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Chinese Independent Baptist Church

280 8th Street, Oakland, CA 94607

(510) 452-1772; Fax: (510) 452-5467

Chinese Independent Baptist Church is definitely my college church, the church I attended throughout my college years. This was my "home away from home" church. I ended up serving at this church primarily as Bible study leader and worship leader. One time, I even had the honor of being the speaker for the YAF (Young Adult Fellowship) 1998 Winter Retreat!

How I ended up at this church was completely by the providence of God. When I was fresh out of high school, the only person I knew at UC Berkeley was Jeffery Chou. I knew Jeff through my home church at MBCP (Mandarin Baptist Church of Pasadena). Naturally, I decided to tag along and attended his church, EFC (Evangelical Formosan Church) . It was several Sundays after attending EFC that I decided I wanted to join their college fellowship.

So one day I asked Jeff how if I could get a ride to his fellowship. He told me to wait at the Foothill dormitory main gate at 7:00pm every Friday. Coming from a typical Chinese church with typical Chinese people, I figured that they would probably be at least 30 minutes late. I later discovered the hard way that that was not the case! Those guys were the most punctual Chinese people I have ever met! Furthermore, little did I know that other fellowships also picked up passengers at the same Foothill gate!

So, I showed up at the Foothill gate at around 7:30pm one Friday evening, 30 minutes late. I saw a whole bunch of college students with Bibles in their hands standing on the corner. I assumed that they were waiting for rides for the EFC fellowship too. Being the shy guy that I am, I didn't make any conversations with them. So, it wasn't until later that I found out they weren't from EFC! At around 8pm Mike Wu showed up with his car to pick people up.

Before I got into the car, I asked: "So, this is for the EFC fellowship, right?"

Mike answered: "No, this is for SFC."

Immediately, somebody else added: "EFC left a long time ago."

I then asked: "What's SFC?"

They all told me "SFC stands for Souls For Christ fellowship!"

"Which Church is it associated with?" I inquired.

One person responded: "CIBC, which is Chinese Independent Baptist Church in Oakland."

Then I told them: "I think I got into the wrong car."

I was about to head back to my dorm, but Mike kept insisting that I join them for fellowship. Since he so adamant, I decided "what the heck!" So, I got into the car, and joined their fellowship.

When we got there, I bumped into Sarah Shih and Ester Tse. I couldn't believe it! Both of them were people I had known since my childhood from MBCLA (Mandarin Baptist Church of Los Angeles)! How ironic, I thought to myself! I remember talking to the two of them for a very long time. They were as surprised to see me as I was to see them. I had no idea that either of them went to school at Berkeley and attended CIBC! So, I decided that from then on I would join SFC for Friday fellowships, and made CIBC my college home church.

Unfortunately, things weren't always so hunky dory. I don't think I ever completely fit in with SFC, no matter how hard I tried. And believe me, there many occasions I really tried hard. This was part of the reason why my first year at Berkeley was so difficult for my faith. Back at home, I had always depended on other people (Pastor Ray, Terrence, Peter, Harvey, Lee Kuo, etc.) for spiritual needs and upliftings. Of course, I especially depended on Pastor Ray. When I arrived at Berkeley, I looked for the same kind of "crutch" to lean on, but never got it. I remember praying earnestly for close Christian friends, but by the Lord's providence I never quite got what I prayed for.

Don't get me wrong, I was able to forge some close friendships at SFC. During my freshman year, I became somewhat close with Kim Low (she's now known as Kim Tang. after she married Kingman Tang). But Kim was a senior and quickly graduated and went on her way while I was still stuck in college. Not to mention the fact that she was dating Kingman, and it never really quite felt right to me to become close with anybody of the opposite gender who happened to have a boyfriend. I just didn't every want any possibility of misunderstanding. This is just my personal code of ethics. I'm not trying to be judgmental on anybody else's ethics here.

One year passed, and the next year came. During my sophomore year, I became somewhat close with Larry Yang, Todd Lee, and Steve Volksman. Toward the end of the school year, Todd ended up leaving SFC because of some relational problems with a certain female from SFC. Larry left shortly after that. Then Steve Volksman realized that he was white, and decided that he didn't quite fit in with all those Chinese people. Hmm…did it really take two years to realize that? So, he left too, leaving me hanging around all by lonesome self.

Another year passed, and I quickly became a junior. During my junior year, I became close with Lisa Mok and gradually became friends with all of her crowd too. This included Elaine Yuen, Brian Lee, Amy Tran, Daphne Phung, Kitty Ngo, and Hebron Mak. Daphne, Kitty, and Hebron were never around much. I barely got a glimpse of them during the holidays when they returned from their faraway schools. Often it was just Elaine, Brian, Amy, Lisa, and me. Lisa was a great friend, but all the others seemed quite content whether or not I existed. Well, perhaps Brian was an exception. He's definitely a great guy, and Elaine is too lucky to have him as her boyfriend. I remember getting very frustrated at times for always being the outcast in their little clique. At times, they also made Lisa an outcast, which hurt her very deeply. For a time, Lisa kept trying to appease them, but it rarely worked. Sadly, one day Lisa and Amy decided that they wanted to go to Taiwan for a study abroad program. I originally was supposed to go to Beijing the same year. Lisa and I were supposed to meet at Beijing after she finished her studies at Taiwan. But by the providence of the Lord, events in my life were altered dramatically by a few small divine interventions.

