Today I saw a man with two little kids sitting on the street outside a coffee shop begging. Kids were dirty and skinny, running from passerby to passerby, waving their old McDonald’s cups hoping for loose change. Just as I was really getting deep into feelings of guilt and compassion, I noticed something that I […]
Author Archives | Jake
Working Smart, Working Hard
The sad time has arrived for our summer interns to head back to the States. They have done such a wonderful job; God has used them in unbelievable ways! I pray that the Lord will give them glimpses of the true impact they’ve made here in China. I asked them last week (nervously) if the […]
Baptism Protection
Exciting day for us yesterday – the church’s second baptism service! We loaded up a couple of buses and headed an hour or so off into the countryside. The weather has been Seattle-ish for several weeks now, so we had no idea what would happen. The skies were overcast, and it drizzled occasionally. The water […]
Public Faith, Public Idols
We are working our way through the book of Daniel right now at church. Could anything be more practically related to college students? Away from home for the first time, confronted with a hundred new temptations, immersed in a culture that is completely hostile to their faith. We’re primarily studying the way our faith influences […]
Misappropriation
If you have a big blank space where a life-purpose should be, you should seriously consider getting involved in Chinese missions. Better yet, if you have a you-shaped blob where a life-purpose should be, you should consider getting involved. ‘Don’t I need to be called?’ Right. You need a special call from God to share […]
Worth-a-while Short-Term Missions
The interns have been here for a week now, and they have done a fantastic job so far. They’ve been working like crazy – please pray they don’t break down before the end of the six weeks! Having them here has made me think more about the point of short-term mission trips. Not really sure […]
Who Cares About Potential?
We’ve got four interns arriving today. They missed their domestic flight last night, so they’ve now been traveling for about 40 hours. I’m really excited about these guys and girls coming – there’s a lot of places where they can plug in and be used. I’ll tell you one thing that I’m not interested in […]
Of Point Guards and Church-Planters
Are foreigners needed in church-planting roles in mainland China? Big implications for that question. Most foreign full-time Christian workers here are banking on a negative answer. Start a coffee-shop for evangelism, have a training conference for pastors, or build an English school for discipleship – these are the basic building blocks of most plans to […]
Don’t Leave Home Without…
Recently made friends with an American student who is studying Chinese for the summer at our university. He heard like third-hand that we were leading a local church, so after class last week he caught up with me on the elevator and asked if he could come. Turns out he’s also interested in getting involved […]
Organizational Baggage
So there’s a foreigner that’s come to our services for the past couple of weeks. It’s been great to have him around – he’s had some mission trip experience with a great organization and is extremely willing to jump right in and serve. When he came the first week, though, he was a little confused. […]
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