Peter Tan-chi: A Christ-Committed Follower Who Make Christ-Committed Followers

Introduction

Total commitment to God and total obedience to His commandments is the chief calling of every Christian. Every fiber of our existence and every aspect of our lives must be committed to loving God and serving Him wholeheartedly. It is said that God holds nothing back from us, so we must hold nothing back from Him. Our commitment to God must surpass our commitment to our family, relationships, dreams, plans and ministry.

Peter Tan-chi is a businessman and self-supporting minister who became a follower of Jesus in the 70's and commits his life to the cause of Christ from then on. He is the founder and Senior Pastor of Christ Commission Fellowship (CCF), one of the mega-church in the Philippines with over 60 satellites churches across the country and around the globe. The mission of CCF "To honor God and make Christ-committed followers who will make Christ-committed followers" (Carandang, 2018) is Peter's life and passion.

From a logger to a planter

Peter, a nominal Christian as he was described himself before, had his "Damascus experience" when his car involved in an accident while attending their family logging business in southern Philippines. The car that he was driving turtle turned, and like in the action movie scene, while his car was in the mid-air everything suddenly went into slow motion (Carandang, 2018). He asked Jesus to saved him and committed his life to follow Him. This event was the turning point of Peter's life; from the logging business, he is now in the planting business. He is instrumental to CCF's church planting movement in different locations in the Philippines and around the globe. This movement started in 1980's as an evangelistic home Bible study with only three couples in attendance that later moved in a garage in a house in San Juan. This group of businessmen, professionals, and their families became the core group of CCF.

The two tragedies that test Peter's commitment

Peter's family owned the largest textile company in the Philippines in the 1970's, as well as a chemical and a polyester plant that were included in the list of sequestered companies during the Marcos era. Peter, who was the vice-president of the company, was kicked out. A painful experience that God used to teach Peter the lesson of forgiveness. Sometime in his ministry, Peter's commitment to follow God and the teaching of the Bible was put to test when he had an opportunity to forgive the man who kicked him out from his company and was able to share the gospel before the man passed away.

The lost of family business was a very painful chapter of Peter's life, but it was nothing compared to what happened to his daughter (Carandang, 2018).

One night while Peter and his wife Deonna were teaching in a Bible study, ten robbers broke into their house and his fifteen years old daughter was raped by several men. The robbers cocked their guns ready to shoot their other children, but by the grace of God the robbers changed their mind and left the house. It was very dark and painful experience for the Tan-chis. Peter and Deonna asked God why He allowed such a terrible things to happen to His children. There were times that Peter and Deonna thought of giving up the ministry. Devastated to what happened and wrestling with questions but could not find an answer, Peter and Deonna hold on to God and chose to believe in the goodness of God and His plan for their family (Motivate, 2018).

These two events made Peter's commitment to the cause of Christ stronger than ever and became more effective minister, teaching others to commit their life to follow God and to serve Jesus wholeheartedly.

Life lessons

As Jesus said in Luke 14:27, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My

disciple,"(WCF, 2018) was a true test of commitment. The commitment Jesus was demanding to His followers is marked by perseverance, loyalty, allegiance, self-giving and humility under trials. Jesus suffered a lot for our good and suffering for His cause is a privilege every follower must accept.

Pastor Peter is one of my heroes in the faith. His commitment and dedication to his wife and his family is the example to which I decided to follow. His commitment to the call of Christ impacted my life and ministry. I'm serving the Lord Jesus Christ because I saw in Pastor Peter's life the man whom God would say, "Good and faithful servant, come to the joy of your Master." "I subscribe to Pastor Peter's famous quote, 'Nothing to prove, everything to improve,' is the best attitude in ministering to people" (Carandang, 2018). I would not be the best person to minister to people but I would serve God anyway and obey His Word. My attitude is that, I will give whatever I could and leave the rest to God.

As Pastor Peter exemplified, my total commitment to God's calling means that the sole authority of my life and ministry is Jesus. The Bible is my guiding light and my unerring compass. Fruitfulness and servant-hood is the blood that flows in my veins.

Bibliography

Ariel Carandang. 2017. CCF: Building of a Movement, A

Research Paper on Philippine's Local Church and

People Who Made an Impact. (submitted to IGSL,

February 7, 2018).

Tan-chi, Peter and Deonna. MOTIVATE! 8 Secrets of

Successful Parenting. Mandaluyong, MM: OMF Literature

Inc., 2017.

Wangaratta Christian Fellowship. http://wangcf.org.au

/thought-for-the-week/2012/5/6/bearing- your-cross-

1.html?printerFriendly=true (accessed 15 March, 2018).

Photo Credit: https://www.google.com

/search?q=pastor+peter+tanchi&client=firefox-

b&dcr=0&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&

ved=0ahUKEwjlrP7bv-

3ZAhVH2LwKHRHhBP0Q_AUICygC&biw=1280&

bih=626#imgrc=PKx262sopO2Eg M: (downloaded 15

March, 2018).