The very last day before I was about to finish all my paperwork to study abroad at Beijing, I received a phone call from an engineer IBM, stating that he wanted to hire me as an intern. I was immediately torn between the two paths: should I choose IBM or Beijing? I eventually chose IBM believing that the Lord had handed me this opportunity, but I had no idea why. How did I know the Lord had handed me this opportunity? First of all, my GPA at that time really sucked! I had a 2.8/4.0, and absolutely no prior experience doing anything! I never even held a job at a fast food joint before! I also searched for an internship all semester and found nothing. The two companies who were willing to interview me both said that my qualifications didn't look good. So, I prayed about it and I believed that God had opened this door for me. Then, I took this path by faith.

I later found out that Calvin Lo, the engineer at IBM who hired me, picked me by selecting a random resume from a very large pile! And guess who's resume got picked?! I was immediately reminded of the scripture:

"The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." Proverbs 16:33

The Lord is in control of all things, even random events! Furthermore, Calvin told me he wanted to hire someone with absolutely NO experience, as charity, and I fit the profile! Yep, I definitely have to agree that I fit that profile back then! Later, I also discovered that if I had not worked at IBM, I would never have met my wife, Alison. IBM eventually became my springboard to get other jobs too!

Sadly, my junior year was also when I eventually decided to leave SFC. I gave up trying to build close friendships there. I don't think I was the only one who felt that SFC was somewhat "cold" either. At one praise and prayer night, I remember many SFCers sharing testimonies that they have felt isolated too. Back at LA, Terrence once told me, with a rather condescending tone, "Dave, to make friends, you must first BE a friend." Out of respect for him, I nodded…knowing truthfully that I had always been a true friend to those whom I've tried to build strong friendships with.

Before my senior year began, I took a semester off to work at IBM as an intern. My mom insisted that I live with an elderly woman in San Jose that she found through the newspaper. I was reluctant. I quickly got evicted from her house, and desperately needed a place to stay. I frantically called up everybody I knew in the area, and could not find a single person with the right connections. Eventually, I remembered Pastor Wai introducing Randall Fong to me. Randall was a great guy, and I really enjoyed getting to know him and becoming his friend. Pastor Wai was a great guy too, and a great pastor! I really liked Pastor Wai a lot, and missed him when he left for the missions field. He had a lot of admirable qualities, such as his fervor for evangelism! So, I decided to call Randall up in the middle of the night, and he agreed to let me live with him. So, I moved all my stuff from San Jose to Randall's place in just one night of frantic moving! The next day I still went to work, but kept falling asleep on the job.

While living with Randall and working at IBM, I met Alison through Randall. At this time, I was no longer attending SFC or any fellowship, and had been pondering joining YAF. I eventually invited myself to the 1997 YAF Summer Retreat at the Marin Headlands. I still remember Pastor Gleason was the speaker. It was at the retreat that I first met Alison. To tell you the truth, I never really noticed her the first time we met. Alison said "Hi" to me while I was lying down on the couch, and I didn't respond. I was reading a book at that time, and was so absorbed that I didn't hear her. She thought I ignored her, and called me "rude"!

Later, Alison came to Randall's place on a regular basis for guitar lessons. Eventually, I got to know her and invited myself to her birthday party. Not long after that, I asked her to become my girlfriend on November 15, 1997, and she agreed. I also ended up joining YAF, and became their Bible study leader for a short while. It was through Alison that I finally gained some deeper friendships at CIBC. God also taught me many people skills through the arguments and conflicts I've had with her. On November 18, 2000, we got married!

During the few short years I attended YAF, I taught Bible study from the book of Genesis. Steve Fong and KK Mui were my two trusted bible study leader "sidekicks." I was extremely excited with all the things that God was teaching me in the book of Genesis, and couldn't wait to get it all out! As a result, I decided to write an evangelistic booklet to distribute during the 1999 annual Chinatown streetfest. The message in this booklet was based on Pastor Ray's Chinese spiritual roots research. Pastor has spent almost 20 years researching Chinese spiritual beliefs, and eventually got his doctorate last year from Fuller Seminary for his original research. Had I not gone to this fellowship and received the support I needed, I would never have been able to write that booklet! Now, this booklet is travelling all over the world! Praise God!

God has definitely led me through many crossroads in life. I cannot even begin to fathom the incredible depth of his wisdom in daily molding and shaping our lives into his image!

Imagine this...if I had not gotten into the wrong car during my freshman year, I would've never ended up attending CIBC. While attending CIBC, had I finished all the paperwork to study abroad in China just one day earlier, I would've never received the phone call from IBM because I was getting ready to move out of my apartment. If Calvin Lo, my engineering mentor at IBM, had not randomly selected a candidate, I would've never been selected for the internship. If I had never worked at IBM, I would never have met Randall Fong through Pastor Wai. If I had never lived with Randall as his roomate, I would never have gone to YAF. If I had never gone to YAF, I would never have gotten the support I needed to write the Chinese Roots booklet. If I had never written the booklet, it would not be printed today and travelling all over the world. Furthermore, if any one of these events didn’t occur, I would never have met Alison, and we would not have married, and baby Gideon would not exist today!

Wow! Can anyone truthfully say that there is no God?!

And how can anyone even begin to fathom the depth of God's understanding and wisdom?!