Building Each Other Up

Submitted by Jacob…It was a great experience helping out with the Gracepoint Hsinchu retreat with my peers and hearing Andy preach in Chinese.  My peers and I have known each other since our freshman year of college (1996), and I think I can safely say that none of us imagined that we would be helping out at a retreat for college students from Hsinchu, Taiwan, or that Andy would be giving messages in Chinese!  I was particularly challenged because I know Andy’s Chinese is probably only a little better than mine (4th or 5th grade, at best), but he preached his heart out at the retreat, the gospel message was communicated, and the students responded.  There were 4 salvation decisions and several recommitments, and it was amazing to see these Taiwanese students exercise Courageous Faith (the theme of the retreat) to make decisions to stand for the truth, despite the parental and cultural pressures they would experience as a result.
1 Corinthians 2:1, 4-5 came to mind:
 1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. [...] 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
To the Taiwanese students, Andy’s elementary Chinese must not have seemed very eloquent or wise, but his testimony of God’s work in his own life, as well as his gratitude for God’s grace, were clear.  In addition to Andy’s messages, we also heard challenging testimonies from several of the Christian students in Hsinchu and IGSM students, how they struggled with and surrendered to the gospel message, providing further evidence of God’s power to save.  I’m really challenged by Andy, who used to lead our peers in watching movies, playing games, and having “fun”, but is now leading retreats and leading people to Christ.  =)
Even though it was a whirlwind trip and we didn’t sleep much, I think we all felt pretty excited just to be there with one another.  Our key verse for the year is 1 Thessalonians 5:11, which reads: “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”  How do we encourage one another and build each other up?  Do we go around saying positive things to one another?  Buy nice presents for one another?  Take turns giving bible studies to each other?  I suppose those have a place in mutual encouragement building up.  But as I think about our short time in Taiwan -  praying together in the mornings, catching up during brief moments throughout the day, cleaning up at night – I think one of the greatest encouragements I have is serving God with my peers, knowing that we are giving it our all to allow the gospel to be preached.

 
So even though I’m back in Berkeley and Andy’s in Hsinchu, I am encouraged by the thought that we are each serving in our respective ministries.  I want to approach my ministry here with the same sense of excitement we had in Taiwan, as I know Andy and the rest of the staff are pressing on to continue the work there.  And I am committing to study Chinese so that I can be of greater help to him next time.  =)