Hello! Welcome to episode eight of My Hand in His. Let us recap before we move on to another phase of David’s life.

David, a village boy born in a staunch Taoist family, lost his father when he was ten years old. As his father left nothing behind, David’s mother had to work from morning to night in order to bring up her seven children. When David reached his teenage years, he mixed around with a neighbourhood gang which led to his involvement in destructive activities and gang fights.

But the Almighty God is full of compassion and mercy. He saved David from street fights through a boy who lived next door. Since then, God sent His angels to surround him – such as his Sunday school teacher, the church volunteers, church friends of his age to seniors and his fellow recruits in the army camp. Those people were like spices - they enriched David’s life in different aspects. However, as he embarked on his official career, David became distant from God. Outwardly, David prospered; but inwardly, he became a spiritual pauper. Prayer became brief, simpler and fewer.

During one of his regular business trips to East Malaysia, David saw many people on the ground from the plane window. Without thinking of the consequences of his question, he asked God, “How are they going to hear the gospel?” 

“You!” a voice inside told David and that terrified him! 

“God, please don’t call me to be a missionary. I want to be a millionaire, I don’t mind giving you all the money I earn. But don’t call me into that ministry. Please!”

The following three months after his business trip, David became depressed whenever he thought of his encounter with God on the plane. David knew well the ramifications of such divine command.

I recalled that Hudson Taylor said, “If you know God’s will and refuse to do His will, you are living on His second best.” The vision of the tribes in Sabah, the image of people sinking in quicksand, the prayers and the urgings of the pastors – with so much evidence hinting at God’s calling for me to serve Him, I could not help but respond to God immediately. 

God moulded David’s character through his training on OM ships where he encountered diverse issues: working with people of different skin colour and tongues. But God reminded David in James 1: 2-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

David was filled by the Holy Spirit when he resolved to submit to the Lord completely. Then, his life began to change. His decision to join OM India brought him an unforgettable overland journey. It took five weeks travelling on uneven roads with potholes under adverse weather conditions before reaching India from France. But God’s mercy had never failed David, not even once. During an open-air preaching in Ranchi market in India, God gave David a vision – using cassette tapes for evangelism.

When David was involved at an open-air preaching session in Ranchi market, he observed a common scene - Indian hawkers carried a cassette player, an amplifier and loudspeakers blaring out mournful Hindustani music and songs. Then he thought, if one listened to a gospel message being played repeatedly, the Holy Spirit could see the Word of God and lead the listener to Jesus. There and then, David felt that God gave him the vision of using cassette tapes for evangelism. But he had no idea how to start a cassette tape ministry.

Shortly after that, David was assigned to join a three-month evangelistic outreach to Madhya Pradesh with some team members from different OM bases. Amazingly, God was actually taking David a step closer to fulfilling his vision of a cassette tape ministry. He saw Calvin Lucas, a representative from Gospel Recordings Association (GRA) playing a record on a foldable piece of cardboard which acted as a battery-less record-player. That’s called CardTalk, one of the main tools for spreading gospel to tribes in Madhya Pradesh. Seeing the demonstration, David’s eyes almost popped out. He told himself immediately, “This is it!” He shared his vision with Calvin and the latter invited David to the GRA factory in Bangalore at the end of his term in OM. 

After three months, David returned to Bihar because he was down with malaria. While he was resting, his leader in Bihar persuaded him to join a team in reaching out to the tribes in Simdega district. At first, David refused as he was supposed to rest, and because he had just spent three months doing an intensive outreach which left him completely exhausted - physically, emotionally and spiritually. He needed a break badly. It was there that God exposed David to the tribes which later became his ministry target as he served in Gospel Recordings (GR). See, nothing happens by chance. Everything has its purpose. 

Tribal people are usually wary of outsiders and they resisted our approach. Seeing the tribal people accepting tracts often thrilled me.  God had sent us to be a light in this place of darkness. The team had to get through to their hearts. 

