Of all the co-workers in the Stephen Tong ministry, I am probably the one who has known him or co-worked with him for the shortest period of time. I started translating for him in 1997 at a Youth conference in Genting Highlands. I came into contact with his ministry because I sought permission to translate one of his books for my own church's use, and one thing led to another, and the next thing I know, I was standing beside him translating his message for a group of 700 odd young people.

Like many people, I have benefited from Rev. Tong's messages way before I started translating for him. As a teenager, I listened to him at revival meetings and his audio tapes, and of course read quite a few of his books. And as many are aware, his insights and messages have a qualitative difference that I dare say, cannot be found anywhere else. So all along, I get this concept of Rev. Tong as a highly respected individual, almost untouchable in the power of his thoughts and messages.

Working with him allowed me the privilege of knowing other aspects of his life, and allowed me to go into another area of learning which I believe is more, if not as beneficial as learning from his messages; I get to learn from his very lifestyle.

The first thing that really impressed me was that he is not just a mass evangelist or revivalist, willing to preach only in large organisations with thousands in attendance. He truly has a heart for evangelism, and would not let go of any opportunities that the LORD presents to him. During the Youth conference I mentioned earlier, one of the people traveling with us was a successful businessman from Indonesia who flew in just for the conference. Upon his arrival, a secretary assigned to him by his local office met him. This Indonesian lady was not a Christian, and because of her job, she had to accompany this businessman, and hence traveled with us. Upon learning that she did not know Jesus Christ, Rev. Tong preached to her at every opportunity he got, speaking away in Indonesian. So we had a situation where he just finished preaching to a large crowd, got into the car, and immediately went on to preach to this young lady, who after 3 days' of personal evangelism from Rev. Tong, came to know the LORD Jesus Christ. I told the lady later that she just had one of the rarest experience available, to be personally preached to by one of the greatest evangelists of our time.

On another occasion, we were having dinner with a group of co-workers. Before the meal, someone said table grace and gave thanks. Upon seeing that, the waitress present remarked casually that her children are Christians and go to church. Immediately, Rev. Tong asked her if she was a Christian. When she said no, he began to tell her to follow her children to church, to know Jesus Christ, to be a Christian. The waitress said she would.

Such spontaneous actions simply proved to me beyond doubt that Rev. Tong's heart is truly burning for the LORD and the preaching of his gospel, in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2). I just pray that it will be infectious and influence me towards that direction as well.

Another aspect of his ministry is his absolute demand for the best for the LORD. He demands that from himself, and he expects that from anyone who would go up to the pulpit and speak in the name of the LORD. He expects all to give of their best to the Master when it comes to the ministry. When he is not on the pulpit, he is a very jovial person and very interesting to be with because of his humour and his ability to hold interesting conversation on practically any topic. When he gets up to speak however, he seems to be transformed totally into another person, to a person who acts with a sense of solemn mission, to be as he said, like a spokesman for God. He may be mentally and physically exhausted, but the pulpit seems to miraculously transform him. He once told me that from the pulpit, he would not waste a single word or phrase, and would want to capture the audience at every single moment of his sermon.

He does that for all occasions, large or small. I was at my seminary when he visited during a lunchtime gathering, and he was invited to address the small group of about 15 students. In 20 minutes' time, he spoke of why we should be serious about Reformed Theology, and the organisation, delivery, impact of the message were as if it was something that took weeks to prepare; I know because I recorded it on tape and made a transcript of the address, and I am still inspired by it till today.

One of the key reasons why I feel privileged to co-work with him is the fact that I get to learn so much more by being able to observe him at close quarters. His lifestyle confirms for me the validity of what he taught about the Word. I have spoken to many of the co-workers, and they all felt that while one can learn all sorts of theories from him, having the opportunity to witness his personal walk of faith encourages us all much more, exemplifying for us what the Word of God wants us to do with our lives.

There are so many things that I can write about with regard to the Rev. Tong I know, but I will just leave it to the above two. We, his co-workers, have always joked that one day, we should all sit down and write a collection of our thoughts about Rev. Tong, and perhaps reveal some little-known funnies about him.

In the end, co-working with Rev. Tong is like tying yourself together with a world-class marathon runner, trying to keep up with him. It has been extremely challenging, one of the most difficult thing I have done in my own ministry, but the learning experience is something that I do not think many other people can enjoy. After all, as his translator, I would miss not a single word. I am simply thankful to the LORD for this opportunity for serving Him with Rev. Tong in this unique manner. I invite you to continue to pray for his ministry, his mental, physical and spiritual health.

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