Steve-Wonder Murell

(Den Haag -The Netherlands)

“Don’t ask someone to do something you yourself are not willing to do”

Steve-Wonder Murell can’t sing. I wonder if he can dance? He claims he can play basketball, I know he used to ride downhill on a mountain bike. I certainly never saw him wear shades.

He also used to have a head full of hair, but that was back in the mid ’80s. Now he’s just a younger and better looking version of Bruce Willis. He came to Manila in the mid ’80s for a “short trip” with a bunch of idealistic college kids. It was suppose to be a two-week or two-month field trip. It’s been 20 plus years since.

The young man from somewhere in Mississippi could have stayed home to enjoy the country club lifestyle swinging golf clubs and riding sailboats. He also had his choice of careers in marketing, sales, etc. But Steve-Wonder Murell is no mere mortal. He was picked out of the crowd, given a mission and possessed the same character required to be accepted on board the Starship Enterprise — to boldly go where the country clubbers won’t.

And so he went to “new worlds”. The never before chartered territories such as the U-Belt of Manila.

A world so different from the oxygen filled banks of the Mississippi. Here in the U-Belt of the ’80s they inhaled a strange mix of oxygenated carbon dioxide regularly enhanced with “tear gas”. He would ride the “Love Bus” to his destination only to be confronted by the unmasked anger and hate between young citizens of the U-Belt and the Storm Troopers of the now dead Overlord in Malacañang.

The change did not come easy. Home may as well have been in another galaxy. In going on this mission he had written off comfort as well as easy access to cash and logistics. Here there were no two-legged ATMs called Dad. 

Their headquarters was the basement of a half abandoned moviehouse. Like rebels fighting a guerilla war they often crouched under leaky sewage pipes to move about. Almost weekly the familiar odor of “freshly delivered” tear gas would waft through the vents.  

It was both a time warp and a reminder that if he failed in his mission, there would be more hate, more hurt and thousands of wasted lives.

He built up an “army” from assorted probinsyanos or “hicks” who made it to the U-belt on the back of their parents’ dreams, loans or life savings. They were sent to the U-belt to get an education in order to qualify as employees. But now, they were recruits of Steve-Wonder Murell. Their first assignment was to get a passport and a Bible.

It was more than a bold statement. It was everything. It was Mission, Vision, Purpose and Power. Twenty plus years later it is “OUR” reality. Many of his early leaders were the first of many generations in their families, ever to travel on a plane and abroad. Others were the first to ever own a car, live apart from family or in-laws. More than 20 years later, there are Senators, Congressmen, local government officials. We are soldiers, cops, maids, houseboys. We are Filipinos, Asians, Americans and Europeans.

We were the “prodigal sons”, the rich kids, the ’syanos, the unwanted and the unwed. Now we are loving parents, respectful children, tithe giving and tax paying citizens. We are loved and loving, we are needed and willing.

Steve-Wonder Murell did all this not by brainwash or by imposition. He did it by obedience. He did it by example. He did it without exemptions. As he set the example He also helped us realize that by believing we could do the same. 

Here is a man who walked the talk. He gave up his family life with parents and siblings in order to help young Filipinos learn and understand what real family and what real life is all about.

He did not share a bookish kind of faith, but rather, he showed it coming as a stranger to a strange land ultimately becoming one with us: a spiritual father, mentor, brother, and often servant before leader.

You might think that his greatest gift to us was his life, but it wasn’t. The best thing he ever did was showing and teaching us that behind, beneath, over and above all our lofty dreams, our missions and vision, there stood God the author and the giver of life.

Steve-Wonder Murell helped me discover a real, a living, and a loving God.

Many Christmases have passed by and many times as I watched him lead these services, I sometimes wonder how much he and his wife Deborah must really miss snowy Christmases. How particularly painful it must be to be far away in another world as some loved ones die or pass away. I lived away from home for two years and I have not forgotten my tearful Christmas in the snow. Steve has lived in this home away from home for 20 years plus or minus.  

I credit our beloved Senior Pastor Steve Murell for two things in my life. First is establishing me in my spiritual walk with the motto: “Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”. This has really worked well in redirecting all the passion and anger within by putting meaning and purpose to it. So whenever you think I’m being mean, I’m actually just being spiritual!

The second thing I learned is that God has a way of using the most unlikely people like a “country clubber” to inspire, encourage and to save individuals, relationships, families. Perhaps one day even a nation as God did to Egypt by sending Joseph to be a slave.   

Sooner or later our Almighty Boss may call you for a mission. Before you start doubting, consider this: If a foreigner dedicated 20 years to Filipinos, shouldn’t you be doing your part? 

Happy 50th Steve!