Deacon Profile - Nathan Tam

Personal Testimony

It was the summer of 1979 when I was in high school, a brother in a youth fellowship introduced me to Christ and I accepted Christ in a basketball court bench. I was searching for the meaning of life and looking for reason or purpose for my being. I was not facing any life problem but deep down in my heart I knew I need something more than a good and comfortable life. I was struggling with why I needed to be a moral person since my life would end eventually. Through the loving care of brothers and sisters in my fellowship and the spiritual books that I read I was finding it harder and harder to rationalize myself away from my sin and God’s redemption through his Son on the cross. I realized that there is no eternal meaning of my being without God’s grace and the forgiveness of sins. All my life questions were answered by the gospel of grace. Grace says I am made in the image of God whose love is without merit or condition. Looking back over my life journey, God has been continually pursuing a sinner like me and has given me a purpose. I was baptized with full immersion on Sept 27, 1981 in Chinese Christian & Missionary Alliance Church in Hong Kong.

I bring my family to worship God every Sunday. I tried to plan and incorporate Sunday worship in our vacation plan outside of Phoenix. Instilling the concept of setting aside a special time to focus on our Lord and savior through song, prayer, and Scripture reading is important in my home, especially when my children were young. We prayed together as a family before meals. I believe that family pray together stay together. I have had a family worship time when my kids were young. Family worship time has been discontinued due to various reasons.

Amy and I have been married since 1994 and we are blessed with two sons – Chris and Michael. Amy and I both enjoy simple family life and fellowship time with church brothers and sisters. I am blessed with a Godly wife who has been spending most of time and energy to care for me and our sons. Amy has the gift of contentment and she reminds me to rely on God in all circumstances just when I need to hear it. We learned and still learning to improve our communication through prayer, causal meal time conservation.

I have been a member of Chinese Servant Team for more than 10 years. I have been working with Chinese pastor and other leaders on ministries. I teach in Cantonese Adult Sunday school. I join Joy fellowship that meet once a month. Sometimes I lead the fellowship meeting and provide support. I also participate Sunday morning prayer meeting before the worship hour. Sunday worship I involve as MC or Cantonese interpreter on a rotation basis.

My devotion time include daily scripture reading, mediation, prayer, and sometime worship songs. For the last 3 years, I use an app and follow a ‘365 scripture reading plan’ in reading the whole Bible once a year. I joined Wed remote prayer meeting as often as possible. I find that time spent with other brothers and sisters can re-center my spiritual life during a work week. I enjoy spending time reading and studying Christian literature in both Chinese and English.

I was asked to teach Chinese adult Sunday school about 2 years ago. I accepted the task with a simple idea that being a teacher mean more Bible study time for myself and a chance to influence pupils. So it was a win-win proposition. As I started the class preparation, I felt totally inadequate to be the instructor on God’s holy word – the Bible. I learned to pray more and ask Holy Spirit to lead us all – both the teacher and pupils to the full understanding of His word. The Sunday school not only requires many study hours but also preparation of myself to be able to give all of me for that hour on Sunday. My initial idea was not totally correct – I am the one who has been influenced by the class. I see this event shows that God has abundant blessings in store for both me and the pupils!

I lost my father-in-law 3 years ago and I attended many funeral services for NW brothers and sisters in the last 2-3 years. Each service is a major event for the family and love ones because death brings separation and sorrow. Each service remains me life is precious and a gift from God. I should appreciate and give thanks more to my maker each and every day. Each service remains me the power of the hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ. More importantly am I prepared to meet Him at any time?

I believe God will use NWCBC to bring glory to Him. I do not know exactly how God will use me but I know all things are possible in Him. I trust that I will continue to see the mighty work and how God’s hand at work at NWCBC. When I look back my life I will see my faith grew through all the heartache, troubles, joys, and victories as a servant to our Lord.

Short Biography

I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior in summer of 1979 when I was 17 and baptized two years later in Hong Kong. I moved to Phoenix in 1992 and now work as a System Support Consultant in a bank. I and my wife Amy have two sons - Chris and Michael.