The Net

The internet is amazing. Very amazing.

I used to be, and still is a great fan of Uncle Tong. You can access his link from the right column of this blog. His name is Stephen Tong, or Tang Zhong Rong. He was my favourite preacher during my uni days.

Pastor Stephen Tong is recognised as one of the most influential Mandarin-speaking preacher and theologian of this era. He is an Indonesian Chinese, who founded a seminary in the USA. In his sixties now, this old man still packs so much stamina that puts young men to shame. His schedule is like...

... starts on Sunday with two preaching sessions in Jakarta in the morning, then he would take a flight to Singapore to preach in the Indonesian church in the afternoon, followed by the expository preaching on Hebrews in the evening. On Monday, he would be at Taipei for the expository preaching on Hebrews. On Tuesday, he would be in Hong Kong for the same. On Wednesday, he travels to Kuala Lumpur (West Malaysia) for the expository preaching in the book of Romans. On Thursay, he would return to Jakarta to teach at the seminary, before starting the entire cycle again. This cycle is only broken by gospel rallies held all over the world, from New Zealand to Europe and the United States.

I loved his seminars. I don't mean attending them personally. I had a Sony walkman to listen to his cassettes (CDs were a luxury those days) during the lonely nights in campus hostel, or the long train journeys back home. In case anybody thinks that theologians are boring and dull people out of touch of the real world, listen to Uncle Tong and you'll know that you're dead wrong. This theologian has a diverse interest in history, philosophy, architecture, engineering, science, music (he conducts orchestras), art, current affairs... So you can imagine, his seminars are far from boring. And if one thinks that theologians only attracts older men and women who have lots of time and nothing better to do, you're wrong agian. Intelectuals, professionals and university students pack Uncle Tong's seminar halls.

Me and my friend Edwin were in the organising committee of a Stephen Tong evangelistic seminar in our uni days. Guess what, the organisers did not need to raise funds to organise the seminar. Uncle Tong and his team paid for the whole thing. It was held in a church, quite a big one. And it was so packed that many had to stand outside the doors! And those were city dwellers and university students that we're talking about.

I thought I would not be able to lay my hands on Stephen Tong's cassettes anymore, now that I am in the 'interior', far away from 'civilisation'.

I told you earlier, the internet is amazing. I do not need cassettes anymore. Yesterday I found a website that has a collection of Uncle Tong's seminars, online, and FREE. Not just a couple of seminars, but a whopping 329 of them! They're HERE if you are interested.

Should've installed streamyx.