Steven Curtis Chapman, United States' award winning Christian Contemporary artist and founder of Shaohannah's Hope, visited Hong Kong last week to promote his new CD and to share the vision of Shaohannah's Hope. On Sept 14, Steve and Scott Hasenbalg, administrative director of Shaohannah's Hope, arrived in the evening at charity organization, headquarter of Po Leung Kuk, that provides shelters to homeless children and the weak, and they shared the vision of Shaohannah's Hope.

Because of his talents in song writing and singing, Steven Chapman is loved by many Christian fans as well as non-Christians. As a proof, he has won the "Most Popular Christian Contemporary Music Album Award" 5 years consecutively at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards. This year, he will visit a total of 72 cities on the "All Things New Tour", and the estimate number of people he will come in contact is over 350,000 people.

Not only has Chapman won public acclaim from his musically gifted side, but he also reveals his devotion to God. Shaohannah's Hope, founded by Chapman, is a ministry with the vision of gathering the compassion of people in this world towards the homeless children around the world, and it encourages Christians to do what they can, such as adopting homeless children. Steve and his wife, Mary Beth has been actively promoting the cause Shaohannah's Hope. Setting an example for other Christians to follow, they have adopted three Chinese girls from a children homeless shelter in China. Steve adopted his first child shortly after he began composing songs and established Shaohannah's Hope to share his vision with the world.

In his autobiography, Chapman described his journey of coming to know the meaning of faith:

There was a time that Chapman lost his voice for three months. At that time, he wasn't sure if he would be able to make any more musical breakthroughs, and he wasn't even sure if can sing again. Searching for an answer, he read many books, and that changed the way that he thought.

Among the books that he read, there were two books that impacted him greatly. The first book, "Rumors of Another World: What on Earth are We Missing?" by Philip Yancey, reassured him the periodic revelation of God in our lives. The second book, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper, gave him a spiritual renewal that brought him much inspiration in coming to understand God's cross and glory. He realized that the purpose of life is to receive God's grace, living for God, glorify him, rather for himself. During that time, he composed 8 songs.

At the beginning stages of establishing Shaohannah's Hope, the focus weren't that clear. However, though deeper understanding the love and mercy of God, which is to give and to sacrifice, Chapman began to have a better grasp of what faith really is. He realized that faith is sharing the love that we received from God with others. He admits that faith is not just a thought, but it is an ongoing challenge.

In year 2000, Chapman and his wife adopted a homeless Chinese girl, Shaohannah, then the second and the third. "To love in this way has allowed his relationship with God to become much deeper than before," said Chapman.

Pastors need to respond to those who are in need; Apostle James encouraged believers to show compassion for the homeless child and the widows. Jesus said that whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done for me. "If we just do because of our obedience to God, that is good, but, in reality, if you really try to serve the God, then He will change our lives."

When he first started this ministry, someone told him, "There are over 3,400,000 homeless children, but why is it that you and your wife only adopt 3 children?" Chapman responded by responding with a lesson learned from pastor, "If we really believe that God will turn everything around, then whatever it is that we do, whether it is supporting or adopting a homeless child, it is for the sake of ending the world's poverty or injustice, but it is to paint a picture of the gospel and allow the world to see the beautiful kingdom that is to come. We will use faith and hope to await for this kind of day to come."

Chapman further stated, as he was walking in the homeless shelters, he had a very powerful experience. Since then, he used his daughter's name, Hannah, to establish Shaohannah's Hope, and he hopes to share this vision with even more people.

Around Christmas of this year, Chapman will release his new album, which will also feature other famous Cantonese singer's classic hit song, "Blessings" by Jacky Cheung in English. Besides bringing the gospel to the world and sharing the vision of Shaohannah's Hope, Chapman, on this trip to Hong Kong, hopes to more quickly allow the gospel to spread out through the exchange of Christian Contemporary music in Asia.

Concluding the trip in Hong Kong, Steven Curtis Chapman's next stop is Beijing CCTV, the major television network in Beijing, where he will publicly perform.