Ex-Businessman Starts Church to 'Live Well for Jesus'

Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 Posted: 3:19:04PM HKT

(Photo: The Christian Post)

Born in an impoverished family, Pastor Vincent Lee worked his way from selling dumplings every night to starting a thriving real estate agency.

Yet he gave it all up when God called, and proceeded to start a church.

It began with a desire in his heart to "live... well for Jesus," he tells The Christian Post on Friday afternoon in an interview at his church.

God had communicated with him in an unmistakable way: "God speaks to me during the (church) service where I would have an impression of a word or a sentence and then the anointing and emotion comes upon me.

"So if I do feel emotionally stirred - meaning... ending up with tears - then I would say most of the time it is the Lord speaking and the word would come to me."

Sensing God's call - it was 2006 - he prayed for clear direction and received it.

In numerous ways, whether it be through a church service or a prayer guide or a television programme, Vincent, 53, perceived the Lord urging him to make a decision to live well and for eternity.

The words of Christ in Matthew 16:26 (What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?) and of missionary Jim Elliot (He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose) especially challenged him to heed the call of the God he had known since childhood.

Vincent's response was to start the Live For Eternity Church on January 16, 2011, now located on the 15th floor of the Tan Boon Liat Building at 315 Outram Road.

As to how he arrived at the conclusion that God was telling him to start a new church, he credits his momentous decision to some reflections he had attending a class as part of a Bachelor of Theology programme he is completing at the Assemblies of God Bible College.

Meditating on the meaning of Ephesians 3:10, he realised that "the Church is the magnificent vehicle (through which) God shows to the principalities and powers His grace, His love, His might, His amazing plan to redeem humanity."

That incident led him to make the difficult choice between starting a church and joining Crown Financial Ministries, which impacted his life. At that time, he had also just obtained a license to preach from the Assemblies of God denomination.

Crown Ministries has designed and conducts classes in the biblical way of managing finances, covering topics such as getting out of debt and achieving financial freedom.

Vincent decided to start a church and deliver the teachings of Crown Ministries in that context. His plan for the year is to conduct eight sessions on biblical financial studies, each lasting as many weeks. According to his schedule, he has already started two sessions, and will start another two in March.

Vincent learned to trust God from a young age. As a 14-year-old schooling child from a financially poor background, he started going to church and practiced tithing and giving to missions.

Decades later, while preparing a lesson on the biblical view of money because it "plays a very important part in the life of everyone - Christian or non-Christian" he found that Crown Ministries had all the resources.

Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Edmond Chua
edmond@christianpost.com