If you have been tuning in regularly to our programme, I am sure you would be familiar with the name Stanley. We have been sharing with you Stanley’s testimonies. Stanley is a devout Christian. He is also someone who has a positive attitude towards his life and work. He excels not only in his work, but outside of work, he participates eagerly in various activities to serve people and the community.

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Stanley: “I feel that Christians should muster their courage and break free of their comfort zone so that God can use them to serve others.”

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In 2001, someone told him of a Camp America summer programme. Camp America was having an open house so he took his 2 children there to explore if they could join the 11-week summer camp programme. But for various reasons, neither of his 2 children could go. The Camp America staff asked Stanley if he would be willing to serve as a camp counsellor instead. Stanley was hesitant; he could not think how it would work with his existing work commitments. Besides, he didn’t know any of the U.S. Organizations participating in Camp America. To him, he was keen to serve only Christian organizations. Stanley prayed and asked God for a sign: If it was indeed God’s will for him to be at Camp America, a Christian organization would email to him the next day.

The next morning, Stanley received an email from Camp Berachah (CB, a participating camp programme of Camp America) asking him to consider becoming a camp counsellor for an 11-week summer camp programme! The email also offered a telephone interview by its Camp Director. During the discussion, Stanley learnt that Camp Berachah was a Christian organization. The name “Berachah” comes from the Bible and it means “valley of blessings” or “a place full of blessings”. The two men had a good talk and Stanley was selected. In June 2011, Stanley flew from Singapore to Seattle. Before his flight, he remembered vividly humming a familiar tune but he just could not remember its name.

Upon reaching Camp Berachah, Stanley was shown to his room. It was Room 108. Exhausted from the long flight, he fell into a deep sleep. In a dawn vision at 5 am, God spoke to Stanley to read Psalm 108 since he was in Room 108. He woke up to read Psalm 108 and realized the song he had been humming before his flight was based on Psalm 108, Verse 5: “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let Your glory be over all the earth.”

At the Camp, all the Camp counsellors were to have nicknames. Stanley chose 108 for his nickname because God spoke to him through Psalm 108 in Room 108. Everybody asked Stanley to give himself a name rather than a number. “Number 108” seemed to identify a prisoner number rather than a camp counsellor! But Stanley was adamant. “108” which would in fact trigger stirring discussions among the campers and their families touched by the divine story.

Every week, each counsellor was introduced to different batches of children. Each batch consisted of ten to fifteen boys and girls. Parents would bring their children to the Camp each morning and pick them up each evening. The female counsellors looked after the girls while the male counsellors looked after the boys. Each morning, when Stanley received the name list, he would do the “Joshua-walk” around those boys seven times claiming Jesus’ salvation to be upon them. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 30 says: “By faith, the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.” Stanley practiced the Joshua prayer-walk by faith that these boys whose names were given to him, would be led into the Kingdom of God. God answered his prayers - 33 out of 88 boys received Christ. Stanley was later told that all the boys who were channeled to him came from difficult homes and backgrounds. Children’s ministry is not one of Stanley’s strengths and he struggled at the start to break through to some of the boys.

Each day, God impressed upon Stanley to bring along song sheets. At first, Stanley felt silly - these boys would surely laugh at the suggestion of singing! During the camp sessions, some of the boys with attention deficiency waved sticks and yelled at the other boys and got into physical fights with one another. They were totally out of control. Faced with these children, Stanley almost lost his cool! But a small voice at the back of his head reminded him: “Where are the song sheets I told you to put in your bag today?” Stanley struggled with this but would finally obeyed. Each time, he would reluctantly take out his song sheets and begin to sing. And amazingly, each time the defiant boy would stop his shouting and violent actions, turn around to sit beside Stanley and ask to learn the simple Christian song! Learning and singing together created bonds between Stanley and the boys. The lyrics of the songs were meaningful and Stanley had opportunity to share the love of Christ through simple stories such as Noah’s Ark with the animals, David & Goliath, Jonah & the big whale.  Parents would comment: “I do not know what 108 has been doing with my son, but my son’s attitude and behaviour seems to have changed for the better. I have never seen this change during previous camps. This has changed our family life and our attitude towards God as well.” One parent told Stanley: “God sent you, 108, all the way from Asia to Camp Berachah not only to change my son’s life, but also my family. We thank God and we thank you.” Stanley was deeply humbled when he heard this and that God would choose him to lead the boys to Jesus. And the impossible was done not through Stanley’s strengths, but through his weakness. Stanley simply obeyed God when God directed him in singing His songs.

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Stanley: “During this process of leading the 33 American boys, God not only make use of my strengths, he used my weaknesses as well. I only need to obey and follow God’s guidance, and God’s love, blessings and healings would flow onto these lads and families.”

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During the eleven weeks of ministry in Camp Berachah, for each Sunday’s church service, Stanley intentionally chose to attend a different church to learn about their way of worship and teaching. In the last week, he went to a Messianic church where he heard a message about Noah’s Ark with a 100:1 scale model. It was at this service that Stanley heard God’s voice speaking to him: “To be My messenger to build a full-size Noah’s Ark in China in 2008.”

Upon his return from America to Singapore, Stanley shared this Noah’s Ark vision with his family and a few friends. He prayed continuously about this 2001 vision, but nothing happened for almost five years. In 2005, he spent 2 weeks visiting the biblical historical sites in Israel and Egypt. It was during this trip that God again reminded him of his Noah’s Ark vision when he was alone at the Burning Bush, where God reiterated the same audio message as in 2001 at the Messianic church in Seattle.

Stanley decided to set off to China. But China is so vast! And Stanley had no clue. Where should he go? Who should he see? How was he to begin? God sent a brother in Christ, Steven, to join him in this China trip. Together, they went to Beijing and a few counties, met many governors and government officials to tell them about the Noah’s Ark vision. China had won the award to host the 2008 Olympics and the officials were keen to explore options for developing big and new iconic projects. So, they were open to hearing Stanley’s proposals to build a full-size Noah’s Ark replica. At the end of each meeting, Stanley would ask the Lord: “Lord, is it here?” Each time, God told Stanley: “No, move on.” He continued searching for the place which God had chosen. His last stop was Hong Kong. Here, through sister-in-Christ Sally’s introduction, Stanley divinely linked with a well-known Hong Kong property company, where it turned out that one of the owner’s Christian siblings had also separately seen the same vision of building such a project. The vision of building and developing Noah Ark’s project by this Hong Kong property company reflects God's people who are blessed to build the full-sized Ark. It is so wonderful to see our brethren in Christ being blessed as they built it.

In December 2008, The Noah’s Ark project was completed by the Hong Kong property company despite many challenges. The core message that Stanley learnt in the Noah Ark’s vision is that the door of salvation is still open to ALL, just as in the days of Noah. Before Jesus’s second coming again, Christians are to continue to preach the gospel fervently to as many pre-believers as possible and to lead them to salvation.