The Christian faith is centered and modeled on family dynamics. We see this in Biblical language throughout the Bible, and we also see clear evidence of this in such passages as Psalm 127:3-5 and Proverbs 22:6.
Recognizing the importance of families as the fabric unit of society, Kelvin Chee and his wife, Luisa Yeng, have taken on the calling to ignite, shape, and nurture families in the way our Heavenly Father intended them to be. We recently had the privilege to chat with Kelvin and Luisa, the founders of Heroes Headquarters.
Before founding Heroes Headquarters, Kelvin and Luisa were professionals.
Kelvin was a marketer for Unilever, then a strategic planning director for Hakuhodo (a Japanese advertising company), before branching out as a corporate trainer with many clients from multinational companies and established local companies.
Luisa was a marketer for the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company Mead Johnson Nutritionals who decided to leave the working force in 2012 to be a full-time mother because the couple felt the need for at least one parent to be home with the kids. Kelvin and Luisa are the proud parents of three lovely children; Naiomi (15 years old), Kenroy (11 years old), and Keona (8 years old).
Kelvin shared, ‘Family has always been in my heart since I was young, and I even chose Family Studies while furthering my education in the US.’
There is an interesting story behind this. During their uni days, Kelvin and Luisa had a long distance relationship. He then went on a holiday visit to Luisa’s campus in the US. Through a fortuitous soccer game and God’s providence, Kelvin was offered to be on a university athletics scholarship program. And of all the subjects that he could choose from, he took up family studies. ‘Little did I know God was already molding me for something He had planned for my and Luisa’s future,” he said.
Through his student days in the US, God planted a vision and grew a passion in Kelvin to ignite heroes within families through experiential programs. The vision strengthened during a later visit to Australia, where they were inspired by an indoor obstacle course where families come together to bond.
The first seed of the passion had already been there from an early incident in Kelvin’s life, a story he relates on Heroes Headquarters’s website.
It may have been a simple incident, but the sense of comfort, security, overall positive impact, and the powerful impression his dad made on him from a young age cannot be understated. ‘It was my passion since that time that I would help dads make a similar impact on their children.’ The incident became the inspiration for Heroes Headquarters.
‘My dad showed me that everyone has potential, a hero within waiting to be ignited,’ Kelvin shared. ‘When we founded Heroes Headquarters, Luisa and I wanted to be igniters that would ignite, impart, and impact the same spark into the important pillars of the family.’
In 2014, Kelvin and Luisa took the leap of faith to kick off Heroes Headquarters with its first program in Admiral Cove, Port Dickson.
‘Four families joined that first program. We were nervous because we were completely new to this and did not know what to expect. All we had was passion and hope that it would be the start of something new and that it would implant something positive in people and continue.’
‘In the early days, there weren’t many family enrichment program providers in Malaysia,’ Luisa shared.
‘The challenge was finding content relevant for Malaysian families. So, Kelvin took the step to curate his own content. These days, more parenting ideas or principles are being shared on social media, and more workshops/courses are starting to be offered.’
Besides finding suitable content, there was also the matter of market acceptance and readiness. Many parents would invest in child enrichment programs but seldom thought of investing in themselves or their families because the prevailing perception was that the enrichment programs would be good for the kids while giving the parents a break.
‘When we started, the market was still new, and people tended to underestimate the importance of investing in themselves and their families. However, the landscape has changed dramatically during the pandemic when Malaysia hit an all-time high in divorce rates (77k divorces from March-August 2021). People realized the need to communicate well with their spouses and children and the need for a revamp in how they were doing family life.’
Kelvin shared that many parenting influencers started emerging during the pandemic. The influencers began using social media to share parenting ideas and challenge traditional parenting mindsets. People are still growing in their awareness that they contribute a big part to their child’s behavior. The good news is that people are more exposed to all of this than before.
A major concern for Heroes Headquarters when it started was how to manage its sustainability. Kelvin had to continue working in the marketplace to ensure the feasibility of Heroes HQ’s operations.
