We need to be mindful of one another and watch our time up here. When I get too lengthy—I could probably speak for an hour myself—but I will not do that, because we want to hear from as many as we can.
If we do not complete the testimonies today, we will have to consider continuing next week. We will work that out and let you know for sure.
As we begin this morning, I am going to share first. Then Kenny and John have something to share as well, and then we will open it up for others to come and testify. Our heart is to honor the Lord. That would be our brother’s heart; we know that.
October 1, 1972—fifty years ago, this coming October 1—was a day of infamy in my life, an epoch-making day.
I heard our brother Stephen share the vision in his heart that he had been given from the Lord: our Lord Jesus Christ in His fullness—Christ the Head, and the church, His Body. I had never seen such a thing in my whole life.
Honestly, that was a life-altering day in my life personally, and I will never forget it. It set a course in my life that I had not known before. I am so thankful that our brother was faithful in his ministry.
Paul also said that he did not hold back from sharing the whole counsel of God. Certainly, that was a testimony of our brother’s life to us all. He did not hold back in sharing the whole counsel of God.
I remember a few very specific incidents in my own life that touched me so deeply and actually changed me. One of them I have shared before. It was at a conference at the University of Richmond in those very early days, the first conferences at the university.
I was at lunch with Brother Stephen, and we were talking about some of the issues and matters at the conference. Another young man came up to him and said, “Look, I would like to know: are you an apostle? Are you a prophet? Are you a pastor? Are you a teacher? Who are you?”
Our brother looked at him and said, “I am a brother.”
Boy, I will tell you what: that touched me so deeply and has stayed with me all these years, because I saw the humility of Christ in a man. Brothers and sisters, that was our brother.
It also gave me a great appreciation of what it meant to be a brother. We do honor those who are over us, and the apostles and prophets the Lord has given us. But to be a brother—that is the great thing: to be a brother or sister in the Lord.
The other incident that meant so much to me personally happened a few meetings later. I had come to a meeting and was sitting in the first row in Llewellyn Miller’s little garage. We may have had twenty or thirty chairs.
Brother Stephen was speaking, and I fell asleep. Not only did I fall asleep, but at some point I leaned forward too much and was falling out of the chair. I gathered myself together, and after he finished speaking, I went to apologize to him.
He said, “Brother, you needed to sleep.”
Such a precious, gracious brother he was to us all.
We have known Brother Kong for fifty years this October—quite a long time, I think; perhaps the longest in the room. There are a few verses on my heart that speak of the man and his ministry.
If you do not understand what the Lord does in a heart, you will never understand Brother Kong and his burden: his burden for the eternal purpose, the full counsel of God, as Jerry mentioned.
First Corinthians 4:15-16 gives us an illuminating word:
For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers:
for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel.
Wherefore I beseech you, be ye imitators of me.
This is a striking comment. One commentator called it an emphatic contrast. Paul is saying, “Think about it. You may have ten thousand teachers, yet not many fathers.” Some translations say, “one father.” I think that set our brother apart.
Please understand me: I am not diminishing teaching. Biblical teaching is of utmost importance. But there is a distinction here, drawn by the man himself, that gives us a window into understanding him. Paul was, to the Corinthians, a father. He was more than a gifted teacher.
In 1 Corinthians 1:12, Paul listed several gifted teachers whom Corinth had:
Some say, “I am of Paul”;
and others, “I am of Apollos”;
and others, “I am of Cephas.”
Could you have better teachers than that? You could not. Give us Peter. Give us Apollos. Give us Paul. Paul wrote thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament—almost half of it.
Yet he was among the many teachers, and there was a distinguishing mark that set him apart: “I am your father. I begat you through the gospel unto Jesus Christ.”
Brother Kong was a father to us. He was literally like a father to me. Our parents both died in their fifties—our mother was fifty-seven, and our father was fifty-nine—so Stephen was literally like a father to me. But he was much more than a natural father. He was a spiritual father.
The assembly in Richmond would not be here today were it not for Brother Kong’s ministry in those early years. He would come down from New York, even before we met him in 1969, to Llewellyn’s home in the West End on Waveney Road. Later, when they moved to Midlothian and we came in 1972, he would come down from Washington, D.C.
He would come three times a month, every month, and share the ministry of the Word. He indeed was a father to us.
There is a difference between a teacher and a father. A father is responsible for your birth. A father nurtures you, takes care of you, raises you, and has a special ministry over your well-being.
