Share Feiyao’s heart with pen
Text/Students of Zhongwen Camp
In 1999, the first literature camp of the “Kingdom of God Resources for Christ Association” (hereinafter referred to as “Kingdom of God”) was held at the Messenger Farm in Paradise Town, Pennsylvania. Over the past 20 years, from the "Kingdom of God Literary Camp" to the "Kingdom of God Cultural Practice Camp", the camps have been held in different locations. The courses are diverse, innovative and practical, changing many people's attitude and vision towards service.
From November 9 to 13, 2018, "Kingdom of God" returned to the Messenger Training Center to hold the "Leap of Heart and Pen" writing training camp. 20 years ago, the Ambassador was a farm; 20 years later, it is a training center with first-class conference venues and comfortable rooms. The difference is that the students from that year are the guides this time, new students from all over the world, and the course has been re-planned; what remains unchanged is the essence of the literary ministry - "Workers come before work, authors are more important than works, Sincerity is better than anything else." The heart of serving and learning for the Lord in the beginning is still flying in the blue sky of Pennsylvania...
The following is an excerpt of what the students shared. If you want to read more sharing, please click on the Huihui Bay section of the Shenguo website (shen-guo.org).
1. Students stop in the fields, listen to their inner voices, and capture inspiration for writing.
2-3. Before class in the afternoon, everyone followed Teacher Guo to do the "Laughter Exercise" to refresh themselves while laughing.
4. The sisters held hands and sang hymns to praise God together.
5. In the hymn, everyone reflected on their hearts and prayed, "There are laughter and tears along the way, and they all leave the mark of the Lord's grace."
God’s power brought me to the writing camp…
During the five days of intense study, God led me to replay the scenes that were still in my memory over the past 50 years like a movie. From the carefree and happy life when I was walking hand in hand with my parents in childhood, to the messy life after work, to the messy life after marriage, and even here, walking in the fields during the break and enjoying the warm sunshine. It was emphasized at the beginning of the camp: "You don't do it until you are great, but you become great after you do it." As an adult, I have a deeper understanding of this sentence!(Wang Yanling)
Hit the mark by "simplicity" and "discipline"
The first point of the "Qi-Mei Movement" is to "live a simple and disciplined life every day." To me, "simplicity" refers to simplicity in the group. Practice letting go of your body and work with everyone in the group diligently, sincerely, and with a passionate heart. I once again prayed deeply to God to grant me pure love and enable me to have true freedom in the Holy Spirit. As for "discipline", my head tells me that I need to be dedicated, hard-working, and disciplined in life. To abide by the rules means not to overstep and to keep one's duty. Wow! "Simplicity" and "discipline" really hit home for me.(Lee Jin-ki)
Grinding an iron pestle into an embroidery needle
This writing camp corrected my misconceptions and gave me a lot of hope and encouragement. From the teachings of Teacher Su and the testimonies of several students, I believe that even if a person is a genius, he must continue to work hard to achieve something; "Although we are ordinary people, as long as we study hard, accept the teachings with an open mind, and continue to With practice and time, you can write good and popular articles. "Diligence can make up for weakness. I have seen the examples of many predecessors. Their perseverance has indeed witnessed the ancient saying "an iron pestle can be ground into an embroidery needle."
I firmly believe that as long as you make up your mind and study hard, you can catch up. Don't belittle yourself or limit yourself. As long as you are not afraid of difficulties or failures and work hard towards the goal, you will surely achieve something.(Lin Fengliang)
The penholder and the kitchen knife fly together
Teacher Li Li practices justice and loves mercy. In the theme of this camp, she speaks for the disadvantaged groups: child labor, child prostitution, sexual injury, child marriage, AIDS, cancer, refugee camps, left-behind children, etc., all of which are ignored by society. The disadvantaged areas are large fields that need our care.
Teacher Li Li is also good at both civil and military skills. The penholder and kitchen knife fly together, and the oral pen dances with the cups and plates. It is a perfect performance that can be used in the hall and in the kitchen. There was endless talk on the podium, the music sounded like flowing water when off the podium, greetings were interspersed during the worship, and the warm feeling of family-like feeling among the students hugged each other, and layers of warmth flowed through the entire venue.
