The first time I met Anthony Lee was in May/June of 2009 on my first trip ever to Hong Kong. I was VJ-ing the opening of a missions conference called “Call2All” as well as presenting a workshop on visual worship. Through the magical power of social media, Anthony reached out to me via Twitter and the rest was history.

At first, I thought, “Cool, a Chinese guy who’s into PowerPoint and things of that nature!” Little did I know, my world was about to be rocked. His entire community and network of VJs assembled; I was overwhelmed. Not only were they talking about technology, but they were concerned with the heart of visual worship….focusing on the “why” and the philosophies of using visual media and imagery during worship. They were saying verbatim the same words that only a few of us had uttered in conversations back home!

As I travel the globe, it becomes very evident to me that God is speaking to the whole Body…not just a select few. Very rarely am I “informing” anybody of anything; I am just sitting back and watching it all play out. Such is the case in Hong Kong. To me, this is evidence that “visual worship” is a work of the Holy Spirit and not a few guys who know how to run a laptop & projector.

Here’s an excerpt from an interview I had with Anthony while I was there last Summer. To see the full unedited (30 minute) version, click here. His English is great but his accent is thick. But I love the way he & his friends word things; it’s very refreshing to hear.

When I returned to Hong Kong in February (bringing Camron Ware with me this time), we made it a priority to meet up with Anthony and his friends. Anthony had organized a “VWRT” Roundtable-style dinner and hang time with a dozen other visual worship leaders all from different Chinese-speaking churches. We worshiped together, shared all of our stories, and ate some amazing food. The owner of the restaurant is also a pastor, and he makes his restaurant available as a place of worship each night after the kitchen closes.

Anthony began the evening by sharing his heart for visual worship. He said, “We can worship & glorify God with our eyes. If we were not able to do that, He would not have created us with eyes in the first place.” This has been one of the best descriptions I have heard in my entire life.

It was really cool seeing how they all responded to different things. They invited us to “show and tell” what we’ve been doing back in the States, and so we whipped out our VJ techniques and pictures of Environmental Projection. They were mostly wide-eyed and mystified, but they quickly guided the topic of conversation straight to the relationship aspect and the heart behind all of this…not the tools themselves. That goes to show you what is foremost on their hearts!

Anthony also cast vision for seeing visual artists rise up in the Chinese church…to start developing and creating their own visual content. He said that the American websites are great and all, and that he was very thankful for them, but that for China, they must find their own way of expressing visual worship. My heart just about beat out of my chest!

He also cast vision for going into Mainland China and helping the churches there by training them on the proper use of technology and imagery for worship. He created a flier to pass out at various events, and he gave it to me to give to you. Download here!

So keep a close watch on Anthony and his community. They may not be speaking at any of the cool conferences or showing up on any of the popular blogs in America, but I have a strong sense that God has chosen these guys as a royal priesthood to lead the Chinese church in worship in the days to come. And I want to do all that I can to get behind them and support them.

Anthony’s blog is called “Media4Christ”, and ironically, his domain is worshipVJ.hk!