Meeting Peter Yap, the official interpreter for Dr Billy Graham during the Singapore Billy Graham Crusade, turned out to be quite a pleasant revelation.

Like thousands of others, l was impressed by this polished interpreter who stood alongside Dr Graham, confidently matching the renowned evangelist gesture for gesture, intonation for intonation, without so much as a hint of hesitation, and whose commanding voice rang with authority through the packed stadium.

Peter Yap, second from left, interpreting for Billy Graham at the press conference in December 1978.

l had impressions of a rather austere and authoritative man, perhaps even a little brisk. The person who shook my hand in the lMPACT office was rather the anti-thesis.

Yap was extremely amiable and warm … disarmingly cordial.

As we talked, it was plainly evident that working with Dr Graham had been an outstanding event in his life. 

As an interpreter, he lived with the crusade team at Hyatt Hotel. His polished rendering of the messages belies the fact that there were no extensive preparations. Since Dr Graham did not preach from a complete script, he only discussed the outline of his messages and the Bible verses with Yap. This was done each afternoon before the meetings.

Yap observed: “I think he is the best orator l have worked for, but I was much more impressed by his humility and purity. I think this accounts for his successful ministry.

“He treated me like a brother and I felt completely at ease as we worked and prayed together each day. As his interpreter, I was with him on other occasions besides the evening meetings and l observed that he gave personal attention to everyone he met. He was personally interested in people.”

In his memoir, Yap said: “I have had many wonderful opportunities to witness for the Lord. He has been gracious in providing me the strength to preach the Gospel and to interpret for His faithful servants.”

On several occasions when Dr Graham’s tight schedule did not permit their afternoon meeting, Yap was only given a synopsis of the message as he travelled with the evangelist to the stadium or in the VIP lounge just before they stepped on to the platform.

A God-fearing home

I asked Yap how he acquired his skills in interpretation.

He thought about it for a while, then said: “I think two events led to the kind of ministry I now have and I need to explain them in detail if you are to understand how they shaped my life. Would you permit that?”

Two interesting stories unfolded. 

In December 1920, a Chinese couple, Mr and Mrs Yap Lee Chip (Peter Yap’s parents) arrived in Singapore from Fukien, China. They had accepted an invitation to work for their fourth uncle, Yap Chor Keng, who had established the Yap Tiong Hoe Brickworks in Singapore … hopefully, a better alternative to the hard farm life in China.

However, their excitement of starting life anew was marred by the death of their fourth daughter on board the ship. Their three elder daughters had died as infants. But there was hope, for Mrs Yap was again heavy with child. They set up home and began working for their uncle who, with his wife, were dedicated Christians.

Sensing the unhappiness of his nephew and wife, fourth uncle talked to them about the hope that he himself had found in Christ. The young couple turned to God with the kind of devotion and abandonment which only deep sorrow could bring. Four months later, their first son was born.

Clockwise from top: The five Yap children; Yap family with Jimmy Glover (middle back); Yap family portrait.

Though new believers, they decided to dedicate their first male child to God, to tell others about the Christ who had given them peace. So they named him Yap Huat Tuan (法傳, literally translated: To preach Christ in God’s way).

“I am Huat Tuan,” said Yap. “I was brought up in a God-fearing home and I believe that what I am today has a lot to do with my parents. They instilled in me a sense of devotion and reverence for God. My mother reminded me many times that, as my name suggests, I should devote my life to serving God.”

A season of training

Yap discovered his own oratorical gift early in life. He won prizes in speech contests both in Mandarin and English. Later, as a language teacher, he often addressed the school assembly. During those early years, he began to serve as interpreter in Christian meetings but more often from Mandarin to Hokkien.

The turning point came in 1946, interestingly through an Irishman named Jimmy Glover.

Glover, a diesel engineer with the Naval Base, was an unusual character. He had a consuming desire to preach the Gospel to the Chinese people. (One of his standing jokes was: “I have a white man’s nose but a Chinese heart.”) His biggest hindrance was that he could not speak Chinese.

