Before she became CEO of Innoquest, Ginny Foo was a church planter who returned to Singapore with only S$2,000 in her pocket and a broken heart

When Ginny Foo turned 17 and began preparing for her “O” Level examinations, she felt a pull to explore life beyond Malaysia. Though she grew up in Seremban, Malaysia, her dream was to live and work in a foreign country.

Her parents were hesitant because they doubted her ability to care for herself abroad. But strong-willed Ginny was determined to go.

She discovered an opportunity to study at a college in Toronto, Canada, and quickly immersed herself in the application process.

Ginny with her Form 5 classmates.

When it became clear that Ginny would be going to Canada for further studies, her older sister who was five years older and a new Christian at that time, started telling her about Jesus Christ.

“She shared how He died to save us from our sins and why we needed to believe in Him to be saved. At the time, I didn’t understand why I needed saving or what it meant. It was the first time I had heard the word ‘sin’,” Ginny recalled.

Her thoughts, however, were preoccupied with passing her “O” Level examinations and preparing for her journey to Canada.

Her own parents were of a different faith, and Ginny was responsible for nightly rituals at the family altar. She was also expected to take part in festivities tied to the faith.

Ginny with her family from Seremban, Malaysia.

A faith rooted in love 

“When my sister described Christianity as a faith rooted in love – where God sent His Son not to condemn or to judge but to save humanity from their sins – it posed a stark contrast to the fear-based traditions I had grown up with. The idea of a God who loved unconditionally was both comforting and intriguing,” said Ginny.

Her sister was unrelentingly persistent in getting Ginny to become a Christian before embarking on her journey overseas.

To appease her, Ginny eventually agreed to say the “Sinner’s Prayer” with her. Her sister then gave her a Bible, and Ginny attended her church in Seremban a few times before leaving for Canada.

Ginny at home with her older sister in Seremban.

“Although I was supposedly a Christian, I had no real understanding of what that meant. I believed this new identity would lose relevance once I boarded the plane,” Ginny admitted.

Ginny’s parents sending her off to Canada.

On May 10, 1980, Ginny boarded a plane for the first time in her life.

On the plane and off to their adventures in Canada.

Together with over 40 other Malaysian students, they were all headed for the International College of Toronto in Canada.

Ginny and Peter (whom she later married) among the group of students leaving for Canada in 1980, with family and friends.

International College of Toronto.

Ginny quickly made friends with two other girls from Malaysia – Chris and Alice – and they became housemates, together with three boys.

From left: Ginny, Chris and Alice in their Toronto apartment.

During those few months, the girls became inseparable as they joined others in exploring Toronto together.

Ginny (far right) with her apartment mates in Toronto city centre. She would later end up marrying Peter (far left).

Ginny found herself drawn back into Christian company, even in a foreign land, as both Chris and Alice are Christians.

On Saturday evenings, Ginny would go with Chris and Alice to the Campus Crusade for Christ Fellowship held by University of Toronto students. The fellowship meetings were lively and welcoming, filled with laughter, games, and inspiring messages. It had also become routine for her to go for church services together with them on Sundays.

At the Campus Crusade for Christ fellowship.

“I enjoyed the games, and the meetings helped me to know more people. But my faith remained largely superficial. Once I tried reading the Old Testament but the dense text was so overwhelming that my motivation waned,” said Ginny, who soon became busy with studies.

When college ended, Ginny applied to study Food Science at the University of Guelph. Her choice was made out of necessity ­– it was the rare university that was willing to take her in for the winter semester though her matriculation certificate was delayed.

Chris joined her in the same university and once again, they shared a room.

The Food Science building at the University of Guelph.

All of them in their household attended church on Sundays and participated in the University Chinese Christian Fellowship, which was organised by senior students. Ginny joined a Bible study group at the Fellowship, which was led by an older student, and they studied the book of Matthew.

“For the first time, the Bible began making sense to me. I felt a deep hunger for God’s Word, and each session became something I eagerly anticipated. I felt as though the Scriptures were speaking directly to my heart,” Ginny described.

She began reading the Bible on her own, starting with the New Testament this time. Before reading, she prayed for revelation and guidance. From that moment onwards, Bible reading became a daily practice and priority.  

