For Flora, Stephen, Lois, Daniel, and Philip:

The first time that I met Pastor Gary Wong was during my junior year at Cal Berkeley.  How I ended up at Pastor Gary’s church was a highly unlikely story.  Though I was raised in a non-Christian family, I did attend church from the age of six to thirteen where I learned everything about Jesus and salvation.  However, I was one of those who dropped out of church at a time when all of my peers were doing the same.  But the merciful God saved me after my first Friday night Bible study at CIBC Oakland.  To be saved after going my own way the previous seven years was miracle of God.  To start living like a Christian and returning to church was even more unlikely for me.

This is where Pastor Gary came into my life.  He always made himself available to all the young people at church, especially to an outsider like me who only came on Friday nights.  Somehow I started to approach him whenever a question about God or faith popped into my heart or mind.  I don’t remember exactly all the questions I threw at him, but I’m sure most people would be put off by my slightly irreverent or contrary-sounding questions.  But Pastor Gary handled all my questions without judging me for sounding so “unchurched”, which I was.   His acceptance of me had a huge impact on the way that I looked at the church.  You could speak straight to Pastor Gary and he would speak straight to you.  The way that Pastor Gary ministered to me was greatly used by God to spiritually form me.  After what I’ve shared so far, you would think that I had spent lots of time with Pastor Gary.  Well, the truth is, I hardly spent any significant “quantity” of time with him before I graduated from Cal and headed down south to USC for grad school.  But what “quality” time he gave me for maybe a total of 10 Friday night contacts over an 18 month period sustained and prepared me until I was ready to start going to church every Sunday in Los Angeles.

Even after more than forty years have passed since that time we had together, my recollection of those brief question-answer times with Pastor Gary is still fresh.  Here are a few other things about him that impacted me:

He was soft-spoken and humble, frequently unable to hold back the tears as he talked about his Lord.

Even though he was born in China, he spoke English without an accent, which was important to me as an ABC at that time (but of course not as important to me now).

He was fully committed, fully invested, fully passionate about anything and everything that had to do with God and with His kingdom.  It is not surprising for me to hear about all the ministry that he did AFTER he retired.

He was about as straight as any pastor or Christian that I have ever encountered.  When you spent time with him, you always knew that you would be getting straight answers about God and from the Bible.  Maybe his being so straight in the way that he served God and talked about God made him appear to some people as being a bit boring or repetitive or old-fashioned.  Now that I have been a pastor for over 27 years, I’ve come to a few conclusions about what’s important in ministry.  One of them is this: To be a good servant of Jesus does not require style, eloquence, or sophistication, for these are mostly external things. The best servants of God are those who are bland in self but dynamic in Christlikeness.  Pastor Gary was the type of pastor that God is most pleased with because he was one of the straightest arrows in His divine quiver of servants: The straightest arrow is the one that always flies the straightest to the target.  Through his life, Pastor Gary repeatedly hit bulls-eye on God’s target.

I am blessed to have been personally touched so deeply by Pastor Gary’s life and ministry.  Thank you, Flora, Stephen, Lois, Daniel, and Philip for giving your husband and dad to me and to all the others to the glory of God.

Wes Ong, Laguna Chinese Baptist Church

As I've told the family repeated times, what a blessing to have married into this loving Wong family, and an honor to call Pastor Gary Wong my father in law when I married his son, Daniel in 2001.  I was never privileged enough to hear Dad preach, but I was deeply inspired by his humility, gentleness, and conviction which left an indelible imprint on my life.

I will always remember how his prayers before family meals felt so special.  He really paused before the meal to exalt the name of God and express his love and admiration.  I liked to listen to them because they revealed his heart to worship.  As he spent years, even decades praying at the bedsides of countless sick and convalescent during his ministry, I felt honored to pray for him in the ICU last month.  We prayed earnestly that Dad would recover enough to be discharged home.  He wasn't ever discharged home, but we know God had better plans for him. 

Spending a few days with him in the ICU, within the last 2 weeks of his life, was an opportunity I will always treasure deeply.  I was unsure whether he'd want me there because he was sick, plus a fairly private person, but I wanted to help in any way I could, since I am a nurse by profession.  Adjusting his oxygen tubing, repositioning him in bed, communicating with nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists-- any little thing I could do, I was happy to do.  Though he didn't speak much, he did speak up in response to one of the ICU RNs, who mentioned that he explored religion and Christianity in his college years.  Dad gently prompted, smiling kindly, "You should get back to your Bible from time to time."  Dad and Mom also witnessed to the hospital chaplain, whom they ascertained was nonChristian.  Yes, the chaplain now has a coin from Mom imprinted with John 3:16!  What a great team, that Mom and Dad!  One early morning, before any family arrived, one of the ICU nurses reported that Dad was loudly preaching a sermon while still asleep, gesturing emphatically!  Yes, he still had it in him! 

While our family tearfully laid him in the grave, I mourned the loss of a life that shone brightly and spoke boldly for Christ.  While it may seem illogical, I felt compelled to live with twice as much passion for God to try and compensate for the loss of his godly influence in this world.  Each day, as I think of him, I'm challenged to speak with more courage for the Lord to the lost, taking greater advantage of the opportunities God gives me.    Praise God for the love and godly legacy that Dad left to us.  I'm certain his heavenly homecoming was glorious, indeed! 

I just wanted to share a little bit more about Pastor Gary and Mrs. Wong's love for my parents.  They knew that my Dad and Mom were pretty stubborn in accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior.  One day in 1983, my Dad was very sick in the hospital with a pretty good size of thoracic aortic aneurysm.  He had a time bomb inside  his chest.  We were all praying that he and Mom would  open their hearts for God's salvation.  That day, as Pastor Gary and Mrs. Wong shared with me later that they felt led by the Holy Spirit to go to Alta Bates to share the Gospel with my parents.  They only knew my Dad as "Mr. Lim".  They went and asked for the room number of Mr. Lim.  They also told Security that his daughter was an RN working at the hospital.  There was no information available.  They prayed and asked again.  This time they were told that in that morning, there was a "Mr. Lim" got transferred out to a hospital on "Pill Hill" (in those days, there was Summit, Providence and Peralta hospitals on "Pill Hill").  They were persistent and determined in finding my  Dad.  They continued to pray.  The Holy Spirit led them to Summit Hospital (the first hospital they tried).  They asked at the front desk. They were told that there was a "Mr. Lim" admitted to Summit that morning and were given my Dad's room number.  They went and found both of my parents in the room.  They witnessed to them of the love of Christ and the importance of accepting Christ as their Savior.  God answered our prayers.  Both of my parents accepted Christ on that day.  When I saw my parents later, I saw the smiles on their faces.  My Mom told me that Pastor Gary and Mrs. Wong came by, witnessed to them and that they both accepted Christ.  A few weeks later, the Lord took my Dad home.   Whenever I think of Pastor Gary and Mrs. Wong, my heart is full of joy and thankfulness for their love for God, my family and myself. I will miss Pastor Gary and his smiles!!  May the Lord comfort Mrs. Wong, Steve and all in the family!!  I know that you will miss him
deeply in the days ahead.  He has left you with a legacy and beautiful memories!!