I do not demean teachers. Paul was probably the greatest biblical teacher who ever lived, but he was much more than that. He was a father. I believe that is what Brother Kong was to us. It set him apart. It defined the man.
That is who he was: how he nurtured, how he opened the Bible, how he made us see Christ in everything, how he helped us, and how he corrected us.
I remember a funny story. Those of us young brothers were joshing in the kitchen at the old meeting place. I was twenty-one, by the way; Jerry was the old guy—he was twenty-nine.
Stephen walked up to us and said, in his most stern voice, “Every idle word.”
That was enough. The father had spoken. We stopped joshing, and we have never forgotten that one admonition.
There is another thing about Stephen that I would like to share. Hebrews 13:7-8 says:
Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God;
and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever.
“Conversation,” in this passage, means manner of life. He was not only a father; he was a true leader. This leader taught us the Word of God, but there was much more that was significant. He not only spoke the Word; he lived the Word. He was a manifestation of the Word.
That is precisely what the writer of Hebrews is getting at. He embodied that Word and lived that Word, and because he lived that Word, he was a leader whom you should follow.
Stephen was absolutely clear: he never thought we should follow him. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1:
Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
Do not ever forget that last phrase. This is what Brother Kong did. This was his burden for us as a father and as a leader.
I thought of one more verse. I saw this in everything Brother Kong did. I remember when he gave those messages on 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. It changed the assembly here. It opened us up to see something marvelous of the Lord.
Second Corinthians 11:2-3 says:
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy:
for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness,
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
This was our brother’s goal in everything he did: to bring us to Christ, to espouse us to Christ. We are a bride waiting for Christ—to know Him, to love Him, and to see Him as our end and our all. He never wavered from that goal.
What do you think of Brother Kong? What did you see? Jesus said of John the Baptist, “What went ye out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken with the wind? A man clothed in soft raiment?”
What did I see? I see a father—God’s heart, a father. I see a leader who lived what he spoke. And I see a man with an unwavering passion to bring us to Christ alone.
He never wanted to be seen. He never cared to be seen. He never was the object. He always made Christ the object. These three things set our brother apart, and we are grateful that we have known him, been in fellowship with him, and grown because of his nurturing.
Our lives have many days and many activities, and they are quite huge. This room is huge. If I had anything to say, Brother Kong’s life would fill this room many times over.
But there is one thing I want to say. He used this term, and we have all come to see it: the message in the messenger.
The message is very important, but the messenger is more important. The question is whether the message is shown in the messenger’s life.
I am thankful that the Lord found a man He could use in Stephen Kong. Stephen Kong was naturally a very gifted man. He was very capable.
When he came to this country, one of the first things he did was translate The Spiritual Man, which, in its three volumes, is seven hundred and fifty pages. Herb Fader edited it for him.
He wanted to publish it, so he went to publishing houses and asked what could be done. They said they would do this and that for him and give him a couple of percent. He said, “I was not going to do that.” So he established a whole business.
He was a very capable man. I have known a lot of men who thought they were very capable; they were fooling themselves. But our brother was capable.
Yet, by the grace of God, Stephen Kong was able to lay down that natural ability, and God was able to use him as a vessel. This messenger died to himself, and God was able to fill him with the Holy Spirit.
Lance Lambert told us, “Brother Kong is a spiritual man.” I have never heard anybody say that about anybody else. But he was full of the Holy Spirit, and we all got to see Christ in him.
He left behind these messages, which are a great testimony of Christ. His message was the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ. He never lifted himself up.
You could go to him with a question or a problem, and what was his common answer? “You seek the Lord. You seek the Lord.” He never simply gave us an answer, though he was helpful. His emphasis was always the centrality of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:10 speaks of:
An administration suitable to the fulness of the times,
to sum up all things in Christ.
Christ was everything to him. What an example for us.
Colossians 1:18 says:
That in all things He might have the preeminence.
I am thankful that the messenger was able to lay his life down and deny himself, take up the cross, and let God use him. May we remember the message he gave to us: the preeminence of Christ.
This is Steve Sheridan, for those who do not know me. I am going to give you a very quick two-for-one.
Lisa and I are up here in the isolated state of Vermont, and the Lord has blessed us with the ability to gather with a few precious saints. We meet once a week, and what we have predominantly done is fellowship around different transcript messages from brothers—mostly messages from Brother Kong.