During the Easter weekend, a fellow student invited Ginny and a few others to her house to watch the movie Jesus of Nazareth, which was being shown on TV.

“While watching the movie, I was deeply moved by what Jesus did to save me, and by what He endured on the cross for the salvation of mankind. Tears streamed down my face as I grasped the depth of Christ’s love and the meaning of salvation,” Ginny remembered.

“The seed of the Gospel that my sister sowed in my heart two years earlier had began to take root as the hardened soil of my heart softened. I felt an eagerness to know more about God,” she added.

Fellowship at their apartment in Guelph.

Just as her faith began deepening, Ginny received an unexpected call from her mother one day.

“Your father is facing financial difficulties in his business and can no longer support your education in Canada. You have to consider returning to Malaysia to continue your studies,” her mother told her.

The bad news hit Ginny like a ton of bricks.

“What should I do? I had just begun to seek the Lord and was growing in a community of other Christians. But I also knew that without financial support, there was no way I could stay in Canada,” said Ginny, who was at the time just completing her second semester in a four-year Honours programme in Food Science.

An “impossible” situation

For the next few days, Ginny wrestled with the situation in her mind and prayed earnestly for a way to remain in Canada.

“I knew I couldn’t be selfish and expect my family to support me if I stayed. In Canada, foreign students were also not allowed to work,” she told Salt&Light.

“It seemed impossible.”

One day, Ginny sat at the dining table and prayed with urgency, asking the Lord to show her His will.

“If You want me to return to Malaysia, I will go. But if You want me to stay, You will have to make a way,” Ginny told God.

She then felt God’s presence filling the room, and was overwhelmed with peace and joy.

In her spirit, she clearly heard the Lord saying: “Stay. It will be all right. I will take care of you.”

In that moment, she knew without a doubt that God had given her the green light to remain in Canada.

Filled with peace, Ginny called her mother and said: “I will stay in Canada to finish my studies, and you all don’t need to send me money anymore. I will take care of myself.”

“How?” her mother asked.

Ginny simply replied: “You don’t need to worry.”

It was only when she hung up the phone that the full weight of what she had just done hit her. She had cut off her only source of financial support.

“I was alone in a foreign land, with no relatives or friends to turn to for help – except for the one true God,” she recalled.

She did not share her financial struggles with anyone, trusting that God would meet her needs.

Shortly after, she received a cheque from her third brother and older sister in Singapore, which helped cover her expenses through the fall semester of 1981.

However, Ginny soon found herself needing money again. The deadline to pay the rent for the apartment she sharing with three other girls was due but she did not have the funds to pay her share.

On the day that the rent was due, Ginny walked around the university centre, praying desperately for direction. She wondered if she ought to ask the landlords for more time or if she should ask her housemates for help.

While she was walking around anxiously, she felt a prompting to go to the phone booth in the library. She obeyed the prompting and stood at the phone booth, uncertain of what to do.

“I wondered if I should call the landlords, who were Taiwanese. But I couldn’t even communicate well enough in Mandarin to know what to say. Feeling lost, I cried out to God in my heart,” said Ginny.

At that moment, she heard someone call out her name. Ginny turned around and saw Ray, her mentor from the Chinese Christian Fellowship.

He asked if she was okay. After some hesitation, Ginny shared her predicament with him. Ray asked how much she needed, and immediately went to the bank on campus, withdrew the sum and handed the money to her.

Unbeknownst to her, he had earlier confided in another friend about how he had been so busy with his own studies that he had not been helping Ginny with university life, though he was her assigned mentor from the Fellowship. Being able to support her by funding her rent was an answered prayer for him.

The next two years were a season of living by faith for Ginny. Her rent and school fees were paid through anonymous donors and offerings, at times given to her through unmarked envelopes.

She never lacked for food or clothes. Her bank account always had just enough to keep it active or to cover what she needed.

“One brother, seeing that I was still wearing summer sneakers in winter, insisted on taking me to the mall to buy me a pair of winter shoes,” Ginny recalled.

Summer camping in Guelph with the University Fellowship Group.

She also remembered the times when she could not afford bus fare and would walk to the university in the snow, praying and talking to God along the way.

