Hello friends, welcome to episode 11 of My Hand in His.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Simon Chan, a lecturer during David’s study in the Bible Institute of Singapore, he gained sound theological education. Through reading materials and relevant articles recommended by Dr. Chan which enhanced his learning, David acknowledged this by saying, “He has trained me to be systematic, scrupulous and sharp in my own studies, and to try to see issues objectively from various angles. That enabled me to fellowship unreservedly with pastors from different denominations, some of which are based on embedded theology.

I have realised that there is no limit to knowledge. Some Christians sadly ignore the need for knowledge or even look down on it! But the Bible tells us to love God with all our mind. Many of God servants as Wesley brother, Charles Finney and many more were well educated. He can merely use the uneducated. God does not place a premium of ignorant. The more we learn, the better we can serve God; and the more I study, the more I realise that I still have a lot to learn. Simon fulfils the role of my preaching theology. Theological studies are vital to my ministry. If my theology is faulty, my preaching will also be bad. My belief determines my behaviour.”

Friends, God’s blessings do not come in a manner determined by us. The Almighty God works wonders. The teaching David received from Dr. Chan is priceless. God has His way – incomparable and unique of its kind. God sent such a wonderful yet knowledgeable mentor to David for free. Over two roti pratas many issues were discussed between them and the practice continues even until today. Dr. Chan often reminds David that “we do not journey alone in this pilgrimage. God will provide fellow-pilgrims to assist us in our journey.”

A Place called Home

God saw David and Veronica’s hearts’ desires for a dwelling place. Since 1982, GR USA paid the rental of an apartment for them to live in and operate the GR Singapore office. Living and working under the same roof made them workaholics because people often called before they woke up or long after office hours are over. But five years later, in 1987, they managed to get an apartment with just enough Central Provident Fund (CPF) money for a deposit and signed a 20-year mortgage agreement with the Housing Board. Since then, David and Veronica prayed that God would give them a big sum to pay off the mortgage completely. 14 years later, in 2001, God answered their prayer. They received an unexpected gift – an amount that was more than sufficient to fully pay off the remaining mortgage loan. Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us”.

Surveying the Land

Do you remember where and when did God had called David into the ministry?

In 1975, God called David into the ministry in during a business trip to Sabah when he gazed out of an airplane window. He was 24 years old then.

The tribal people in East Malaysia have been a burden to David since then. In 1985, God finally led him to go there to see how GR could take the gospel to them. One morning as he read his Bible, God confirmed the vision with Joshua 5:1, “Go and survey the land!” David knew God was confirming his vision. But GR had no spare money to pay for his airfare. But well, since God confirmed His will for the trip, David took a step of faith to book an air ticket to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah.

Before his trip, David told the director of OM Singapore, Rodney Hui, about his survey in Sabah and requested for prayers. In return, Rodney suggested David to contact an ex-OMer, Liew Yun Tsing, who lived in Kota Kinabalu.

David left for Sabah with $400 in his pocket. He checked into a hotel that charged 40 Ringgit a night. Then, he contacted Dr. Ken Smith whom he met in LA previously as Dr. Smith had been doing language survey and translation work in Kota Kinabalu since 1975. He was very helpful and generous in sharing all the information regarding the tribes in Sabah which helped in facilitating the recordings.

David then called Yun Tsing, the ex-OMer living in Kota Kinabalu so he could contact church leaders throughout the state to introduce GR to them. But David was hesitant to approach another woman in the absence of his wife, no matter how proper the meeting might be. This is because David has seen some of God’s servants failing to handle such situations properly.

Yun Tsing lived with her parents and siblings in a three-storey bungalow and her family is Christian. She got approval from her parents before inviting David to stay with her family. So David checked out of the hotel and became a guest at her home.

Yun Tsing gave David a list of church leaders to visit the next day. With this arrangement, his meetings with those pastors were smooth and fruitful. After meeting the pastors, David then met a Singapore-based American recordist, Jon Rulison. When his mission in Kota Kinabalu was done successfully, David packed his bag and got ready to return home. That morning, Yun Tsing’s father gave him a ‘red packet’ while Yun Tsing also handed him an enveloped of cash. Thus, David returned home with nearly $800 in hand!

No one knew about David’s meagre financial means and they are people who he has met for the first time. Yun Tsing also did not know that he needed help to get around and meet leaders. But God used these people to accomplish His plan for Sabah through David. God indeed is extraordinary!

During the trip, David came to know that there are more than 50 languages and dialects found in Sabah. When Jon returned to Singapore in 1987, he had recorded 11 new tribal languages! Praise the Lord!