When I found out we were going to have this meeting, I sent an email to them and said that we would be having this gathering, and if any of them were interested and able to make it, they could share about Brother Kong’s teachings.
None of them were able to meet, but one brother sent me a response and said, “I can’t make it, but I’ve got a few words to share.” His name is Richard Lewis. He grew up in New York but spent most of his time in Vermont. He is about seventy-one years old and has been a believer for decades.
First, I want to say briefly that I still remember the first day I met Brother Kong, back in the very early 1980s. Frank Lipsey took me over to meet Stephen at his house.
You talk about sitting down with a couple of quiet brothers—that was interesting. But I so saw the humility of Christ in Brother Kong that day. He was so gracious. I remember that he gave me a copy of The Spiritual Man, and I went out of there feeling like I was on top of the world.
This is what Richard Lewis wrote:
I am sending along a few dear thoughts about Stephen Kong, whom I have met through his writings, books, and videos that I have seen and listened to. What an incredible teacher of God’s Word and disciple of Jesus.
I so appreciate his adherence to the Word of God, and his clearness and transparency in tackling the more difficult and deeper subject matters in understanding God’s design for mankind, and what man’s responsibilities and positions are in relation to His design, if we are only willing.
I believe that my coming into contact with Stephen Kong through his writings and videos was ordained by God. His teachings and challenges, along with the intense focus on God’s Word, have made a large, deep, and lasting impact in my life and relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
My prayer is that I will be able to pass these spiritual truths along to others effectively, through the Holy Spirit’s help—even a fraction of how Stephen Kong has been used to impact my life.
Thank You, Jesus.
I was saved in 1970 in the Fan District. I was living in the Fan, and I started searching for a place to meet.
In January 1971, Judy, who is Llewellyn’s niece, took me to the home in Richmond to hear Stephen. Judy and I, and also Llewellyn, were all from Southampton County.
I continued to look for a place to worship. I was told about a job in the Washington, D.C., area, and I got the job. The school was just opening, and I moved to D.C. in September 1971.
Judy came and took me to the Katz home. Stephen moved from New York either that month or in October 1971, I believe. On the first visit, he was still coming from New York.
The fellowship consisted of me, Dick Katz, Judy, and eight Chinese people, including Stephen and Mary Kong. I really thank God for that mercy toward me and for being able to come so quickly into fellowship. The first book we studied was Spiritual Authority.
Looking from God’s point of view, Stephen was born in 1915. That is very significant for the past century. Think about the Jesus movement in America, just about the time Stephen came. He came here right before that.
The ministry of Stephen Kong was greatly needed at that time. Think of the impact internationally—what God did in gathering people all over the world together in different places.
As the brothers have said, it was not about Stephen Kong. It was not about being a tremendous prophetic ministry or writing books such as The Key to Revelation. It was about God’s desire to have a corporate vision of the church and what He was doing in the century before the return of the Lord.
I think one word describes Stephen to us: the grace of God. God has been so merciful to us.
Stephen did not sit around waiting for the Lord to put gifts in him. From day one, as I understand it, he was diligent. Even in college, he said he knelt by his bed in the dorm and let the students walk around him.
From day one, Stephen invested everything he had in serving the God whom he loved with all his heart, mind, strength—everything he had.
Yes, he was gifted. But those gifts can only be fully utilized in a person who has laid down his life for Jesus Christ. That is what he did. He laid down his life for the Lord.
This is the grace of God to us. I cannot express my gratitude to God for what He has done for us, because He found a vessel—an epoch-making vessel.
My name is Herb. I was privileged to serve with Stephen and Dora, along with a couple of other brothers, at the publishing house for a few years.
Until you see somebody day to day, you do not really know them.
Some of you may know that I am very cheap—cheap, cheap, tight. It is awful.
This week I was in the woods cutting wood. A branch came across and flipped my hat and my glasses. I mean, I was in the woods. The glasses had gold frames—the color of leaves. They were not expensive, but I got all shook up. “Man, Lord, I just got these glasses.”
I said, “Lord, let me find these glasses.” I did not find them. I brought Janine out in the woods, where she did not find them either. We were praying over this silly pair of glasses.
I went back the next day. It had poured down rain the night before. I walked to where I had been and said, “There they are.”
I was holding on too tightly to the value of something that did not matter.
At one point, when I was with Stephen and Dora, I needed a truck. It was expensive, and they knew my propensity to be cheap. They prayed with us: “Lord, what do I do? What do I do?”
