About three years ago, Jeff Wong and Wayne Wong ("No we’re not brothers!") started dreaming about planting a Greater Vancouver church for 2^nd generation Asian-Canadians and other ethnic groups within. Jeff Wong, a 2^nd generation Chinese-Canadian graduate of Northwest Baptist Theological College, web consultant, and songwriter, discovered that very few ministries were established specifically for English-speaking Asians, while many ministries existed for first-generations and new immigrants. Wayne Wong, a 2^nd generation Chinese-Canadian, was a graduate student at Trinity Western Seminary at that time, working on a masters thesis that was part of his vision to help bridge the gap between the 1^st generation Asians and 2^nd generation Asian-Canadians through biblical family reconciliation.

Left to right: Dann, Jeff, Wayne, John

After an initial church plant venture that failed, Jeff and Wayne started to meet and pray with Dann Pantoja, a 1^st generation Filipino-Canadian church planter recruiter and former Director of Global Ministries of the Baptist General Conference. By late 1997, the three were, in Dann’s words: "Praying, dreaming... and debating!" about a possible church plant.

Soon after, John Tazumi joined them. A 3rd generation Japanese-Canadian Vancouver native, John had served as a youth evangelist in the New Jersey area for four years. John says he "heard the Lord say, ‘Why don’t you go home and do what you were doing here." For John, joining "a group like Waves that was embryonic, inter-generational, and reaching the culture, was my dream."

In June 1998, these four met with others as a cell group, and began a church planting ministry. The cell, called WavesFamily, met every Friday evening and there are now several WavesFamily groups that meet throughout the week. Dann Pantoja is Head Coach and Chief Executive Officer of Waves. He also oversees the global vision casting and leadership development; Jeff Wong the Chief Information officer, as well as worship, technology and arts pastor; Wayne Wong the Chief Operations Officer; and John Tazumi the Chief Relational Officer and also directs ministry to youth. The team wholeheartedly embraces their mission: " To start and grow a biblical church planting movement in the context of postmodernism, designed by a new generation, to reach all generations for Jesus Christ." "We want to reach CanAsians, then more multicultural groups, and also our parents' generation and Generation-Y," Dann says.

Click here to respond to this article. 

[Back to the Beginning]
[Back to Current Issue]

Contents | Home | FAQ | You can help | Previous Issues | Links | Books |  Staff | Updates