Origins and the Future of SIB

Origins and the Future of SIB

SIB, Pastor Chew/Elder Koon Tat 22/10/11,

Goshen, Elder Koon Tat 21/10/11

In 1977, Pastor Chew and Lee Choo went to Sabah and served there as doctors and in SIB for 14 years, and watched the church of SIB there grow tremendously and saw Pastor Dr Philip Lyn join the team. In 1991, both Pastors took a step of faith to pursue their theological studies in Vancouver, and in 1994, started off SIB KL as a small group of 15. In just 17 years, SIBKL has now grown into a church of 3,000, including children. Still, Pastor Chew highlighted that it is not about the numbers. Small is not strong, big is not strong, strong is strong. It is always about a church being strong in God, whether small or big. In those early years, the first major challenge facing SIB was time. Pastor Chew himself was still working as a gynecologist and Pastor Lee Choo was pediatrician. There was no full time pastor, and the members quickly found themselves working double time, serving God in the ministry as well as in their current jobs. Next, SIB experienced rapid growth when it shifted to Uptown in Damansara Utama from 1994-1997, increasing to 80 in just 6 months with some youth of the best quality, including Pastor Daniel, Pastor Andy and Pastor Linde. SIB were indeed blessed with very passionate and committed youths, from the start. SIB then moved on to CP Tower in 1998 and to her current building in 2006. Two early prophecies given to SIB in her early years was that a youth movement would come out of them, and that SIB would not just be a church, but a movement.

Elder Koon Tat shared how as a young Christian, he was on fire for the Lord, and went to conferences and heard speakers, growing very quickly as a result. While SIB was in uptown, Elder Koon Tat remembered one overnight prayer meeting where he suddenly had a tremendous prompting from God to say these words to the intercessors “this church is not brick and mortars”. What Elder Koon Tat did not realize was that the prophetic words uttered through him was a confirmation of something very important that the Pastor Chew and Pastor Lee Choo had been praying about. Just the next Friday at cell group, Elder Koon Tat found out to his great shock that based on the words he said, the leadership had taken it as confirmation to give away a whole building that someone had given SIBKL. Historically, SIB started as a church without walls, with sermons preached under a tree.

At that time, when the church leadership was looking for a bigger place for the church, they found an ideal location in Section 19, PJ which was just the right size. However, they were disappointed when they found out it was already sold but they continued to pray. And then in one prayer meeting, a man walked in and introduced himself as the buyer. He said he could feel no peace and had to let the church have it. It was a miracle! Still the building cost RM1.3 Million, which was a lot of money, and they had to settle the balance in 3 months. Earlier, someone had offered to help, and when the leadership approached him again, he surprisingly told them that his deal just went through a few days ago, and 10% of the deal was RM1.3 Million. It was a supernatural provision from God. What the leadership did not realize was that this gift of the building would become a critical test for them. Somehow, they began to feel that they should give the church to SIB Bahasa who were sharing the same premises with them at Uptown. It did not seem to make sense, but when Elder Koon Tat inadvertently uttered those words, Pastor Lee Choo took it as confirmation that it was the Lord’s will for them to do that. The Lord was dealing with the generosity of their spirit and their trust in Him.

After that, Elder Koon Tat became very cautious about what he said, and in the next 3 months, whenever Pastor Chew spoke to him, he mainly answered yes or no. When SIB decided to look for a new building, Elder Koon Tat worked extremely hard, perhaps due to a guilty conscience. It so happened that he found out that the top floor of CP Tower was available for rent and he was friends with the owner at that time, a very careful and prudent man. The market rental was about RM450 to RM550 per square feet at that time, which far exceeded what the church could afford. The congregation had grown to about 60 people, and they could only afford RM10,000 per month which was only a fourth of the market rental. Amazingly, the owner agreed to rent to SIB at that amount. Immediately, SIB received pledges to help pay the rental for the next 2 years. Amazingly, CP Tower was also greatly blessed as a result of helping the church. Siemens, who had been on the verge of signing a tenancy with the Luxor building chose CP Tower instead, taking 7 floors. Soon, the whole building was filled up with choice tenants.

Now CP also owned Eastin hotel. At that time, while still waiting for the Certificate of Fitness, Pastor Lee Choo had requested for a space to have a ladies’ conference. As the CF was not even out, SIB was allowed to use it for free. Still, with the conference due on Saturday, the CF was still not out by Wednesday. The church prayed and amazingly, all the approvals came on Thursday evening and the conference went ahead. Eastin Hotel went on to become one of the most profitable hotels in KL, having almost always a full house. Later, CP sold CP Tower but kept Eastin. CP also saw God’s hand by enabling him to purchase a partially constructed Queensbay Mall for only RM60m, and later sold it off for more than a billion. It was a testimony to CP that God blessed him when he blessed the church.

Every step of SIB’s journey, God hand was with her. The leadership always had a policy not to borrow. They trusted in God’s timing and would build brick by brick if they had to. The principle is that if God wants it, He will make the resources available. In good time, everything came. God’s work done God’s way will never lack resources.

After just 5 years in CP Tower, SIB was forced to move to a bigger premise. In one prayer meeting, a man who had never prophesied before began to prophesy. He said that SIB would be like Joshua and Caleb and God would lead SIB to the promised land if we were faithful. Otherwise we would become a monument. We were reminded again that SIB is God’s church. And so building began in Bangunan Yin.

In his time as a developer, Elder Koon Tat had seen approvals take months but for the new SIB building, he saw all the approvals given within a record 7 days. At the dedication of the new building, there was a power failure, and being the project manager, Elder Koon Tat was very concerned. However, the electrical contractors were fortunately there and brought everything back to working order in a short time.