Finally Stephen said, “Brother, you hold on too tight.”
Recently, I was reading Brother Kong’s book on Isaiah. He said that God will apprehend some of His people and, as watchmen of the church, lift them to higher ground in the heavenlies.
When most of God’s people are living on lower ground, in touch with the world and in close mixture with the earth, God calls some of them to rise up.
After the beginning of the pandemic, when saints were not able to gather in person, there was a burden for brothers and sisters to stand together, share our burdens and experiences, and pray by virtual meeting. We prayed regularly during weekdays for individuals, families, the church, the nation, and the world.
Brother Kong reminded us that we need to be a separated people from the world, living and dying for Him. We are His representatives on earth. The world wants to conquer us. May the Lord Jesus release His people that we may stay with Him in these last days.
He also reminded us that the family is the building block of the church. God’s will and purpose will be fulfilled in the family. However, the family has drifted so far from God’s heart. May we repent and return to God’s purpose for the family.
The church is the Body of Christ, and Christ is the Head. The Body and the Head are one. The church is the wife of the Lord. She is in union with Christ and manifests the character and nature of Christ. She is heavenly.
The purpose of the church is to uplift and proclaim the Lord Jesus to the world. However, the church is no longer one today. The church has become earthly. We must repent and return to what God intended the church to be for His beloved Son.
May the Lord revive and reveal to us the nature and character of the church. May the Lord restore His church to its original position. We need the cross to work in our hearts.
Concerning the nation, he reminded us that we are supposed to be a Christian nation, but this is not the reality. We are doing our own things and have become far from His purpose. It is important to repent, return, and consider before the Lord what we are and what we should be.
The world belongs to God. The world is where God reveals His Son through His church. God brought His Son into the world so that the world might be saved.
There is such a tremendous conflict between God and His enemy. We need to stand with God in these days for His purpose, that the world may return to God for His beloved Son’s sake. May the church not be enticed by the world, but be the expression of Christ.
We felt that Brother Kong was a watchman raised up by the Lord. He encouraged us to see as the Lord sees. He interceded, and he told us to intercede for the Lord’s people, the Lord’s family, the Lord’s church, the nation, and the world.
We thank our Lord Jesus for giving Brother Kong as a gift to the church. May all praise center upon the Lamb, our Lord Jesus.
My name is Marcia. When we lived in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in 1975, it was a very dry and thirsty land. We had fellowship with a few people who at the time were in Baptist churches and other denominations. Glenn and I really hungered and thirsted for the Lord.
Now we can look back and realize how God has ordered our steps. I remember reading recently in a pamphlet written by Brother Kong on the coming of the Lord that we can look back and see how God ordered our steps, but the Lord looks forward and orders them.
At that time, we were eating dinner with a person who was advising Glenn on insurance. This young man said, “Why don’t you come with us? There’s a meeting tonight at one of our friends’ houses, and a brother is going to speak.”
We were interested, so we went. It was Brother Kong. I see now how hard he labored in many places and saw little fruit, but he continued to labor, praying that God would bring those whom He had in His heart unto the Lord.
Glenn and I were completely captivated by what was being shared. We had never heard anything like it before.
Brother Kong was speaking from the book of Ruth. Naomi had sent Ruth to the threshing floor to lie at the feet of Boaz, making known that he had the right of redemption.
He read:
And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou sayest:
for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a worthy woman.
And now it is true that I am a near kinsman;
howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I.
The next scene is Boaz and the elders at the city gate. Boaz says to the nearer kinsman:
Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people.
If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it:
but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know;
for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee.
The man said, “I will redeem it.” Then Boaz said:
What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi,
thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead,
to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.
The kinsman said, “I cannot redeem it.”
Brother Kong asked, “Who is this nearer kinsman?” Glenn and I were on the edge of our seats. It was like, “Who is it?” We did not know who it was. It did not say right there.
Brother Kong said:
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh.
I have never forgotten that verse. Though I was lost and full of sin, trying to do it myself and trying to be a good person, it was the Lord Jesus who brought me to Himself and cleansed me from sin. The law could not do it.
I also want to share something rather light. I did not ever see Brother Kong laugh very hard very much.
After he taught at that individual’s house, two sisters were going to drive him to the airport in Raleigh, and they asked me whether I would like to ride with them. I thought, “I just want to get every morsel I can get.”
