顏一品牧師

(顏張淑娟師母Kien、 顏一品牧師Onephanh)

  • 來美三十年,先後就讀: Westminster Theological Seminary 及海外神學院。
  • 過去曾於費城協助門諾會開拓教會。
  • 在維吉尼亞州的阿靈頓的中國基督教宣道會事奉六年。
  • 在灣區改革宗教會仁愛堂事奉四年半,富有關懷、牧養的恩賜。

顏一品牧師見證

從生到重生

我是生長在寮國的一個平凡華僑家庭裡,我是長子,下面還有五個弟妹。

在我讀小學三年級的時候,張志江牧師與師母從香港來寮國宣揚耶穌基督的福音,並邀請我們家人參加教會的主日學。

我父親答應讓我們去,他認為宗教都是教導人行善的,至少參加教會或去廟拜拜的孩子不會變壞。所以我跟弟弟妹妹們幾乎每個週末都去教會。

我們在教會學了很多的聖經故事,也認識很多朋友,而且玩得很開心。但是我不相信主耶穌,跟祂也沒有個別的關係,故我也沒有如期的變成更好的孩子像我父親的心願那樣。

還是我行我素,喜歡撒謊、罵人、打架、偷東西的壞孩子我父親對我也沒辦法。

直到在一個炎熱的夏天,有一件事情發生而改變了我的整個生命。

我還記得很清楚,那天是一個非常熱的一天,可能在華氏一百度左右,學校也已經放了暑假。我的朋友邀請我去湄公河游泳,反正沒事做無聊,所以就跟他們一起去了,雖然我不會游泳,我告訴自己只要在岸邊玩就好。到了河邊很興奮,沒想到我一跳下水才發現雙腳竟然踏不到地,當時既緊張又害怕,一直掙扎希望能浮到水面,但好像我愈掙扎就愈往下沉,不管我再怎麼試還是上不到水面來,死亡的恐懼像水那樣淹沒我,我已快沒氣,快要被淹死的時候就想起主日學老師說過,若遇困難就要向主耶穌求救,祂就會幫助你,我馬上在心裡禱告,主啊!求祢救我,我其中的一個朋友終於看到我在水裡掙扎而跳下去把我救到岸上來,他反而希奇我竟然清醒地跟他走到岸邊,也不需要經過人工呼吸。我內心知道這是主耶穌聽了我的禱告,拯救了我免遭河水滅頂淹死。

回到家後,我虔誠的禱告,祈求主耶穌進到我的生命裡,作我的救主和生命的主,我甚至還許願將長大後要作一位宣道者去為主宣揚福音。相信主耶穌基督後,我的生命開始有改變。一年後我的爸爸相信了主耶穌,再過一年連媽媽也跟著相信,真是感謝讚美主。

從生涯規劃到生命規劃

1981年我來到賓州的費城並認識從柬埔寨來的華僑張淑娟,我們雙雙墜入愛河並於1984年結為連理。1989年神呼召我們離開已經聚會了八年的費城郊區美國教會,去參加一家剛開始拓植的華人教會,並開始在那裡參於了許多的服事。我是主日學老師、崇拜司會、帶領敬拜、翻譯、細胞小組長、執事會主席等。同時也在費城郊區上班,作電腦資訊分析。

在教會作了幾年的執事以後,開始覺得神可能要我全時間的事奉祂,即便與我自己的牧師同工那麼多年,知道作牧師是一件很不容易的事,且在人來看這並不是很好的職業選擇。但我在工作上的成就感不再能滿足我的心,在我內心深處總希望做一些能夠直接影響人生命的事情。對我來說最好就是能夠在教會全時間的事奉主。儘管我覺得自己不太適合作傳道人也沒有太大的恩賜,但呼召的感動卻越來越強,我也把這個感動跟太太分享,我們一起不斷地為這件事情來禱告、分析、討論;會不會是我為了要還願,就是小時後許過的願?還是因為其他的原故?最後我們決定安心信靠順服主的引導,看神怎樣帶領我們。相信祂一定會有辦法讓我們清楚明白祂的旨意。我們其中的一個禱告就是被我的公司解聘,1994年四月,就是我們禱告兩個禮拜後,就接到公司裁員的通知,我們認為這是神呼召我們全時間事奉祂的印證,儘管在教會有許多的事奉經驗,帶年輕人、查經、小組、翻譯、領會、講道、輔導,這些經驗很多是從錯誤中學到,雖然也接受過牧師的栽培訓練,還是不夠的。所以同年九月就報名讀神學,也相繼在西敏寺與聖經神學院進修。