“Those moments were filled with a sense of closeness to God that I had never experienced before,” said Ginny.

The biggest challenge that arose from her financial situation was when she needed to renew her student visa every year. International students had to prove to the immigration officer that they had enough funds to continue their studies, largely through their bank balances.

Since whatever money that came in for Ginny was usually quickly used up, her bank balance was meagre and did not meet the minimum holding amount required.

Her second-year visa renewal was the most difficult. The officer harshly pointed out that she did not have much money and questioned her at length about who was supporting her.

“I wished I could have said ‘My Father in Heaven’ but instead, I simply explained my situation. The officer gave me a six-month visa and warned me that I would be going home if I could not show sufficient funds at the next renewal,” said Ginny, who cried as she walked out of the room.

Facing the immigration officer who could send her home

Six months passed quickly and before she knew it, it was time to renew her student visa again. She prayed hard that God would make a way for her to get the visa to stay another year, though she did not have enough funds in her account again.

At the immigration office, there were three rooms open for visa renewal. Ginny joined the queue of student, praying hard that she would not have to appear before the same officer who had warned her about having enough funds six months ago.

“I knew I would be packing my bags for home if I got that same officer. Soon, I was next in line. To my horror, that officer’s door opened and a student walked out,” said Ginny.  

She sat frozen in her chair and heard someone say: “Next.” As she got up to walk towards that officer’s office, another door opened, and a student walked out.

Ginny made a dash for the other room and was greeted by an older man with the friendliest smile.

He asked about her studies, how she was doing, and how she was coping in Canada. Then he looked at her bank book and asked: “Hmm, do you have financial issues?”

Nervously, Ginny told him about her father’s financial situation at home but shared that she wanted to continue my education in Canada. She told him that she had been coping well with the help of her friends and her faith in God.

He smiled at her and, without hesitation, stamped her passport to allow her another year of studying in Canada. He said he was happy that she had such good friends.

“God sent an angel to me that day in the form of that immigration officer. Not only had I miraculously escaped the other officer, He had led me to the right person because I was sure that anyone else would have denied me renewal. God is so good,” Ginny told Salt&Light.

Winter in Guelph.

Having seen the faithful hand of God in her life, Ginny started to commit her life fully to the Lord, vowing to serve Him after graduation.

“I became more involved with the University Christian Fellowship, and some of them introduced me to the Chinese Gospel Church (which goes by a different name now) in Montreal, and its Senior Pastor,” she related.

Ginny and her friends only attended the church services during semester break as the church was a seven-hour drive away, but Ginny’s soul was stirred by the deeply convicting teachings of its Senior Pastor.

“He taught that we should be either passionately committed to Christ or not at all – lukewarm Christians were not pleasing to God and He will spew them out of His mouth. This message struck me deeply, as I had once been a lukewarm Christian,” said Ginny.

Plans to go into full-time ministry upon graduation 

Ginny developed a deep love for Jesus and a strong desire to share His message with her family and the people of Asia. She immersed myself in the Bible training offered by the church, driving hours to Montreal with a few others to attend church camps, services, and training sessions during semester breaks and summer holidays.

At the end of her third year of studies, the Senior Pastor announced that he would be starting his third training programme for those interested in serving the Lord full-time. Ginny applied immediately, eager to step into full-time ministry, and willing to forgo her final year at school.

The Senior Pastor advised her to complete her studies first and offered to sponsor her final year at school before she joined the church’s full-time ministry.

In 1984, she graduated with a Bachelor in Food Science and returned to Asia to visit her family who were living in Singapore at the time.

Ginny’s graduation in 1984.

In 1986, she left Singapore for Hong Kong, to join the church’s training programme for full-time workers. Over two years, the group was trained in preaching, leading Bible studies and conducting discipleship sessions. In the second year, they also had hands on experience in planting a new church on Hong Kong Island.

When two years were up, Ginny and a few others returned to Singapore to take over a church that had been planted by their teammates.

Their team decided that Ginny would seek secular employment to ease the financial burden on the young church in Singapore. As a Malaysian, this arrangement also ensured she could remain in Singapore because a job would grant her an employment visa.