‘Because Heroes Headquarters was not registered as a Non-Profit Organization, we do not get funding from donors. As we want our programs to be cozy and personal, the setup tends to be small and limited. We do not earn much from our programs per unit due to this, which poses a challenge to managing sustainability.
‘Thankfully, the Lord has shown His faithfulness through the corporate training jobs He has provided us. It does take away some of the focus from building more family programs but we are taking this one day at a time, as a marathon rather than a sprint.’
As Christians, Kelvin and Luisa’s faith forms a foundation for the management culture of Heroes HQ. ‘It is extremely vital to recognize our roles and the authority that comes with it – we are called to be more like Christ and to shine for Him,’ Kelvin conveyed. ‘When we recognize that, freedom and power comes where we accomplish the little and big missions He has given us.
‘God is very concerned about families. He desires us to have healthy and wholesome families. He helps believers to see through His perspective, and the Holy Spirit is a very active partner in effecting the ministry of reconciliation between us and the Father, and between us and each other. In our journey with Him, we can always rely on Him, and it’s ok to take one step at a time. His word promises He equips all those He has called. He even takes care of the weather during our outdoor sessions and the number of participants in our programs.’
In today’s world, family dynamics have changed drastically, and it has not always been for the better. The world is getting complicated, and today we see all sorts of new cultures such as single parenting, cohabitation, blended families, and silo or self-serving. Along with all of this often comes much brokenness. Christians have the authority to empower families to be happy and strong in the way God intended them.
‘Being vs doing,’ Kelvin expressed, ‘we need to recognize the importance of being rather than just doing – the “Why” before the “What”. Too often, people want to do great things for their families without first aligning them to a solid identity in Christ.
‘The father’s role as a provider extends over more than the material necessities. Provision here actually emphasises “seeing ahead of time”. They provide a direction and a safe environment for their families to learn and grow to be positive influencers in their communities. Some of the Bible verses that speak to families are Malachi 4:6, Proverbs 22:6, Proverbs 21:21, and Proverbs 3:5-6.’
The greatest reward from a family ministry such as Heroes Headquarters is seeing how God utilizes God-given giftings from individuals to ignite, impart, and impact whole families.
‘In one of our events, we witnessed a touching rebuilding of the relationship between a father and a son. The father was an expatriate in Vietnam and spent most of the year overseas. At the end of our program, we posed the question to the participants on what they would like to receive most from each other after the event. The son said, “More time with my dad”
‘It touched everyone’s hearts, and I could see it touched the father’s heart deeply as well. The father now spends more time with his son and family in Malaysia instead of being overseas in Vietnam. It is in witnessing such things as this that we get our greatest reward,’ Kelvin relates joyfully.
Another reward is the opportunity to be part of the same mission with like-minded people and great organizations, such as Focus on the Family, who have been doing family programs for a long time and have now become friends.
‘Every family has a learning process. Particularly if it’s consisting of young couples who have just gotten married and starting to build their families. The best advice we can give is to always have the alignment before the assignment and constantly be a student of life itself. It is a continuous learning and improvement process. At Heroes Headquarters, it is our passion to help families learn and walk alongside them, adding fuel to this remarkable journey.’
About Heroes Headquarters
Heroes Headquarters structures each of its programs for a wide range of dedicated groups. The four core groups for the programs are families, parents, kids, and couples. Under each of these groups, there are many different types of programmes ranging from adventure and soccer leadership camps to parenting and marriage seminars. Explore them all at https://heroesheadquarters.com/
Their next intake for the Parenting Toolbox course for Baby & Toddlers is in February 2023. For more information, please go to https://heroesheadquarters.com/toolbox-parenting-courses/
Christianity Malaysia would like to thank Kelvin and Luisa for their help, hospitality, and patience throughout the writing process of this article. All photos kindly contributed by Heroes Headquarters.
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