From the beginning, Ting was determined to use his platform to share wholesome, positive content and support the work of charities making a difference in the lives of vulnerable children.

YouTube has always been a creative outlet for Ting, who has been sharing content for over 17 years. “I’ve loved making videos since I can remember. I was doing parody videos of the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC [bands] with my friends when I was in high school,” he tells Eternity.

Ting recalls that five years ago, Rubik’s cubing started to grow in Australia, with the World Championships hosted in Melbourne in 2019. “We took the family down for that because my kids were interested in cubes as well.”

“It’s incredible and very humbling thinking about the influence and the reach that our videos have.” – Ming Ting.

This year, Ting left his job as a high school teacher of 15 years to work as a full-time YouTuber and a stay-at-home dad. “One thing led to another and now I make videos for a living, which is wild. This is one of those jobs that didn’t exist 10 years ago,” he says.

“One of the last videos I’ve put out currently has over 50,000 views. When I stop to think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen 50,000 people as a group before. It’s incredible and very humbling thinking about the influence and reach our videos have,” he shares. Ting connects with his online community through YouTube, Instagram and in person at cubing events.

Its not only kids who enjoy Ting’s videos, he says, but also parents and carers watching along with them. “That’s one reason I love making videos with my kids. It’s just fun to interact. But I think our relationship also resonates with people,” he says. He shares that when he first started making videos with his children, many viewers commented on how wholesome the content was. “I thought, you know what, I’m going to embrace that. Let’s be the wholesome cubing channel. Let’s be something that makes people feel good.”

Being a trustworthy, family-friendly channel is core for Ting. “It’s just nice knowing that I’m modelling what it looks like to try to be positive,” he says. He notes that children and people who speedcube and participate in cubing competitions tend to be highly strung and very hard on themselves. “We can be real perfectionists who are never happy with the time we got when we solved the cube because we could have done better. We have a strong negative inner voice. It’s been cool to show how I respond to failure in a positive way, when I do poorly in a competition or when I legitimately feel down,” he says.

“I believe every Christian has that commission to be salt and light. To show people God’s love, to show people that there’s hope, to show people that life’s worth living.”

While Ting’s content is not overtly Christian, he has a conviction to model Christian values on his channel. “I believe every Christian has that commission to be salt and light. To show people God’s love, to show people that there’s hope, to show people that life’s worth living,” he says. He started a part-time Masters in Biblical Theology for personal growth, faith, Bible literacy and leadership. “I want to know how to articulate my faith with compassion but also accurately. And I’m very open to seeing where God takes that.”

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Rubik’s Cube, but speedcubing as a sport started in the 2000s. In Australia, speedcubing started to pick up in 2010, and now Speedcubing Australia hosts 60 competitions around all states and territories every year. “We were at a competition last week. There were about a hundred competitors there, not including friends and family. And it is just such a warm, exciting and nurturing community,” says Ting.

In late February, Ting and his support crew solved 1110 cubes, with $17000 raised – equating to 1133 chickens donated to help people in desperate need of food and income. Having hit a huge subscriber milestone this year, Ting wanted to celebrate by hosting a charity livestream event. “I’ve done a few fundraisers on my channel in the past. When we hit one million subscribers, it felt appropriate to celebrate with my community by hosting a big cubing charity livestream. To use this hobby as a force for good, that will result in change in the world.”