So in 1989, Ginny secured a full-time position as a medical technologist in the laboratory of Mount Elizabeth Hospital.

“Although my degree was in food science, I saw this opportunity as God’s way of guiding me towards a new field,” said Ginny.

She quickly adapted to her role at the hospital and found herself thriving. However, the challenging hours of her shift work, coupled with her involvement in church work – leading Bible study groups and participating in training sessions and church meetings – soon took its toll on her.

With the Singapore church brethren.

Though, unlike her, the rest of her housemates were not juggling a secular job, Ginny was given the same share of household chores as the rest. At home, tensions arose as Ginny’s work hours made it difficult for her to keep up with the household chores and cooking schedule for their team of six. Often, dinner was delayed for everyone as they had to wait for her to finish cooking after returning home from work.

Ginny felt bullied — she seemed to be the only one pulled in all directions. Most of her monthly salary went to the church, which in turn disbursed a small living allowance for her.

Living and serving together in harmony had seemed like an ideal arrangement. Instead, Ginny felt disillusioned as she began to witness discrepancy between the way her peers lived at home and what they preached in church.

After two and a half years of serving in the Singapore church and two years of working at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Ginny received the go-ahead from her Senior Pastor to leave Singapore to go to Penang to plant a new church.

In Penang, Ginny and a couple started a small Bible study group in their rented apartment. As their numbers grew, they moved to rent a small space to hold the Sunday services in 1992. Their focus was not merely on growing in numbers but on deepening relationships and discipleship.

Just as she had done in Singapore, Ginny and a fellow brother found stable jobs to remain self-sufficient while planting the church. Ginny first worked as a senior medical technologist at Gleneagles Hospital for two years before becoming the Head of Laboratory at Pathlab in Penang.

A hike in Penang hill in Penang with church brethren.

Red flags and troubling news 

Since Ginny’s time in Canada, she was troubled by some red flags about her church.

“I noticed that committed and diligent Christians would stop coming to the church without explanation. Their absence was treated as a non-event, and we were discouraged from mentioning or questioning it. There was this culture of silence,” she recalled.

There was also was a lack of accountability on the part of the Senior Pastor. Operating independently, without oversight from a larger denomination or council of Pastors, the Senior Pastor answered to no one.

When other Pastors disagreed with his doctrine, he dismissed their concerns and portrayed them as weak for refusing his challenge to a public debate. This dismissal of dissenting voices left no room for constructive dialogue or correction.

Ginny’s sister had attended one of her church camps and remarked to Ginny: “You treat your Pastor like he is God” after seeing how all of them would rush to greet him when his car arrived at the camp.

“At first, I dismissed her words, but later I came to recognise the truth in it. Every sermon and training session from him was meticulously transcribed, studied, and revered as though it were Scripture. This level of veneration crossed the line into idolatry,” said Ginny, who now realised she had been blind to all this.

During her time in Penang, she continued hearing more troubling news of close ministry friends of hers – who were trusted and well-regarded – leaving the church. Disagreements and unresolved issues with the Senior Pastor seemed to be the reason, though little explanation was offered and they were instructed not to probe.

“I experienced it firsthand when the Senior Pastor visited us in Penang,” she said. “He tended to shift the blame to others in order to preserve his image as a perfect leader with no flaws.”

At a church camp in Penang.

The Senior Pastor also issued a directive for all his trained disciples to pledge an oath of allegiance to him and the church. That raised serious concerns for Ginny.

“Why should we pledge allegiance to a man and his organisation when our ultimate service and loyalty should lie only with God?” she wondered.

A new assignment in the Philippines 

In late 1995, she took a brief trip to Manila, Philippines to visit the church there and reconnect with her teammates. She was both surprised and reassured to learn that the team members there shared the same concerns she had about the church’s leadership and pledge of allegiance.

Before she left, they asked if she would consider joining them in their work there as they were feeling stretched by the expansion of their ministry.

Ginny prayed and felt led to leave for a new assignment in the Philippines in 1997, after serving in Penang for seven years.

While in the Philippines, Ginny noticed the church community reflecting the state’s economic disparity. Some members struggled daily to provide for their families, while others drove luxury cars and lived in gated communities. Yet, people from all walks of life still came together to serve God, worship, and support one another.

