Ex-offenders, nurses, CEOs, bankers, chefs, doctors, broken fathers and abandoned children. When they poured out their hearts and revealed their tales of mistakes, triumphs, brokenness and redemption to the Salt&Light journalists, both the tellers and the writers were moved.

Thirty-five of those stories can now be found in the book, Salt&Light: Inspirational Stories of Faith at Work.

“Readers may be used to seeing Salt&Light stories shared piecemeal by friends or delivered daily to their Facebook, Instagram or Telegram channels. But this is the first time you’ll find this many testimonies altogether in one book,” said Salt&Light managing editor, Juleen Shaw. 

“There is impact in seeing God’s sovereignty over a remarkable breadth of circumstances – from the corporate boardroom to an African refugee camp, from a Michelin-star restaurant to the scene of a deadly blast in Lebanon.

“It is clear that God is everywhere and pursues everyone.”

When assignments editor Tan Huey Ying was tasked to shortlist stories for the book, she had more than 1,600 to choose from. There was space for just 20. In the end, 35 were squeezed in between the covers.

“It wasn’t because of lazy curating that we ended up with so many – there are just so many amazing accounts! The stories stand as testament to the cloud of witnesses who live right amongst us today, two degrees of separation at the most,” said Tan.

“They reflect a wide range of life experiences – success and failure, joy and heartbreak, turning points as well as times when the road ahead was long and unchanging.”

Now, for the first time, the writers behind Salt&Light’s book share how the poignant stories they pursued transformed their own faith as well.

The Africa story: Gracia Lee

When writer Gracia Lee, 24, produced the story and video of Singapore missionary Jemima Ooi in Kenya, Congo and Rwanda, she never expected it to set off a remarkable chain of events.

At the time, Ooi, 32, was feeding thousands of starving Ebola survivors, HIV patients, war refugees and massacre survivors. It was a tale of devastation upon devastation as the Herculean task was made more challenging with Covid-19 sweeping through Africa.

After the story was published, readers flooded the mailbox with offers of help.

Ooi later told the Salt&Light team that the story moved a reader to send a 10-tonne truck of cooking fat and soap to the refugee settlement.

“Our people had never witnessed provision of such magnitude – people were dancing and praising God. 

“I used to say that water and soap was not a given in our areas … I stand corrected – our Father sees to all our needs.

“We had also removed cooking fat from our rations list earlier, so that we could spend more on staples. Yet God re-included it to demonstrate His immense kindness. He doesn’t miss a beat!”

“We didn’t even ask for donations,” added Lee. “I watched in amazement at how one story mobilised so many people to come forward.

“It showed me how God allowed us to be a part of what He was doing in another part of the world and how privileged we are that He chose to let us partner Him in the amazing work He is doing.”

The boardroom story: Gemma Koh

Copy editor and senior writer Gemma Koh, 50s, “had the privilege of hearing first-hand the ‘God moments’ in the lives of those I interviewed”.

Koh wrote about how God steered CYC, a local company known for its bespoke shirts.

The “God moments” that the writers have witnessed in their profiles’ lives “couldn’t possibly have been orchestrated by humans”, said Gemma Koh. (L-R) Juleen Shaw, Christine Leow and Gemma Koh.

“They are events that humans couldn’t have possibly orchestrated. My jaw was going ‘thud thud thud’ on the floor and I got goosebumps hearing the accounts of Fong Loo Fern, their managing director.”  

In another interview, Koh spoke to CEO of Far East Hospitality, Arthur Kiong, a former DJ whom she “grew up listening to as a voice on radio”.

“It really moved me how he and Fong, who are leaders of their respective industries, have been so clearly touched by God and how they make God the CEO in their lives.”

Kiong’s Salt&Light story, posted on LinkedIn by a colleague, clocked a record number of thousands of views in a matter of days, inspiring friends and associates. “We see God’s multiplication effect,” said Koh.

The Lebanon story: Tan Huey Ying 

When explosions rocked Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, killing over 200, injuring 6,500, and leaving 300,00 homeless in August, assignments editor Tan, 31, was assigned to get in touch with Christians in the city to report on the impact of the blast.

Given the chaos that followed – a two-week state of emergency was declared even as protests erupted city-wide – getting in touch with anyone in Beirut was tough.

“By Friday, three days after the bombing, I had kind of given up,” admitted Tan.

Then, against the odds, one contact among the several Tan was chasing came through. Late on Friday night, she finally managed to get on the phone with Pastor Said Deeb, who runs the Life Centre for refugees.  He is also president of the Pentecostal Alliance of Churches in Lebanon and Syria.