Walking into the kitchen, we immersed ourselves in mountains and valleys of ingredients. One meal after another, each meal was carefully prepared for us. She is a kind mother who provides us with daily spiritual and material food. She is the soul of the camp. The character is also the driving force behind the camp!(Yang Ruomeng)
Expand horizons
The Literary Ministry Training Camp taught me a wealth of writing skills, greatly expanded my horizons on the aspects of writing, opened my mind to self-reflection, prompted me to recognize my strengths, weaknesses, and limitations, and allowed me to understand I understood the importance of literary ministry and cultural mission and the gaps I currently face, and also clarified the scope of my ministry that I should focus on in the future.(Jiang Yongai)
1. Teacher Su is fun and humorous in class. She interacts and discusses with students in class, such as playing a creative word badminton game with students.
2. Teacher Gao Lili, who is as good as a penholder and a kitchen knife, serves all aspects of the camp.
3. Teacher Guo Yuanpei not only teaches "Laughter Exercise" on the stage, but also cares and coaches everyone off the stage. He is also a prayer warrior.
4-6. It was a great joy to meet old and new classmates.
7. All students happily took photos with their teachers and mentors.
Sincerity is better than everything
"Sincerity is better than everything." When I saw this sentence, my eyes couldn't help but get wet: no matter how much spiritual practice, no matter how much service, no matter how many words and words, if it loses sincerity, it will be nothing more than gold and jade. Among them, in the end, it was all in vain! One sentence awakened the dreamer and liberated a trembling heart that was tightly bound by dogma.
Teacher Su's teaching materials are rich and diverse, such as movies, short plays, quizzes, skits, jokes, speeches, recitations, etc. The teaching materials are humorous and sincere, and the method is lively. It turns out that the Christian life can be so colorful! The teacher put forward a few classic life philosophies, such as "The real journey of discovery does not lie in finding new worlds, but in having new visions." "Reading is valuable for experience, being a scholar is valuable for new ideas, and life is valuable for flavor." Jane A few simple sentences can inspire people's love for life and literature.(Zheng Duojia)
It was not an accidental return to the factory for rebuilding.
Many years later, I read Teacher Su's "Leap of Heart and Pen" again, and my taste was different from the first time. Because I have many years of practical experience in writing, I understand how the writing skills taught by Teacher Su are in line with practical needs. "The Story of a Cart of Water" once again reminds me to live a proactive life. In this troubled world like a rolling fire field, I pour my own carload of water where the commander in the sky wants me to pour it.
The extra reward of this camp was that each student received a "mentor". I thank God for giving me Meihui and my husband Jiyuan, a loving couple, to be my "mentor." Meihui is a good friend of "Huangpu Phase 5" (the fifth phase of the Literary Camp, 2003) and she called me before I left for Pennsylvania.
In addition, I not only met old friends from the past literature camp, but also made many new friends. Some of them, although I had never met them in person, had read their articles in publications, and I felt like old friends immediately after the first meeting. Make friends with words, the power of words is amazing!
Everyone comes to the camp not by chance. Every student is a wonderful storybook, bringing us laughter and tears. Unfortunately, the time is too short. Some have just read a few pages, while others have not yet opened them. I look forward to reading more of my classmates’ wonderful life stories in the near future.(Zhao Hong)
Learning about life and service
After course training, I deeply realized that this is not only a study of writing skills, but also a study of life and ministry. With the right attitude, coupled with persistent godliness and creative practice, you will surely experience constant transformation in life in a subtle way.
We saw many very creative videos during class, which helped us understand that the impact of words is far-reaching and reaches far and wide. Through the teacher’s sharing, the guide’s guidance, and the interweaving of creative videos, we were often moved to tears.
In fact, God is abundant and full of creativity. He wants us to constantly renew and change our minds, learn to do things we have never done before, learn to do things we cannot do, and learn to be willing to do things we don’t want to do, so that we can bring about changes in our minds. To change, grow and break through.(Huang Mingfa)
Love and redemption in movies
On the third night of the camp, everyone watched the movie "Tangshan Earthquake" together and learned how the screenwriter and director handled the theme, plot and characters. With a real disaster as the background, it depicts the solemn and kind side of the human soul. After watching it, I can't help but feel sad and moved by the true feelings. The husband saves his wife and goes to save the child; the mother struggles with the choice of saving her son or daughter; the mother-in-law gives up raising her grandson so that her daughter-in-law can get a living support; the adoptive parents still selflessly dedicate themselves to their adopted children... The final dramatic ending: the daughter came back alive after 32 years, and the depression in the hearts of mother and daughter was relieved and healed by mutual forgiveness.
