James Lau Pan Yeu joined a local bank after graduating from secondary school in 1972. A year later he resigned to join Telekom Malaysia as a technician for 13 years. In 1988 he joined an international insurance company as a branch manager, later he was promoted to be the Sarawak Regional Manager. He worked there for 26 years.

In the Church, he served as SCAC Secretary for 16 years (2001 – 2016). Before that he served as the Chairman of SCAC Youth Fellowship and SCAC Adult Fellowship for four years respectively. He was elected as the Deputy Lay Leader SCAC during the 2016 Annual Conference. One year later after being appointed by the Annual Conference as the SCAC Secretary General commencing 2018, he resigned from the post of Deputy Lay Leader SCAC.