I found someone to babysit our little children, and the sisters really plummeted him with questions. One of the questions was, “Well, Brother Kong, what do you think of women ministers?” They were trying to pin him down on every issue.
He gave a very wise answer. Then they said, “Well, Marcia, what do you think?” When you are young in the Lord, you are bold and do not even know it.
I said, “Well, it’s kind of hard for a woman to be the husband of one wife.”
That was when Brother Kong broke loose. He laughed really hard. I did not mean to be funny, and I do not think they understood my answer. But anyway, thank you.
I am Marcia’s husband, Glenn. I wanted to add some context to our time with Stephen, to show the Lord’s character in that man, because that is what we are looking for today.
Galatians 2:20 says:
I have been crucified with Christ;
and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.
When we were in Rocky Mount in 1975, the charismatic movement was sweeping across the country. People were leaving organized churches and finding life in fellowship groups much like this one.
Brother Kong’s meetings were advertised in the Rocky Mount newspaper. They may have called him Reverend Kong; I do not remember. It said that he would be speaking at so-and-so’s house and that all were invited.
We went the first night, and the living room was packed. It was a huge house with a cathedral ceiling. There must have been thirty or forty chairs, in addition to sofas and easy chairs.
On the front row were four pastors. Stephen gave the message, and then there was a question-and-answer period. This is where I saw the character of Christ.
These pastors were not very pleasant to our brother. I do not remember the specific questions they asked, but they were hard on him and pressed him for answers about the New Testament church, the gifts of the Spirit, and what he had said in the book of Ruth.
Think of the fruit of the Spirit—Christian character—the possession and manifestation of the nine graces: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
When you look at our brother’s life, he had such peace—an inward state of character that was so close to the Lord. I looked up what is meant by goodness in that listing of graces. Goodness is character and expression toward man. Temperance is character and expression toward God.
He answered each one of those pastors’ questions one by one with such humility, such meekness, such grace, and such depth of knowledge. Eventually, one by one, they stopped asking.
Our brother was so gracious, explaining the love of the Lord again to the whole group in such a loving way.
When you look at the sum total of who our brother was in the Lord, think of this: “Not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
John 15 says:
Abide in Me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine;
so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches:
he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit:
for apart from Me ye can do nothing.
Our brother clearly showed us much fruit in his life. As far as those pastors are concerned, I do not think they ever came back. Or if they did, they did not say another word. They just sat and listened like the rest of us and were blessed by our dear brother.
Shortly after Sister Mary passed away, there was a period when people were concerned about Brother Kong and whether he could take care of himself.
When Brother Kong visited different places, brothers and sisters prepared lots of food for him to take home. Usually, Brother Kong would turn down their offer, but the brethren found another channel to accomplish their goal: through Brother Kong’s driver. That was my assignment at the time.
I would dutifully bring all the food back to Richmond. When we were on the road, people would look for Enoch for the purpose of unloading their food. It looked like I was a popular guy.
I told Brother Kong what was happening. I said, “Brother Kong, these people are not welcoming me. I’m just a donkey. They are welcoming you because you are their speaker.”
Brother Kong replied, “You know, if you are a donkey, then I am the blanket on the donkey.”
Our brother was a very humble servant with a sense of humor.
I was blessed to have a mother who prayed for me and remembered me in her prayers all her life. When she passed away, I felt empty. I thought, “What am I going to do now?”
I returned from my mother’s funeral and shared my misery with Brother Kong. I said, “Who is going to pray for me now?”
Brother Kong responded without hesitation, “I can.”
His words almost made me cry. I did not know there was someone who would care for me that much.
One morning, Sister Dora had a doctor’s appointment. Apparently, the procedure was delayed, and soon it was one o’clock in the afternoon. I suggested to Brother Kong, “Let’s go get something to eat first.” He agreed.
We decided to get something simple so that we could quickly return to the doctor’s office. We ended up eating at McDonald’s.
Now, you may have taken Brother Kong to different restaurants, but never to a McDonald’s. That day I was so proud that I was able to bring my buddy to McDonald’s.
Although Brother Kong was way above me spiritually, I always remember him as a down-to-earth friend.
This will be short. I was praying about a Scripture or something to share this morning out of all the years of knowing Brother Kong. It was really difficult.
The Scripture that came to me was Philippians 1:21, Paul’s word:
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
That struck me because that is exactly what our brother did. He lived Christ. Not only did he live for Christ; he lived Christ. He lived Christ in every way that you can imagine.