The Christians at the nearby church were nominal believers and thought themselves saved based on child-baptism. They even persecuted the true believers, forbidding them from having church weddings and Christian burials.

There are obstacles in reaching out to tribal people and helping them to see the Light of the world because of their customs and bondage to fears. The threat of offending spirits is real to them, so is the fear of being ostracised when one accepts the gospel. But the good news came many years later. In 2009, David attended the OM World Partner event held in Singapore. He was briefed that those seeds that was sown in Bihar from the seventies to the nineties had borne fruits. The ‘graveyard of missions’ became a fertile vineyard at last! The church growth there is taking place at an amazing rate.

I have witnessed many forms of sharing the gospel. Those that get instant responses may enjoy adding that to their mission report. But the results seldom last. Too often, they are like the seeds that are eaten by the birds, or those that fall upon the rocky ground, or those that spring up quickly but are choked by the thorns (Luke 8: 4-15). They have no deep roots for growth, and they die eventually. When a truly great harvest is seen, with thousands coming to Christ in a short period of time and forming strong churches, what often gets overlooked is the sowing work done decades before. 

Later, David was placed under a young leader who was a trishaw driver before joining OM. It was hard for David to follow an inexperienced leader, but God has His plan for David - to learn humility by submitting to someone younger who lacks leadership. Furthermore, OM emphasised the importance of servanthood. Philippians 2: 3-7 say, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

Our attitudes determine our actions. If we are self-centred, our actions will be divisive and destructive. You will notice in the four Gospels, it was Jesus who served people, not people who served Him. In the Upper Room, when the disciples refused to minister, Jesus took a towel and washed their feet (John 13). He served them like a menial slave.

Jesus was humble, willing to give up His rights in order to obey God and serve people. I learnt to adopt a servant attitude, serving God and people out of love. I can approach life expecting to be served, or I can look for an opportunity to serve others. The choice of attitude is mine. When I chose to submit and be a servant, I experienced tremendous joy and fulfilment in my ministry.

David’s young leader assigned him to cook once a week. That’s where David learnt to cook Indian food. Occasionally, he would spoil his teammates who worked hard during outreach, with good food and thrill them with dhal fry and Chinese fried rice. The weekly task forced David to look for beef in order to cook Indian beef curry. Living in a country where almost no one eats beef because of religious reason, somehow David learnt that Muslims sold beef (usually buffalo meat) at their homes. 

While David was trying his best to cook, he is fortunate to have had his teammates who were patient with him. They never complained when his chapatti was hard like a Frisbee and inedible. When David finally made a good chapatti, about three months later, his entire team applauded him. 

In God’s Timing

A year later, David completed his term with OM India. Before returning to Singapore, he visited GRA in Bangalore with the permission from his OM leader in Bihar. Through the GRA factory manager who hosted him during the visit, David learnt more about the history and the ministry of GR.

David left India for Singapore and enrolled in a Bible school. He totally forgot about his vision of GR during his three-year course although he was constantly in touch with GR missionaries from Australia.

Three months before his graduation, a Native American pastor from US visited his Bible school and shared about his vision of using GR material in Southeast Asia. Later, the pastor’s assistant named Tad also came to his school. It was then that God restored David’s vision for GR. Tad told David that he wanted to train recording technicians to record gospel messages in India. Having served in India, David expressed his interest.

Upon graduation, David’s home church graciously offered him pastoral work but he turned down the offer. He was geared towards recording work although at that time, he had not gotten in touch with GR USA yet. The deacons were very supportive of David’s plan and even offered him an office in the church to start his work. 

Then, Tad began the recording training for David. He received a letter from GR USA inviting someone from Singapore to train at GR’s headquarters in Los Angeles, California. David was excited. He prayed for the chance to go to LA to further his training. However, Tad and his family left Singapore for personal reasons. David was left in the lurch but he was not discouraged. David was determined to go to LA for the training.

Isn’t it amazing how God led David to walk in faith and by faith? Next week, we shall see the provision of a lifetime partner for David as part of God’s providence. See you soon!