Born and raised in Hawaii, Harvey Ching had no aspirations in being a pastor. Public speaking gave him the nervous shakes. But the Lord had other ideas. Through the sovereign direction of the Lord, the primary classes that were available in his first 2 years at the University of Hawaii were speech classes.  He took them just to keep busy and initially found them most uncomfortable.  But through each class he learned some new abilities God had planted in him.

Originally wanting to be an artist, he now turned to his new found Christian faith and immersed himself in the study of biblical prophecy.  He read every book that he could get his hands on and drew charts and painted visual depictions of the End Times to be incorporated into slide presentations for his Sunday School classes.

He transferred from the University of Hawaii to a small, Christian College, International College & Graduate School.  It was an eye-opening experience to have the Christian faith merged  with general education classes like science and English literature.  After earning his BA at International, he was accepted into Dallas Theological Seminary where he earned his Master's degree in four years of intense study then returned to Hawaii where he was offered two churches. He chose the least likely one, being small and of a different cultural background than what he was familiar with.  At the same time he was invited back to International College to teach graduate level seminary classes. He taught in almost every department except Missions and was later called upon to take on the position of College Dean.  During that time he earned his doctorate and began teaching New Testament Greek exegesis. (Second year Greek)

Several years later he was asked to step into the role of president of the school and he did so reluctantly for 2 years.  Knowing his strength was not in administration or fund-raising, he still helped the school get out of financial debt and keep the scholastic standard high by getting high-profile professors from other seminaries to teach modular classes at International. Men like Dr. Haddon Robinson, J.P Moreland, Jill and Stuart Briscoe, Archibald Hart and many others came to teach and provide Hawaii with an outstanding local seminary program. (International College was at that time the only accredited graduate school in the islands.)

 After 28 years as pastor of an Alliance church in Hawaii, Dr. Ching resigned seeking God's leading for a new direction in ministry. Much to his surprise, that direction lead him from Hawaii to Clay Christian Fellowship in Alabama where he enjoys employing his varied talents and gifts to build up the body of Christ in the city of Clay.