When I was 18 I walked the streets of China and saw something I will never forget. I saw streets filled with disabled children begging for money. Some of them had no legs, others had cleft lips, and many were mentally or physically impaired. That image of children suffering has been stuck in my mind till this day. As a Chinese American who had grown up in middle class suburbia for most of my life, I was totally shocked to see what I saw when I walked the streets of my homeland, China. Yet, this shocking reality of deep poverty is a reality that billions of people must face on a daily basis.
More than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. In total, 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than two dollars per day. Every year 11 million children die-most under the age of
Almost everyone is joining the twitter revolution. If you are in Hong Kong/ASIA reading this article you may be wondering what this twitter business is all about? In the US and other parts of the world everyone now a days seems to be “tweeting” including myself. Twitter is basically a social networking platform that asks you one question, “What are you doing?” and you must answer it in less than 140 words. You then “tweet” what you are doing and everyone online that is following what you are doing… will now know what you are doing, what you are thinking about, what you may be feeling or who you may be talking to at the moment through twitter. It’s fun. It’s genius. It’s a new way of communication!
I started using twitter one year ago when it was introduced to me by my long time mentor MC Hammer. Many people don’t know that MC Hammer is
A little over 1 year ago, God led me to a very special young man & brother named “Van Ness Wu.” Some of you may know Van Ness through the popular Taiwan pop band “F4” he has been a popular singer, dancer, actor, but most of all servant of God.
When I first met Van Ness, he was quite lost spiritually, but through prayer and seeking God he made a dramatic turn for the better. He decided one day to personally commit his life fully to Jesus as his Lord and Savior. I baptized him in my backyard swimming pool in Los Angeles. That day I shared with him being baptized does not mean you will now have to be perfectly holy, but it means to trust that God alone can make him holy in His grace. That day he took the step of faith and has never been the same since!
Recently, Van Ness and I did a concert and major outreach to youth in Indonesia together. Thousands of youth from Indonesia came to hear him perform his songs, but Van Ness didn’t just give them a performance he gave them a message.
ON THE MOVE
EAST WEEK #23 ~ WE NEED RIGHTEOUS ROLE MODELS NOT CELEBRITIES
In the past year I have had the opportunity to work with many celebrities and artists in the entertainment field counseling, advising and being a pastor to them spiritually. I began to ask the Lord why He had opened this unique door of mentoring artists & entertainers to me, specifically I heard God say, “I am raising up righteous role models to positively influence the next generation for My purposes.”
Why is it important to see artists/celebrities as key influencers in this generation? Because we live in a post-modern culture today that sees leadership and authority very different than the generations before it. Before postmodernism there was modernism and pre-modernism (Christendom). Let me explain each from a Western context to make a point…
Christendom
The understanding of church that developed after Emperor Constantine made Christianity an official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century so that the church became a pillar of society and Christianity the dominant religion.
Modernity
The historical period that emerged in the West around the turn of the 16th century
EAST WEEK #22 ~ “JUDGE NOT OR YOU WILL BE JUDGED”
(I wrote this East Week article a few months back … in light of Tiger Woods, we need to pray for those who are exposed in sin and darkness, love them and not judge them. We all can stumble, but it’s God’s grace that brings us back to life. Pray for those who fall to find grace and truth in Jesus Christ!)
Recently in Hong Kong many celebrities have had to come clean with their mistakes and sins. I simply want to write this to ask everyone to continue to pray for many of the celebrities/artists who have had to face public disgrace and scrutiny. Pray that each of them can find grace, healing and restoration in their lives from devastation and humiliation. Some of these artists/public figures have professed faith in God and making an honest effort to turn a new leaf. Please remember, no one on this earth is perfect, only God is. Our faith is not in our own righteousness, but in the righteousness of Christ. The Bible says, “judge not or you will be judged.” Jesus did not come to save the righteous, but He came to seek and save the lost, the least and the last. He came to save every one of us from our sins and mistakes.
THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN MONTHS AGO DURING MY TRIP TO SOUTH KOREA, RIGHT AFTER THE EX-PRESIDENT HAD COMMITTED SUICIDE…
Suicide is a big problem in this generation. The problem of suicide is a worldwide issue, but especially in the Asian regions suicide always ranks as one of the top 2 forms of death amongst Asian’s young and old. In Japan the problem of suicide has become an epidemic where youth will form “suicide clubs” on the Internet and commit suicide together as a sport or activity. In South Korea, celebrities have been committing suicide more and more, and even more recently the former president of South Korea jumped to his death from a mountainside. In Hong Kong there have been prominent celebrities who have committed suicide because of bouts with depression, while students leap to their death because of the pressures they face. I have begun to ask why suicides seems to be happening almost all the time specifically among celebrities and young people? Is there a way we can prevent more celebrity and youth suicides from happening?
ONE DOOR CLOSES ANOTHER CAN OPEN
East Week #20 ~ “WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES IN LIFE, ANOTHER DOOR WILL OPEN”
Helen Keller the famous American writer once said, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”
This quote could not be more true in my life, and I’m sure many others. As I’ve had time to reflect upon my life these past days, I’m happy to see where I’ve been, yet I am more happy to see where I am going. In the past, I used to always focus on what didn’t happen in my life, what should have been, or what could have been, thus leaving me discouraged. A lot of us, like me before, put so much of our focus everyday on pass failures. It could be failures in our relationships, our decisions, our career choices, or mistakes we have made which are we are not able to fix. Even though we know that we can’t change the past, we still dwell on it, letting it plague us like a virus that never leaves our mind and emotions. But, if we always focus on the past doors that have closed, we will become blind to the open doors and opportunities that may come our way.
EAST WEEK MAGAZINE COVERAGE ON ADDICTION TO PASSION
This past Saturday the glory of God came down at the Noah’s Ark as thousands of youth gathered from all over the city of Hong Kong to experience God’s presence and power. The night was electric, as we held a pop concert with my good friend MC Jin, Van Ness Wu, Sherman Chung, Sean from “JinuSean” and a powerful personal testimony from a young man who was delivered from a life of addiction to drugs. I came on at the end and performed LOVE and preached on being set free from addictions through the power of Jesus Christ! You could feel God’s presence so thick in the place. Every performance was dope, every artists that shared their faith from their heart was real and in the end thousands stood up to receive deliverance and salvation. I was so blessed because hundreds of youth were bused in from the poorest areas in the city who have been struggling with different kinds of addictions. So many received hope, healing and freedom through the power of the Cross and I know this is just the beginning of a love revolution that will sweep across the youth of Hong Kong and all of Asia. I’m looking forward to the next one!
ADDICTION TO PASSION HK
Noah's Ark Exact Size Replica in Hong Kong
For everyone in Hong Kong, make sure you come to our concert & outreach “ADDICTION TO PASSION” on Oct 31st, 2009 at 7PM at the Noah’s Ark on Ma Wan Island. We are expecting nearly 3,000 to come to a sold out show with my friends MC Jin, Van Ness Wu, Sean from “JinuSean” Korea, Sherman Chung, & my boy Siwon Choi from “Super Junior” and myself throwing it down on Halloween for God’s glory…
Recently, in the last years there has been major problems with drug addictions, alcohol, violence and sexual immorality to the point city officials don’t know what to do in Hong Kong. We are holding this event to proclaim a message of freedom in Jesus Christ to set the many youth in Hong Kong free from these destructive addictions. My “Soldiers of Light” Jin, Van Ness, Sean, Sherman, Siwon and others will be not only performing, but sharing personal testimonies of how God has changed their lives for the better. I KNOW this is going to be more than an event, or concert, it’s going to be a straight on ENCOUNTER WITH GOD and HIS ANGELS setting every young person in that place free from darkness by the power of His LIGHT!!!
EAST WEEK #19 ~ “I LOVE MOM”
Some weeks ago, it was mother’s day and I had the chance to go back home and visit my beloved mom. I can never thank God enough for giving me the best mom in the world! Of course, everyone has the right to call their mom, the best mom on the planet, because all mothers deserve to have that title with all that they do for us.
Where would each of us be without our mom? The world would be lost without mothers who take care of us, love us and make us who we are. I think many times, we don’t appreciate our mother’s for all that they are and do for us. For me, I feel so ashamed thinking back to when I was a teenager and how I rebelled against my mother. I used to make my mother cry almost every day because of my bad behavior. She gave me advice, but I didn’t listen. She served me sacrificially, but I didn’t appreciate it. She prayed for me daily, but I only ignored her more. It was my pride that didn’t allow me to listen and learn from her.
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