For someone who lived in seven different countries before the age of 25, Alarice Hong has a heart remarkably rooted in Singapore.

(She even shares the same birthday as our Little Red Dot.)

“Ever since I was a little girl, the Lord tied my heart to this nation; I remember listening to a few National Day songs and weeping. It sounds embarrassing, but the Lord was doing something in my heart to serve this nation,” she said in an interview with Selah.

Alarice, 39, Co-founder and Senior Leader of worship missions organisation Awaken Generation (AG), is Kiwi by nationality, a result of being born in New Zealand during one of her dad’s overseas work postings.

“The Awaken Generation story is really tied to what God has done in our own lives,” says Alarice.

Calvin, 43, Alarice’s husband and Co-founder/Senior Leader of AG, also spent a good 20 years growing up in New Zealand even though he was born in Malaysia.

Like Alarice, Calvin made frequent journeys to Singapore over the years to visit friends and family.

So when God seeded a vision of AG in the couple’s hearts, He used both their ties to Singapore as well as the tenderness they had towards other nations.

In AG, Singapore became the Antioch that trained and launched “musicianaries” to raise songs of worship and declarations of prophecy across oceans.

Humbly located in an industrial building in Paya Lebar, the organisation’s spiritual momentum and impact go way beyond its four walls.

Students, staff and friends at the 2025 live recording.

From an initial cohort of 47 students in 2015, AG’s music school has now graduated more than 900 students from 190 churches; their missions and outreach stream has partnered with over 80 churches in 13 countries; and their music arm has seen 7.6 million songs streamed in 136 nations.

Alarice and Calvin’s desire to see God’s grace claimed and His heart delighted by worship has been the root of their rallying call to Awaken! Arise! Build!

Salt&Light caught up with Alarice and Calvin to find out how God first schooled them so they could school others, why “the nations” comes up again and again in their story, and why they see Singapore as not just a place, but a promise.

What personal experiences do you bring to AG?

Alarice: When I was 13, my dad was posted to Australia where I attended high school. I didn’t know I could sing and didn’t play any instrument at the time. 

At a school camp one day, we were canoeing down the river when I started singing the Pocahontas song, Just Around the River Bend. I was that quiet Asian kid and my classmates were shocked. For the rest of the trip, I was like a human jukebox. We would be lying on the tarp, looking at the stars, and they’d say, Alarice, can you sing this song.

Alarice had her eyes opened to different cultures early on when her family lived in seven different countries because of her dad’s job postings.

Back in school, the choir conductor gave me the solo role in the school’s annual music festival. So the first time I ever sang in public was in the Sydney Opera House!

People came up to me and said, I was very touched when you sang. At that moment I realised that perhaps this was a gift from God to steward, even though I’d never learnt music and, to this day, I don’t even read music.

I learnt the guitar and started song writing and recording albums – mainly Christian contemporary songs – and that was the start of the journey God took me on. 

After I graduated from university, I felt God saying: “Will you give Me one year full-time serving in a music ministry?” I knew in my heart it had to do with Singapore, not Australia.

Alarice graduated from the University of New South Wales in Business Studies. (“No, I didn’t take Music because, you know, Asian.”)

So I returned and was about to launch an album at Esplanade when I received a Facebook message from someone (who to this day is on the AG Board).

He said: “The Lord’s put on my heart a desire to help fund Christian artistes because sharing the Gospel through music is such a powerful way for people to encounter God.”

I was amazed that, even as I stepped out in faith to say yes to pursuing a worship music ministry, God was also preparing people in the body of Christ to partner with me.

I went on to work in Operations Asia, or OopsAsiaSG, that partners with different artistes and churches for music evangelism. 

Calvin: I was born in Kuala Lumpur but grew up in Sabah. My dad was in the palm oil business and he decided to move the family to New Zealand for a better future. So I grew up there for 20 years.

Calvin, growing up in Sabah.

I somehow landed in the social work sector, working with youths at risk. 

Around 2010, I received a call from a friend in Singapore who was starting a youth programme.

She said: “We’re putting together a handful of mentors and your name came up in prayer. Would you like to come to Singapore?”

I felt the Lord stirring my heart to come, even though I love New Zealand.

Calvin’s youth was spent in New Zealand, where he lived for 20 years.

So I came and was part of the coaching and mentoring team, helping the students in their critical thinking, decision making, team building and life skills.

During these three months, every day the Lord broke my heart for the youths because these were bright scholars, high achievers, but when you pull the veil off, they were all struggling with self-worth.

I knew what it was like because I’d lived through that as a teenager. I, too, went through rejection, went through an identity crisis, to the point that I almost ended my life at 16. What saved me was the church where the missionaries discipled me and showed me the Father’s love.

