A Year in Review: 2015

In January, many people make new year resolutions. People make important decisions that will supposedly affect the rest of their lives. People try to kick off bad old habits and pick up good new ones. It's a time for change and renewal. Well, I am no exception. However, I wanted to look back at last year to see all that has happened. This helps me realize just how good God has been to me. Hopefully, you'll praise God for His faithfulness too.

January

My brother got married in Malaysia and then in Taiwan. I was honored to have officiated for both of the wedding ceremonies. It's my first time officiating for any wedding actually. It was a joy to do so for a family member, my only brother. It was the most unconventional wedding I've experienced. Read more about it here. We also went on a family trip in Taiwan (see here).

February

Esther and I were at Moody's cultural fair representing my home country. It was great to be able to come together with all these students from many nations, brought together by a singular purpose: food. Well, food aside, everyone loved God too. This month, we also celebrated our first wedding anniversary at a Brazilian steakhouse (see here). It's only been a year? Wow.

March

This was a busy month. First of all, Esther became a U.S. citizen! I preached at my friend Jeremy's church a few times and also at Hyunbo's KCCC. Esther went to a supporter's lunch and did her CD release concert. I shared the Gospel during the citizenship ceremony (see here) and then later using fried chicken (see here).

April

I was born in this month! Beside celebrating my birthday, we did other things too. We went to Jamaica for one. We helped out at a five-day camp where Tony preached 10 times and Esther led worship even more. This church has been without any kind of pastor for a few years now and we were privileged to have served them. See more pictures here. One the way back, we stopped by Georgia Tech, where my heart was first set ablaze by the fires of revival (see here).

May

I worked my butt off to finish all the course work for my seminary in the midst of doing ministry. I graduated from Moody Theological Seminary with highest honors (4.0 GPA)! "It was not I, but the grace of God that is with me" (1 Cor 15:10). See more pictures here. A week after, we were honored to have done a service at CityLight International Church. What a blessed group of people (see here).

June

We were in 5 countries this month. We started off in Korea, where we taught music to college students, we taught English to elementary kids, I preached a few times, and Esther did some concertizing with her mom. There was a good family trip too. We then went to Taiwan, where we did another worship service together. We then went to Kenya, but not without transit via Hong Kong and Thailand first.

July

Visiting Kenya was a great experience. We were primarily there for a church planting conference. It was amazing to play a part in this gathering of 600 pastors/church planters. I saw 10 inmates turn to Christ after preaching at this prison. We also got to know great people through ministry at this church in Mombasa and Harvest in Limuru. My parents and brother joined us in Kenya later for a trip to the Maasai Mara Safari. Oh, I touched the head of a giraffe. We also went to Switzerland, more on that next month.

August

Esther did a concert on Switzerland's national holiday. I also preached at two churches in Switzerland (church #1, #2). We also had a great family trip with both sides of the family, celebrating both fathers' 60th birthday (album #1, #2), visiting the alps and many beautiful cities. Then we went to Italy, where we saw many beautiful churches. We ministered at two of them (church #1, #2). Many lives were saved and many more were changed. We visited many places, including Vatican City (album #1, #2).

September

We returned at the end of August to Chicago, to our new house. We did a lot of cleaning, furniture shopping, plumbing, and the works. It was tiring, but great. Esther's friend stayed over for a while. We did some ministry at a homeless shelter too.

October

October was the month of concerts. Esther did a nano concert at Moody Church and led worship at Moody's Mission Conference. We also did a house concert for our neighborhood. This was our way of reaching out and befriending our neighbors, who come from many cultural and religious backgrounds. Furthermore, we did a housewarming party for a different set of people this month too. Our house was well used, even for Halloween.

November

We did not do much ministry this month. Instead we were catching up with friends and ministry reports. We did go to Pacific Garden Mission and saw people turn to God. Our dear friends and mentors also invited us to their house for a grand Thanksgiving feast. Overall, it was a relaxing month.

