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我是1951年出生於臺灣高雄。父母是公務員﹐家道小康溫暖。父母都受過教會中學教育﹐卻禮佛﹐家裏一點基督教的背景都沒有﹔而且家父算是反基督教的。童年生活平凡﹐沒有留下多少印像﹐卻記得逃過三劫﹐那是神恩覆庇我﹕六歲時﹐做警察的家父緊急出勤試鎗時﹐不慎子彈射出。幸好他在扣動第二道板機時﹐教官的話突然強而有力響起在心﹕除非對付敵人﹐鎗口永遠朝天。他就馬上將鎗口朝上﹐否則子彈正好射中我的頭部了。八歲時患急性腦膜炎﹐抗生素都用了﹐枉效﹐只賸下過敏的盤尼西林沒用。這時我已高燒到抽筋了﹐父親當機立斷﹐要醫生用盤尼西林﹗他寧可要健全的小孩﹐冒險在所不惜。沒想到一針病除﹗13歲時﹐那時家住在基隆河邊﹐夏天我和玩伴一同戲水﹐突然之間發現踩不到底了﹐十分恐慌。一面嗆水﹑一面呼天﹐突然間又踩到底了﹐趕快逃回岸邊。我深信這些都是神在默默地保守我。

在我懵懂童年﹐神就把敬畏祂的心放在我的裏面﹐雖然不認識祂﹐卻有一顆尋求造物主的心。父母常到廟裏上香﹐但我總覺得造物主必在燦爛的星空之上。家父有時帶我讀些論語﹑孟子﹔這些敬畏天的哲學思想－敬鬼神而遠之﹐可謂知矣。…獲罪於天﹐無所禱也。…子疾病﹐子路請禱…丘之禱久矣。天何言哉﹐萬物生焉﹐百物行焉﹐天何言哉﹗－預備我歸向真神的心境。1969~70年在我重攷大學期間﹐常常翻讀荒漠甘泉﹐首次認識了聖經上的神﹐也學會了禱告。重攷患得患失﹐我常常祈求神的幫助﹐發榜出來的成績比我自估的多了約50分﹗那年的數學奇難﹐攷到最後五分鐘還有四題選擇題沒做﹐其實是不會﹐所以我就猜了﹐居然給我猜中一半﹐得了12.5分。攷進了第一志願﹐其實這是神在預備我的心。

大學新生註冊那天﹐有位學長邀我參加基督徒團契﹐欠神一筆「神」情的我就參加了。開學後﹐學長欒大端弟兄鍥而不捨地來請我聚會查經﹐我只去了兩﹑三次﹐可是他的關心使我感受到基督徒的愛。我像時下青年人一樣﹐想在哲學裏尋找人生的意義﹐並建立人生觀。可是我卻迷失在知識爆炸的洪流裏﹐嚐到「生也有涯﹐知也無涯」的苦澀。大一下﹐班上同學謝冠雄歸主了﹐常向我見證那一位又真又活的主。微積分課時﹐他在大教室後排角落裏另外給我開講耶穌的救恩與寶貴。聖靈把渴慕神的心放在我裏面﹐叫我愈來愈相信﹐只有從神那裏才能得著永生﹐活著才有意義﹐才有價值。暑假一到﹐謝弟兄就邀我參加1971年六月底的福音夏令會(6/28-7/3)﹐主題是生之追尋。

第一場聚會是范大陵先生的歸主見證。他從前耍太保﹐憤世嫉俗﹐心中卻軟弱無力﹑驕傲迷惘。福音臨到了他了﹐完全改變了他。他的見證人動人心弦﹐我也確信他所介紹的基督正是我所需的﹐祂可以照樣地救拔我脫離一切的軟弱與有限。當講員呼召人歸向基督時﹐我裏頭有了劇烈的掙扎。「凡接待祂的﹐就是信祂名的人﹐祂就賜他們權柄作神的兒女。這等人…乃是從神生的。」(約1.12-13) 我自問我是否是接納基督進入心中﹖既然是﹐那我就是信祂的人。終於﹐裏頭舊人的抗拒勝不過主愛的吸引﹐我就定意歸向基督。詩歌「自基督來住在我心」所唱的是真的﹕喜樂潮溢我魂﹐如海濤浪滾滾﹐虛無孤獨感一掃而空﹐一種似乎摸得著﹑無以名狀的實際﹐充滿在我的裏面。神的同在圍繞著我﹐我知道基督是主。聚會最末一晚﹐陳潤堂牧師教我們唱他寫的詩歌「我在靈裏見我故鄉」﹐呼召學生為著將來的中國宣教獻身。我也深受感動﹐將自己獻給主了。

