28 Feb 2013 by Natasha Kim CM-
A Christian life was what he was drawn to at a young age. Rev. Alex Soh age 49 has a fun loving personality that is loved by all which in return draws many people to him. He accepted Christ in 1979.
Growing up in a humble home in Ipoh, with Buddhism as the core religion of his family, Alex was quite content with his life despite being born with a disability. Being born with polio didn’t make life easy but he dealt with it with maturity. He did the best he could throughout his life.
The Higher Calling
During his younger days, he was exposed to friends, movies, messages and symbols that connected to Christianity. As the seed was slowly planted, Alex’s curiosity and willingness to know more about God, prompted him to join Christian Church youth group during high school. He eagerly did this without his parent’s knowledge and consent because he knew that this was what he wanted. A few months later after joining the group, he happily accepted Jesus Christ. As mentioned above, it came easy to him because he was just utterly drawn to Jesus Christ as he found fulfillment in knowing the Him. He said, “I didn’t want to wait to get baptized, because there was no point waiting.”
Thank God, when he finally decided to inform his parents about him becoming a Christian, they simply accepted it and supported him though not 100% happy about it. After high school, Alex moved to Kuala Lumpur to study Engineering. From there he said, “I obtained my Certificate and then moved on to a bible school because I felt that God wanted me to do more for Him.” However he didn’t pursue Engineering works because he knew this was the road he wanted to take.
Not too long in bible school, he met soul-mate, Mun Poh Poh who is now his wife. During this time he was curious and asked a pastor who was also his teacher, “How do we know that God really called us to become pastor?” His teacher answered, “Sometimes you may not hear but you know deep in your heart when you see a need to do something or to do more than what people do.” Alex found the answer to be very true and it encouraged him to get into full-time ministry.
Many Doors Opened up
Not long after graduating from bible school, he was invited to take over a church called Emmanuel Centre in Cameron Highlands. There he stayed on to build his family and to pastor for close to 3 years before moving on to Puchong. The calling became clear as he came in as the pastor by the request from Rev.Chin of Puchong Tabernacle Assembly (PTA). Rev. Alex added “The pastor wanted to leave because he felt that he didn’t have a pastoral calling but instead he has the call to plant churches.” When he took over the work, there were about 40 people but now there are 120. He stayed on with the Church until now. Rev. Alex has been the pastor at PTA for more than 15 years.
When asked about the biggest miracle he had experienced, he said “I think God has called us to experience changed-life and when you see people’s life changed and transformed from darkness into God’s wonderful light, that’s the greatest miracle.” Seeing the light of God shining in peoples’ lives has been his greatest joy and encouragement.
But the greatest challenge for Rev. Alex is to let people know that they can actually live abundant lives. “People don’t have to struggle if they allow God to transform their lives. God can help them and do something great in their lives.” he said.
When asked about his opinion on the Churches in Malaysia, he said “Overall I feel Churches want to improve and I’m glad that they have become more aware of missions work where they go out of their Churches to serve and propagate the Gospel.” Five years ago this was not but now he’s glad to see the changes and the stirring of the hearts of Christians.
Since a student in bible school, he held a scripture very close to his heart that has helped him all his life. It is found in
Isaiah 40:31 that states:
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint
A Heart for the Youth
Rev. Alex has a heart for the youths and a vision to help them. He said, “I feel that this generation’s youths might know a little bit more than us in terms of internet technology and such. However, this is the challenge of the Church today to ask themselves how they could use these youths as channels and knowledge to reach out to others as well as to help them in their struggles.” He feels that they are very “detached” from people as they do a lot of things through their gadgets. They lacked interpersonal skills which many Christians should have. In order to help the youths, Rev. Alex has been trying to design a program to help the youth to think and work.
At the moment he said, “There is no immediate plan to move to expand the Church. I’m just waiting for God’s calling.” His find joy in his life as he is able to contribute to the community in so many areas. “When people come to me with questions I get to help them by giving them ideas to think about. I can’t help them solve their problems because they’ve got to solve their problem themselves but I get to guide them. This, to me is very meaningful.”
Now he happily pastors PTA together with his beautiful wife. He also has two daughters Alicia and Felicia. The youngest son named Aloysius.
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Very inspiraring!