Contributed by Abbey Thangiah • Jun 23, 2026
A Father After God’s Heart: Remembering my Daddy, Rev. Dr. T.D. Peter
Have you ever wondered what kind of fathers are truly shaping the next generation? When I think about what it means to be a parent — and a person — after God’s own heart, I don’t have to look far. I just think of my father, Rev. Dr. T.D. Peter.
My father was a warrior for the faith from the very beginning until daddy was called home to the Lord on January 3, 2022. Today, I want to share a bit of his story with our church family. Looking back at his life through the “D.A.D.” framework — Delight, Apply, and Direct — I can see so clearly how daddy modeled our Heavenly Father to us.
Delighting in God’s Goodness
My father cultivated a deep, unwavering trust in the goodness of God. Daddy firmly believed that the Lord would always provide for our needs, no matter how challenging the circumstances looked.
After finishing his Form 6 Science, daddy answered God’s divine call to ministry, attending Serampore University in 1978. Despite doing well in his HSC (A level), he chose to study Theology in India. Until this day, many would wonder why he chose this crazy decision at such an early age. I guess looking back, reading further would help us answer this question.
His reliance on God’s sovereign goodness wasn’t just something daddy preached; it was how daddy lived. This was perfectly captured in his favourite Bible verse, Proverbs 21:31: “The horse is prepared for the day of the battle, But deliverance is of the Lord.” Daddy rested in that deliverance. Daddy also had a deep love for reading, a habit daddy carried faithfully from his youth into his old age, always seeking to learn more about the God daddy delighted in. He could spend a whole day in a library or just soaked in reading and preparing his sermon.
Applying God’s Compassion
Just as the Lord is merciful and gracious, my father lived a life marked by profound sacrifice and compassion. Being the eldest of 10 siblings, daddy took on heavy responsibilities early in life and always looked out for our extended family. But his compassion reached far beyond our relatives; daddy was always aiming to raise the living standards of our community.
Daddy modeled extreme generosity, freely giving to others who were facing hard times, sometimes regardless of our own family’s immediate needs. Daddy just trusted God would make up the difference.
I vividly remember his time as a District Superintendent in Mentakab. Rather than renting a comfortable parsonage, daddy moved our family into the first floor of a shop house so that the church’s funds could be used more wisely. For two years, my parents slept in the office room while we kids stayed in the meeting room. Looking back, that wasn’t just frugality, it was a beautiful picture of sacrificial compassion. Daddy put the needs of the Kingdom and the church above his own comfort. Would you believe that the first floor would get flooded due to heavy rain and a leaked pipe? Despite this, we still stayed in this shophouse until the church was completed.
Directing Us to God
Ultimately, a godly father’s greatest legacy is his spiritual inheritance. My father dedicated his entire life to directing his family, and countless others, toward Christ.
At seminary, Daddy was a fighter who stood up for others, even in his studies! I love the story of how daddy successfully campaigned to make Greek an elective subject rather than a compulsory one, simply because daddy knew how difficult it was for his peers to master.
As a visionary leader, daddy became known for building churches and parsonages from scratch across Mentakab, Bentong, Raub, Kuala Lipis, Jerantut, and Kuantan between 1994 and 1999. Daddy faithfully served congregations all over Malaysia, including Chaah, Seremban, Sungai Petani, Sitiawan, Ipoh, and Kuala Lumpur.
But more than all the buildings daddy helped construct, daddy built a lasting legacy of faith in us — his children, Abbey (that’s me), Ablin, and Abszra. That spiritual inheritance is now being passed down to his grandchildren, a new era of our family who continue to be inspired by his life.
My father was a devoted preacher, a faithful friend, a loving husband, and a caring dad. Through his resilient, hard-working, and sacrificial spirit, daddy showed us exactly what it means to be a father after God’s own heart.
Daddy fought the good fight, and daddy finished his race. My prayer is that as a church community, we can all learn from examples like his — delighting in God’s goodness, applying His compassion to those around us, and intentionally directing the next generation to Him.
To this day, my Mother continues to carry his legacy of serving God in many ministries locally and internationally. That is another story for another day.