從東岸到西岸

1997年九月我開始在北維州的中國基督徒宣道會做實習牧師並於1999年升為教會副牧師。經過六年的教會事奉,我們發現因為沒有完整的神學訓練與裝備,事奉越來越困難。經過多次的禱告,主在加州聖河西開了一個門使我有機會繼續在神學院深造,我的太太和我都覺得是神的帶領,故在2003八月我們舉家從東岸搬到加州來,在海外神學院接受神學裝備與訓練,並有幸受教於華人教會的傳奇人物曾霖芳牧師。三年後,在2006年六月神學院畢業獲道學碩士學位。

從神學院到仁愛堂到漠甘山

我在海外神學院受訓期間有機會在仁愛堂傳講過幾次道,雖然仁愛堂不太大,給我印象最深刻的是弟兄姐妹對神的愛和彼此相愛的心,使我非常的感動,而且同工們更是同心、熱心與忠心的事奉主。我們在神學院畢業時,神恩待我們到仁愛堂事奉。

在仁愛堂服事了四年半後,本可繼續舒服牧會至退休,上帝神卻另有安排,感動我們離開熟悉的安樂窩,與郭明昌牧師與師母一起到漠甘山(Morgan Hill)植堂開拓華人教會。

灣區約有二百廿間華人教會,Morgan Hill與Gilroy 卻一間都沒有,而從南聖荷西或Gilroy只須十五分鐘車程就可到達漠甘山(Morgan Hill),很方便地讓南聖荷西、Gilroy與漠甘山的華人認識並敬拜主。感謝神!藉由灣區眾基督之家長老和同工們的禱告與支持,使我們得以拓植基督之家第七家,成為我們極大的祝福!讚美主!祂是從無變有的神,是在沙漠開江河的神。我們很興奮地期待神自己繼續在漠甘山行奇事,歡迎你一起來見證並參與漠甘山第一間華人教會的建立,興旺主的福音,擴展神的國度,榮耀祂的名。

Testimony of Rev. 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’s 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, yelled, 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 to 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 Lord. 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, who is Cambodian Chinese. 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 actively involved in church ministries. I was an Adult Sunday School teacher, worship leader, interpreter, cell group leader, and chair person of the 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, using 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,something that would make a direct impact on people’s lives. The best way for me, personally, would be working full-time at a church. Despite the feeling of inadequacy and incompetency 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 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 and also took some courses at the Westminster 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 that church. After seven years of pastoral ministry, I found 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 to Morgan Hill

During my study at the Overseas Theological Seminary, I had opportunity to preach at Friendship Agape Church several times. Though FAC was small, I was deeply impressed and touched by the love the members 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 to serve at FAC. Praise the Lord.

After serving FAC for four and a half years, we could have stayed comfortably to pastor the church until retirement. However, the Lord has other plans for us. He called us to leave our comfort zones to plant a Chinese church in Morgan Hill alongside with the Rev. and Mrs. David Kuo. There are about two hundred and twenty Chinese churches in the Bay Area, but none in Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Morgan Hill is only a fifteen minute drive both from south San Jose and Gilroy. With the prayer and support from the many Home of Christ Churches in the Bay Area, we are starting up a brand new Home of Christ Church in Morgan Hill. Praise the Lord. He is known to make ways in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, and something out of nothing. We are excited to see how the Lord will continue working miracles to establish this first Chinese church in Morgan Hill. You are welcome to witness and be a part of this exciting journey. May the Gospel of Jesus Christ be preached and His kingdom advanced. To God be the glory.