There's something great going on in the red, white and blue.  Sorry, dear American friends, this time I'm not talking about the red, white and blue of the United States, but the other red, white and blue.  I'm talking about Taiwan, and the great things God is doing here.

Situated on an island of 23 million seeped in political confusion, pollution and congestion, and the occasional stench of "stinky tofu", there stands a church in the town of Xindian [pronounced: "Sheen-Dee-En"].  In case you're trying to imagine a building, I'm not talking about a building.  I'm talking about 1500 strong, spirited, passionate, diverse, talented, ambitious, beautiful people who call themselves Xindian New Covenant Church.   Here, God is doing awesome things, and my wife and I are privileged to be witnesses to it.

What do I mean by "awesome things".  I'm talking about a church where the youth are on fire for God, where they sit, stand or dance in the first row of the sanctuary with a passion to worship Jesus, where the intensity of their prayers, their facial expressions and their body language when they pray is so apparent you feel like some of them are ready to break bricks with their bare hands.

I'm talking about people who are hungry to know God, where 1 of every 3rd person is using the pew in front of him/her as a note-taking desk while the pastor preaches.

I'm talking about prayer meetings that are as worshipful and intense as the Sunday services.

I'm talking about pastors who don't hide behind a pulpit and recite a computer-printed script, but who so own their message that it flows from their hearts and mouths like water from a fountain.

I'm talking about a church where God has produced so many quality people who are learning to love God in the context of ordinary, normal lives, where pastors are flanked by multiples of strong staff and lay leaders.  

Here, God has come to live in the hearts of a foreign people who, by prayerful, passionate and persistent invitation, have asked God to come.  And He has made a home here.

I would be sorely amiss to say that God has not provided well for us here in Taiwan.  He has embraced us with a community that we are growing in and that we, in our own small way as two parts of a bigger body, are helping grow.

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.  When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. - Matthew 13:44-46

It's an awesome thing to be part of an awesome church.