December

We went to Candlelight Carols with one neighbor and the botanical gardens with another. We did a Christmas Concert and Party for the neighborhood, for which 53 people showed up! They were all so thankful that we invited them. We did more Christmas events, including a concert at a retirement home and a service at church. Then there was Higher Calling Conference 2015, where I spoke and Esther led worship. It was quite impactful and a fitting end to 2015.

Summary

It has been an eventful year. My brother's wedding, cultural fair, Esther's citizenship, Jamaica, seminary graduation, Korean/Taiwan tour, church planting in Kenya, Switzerland/Italy tour, moving in to a new house, house concerts, homeless ministry, missions conference... As we continue living by faith and walking with God, I have no doubt that He will do greater things, and that we will partake in it. That is our prayer.

A Talk with Grandma

A sad conversation with my grandma...
http://www.tonyandestherchuang.com/#!A-Talk-with-Grandma/c1o3h/54f0a6760cf257e2bff1f83a

Here's a snippet of it:

"What are you doing after you graduate?" She said casually.
"Well, I'm trying to find a job as a pastor. Esther and I are also still going around to different places to speak to talk about God." I replied almost knowing what she'd say next.
"You know what would make grandma happy? If you find a job with a company working with computers or something. You could be a pastor when you are 50! That would make grandma happy." She said gently but firmly.

Journey Back to Malaysia

As some may know, I now have a website along with my wife. Here is the first post:

http://www.tonyandestherchuang.com/#!Journey-Back-to-Malaysia/c1o3h/54cd517a0cf2f9ae3ff6a377

Check it out! Here's the first part...

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From December 18, 2014 to January 11, 2015, we traveled from Chicago, Illinois (USA) to Penang, Malaysia to Taipei, Taiwan to Chuncheon, Korea to San Francisco, California (USA). We were in Malaysia and Taiwan because of my brother's wedding. And they were definitely two of the most unusual, non-traditional weddings that we've been to. Weddings aside and seeing family aside, for me, going back to Malaysia had a different significance...

A Global Calling

If someone asked me why I was attending Moody Theological Seminary, if someone asked me what I was doing here, or if someone asked me how I know I’m in the right place, my response could be summarized into this Bible verse that the prophet Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 20:9, “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.”

God has called me to preach the gospel for as long as I have breath, and I intend to do just that. I tried going through life without doing that, but the desire to preach the gospel full time has gotten too strong. I was no longer content to just do a nine to five job during the day and be do ministry in my spare time. Though I was already going to church 5 days a week and serving in different capacities, this was not enough. God had called me to full-time ministry.

I found myself reading the Bible at work. I would eventually feel bad that I’m doing this on company time and then I would go back to work. But then my mind is constantly distracted by either theology or some aspect of ministry. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed my work as a programmer. In fact, I was happy programming all day every day. There is something about writing Java, C#, and VB code that brings joy to a geeky guy like me.

It was not as if I was tired of my job and wanted something new. It was just that between the gospel and anything else, whatever that other thing is, it is no match for the longing that I had to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything is as trash compared to “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8). That was when I realized that God had called me to full time ministry and not to programming.

I do not believe that serving God full-time was more important than serving God in the workplace. In fact, there are many people in the workplace that could most easily be reached by Christian coworkers. Furthermore, without Christians in the secular workplace making money, a lot of other Christians who depend on support for living would not be able to raise money as easily.

I say all this to say that as proud as I am of my calling, I do not see it as inherently superior. Though I once saw it as such in my olden days, I’ve since had to repent of such an arrogant attitude. To say the truth, this attitude is one reason that I did not pursue my calling earlier. I realized that I may have wanted to enter ministry because I wanted to be the best Christian possible, one that could beat all other Christians in terms of usefulness and anything else.

God waited a few years, took me through a lot of trials and subsequent pain, before he finally allowed me to do what I am doing now. So here I am, taking classes at Moody Theological Seminary and reminiscing about how I got this far. This fire is still shut up in my bones and threatening to explode very often. Though I have calmed down considerably, my passion in large part remains the same: I WILL preach the gospel for the rest of my life.