信主以後就莫名其妙地愛主﹐喜歡聽到主的名字﹐酷愛和基督徒在一起。我在住家附近找到一間小教會。八月底就受浸。在學校團契裏學習了讀經或晨更生活﹐很渴慕讀主的話語。有次期末考早晨﹐一大早趕到學校圖書館就拿出聖經晨更﹐同學看見我就搖搖頭說：「我看你是真的信耶穌了！」我也學習將聖經應用到生活中﹕聖靈使我想起從前得罪的人﹐並給我力量向他們認罪﹑求赦免。信主後不久﹐教會大專團契放映一部主生平的影片。當時我才讀過福音書﹐那部影片大部份是講到主的受難。當時一種說不出來極大憂傷侵襲我的心頭﹐愈演愈烈﹐隨著劇情發展﹐主戴荊冠﹑被人辱罵﹑像羔羊一樣被罵不還口﹐一幕幕地映在我跟前﹐這時我好像真地來到加略山﹐傷痛飲泣起來﹐祇是不敢哭出聲音。(男生豈可人前落淚呢﹖) 淚水奪眶而出﹐我不知如何是好﹐幸虧電燈都熄掉了﹐我就用袖子擦淚。淚水模糊了畫面﹐卻模糊不了主為我所受的每一傷痕﹐當兵丁用釘子扎了主的手﹑主的腳時﹐我的心真如刀割﹐主啊﹐你全身的重量怎麼可以掛在釘傷處呢﹖憂傷和著主的愛漫溢了我的靈魂﹐我的心都要碎了。一直等到主復活了﹐那陣憂傷才過去。原來這是基督的愛﹗救主藉著永遠的靈帶我來到加略山﹐我第一回稍微經歷到什麼是祂捨命的大愛﹐叫我敬畏﹐寶貝這個愛﹐願意終身事奉祂。

Hi, I’m Derrick and I’m the English minister at MCCC. I am primarily responsible for leading the English ministry and for preaching on Sunday. I am also involved in working with families and young adults, discipleship, and emerging ministries. I have a passion for ministry that is empowered by the Holy Spirit where lives are transformed and people are set free.

I majored in Philosophy and Biblical studies at Wheaton College (1992), where I first sensed God’s call to attend seminary. Shortly after college I went on to earn a graduate degree from Westminster Theological Seminary (1996).

My wife, Linda, and I moved here in February 2004. We met in 1992 at a Christian conference. In 2006, we will celebrate our 10th anniversary. Before coming here we lived in eastern Massachusetts for 8 years while Linda finished her seminary education and I worked with computer information systems. We have three incredibly awesome children, Alyssa (1997), Christopher (1999) and Samuel (2001). We are excited and deeply honored to be called by our Lord Jesus to serve Him at MCCC.

I came to know the Lord as a teenager growing up in NYC. My uncle Terry brought my siblings and me to Chinese Evangel Mission Church. After my brother Brian experienced a near fatal accident, I began my journey of seeking to know the Lord. My sister, Michelle, asked me to pray and receive God’s free gift of forgiveness and I was baptized on July 29th, 1983.

Since then my walk with the Lord has had its highs and lows. My journey with the Lord to this day has been littered with doubts and moral failures but the Lord continues to remind me through them to rely on Him more for grace and strength.

I enjoy reading books on Christian spirituality from authors who are passionate about Jesus, as well as anything on leadership. I like playing basketball, tennis, ping pong, bowling, and watching the New England Patriots.

My life verse is found in Acts 20:24 where the apostle Paul says, “My life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus-- the work of telling others the Good News about God's wonderful kindness and love.” (NLT)

I have attended church since kindergarten and received Jesus Christ as a young child. I experienced God’s power through prayers at the age of 8 when God saved my mother from the deathbed in the hospital (doctor told my father to prepare for the funeral). At 16, I was baptized in a Baptist church in Taipei, Taiwan (基督教美仁里浸信會) where I remained a regular member in the youth group and Sunday services throughout my high school years.

I gradually stopped going to church in college in search of truth, identity and purpose on my own. After coming to America for graduate school, I started to wrestle the true meaning of the Way, the Truth and the Life and found the answers in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is both the Creator of the universe and Redeemer in human history. I re-dedicated my life to Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord and joined the Rutgers University Bible Study Group and learned to serve in the campus ministry. The weekly Bible studies helped me to grow a deep passion for the Word of God and his Son Jesus Christ, which in turn totally transformed my life calling and priorities. I committed myself for ministries in early 1980’s and received diverse ministry trainings in evangelism, discipleship, the Word ministry, prayers as well as people ministry. My burden as a minister is not only to equip the saints for the various good works for the glory of God (Ephesians 4:11-13), but to “help people’s love to abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that they may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1: 9).

I have joined MCCC as the youth director since September 2002. I am married to Joseph who is the founder of the House of Mercy and Evangelism (H.O.M.E.) ministry serving the un-churched in jail/detention center and nursing homes. We have two children, Eileen and Daniel.

Pastor Paul, Minister Derrick, and Youth Director Wendy

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