Over the Chinese New Year holiday, February 23-27, 2015, Hong Kong hosted 160 people from Mainland China. The people came to attend two seminars. Since it was during the largest Chinese holiday of the year, many came as entire families. Husbands, wives, and children spent the holiday learning together.

Encouraging testimonies resulted from these seminars. Even though they may lose money, one couple made a major business decision. Choosing to follow God’s principles, they plan to separate themselves from the ungodly practices of their business partner.

During the seminars, a discouraged young lady approached the staff for counsel. Her testimony was one of having three major problems: very low self-esteem, lack of direction in her life, and a great fear of darkness and loneliness. She even had to sleep with lights on at night. The staff encouraged her that all her answers could be found in a personal relationship with Jesus. As they shared the hope of the Gospel with her, she understood and prayed for salvation!

After her prayer of repentance, the staff talked through her problems one by one. At one point, her face lit up with true joy and freedom from within. The next morning and for the rest of the camp, she had a huge, bright smile on her face. There was an evident change in her life once she had come to know the Lord!

One night was set aside for sharing testimonies of God’s working throughout the week. Before the whole group, several young people told everyone how the seminar had benefited them. Praise God for working powerfully in the next generation!

At the end of the seminars, attendees turned in their comments on response cards. Many wrote that they were exhorted to repent from bitterness, selfishness, and rebellion against their authorities. They reported a renewed desire to follow God and to live a life worthy of the calling of Christ. They appreciated the teaching about character qualities and the servant’s spirit of the volunteer team. Overall, many expressed how deeply impacted they were.

In May, two more seminars were held for 130 attendees from Mainland China. One couple who attended were in full-time ministry. They were not planning to have a family because they saw children as a burden and a hindrance to their ministry. However, while attending the seminars, God changed their hearts! Now the couple is willing and ready to receive children as the blessing that they are from God.

Another attendee, a young lady in her twenties, initially reacted to the session on music, which contrasts the principles of Godly, melodious music with worldly, rock music. “No way!” she said. “That’s entirely unacceptable.” Rock music was her whole life. She had even told her parents not to touch any of her CDs. But as she returned to her room that night, God was working on her heart. She asked herself, “If God really wants me to put down my music, am I willing to?” For a while she struggled with the issue. However, she soon realized that she had put music above God in her life, and it had become her “idol.” She had always thought she was a good Christian, but this blind spot revealed to her the true spiritual condition of her heart.

Because of the generosity of an alumnus, three pastors and church officers were able to come from Hunan Province to the seminar. One church officer shared how amazed he was to learn that some of the illustrations used were almost fifty years old, and yet it is so relevant to the needs of modern-day China.  God’s Word truly transcends both culture and time. Praise the Lord for the work He is doing in China through each of these lives!