“I want to give my best years to God”: He gave up a prestigious university scholarship to serve in hard places

When Ben Soh first felt God nudging his heart, he was in OCS (Officer Cadet School).

“I was a drinking, partying, foul-mouthed 19-year-old. And I had this long-time OCS buddy who would be reading the Bible while the rest of us army guys were reading girly magazines,” Ben said wryly. “We were like, ‘What is wrong with this guy?’”

But one day his Bible-reading buddy shared something that gave Ben pause.

It was Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (NIV)

“That really resonated with me,” said Ben. “I knew the path I was expected to take: Study hard, get a scholarship, get a stable job, buy a condo. But part of me wondered: Really? That felt empty somehow.”

The self-described “lost guy” started going to church, where he found healing for buried wounds arising from his father’s abandonment of the family.

During that time a group of friends went to watch the movie, The Passion of Christ.

“I had no idea what the movie was about. I went in my military uniform thinking it was just movie night, ordered popcorn.”

But what happened next knocked Ben to his knees.

“I had a radical encounter with God. I went on my knees and my friend prayed for me and I just gave my life to Jesus.

“Two or three weeks later, I met my pastor and asked to be baptised. That started a very quick change in my life. I was still in my first year in the army when I did my first mission trip, taking a group of youth to Myanmar.”

During that trip, Ben saw a six-year-old with polio dying in her mother’s lap because they were too poor to get the polio vaccine. “I was really challenged by poverty and by the state of the world outside of Singapore.”

That first mission trip shifted something so radically in Ben that he gave up a scholarship to UCL (University College London) – something he had worked hard for – to head to the mission field.

He has not looked back since.

Ben, now 41, and his wife, Shannon, 39, a fellow YWAM missionary, have since brought a second generation – their three children aged 10, 8 and 6 – with them into the nations.

“When my old army buddies now find out I’m a missionary, they go, ‘That Ben?’ I was so far away from Christ,” he said with a chuckle.

Giving up and gaining more

Ben’s first step into the mission field proved to be the hardest.

At the end of his YWAM training, Ben was told that his father, who had been living in Thailand for the past 10 years, had died at the early age of 53.

His funeral turned out to be a pivotal moment for young Ben.

“I was the only son in the family with a sister and a single, widowed mum. Around this big Chinese dinner table at the funeral, my Ah Kong (Grandfather) asked, ‘So are you done with your YWAM thing? Are you ready to come back?’

“I said, ‘Ah Kong, God is calling me to YWAM.’ And my Ah Kong just started to cry. I’d never seen him cry. It really broke my heart.”

Forgoing his scholarship meant forgoing his plans to earn a stable income and help support his single mother.

But as Ben kept praying and fasting over the decision, God spoke to him clearly through 1 Corinthian 6:20: “You were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.”

Without sponsorship, it seemed impossible to fulfil God’s call. But help came from an unexpected source.

The army buddy who had shared the Gospel with Ben passed away from leukaemia at the age of 21.

“We were supposed to do our DTS (YWAM’s Discipleship Training School) together. But during his sixth round of chemotherapy, he died,” Ben said soberly. “After his passing, his mother stepped up to be my very first sponsor.”

Her sponsorship was not only a huge encouragement, it allowed Ben to do missions internships in Egypt, India and Indonesia – “I was able to share and minister to all the major religious groups”.

“I lived in slums, ate very simply. But God was telling me: The world is your university. I want you to see what I am doing in the nations.”

Footsteps to China

When God led Ben to China in 2009, He did so unequivocally.

“I was burdened for the young people –  all the exam stress, the suicide rates, the left-behind children,” said Ben. “I felt that if I wanted to give my life somewhere, China would be the place to really devote myself.”

Ben (in glasses) running a kids’ camp in China.

There was more – Ben’s Chinese name was prophetic.

“YWAM was considering sending a new team to Nanjing where the workers were few. I was praying and looking at Nanjing on the map when God told me, ‘Look at your Chinese name.’

“When I looked at my name, 苏士扬 (Soo Shiyang), I was like: Woah. 苏 is part of 江苏 (Jiangsu), the province of which Nanjing is the capital. My middle character 士 is the character for 宣教士 (xuan jiao shi) which means servant warrior or missionary, and 扬 is part of 传扬 (chuan yang) meaning proclaim.

“So in my name, God gave me a location, a job title and my purpose to proclaim Christ. That was a big confirmation for me to go to China.”

Remarkably, his Chinese name had been given to him at birth by his mother who was not a Christian at the time.

Unbeknownst to Ben, even as he obeyed God’s beckoning to China, his future wife was also being led to China.

