Pastor’s Bio
Pastor’s biography and message
I am very grateful for the love, mercy, and grace of Jesus who was tempted in all things as we are yet without sin, and who has suffered the excruciating pain for my sins and the sins of all generation that I/we may receive the forgiveness of sin, the Spirit of adoption unto God’s royal family, and the divine privilege to be His servants, even though an undeserving struggling flesh.
Because “God is Love”, I believe that the underlying root and the answer to every need and problem is love. When we search for love in our own ways as defined by the world, we create all the problems that exist in our lives and in the world today. When we discover and experience the unconditional transforming love of Jesus for us in a personal way, we begin to heal from the past wounds of sin, to recover our lost identity, and to become new and changed individuals through the daily sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in us and through us unto others. (1John 4:7-21)
As a child, after the death of my father at the age of three, my blessed mother had to take care of eight children. As a devout believer in Jesus, through daily prayer and supplication, she was guided against her heart to place me in a Christian orphanage believing that I may have a better life there. Little did she know that her decision would be the beginning of many troubles and challenges in my life, which caused me much trauma and much doubts in my mind about Jesus and His love. Although it was a Christian orphanage and the leaders might have meant well, the separation from my family, the new harsh environment, the stigma attached to orphans in society as well as other forms of mistreatment, diminished my faith in Jesus and caused me to question His love for the poor, the orphans, and the widows in their affliction. As a child, I also had developed separation anxiety and depression, deep emotional wounds, attachment wounds, feelings of insecurity and inferiority, and also a loss of identity. Later on in life and throughout the years, the Lord sent many people my way who have exhibited the love of God for me in tangible and unconditional ways. God has intervened in my life through missionaries, pastors, counselors, preachers, teachers, and also interrupted my life through dramatic events and circumstances that almost claimed my life revealing unto me His unfailing love and the wisdom of affliction in a very personal way. A life of prayer, praise, worship, learning, growing, and loving service toward others, especially those who are hurting, has aided in my healing and the transformation of my life, character, and personality and aligned me closer with God’s initial purpose for my life.
Today as I look back I can discern the words of the Apostle Paul much better. In Romans 5:1,3-5 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”…“And not only so, but we glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. And patience experience; and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
These childhood experiences and the following tribulation which unfolded in my life have given me an invaluable experience with God as I have learned from his many servants how to wait patiently upon Him that He may refine my character for a more fruitful life ahead. Indeed, “God’s ways are not our ways, neither His thought our thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:6-13). Only God can create and bring forth a beautiful rose out of an unseeingly thorny bush. Only God can make a great king out of a simple shepherd boy like David. Only God can turn our scars into stars and our sorrow into joy if we trust His unfailing love and follow His words of life. Only a loving, caring, forgiving God can take an insignificant orphan, adopt him into His family, and mold him to be his servant. I am forever thankful to Jesus that today through His work at Missions of Compassion, my wife Esther, others, and I are able to extend the same transforming message of unconditional love, salvation, hope, healing, adoption, ambassadorship, and eternal life to those hurting in nursing homes, in hospitals, and also to those in conflict and in need of Christian counseling.
The greatest need in the world and the greatest test in Christianity is the test of love. If our souls are to heal and prosper on earth and if we are to inherit eternal life, we are encouraged by Jesus to follow the two greatest commandments. “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40). Just as the lungs and heart can not survive for long by only inhaling or by only exhaling air, neither can we live an abundant life nor inherit eternal life by only inhaling the love of God without exhaling it towards others. That is why Jesus told his disciple before his ascension “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:33,34) Therefore it is our prayer, our goal, and our mission to share the love of Jesus, which we have received with all who may need it. For freely we have received, and freely we shall give.
