A Surprising Journey of David Sun

“A Surprising Journey”

Rev David Sun | 17 July 2017

Here is the story of a Singaporean professional who worked and lived in Hong Kong, subsequently called by God to serve as His under-shepherd there, then returned to Singapore for further equipping at a Bible school in “a surprising journey” of obedience.

I see a person’s life is made up of four stages and each stage is about 25 years. The first stage is about education and the second is about building a family and a career. The third stage is the Golden Stage where one is mature and at his prime. The final stage is the harvesting stage where one could enjoy the fruits of his life.

My First Stage

Hong Kong is my home as I was born there in 1960. I went to the United Kingdom for “A”-levels in 1979. I received my university education at the Imperial College of Science and Technology and finished with a First Class Honours in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science in Management Science in 1984 and 1985 respectively.

My Second Stage

I started as an engineering trainee in 1986 and got married in 1987. My wife and I were soon blessed with three young girls followed by a son. It was a hectic and ambitious phase of my life. When I was forty years old, the focus of my life was to build up the company and go for IPO (Initial Public Offering).

However, that was not God’s plan for me and the dream of getting rich quickly was crushed on 21 June 2001. That evening, I pleaded with God for three things with a vow that I would do whatever he wanted from me in return.

The plea was followed by a long period of struggle and loneliness. Then came 21 June 2007, the beginning of the 7th year, God reminded me about my end of the bargain as he had already kept his.

In the beginning of 2009, I noticed my change of heart. I later enrolled into an evening course for a Master of Christian Ministry jointly organized by my former church and the Ecclesia Bible College, now Ecclesia Theological Seminary. I completed the course in one and half year as if God was pushing me to finish it earlier.

My Third Stage

On 21 June 2011 after I have officially turned 50 and entered into my 3rd stage of life, God led me to start a church. This was never on my mind and neither have I ever desired it earlier. I then became the pastor of this new church in Hong Kong.

After a few years, I moved to Singapore in 2016 to take care of my son who was studying there. While I was preparing to come to Singapore, I looked up the internet and found East Asia School of Theology. I was somehow attracted to it and I felt God was leading me to study at this school. I enrolled into the Master of Divinity program in June 2016.

I went to Mongolia in June 2017 as part of the school’s training program where our team spent twenty days in the capital city, Ulan Bator, as well as the wilderness. On 21 June 2017, God again reaffirmed his calling for me to become a pastor of his flock through an unusual experience. Such experience has motioned our church to move forward with our ministry and development.

His Calling

During the above Mongolian trip, I had come to realize that God had led me through three different careers in the past thirty-one years. My first career was to build buildings, bridges, highway, pipelines and reservoir as a Civil Engineer. My second career was to build wealth as a Certified Financial Planner. My third golden career now is to build lives since 2011 when I was fifty years old.

My Life at East Asia School of Theology (EAST)

I had my share of initial struggle in the first few months in learning Hebrew language, fulfilling the assignment requirements at school while pastoring my church in Hong Kong through e-media.

The faculty and staff are generally kind and supportive. Our school environment is quiet, peaceful and conducive for learning. I had found my comfort corner at the library and good fellowship with classmates who are younger as well as about my age.

A big surprise for me at EAST was that the student body has elected me as one of the Student Council Members (SC) for 2017 – 2018 during the spring semester. When I was standing on stage together with the other four elected members, I knew in my heart that God has wanted me to become the President of the SC for reasons unknown to me.

A Surprising Journey

In 2011 or early 2012 after we had started the church, God spoke to me one day when I was doing something at the bathroom. He said that “if you will obey and follow me, I will bring you to many places that you have never thought of going.”

Since then, I had gone to Thailand, United Kingdoms, Israel, Taiwan, Japan, certain part of China, Mongolia and EAST in Singapore.

One day when I walked past a construction site where they were driving the sheet piles into the ground. I thought to myself, I could do that too. Then a voice came to my heart: “Anyone could have done it but I want you to do my work.”

I preached on Joshua 1: 6-9 last Sunday where God pointed to Joshua and said, “I want you.” The word “you” was repeated ten times in the Chinese version.

Joshua was the key to bring the Israelites across the river to take possession of the land. Joshua was fifty years old when he left Egypt and he was ninety years old when he took up leadership and brought the people into the promised land.

Therefore, age is never the issue but God’s calling and our response are the essential keys for us to start a surprising journey with the Lord!

 

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To explore how you can be further equipped in the Word and in ministry skills for the second half of your life–or even the first half–contact EAST at eastinfo@east.edu.sg.