The church is the only Pentecostal branch in Chinatown, where evangelical churches stand side by with Buddhist temples. In recent years, attendance at churches has exploded among new immigrants from Fujian province on China's southeastern coast.

A native of Malaysia, Pastor Lee converted to the evangelical faith at age twelve, when the first Assembly of God church was erected in his country. The eighty-two year old pastor received a calling from God in 1963 to travel to New York. He helped erect the church in 1968. Now he appears on gospel radio, reaching Chinese communities throughout the world.

Over 400 worshippers belong to the Bethel Assembly of God, no small feat, says the pastor, since Chinese people need to warm up to the extroverted expressions of the Pentecostal denomination. He spoke of helping a terminally ill cancer patient with enlarged nymph nodes in her neck. After praying for the woman, her son vomited two lumps and her hair began to grow back.