Then I thought of the perfect prayer that, to me, displays who Brother Kong was. The older brothers will recognize this prayer right away. If I miss something, please forgive me. Think about Brother Kong as I read these words:
Let me love and not be respected.
Let me serve and not be rewarded.
Let me labor and not be remembered.
Let me suffer and not be regarded.’Tis a pouring, not the drinking;
’tis a breaking, not the keeping;
a life suffering to seek others’ blessing,
a life loving and true comfort giving.Not expecting pity and concern,
not accepting solace and applause;
even lonely, even forgotten,
even wordless, even forsaken.Tears and blood the price for the righteous crown;
shall be losing all my cost for a faithful pilgrim’s life.’Tis the life of the Lord that You chose to live
in those days when on earth You walked,
gladly suffering all injuries and loss,
so that all might grow near in repose.I cannot see how much further I shall go;
still I press on, knowing there is no return.
Let me follow Your pattern, so perfect and true,
bearing ingratitude without complaint.In this time of travel, Lord, I pray
that You will wipe all my hidden tears away.
Let me learn, O Lord, You are my reward;
let me be others’ blessing on my day.
That was our brother Watchman Nee, whom Brother Kong served with in those early years.
The first time I read this prayer, many years ago, the reality struck me: what the Lord was after in His people and in the church was this very thing—the very character of Christ.
You see the word “me” in that prayer, but this became Brother Kong’s prayer: Christ in him alone. He was willing to suffer anything.
When I read that, it really touched me and began a hunger in me to have such a character. We hear many prayers asking to be conformed to the image of Christ. This is exactly what it means to be conformed to the image of Christ.
In some ways it is a difficult journey, but it is a joyful one also. You experience Christ in such a way that it produces joy. But there is much suffering that these brothers have gone through to come to this place where they can say, “It is not me; it is Christ.”
We need to remember Brother Kong in his willingness to lay down everything—not just part of everything. It meant much suffering and much dealing of the Lord, but he left such a testimony and such a legacy to us: not to follow him, but to follow Christ, because he was following Christ.
Praise the Lord, everyone. My name is Kumar. This is the third week I have been coming to this fellowship, and my heart is filled with joy to be part of it.
I know you all could share about Brother Kong for hours by telling of your experiences and testimonies. It is really joyful. But I want to share from the perspective of a man who never met him.
I never heard about Brother Kong until March 2022, when we decided to move from Michigan to Richmond. My wife’s dear friends from Lynchburg suggested that there was a great fellowship in Richmond associated with Stephen Kong.
When my wife suggested this fellowship to me, I was skeptical. I was thinking that the community might be different. We were coming from an Indian community, and I was praying, “God, if it is a different community, how can it be?”
I had been saved in 2018, so I was relatively young in terms of coming to Christ and knowing Him. I wondered how I could adjust to all these different things.
But God started speaking to me: “Why are you thinking like that? Are you confining yourself to your own community? Are you not ready to open yourself? Are you confining Jesus Christ to your own thinking and your own understanding?”
When God started speaking to me, I began to research this church, though in a skeptical manner. But when I came here and saw and received all of your love, your warm welcome, and the teaching I received in the last three weeks, I saw how God is using this church to feed me spiritually.
Even without meeting Brother Stephen Kong, I can say that God purposefully planned this for me even before I knew Jesus Christ. I can testify to that.
Listening to all your testimonies, God convicted me: “Why don’t you go and testify to this?” It glorifies God’s name. Even without knowing this brother, I am being fed by the Word of God. It is the work that God has done through Brother Stephen, and I am receiving God’s Word and being nourished spiritually.
I really want to praise God, thank God, and glorify His name for the work He has done through Brother Kong. I apologize if I have spoken anything wrongly, but today my heart is filled with joy for the work God has done through Brother Stephen Kong. Praise the Lord.
I do not know whether I should share, because we came here today not knowing it was a testimony meeting. But Brother Enoch and Sister Marcia told me, and last night I was praying. This morning, on the way here, my heart was filled with joy.
There are so many ways Brother Kong impacted my life, but I want to share two attributes I saw in our dear brother. The first is humility.
Back in 2010, at a conference, I listened to his ministry, and my heart was so touched by his words: “We need the blood of Jesus every moment.”
When I heard that, I thought, “If our brother says so, how much more do I need that?” Since that time, in countless moments, I have needed it. I prayed that God would remind me all the time of our brother’s precious words: “We need the blood of Jesus all the time, every moment, in everything we do.”
