours for different parts of the letter which blended into each other. On hindsight, it was God who gave me the idea of switching things up,” said Joanne.

From then on, her artwork became recognised for its colourful and fluid sensibility.

She started off with a calligraphy event and things took off from there. She began selling her artwork and running teaching workshops.

In the past, Joanne could not imagine speaking in front of strangers but she slowly grew in confidence as she began holding more and more workshops and pop-up events.

It was a busy first few years for her as she learnt the ropes of running a business and managing people relations.

In the midst of the hustle, her walk with God suffered.

“I was still creating Christian artwork by doing commissions of Bible verses but I often didn’t feel worthy. I knew I still wanted to create for God, yet I had a feeling there was something I was missing,” said Joanne.

“If I believed that words are powerful, do I truly believe what I was writing?” 

From the outside, her business looked like it was thriving. But by 2017, she started to experience dryness and burnout again. Doing artwork felt repetitive and she craved depth in her work.

The colourful calligraphy she produced started to feel repetitive over time.

In those years, everything felt like a closed door. She had a foreboding that the calligraphy trend and interest would start tapering off and so she began looking for other ways to grow her business.

However, her other business ideas such as conducting online courses did not take off and soon, Joanne moved out of her studio in town to save on rent.

Joanne moved out of her Seah Street studio after two years to save on rent.

“I had a distorted perspective of God. I felt He had the key to blessing my business and my life but He was withholding it from me.

“I thought I had to be perfect before God would bless me, and if I wasn’t having breakthroughs, maybe I was doing something wrong,” said Joanne.

Alluring her into the wilderness 

Yet, God continued to speak to her in those wilderness years through pictures. Going beyond words, Joanne began to find her creative expression of verses in pictorial and even abstract forms.

In 2019, she did a painting based on Hosea 2:14, where the Lord allures His people into the wilderness so that He can speak tenderly to her.

Joanne’s artistic expression of Hosea 2:14.

“It is not by accident that the Lord allures us to this dry land. When we are stripped of the things we have put our confidence in, our hearts are freed up to hear His tender voice and experience His love in a whole new way,” said Joanne.

During this time, she found new meaning in running workshops. Unlike in the past where she was so focused on making sure that they acquire the skills she was teaching, she began to view these sessions as a means to meet people to bless and encourage them.

Realising that many people who come for such workshops are looking to relax and find peace in their hearts, she would sometimes leave prophetic messages for the participants in envelopes. They each chose an envelope randomly, and she was heartened to see that some of their countenance changing after reading a word that spoke to the season that they were going through.

One of the workshops run by Joanne at Bynd Artisan, an artisan leather shop

In 2020, when the COVID pandemic shook the world, Joanne felt God prompting her to listen to the sermons of American preacher Andrew Wommack and the local evangelist Ps Joseph Prince. Their messages on the grace of God renewed her mind.

“Some truths that used to float through my head, started to really sink into my heart – that Jesus has redeemed me fully. My perspective of God slowly changed from a stern Father whom I need to obey to One who really loves me despite of my unworthiness.”

She continued: “I realised condemnation and torment came from being self-focused, instead of being conscious of the greatness of God. I now create because I am loved rather than me creating so that I can be loved.”

Joanne’s exhibition at the Esplanade in 2021.

Since 2021, Joanne has been drawn to painting abstract style.

Joanne’s ex-boss (above, with wife flanking Joanne) was seeking a Christian abstract artist to do a painting for his home. He ended up commissioning her to do one, thereby kickstarting her abstract art journey.

“It goes beyond words and realism. There is a sense of openness and freedom, reflecting my evolving relationship with the Lord,” said Joanne.  

“Art is powerful because when we create, we are revealing what’s really going on within us, versus using words which we tend to over-process,” she added.

The second abstract painting that was commissioned.

When she first started painting, Joanne was very conscious of what she was “releasing” through her works, especially if she was not at a good place with God at the time of painting.

“When I shared this with my cell leader, she was bewildered and said ‘In your weakness, His power is made perfect’. It’s so true, that we needn’t think we need to be good enough before we are ready to come before Him,” she said.

Joanne with her cell group.

Abstract painting appeals to her because she can express unspoken things, even the darkness, as she journeys with God.

“It’s not just about creating positive and happy art, but also not about depressive self- expression. The brushstrokes of the artist carry his or her journey, breakthroughs and intimacy with God. I wanted more depth in my art, so perhaps going through the wilderness also enabled me to produce something from that season that others can relate to.”

Click here to view more of Joanne’s art. 

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The post “I thought <i>I</i> had to be perfect before God would bless me. I was wrong”: How God’s perfect love transformed this artist’s work ethic appeared first on Salt&Light.