Dangerous plane rides. Being chased by a parang-wielding man. Nearly drowning. These are not scenes from the latest James Bond movie, but real-life experiences of one of City Harvest Church’s (CHC) healing evangelists.
Pastor Stephen Goh, 55, has been going on overseas mission trips for over a decade. Initially a pastor of his own church ministry, Pastor Stephen was encouraged by Pastor Kong Hee to join CHC and be a traveling evangelist in 2005. “I struggled initially because I thought, if I’m not a pastor, what can I do?”, recalled Pastor Stephen. The fear proved to be unfounded as he has since gone on to conduct healing services in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and India, where miraculous healings have taken place.
Pastor Stephen recalled a recent trip to Medan, Indonesia where a man who had been paralyzed for 10 years was healed and even threw away his crutches after getting prayed for. In another case, a woman who had breast and womb cancer felt the pain disappear from her body and was healed immediately after prayer. During this mission trip, the number of people who received salvation were “too many to be counted.”
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| PHOTOS: Pastor Stephen’s Team |
However, such trips are often fraught with danger. Last year, Pastor Stephen and his wife experienced a close shave with death when the boat they were in capsized. They spent 45 minutes in the sea without life jackets before they were rescued. During his trips to countries which required him to take domestic flights, some of the planes he traveled on were so ill-maintained, they “almost crashed”.
Despite these near-death experiences as an evangelist, Pastor Stephen claims that he “wouldn’t trade it for the world.” His motivation, he says, is seeing people get saved. “The joy of seeing people set free from bondage and weaknesses is worth the price paid,” he declares. “My motto is winning the lost at any cost — even if it’s going to cost me my life.”
