Dear Brother or Sister,
Merry Christmas to you and your family! Today I would like to share with you a story about a poor young man from a small rice paddy in East Asia. It is not really his story but it is God’s story in the young man’s life.
Born before the one child policy this young man grew up as the oldest of seven children. His parents were farmers as were his neighbors. Twelve to fourteen hour days, seven days a week were spent laboring in the rice paddy mud and surrounding countryside in severe heat, monsoon-like rains and extreme cold. The goal was to try and earn enough to have sufficient food for the family.
There was no “extra” money. His home was a hand mud hut with handmade clay tile roof, dirt floor, no electricity, no running water, no toilets, maybe three or four people sharing one bed, an open fire pit for cooking and possibly a handmade table and a few stools.
Ever since he was five years old, he helped to raise cows for the village and working in the rice paddy. After only third grade, his father felt that he should drop from school to work on the collective farm so that the family could survive better, but he and his teachers persuaded his parents to let him finish elementary school, later middle school and high school. Among 50 of his elementary classmates, he was the only one got into high school.
Where the desire for education in this young man came from I am not really sure? In the USA we would say it was his parents, teachers or other children but in that area at that time during so called “Cultural Revolution”, education was considered useless, the desire could only have come from God.
To fulfill his role as the eldest and still go to school this young man got up every morning before he went to school and went out and cut and gathered straw and grass for cows in the production team. All his “extra” time not studying was spent looking and working for ways to provide for his family. In 1977, only one of 50 high school graduates had the opportunity to go to college. He went to one of the most prestigious universities in China.
But God had planted a yearning in this young man’s soul. A yearning that could not grow without God but a yearning that would nevertheless stay inside this young man until it was met with God’s very presence in his life! The journey through the educational system in China did not see the yearning filled but it instead saw the yearning growing in response to an educational and governmental system that could not fill the void.
In fact he attempted to fill it by education and a quest into the religions of China; Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Mao’s little red book. In the end none of which filled the void. It was only after the journey to the USA for study abroad that God moved so deeply within the soul of this young man that he sought God. God in His Grace and Mercy filled the void.
This young man was now ready to grow and mature into the branch of the True Vine that he was meant to be. God has used this young man and his wife to affect the life of literally thousands of others for Christ back in his hometown of Longchang, China, other cities in China, the USA and other countries.
His name as you might have guessed by now is Wanbing “Frank” Li. His ministry along with his wife Aijun Anna Li, who has her own story, and two members of his family in China is called Agape Way. God in His Great purpose has clearly shown Frank, Anna and others just like you how His plan can be accomplished in the midst of such great poverty and hopelessness that most people can and do give up.
How He can take a seemingly insignificant “child” stuck in the rice paddy and change their heart, mind, body and soul and use them for His great glory, and their redemption and to have a heart and vision for Him. Miraculously God has opened the door to Agape Way in China. Through Frank and Anna’s contacts and ministry we can and do reach children and adults for Christ everyday.
But we need your help and support now!
In our ministry with God, we do not know who will be the next “child” that God will call or when God will move so deeply in their heart, mind, body and soul that they will be redeemed ready for His great purpose to be fulfilled? What we do know is that God is doing mighty works through Agape Way now and we are seeing much fruit at this time and many seeds are planted and much fruit is being seen right now.
If you ever wanted a ministry where you could be certain that your dollars and prayers are carefully guarded and used directly for “kingdom” work; Agape Way is it. Your gift is not so that we can grow this ministry with added staff and offices. Your gift of prayer or money is to meet the current needs of the ministry so that you and Agape Way can be used by God to touch the “child”, parent, grandparent, teacher, business leader or citizen in China, in the USA and other countries for His Kingdom.
The mandate for Christians to pursue this type of giving is very clear. The following verses from Deuteronomy as well as others show how “Israel” now typified by the Christian Church should pursue this type of giving:
"Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?.... "He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the [Foreigner] by giving him food and clothing. "So show your love for the [Foreigner], for you were [Foreigners] in the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:12-13; 18-19)
Please pray what God would have you give to Agape Way for use for His work. Every dollar is needed so please give generously.
May the Lord Bless You and Keep You，
Mark Gilbert
Chairman of Agape Way Board of Directors