Life-changing camp
Picture provided/Qiu Jianqin
When I was fifty-eight years old, I encountered some problems on the road of life. My spiritual life was very low. I felt like I was in a vast sea of people, lost my direction, and was almost at my wits end.
difficult life journey
However, I still remember that when I first believed in the Lord, I made a great wish to spread the gospel to the whole world for the Lord. Since he was baptized and joined the church at the age of nineteen, he once thought of studying theology and becoming a preacher. Fang Yin had no choice but to fight in the Vietnam War. He was drafted into the army, was injured in the army, and his wife passed away after childbirth. A series of sufferings and blows made me feel like I was stuck in a quagmire, unable to move even an inch.
I fled to the United States in 1975 and started everything from scratch. Studying, working, and taking care of my family took up most of my life. Until life becomes stable, the children grow up, and they are past the age of hearing. Later, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998 and needed surgical treatment. In 2001, the cancer cells recurred and required radioactive treatment. As he got older and was plagued by diseases, he didn't know when he would be able to fulfill his old ambitions!
▲Brother Qiu Jianqin’s family portrait.
Literary camp for building faith and character
In the summer of 2002, by chance, I learned that a four-day writing camp was held in Paradise Town, Pennsylvania. I didn’t know much about the content of the camp. I only knew that it was to teach some methods of writing articles, so I attended the four-day and three-night camp with a glimmer of hope. In the camp, I learned a lot of lessons that I had not learned before, such as the importance of written work; through newspapers, magazines, websites, and media, an article can be seen by thousands or thousands of people in a day. Even decades later, it can still be read by people regardless of time and space. Therefore, the missionary work of literature cannot be ignored.
The most important lesson is: "The cultivation and quality of writers are more important than their works." Just as Teacher Su Wen'an often mentioned, "Workers come before work, authors are more important than works, and sincerity is better than everything." It made me understand that service is Starting from the heart, if the inner life has not changed, no matter how good the work is, it will be superficial, have no connotation, and cannot arouse resonance. This sentence reminds me to examine my spiritual life every day; morning spiritual practice makes my spiritual life grow; practicing the "Qi Every" exercise helps me live a simple and fulfilling life. Start using your time seriously, try to use your time on meaningful things every day, and omit party activities that are meaningless to me and others, such as watching TV, surfing the Internet, etc. In addition, avoid many social interactions, Try to participate in some edifying camps. In this way, I found that I could save a considerable amount of money every month and have time to write, read theological books, participate in short-term missions, etc.
Teacher Su took us to appreciate Jin Yong's martial arts novel teaching, which is very unique. He analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of human nature and explained that human love, hate, affection, and enmity have their causes and consequences. He helped me understand the weakness and helplessness of human nature and be able to sympathize with people's shortcomings. He also helped me get rid of my self-righteous and proud personality. Understanding that it is the Lord’s grace that keeps me from slipping helps me learn to be grateful and share it with others.
▲Brother Qiu Jianqin took a photo with his wife.
Diverse courses to build a culture of faith
In addition to learning to write articles, I also participated in an "art camp". The teacher, Sister Zhou Lanhui, has very good teaching methods. Anyone will understand the painting techniques she explains, how to use colors, match light and dark, and appreciate the natural beauty created by God. Since I joined the art camp, I can enjoy the fun of vacation every day. I don’t have to spend money, I don’t have to catch a car or a plane to catch up with time. When I open my eyes, I can appreciate the beauty created by God, whether it is the morning sun and sunset, spring breeze, autumn rain, hot summer or cold winter, etc. You can see the glory of God everywhere in the gorgeous scenery, and enjoy the abundant life given by God.
The staff at KRC (Kingdom Resources for Christ) are very insightful and they see the need for the Kingdom of God. From August 10th to 13th, 2006, a Christian investment and financial management course was launched. The theme was "Managing the Property Belonging to God." The courses were taught by economist Brother Wen Yingqian, accountant Brother Lin Wensheng, and lawyer Sister Zhang Lili. They are all devout Christians who love the Lord, so the teaching materials are based on biblical teachings and are very helpful in cultivating the spiritual character of Christians. For many years in the church, I only heard about tithing, but no instruction on how to apply nine-tenths. I only relied on my own will and wasted and extravagant, leading to debt and becoming a servant of the creditor. I was unable to grow spiritually and had responsibilities. Stewardship grieves the Holy Spirit. The Bible clearly says that the sheep on a thousand mountains belong to God, the gold and silver are all God’s, and the ability to obtain wealth is given by God, so nine-tenths of it is also God’s. God only gives us custody, and we have the responsibility to use what God has entrusted to us in the work of the kingdom of God, and to transform money that is valuable only in this life into wealth with eternal value.
God wants us to enjoy what He has entrusted us to manage, but we must not waste it, nor should we casually hand over the Lord’s property to anyone, including our children.
Children are the inheritance given to us by God. God gives us temporary custody of them when they are underage. We as parents have the responsibility to teach and raise them, and teach our children to have a heart that fears the Lord (Proverbs 22:4-6). So that they can be faithful stewards and wise financial managers. Do not leave your property to them before they are able to manage their property.
Therefore, we should make a will in advance and set up an estate administrator to temporarily manage the property when the children are unable to manage the property. The property rights will not be transferred to the children until they are able to manage the property. If we do not make a will in advance, the court will legally award the inheritance to our children. If our children do not manage finances well and bear such a large property, it may not be a blessing, but a disaster (Luke 15:13).
Find a fellowship as close as family
Since participating in the Chinese Literature Camp in 2002, every year I look forward to attending the reunion of teachers and students of the Chinese Literature Camp on the first Saturday in March and the July courses. During this period, I couldn't find time to participate for four years, and I felt like I was missing something. In this camp, I not only learned writing, financial management, and aesthetics, but I also found the direction of service, experienced the presence of God, and the sweetness of fellowship with brothers and sisters. As Teacher Gao Lili emphasized on the first day of each camp, those who come to participate are not just joining a camp or a fellowship, but joining a big family, and their lives will definitely be changed. Indeed, over the past ten years, I have seen many members of the Lord from far and near, and some seekers who have met the Lord and been baptized in the camp. Many people’s lives have transformed, they have given themselves completely to the Lord, they have loved the Lord more deeply, and they have become gods. The country's elite soldiers. I hope that the Lord will continue to use this camp to create more workers who are after God’s heart, spread the gospel quickly throughout the world, and welcome the Lord’s early return.
Author profile
Brother Qiu Jianqin is a student of the “Kingdom of God Cultural Practice Camp”. He has participated in the camp in 2002 and has accumulated a lot of learning experience in the past 13 years. In the spring of 2015, Brother Qiu collected his wonderful life testimonies and published "The Long Run for Life". Here, he shares how the "Kingdom of God Cultural Practice Camp" changed his faith perspective.