One fateful day while distributing tracts at Nee Soon, Glover fell into a huge monsoon drain and was so badly hurt that he had to be hospitalised. There he was visited by a friend, Pastor Daniel Sundrum, who was then the principal of the afternoon session of Victoria Institution.

“l love the Chinese people. I want to preach to them with my lantern slides (what colour slides were called in those days), but no one understands lrish English,” Glover lamented.

“l think I can help you,” remarked Pastor Sundrum. “I know a young man who may be able to work with you.”

This incident started a three-year partnership and a life-long friendship between Peter Yap and Jimmy Glover. Soon after, they went on preaching trips at least twice a week, with Glover at the wheels of a monstrous Naval Base truck, Yap at his side and the “lantern slides” packed in the rear.

Irish preacher Jimmy Glover (second from left) was a trusted mentor and good friend to Peter Yap. Unbeknownst to Yap, interpreting extensively for Glover would help prepare him for the Billy Graham Crusade in later years.

For about three years, the two men worked together as itinerant evangelists and covered many parts of Singapore. (Glover was later transferred to work in India and then Hong Kong, where he founded a church called Ebenezer Gospel Hall at Lin Tong Mei, close to the China border.)

“My partnership with Jimmy was the turning point in my life,” Yap recalled. “He was not very big physically but was extremely energetic, had a terrible Irish accent and spoke much more rapidly than Dr Graham.

“Working with him was the best training any interpreter can get. I had to think very fast and match his fiery preaching. I was young then and enjoyed every minute of it though it was tough and tiring work.

“Later, I was more and more called upon to serve as an interpreter. l also worked as a part-time interpreter for the Legislative Assembly (the predecessor of the present Parliament) from 1959 to 1962. After the (1978) crusade, many people asked me how I managed to interpret so smoothly.

“Well, beginning with Jimmy Glover, God put me through a 32-year training programme.”

Peter Yap (seated, third from left) with his class of 1973 from Nanyang Girls’ High School. He was an English Language teacher for 27 years despite the fact that he had never been formally schooled in English. Yap was invited to teach at NYGH after he interpreted for then-principal Mdm Liew Yuen Sien at a gathering in 1949.

After the crusade, Yap sent a letter with a crusade photo to Glover, now retired and living in England. It bore these words on the photo: “Dear Brother Jimmy, the young man whom you trained in 1947 became the official interpreter for Dr Billy Graham, God’s prophet.”

Today, Yap, who retired from the teaching profession (first at Poi Eng Public School and then at the Nanyang Girls’ High School) in 1977, is an active layman. He serves as director of the Board of the Singapore Bible College and also on the Singapore Committee of the China Graduate School of Theology in Hong Kong. He estimated that he had made more than 40 ministry trips to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Four of his five children are married and he has five grandchildren.

(*Editor’s note: This article was written in 1979, when Peter Yap was 57. He passed on in 1985 at the age of 64.)

Portraits of the Yap family over the years. Peter Yap Huat Tuan (seated) was called home to be with the Lord on 2 June 1985 at the age of 64.

The gift of a surrendered life

It was nearing dinner time. The afternoon had slipped quickly by. I asked my final question: “Were you not even a little apprehensive speaking before an audience of more than 60,000? How did it feel like?”

“It was not me doing the work, but God with His abiding grace working through me,” replied Yap. “During the course of the crusade l went on my knees every day with my wife and surrendered ourselves afresh to Him.

“I always ended my prayer with these words: ‘Lord Jesus, I commit myself unto Thee. l surrender my body, my soul and spirit to Thee. Cleanse me with Thy precious blood. Take away anything which is not clean. Make me a suitable instrument. Use me. I am here. Amen.’”

Many thousands saw the result of this man’s surrender.

This article, written in 1979 by IMPACT Magazine‘s associate editor Seetoh Wing Luk, was subsequently included in the annexe of Faith of our Father: The discipleship walk of Peter Yap Huat Tuan. It is republished in Salt&Light with permission.