The next day, during his devotion, Elder Koon Tat thanked God for what He had done. He continue to pray and thank God and then a revelation came on Thursday. “Why do you think I gave you this building?” God said. “It’s not how good you are. The raising of the RM21Million was easy, everything went smoothly. I am no man’s debtor.” Elder Koon Tat realized that the building was God’s way of showing us His faithfulness for giving their building to Him those few years ago. God is faithful when we are obedient. As he continued to ponder this, Elder Koon Tat was wondering if he really had received the revelation. Then the Lord led him to consider the day of revelation, the fourth day. On the fourth day, the Lord created the lights in the sky. That how brother Koon Tat knew that it was from the Lord, for on the fourth day, the Lord brought light to him.

God continued to move SIB to a higher purpose, to love the lost and to influence the nation. As the verse says in 1 Corinthians 2:9, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him. All God needs is our faithfulness to follow Him one step at a time.

It is one of the dynamics of church growth that when you reach 70% of your capacity, you should begin to look for a new building, and when you are 80-90% full, you should move out of the building. Hence, the church leadership began to look actively for an additional satellite building. However, every new building was costing RM10-60 million. The leadership thus turned to God to being them to a building they could afford. Of all surprises, during the 2008 recession, a promising building in Sunway Mas became open for sale. Although it was up in the market, no one bid for it, and the asking price was only RM8 million, which was basically the cost of the land and the building. In early 2009, the market crashed, and SIB was able to purchase it for only a remarkable RM3.2 million.  

In 2008, when Pastor Chew and Pastor Lee Choo went up to the mountain to pray, they asked “Why is it, Lord, you have raised SIB to where it is today?” The Lord answered that it was for such a time as this in the history of Malaysia, and God showed Pastor Chew certain things in the nation, that in years to come, God would raise up SIB to help face the challenges of the nation. God needs the church to be strong. The church has influence when it is strong.

For SIB, there are 3 main fronts for which God has opened the door. Firstly, God has opened a door in Sabah and Sarawak. For SIB, ministry in East Malaysia is so distinctive. Take it away and SIB’s history is gone. SIBKL has been raised up to plow back and influence the church there. If they are strong, therein lies the future of Malaysia. Where they are weak, SIBKL will lend them strength. In recent years, SIBKL has worked extensively to train more pastors and evangelists who will go into deep into the rural areas. SIBKL has built a school of evangelism and also physical churches as well as preschools and kindergartens. The training, influence and resources has lifted up the whole mood and spirit of the bumi churches.

The second major front is to impact Malaysia’s generations through Generasi Gemilang. The aim is to impact youth across the nation to become principled, strong leaders fro the nation. GG has extensive programs to build up youth in schools, cyber-wellness and community centres, partnering with various corporate and government bodies. Great emphasis is placed on character building of the young. Young people love God. There are wonderful young people under Pastor Daniel in GG. The church’s role is to lend them our strength, to be the wind underneath their wings.

Thirdly, SIBKL’s efforts will be on the Sunway Mas Community Center. The purpose statement of the SMCC is to be an extension of SIBKL to influence and impact the community. There is 1 church, 2 locations, with the same sermon in both places.

The renovation led by Elder Koon Tat is well on schedule and the first service is expected to kick off there in July 2012. From Day 1, everything has been under-girded in prayer.  Through the many prayer meetings, we received precious Scripture from God. One of them was Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Though men work, the Lord is the one who builds His House. Another important revelation was based on the Lord’s response to David when he voiced his intention to build a temple for the Lord. In 1 Chronicles 22:9 The Lord explained to David that a man of peace and rest would build His temple. The revelation for the church was that the building of SMCC would have to be done with an attitude of peace. Our God is a God of peace and Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Therefore, Elder Koon Tat has been mindful to ensure that the testimony shown to the people there even during the building must always be that we are people of peace as we come into the community. The caveat for the contractors is that nobody argues with the neighbors. If there is any problem, it is to be resolved amicably. The builders have been tested in this. Winds brought scaffolding onto some people’s homes and cars. There were objections from neighbors but Elder Koon Tat went to see them peaceably and they withdrew by God’s grace.

1 Chronicles 22:15 was also especially meaningful: “You have many workers: stonecutters, masons and carpenters, as well as those skilled in every kind of work” meaning that God would provide people with ability to help with all types of work. We were called to begin to work and trust that the Lord would be with us.

Another key verse was John 3:14 which says that the Son of Man is to be lifted up. In all that we do, we must always remember that Jesus must be supreme.

During the 40 days prayer and fasting, the Lord released through Elder Gilbert Joshua 12, signifying that SIB would have victory over 31 kings. Initially, thinking that 31 days signifies every day of the month, we thought that it means victory in God every day. However, as Elder Koon Tat studied the meanings of the names of the kings, the realization came that SIB would have victory over particular spirits and areas. God would give SIB victory over the spirit of terror and domination, over earthly exaggeration and people pleasing, over addiction and laziness, over a spirit that seeks enjoyment and playing, over those who suppress authority in Jesus, over the moon god, over rain, over fear and death, over destruction, over crookedness, over legalities, over alliances, over winds, over division, over those who use astrology, over deception, over those who push people down, over those who rely on their own spirit.

As SIB goes into Sunway Mas, Pastor Chew focuses on three vital ingredients. Firstly, is God’s presence. Before the temple was built, the ark of the tabernacle was brought back first. Unless God goes ahead, we will not go. The presence of God must be ushered into Sunway Mas. That is why different cell groups have been going into the area to pray every weekend.Secondly, our posture must be correct. There will be unequal giving but equal sacrifice. Everyone is to give willingly from his own heart, according to his own ability. Finally, God’s people must be willing, to really believe in the vision. Don’t be a spectator, be a participator.