Dear Brothers and Sisters, Peace to you in the Lord!
I don’t know who planted an entire row of daffodil on both sides of the entrance of the CWC coworkers’ dormitory! In winter, they are buried deep in the frozen ground. And you don’t even know that they exist. But in February, as soon as the weather shows the slightest sign of warming up, you can immediately see them breaking out of the ground, reminding you that spring is near! So every March, when you come to the Gospel Camp, you can see them blooming with beautiful yellow flowers, waving in the wind, telling the wonder of God’s creation!
Spring is the season of revival of all things, and the winter has gone in the operation of nature. It reminds me often of the beloved’s calling to the bride in the Song of Solomon: “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers have already appeared in the land; The time has arrived for pruning the vines, and the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its figs, And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, And come along!” (Song of Solomon 2:10-13). Here twice he says, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!”! The Song of Solomon is often used as a metaphor for the relationship between the Christian (bride) and Christ (the bridegroom), so “Draw me after you and let us run together! ” (Song 1:4) has become one of our favorite verses.
When nature is revived, should we Christians also shed our spiritual gloom and be revived by God? In the spring, when the trees and flowers are re-emerging with new life, does it also remind us that we should lead more new life into the Kingdom of the Savior, Jesus? In March, each school chooses a week for spring break, and the Christian Witness Center has also devotes a long weekend for a spring break Gospel Camp. We surveyed the spring break time of various schools, and this year many universities have spring break on the week of March 11, so we specially chose March 8 (Friday evening) to 11 (Monday noon) for our annual Gospel Camp. Whether you’re looking to take a break from school work or try to catch up with homework, you still have time to spend a weekend in the presence of the Lord to regain your strength and use this great opportunity to lead gospel friends to hear the gospel.
The pandemic of the past two or three years has gradually left us, and we should reorganize ourselves, restore our relationship with the Lord, and reorganize the church that has been affected by the pandemic. For this reason, this year’s prayer letter message will be the theme of “Turn to God for Revival”. Brother Watchman Nee, one of the leaders of the Chinese church, once said: “An important mission God has given the church is to preach the gospel.” In this issue before the Gospel Camp, we have invited our coworker Brother Qinglong Liang to share:
Redeeming the Time, Preaching the Gospel with Joy
Preaching the gospel is a spiritual battle. It is also an opportunity for the Lord to shape His people’s lives, and a mission that the Lord has given to His children. In the matter of evangelism, one of the great challenges is lack of courage, and the apostle Paul also specifically mentioned in his epistle that he asked people to pray for him so that he could speak the gospel boldly, therefore, every time when we go out to preach the gospel, we must ask the Lord for courage, and He will surely give us enough courage. In today’s world, everyone is busy with all kinds of tasks. With a full daily schedule which involves responsibilities at work, at home, etc., things are coming one after another and it seems that there is no ending. Christians are no exception, and may be even more busy, because we have added a lot of church commitments. We may have asked the Lord for wisdom in time management that we could have more time to attend camps, more time to share the gospel, but no matter how we pray, it still seems not working as we expected.
I myself used to struggle like this very often, until one time when I prayed for having wisdom to manage my time, the Lord reminded me that time belongs to Him, and I should have asked for wisdom to arrange the Lord’s time, not my time. My way of arranging my schedule has a great change since that experience. Brothers and sisters, are you still struggling like this? Let us ponder about how we can joyfully spread the gospel in the new year where the Lord has for us.
First, we should ask the Lord to give us a heart of preaching the gospel. Pray that the Lord gives us a willing heart to receive the light of the Holy Spirit until we truly know that time belongs to the Lord, and that “I’m too busy”, “I don’t have time” are no longer our excuses for not sharing the gospel, but are willing to set aside time to actively preach the gospel.
Second, we should ask the Lord to preach the gospel according to His heart. In Ephesians 5:16, Paul wrote, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil. ” (NKJV) In the past, when I read this verse, the first thing that comes to mind is that this is an evil time, other people (not me) are wicked, and evil things happen all around. It wasn’t until when I meditated on this verse that I realized that in the Bible, evil is “not doing what God wants to do”, “not doing things according to God’s heart”. When I am unwilling to do God’s will or not doing things according to God’s will, I am the wicked person. When my heart is in this state, no matter what I do, no matter how busy I seem, I am not redeeming the time. May the Lord help us that we not only be willing to preach the gospel, but also to preach the gospel according to His will, and to make Jesus Christ and Him crucified our eternal message, so that we are truly redeeming the time.
Third, we should ask the Lord to give us joyful hearts to preach the gospel. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul wrote, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. ” Here, Paul reminds God’s children that the Lord not only has saved us through Jesus, but also continues to work in our lives. Preaching the gospel is the good work that pleases the Lord, and when we are willing to preach the gospel, God will continue to shape us in Jesus Christ, so that Jesus’ life will be more manifested in us, and greater joy He will give us.
The CWC Gospel Camp is coming up soon. May the Lord help us that not only we prepare our hearts and set aside the time to participate, but continue to pray for the gospel friends and invite them to come together. Let us all experience the joy of the harvest in the process of evangelism, our lives constantly be renewed and changed, and the life of Jesus Christ can be more and more manifested in us.
