Truman became a Campus Crusade staff member in 1999 and is married to Amber. He is driven by a passion for seeing Asian American men mentored who will raise their families and change the culture. Truman speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and English. He recently won first place in American-Statesman's Travel Win-In-A-Flash Contest for a picture he took in New Orleans. Truman also loves snowboarding and watching Project Runway with Amber.
Why did you join Campus Crusade for Christ?
I went into college about building me: building my kingdom, building my name. I wanted to be rich.
It was through Campus Crusade that I found out what it meant to be a follower of Christ for the first time. I went on summer missions trip to East Asia as a student. I was exposed to people who had never heard of Christ before.
I started thinking, "If my parents hadn't immigrated, it could have been me who never had a chance to hear about Christ." It shook up my world. That drives a lot of my desire to help students have a bigger worldview and make an eternal impact.
What is a favorite ministry moment of yours?
Every time I see someone trust Christ, I seriously walk away thinking, "This is why I do what I do."
Also summer projects are one of my favorite parts of being on staff. Last summer, I did an Epic summer project in the Bay Area. I can look back at where those students are now a year later: one of them went back to the Bay Area as a Campus Crusade intern, one went to New York City on the Tribeca summer project, one went to Japan, one is going to be interning in Los Angeles on an Epic team and two went to East Asia to serve with Campus Crusade.
That is why I do what I do. I can't individually change a culture, but one student at a time, different people I invest my time and life into will multiply.
What are you presently learning about God?
I think the biggest thing I am learning is faith. About a year ago I married Amber, who has fibromyalgia. Through Amber's health needs, my view of God's goodness and His faithfulness is being challenged.
When you see the person you love and care about so dearly crying in bed because she is in so much pain, I can't help but think, "God, are You there? Do You hear our prayers?"
So I am learning to trust in God's goodness in the face of adversity. In Amber and my small group at church we have been studying Philippians.
In that book of the Bible, the Philippians continued to have joy and the gospel continued to go forth even in the midst of hardship and trials and adversity.
What is the biggest challenge in ministry you face right now?
We only have 3 senior staff members on our team and 8 new staff members or interns. So we are a very young team. All of us are going to be responsible for crossing cultures, reaching out to Asian, Latino, African and international student communities.
I've always focused on Asian American before, so walking up to a group of African-American students will be a new thing.
Plus, before this year, we focused on the University of Texas. Now we are going to going 7 more campuses. There is not really anyone reaching out to the 50,000 ethnic students on those campuses. We are going to create a mess as we try new things, but it is going to be good.
What do you think makes a successful leader?
Humility, prayer, taking steps of faith, prayer and being willing to fail. Did I mention prayer?
Do you have a favorite quote? (other than the Bible?)
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those timid spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States and winner of 1906 Nobel Peace Prize
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