Go the extra mile for the gospel
Get to know the first "World Food Leadership Seminar"
▲Preacher Liu Linhuizhong, Director General of World Food, shared at the opening ceremony: "The real driving force behind the Six-Eighth Meal Blessing is God, not any one person..."
In the first issue of "Kingdom of God" in 2005, the first theme of Kingdom Community was to introduce the gospel ministry of restaurants (dining blessings). In the same year, at the South American Chinese Blessing Mission Conference in Brazil, pastors and co-workers from the United States, Hong Kong, Peru, and Suriname realized the need and urgency of the meal ministry, and unanimously decided to promote the meal ministry to the world. In this way, the Food Fortune International Network was formed. The following year, food leaders from all over the world gathered in Peru, South America, and the "World Federation of Chinese Christian Restaurant Evangelism Missions" (hereinafter referred to as "World Food") was born, quietly becoming the most explosive force for global evangelism in the 21st century. Meal blessing ministry kicks off.
On June 8, 2010, at the Flushing Corner Mission Center in New York, "World Food" held the first "World Food Leaders Seminar" (also known as the "68 Food Leaders Seminar"), with nearly 200 people from all over the world. Leaders of the meal co-workers attended, and everyone encouraged each other in the same vision, prayed for each other, and joined hands to walk an extra mile for the gospel.
Gospel in the restaurant
Have you ever thought about this question? Among the many stores, which one is the place where customers stay the longest and visit most often? The answer is: "restaurant".
The catering industry can be said to be the most basic means of livelihood for Chinese immigrants. "Wherever there is land, there are Chinese; wherever there are Chinese, there are Chinese restaurants." There are currently about 46,000 restaurants in the United States. If the average number is six people As a baseline, there are nearly 300,000 Chinese people directly engaged in the catering industry. However, this industry is a "forgotten group" that the state does not care about, society does not help, and even the church rarely intervenes.
Most people in the catering industry left their hometowns and drifted overseas, working hard in restaurants to escape poverty. Their lives remained the same "from the stove to the pillow". What's even more heartbreaking is that they exchanged their lives for money during the day and exchanged money for gambling at night. Body, mind and soul are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty.
Employees in the catering industry work long hours, and when others are on vacation, they are the busiest. Even during their daily breaks, they cannot leave the workplace. They feel depressed and bored, and "gambling, drinking, and drugs" become their outlets for venting. "There is no other way out for these lives. If even Christians don't care about their souls, who will?" Pastor Liu Lin Huizhong, director general of World Food, once gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times. The reporter said: "Saving souls in Chinese kitchens".
"We Christians enjoy a 'big meal' (the unconditional love of Jesus) in the church, but the restaurant employees can't even eat the 'crumbs' thrown away!" Pastor Liu Lin Huizhong challenged all Christians to "walk more for the gospel" "One mile" - not only in your own church, but also in the community, using the restaurant as a gospel base, caring about friends in the grassroots service industry, and spreading the gospel to them.
▲From right: Liu Lin Huizhong (General Secretary), Pastor Chen Zhaoqing (lecturer), Pastor Qi Shaolin (master of ceremonies) worked hard for the seminar.
The restaurant is the church
Many Chinese people like the number "168", especially those in the restaurant industry, because it is a homophone for "all the way". Therefore, "World Food" has chosen June 8 to hold a seminar (Six-Eight Food Blessings), and has designated this day as "World Food Blessings Day" every year to commemorate, remind and pay attention to the physical and spiritual needs of people in the catering industry. Lin Huizhong and her husband Liu Jingkui have been running restaurants for more than 30 years. Brother Liu became the most effective co-worker of Huizhong after he quit drug addiction and was reborn nine years ago. Wherever they go, the couple strives to call on everyone to pay attention to the souls of catering people, work together to reverse the negative trends in this industry, and even establish positive, bright, and serving Christian values.
"The real driving force behind the "Six-Eight Meal Blessing" is God, and it cannot be done by any one person..." Pastor Lin told the behind-the-scenes story during the opening ceremony.
In April this year, Lin Huizhong made a phone call to Senior Pastor Chen Zhaoqing to share the vision of the "Six-Eight Meal Blessing", and Pastor Chen immediately agreed to support it. He pastors the New York Christian Min'en Church, which has a congregation of more than 3,000, 90% of which are engaged in the catering industry. It is the church with the largest number of restaurant members in the United States.
When she talked about the seminar with Pastor Zhang Zijiang, the president of the American Christian Worker Theological Seminary, on the phone, he immediately set aside June 8 as a day. Immediately after meeting Li Tang "Biao Ge" once in Hong Kong, this catering celebrity "Biao Ge" who teaches cooking skills immediately agreed to spend a month to support "World Food". Then, in Beijing, I met Mark Fauk, the senior manager of Chick-fil-A, the second largest chicken fast-food chain in the United States, by chance. Within just one hour, he immediately agreed to be a speaker... Huizhong said: "It is God's hand that allows these people, things, and things from all over the world to gather in New York on June 8th in order to bless His own people."
"World Meal" hopes that more Christians will take action to support them and take advantage of the "World Meal Day" on June 8 every year to take proactive actions and enter restaurants with a caring heart to serve those who work hard in the kitchen all year round and contribute to the world. Good food, but also an unreached people restaurant industry person says: "Thank you!"
The restaurant can become the front line for the direct exposure of the gospel, and it can also become a missionary field and training school, allowing the church to move from inside the walls to outside the walls and become a church without walls.The church is also a place where a group of restaurant workers gather. The restaurant can become the church. God wants to use the restaurant in this era to become a base for the gospel explosion.
