You cannot expect a professional magician and flamboyant leader of a megachurch to do things by halves, as Mr Lawrence Khong is amply demonstrating once again.
His latest effort - sending relief missions in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami - is the sort of grand humanitarian project to ignite his spiritual zeal.
For the founder of the 10,000-strong Faith Community Baptist Church, Japan's tragedy is a rallying point. His LoveSingapore network - a core of about 40 churches and a wider circle of 100 other Protestant congregations across denominations - has already raised $630,000.
The first of six relief teams landed in Japan a week after the March 11 catastrophe. The ongoing missions comprise a total of 73 members from his church and the LoveSingapore alliance.
They join Japanese pastors in distributing food and cleaning muddy, damaged homes in Miyagi prefecture. Volunteers even offer foot massages 10 victims.
He rejects the controversial notion of some religious leaders, such as South Korean evangelist Cho Yong Gi, that the tsunami may be "God's warning" to Japan
Mr Khong, 58, says: "You will never hear me say that. Our heartbeat is, if someone is in trouble, let's help. This is the heart of Christ."
The missions do not proselytise in Japan. Serving with no strings attached is in the spirit of LoveSingapore, he says.
He initiated the movement in 1995 to serve the community and unite Protestant churches. It has hosted banquets for migrant workers and staged Good Neighbours days to perform acts of kindness, such as taking elderly residents out.
A LoveSingapore Fund was set up to help people who lost their jobs when the recession hit in 2008 .
The movement also runs prayer summits and pastor forums that unite churches across denominations.
The irony of that particular goal is not lost on Mr Khong. "I am probably the least likely person to unite churches," he concedes.
Before he pioneered his independent church with a breakaway flock of 350 from Grace Baptist Church in 1986, he was a traditionalist leader who told pastor friends off when he decided they were "theologically shallow".
The combative stance softened a few years later when he read the works of Argentinian evangelist Ed Silvoso, whose ideas about praying for society in powerful unity with other churches got him thinking.
It sparked the LoveSingapore movement, and even led Mr Khong 10 apologise to other pastors for his arrogance.
He acknowledges that churches will never unite around theology or practices like how to baptise new members or increase church numbers.
"God is not concerned about those things as much as the love we have for each other," he says. "So we said unity must be around the cross. There is only one church in Singapore - the church of Jesus Christ - and many congregations."
The movement, he says, "prays for something larger than ourselves".
So, the informal grouping now prays for Singapore and its leaders, who manage a vulnerable country with "no right to exist", he says. "Our nation is very blessed.
"The Bible talks about honouring kings. In our biblical worldview, governments are placed there by God."
His call to spiritual arms has resonated surprisingly strong.
Up to 150 churches from many denominations, including Anglican, Assembly of God, Baptist, Brethren, Methodist and Presbyterian, and independent charismatic ones such as City Harvest Church, have joined hands for special events.
When the Commercial Affairs Department investigated City Harvest for alleged misuse of church funds last year, the LoveSingapore leaders sent a letter to their network of churches.
They were urged to pray and stay positive' and not view the situation as "an opportunity to air differences".
"City Harvest needed all the encouragement. So stop making judgment on things we don't know," Mr Khong recalls the letter as saying.
LoveSingapore does not shy away from making its point in more political matters either.
That happened when the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released new guidelines restricting the religious use of commercial properties last July. A key change ruled that no more than 20,000 sqm or 20 per cent - whichever is lower - of a commercial complex's gross floor area can be used for religious purposes.
It had a direct effect on LoveSingapore's network of churches, and a delegation of pastors met National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan to discuss the issue.
It was a good dialogue, Mr Khong says, with church leaders expressing appreciation that secular space can be shared with religious groups.
"We also shared that churches have real needs for space. The Singapore population has grown, and there is a rise in many religions. We appealed for more sites, and asked the URA to give us due consideration in future plans."
His own church could not comply with the guidelines and moved out of its leased Singapore Expo premises last month. It now gathers in two heartland venues the church owns in Marine Parade Central and Bukit Merah.
"Our church couldn't comply, but we didn't complain," says Mr Khong.
LoveSingapore leaders also assured Mr Mah and officials that Christians do not pose problems when their numbers grow.
"We said to the Government, let's not get worried. More people are getting more religious, and they need a religion to belong to. The fact is, there is a growth of religious groups all around," Mr Khong says.
Census 2010 figures show that the proportion of Christians in Singapore's population grew from 14.6 per cent to 18.3 per cent over the past decade.
While this represents only a rise of 3.7 percentage points, Mr Khong believes that because the overall population expanded from 4.03 million in 1990 to 5.08 million last year, Christian numbers could have risen by as much as 50 per cent in absolute terms.
The census also shows that the educational profile of Christians has dipped. The proportion with only secondary education or below has increased.
This statistic delights Mr Khong: "It means we are on the right path. Any church with a heart for people will reach out to all sectors. I personally think that the heartland is the bread and butter of the church, and we reach out to it as a community church."
He recalls an earlier time: "There was a season when I shared the gospel and older folks would say, 'I am not smart enough to be a Christian.' Maybe it is our style of doing church, going for classes and classes."
His church has since modified its outreach to senior citizens by inviting them to small cell groups, where close bonds can be formed. "It is grassroots-style," he says.
Overall, church composition is still slightly skewed towards educated people, he notes. Census 2010 shows that the faith is popular with university graduates, with one in three professing to be Christian, more than any other religion.
Yet, with all this going on in his day job, he took one of the biggest left turns any public figure here has attempted, by taking up magic again at age 50 after having dabbled in it as a youth.
Many pastors thought he had gone to the dark side, while his own congregation was deeply conflicted, and many left.
But his conviction is that churches have to rethink their influence in the world. They have often rejected entertainment as a morally pollutive industry, but he believes this is the "real pulpit of the world" for today's sound and light generation.
Christians, he asserts, have the responsibility to shape wholesome messages that are relevant through arts and entertainment.
He will stage Vision, his new production that he bills as a magic adventure show, at the Esplanade Theatre in July. "It is good entertainment with a heartwarming story line. You don't need sex and violence or morally borderline issues to sell a show," he reckons.
Like the show, churches can be a transforming force and bless society, he suggests, if they are prepared to boldly do this: "Pull down walls between the sacred and secular."