A Faith Journey  — Dr. Kimberly Fong, Senior Pastor at Po’okela Church in Maui

I met Kimberly when I attended her country church on a Sunday when Michael and I were celebrating our wedding anniversary in Hawaii.  Her lesson that day was so beautiful and the welcome so warm, (every visitor is greeted with a lei and a hug) – I’m hoping that if you go to Maui one day you will stop in on a Sunday and hear the Word from this faithful woman of God.

She told her story of trusting the Lord and I wanted to share it with all of you.  Kimberly was a successful accountant at a large firm in California when she began to hear the call to ministry.  She didn’t feel it was the right time with her children getting ready to attend college and increased expenses around the corner, she waited until it was so evident that it was God’s plan for her.  She looked into how much tuition would be seminary – $80,000,  exactly the amount she and her husband had set aside for emergencies and college.  She waited another year and then could not ignore it any longer.  She and her husband decided to take a leap of faith.  She quit her job and enrolled for her first year of courses and paid the $20,000 out of their savings.  She said the year went by so quickly and the full-time work at her church was so enriching that she felt encouraged.  She was joyful to think she was doing what God wanted her to do, but was aware that their finances were less secure.

The second year began and she was assigned to a very large congregation as an intern.  The church leaders let her know that she would be supervised, but not paid any salary for her work.  She worked full time and weekends and began her Sunday at the large church’s 3 services and then went for the afternoon to her small home church to help her Pastor and advisor.  He thought the schedule was just too much for her and appealed to the large church to just sign her papers once a month and let her continue her work at her home church, but Kimberly did not think this was right.  She knew he was trying to make her life easier, but she felt that since she had been assigned to the big “Anglo” church she should stay and serve.  At the end of the year when she gave her testimony she felt that they were listening.  Later she learned a man leaned over and told the others -“Can you believe she has worked so hard for us all year and we haven’t paid her a dime?”  But Kimberly felt that she had learned a great deal and went to begin her 3^rd year of seminary.  Taking another $20,000 payment out of their dwindling emergency fund – she walked into the business office and was told that the next two years were paid in full by an anonymous donor!

Her story speaks of Faith and Trust and her confidence that the Lord would provide.  But there is also the giving heart moved by the Spirit who gave a gift that will have eternal consequences.   It was a privilege to meet Dr. Kimberly Fong and hear her story.  When we trust in the Lord He will never fail us.  Share your story with me and we’ll put it in our Gtown Bible Study blog.

In her sermon that day she shared what we need:

• Unconditional Obedience
• Uncontainable Faith
• And Unfailing Love for God and others.

I never thought my most precious memory of Hawaii would be my Sunday morning spent at church.  Aloha.