I first met David when the DOULOS visited Belfast in 1979. I was working in the DOULOS program office, responsible for organising teams that went out for evangelism and church meetings.

David Knox was one of those who came faithfully to take DOULOS teams with him to visit the crew onboard the commercial ships docked nearby; many of the seamen came from my part of the world. I would often join him in those visits and that’s how our friendship started. I remember he would take us (DOULOS team members) out for fish and chips afterwards. I was pretty sure evangelism was our motive, but fish and chips may have played an important part in getting us out those cold February evenings.

David and I kept in regular contact all these years with him visiting us in Singapore and vice versa.

What started off as evangelism visits to commercial ships developed into a friendship that lasted to this day - 40 years.

Among the many spiritual lessons David taught me, was his love for our Saviour, followed by his passion for evangelism. His friendly, affable and jovial sense of humour had a winsome way to put people at ease and paved the way to share the Gospel. I loved going out with him to share our faith. He made sharing the Gospel so natural and had helped me overcome my fear of witnessing to strangers and for that, I am forever grateful.

The Lord has used David so wonderfully in my life. Whenever I think of him, my heart is filled with warmth and inspiration. He was such a beautiful brother and I want to learn from his fine example.

Gratefully,
Lawrence Tong
OM International Director