Spring Break Gospel Camp (3/8 evening – 3/11 noon)
Praise the Lord! The theme of this year’s Gospel Camp is: “Grace and Mission”, which is: from the best blessing that God has given us we may know the risen Lord. This time, God has prepared two speakers for us, Pastor Patrick Shing and Pastor George Hsu. Topics are: “Word of Life” and “Fruit of the Holy Spirit” for Christians, and different topics for gospel friends, such as “Pursuit”, “The Credibility of the Bible”, “River of the Living Water”, etc. We would like to mention that when COVID-19 first broke out in Sacramento, California in March 2020, the South Valley Christian Church in California still sent a short-term mission team with more than a dozen people to help the Gospel Camp. Now, after four years, and the pandemic has passed, they are back to the camp to share the gospel. In addition to leading the gospel group in the morning and evening, they will also conduct special workshops every afternoon for discussion of life issues from the perspective of believers, which will enrich this gospel camp. Topics include: “Science, Faith, the Bible and Jesus”, “Understanding America and American Culture”, “Long-term Spiritual Goals”, “Experiencing God, Getting Out of Hot Water”, “How to Find a Job in China or in the United States”. Pastor Ko often said, “If Christians don’t come to the Gospel Camp, how can gospel friends come to participate?” The registration form has been posted on CWC website.
Future Meetings:
(1) May Discipleship Training (5/19-24) and Memorial Weekend Lay-Minister Training (5/24-27)
The speakers for the May Discipleship Training Camp are: Pastor David Su, Pastor Xiao Yuan and CWC coworkers. Pastor Su had led the CWC Bible Camp many times in the past, after retiring from the church in New York two years ago, Pastor Su has devoted himself to writing books of Bible study methods and exegesis. Pastor Yuan is currently serving in Washington, D.C. Memorial Weekend Lay-Minister Training is especially for believers who are working full time and is held on the long weekend of . Memorial Day. In addition to the above two speakers, Elder Johnson Lee will be another speaker. After receiving his Ph.D. from Stanford University, Elder Lee has been working in the Bay Area, California, and has faithfully served in the church, and was ordained as a church elder. Elder Lee took early retirement and is now serving in CCIC-Cupertino full-time, he is certainly a great role model for all who are working full-time. Please pay attention for online registration which will be posted on CWC website soon.
(2) August Bible Camp (7/28-8/3)
This time we are going to study “Life of the Christ – The Four Gospels”. If you are interested in participating the camp, study schedule and registration form have already been posted on the website, please download. In addition to Pastor Daniel Shen, Sister Grace Lee will come to teach. We might have listened to Sister Lee’s incisive sharing on video in the past 4 years since 2020. Sister Lee will come and lead the Bible Camp in person this year. and I believe that for the new students (who have only seen Sister Li on video) and the old students, everyone will be looking forward to seeing Sister Lee again, so don’t miss it. Strict deadline is 6/15. Please do not miss this precious opportunity.. Click here for detailed information.
Sunday Online Bible Study & Prayer Meeting: (Please note the Zoom ID and passcode are changed)
During the pandemic, many churches’ meetings were held online, that was why Pastor Ko started this Sunday evening Bible study and prayer meeting to lead brothers and sisters continue to have a life of Bible reading, prayer, and spiritual sharing. After the August Bible Camp, CWC coworkers have decided to utilize this platform, not only to help brothers and sisters to prepare for the next Bible Camp (we will teach how to study the Bible, how to do the outlines, and how to write the assigned topic reports), but also spend some time to pray for the need of CWC ministry. We will shorten the meeting to one hour (7:00-8:00PM CT) so that it will not affect your next day schedule. We will study “Life of the Christ – The Four Gospels”. Zoom ID is: 85888709271, passcode: 567482. Please come and study the Bible together that we will be equipped in the Lord.
Thanksgiving and Prayer Requests
- Please pray for us to find a venue for this year’s Winter Conference that the Lord will not only open the way for us, but also give us a clear idea of where God is leading us.
- Pray for the participation of our brothers and sisters and gospel friends at March Gospel Camp, especially for God to open the hearts of gospel friends and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.
- Please continue to pray for the preparation for the May Discipleship Training, the May Lay-minister Training, the June Youth Camp, the August Bible Camp, and pray for brothers and sisters to prepare their heart for the meetings.
- For Co-workers:
- Ko: Please continue to pray for the physical condition of my grandson Levi, who is tentatively scheduled for heart surgery on March 7th. This is the fifth time for the change. Please pray to the Lord that He watches over Levi, granting him good health that he can pass the preoperative assessment. Please also pray for me that I have enough physical strength to take care of Levi, and also for strength from the Lord to run the course ahead of me.
- Sister Cindy Chiang: Thank the Lord for watching over Sister Chiang physically, mentally, and spiritually during the busy months of January and February! Please continue to pray for greater faith in Him, wisdom and knowledge from above, setting my mind on God’s interests, and make good use of the time each day when I continue serving Him in Word ministry, CWC administrative work, and preparing for all future meetings, etc.
- Brother Qinglong Liang: Pray that the Lord will give me a heart of total obedience to serve the Lord in the family, in the church, and in CWC according to His heart; watches over my wife when she home schools the children and serve in the church; also pray for the green card application process.
- Pastor Charles Huang: Pray that I will trust the Lord more, have wisdom shepherding the church in Champaign and lead the church in the campus ministry; raise my children with God’s Word; give physical strength and ability to serve in CWC, and give wisdom to me and my wife when we serve in the church together. Please pray for Faith, my eldest daughter, for her first-year study in the Moody Bible Institute.
- American coworker Scott Jerome: Praise the Lord! My wife Becci’s injured shoulder is getting much better. Please pray for the cowokers for the upcoming Gospel Camp and the Children’s Ministry.
- Pray for the CWC monthly financial need (General fund, Building fund, Training fund, etc.) asking the Lord to manifest His abundant provision and allow more brothers and sisters to experience the blessings of giving.
- For CWC: Pray that the Lord will bring more co-workers to the CWC ministry for the furtherance of the gospel ministry in the Midwest.
** Thank you brothers and sisters for your financial support in the past year. 2023 offering receipts have been postal mailed out. If you have not received them, it may have been returned to the Center due to an incorrect address, please contact us.
Emmanuel
In the Lord,
Sister Cindy Chiang