Tommy Wong

Follower Of Jesus * Husband * Father * Pastor

I am a pastor at Oakridge Baptist Church in Vancouver, Canada. I have been in pastoral ministry since 2014. In 2013, I received my Bachelor of Arts at Simon Fraser University. In 2018, I completed my Master of Divinity at Northwest Baptist Seminary.

Fun Facts: I enjoy reading books (especially the Bible), spending time with my family, watching movies, eating sushi, and playing video games.

It Is All About Providence

When good or bad things happen in life, people generally talk about luck.

Good luck or bad luck.

Others would use this cliche, “Everything happens for a reason.”

As a pastor, I see all of life as providence.

For example, here is my testimony.

All Was Normal To Me

Let’s begin with my childhood. I do not remember too much about my baby and toddler years.

I may have a vague image of myself crying hysterically as a child because my parents did not allow me to go on a ride at the amusement park.

But I do know that I was born on October 6th, 1989 in Hong Kong.

I am the 4th son in a family of 7. Surprisingly, my parents had five sons. I’m not sure why I never had sisters. But I believe it was all about providence.

Being the 4th son means that I get picked on by my older brothers while also picking on my little brother.

My parents did their best to raise us and find opportunities for us to have a better life.

Which is why we moved to Vancouver, Canada when I was about 5-6 years old.

But my family had a relatively successful business in Hong Kong. So, my dad and some of my family members were in Hong Kong while some of us were in Vancouver. Eventually, all my older brothers went back to Hong Kong to help my dad in the business while I stayed in Vancouver with my mom and little brother.

During that time, I was too young to know about this, but we were relatively wealthy. We lived in the place which is now considered the richest neighbourhood in Vancouver. I thought it was all normal to me.

But…

Struggling And Broken

I had problems when I was growing up. First, it was school. Second, it was family.

Apparently, I was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when I was a child. Honestly, I thought I struggled with ADHD and learning disabilities. So, I was put through special programs from elementary school to high school. The good news is that I no longer have those issues. A psychiatrist rediagnosed me and determined that I’m normal. I got my B.A from university and M.Div (Master of Divinity) from seminary (more on that later). I believe it was all about providence

My family was broken when I became a teenager. My dad’s business did not work out. My parents’ split. I was raised by a single mom. It was disastrous. Thankfully, I had a church family despite all of that. But I believe it was all about providence.

Preserved, Pursued and Called By God

I went to church when I became a teenager. I learned about God, the Bible, and faith, but I never truly understood them. I wouldn’t have called myself a born-again Christian.

At the end of high school, after experiencing a depressed state, God was pursuing me and effectually calling me to Himself through other Christians at church. One particular man shared the gospel with me, and I became a follower of Jesus.

I got baptized on March 23rd, 2008.

Ever since then, I had an unquenchable hunger and thirst to know God by reading the Bible. I believe it was all about providence

Figuring Out What I Wanted To Do

Fast forward to university, I was taking many courses and changed degrees a couple of time. I thought I discovered my passion in the media arts department. Video editing and 3D animation captured my attention and I generally did well in those classes.

In 2010, I felt God was calling me to be a pastor. No, an angel did not show up to give me that message. No, I did not hear an audible voice from God. I was inflamed (for a bit) to be a pastor as I read the Bible.

However, I shrugged that feeling off for 2 years, but that calling never disappeared. I consulted with my pastor and talked to some friends about it.

After university, it became very clear to me that God was calling me to be a pastor, so I went to seminary for four years and got my Master of Divinity.

I am now currently pastoring a church at the heart of Vancouver. It is all about providence.

Why Am I Blogging?

I started blogging a long time ago. It began as a diary where I was sharing my thoughts and feelings in high school.

After becoming a Christian, my blog became a place where I shared my thoughts and exposition about the Bible and related topics. But, I struggled to be consistent. Life got busier, so I stopped blogging for several years.

