Blood was “pouring like a tap” from Tay Wei Lien’s nose.
He could feel himself passing out from haemorrhagic shock and drowning in his own blood when he saw a circle of blue light with a perimeter of white.
Wei Lien, now 76, had been re-admitted to hospital in September 2019 for observation after an operation earlier that month to remove an enlarged pituitary gland that was pressing on his optic nerve and affecting his vision.
He recalls pointing to the foot of his hospital bed saying: “Angel Gabriel is here … he’s standing right there.”
“My wife later told me that I said, ‘Don’t talk to me now. I have to listen to Angel Gabriel or it’s goodbye’.”
Though he was not sure if seeing the Angel Gabriel was a hallucination, God spared Wei Lien’s life and he lived to tell the tale.
With the removal of the pituitary gland, Wei Lien needed hormonal treatment. A biopsy was done after Wei Lien’s Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) readings shot up, and this then revealed that the slow-growing prostate cancer had accelerated. Hence, in August 2022, Wei Lien underwent another major operation – this time to successfully remove the cancerous prostate gland. Indeed, the Lord’s ways are higher than our ways, as He continued to preserve Wei Lien.
Looking back, Wei Lien said: “I was blissfully unaware of what was happening within me. In all ways, God was always watching out for me. It was clear that His hand was firmly at the helm of my life.” Particularly so in how he came to WMC. In 1964, he was recruited into the Dawnbreakers1, the 7.30am Sunday choir, where incidentally, he had the opportunity to sing the part of Angel Gabriel in “The Heavens are Telling”, his favourite anthem.
“Subsequently, God spoke through the Word to answer the one burning question that I had – about whether I should come on board to serve him full-time at Wesley.”
Once he came on board in a full-time role with WMC as Church Project Coordinator, Wei Lien pioneered several initiatives. These included putting in place a system to ensure that the congregation were not locked out of church, to being the first worship leader of the inaugural charismatic Prayer and Praise services.
The Car Salesman … and Going on a Dangerous Ride
Wei Lien’s introduction to WMC came about “in the most random manner” when his father, who had a Morris Minor, suddenly came home with a car of a different make, a German-made Opel.
His father was Dr Tay Teck Eng, a pioneer in dental education.
Wei Lien, who was in Secondary Four at that time, accompanied Dr Tay one day to the car showroom to service the Opel. He got to talking to the car salesman who happened to be the lead tenor in Dawnbreakers at Wesley.
“I don’t know why he invited me to join the choir. Maybe by talking to me, he heard the resonance in my voice and thought, ‘This fellow probably can sing’. But I suspect it was because the choir was short of men, especially tenors,” quipped Wei Lien, whose only musical experience was learning to play the piano.
“I was a horrible piano student – lazy to practise,” he admitted.
“But at Dawnbreakers, I discovered my knack and love for singing,” said Wei Lien, who up till then had attended Kampong Kapor Methodist Church, where he was baptised as a child.
Conductors Mrs Koh Geok Kheng2 and Mrs Lillian Choo3 developed his talent and skill.
Shortly after, when he was in Pre-University, Wei Lien’s vocals were noticed by another group – a religious order. The brother of his then-girlfriend (subsequently wife) Tan Poh Imm had introduced him to the group.
“They discovered, ‘Eh, this fellow can sing. He will be a good temple chanter.’
“The chanter needs to hold the right tone for the right amount of time, at the right volume – and then transcend to the next tone – in order to get the right connection with the spirit you are trying to connect with. It was quite a complicated series of ‘ooms’ and ‘ahhs’,” Wei Lien explained.
Then, he did not see the spiritual danger in chanting.
“I thought it was just a religious practice that could move me into a different spiritual realm. It didn’t occur to me that I was calling down some spirit.
“I also did not see the danger in the out-of-body experiences of visiting places and hovering in the air to see what was going on that the Grandmaster of the Order claimed to have experienced.”
Wei Lien had earlier attended membership classes at WMC, and told Rev Christopher Smith4 that he was most grateful that Christ had died on the cross for him. While he still held this close to his heart, he was drawn to a key tenet of the religious order that all paths led to God – and each way had its particular spiritual beliefs.