A home fellowship in China.

Like Ben, Shannon, an American, had given up a stable career to go into missions.

Receiving Christ at 18 while in university, Shannon had told God soon afterwards that she was ready for missions.

“Ben and I were basically on different sides of the world with a very similar story going on,” said Shannon. “God began speaking to me about China and I just felt the Lord ask me to lay my passport and my teaching degree down at the cross.”

They were 22 and 25 when they first set foot in China – Shannon was sent to Zigong, a small Sichuan city. Ben was posted to Nanjing.

Those were heady years for the young YWAM team of 12, which included local youths.

“It was a very championing environment for young people,” said Ben. “We were empowered by our leaders to just go with God and pray and ask what He wanted us to do.

“So we planted small groups, shared in colleges, ran English corners and Bible studies in our apartment, saw people come to faith.”

A pivotal moment came when the team witnessed an unforgettable act of reconciliation orchestrated by God.

“Nanjing being the site of the infamous Nanjing Massacre, it was quite controversial for us to even go to a church and ask, ‘Would you like to pray for Japan?’” said Ben.

The team was moved to pray not just for forgiveness to flow, but love as well.

Their College Student Ministry included English classes.

On an outreach trip to Japan, they met a group of Japanese dancers – many of whom were grandmas in their 70s – whose purpose was to visit sites in China and Korea where Japan had committed past war crimes.

God would give the women a song in the local language, which they would courageously perform, afterwards asking forgiveness of the victims and survivors.

“We hosted the women in Nanjing and honestly there was a moment when I feared for my life,” said Ben. “We were in these government churches in China where hundreds were gathered. A guy at the back said, ‘See that whole front row? They’re secret police.’

“God had impressed upon the women to perform during the anniversary of the 1937 massacre. Sirens still sound in Nanjing on this day, and there is an eerie atmosphere, almost like a city-wide funeral.

“So the grandmas danced and at the end they expressed remorse and shame for the acts of their countrymen. They knelt down and started wailing.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh no, this could go very wrong.’ People were getting riled up. But then a young college student from our English corner who had been quite hardened towards God and faith, stood up.

“She said, ‘My grandpa was blinded by the Japanese during WWII. Before he died, he said, my only regret is that I lost my eyes and I could never see you. Because of that, I could never forgive the Japanese.’

“She was crying as she stood. But then she said, ‘I want to extend forgiveness to the nation of Japan.’

“We were so shocked. You could see God doing a work here.

Leading a college students’ camp in China.

“Then around Christmas, we had a big, evangelistic dinner in the church for 200 non-Christians. In mainland China, parties are loud and there is food everywhere.

“In the midst of this, a lady from YWAM Japan went onstage wearing a full kimono and everyone just stopped. She said, ‘As a Japanese, I had no idea what my nation did because it was not in our history books. When I researched my country’s history, I felt so much shame. Here I am trying to bring the Gospel to you, but I also know my nation has caused you tremendous pain.’ And then she knelt down and cried and asked forgiveness.

“The crowd shouted, ‘We forgive you. This is the past generation, we don’t want to live in that. We want to start a new chapter.’ Women went up to her and hugged her, crying together.

“It was like a God wave, and we were just trying to keep up! Even the secret police found a way to tell me through the church pastor how happy they were with the reconciliation as it helped restore their honour and pride as a country.

“I was like: Wow, this is an amazing privilege to be a part of.”

They doubled their efforts to ignite and mobilise the Chinese Church, encouraging them to fulfil their part in the Great Commission. Teams were sent to Japan, Nepal and the Middle East.

Together they embodied Youth with a Mission, living out 1 Timothy 4:12: “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

A love story

While Ben and Shannon had met in a YWAM classroom in Perth, where they were being trained for China, they did not date for two years.

Love blossomed when they co-led a trip to Japan and discovered that they made a good team.

Ben and Shannon (front centre) first met in 2009 in YWAM Australia. They did not date for two years as YWAM had a rule against romantic relationships in the first year of cultural postings.

“Our first date was in Singapore,” said Shannon. “I was on my way back to Asia after a break in the States, and Ben took me to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and to Marina Bay Sands.”

“Yeah, it was like Crazy Rich Asians. But without the rich,” quipped Ben.

“One of my first questions to her was, ‘I have a widowed mum and at some point when she grows old, she would have to live with us. Are you okay with that?’”

“I said yes,” Shannon continued, “and then I said, ‘Just so you know, I want to have children. But if we are going to be married, I’d like that we both raise the children and both be in ministry. Are you okay with that?’

