“I want to tell you that it is your broadcast that has helped us keep our faith in the Lord. We listen to it every day. Many of you at FEBC may not know this, but there are many, many people who have come to faith due to your program. It continues to astound us with the Word of God.”
 Letters like this from Hmong listeners pour into FEBC offices every day, sharing the joy that entered their lives when they accepted Christ as their Savior. And the man most instrumental in leading his kinsmen to Christ once lived amongst them in northern Laos where people spent their entire lives in constant fear of evil spirits. Fortunately, FEBC’s broadcasts penetrated the mountainous terrain of remote Hmong villages as far back as the 1950s, offering hope where there had once been fear. Here is the story of one young heart who accepted the call to share God’s love with his fellow men, and the astounding results that followed.
John Lee was only 8 years old when a tall white man with “round eyes” visited his Laotian village. The man had traveled many miles by foot to reach John’s village, but the trip was necessary. The Hmong were afraid to travel to the lowlands, convinced that evil spirits lurked in valleys. Every time someone from their village visited this area they became sick. Demons, they believed, were the cause of their illnesses rather than an immune system unable to ward off unfamiliar germs.
Prior to the white man’s visit, the Hmong had been listening to a radio program that spoke of God and Jesus, and they wanted to know more. Was there really such a thing as one true God? And did He possess more power than the evil spirits who held them hostage? Legends passed down from their ancestors spoke of a redeemer King, but the Hmong had long ago focused on appeasing evil spirits.
To satisfy their curiosity, the elders of the village sent a delegation to a post office in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, the only contact they had for FEBC. From there they made a connection with Ed Gustafson, a Christian and Missionary Alliance missionary who agreed to visit their village.
Over a 6-day period Ed spoke to several thousand Hmong. He explained that God loved them so much He sent His Son to die for their sins. He also made it clear that if they committed their lives to Christ they would spend eternity with God. This is the same message they had heard on the radio for several years. By the time the man departed, 3,000 Hmong had accepted Christ as their Savior. They believed the Holy Spirit was stronger than evil spirits, and they rejoiced in their newfound freedom.
“It was the most important day in the history of our village,” John later explained, “because we all became believers. And it was a very important day for me because it set me on my path for life. My mother encouraged me to listen to the radio every day to learn more about God, hoping one day I would become a broadcaster and share the Good News with others.”
When John was old enough to leave his village, he traveled to the lowlands to attend Bible College. While there, he became involved with Campus Crusade for Christ. CCC wanted to send John to Manila to train to be a missionary, but they wanted him to go as a married man.
John and Pai, a fellow Bible school student, were married on a Friday in 1975, preparing to fly to Manila the following Monday. But that weekend a remarkable turn of events occurred which changed the course of John and Pai’s life, not to mention millions of others. Communists stormed into Vientiane, forcing John and Pai to flee. They spent the next 13 days on the run, eventually crossing the border into Thailand where they lived in a refugee camp for a year. John’s hopes of working with Campus Crusade for Christ were dashed, but God had other plans.
Less than 3 years later, John and Pai moved to California, where John eventually joined FEBC as a broadcaster to the Hmong, who currently number 10 million people in 5 Asian countries. John was finally able to fulfill his mother’s wish to become a Christian broadcaster, and he continued in this capacity with FEBC until his death in 2002.
While John’s death was a huge loss to the Hmong community, his legacy lives on in the lives of those who came to know the Lord as a result of his radio ministry. With a true pastor’s heart, he not only served the Hmong as a spiritual leader, but also as a friend. He and Pai faithfully corresponded with hundreds of Hmong who wrote to them through the years. John also made several trips to Thailand and China to visit his listeners and preach the Word of God. Literally hundreds of thousands of Hmong committed their lives to Christ as a result of John’s 24-year ministry with FEBC.
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