Every sacrifice has to pay a price, every price has to face a choice, every choice has to make a decision, and every decision comes from love.
Since I believed in the Lord, I always look at things from God’s perspective again, and I feel that this movie is missing something—the hope of salvation in Christ. Isn’t this blank space that writers have to fill in? Isn’t it our cultural mission as Christians?(Wen Yanan)
Internal strength, moves, writing stories
After checking in, I opened Teacher Su’s handouts and couldn’t help but express my gratitude. The teacher spent so much effort editing and organizing, the content is so rich! At the beginning, the teacher encouraged us: "The goal of the writing camp is to go from not being able to write to being able to write; from being able to write to being able to write better." In the compact course, we learned the basic skills of both internal and external training, "Life is internal strength. "Life and service are tricks." For me, a beginner in literary ministry, I need to digest it slowly after enjoying a sumptuous meal. I may not be able to write a variety of works, but I will definitely be able to write "my life story." ”.(Shen Hui)
20-year-old silver-haired student
Among the classmates, there were many silver-haired elders, and there were many uncles over 70 years old sitting around me. But the elders are all in high spirits, with creative ideas, active thinking and abundant spiritual energy. It is true that "inspiration is like a spring of thoughts that are not imprisoned; picking up every word and word is very classic." Just looking at the reaction in the class, their energy and mental strength, inner agility and vigor are like young people in their 20s, full of vitality and full of energy. vitality. Isn’t this exactly life in the kingdom of God? It is really wonderful that God has placed this group of people in the "Kingdom of God". This wonderful thing is undoubtedly from the wonderful Lord! I look forward to seeing more wonders!(Joy)
It's like going to Beijing to take the exam, but you feel at ease and happy
Under such intensive teaching, which was as if I was rushing to Beijing to take an exam, not only was there no pressure that sent chills down my spine, but I felt a sense of peace and ease. I don’t know if it was the teacher’s spirit-filled style and humor, or the exchange of God’s love among the students as a whole, that made the hearts that were originally uneasy in a strange place melt away with the warmer atmosphere than back home. Among a group of successful elders, what you hear is not comparisons and showing off, but humility and selflessness. It completely broke the secular party experience, and made many friends whom I have never forgotten, leaving a deep and beautiful mark on my heart.(Song Tuo)
1. One of the three professional team members who came to the camp to record the video, Lulu.
2. Although the cold wind is blowing, it cannot stop students from standing on the road and taking notes of inspiration.
3. Although we met for the first time, there are old and new classmates who know each other well.
4. In preparation for the camp’s traditional dumpling banquet, everyone was very serious about making dumplings.
Move, change, leap
In a few days, my horizons were opened, sometimes I laughed, sometimes my eyes filled with tears; sometimes my mind was opened, sometimes I captured inspiration; sometimes I had heated discussions, sometimes I was quiet and thoughtful; sometimes I enjoyed delicious food, sometimes I feasted on spiritual food. Every class fascinates me, and every touch changes me. It still fascinates me, my heart leaps forward many times, and my pen also leaps forward.(Joseph)
Start from the heart and start again
During the focus time of the writing camp, teacher Li Li mentioned: "Everyone has his own five loaves and two fishes... God will not want what you don't have in your hands..." I was in the writing camp, and suddenly I had something to look for. The desire to produce five loaves and two fish. It was emphasized in the class: "God is everywhere, even in the most mundane details, and all coincidences are not coincidences." Yes, just like that morning when I read the message of the text camp, the friends who stayed with each other in the camp, the path they have taken, The things that have been done, the seeds that have been conceived after the brief gathering and separation, are all in God's plan.
After walking out of the paradise, I returned to the track of daily life again. Facing the world and the church, I know that God’s will is not only for my life to be renewed, but also for the church where I live to do something new. Early the next morning after returning home, I wrote a letter to the sister who was the leader of the church. Based on the inspiration God gave me after praying, I did what I should do, and the result was left in God’s hands. Like that lone tree in the cornfield, after the season, it can only stand quietly between heaven and earth with bare branches, waiting for the spring thunder of the next year to stir up the buds of the tree and show the splendor of the season again! As is my life, so is my church. I deeply believe that everything can start from the heart and start again.(Yang Xuejing)