“It was all very fascinating stuff to me. But God had His way in severing my connection with the religious order – both physically and spiritually. If I had stayed on, I probably would have become a Grandmaster,” he said.
What changed the course of Wei Lien’s life was being sent to Melbourne in the early 1970s. He was then a cadet quantity surveyor5, when his employer posted him to their Australian office for four years to gain working experience while concurrently studying at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).
A Real Relationship with Christ
In Melbourne, Wei Lien accompanied a colleague to an evangelistic meeting at the CrossCulture Church of Christ on Swanston Street. There, his “heart was strangely moved” in a sweep of the Holy Spirit that Singapore also experienced around the same time in 1972.
“When the preacher made the call to come forward, I remained seated as I was too shy. Then he said something strange: That shyness is just pride turned upside down.”
It struck a chord within Wei Lien, who had earlier been “profoundly moved by the scene of Jesus hanging on the cross” in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.
“I found myself getting up and going forward, weeping buckets in gratitude for what the Lord had done for me on the cross.
“Later back in my apartment room, I felt such a sense of peace flowing over me. It was literally the peace that passes all understanding. It was so meaningful to be touched by God, especially with the song “Amazing Grace” that happened to be playing on a neighbour’s radio. That night was the first time I could truly say ‘I am a Christian’,” he said.
Hungry to learn more about the faith, Wei Lien dug deeper into the Bible and listened to teachings by preachers such as Derek Prince. But he was still troubled by his personal view that all paths lead to God.
Then early one morning during his quiet time with the Lord, Wei Lien asked Him about this.
“I opened my Bible and it landed on Acts 4:12: ‘Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.’ I know people say you shouldn’t just open the Bible to get a verse like a lottery. But this was too much of a coincidence for me. God had answered my prayer immediately.”
Wei Lien started looking to worship with groups that moved in the Spirit.
Introducing Prayer and Praise at Wesley
On his return to Singapore in 1974, Wei Lien returned to Wesley where he met other like-minded members who had been touched by the Holy Spirit. Among them were Melvin Huang6, brothers Gordon and Norman Wong7, and Prof Khoo Oon Teik8.
“It was also the time of the movement of the Holy Spirit among Singapore churches, especially among the lay people. The fire of God started in my alma mater, Anglo-Chinese School in 1972. This was the ACS Clock Tower Revival. One of those filled with the Spirit – Melvin Huang, not yet a Reverend – became a close friend and co-worker.
“Also influential were the Canon James Wong9 and leaders of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International in Singapore led by the Khoo family, who invited many charismatic preachers to assuage the thirst for biblical teaching of God’s Word that was lacking from our pulpits at that time. It was an exciting and happy time experiencing the movement of the Holy Spirit through the churches in Singapore and in Wesley.
“As interest in the charismatic movement increased, Melvin and I felt that there needed to be an expression of prayer and praise at Wesley – in addition to the traditional service. However, there was some friction over it.
“Decisions like introducing a new service needed the pastor’s permission. If the pastor was not for it, we quietly went underground and prayed for him,” said Wei Lien.
At that time, Pastor-in-Charge Rev Dr Tony Chi was handing over the reins to Rev Dr Isaac Lim.
Subsequently, the pastors “had their own discovery of the power of the reality of the Spirit of God”.
“It was more God’s movement on the pastors’ hearts than anything that we did. But we hope that our prayers also moved God to move them,” said Wei Lien.
“Once they became charismatic, introducing the Prayer and Praise (P&P) service was not an issue. We thank God that it made things easier for P&P to start in Wesley. We were mindful that we had to ease the movement of the Spirit into the church, and not try to force it in. Initially, we tried to blend the traditional service in the sanctuary with P&P so that people were not overly discomforted by guitars, drums and other ‘strange’ instruments.
“However, to keep the more traditionally-minded members happy, it then was decided that those who wanted to praise God in a different way could do so in a separate service in Wesley Hall. P&P would also combine hymns with contemporary choruses,” said Wei Lien who was the first P&P worship leader at WMC. He also built up a team of worship leaders.
Unlike the traditional service that followed a more prescribed order of songs and service, P&P was contemporary in approach and choice of music, with opportunities to worship in tongues as and when led by the Spirit.
