Chasing God by Roger Huang
Published by David C. Cook on September 1, 2013
Genres: Biography, Non-Fiction
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

Leaving behind his abusive home in Taiwan, Roger discovered both the American Dream and his French bride, Maite. A dramatic event took place before his very eyes and prompted Roger to rethink his future and his calling. As a couple, Roger and Maite chose not to ignore the plight of the poor and homeless in San Francisco's most impoverished district, the Tenderloin. Since founding City Impact, Roger has led many in discovering the power of prayer, fasting, and serving hands-on in a community starved for hope. Chasing God is a testimony to God's miraculous provision and will challenge you to consider how to serve and care for your own city and community.

Chasing God | Roger Huang

Roger Huang’s journey really began that fateful day in 1983 when his car broke down in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. Huang had already lived an adventurous life up to that point, growing up in Taipei under the hands of an abusive father. His family would later emigrate to San Francisco, and, as soon as he could, Huang left his toxic family life for life on his own. He would grow up, get married, and hold down two jobs as a hotel auditor. Then Jesus stepped into his life.

His wife, Maite, had grown serious about her faith. The only thing Roger was serious about was the fact he worked hard and needed to sleep in on Sundays. Their marriage was struggling. Roger was perplexed. They had money, he had a rewarding job, but yet he wasn’t happy. So one Sunday while his family went to church, he stayed home and turned the television to a Sunday service. And that’s when God grabbed him.

It would be several more years before the breakdown in the Tenderloin. As Roger waited for his car to be towed, he had no other choice but to observe the poverty and crime in the district. And he knew he needed to do something. What began in 1983 handing out sandwiches has, over the past thirty years, become an expansive ministry throughout the Tenderloin district that’s touched thousands of lives.

Chasing God is the beautiful story of submission to God’s will, of total reliance on him to enact the impossible, and then watching as God provides. Huang recounts the time the ministry needed money for a building—and it came to them in the form of a donated sack of gold coins. Of the time he went on a hunger strike to convince the city to make a bigger presence in the slums—and they did, including enacting a law that would shut down the sex club that stood across the street from Roger’s Christian school. And that’s only the beginning.

Middle-class evangelicals can often get wrapped up in the belief that God doesn’t do miracles anymore. That he isn’t into delivering things in a huge way. Maybe it was right for the missionaries of the past to perform only on hopes and prayers, but our fundraising efforts will be with accountants and marketing teams. In Chasing God, Roger Huang disproves all that, showing through his life and ministry, and sometimes success can only be attributed to God. It’s a magnificent, eye-opening story from someone who truly gives God all the glory.