I am not satisfied with just preaching to a small audience either. I want to preach to the entire world. Now there is nothing wrong with just a small audience. It is very important that we have an abundance of churches, many of which having small congregations. This is so that each member can be properly cared for by a pastor. If the church grows too big, some people will inevitably slip through the cracks.

No, there is nothing wrong with small audiences, but my heart yearns for bigger crowds. It’s not that I want to be more famous or that I want more people to hear “Tony Chuang, preacher extraordinaire, the next Spurgeon!” I do admit such a title is very flattering. However, I wish that I could speak to the whole world. Then I could tell them of how God changed my life. I could speak of the way that God has saved me from both physical death and spiritual death, then I could speak of how God could save them as well. I could shepherd people, comfort people, and pray for many people specifically.

Most importantly, I could have the chance to personally plea before the millions of lost souls, begging them to not throw their lives into the fires of Hell. Oh the things that I could do if I got a microphone large enough. Oh the ways that this dying world would change if someone had a platform that broad and a microphone that loud.

The dream that I have is global revival. This is the vision that both my wife and I have. I see a world lit on fire by the holy fire of God. I see pockets of revival happening all over the globe, first in many localities but then growing and merging with one another. I see this spreading like wildfire, consuming all in its path. This global revival is what God has called me to. And He has called my wife to the same thing as well, which is why we are now both laboring tirelessly toward such an end.

My wife Esther is an amazingly gifted pianist, able to play the most difficult of classical pieces as well as lead people in Spirit-filled worship. Together, we seek to travel the world and host revival meetings in as many countries as will open to us. We seek to reach out primarily to the churches, to the people of God. For revival always starts with the people of God. Only after the children of God are revived does the rest of the world get reborn into this family. An awakening of souls starts with the awakening of the church.

I am no idiot though. I know that persecution will come like a tidal wave with such a platform. That is why now that I have a wife, I cannot step into this as readily. After all, I have a responsibility to protect her and my future children as well. I fear not for my own safety, but I fear for hers more and for our relationship. Such a ministry brings much strain to marriages and we still have so much to learn in marriage without such strains.

I fear for her health. I do not want to unduly stress her out. And doing what I want to do is a very stressful endeavor. I fear for her comfort. I want to spoil her, to give her a good life (yes, even materially). But I know that we cannot be in ministry to make money. I also know that having many material possessions is not always good spiritually either (something that I myself am still learning).

Along with that fear, I fear that we would not have enough money to do this. Traveling costs a lot of money. Even just traveling within one country costs a lot of money. We have not thought of a sustainable way to do this yet, which forces us on our knees as we cry out to God for His always sufficient provision. This is no easy task and no relaxing task either. But it is one that ensures a prayer-filled life that’s for sure.

So why not just preach the gospel? Why go to seminary at all? Well, I am here at seminary to be further equipped. I am not naïve nor that arrogant. I dare not presume that I have the ability to serve God in such a capacity without first being trained by older, godlier man. There is much in their wisdom that I lack in my youthful passion. There is also much that we can glean from official Christian centers of higher education that we should not carelessly discard. Yes the Spirit of God has in the past and will in the future use untrained people on fire for Him. But training is very seldom bad.

As I examine my own life now, the passion is still there and it is not going anywhere. Ever since God rescued me from Hell eleven years ago, I have not stopped running hard after Him and I do not intend on stopping now. I will fight the good fight (1 Tim 6:12) and I will finish the race (Acts 20:24). I could not do anything but think about God and preach His gospel a few years ago, which is what brought me to seminary. That remains true today. I pray that this will always be true in my life. I pray that this fire shut up in my bones will spread. I pray that if there be any sinful desire in my vision, God would uproot it. I pray that above all, I would never stop kneeling before Christ at the feet of His cross.

So Lord, here am I, mold me, send me, take me, use me… for the reviving of all nations.