Coaching youths in Samoa.

After those three months, I was invited to join a social service agency that focused on youth.

During those years, Alarice and I met at church, did ministry together, dated and got married!

How did God prepare you to impact the next generation?

C: The first time we did ministry together, it was in 2012 to about 500 boys in their school chapel.

The chaplain said: “I want to be very honest with you. The speaker cancelled, we didn’t have time to get another speaker and we’re desperate. Are you free?”

I said: “Sure, I can be your replacement speaker.” And then we heard it was the 40th anniversary of the ACS Clocktower Revival and we said: “Wow. This ministry is going to be a lot more significant than we thought.”

We arrived early and prayed over every single seat in the auditorium. When the boys walked in, they were so quiet, it was almost like they knew that God’s presence was in the room.

So I shared the message, including my testimony about how I almost took my own life at the age of 16 when I was going through a rough time in New Zealand, and halfway through preaching, the Holy Spirit gave me an image of the Gideonites – how there were 20,000 and then the Lord says, that’s too many, and eventually from 20,000, only 300 remained. (Judges 7)

Even though they were given the choice to end chapel early, 50 boys stayed to hear God’s Word and bask in His presence.

So I said, hey guys, those who would like to remain to hear more, you can stay and the rest of you are free to go. Some were like, wow, chapel ended early, this is great.

But guess what? Over 50 boys stayed back. I preached again, just calling for them to rise up as young men and make their life count for Jesus. The response was overwhelming. The chaplain said: “This has never happened before. You want to come and speak again next week?”

The boys washing each other’s feet.

So the next week we returned and we thought we were getting 50 boys but word got around and 120 showed up.

Worship, led by Alarice, went on for 45 minutes … they couldn’t stop worshipping. They were praying for each other and washing each other’s feet.

One of the leaders shared about the revival 40 years ago and said, ‘God is moving afresh in your generation.’” It was a very, very powerful time.

How did God call AG into being?

A: We’d just been married and were in Florida for a church conference. 

During the conference, some of the leaders were walking out into the congregation and just praying and prophesying over whomever they felt led to.

Because Calvin was going through burnout in his work in Singapore and was uncertain about the future, I was praying, God, it would really encourage Calvin to get a word from You.

We were already packing up to leave when suddenly this prophet jumped out infront of us (I call him the “ninja prophet” because he literally came out of nowhere). He asked: “Are you guys married?”

We said: “Yes, just last month! This is our first trip as a married couple.”

He said: “Good. This word’s for you: One puts a thousand to flight, but two puts 10,000 to flight. There’s something about your individual ministries that, when done together, will see the favoured anointing of God flow.”

Serving in the Philippines.

That was a huge confirmation because Calvin was wondering about his next job – was it social work? Was it in New Zealand? In my heart, I felt that the reason God called us out of our comfort zone in Australia and New Zealand was to build something new for Him in Singapore.

C: At that point I was emotionally drained from my 24/7 work. Even though I was grateful for being led to Singapore where I met Alarice and did meaningful work, I was done.

But during that time, God visited me in a dream.

In my dream, I saw a rainbow slinky. It started off from Singapore and it started bouncing in and out across the different nations of the world. And every time it went out, it came back to Singapore. This happened several times.

In my dream, I took the rainbow slinky and threw it across the world map. But the slinky came back and landed in Singapore and started going in and out again.

I shouted: “Lord, I’ve obeyed you. I’ve given three years of my life to Singapore and it’s time for me to return to New Zealand.”

And the Lord said: “Do not remove the call I have for you. For Singapore will be a base and a hub where I’ve called you to do the work of the ministry together with Alarice. I will open doors for you that no man can shut and shut those that no man can open. You will work for Me and you will operate under My covering.”

And I woke up, still without a clue what the ministry was about. But I knew God was in charge. He was leading us.

Ministering in Indonesia.

A: We now knew that it would be a combination of both our callings – worship and songwriting for me, discipleship and evangelism for Calvin.

We put out the news that we were starting the first cohort in 2015 and a praying sister called me a few months before the opening and asked: “How many sign-ups do you have so far?”

I said: “Ten applications. Fair enough, an eight-month journey is a big commitment.” She said: “Alarice, what number of sign-ups does it take for you to say, ‘This is crazy, it can only be God?’ I said: “Forty?”

That year we closed with 49 students. For me, it was confirmation from the Lord that this was not some random idea in our own heads but His heart to find worshippers in Singapore.

He was saying: This is My dream that I’m giving you both to steward.

How do you see AG fulfilling Singapore’s Antioch call?

Every year the cohort increased and in 2019, the Lord spoke to Calvin to take the curriculum online. So when COVID hit in 2020, we were already prepared to keep the school running.

