Graduate’s Story – Kang Hye-Won, Grad Dip ICS 2023
“The journey toward self-discovery is life’s greatest adventure” (Arianna Huffington, author, columnist and businesswoman).
Upon graduating from university in Korea, Kang Hye-Won moved to Sydney, Australia, and worked in the city’s ubiquitous sandwich shops to support himself.
Purpose? To become someone God could use.
New Graduate: Japheth Chew, Malaysia
Japheth Chew, Grad Dip in Intercultural Studies (2023)
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page” (Saint Augustine).
Japheth Chew is no stranger to road trips.
Before EAST, he had lived in Brisbane (Australia), Kansas City (USA), and Swansea (Wales) for missions, worship and prayer training.
Besides serving for three years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with YWAM and Open Doors, he ministered among the disadvantaged in Darjeeling (West Bengal), and Mother Theresa’s “Missionaries of Charities” in Calcutta for three months. He also served for a year in missions at Cornerstone Community Church in Singapore.
This early exposure has given him a hunger to “keep learning new things.”
New Graduate: Sarah Angela Ong Pantaleon, Philippines
Sarah Angela Ong Pantaleon, MDiv Christian Ministry (2023)
“Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn’t mean to take” (Angela N. Blount, award-winning author)
Many classes at EAST have blessed Anj.
“Amy Lau’s ‘Bible Study Methods’ taught me to study God’s Word contextually,” she says, “and Dr Jeannette’s ‘Teaching’ class showed me how to write lesson plans.”
“These and many other classes are important for my future ministry,” she says.
But to move forward, Anj also discovered that she had to take a few steps back to “unlearn and learn.”
New Graduates – Kim Hak-Soo & Park Ok-Hee, Korea
Kim Hak Soo (MDiv Christian Ministry) & Park Ok-Hee (Partners in Ministry)
“If life were a road trip, I conclude that the roughest, windiest and steepest roads lead us to the most breath-taking views” (Allie Penner, The Well Blog).
In 2019, Kim Hak-Soo was invited to a chapel service at EAST. As the worship team played, he felt a deep connection with God which extended that short tour into a four-year road trip.
One of the first things that impressed the associate pastor of Korean Church in Singapore was “Servant Leadership.” “I’d heard the term before,” says Hak Soo, “but at EAST I experienced it.”
“Through the teaching and lives of Leadership professors like Dr Chan, as we were invited to professors’ home for meals, and the camaraderie of my mentoring group guys in prayer and ministry weekends. I saw servant-leadership – the willingness to serve like Jesus – in action.”
Graduate’s Story – Lee Poh Chin, MAICS 2023
Lee Poh Chin (Singapore), MA Intercultural Studies (2023)
“The journey, not the destination matters” (T. S. Eliot, poet, essayist, Nobel Prize Literature laureate in 1948).
“I’m here for the ride,” says Lee Poh Chin, principal-mentor of an international school ministry in Kampong Speu, Cambodia, before she came to EAST. The PhD holder in Human Movement and Exercise Science from University of Western Australia wanted a school that prepares her to serve among Khmer people. “EAST has not disappointed me,” she says.
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