Jonathan Chen’s Faith Story

Great “Faith Story” by Jonathan Chen in our service yesterday! Here’s the transcript:

Good Morning!

I am Jonathan Chen. Thank you, Pastor Tom, for giving me the opportunity to share my faith story with the congregation this morning.

First, allow me to introduce my family. It’s a typical Chinese family—2 adults and 1 child. I’m a professor in textile science at UT. My wife is Peiyu, and our daughter is Diwen, who graduated from Texas A&M in 2008. We are all originally from China. Our hometown is Wuxi, an industrialized city in Eastern China, just about 2.5-hour drive from Shanghai.

We left China to move to England where I was an international PhD student at the University of Leeds for 4.5 years. We left England for Baton Rouge, Louisiana where worked at LSU for 13 years. As you can see, our overseas journey was almost halfway around the earth.

My story of faith was a long and a difficult 7 years journey. The first time I visited a church was in 1991 while I lived in England. I knew nothing about Christianity and at that time, didn’t even think about becoming a Christian. As an international student from China, I faced 2 barriers, huge mountains, to accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

First was my atheistic background. In 3^rd grade, the “Great Cultural Revolution” began. All moral education we received was based on atheism. There was no God! Teachers taught us to be Chairman Mao’s “Materialist.” We were only allowed to believe what we could see and what we could feel. Materialism was right, religion was wrong.

The second barrier was to admit I was a sinner. I’d never done wrong, so why did I need to confess I was a sinner? It was difficult understanding that admitting to be a sinner had nothing to do with wrong doing; it meant belonging to a sinful nature.

God was there and taking the journey with me. I’d like to mention a couple of people who made a great impact on my Christian life change.

In England, Margaret Wood, a Jehovah’s Witness, voluntarily came to the house Peiyu and I shared with 4 other Chinese Students to teach the Bible every week. During this time, Peiyu learned English. Margaret helped our Chinese students shop and find a rental house and furniture. She even took us on a tour of the beautiful English countryside towns. Even after Margaret’s car window was smashed and her portable radio/cassette was stolen, she continued to come weekly to share the Bible with us. At that time, we had no idea of what was difference between Jehovah’s Witness and true Christianity, until later we were involved in the Southside Baptist Church in the U.S.

At LSU in 1995, the first people I met at a jambalaya party in our school director’s home were Vicky and Mark Tiller. They were a Godly couple. I know now God assigned Vicky to be my office mate. Vicky invited me to a Wednesday night supper at Southside Baptist Church. During the prayer time, the pastor prayed for me and my family. I still didn’t quite understand the power of prayer. Now I know, it’s a big deal!

Our first Christmas day in the United States is unforgettable. My daughter and I were sick. That morning Vicky, Mark, and their daughters Amy and Emily knocked on our door. After wishing us a Merry Christmas, they surprised us with Christmas gifts. Vicky and Mark had not pressured us to join their church, but there in our little one bedroom apartment, they exhibited God’s grace and love through their actions. In the following summer, Vicky invited our daughter to join the church Vocational Bible School. Since then, we began participating in the church activities. Biblical truth is told in Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Right then I realized obtaining a PhD degree was just a gain of scholarly esteem. I needed to purpose everlasting life through Jesus Christ. On April 5^th, 1998, my wife, daughter, and I declared Jesus was our personal Savior and were baptized at the Southside Baptist Church.

Please join me as I pray:

Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day you have made. Thank you for your love, mercy, and salvation. Because of you, we no longer live in darkness. Because of you, we have hope. I ask your presence in this worship time to open our heart to receive your message. Lord, help us spread your kingdom news to every corner of the world (even to the people in China). In Jesus’ name, Amen.