“However, with P&P, there is the danger that the physical (the lights, drama or excitable worship leader) rather than the spiritual (the presence of the Lord) becomes the focus. My constant prayer was that I would be hidden behind the cross. So that people will not see me as the worship leader, but they would see Christ on the cross instead.”
“I was convinced God called me to be His doorkeeper”
Wei Lien felt God’s nudge to serve Him full-time at church in 1976 — the same year that he married Poh Imm, who was his neighbour and pre-university schoolmate whom he had given a ride to Anglo-Chinese School every day.
“The congregation arrived at church one Sunday for the 7.30am service, only to find the doors locked. The caretaker was thought to have gone drinking on Saturday night, and went AWOL (Absent Without Leave) on Sunday morning. Horror of horrors, he was the only one with the key. This was the key moment when God impressed on me that we needed professional people to work in the church so that the congregation doesn’t get locked out again,” he said.
However, at that time, Wei Lien “immediately dismissed the thought” of pitching in to serve the church full-time with his professional skills. It was only 10 years later that he heeded God’s prompting. One of the first things he did as a full-time staff was to institute a master key system which ensured that more than one person could open the church.
About eight years later, he saw how much work needed to be done at church. Particularly, with regard to the evangelistic musical Victory Meetings10.
The verse Matthew 9:37 (ESV) – “the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few” – also kept popping into his mind.
At that time, Wei Lien was an associate partner in the firm he was working at.
“So the difference in salary as a full-time church worker was quite staggering. It was a big obstacle to saying ‘Okay God, here I am if you want me to go’. Then one day, when I opened my Bible, God showed me the verse ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’ (Joshua 1:9, NLT).
“When I told my bosses I was resigning to become a full-time church worker, they thought I was a totally crazy fella.”
Interestingly, God impressed on Wei Lien that He was going to use the skills of his profession in his new role at church.
His training and skills as a quantity surveyor (QS) came to the forefront when he supervised the extension work of the church in 1988.
“I was also the consultant-on-loan to other churches and Christian organisations, providing QS services pro-bono.”
“Rev Dr Isaac Lim, the Pastor-in-Charge, appointed me as Church Project Coordinator (for want of a better title), but I was convinced that God had called me to be His doorkeeper,” said Wei Lien referencing Psalm 82:10 (ESV).
“I was part of a close-knit team of full-time staff. The team was very small, compared to today,” said Wei Lien.
“Church facilities and maintenance were also included in my portfolio, as well as being the church bus driver.
“The biggest change since my time as a church worker is the boom in the number of church staff, and the outsourcing of maintenance duties,” said Wei Lien.
Working full-time at church meant that Wei Lien had to leave Dawnbreakers as he could no longer attend choir practices.
“I was the first person in church and the last one out every day. The first duty of each day was to get the different areas in church ready for each activity, ensuring the chairs, the sound, the OHP (overhead projector) screen, the water flasks and cups were in place.
“Every Sunday, I manned the soundboard. And with my knowledge of music and choir anthems, hopefully I made our choirs sound good,” said Wei Lien.
Not only was he involved in the day-to-day logistics of the church, Wei Lien also orchestrated the development of Wesley worship leaders, musicians and soundmen.
When Wesley started the Small Group Ministry under Rev Dr Isaac Lim and his wife Shirley, Wei Lien organised guitar classes11 to raise musicians “because we discovered that there was hardly anybody who could lead worship at cell level. We found quite a few people wanting to learn to play the guitar.”
To train musicians, worship leaders and soundmen to enhance worship at the Prayer and Praise service, Wesley worked with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) to conduct the inaugural School of Music Ministries workshops in Singapore. Wei Lien coordinated all that was necessary to bring in Grammy-nominated American song-writing and writer team, Jimmy and Carol Owens and their band of musicians (including a soundman) whom they believed could train up Asian teams. The workshop was held at WMC, but was open to members of all churches.
Providence and Provision
Wei Lien served as a full-time staff with Wesley for 10 years. These were lean years, with Wei Lien’s family living “month to month, with no savings other than CPF”, buffeted by his wife’s salary as a teacher at Methodist Girls’ School. At one stage, he had to take an overdraft to make ends meet.
To save money, Wei Lien switched from a car to a motorcycle. The family also swapped their car for a more affordable diesel-run van registered to a company God had prompted him to set up.
