FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–He performs classic American pop songs with a smooth singing voice and can fill a room with contagious laughter. But Bill Huang’s nightclub-style one-man show is more than music and comedy. It is primarily a ministry through which Huang shares his Christian testimony, especially with lost people in China and Taiwan.
In the past 10 years, he estimated, 1,000 Chinese people have become Christians through his ministry.
Performing comes easy to Huang, who lived most of his life in Taiwan. Since he was very young, Huang has been on some sort of stage.
“When I was 3 years old I could read more than 100 words in Chinese,” said Huang, who now speaks 10 different Chinese dialects. “I would perform [those words] in front of my parents’ friends. They would test me. I think those experiences made me not nervous. I just feel so comfortable on stage.”
Huang also said he was a bit of a showman in school. He would serve up impressions of his teachers and sing a few tunes for his fellow students.
“I always tried to show off even in the classroom,” Huang said. “I would say things I should not say and make everybody laugh. Teachers would have a headache because of me.”
Huang accepted Christ when he was 12 at a children’s summer camp sponsored by Taiwanese Baptists. He was baptized just after the camp, but Huang admitted he was not truly “born again” until he went on a Christian retreat right before his senior year of college.
During a time of sharing with others on the retreat, Huang said the Holy Spirit started speaking to him.
“Suddenly … I see my guilt. I see all that I have done before is totally wrong, and then I started to cry,” Huang said.
That was the start of a heavenly experience that lasted more than four hours, he said, recounting that he was enveloped by a happy and comforting peace until 2 the next morning. The experience changed the direction of Huang’s life.
“From that day on, I committed myself to my Lord,” Huang proclaimed. “I said, ‘Lord, I will be your servant. I don’t know when I will be a full-timer. But, when the time comes, I’m going to do it. I promise.'”
Huang went on to graduate from Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan with a chemical engineering degree. More degrees would follow, including a master’s from Georgia Tech and a master of divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Huang recently began work on a doctor of ministry degree at Southwestern.
Before coming to Southwestern, Huang served many churches as a layperson, deacon, missionary and pastor. Now he’s heading up his own ministry that utilizes his talent and experience.
In 1999 Huang started Melody of Life Ministry, a one-man operation that carries the gospel to lost people in China. In the past 18 months, Huang has traveled to Asia to minister six times.
One way Huang said he reaches so many Chinese people is with his unique stage act and his fluency in 10 dialects. Huang said many groups of Chinese people feel a special connection to him because they identify with him as he speaks their individual dialects on stage.
“Since I can speak their mother dialect … those people get excited,” said Huang, who was born in mainland China but raised in Taiwan. “They will say, ‘How can he speak our dialect?’ That is what is attractive to them.”
Huang makes sure all of his Chinese audiences get his jokes because he can deliver the punch lines in many dialects. And, he said, you never want to miss a joke from him.
“When I tell some jokes and you miss one, there will be people laughing and you didn’t laugh … you will feel ashamed,” Huang said. “Then you will say, ‘I need to listen, so when people laugh I can laugh too.'”
Musical tunes are also an important ingredient of a Huang production.
“I was a singer in nightclubs when I was in college, and I sang American pop songs,” he said.
Huang always sings a variety of music in his act. His American set includes the ballads of Elvis Presley and the classic croons of Nat King Cole. Huang mixes these secular songs in with gospel music standards.
Evangelistic variety shows are what Huang said he wants to do full time through Melody of Life Ministries, because there are just too many Chinese who are not saved.
“Who’s going to do it?” Huang asked. “Yes, I know if you have a local church you can nurture about 20, 30, 50 people … but their conversion rate is very low. I cannot occupy the whole pie for the kingdom. I can only do this part, and I am trying to do it more efficiently and effectively.”
Huang’s goal is to take Melody of Life on the road, but he conceded that finances are not available to support him in the ministry at this time. For now, Huang said he will continue to do conferences when invited and any other events he can schedule.
“I want to do my job, and my job is to try to convert [new believers],” Huang said. “God wants me to do that job and do it good.”
Huang can be contacted through mail at Melody of Life Ministries, 4110 Waterstone, Missouri City, TX, 77459, by telephone at 281-499-777 or via e-mail at [email protected].
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