“And then we said, okay, and we shook hands.” They still laugh at the memory.

A local hairdresser, whom they saw come to faith, gifted the couple with a traditional Chinese wedding photo shoot when they got married.

When they were married a year later at age 25 and 27, God provided for them not one, but four, weddings – two in the US, one in Singapore and a fourth in China.

“We’ve seen many miracles in missions, even in our personal lives,” said Ben. “One of them was how two broke missionaries were able to have four weddings!”

Through a divine connection, a hotel manager friend who worked at Marina Bay Sands bumped up their basic room seven upgrades to a Presidential Suite, where they were able to invite 25 guests.

“My American father-in-law who came to the wedding was like, ‘Are you really a missionary? Or is there a side job you do?’”

“Of course we were in love and enjoying life together. But I think there was a deeper purpose that always bonded us,” says Shannon of their early years of marriage in China.

In Nanjing, a local hairdresser insisted on gifting them with a traditional Chinese wedding shoot, complete with gown, makeup and hair styling.

Ben and Shannon had seen her come to faith, after which she would evangelise to the local women in her hairdresser’s chair. 

Marriage in the mission field is a gift, said the couple.

“When you’re working for the Lord, there’s also such a work God does in your own heart,” said Shannon. “Of course we were in love and enjoying life together. But I think there was a deeper purpose that always bonded us.”

Married to missions

Marriage, and even parenthood, did nothing to stop Ben and Shannon from forging ahead with Kingdom work.

“The first time we ran DTS training, it was in our small two-bedroom apartment in Nanjing. 

“Training went on even when Shannon got pregnant. There was only one bathroom next to the living room, and halfway through training, we’d hear Shannon retching from morning sickness and then she’d dash by us to the bathroom!

An article in the Chinese press about their Orphan Care Ministry.

“Our three children, Levi, Phoebe and Daphne grew up on Chinese food – porridge and noodles. They went to Chinese preschool and we took them on mission trips. 

“It was fun because the kids were foreign babies and there was always a crowd of women around them. The kids really brought life to the ministry.”

Shannon added: “As a young mother, I found I could still talk to young college students. But there was a new platform with mothers and grandmothers, many of whom were their children’s main caregivers.

“At preschool, Ben was the only father who dropped the kids off. One of the teachers said, ‘Now I know that I must find a Singaporean husband.’ And I said, ‘No, no, it’s not about being a Singaporean. You must find a Christian husband!”

The Sohs’ last day in China in 2018, after authorities clamped down on missionary activity.

They saw much fruit in their eight years in China.

At their English corner, a girl who was a Master’s student in agriculture came to hear the Gospel. After six months, she asked to be baptised.

She joined the DTS in Ben and Shannon’s apartment, and went on to Thailand as a missionary, using her agriculture skills to help the people in northeast Thailand grow crops.

With the Master’s student who went to serve in Thailand. She was one of the first students to come to faith through their English Corner Ministry.

“To watch someone getting saved, then doing discipleship school and being sent out to Thailand, it was a really beautiful journey,” said Shannon.

“It is a real privilege to walk with young people who give their life to missions.”

Our best years for God

In 2018, the YWAM team, and the majority of Christian foreign workers, were forced to leave China.

Ben and Shannon had already had an inkling that the window was closing in the country. Official interactions had become more cautious.

“Ben heard from the Lord that we were to pass the team on and should prepare to leave the country,” said Shannon. “The next year, when Covid happened, that made a lot of sense.”

The Sohs have since moved to the YWAM base in Lebanon to continue their Kingdom work as a family.

This is the couple’s 20th year as missionaries.

Despite the challenges of serving in the Middle East, the Sohs have seen God’s mighty hand at work in Lebanon where they now lead the YWAM base.

“The journey has been about learning how to trust God each step of the way and to trust in His grace and not try to control the future,” said Shannon.

“This was instilled in me at an early age: If I hear Him and am faithful, I can trust the result in His hands.

“Faith is a muscle. When you use it, it gets stronger.

The couple has spent half their lives serving in the nations since their early 20s. “I never felt like I was losing out,” said Ben. “It’s been an incredibly rewarding life.”

“So many young people hold back because they see their 20s as that time to solidify their security and their career. We struggled with that insecurity as well.

“But often we hold so tightly to what we think is going to be the best, that we don’t even see what God has for us.”

“I never really felt like I was losing out,” said Ben. “I feel like my life is awesome! Yes, there are challenges. But it’s been an incredibly rewarding life.

“We have seen many miracles of provision and healing, even within our own family. For me, I would choose this 101 times again. There is joy in giving my best years to God.”

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