Around Town: Pastor Tom Cheung, the Garratts, Brandt Louie, A Garden Green

Pastor Tom Cheung leaves behind his wife Athens and three children.

Friends and supporters have created a GoFundMe page for the family of pastor Tom Cheung, who died in a fiery crash at the Peace Arch border crossing May 2. Cheung had been lead pastor at Port Moody Pacific Grace MB Church.

He was a man who loved God and His Word dearly. Many lives are blessed, transformed and renewed through Tom and Athens’ ministries. Despite many challenges and difficulties, he remained faithful, obedient and continued helping people and leading people to Christ.

The tragic loss has brought unimaginable devastation to the family. Tom was the main provider for the family; a way to help is to relieve the family from their financial burden and to support them for their basic living and education expenses.

Pastor Peter Teh, with the North Shore Pacific Grace MB Church, spoke with Postmedia Wednesday, describing his friend as “a passionate person and family man, faithful husband and good father.”

Cheung moved to Canada from Hong Kong in 1996 and was working as a sales manager before being called into ministry, said Teh. He then served four years at a Baptist church before becoming a pastor at Port Moody’s Pacific Grace MB Church, where he has spent the last decade.

Teh said members of the church congregation have been visiting with the Cheung family to cook, clean and provide support. A lawyer with the church has also been helping the family to handle paperwork and insurance documents.

Teh said Cheung was headed across the border that day to pick up church ministry books he had ordered online when his van was struck by a Porsche Cayenne SUV and set on fire. The Washington man driving the Porsche was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

During the fifth month of her wrongful imprisonment in a tiny, perpetually lit jail cell in China, Julia Garratt scribbled in her Bible that she was feeling hopelessness and was longing for heaven.

Julia and her husband, Kevin Garratt, had spent 30 years in China as teachers, entrepreneurs and Christian aid workers. Then, in 2014, they were accused by the Chinese government of being spies, in retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a Chinese businessman. Julia spent six months in jail; Kevin was locked up for nearly two years.

Since then, relations between China and Canada have grown even more tense, with Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in December. Today, China is impeding the import of Canadian goods and there are several high-profile cases of Canadians languishing in Chinese jails.

Businessman Michael Spavor and ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig were jailed in China on Dec. 10, and experts believe it was to even the score after Meng’s arrest.

The Garratts – who share a similar story because it is now known they were seized in retaliation for a Chinese businessman’s arrest in Vancouver – have a unique perspective on how Spavor and Kovrig may be feeling five months into their captivity.

Brandt Louie will speak at this year’s BC Leadership Prayer Breakfast.

The 53rd annual BC Leadership Prayer Breakfast will take place May 16 – which is a Thursday this year, not the traditional Friday.

This year, we are very honoured to have as our guest speaker Dr. Brandt Louie, OBC, Chairman of London Drugs.

Dr. Louie is one of Canada’s most respected entrepreneurs and philanthropists. Under his stewardship, London Drugs has become one of Canada’s most trusted retail brands, and a leading contributor to environmental and social causes.

The Provincial Leaders Dinner is a special gathering of the faith community on the eve of the BC Leadership Prayer Breakfast. It is an occasion for people of faith and for those who support the Prayer Breakfast to come together in an intimate setting in order to share dinner and conversation.

We are honoured to have Jae Kim, Chief Philanthropy Officer of The Giustra Foundation, join us as our special guest and speaker for the evening.

Both events will be held at the Hyatt Regency.

The Forest Archive aka Jason Wood is releasing his first album, A Garden Green, a compilation of grassroots folk songs inspired by the Songs of Ascent. So it’s time to throw a party!

Come join in for a delightful evening of original music and warm friendship, celebrating this big moment.

I have posted several articles by Jason Wood and about Earthkeepers, with which he has been very active, over the past few years; here and here for example.