People at ICS have serving hearts!



Hillman is on the right standing next to our Headmaster Ben Norton



In the beginning was the ICS IT (Information Technology) department, and Hillman Lai was with the IT department, and Hillman Lai was the IT department. This was back in the Bethel days when Hillman Lai supported the whole ICS computer server singlehandedly. Now ICS has far more complex servers, some of the most sophisticated equipment, and a large team working in the IT department. It has been a miracle of a journey for ICS, and Hillman has been in every part of that journey.

Hillman went to university in Canada and worked in the IT industry in Hong Kong for over 10 years. However, the job required too much travelling which was not good for his wife and one year-old boy. Hillman knew a teacher from ICS who connected him to the school by telling Hillman that the current computer teacher (who ran the whole system) was leaving. Hillman saw a mission school supporting missionaries and decided to help out for just a bit, signing a one-year contract with the school.

He thought of his new job as a transition job rather than a permanent career because working with such low-end equipment in a torn-down building was “worse than working in China.” One time he and a few alumni had to manually connect all the cables to every single computer in the school during a hot summer because no company was willing to help. In the end he replaced all the computers in the school so that technological and IT advancements could be made possible in the future.

However, what started out as a mere transition job became his career. Hillman soon fell in love with the school because “people were serving and doing good to others with a serving heart.” He explained that this was not the case in his previous job because of intense stress and pressure from politics. In ICS the people cooperated with him as long as he explained what he was doing. He especially enjoyed the morning devotions that faculty members organized- “we get paid to have devotions! This is a privilege and blessing from God.”

Hillman is happy with where he is because he is learning new things along the way. God has given him the opportunity to integrate his career into ministry and allowed his profession to be used as a means of serving the school. “God has really shown his mighty work,” Hillman said. This past May, Hillman has reached his 10-years of service to the school. It is a great reminder of what God has done in Hillman’s life- to be a blessing to ICS.