The church in Manila.

During her time in Manila, several events took place that further opened Ginny’s eyes to how the church she was serving had been straying far from the Spirit of Christ.  

The first was a shocking exposé from a couple who was serving in Hong Kong. In a document that was sent to all workers trained by the Senior Pastor, they documented detailed accusations to expose the Senior Pastor and leadership of hypocrisy, deceit and abuse of authority.  

Yet the response from the Senior Pastor that came shortly after was stark and defensive, leaving no room for discussion or questions. He penned a curt letter that delivered an ultimatum: If anyone believed these accusations, they were to leave the church immediately.

“The message left me feeling disillusioned and betrayed. I had hoped for something more — an attempt at reconciliation, humility, or even just a willingness to address the concerns,” said Ginny.

At the end of 1998, Ginny experienced the true nature of her church leaders. Her father had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and she had flown to Singapore to be by his side for a surgery that he had to go through. It was a matter of life and death.

During this time, Ginny and her teammates received a directive from the leadership that they were to complete an urgent assignment within two weeks. Ginny quickly informed them that she could not do so as her father had an upcoming operation.

What followed stunned her. The email reply she received stated that no one was exempt from completing the assignment, regardless of personal circumstances. It ended off with the threat that any failure to submit on time would result in disciplinary action.

“In that moment, the veil lifted completely. The leaders I had once admired as godly shepherds of the flock had revealed themselves to be devoid of empathy and compassion. They had become consumed by rules, directives, and their own authority, forgetting the very heart of the Gospel: Love, mercy, and grace,” said Ginny, whose father recovered steadily after the procedure.

When she returned to Manila, she immersed myself in the work there, focusing on serving the local congregation. But a quiet resolution grew in her heart that her path forward may involve distancing herself from this church that had once defined her life.

Differences over healing and deliverance ministry 

One day, a woman from the church desperately came to them for help in desperation. For the longest time, she had noticed a shadowy presence lingering outside her window. Her young daughter began interacting with it and a fresh cut appeared on her face.

Ginny and her team prayed and researched on the steps on inner healing and deliverance. After having such a session with her, the demonic presence left dramatically.

Word spread quickly, and soon more believers came to them seeking similar ministry.  One by one, they witnessed countless people freed from years of oppression and bondage. The church was alive with joy, renewal, and a deep sense of freedom.

“It felt as though a revival had broken out among us, and we stood in awe of what God was doing,” said Ginny.

However, when Ginny and her team eagerly shared these reports with the Senior Pastor and the Hong Kong headquarters, they were reprimanded.

The Senior Pastor accused them of starting the ministry without his approval and claimed they had strayed dangerously off course. His argument, rooted in the belief that Christians – as new creations in Christ – should have no need for further healing, dismissed the existence of wounds, pain, or spiritual oppression in believers.

Her teammates later flew to Hong Kong to face a panel led by the Senior Pastor, who had already branded the ministry as heretical. There was no room for discussion, only another harsh ultimatum: Cease the ministry or leave the church.

Ginny and her teammates, standing by their ministry’s positive impact, refused to abandon it and decided to leave the church instead.

They encouraged the congregation in the Manila church to remember what the Lord had done in their lives and to continue growing in faith. Not long after, two Pastors from Hong Kong arrived to take control of the church.

As Ginny and her teammates prepared for their departure, the Manila church offered financial support to help them start over. Ginny was presented S$2,000 – it was all that she had to show after more than a decade of church-planting work in Asia.

In May 2000, Ginny boarded her flight back to Singapore with a broken heart.

She was 38. She had spent all her prime years serving the “church” whose leadership let her down and broke her spirit.

With that small love gift in her pocket and a heart full of disillusionment, how would Ginny start a new life in Singapore? How did she end up in the corporate world, and how did she rise to become the CEO of Singapore’s largest diagnostic laboratory? 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Ginny’s story.

For more stories from Ginny’s life, you may purchase a copy of her book – available online and at major bookstores – or register to attend her upcoming book launch. Part of the proceeds of her book will go towards supporting ministries such as Salt&Light. 

Scan the QR code to order the book or attend the book launch.

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