Meet the Team

John was born in Montreal to Christian parents from Hungary and moved to Toronto when he was nine years old. In his teen years, he began to explore how we know that Christianity is true, sparking an intense commitment to Christian apologetics. John graduated with a B.A.Sc. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto (1985) and worked almost six years in industry, during which time he taught Bible studies at church, at his home, and in his workplace. Concluding that his role in the kingdom was teaching and apologetics, John earned an M.Div. (Pastoral) from Ontario Theological Seminary in 1996; his master’s thesis was “The Westcott-Hort Theory Re-examined.” He became a pastor, first at Toronto Formosan Presbyterian Church and then at Mississauga Christian Church. He has taught on apologetics topics at several local churches and has done presentations for Teen’s Conference, Toronto Christian Homeschoolers (TORCH), and for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) and The Navigators group meetings. In 2005, he, along with some dedicated coworkers, founded the apologetics ministry Truth In My Days. Since 2009, John has also been a teacher at Whitefield Christian Collegiate Institute; he currently teaches Grade 12 Philosophy, Grade 12 Bible, and Grade 11 and 12 Physics. John has been married to Adrienne (née Wong) for thirty years (as of 2018) and has three daughters: Sonya, who is a lawyer; Cara, a classical composer; and Dana, who is engaged in English and Books and Media Studies at the University of Toronto.

Johnny Chao is currently a member of Truth in My Days. He served as a youth minister at the Scarborough Chinese Alliance Church from 2011 to 2015. He also pastored at the Peoples Gospel Church from 2015 to 2017. As a passionate apologist, he believes that it is important for Christians to know the reasons for trusting the Bible as the Word of God, and Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Johnny has also taught and preached at Agape Gospel Church and Milton Missionary Baptist Church. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto in 2005, majoring in history. He completed his Masters of Divinity at the Tyndale University College and Seminary in 2014. He is happily married to his wife Monica Chao (née Fong) and together they have three daughters, Emma, Abigail, and Ariella.

Monica Chao has been serving the Lord faithfully since becoming a Christian in 2002. She became a believer through the study of apologetics. Her conversion experience helps her conviction to equip Christians in this field. She has been working with her husband Johnny in ministry by working with young parents. Monica graduated from the University of Ryerson with a Masters in Economics. She is married and loves to spend time with her three daughters, Emma, Abigail, and Ariella.

Diane Hong has been involved in Evangelism Explosion (a Christian evangelistic program started by D. James Kennedy) since 2005. She started as a trainee, has served as trainer, has assisted in EE Clinics, and currently is the EE Administrator at Willowdale Baptist Church and on the EE Board of Canada since 2014. Diane has a Bachelor of Sciences (Biology) from University of Toronto. Professionally, she has worked for two international pharmaceutical companies over the last 20 years and served as Board National Delegate in the Council of Pharmaceutical Education from 2002-2005. Diane has an interest in apologetics, evangelism, and connecting fellow Christians with resources so they can grow spiritually and strengthen their faith.

In university a Christian friend asked Katherine, “Do you think that God created the world in six days or six billion years?”. “I’m not sure, but I suspect it is six days because that is what the Bible says,” Katherine replied. Later, Katherine was introduced to Christian apologetics (the reasoned defense of the Christian faith), which answered questions such as how we can know if the earth is young (six thousand years old) or old (six billion years old), and how we know that the text of the Bible we have today is the same as the text of the original writings. After learning that the evidence does support six-day creation, and that we do have the original Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible, Katherine’s faith really grew, as knowledge was added to her faith (2 Peter 1:5). The Bible says to “give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). For this reason, Katherine is very happy to serve in Truth in My Days ministries. Katherine worked as a structural engineer and design manager for over 10 years and eventually worked for Creation Ministries International as an event manager, until she became a mom.

“…from His fullness we have received grace upon grace…” Twenty-five years ago, Lord Jesus opened the eyes of my heart to His Glory. It has been a long journey since my childhood in the Middle East where I was born. I had lots of questions before I became a Christian. How do we know the stories in the Bible are true? How do we know that Jesus actually walked on water and healed the blind, multiplied the bread, raised the dead, and rose from the dead? If He did all of this for me to know the difference between truth and a lie, then He would have left adequate and proportional proof so I can know the truth. It never entered my mind that Jesus wanted us to take a step of blind faith, certainly not after reading the gospels. The Lord was faithful and answered my questions. He changed my life and I am grateful that I get to live in Him and through His resurrected life. I enjoy preaching the word of God in a variety of ways, and during my open air preaching I include a fair amount of apologetics. People need to know what the Gospel is and why we should believe it.

Sonya Tors (daughter of John Tors) graduated from the University of Toronto in 2013 with an Honours Bachelor of Arts with High Distinction, majoring in Latin and minoring in Ancient Greek. She has been teaching New Testament Greek class since 2015. Among her students have been other members of the Truth in My Days ministry team. After finishing her undergraduate studies, Sonya returned to the University of Toronto to attend law school. She was called to the Ontario bar in 2017.

Deepthi Neelam holds a Bachelors of Business Administration (specializing in accounting) degree from the Schulich School of Business. She has spent the last three years working within the corporate retail sector in progressive roles, with a focus on operations and supply chain. Deepthi grew in her faith through gaining insight into apologetics and learning how to equip oneself to deal with challenges that plague Christianity today, such as those in the areas of creationism, textual criticism, and historical criticism. She looks forward to supporting the Ministry needs in an operational and background IT administrative capacity. Deepthi has been married for four years and, if the Lord wills, is looking to start a family that can serve our Lord and Saviour and further His kingdom.

Moses currently serves as the IT Administrator on the TIMD team. Though he was brought up in a Christian family, his faith had never really been grounded. He was always aware of the famous Bible stories during his years growing up in India and then in Africa for five years. He would attend church services every Sunday with his parents, where he learned of Jesus being our Saviour and that we are sinners. He immigrated to Canada when he was 12. Grade 10 was the beginning of his struggle, as he tried to reconcile Christianity with a 4.6 billion-year-old earth and the notion that all religions lead to one God. After asking his pastors, Christian friends, and others many questions, he concluded that all religions were the same and that they all have the same ultimate goal – to do good to others. He accepted the old age of the earth and the universe without question and believed that the Bible was a bunch of made-up stories. He had reached the point of arrogance; his Sunday school and youth group teachers considered him a rebel because he asked too many questions. Initially, Moses had been asking those questions for the purpose of pointing out flaws in the Bible. However, he eventually met one teacher who provided answers to all of his questions. That teacher answered them so well that Moses was not able to deny the existence of God, the flawless nature of the Bible, or the incredible sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Moses realized that our faith is indeed an evidence-based faith and that the Bible needs to be taken seriously. He decided to commit his life to Jesus Christ, when he knew He was the only way. In Moses’ spare time, he is trying to learn New Testament Greek in order to ensure that he can interpret God’s Word appropriately. Moses’ sole desire and request for prayer is that, in whatever he does, he may bring glory to his Lord and Saviour Christ