From Another Missionary in China
Thu., Dec. 18. 2014 10:09am EST
Last week, we received an email from a fan who is a missionary in a "safe" part of China. Soon after, we received an email from a pastor friend regarding a fan who is a missionary in an "unsafe" part. We want to share that with you, but we have withheld the names and addresses for safety's sake:
I'm chatting with an old college friend who's a big ApologetiX fan (he's been a steady listener since the 90's) and is presently in China. He's a missionary training pastors for home churches in Communist China -- dangerous work actually, if the government knew what he was teaching that doesn't gel with their state-approved church.
Would it be okay if I mailed him the link for the new CD over there? He's got to be careful how he gets Christian stuff over there and email is actually pretty safe. They don't spy on him that closely. After we gave our friend permission to share the downloads, he sent us this response:He told me to tell you how grateful he was for the gift of the downloads. I gave him your email, so he may end up dropping you a line from the other side of the world. Funny thing is we often thing of China as "that commie place that persecutes Christians," but I've learned from him how many believers are over there and one of the things he's impressed on me is how genuine their walk with the Lord is.
Because of the persecutions, becoming a true believer over there comes with risks we don't realize over here. I'm sure the music will be a boost to a busy missionary like him. He said he's been able to keep up with you guys via YouTube fan videos over the years, so he's excited to actually have the songs now for himself.
He's really an amazing guy. At times, it floors me that I know a guy whose doing what he's doing. For pastors like me, a missionary like him in a hostile country, training up locals to be pastors is kind of like a real-life superhero. :) He told me, when he leads a Bible study, it is not uncommon for it to go six hours because they won't stop asking questions and so eager to learn! Geez, here in the states, hard to keep a groups' attention for 30 minutes! LOL. Editor's note: The missionary himself did send us an email afterward and said "Thanks again for the music, and thank you for your encouraging words. If you guys ever make it over here, we'd be glad to host you."
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