“We discovered that we could survive on very little, eating hawker food,” Wei Lien said.
Wei Lien admitted however, that there were times he had “quarrels with God” over finances.
“How to concentrate on church work when you are worrying about paying household expenses?” he said.
But Wei Lien also experienced first-hand how God honours those who step out in obedience to serve Him full-time.
“I discovered that God practises the ‘just in time’ principle. We never found ourselves wanting. There were many times we thought we were running out of money, when lo and behold, the Lord provided. For instance, when we decided we didn’t have enough money to go away during the school holidays, a church member blessed us with two free air tickets and an ang pow so that we could take the family to Penang.
“Another time, we had stopped behind some cars when a drunk driver rammed into our tiny Subaru Viki. Our first daughter was asleep in the back seat. Somehow, I turned the steering wheel to the right, and our car jumped onto the grass verge of the centre road divider and was propelled past four other cars. If God had not lifted us onto the grass verge, we would have been crushed. Subsequently, one church member asked us to send our car to her relative’s repair workshop and she blessed us by taking care of the bill. Through all this, it was as if God was showing me, ‘Eh, I am with you in spite of all your grumblings’.”
After serving a decade with Wesley, Wei Lien left in 1993 to work full-time at another church for a year before returning to the private sector as a quantity surveyor – first with his previous employer before striking it out on his own through his company, WL Tay Quantity Surveying Services. These days, he accepts jobs only when architect friends ask for help.
Giving Back
Wei Lien’s heavenly Father not only provided on time, He provided avenues for Wei Lien to give back to serve others. Wei Lien’s own earthly father, Dr Tay Teck Eng, unknowingly opened these doors.
“After Mum passed away in 1999, Dad lost interest in life apart from his grandchildren. So I tried to keep him engaged and occupied. Dad was one of Singapore’s prominent Rotarians, but I noticed that he had stopped going to his Rotary Club meetings. So every week I would say, ‘Hey Dad, there’s a good speaker this week. Let’s go hear him?’ For my sake, he would agree to go and bring me as his guest. Now Rotary has a protocol of introducing guests at every meeting, and after a while, the President came up to me and said, ‘We’re tired of introducing you as our weekly guest. Why don’t you become a member?’”
Wei Lien’s father was 92 when he passed away in 2006. The proceeds from the sale of his apartment not only paid off Wei Lien’s overdraft, but also enabled Wei Lien and his brother to set up the Tay Teck Eng Dental Bursary at National University of Singapore (NUS) in memory of their late father, who was a strong believer of giving back.
Wei Lien continues to be involved with the Singapore branch of the international organisation Rotary that provides service to others, promotes integrity and advances world understanding, goodwill and peace through the fellowship of business, professional and community leaders.
Significant Rotary projects Wei Lien has spearheaded included epic Rotary’s Walks to End Polio to raise funds for the cause. Over the years, supporters have trodden paths from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, as well as from Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu – climbing Mt Kinabalu along the way.
Coming Full Circle
After resigning from full-time service with WMC in 1993, and then joining another church for a year, Wei Lien Wei Lien returned as a “pew sitter, a Sunday worshipper” around 1995.
He served in the Soloist Singers Fellowship12, where he was rostered to sing during collection at Prayer and Praise only once in two months.
“At that time, I saw no pressing need to rejoin Dawnbreakers, especially since we now attended the 11am service – or the 5pm service if we were late. I didn’t think we would be able to make it on time for the 7.30am service,” he said.
But God had His way with Wei Lien when Covid struck.
“Covid was one of God’s ways of making you change things. Stuck at home, I saw that the choir was singing on Zoom. I found out that we could record our parts at home at any hour of the day. We would submit it, and someone would piece it together. They would technically improve the sound to make us sound good,” he said.
And so Wei Lien rejoined Dawnbreakers – 10 years after he had left the choir.
Since then, the Dawnbreakers – including Wei Lien – have been back to singing in-person. (His wife Poh Imm, who joined the choir as a soprano after they were married also came back to Dawnbreakers during this time.)
“I have to wake up at 5.30am on Sundays or we will be late for service,” he said.
“You could say I have come full circle back to my ‘first love’ – singing in the choir where I started when I first came to Wesley.”