“The timing was divine. Pastor Said had been trying unsuccessfully to reach out to his overseas supporters for aid and he was very demoralised until he woke up and saw my text asking him for an interview,” said Tan.

Pastor Said’s church was one of the few in the city which had sustained massive damage due to its proximity to the explosion site. Yet he was spending the days after the explosion helping a broken city get back on its feet. He had rallied a team to feed the hungry, pray for the sick and comfort the grieving.

By the time Tan called, he was running out of money.  

“I had goosebumps when I was talking to him and hearing about his close shaves with death. The people in Lebanon were just taking one hit after another. Civil unrest, political strife, economic collapse, Covid and then this? I hoped our article would help send some aid their way.”

For Tan, Pastor Said’s story was a chance “for their story to be told and, if nothing else, for more people to pray for them”.

“And we have seen that when people pray, God moves,” Tan said.  

The business story: Janice Tai

When senior writer Janice Tai, 32, interviewed Mason Tan almost three years ago, the man who gave Singapore the burger chain, Carl’s Jr, had recently left his job as top man of Aspac F&B. It was a far cry from the heady days when he was dealing with millions and partnering the BreadTalk group.

“When Mason shared his story with me in 2018, it did not yet have a fully rosy or happy ending,” said Tai.

Tan was “still facing some financial struggles” even though he had moved to provide consultancy and investment services to support companies to maximise social impact.

“Yet he chose to share his story while it was still unfolding and that took immense courage.

“God reminded me to give praise, thanks and glory to Him every step of the way because He is a God who journeys with us.”

Stories like Tan’s have been a reminder to Tai to “put out more stories of people who are still in the waiting room or in the ‘wilderness’”.

“The fullness and power of a story is not about reaching a desired state or outcome but coming to know and experience deeply how much God is with us in the here and now, even as our stories are still unravelling,” Tai said. 

The leadership story: Karen Tan

One of the corporate profiles that inspired former CNBC news producer and Salt&Light associate editor Karen Tan, 57, was Choe Peng Sum, then the CEO of Frasers Hospitality and now CEO of the Pan Pacific Hotels Group.

He often paused to pray over multi-million-dollar deals. 

“This is not conventional business thinking; many of his business solutions came from God,” said Tan. “But he proved that God is relevant in the marketplace!”

Another profile, former banker Alex Tee, an ASEAN scholar, gave up his corporate job to be a home-schooling, stay-home father. He “totally tugged at my heart as a mother and the eldest child with how he put his house in order as the filial eldest child”, said Tan. Tee took it upon himself to help his siblings out besides planning for his own children.

“Those are real struggles that people face each day. Yet, it did not deter Tee from giving up the cushy for the call.

“The yielding and waiting often go unsung. Their overcoming, the lessons learnt, their obedience and God coming through are always aspects that never fail to bless me.”

That story also had an impact on Salt&Light’s intern at the time, recalled Tan.

“A current scholar herself, she was touched by Alex’s story. That is how far and wide the reach of one testimony goes, even to encourage and shine the light for the next generation of believers.”

(Tee now contributes to Salt&Light by regularly hosting Salt&Light Family Night with co-host Carol Loi. After 10 episodes, the fortnightly Zoom chat show is on hiatus but will be back in 2021.)  

The Afghanistan story: Juleen Shaw

As Shaw, 58, skyped R, a missionary based in Afghanistan, she wondered what would possess a young Singapore girl to live in a place so far removed from home – where young children are familiar with the smell of bomb smoke and women exist under cultural conditions so extreme that the place has been repeatedly named “the most dangerous country for women” by gender-issue experts. 

R (name withheld for security reasons) had not intended to serve in Afghanistan. But God called her through a vision.

In the heat of the Afghan desert where she was travelling with a UN convoy, she suddenly saw a big, fierce man in a turban with an AK47 rifle running towards her.

“He was shouting in a language I didn’t understand. I was really scared,” R told Shaw. “But when he came closer, he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Tell me, tell me – what must I do to be saved?’”

R’s heart broke for God’s people in Afghanistan, and she stayed on to serve them, even in the aftermath of bombs, kidnappings and murders.

Said Shaw: “One of the things R said really struck me: ‘What is faith if it’s just going to church and saying, God is good because He gave me a bonus?’

“R showed me the meaning of courage in the Lord (Joshua 1:9). He does not mean for us to cower under a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7), be it a fear of the enemy or a fear of failure. R reminded me that our true purpose lies in living in the centre of God’s will, wherever He calls us to serve and lead.”