Broken Chains

It all began with a handwritten note.

Photo: Shutterstock

One summer a short-term volunteer team from the American South showed up in my city to work with college students. For the better part of June and July, these USA natives had the opportunity to interact with future teachers in China. The summer made for an interesting cultural exchange of sorts. Both the Americans and the Chinese got to learn about the other’s history, religion, customs, heritage, and the like. Naturally, these Americans made it their ambition to share whatever they could, however they could, about their faith in Christ with their new Chinese friends.

At the end of the two-month endeavor, I asked the team to make me a list of names and phone numbers of any of their new Chinese friends they wanted me to follow-up with. Maybe it was someone who seemed hungry for spiritual truth. Maybe it was someone who asked good questions.

“Just jot down whoever comes to your mind,” I told them. “And I’ll follow-up as best as I can.”

One member of the volunteer team, Luke, gave me a handwritten note which simply read “Yang Yi needs follow-up” and included a local mobile number. After the volunteer team returned to the United States, I picked up my cell phone and dialed the number next to Yang Yi’s name, not sure what to expect. Yang Yi answered the phone, I introduced myself as Luke’s friend, and he agreed to meet me later that week for lunch.

When I met him for lunch a few days later, Yang Yi was accompanied by two of his classmates—Lee and Pan.

We talked about all sorts of things. But as was my custom, I wasted little time getting to spiritual matters. I mentioned that my favorite book was the Bible and gave a quick synopsis of the Bible’s storyline.

Neither Lee nor Pan appeared overly interested. Yang Yi, however, paid close attention to my words.

Over the next few weeks and months, I continued to meet with Yang Yi. We ate meals together and played basketball. And I kept telling him about the Lord Jesus. Finally, at Christmas time I invited Yang Yi and his 30 classmates over to my apartment for a party to celebrate the holiday. We fried dumplings, played various icebreaker games, and then I showed his entire class a one-hour film all about Jesus and the gospel. Amazingly, the whole group watched intently—no one messed with his or her cell phone, as all of their friends were there together in one room.

A few weeks later in January, Yang Yi invited me to his hometown village for the Chinese New Year holiday. As we sat around the fire one evening, trying to keep warm in the frigid cold air while his mom cooked dinner, I asked Yang Yi a question.

“Yang Yi, I’ve been telling you about Jesus for some months now. What do you think about Jesus?”

Yang Yi leaned in with a serious expression and replied, “I believe in Jesus.”

Not convinced that we were saying the same thing, I protested. “No, Yang Yi, I don’t mean believe, like, know something with one’s mind. I’m not talking about simply believing a set of facts. I’m talking about believing in Jesus with all of one’s heart and soul.”

“I know,” Yang Yi said.

And then Yang Yi said something I’ll never forget as long as I live.

Crossing his two fists, his left wrist over his right like an X, he said, “Before I believed in Jesus, I was bound to my sin. But now I have believed in Jesus, and he has set me free.”

Excited, yet confused, I literally scratched my head.

“I don’t get it,” I said. “When? Where? How?”

“At your Christmas party,” he explained. “You showed us a movie about Jesus. It talked about how Jesus died on the cross and rose again for our sins. At the end of the movie, it said we could pray and ask God to forgive us of our sins—if we trusted in Jesus. And I did—that night.”

Sure enough, he was serious. Yang Yi did believe in Jesus. A short time later, I baptized him. He was the first in his village to believe in the Lord Jesus. But of course, Yang Yi couldn’t keep the gospel to himself. He would go on to share the gospel with his family. Both his parents, his little brother, and one of his sisters and an aunt all turned to the Lord almost immediately following Yang Yi’s conversion.

The above is an excerpt from my new book, Jesus in Beijing: A Missionary Memoir of Christ's Victory in China. You can order your copy here.