We opened up the AG worship school to the nations in 2021. Since then, we have graduated students from Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Turkey and the USA. 

The beautiful thing about our online school is that it runs concurrently with the onsite school. So students can interact online and onsite.

Leading worship in Nepal.

A student who really touched me was Suren, who’s from Sri Lanka. He’s an anointed worship leader and songwriter who came for our annual Songs of the Nations conference. It was his first time on an airplane.

He signed up for the song writing stream and although we extended to him a full scholarship, he declined, asking to pay for part of the fees.

AG’s Online International School.

“I don’t want to give God anything that’s not going to cost me something. As much as I appreciate the scholarship, I want to pay part of it as a form of worship to the Lord as well.”

Even though it was a significant amount for him as a church full-time worker, he still committed that amount to grow as a worshipper in our school.

When you behold something beautiful, you’ll pay whatever price to have that.

Are we undervaluing worship?

How is worship related to missions?

A: We love this quote by John Piper: “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more.”

Serving in the Philippines.

AG was raised to strengthen the Church to the First Commandment: To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength. And as the Church begins to see God in worship, people will rise up for the Great Commission.

That’s why we describe AG as a greenhouse: We’re not just equipping people with a skillset, we are nurturing the right soil, temperature, humidity and sunlight (conditions for spiritual growth) so that seeds can bloom and flourish before being sent out.

If we don’t have that constant connection with the Lord and a desire to build Him a resting place and receive from His presence, we’ll burn out.

“Worship teams are singing theologians inviting people to encounter God’s presence,” says Alarice.

Have you seen worship and missions literally come together?

A: In 2023 the Lord sent us to Antakya, Turkey, which is the Antioch of the Bible. This was a few months after a major earthquake.

It was like a war zone. Half of the hotel we were staying at had collapsed.

In Israel.

I was asking the Holy Spirit: “Why have you sent us here?” And I heard the Lord answer: “You’re here to rebuild Antioch.”

I knew He meant that in multiple ways: First, to help people restore their dwelling place because a lot of them had lost homes and were living in tents. So the guys started building container homes and the women distributed food.

Secondly, we were to rebuild His dwelling place. Meaning to restore worship in Antioch, the birthplace of missions to the Gentile world (Acts 13).

Thirdly, the Lord was going to raise up the Antiochs of today, including Singapore.

I had a vision of us bringing worship into the tents. But you can’t just rock up to somebody’s tent and start worshipping. We had to be invited in!

One day a family who was receiving food said: “Can I invite you to my home? I’m just thankful for your help.”  So we went to her tent and heard their stories – sadly, some of them had lost their entire family. They said: “We don’t even know why we survived. There’s no joy in what we do anymore.”

Praying over the nations.

I took the opportunity to say: “Is it okay if we pray? Is it okay if I sing my prayer?” So I ended up leading worship in the tent. They said: “Wow, we’ve not heard music in a long time but somehow there’s joy when we sing.”

We invited them to our Music Night of Hope the following week, and the Lord told me: “Don’t sing in English. Do the songs in Turkish.” So we learnt the song Waymaker in Turkish. And it was a significant song for them because of what they were going through.

It was a beautiful example of worship and missions coming together.

In another instance, a friend was hosting a large entourage of influential Japanese at her home. She reached out to us, saying: “Would you partner me on this night of outreach?”

Working with churches in Nepal.

It was the day before National Day. So we framed it as a Singapore Story of Hope. We shared about the history of Singapore. And then Calvin weaved in his personal testimony. Suicide is a very real stronghold in Japan.

The presence of God was just moving in the room. And the ladies started weeping. We said: “If you’re feeling hope after what we shared, if you feel peace in your heart, that’s the presence of God. If you want to know more, just raise your hand and we’ll pray for you.” You know, 80% of the room raised their hand!

That’s the power of preaching the Gospel through worship. We’ve seen so many instances where non-believers come into an environment of worship and, because God’s presence is being hosted, they encounter God.

Is Singapore disadvantaged by our privilege?

C: In the Bible, every king (in modern day terms, a person of influence) is measured by what he did in the high places.

A king without a priestly heart is controlling, self-serving and abuses his own kingdom. Whereas priests without kingly minds live in the confines of church, powerless to change cultures or bringing impact and peace to the nations.

So if we are in a position of affluence, what matters is not the privilege but how we use the privilege – to hoard our gifts, or to leverage it to advance the Kingdom? That is our challenge.

What do you want to tell worship teams?

A: New songs are prophetic in nature and propel the Church forward.

Yes, classic hymns can unite every generation to sing together. But I believe God has specific messages and revelations for local church communities in every nation, in every age.

We need to sing the songs of today: What is God saying in 2025 for your community and your church?

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