MEET OUR STAFF
Serving God is our utmost joy and honour. Meet the team that keeps GCC thriving!
PAUL LIU
Lead Pastor
Pastor Paul Liu was born and raised in Chicago, USA. He studied English Literature and Anthropology at the University of Illinois and received his Master of Divinity from Biblical Theological Seminary.
Pastor Paul met Jesus when he was a first year student in university. His calling was confirmed over time and involved: being convinced by reading the Bible that God is a missionary God, a burden that became a conviction to serve God in Asia, lessons learned through multiple short-term trips, a sense of God’s leading nurtured in prayer, and the wise counsel of other believers.
Before moving to Singapore, Pastor Paul was on staff at Grace Covenant Church Philadelphia for many years. There, he met his wife Ailsa. In 2005, they followed God’s call to Indonesia and, in 2015, the Lord led Pastor Paul, Ailsa, and their daughters Caitlyn, Hannah, and Olivia to Singapore to plant Grace Covenant Church Singapore.
Pastor Paul’s passion is helping people to know Christ for themselves. He is also passionate about reading, coffee, movies, durian, and Chicago Sports.
TESS CHARNG
Worship Pastor
Tess was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles. She studied Film & Television and Violin Performance at Boston University and received her Masters of Divinity from East Asia School of Theology.
Tess felt God's call to missions early in life. Year by year, doors opened for her to go to unreached places and finally when she was 19 she took her first step out as a long-term missionary. God brought her to Singapore in 2016 and she has been walking step-by-step ever since!
In Singapore, Tess met her husband Sam, who is a boxer.
Tess’s greatest desire is to see Jesus come back. She can’t wait for the day that Revelation 21:3 becomes reality: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” With her life and with the things that she creates, Tess hopes to build bridges between heaven and earth-- creating atmospheres that open the door for the Holy Spirit to enter where He has never been invited.
Tess loves all things music and performance. She also enjoys various types of physical training and has even competed as an amateur boxer. In her spare time, Tess eats good food and plays Tetris while she rewatches The Office, Friends, and the LOTR appendices.
MELVIN
KOH
Children and Youth Pastor,
Community Groups
Melvin was born and raised in Singapore. He studied Sociology at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and received his Master of Divinity from Singapore Bible College.
He was brought to Wesley Methodist Church Singapore at the age of 2 by his grandaunt but only surrendered himself to God at the age of 16. God’s calling was evident even as he placed Melvin in various ministries before serving him full-time immediately after NUS. Melvin believes that God places him in areas where he is weak at. Through that process, he has learnt to serve all ages from the little ones to the seniors in his kingdom. After 16 years of service at Wesley, he was called out to Calvary Baptist church during the pandemic where he learnt the meaning of truly being in a community.
Melvin has been married to Si Ping since 2009 and they have two kids, Elliot and Olivia. Si Ping is an educator and they are very much complete opposites in psychological tests. That being said, they both love long walks, long talks and having friends over to hang out.
Melvin’s passion is in shepherding and worship. He loves to be there for people and finds great joy in conversations, especially over a cup of black coffee. He desires for the church to be a huge family loving Christ together. His interests are in music, both listening and playing. He unwinds by going for a swim or a run but it would be better playing a team sport, especially basketball.
Bernice LACHMAN
Children and Youth Director
Bernice was born and raised in Singapore. She studied Chinese at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
She accepted Christ at the age of 6 when she attended a leader's prayer meeting with her dad out of the fear of going to hell. After a series of failures in her studies and crossroad moments in her teens, she came to understand the true meaning of Salvation in Christ. This has allowed her to experience the love of God in different ways which has encouraged her in the later part of her studies!
Bernice strongly believes in journeying with others so that they may experience God's love and joy in the community they are in. In turn, they will bring encouragement and hope to others with their stories, especially children! She desires for children and youth to find fulfillment and purpose in their everyday life because life is full of adventure in Christ, regardless of age!
Bernice met her husband, Melvin, in Evangel Family Church while they were both serving in the Youth Ministry. They got married in 2013 and have 3 beautiful kids: Emma, Ezekiel, and Elizabeth!
Bernice enjoys watching Chinese and Korean dramas and variety shows. She also loves baking different kinds of bread and cakes! But one of her greatest interests is to bring people together over food and conversation.
JOEL & TIFFANY
KIM
Operations, Missions Coordinator
Joel was born in Australia and spent his childhood in over 7 different countries spread across 4 continents. His parents started 3 orphanages and his family spent most of their time in various parts of Africa and South East Asia.
Joel eventually settled in California and studied Accounting at the University of Southern California (USC). He worked as a certified accountant for 9 years before marrying Tiffany and beginning their journey as missionaries abroad.
Tiffany was born and raised in California. However, she spent 5 years in Taiwan during high school. Tiffany believes that her calling is to the church in Asia and she desires to use her God-given talent for baking and as well as teaching to be a beacon of God's love wherever she goes.
Joel and Tiffany met while serving as leaders in their respective churches in California and discovered that they both had a similar calling to be long-term overseas missionaries! Soon after, they got married and began their missionary adventure at Grace Covenant Church when they arrived in Singapore in July 2019.
Joel and Tiffany's passion is being close to the brokenhearted and journeying with brothers and sisters through difficult seasons in their lives. They love to hear about people's stories and glean wisdom from their life experiences. Joel and Tiffany desires for the church to be a supportive family where broken lives are made whole and to be a community where nobody has to travel through life alone.
Joel enjoys rock climbing and Tiff loves to bake delicious treats. They both enjoy playing board games as well as playing sports together such as ultimate frisbee, volleyball and American football.