Following that, GR’s work in Sabah somehow went dormant for many years. However, in June 2009, David and Veronica were invited by a person called Danny Ho to visit Sabah. That was supposed to be purely a vacation, but God used the visit to renew their vision to revive the distribution and recording work there.

During their visit, Danny introduced a pastor, Sam, to David. Sam married to a Kadazan woman. According to her, among the Kadazan, a different kind of language is spoken every 12 kilometres. Thus, the Kadazan speak roughly 55 dialects! That’s a challenge to GR which means more recordings are definitely needed.

Work by churches is going on among the tribes in the interior. With recordings available in 50 tribal dialects, and in Chinese, Filipino and Indonesian, GR can furnish a well-timed service to the Sabahan churches in their ministry among the natives, and the Chinese residents and migrants from the Philippines and Indonesia!

My work in Sabah is not yet done. I intend to visit Kota Kinabalu again to organise the distribution network.

Expanding to the Philippines

At the inception of GR Singapore, I had a world vision: every country surrounding Singapore as a whitened field, full of souls to harvest for the Lord.

One day, a friend sent me a church directory from the Philippines. I immediately saw an opportunity for GR there and as a former manager of sales and marketing, I naturally supposed the only way to promote GR was through advertising. I placed a one-page GR advertisement in their new church directory hoping it would attract a wider audience to use our recordings.

In fact, GR was not new in the Philippines. There were recorded Scripture lessons in hundreds of dialects since 1949. Philippines made up by 7,000 islands of which 700 are inhabited. With many tribes, sending tapes alone would not be able to achieve the aim of reaching everyone in his own language.

Disappointingly, only a few responded to the advertisement. An alternative approach is required but what? David asked himself.

Scenarios like this have repeatedly become a part of my journey of faith. As I prepared to visit the Philippines, I did not expect God to use it to promote GR in the Philippines and open an office. We did need to continue the work in the Philippines. The churches, Christian organisations and individuals would have no access to our recordings with the knowledge of GR.

On top of that, we needed to evaluate existing records, research other new languages for future recording, and promote available resources among the churches and missionaries who were reaching out to the tribes. That would greatly help unreached and unengaged people to hear the gospel.

“Going to the Philippines without any plan? You must be joking!” Someone told me. Some people call this blind faith but I call this a step forward in faith knowing God is leading me.

Before David left for the Philippines, he shared with his staff the importance to assess the mission opportunities and to make contact with churches and organisations. They prayed for him. David was thinking to share the vision of GR with some pastors and leaders during his trip but God did something far beyond his imagination.

David was supposed to meet Rev. Nestor Politico of Every Home for Christ (EHC) whom he got to know when he put up the advertisement, and Mindy Teh of Overseas Crusade. The latter arranged for David to stay in a Christian guesthouse. David met up with Rev. Politico and shared with various staff members about the purpose of his visit. Rev. Absalom Mariano, a staff member who was about to retire, expressed his interest to join GR upon retirement. Having described the history and mission of GR worldwide, David made known to Rev. Mariano that GR staff do not receive a salary and do not make their needs known publicity. He was not undeterred.

David returned to Singapore and wrote to GR HQ reporting the joy of having a potential candidate working for GR in Manila. Meanwhile, GR USA, the Marianos (Absalom and his wife, Bessie) and David continued to pray for the likelihood of a new base in the Philippines.

After two years of correspondence between Rev. Mariano and David, the Lord confirmed his joining of GR ministry. A year later, GR USA accepted the Marianos as staff members in the Philipines.

Since 1988, the Filipino team has accomplished far more than expected under Absalom’s leadership. Their recordists even captured new languages in the mountain areas. A few more workers became members of GR Philippines (GRP). Their work in advancing the gospel in the remote areas and hinterland continued.

Absalom shared that a demon-possessed man responded to a recorded message in Tagalog and invited Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. “Free at last!” the man joyfully told the church leader who had ministered to him! That’s one of the many testimonies David had heard.

GRPgospel recording Philippines had about 174 recordings available when we started in 1988. When Jurine became a recordist in 1998, 78 new recordings were added. As I write this chapter, there only have two full time staff, but for candidates who waiting for their applications to be approved as GR staff member. Of the 172 languages and dialects in the Philippines, GR has recorded in 127 as of December 2002. This leaves 45 languages yet to be recorded. However, lots of risks and hurdles are involved in going through the provinces to accomplish this task.

God never challenge us beyond our strength. In fact, taking a step of faith required much courage and depends on our relationship with the Creator. Let’s see how God led David to Vietnam next week.