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Friendship Agape Church - A Christian Reformed Church of America

God's Calling

Pastor Onephanh Vilay

From Born to Born Again
I was born and raised in a Chinese family in Laos, oldest among six siblings. When I was in third grade, there was a Chinese missionary couple by the name of Rev. Barnabas and Mrs. Mary Cheung from Hong Kong, who spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They invited our family to their church Sunday School. My father allowed us to go because he thought that all religions were good and taught people to be better--at least, the children who went to a churches or Buddhist temples did not become juvenile delinquents. So all my brothers and sisters went to church almost every weekend.

We learned a lot of stories in the Bible, played and made friends and had a good time. However, I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I did not become a better person as my father had expected. I cursed, scolded, lied, stole, fought with other kids, etc. I was bad, and my father was disappointed in me.

Then one hot summer, something happened that dramatically changed my life. I still remember very clearly that it was a very hot day. I believe it must have been 100 degrees or so.　School was closed for summer vacation. My friend asked me if I would go swimming in the Mekong River. Since I was bored and did not have anything else to do, I went along with my friends even though I didn't know how to swim. I thought to myself, since I do not have to swim, I can play in the water close to shore. Little did I know that as soon as I jumped into the water, my two feet could not reach the bottom. I was extremely nervous and afraid. I was in a panic and struggled to reach the surface of the water, but it seemed that the more I struggled the deeper I sunk. No matter how hard I tried, my body never reached the surface of the water. The fear of dying overwhelmed me. I was drowning and running out of breath. Then I remembered the Sunday School teacher saying that if we ran into trouble, we should ask Jesus for help and He would save us. So I cried out in my mind, "Jesus, save me!" One of my friends eventually jumped in the water and dragged me up to shore after he noticed I was struggling in the water, and to his amazement, I was alert and walked up the shore with him without going through CPR.

I knew deep down in my heart that it was Jesus Christ who saved me from drowning. When I got home, I sincerely prayed to Jesus and invited Him to come into my heart as my Savior and my Master.　I even made a vow that I would be a missionary to share the Gospel for Him when I grew up. My life began to change after I believed in Jesus Christ. My father accepted the Lord a year later, and my mother also became a Christian the year after my father. Praise the Lord.

From Changing Career to Changing Lives
I came to Philadelphia in 1981 and met my wife Kien. We fell in love and got married in 1984. In 1989, my wife and I sensed the Lord's calling to leave the American church in suburban Philadelphia that my wife and I had been attending since 1981 to join a newly planted Chinese church in the Olney area of Philadelphia. Since then, I have been heavily involved in church ministries. I was an Adult Sunday School teacher, worship leader, interpreter, cell group leader, and chair person of deacon board of the church. I also held a full time job as a computer data communications analyst in suburban Philadelphia.

After being a deacon for some years, I began to sense that God might want me to go in full-time ministry, even though I knew how hard it was to be a pastor from working closely with my own pastor. In fact, for the sake of common sense, it was not a wise career move. However, the sense of accomplishment at my current job could no longer satisfy me. It seemed that deep down in my heart, I yearned for something more for my life, things that could make a direct impact on people's lives. The best way for me personally would be working full-time at a church. Despite of the feeling of inadequacy and incompetence in serving the Lord in this capacity, the sense of calling kept coming stronger and stronger. I talked to my wife about the feeling that I had toward full time ministry. We prayed, reasoned, and debated over this issue. Could it be that I just wanted to fulfill my vow that I had pledged when I was young, or was it because of something else? Finally, we came to the conclusion that all we had to do was to trust and obey the Lord and see how He was going to lead us. We prayed that we would be able to discern God's will clearly.　In April of 1994, one of my prayers was that God would lay me off from my current job. Two weeks later, I was notified by the company that I was being laid-off. We took it as a confirmation of God's calling for full time ministry.

Though I was involved in youth group, leading worship, interpreting sermons into different dialects and languages, leading Bible studies, leading cell groups, teaching Adult Sunday School, preaching and counseling. The experiences that I gained from these ministries were mostly learned from or trial and error. However, I did have some informal training at my church, which my pastor conducted. But it was not enough. So I enrolled in a seminary in September the same year. I also took some courses at the Westminster Theological Seminary and the Biblical Theological Seminary.

From East to West
Beginning in September of 1997, I worked as an intern pastor at Chinese Christian and Missionary Church, which is located in northern Virginia. From 1999 on, I became a full-time associate pastor of the same church. After seven years of pastoral ministry, I find it harder and harder to be a pastor without a well rounded, sound, biblical and theological foundation. After much prayer, the Lord opened a door in San Jose, California for me to further my theological education. My wife and I both agreed that this was the Lord’s leading, so in August 2003 we moved from Virginia to California for my education at the Overseas Theological Seminary, to study under the Rev. John Tsang, a legend among Chinese churches. I finished school with a Masters of Divinity degree in June 2006.

From OTS to FAC
During my study at the Overseas Theological Seminary, I had opportunity to preach at the Friendship Agape Church several times. Though FAC was small, I was deeply impressed and touched by the love they had for God and for each other. The FAC co-workers were also very dedicated in serving the Lord. As I was approaching graduation from the seminary, the Lord graciously provided me with several churches to choose from. FAC was looking for a pastor as well. FAC came in the last minute and was the last one that approached us. During that time, I was in the process of being hired by other churches that had already taken interest in me. Nevertheless, my wife and I prayed to see if the Lord would have something for us to do with the Friendship Agape Church. One night, I had a dream that the three members of the steering committee of FAC came to make an offer with a specific figure of the salary in an envelope. Now, I am not a dreamer. I seldom remember my dreams or have any experiences with visions. This time, however, the dream stayed on my mind. I felt kind of strange, but I went through the hiring process with the STC of FAC anyhow. After the STC and the congregation of FAC prayed, they unanimously believed I was the right person God sent to be their pastor. Three people from the STC came to my house and handed me the offer with a call letter. I was stunned that the three faces and the salary they offered matched the figure in my dream. We took it as a confirmation from the Lord to come to serve at FAC. Praise the Lord. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Ever since my family and I joined FAC, we have felt right at home. We were generously embraced by our brothers and sisters here. We’ve been blessed to be able to serve the Lord here at FAC along with so many brothers and sisters who love the Lord and each other dearly. I feel blessed and encouraged whenever I witness the faithfulness of the members of this congregation, and it is a truly Friendship Agape Church of Jesus Christ.

The Lord has been doing marvelous work in and through our church. We are his channel of blessings. I continue to look forward with great expectation to see what the Lord is going to do next among us and through us in the near future. People can hear the Gospel here, obtain the salvation, and be restored spiritually, emotionally and physically. In FAC, there are no strangers, but only new friends. We learn to love God, be Jesus’ friends, and also be good friends to others. We grow in Spirit and in truth together, encourage and help each other, and share God’s love with each other. I am grateful that we can be part of it.



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