That statement shows his humility. I do not know how many times those words have helped me through many trials.
The second attribute I want to share is his faithfulness.
A couple of weeks ago, I was on vacation. At eleven o’clock at night, I turned on my computer and found a YouTube video. It was a sharing our sister had with a group of sisters in Australia. It was almost an hour and a half long.
Our sister was sharing with other sisters to encourage them. At the beginning, I did not realize that our brother was sitting beside our sister. But at one point Sister Dora turned her head, apparently checking with our brother.
At the end, they asked to see Brother Kong, and the camera turned to him. I could not hold back my tears when I saw that picture: our dear brother and sister sitting together for an hour and a half to give testimony and encourage brothers and sisters in Christ.
The word that came to my heart was faithfulness. Our brother served the Lord faithfully. What an encouragement to all of us.
I offered a prayer to our Lord: “Lord, we know our brother always wanted to draw our attention to Jesus. I really want to give praise to You. Who am I that I have received the privilege to see this faithful life and witness? What an encouragement to us all to be Your followers.” Praise the Lord.
Thank you, brothers and sisters. It is a joy to be here. I did not come prepared to say anything about Brother Kong. Our purpose was simply to come and listen.
Dear saints, you may feel sorry that Brother Kong is no longer with you here on a week-to-week basis. But I can already see that there are so many saints here who have shared testimonies of the impact Brother Kong had in their lives. That encourages me.
The sisters who have shared, the brothers who have shared, and the testimony of the Lord Jesus here at the Richmond Fellowship are absolutely wonderful. This young brother, Kumar, who shared, also encourages me. Young people have been impacted.
I feel like the Lord is not done with the Richmond Fellowship. There are many, many more years of fruitful ministry here. I feel compelled to say that.
Just because Brother Kong is not here, the testimony—the lampstand—continues to remain. It has not departed. It is here.
We have been going to the Richmond Conference for more than twenty years. I remember the first time we had to move the Richmond Conference from the University of Richmond to Farmville.
The elders and leading brothers and sisters took it very hard, because after many years they wondered what was happening. They could not have the conference at the University of Richmond anymore.
But when the Lord opened the door in Farmville, along with the university, the ministry continued. I strongly feel and believe that as long as the Lord delays His coming, the testimony of the Lord will continue to shine brightly here.
One last question: what did Father Stephen ask us in the last several ministries every time? “Are you prepared?”
Let me share something from Mike Manns, who was with us in the very beginning and is now in Bowling Green. I will not share it all, but I will share part of it.
I do not know where I would be, or even if I would be, had the Lord not given me time with Brother Stephen. He was so different from all the pastors and preachers that I had known.
He did not want to be called pastor—just Stephen, or brother. However, I did notice a presence that I had not really noticed around many servants. It was something more than him.
I am so thankful that I met that something more. I have never been the same—not perfect, of course, but excited, hopeful, searching, waiting, and in touch with Jesus in a way that is close up and personal.
To remember my dear Brother Stephen only makes me worship our precious Lord more for giving him such love, vision, and hope, which he so loved to share with us. We have been so blessed.
That was Brother Mike.
One other short story reinforces the character that the Lord was able to show us through our brother. I remember us young brothers being together with Stephen. I do not quite remember the subject we were discussing, but of course we wanted to hear his thoughts on it.
Stephen looked at us and said, “I need to hear from you, brothers. I need you to balance me.”
I will never forget that: “I need you to balance me.” A man of such spiritual stature and wisdom looked at us—we were still in our twenties, perhaps early thirties—and said, “I need you to balance me.”
It would take a lot of people to balance our brother, I think. But he was such a precious gift that the Lord gave us, and we are so thankful.
Before we end, if there are others who have thoughts, perhaps we should continue these testimonies next week. We know we will have a baptism and one or two testimonies, and we could have some more testimonies at that time.
We have a number who would like to share. We will talk about it a little more and let you know for sure, but perhaps next week, when we have the testimonies before the baptism, we can follow that with a few more.
Lord, it is always good when You are able to reveal Yourself through vessels of clay. It just glorifies who You are.
Lord Jesus, we are so thankful. Personally, I am, and I know we are, for the years that we have had with our brother—a precious jewel that we will never forget.
Lord, we ask now that we might walk on. As Kenny said, he is one whom we can follow after. Lord, we want this morning to rededicate our own lives to following You, to being an expression of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.