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Interview with
ALEXA -- Pastor Intern of Kota Damansara Centre

When did you accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour?
I came to know the Lord Jesus in 1990, when I was in Form 1. One night, my eldest sister, Sin See, explained and prayed with me and I accepted the Lord Jesus there and then. I remember it was a joyous occasion for me and Sin See, as she had prayed for the salvation of our family members. From then on, I started to follow Jesus, attending a Chinese speaking church (Canaan Church in Jinjang South) until I was 16.

When did you start attending CBC?
Later on, I discovered I couldn’t understand most of the sermons that were preached in the Chinese church (I was from an English/Malay speaking school.) I then followed Sin See and my brother in law, Chan, to CBC, SS2 Centre, from 1994 onwards. I was baptised on 26th March 1995 in CBC by Senior Pastor Richard Toh. The first CG I attended was Tehillah 1, shepherded by Irene Lung. I still remember those days - I was staying with my parents in Jinjang, 2 km away, and I had to take 2 buses every morning to reach CBC, SS2. It was good experience!

When did you realize God called you to full-time ministry?
My decision to go into fulltime ministry wasn’t a sudden thing. I had this calling since the beginning of 2003. I was put on a company project in Malacca for 6 months. During this time, I spent most of my nights in the hotel, praying and seeking God for His direction for my life. I had an increasing burden and passion to serve people. Each time I prayed for the church, I would always end up weeping, and would have a strong burden to be able to impact the members with my life. Along the way, reaching out to people, and directing them to where God wants them to be, became my core passion in serving God fulltime. I no longer had passion for my secular work, and most of the time, I would just spend time praying and thinking of areas I could improve myself in the things of God, especially in the area of counselling and ministering to people.

What are your God-given giftings / talents?
When I did my Spiritual Giftings a few years back, my strongest spirituals gifts are hospitality, exhortation, leadership and pastoring. I believe strongly now, after 2 years in Malaysia Bible Seminary, God is training me to teach as well. Nothing much to boast on Alexa graduationtalents. I like to sing but not doing too well in this category although I think I can carry a tune :) and some people commented I make them laugh. So if cracking jokes is a talent / gift, woohoo… there you go, I’ve got one!

What was your Masters degree in? And what made you do it?
Master in Christian Studies. I believe one way to teach people to think biblically and love and honour God passionately is by building up a biblical mind in our churches. D.A Carson, in his book, ‘The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism,’ said, ‘the “heart” in biblical thought is not so much the seat of emotions as the seat of thought and of the whole person. Both “loving God with all your heart” and “loving God with your mind” are bound up with thinking the right things about God….that requires constant, thoughtful, Bible reading, theological reflection, interaction with Christian thinkers from the past, humble assessment of the currents of our age and courageous determination not to become their slaves’.

To equip people of God to think biblically and to honour God passionately in the face of modern culture, I must first be ‘transformed’ to think the right things about God. I need to be equipped at all times, deep things of God, so I can minister to urban people who are bombarded with knowledge, which sadly, is not of God. Previously, I met people who are so ‘theologically’ sounded with religions and with the wisdom of this world. They questioned me of my faith and my belief. To my shame, I couldn’t give an adequate answer to their questions. As a result, the world thinks Christians cannot defend the authority of Scriptures and, thus, the Christian faith is seen as untenable. If we, the so-called leaders, are not equipped to ‘defend’ our belief, I doubt our followers can. Therefore, I chose to go to a seminary (MBS) to equip myself for this very reason.

Recently  married, can you describe your married life so far?
Married for less than 3 months, so, it’s ‘Fu-Yoh!’ Cannot be better ;) Ask me again in 3 years’ time.

wedding
One for the Family Gallery!

How do you balance family life with your ministry?
Easy - Monday, Wednesday and Sunday nights are with family, the rest of the week is for ministry. And if ministry takes the entire week, I bring Gary along ;) So, it’s ministry with family! Jokes aside, God has been gracious to my family (to me in particular.) When things are not balanced, my family has shown understanding of what I do.

What is your long term goal in life and your passion? Plan to have children? How many?
My passion is to know God for who He is (a lifelong journey) and be in continual awe and worship Him (1st Commandment), and to develop a habit of loving people as the 2nd Commandment demands of us. Prayerfully, I hope my life will be used by the Lord to impact the church to also stay pure and faithful as the Bride of Christ.

Children?? This one, you have to interview my husband!

This interview was conducted by the Editor

At Alexa and Gary’s Wedding on March 3, 2007……

"Do you, Gary, solemnly swear to provide Alexa with nangka and rambutans as long as you both shall live?"funny

Yes. Pastor Reynold actually asked Gary! Anyone heard Gary say, “Yes,” to that?
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