Submitted by Tony… I attended the Visiting Scholars Ministry (an extension of Gracepoint Berkeley’s Praxis ministry) final fellowship time as most all of them except one will leave by the end of August. They are all busy right now trying to complete their projects. But I am so thankful that those who were regulars to our Friday events all came to share the evening together. I was so moved by their short sharings as we went around the room. We started the evening with dinner then we watched a short slideshow/video to recap the past one year that we’ve spent together.
Professor O. (names abbreviated or changed to protect their identities), a visiting scholar from Chung Ching who studies film, will be the first to go back end of this month and he shared how he is so thankful that he was able to meet with us and able to come to our gathering. Most of all, he shared how he is thankful for all the Bible studies as he learned how life is more full when one has a relationship with God.
Professor W., who is the oldest and is from Wu Han, shared how he was thankful for O. because O. invited him to VSM and he was able to meet with all of us. He then shared about when he first came to North Loop for Life Matters and saw a room full of young people and was just blown away by the energy, excitement and love and hospitality. He shared how he is so thankful that he got to meet us and was able to study the Bible. He said he was raised traditionally under communist ideology and so religion still feels very foreign to him. However, the important teachings in the Bible such as the call to love one another, how to be humble, how to forgive, etc. are some of the life principles that he was called to examine and will continue to think about.
Professor L. wanted to share two things, one was that she was personally impacted whenever VSM went on trips. Unlike whenever some of the visiting scholars went on trips on their own, the VSM staff prepared everything in such a detailed way, thinking of every possible need that could come up. She knew that they were well cared for. Another thing that she wanted to be thankful for was her weekly bible study with Sophia and Professor Y.
Professor Y. finished the Gospel Seminar (an ISM version of C101) with Sophia. Her sharing just brought tears to a lot of us. She started by saying how sad she is that she has to leave and leave behind all the good memories and precious friends she has here. She called Berkeley her second home. Then she proceeded to recount all the events and how she met each one of us for the first time, including even remembering Michelle’s name and Stephen and Philip. She is a professor of cognitive science in one of the top universities in Beijing so I think that is why she has such a photographic memory. She was so thankful for the mid-week Bible study time she had with Sophia and Professor L. and how she got to learn about God and Christianity. She shared with Paul and Taylor, “Please continue what you are doing. You don’t know what kind of impact you are making in our lives, especially mine.”
Although my involvement with VSM was very limited, I am thankful that I got to spend time with them and got to know them through our Friday nights and discussions we had with one another. Visiting scholars are so different from international students in that they seem to understand life more such that the Bible studies speak to them personally. And this group of professors are almost all in humanities related fields so all that we presented to them really connected with them this past year.
Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and ability to allow His Spirit to touch each one of their hearts through Paul, Mary, Taylor and Sophia. I think last night’s sharing from each of them really encouraged all of us and showed us how important this ministry is!
Wow, praise God! I’m thankful that people from all over the world who come to Berkeley for studies are able to have an opportunity to learn about God.