During the pandemic, I was seeking opportunities (e.g. streaming on Twitch) to earn some side revenues for my family on top of being a full-time pastor. Living in this expensive city and with the rise of inflation in our economy did not help my family. Nonetheless, I am reminded of providence.

I am where I am because of God’s mysterious providence over my life. I am eternally grateful to Him for His grace and provision for me.

By the grace of God, my long-term goal for this website is to:

Pay for my children’s education and extracurricular activities
Provide financially so that my wife can choose to remain a homemaker
Build a passive income while pastoring full-time
Retire my mother
Produce generational wealth
Support churches, ministries and missionaries financially
Write a commentary of each book of the Bible on my website.

To God be the glory.

THANK YOU

I want to thank you very much for taking the time to read my testimony of God’s providence. No matter where you are in life and what you are going through, I hope my story has inspired you to believe in providence.

What Do I Believe?

Whatever I believe must be solely grounded in the teachings of Scripture. Although I recognize that my interpretation of Scripture is fallible, there are enough clear teachings in the Bible that convinced me of my beliefs (this list is not exhaustive).

I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour.
I believe in the Trinity – One God in three Persons: Father, Son, and Spirit.
I believe in the authority, inspiration, inerrancy, infallibility, sufficiency, clarity, necessity and unity of Scripture (the collection of 66 books from Genesis to Revelation).
I believe in the literal (or normal), historical and grammatical method of hermeneutics (2 Timothy 2:15) – carefully and faithfully ascertain the authors’ original intent and meaning of their writings.
I believe in biblical creationism – the universe was created by God in six normal days according to Genesis 1-2, and He rested on the 7th day. Adam and Eve were real, historical figures as portrayed in the creation account.
I believe God created male and female with equal values and distinct complementary roles in the church and at home – A.ka. complementarianism. The office of the pastor/elder is limited to men as described in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.
I believe that the church is the community of baptized believers that is called out by God out of darkness and into the light to serve and worship Him. God uses the local church as the instrument and means by which the gospel is proclaimed for the advancement of the Great Commission.
I believe in the five solas (Latin: alone) of the Protestant Reformation – Scripture alone, Grace alone, Faith alone, Christ alone, and to the glory of God alone.
I believe in the doctrines of grace – a replacement term for Calvinism; sure, I am reformed.
I believe in the gospel – the good news of Jesus Christ that has the power to save.
I believe in credobaptism – believers’ baptism and dunking believers by immersion.
I believe that the revelatory gifts, such as speaking in tongues, healing and prophecy, were given during the apostolic age to affirm and authenticate the authority and message of the apostles (Hebrews 2:3-4). As the New Testament chronology progresses to the death of the last Apostle, these gifts seem to have slowly ceased. Since the Apostles laid down the foundation for the church, there is therefore no need for the revelatory gifts (Ephesians 2:20). This position is known as cessationism.
I believe in premillennialism – Christ will physically return the second time and inaugurate the 1000-year millennial kingdom.
I believe in biblical marriage. God instituted marriage to be between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24-25)

Philosophy Of Ministry

A biblical approach to ministry is the way to sustain and grow a healthy and pure church. The Lord has left His people His unchanging Word to direct and teach them the function of the church. I seek to do pastoral ministry that is informed by the authority, inerrancy and sufficiency of God’s Word.

More About EpiTimmy

EpiTimmy is my gamertag and username on various platform, such as Twitch, steam, Epic Games and etc.

EpiTimmy has been pronounced differently by various people, but it is supposed to be pronounced as epitome (uh·pi·tuh·mee).

Why Timmy? Whenever I meet new people, I will introduce myself with my real name, and when I meet them again, I would trick and confuse them by calling myself Timmy. In addition, some may have thought that it was a typo since “i” and “o” are next to each other on the keyboard, but it is intentional. Timmy is extremely close to my real name. Plus, personally, EpiTimmy looks visually more appealing than EpiTommy.