Restaurant professionals are elite missionary soldiers
▲One of the biggest highlights of the "June 8 Meal Blessing" celebration: the dispatch of meal blessing missionaries. Pastor Xu Zongshi of the "Evangelism Center" laid hands and prayed for Brother Zheng Qinli, the founder of the "Siloam Restaurant Gospel" of the same church.
▲John Van Valin, the honorary pastor of the First Chinese Methodist Church in Indianapolis, laid hands on Sister Cai Lirong and blessed her.
One of the biggest highlights of the June 8 Meal Blessing Celebration is the sending out of Meal Blessing missionaries. Pastor Xu Zongshi, Pastor John Van Valin and General Director Liu Lin Huizhong blessed and prayed for Pastor Yan Bingqiang, Brother Hong Dilong, Sister Cai Lirong, Brother Zheng Qinli and Sister Huang Ruilan respectively. At that moment, five missionaries who were committed to the ministry of meal blessing knelt in front of the stage to receive blessings. Their lifelong determination deeply touched the hearts of everyone in the venue.
Among the missionaries, Hong Dilong and Cai Lirong are a husband-and-wife team from Northern California. They sold their businesses for the purpose of serving food blessings and lived in a 24-foot trailer for two years. Husband and wife work together, walk together, are always available, and are faithful to the restaurant gospel. When they were sent to Taiwan for a year two years ago, when they saw restaurants all over the streets worshiping idols, they sighed in their hearts: "Who is willing to take on such a huge gospel ministry in the restaurant industry?"
Pastor Zhang Yaoxun, who is from the UK and was also a restaurant owner, is known as the "Father of Food Blessings". As early as thirty years ago, he began to preach the gospel to restaurateurs in Europe. He once went to a certain city in Italy to preach the gospel. A young man in a restaurant threw the gospel tract into the trash can in front of him and said, "I will not go to the evangelistic meeting!" Unexpectedly, seven Years later, when Pastor Zhang returned to that city to hold a crusade, the young man had become the church team leader. Pastor Zhang Yaoxun encouraged: "Just sow seeds, it is God's work to make people grow."
After the opening ceremony, Brother Zhu Yuanliang, the representative from Chile who came all the way from South America, declared passionately: "I have seen many touching scenes, but I have never been so excited. This is really a historic moment! I am inspired by others and also Inspire others. Everyone here is a "charcoal", and "charcoal" and "charcoal" get together, and the more they burn, the more prosperous they will be. I am lighting a fire here, and I will take the fire back to Chile to serve as a missionary soldier, doing more visits, training, and connections... to find more Christians! "
"I have never been abroad. In order to participate, I had to close my shop for a week. Not only did I have no income, but I also had to pay out of pocket; but I still chose to come to study and recharge because I believe that after I go back, I can help more people believe in Lord!" Brother Zeng Jianming, who was born and raised in Northern Ireland, runs a small Chinese restaurant. The fire in his heart was ignited during this conference.
Everyone at the venue has a touching story. Brother Liu Jingkui, who has always been lighthearted and humorous, changed his tone to a serious tone and said: "We have prepared for a long time for today's gathering. It is no accident that nearly two hundred meal blessing leaders gathered in the Lord. They are willing to pay the price, Overcoming difficulties is to join forces and encourage each other. I know there are many people who want to come but can’t.”
In fact, about 90% of the attendees were because in the past few years, Liu Jingkui and Liu Lin Huizhong took the initiative to establish cooperative relationships with them around the world. They may have only met once, but through exchanges, discussions, prayers, and evangelistic meetings , seeking a common vision, training people in the catering industry to become elite missionary soldiers, and jointly promoting the gospel ministry of the global catering industry.
The gospel comes out of the restaurant
Pastor Liu Lin Huizhong, Director General, shared emotionally during the opening ceremony:"If there were no restaurants or chefs in the world, what a tasteless world it would be... If you could win a restaurant owner or chef to believe in Christ, you could influence an entire city!"
The restaurant owner (or chef) drives restaurant employees and their families internally; externally he drives guests and different ethnic groups. Restaurants are the front line of contact with society and the front line of the evangelical culture war.
Over the past forty years, groups of international students from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia have served as the seeds of the Chinese gospel. They started in Bible study classes and decided to believe in the Lord. Now they have blossomed and become the pioneers of nearly a thousand churches in North America. and important foundation.
Today, the number of people immigrating from mainland China to overseas restaurants, whether legally or illegally, has reached an all-time high. In the next forty years, these people also have unlimited potential to spread the seeds of the gospel among the Chinese people. They possess Chinese grassroots culture and do not have the baggage of post-modern culture; their next generation can still use the Chinese language; they are highly mobile and infectious, driving one by one and influencing one by one, like dandelions, floating everywhere and walking Wherever you go, sow the seeds of the gospel.
Pastor Li Xiuquan, one of the advisory groups of "World Meal", was unable to attend the meeting in person. In his written message, he encouraged Christians around the world that the first mile of the gospel is to "bring" the Lord Jesus into people's hearts and "bring the Lord Jesus" to the people's hearts. "Enter" the restaurant; and the second extra mile to walk for the gospel is to "bring out" and "live out" the Lord Jesus who has been implanted in people's hearts.
May every restaurant be a place where the abundant life of Christ Jesus flows out.
Author profile
Liao Meihui has determined to be a reporter since she was a child. She is currently a special correspondent for the New South Wales "Hanxin Monthly". She has won the first prize for news reporting from the Independent Press Association in New York and has won several awards.