They Brought the Summit to the Chinese Community in Los Angeles and Re-ignited the Church

David Yu and his wife Virginia, natives to Taiwan, moved to Los Angeles, California for David’s job to work as the CFO and COO of a luggage company. Leaving home, David didn’t anticipate the culture shock he would have as a leader in a new country and he soon recognized a need to build up the immigration community to be passionate about Jesus and each other. “It’s hard to describe what it’s like to be an immigrant leader in this context,” David explains. “In an immigration community, people have different hardships. Value systems are constantly changing, and people experience culture shock as well as the second generation gap. The sense of home shifts drastically.”

For encouragement in their new environment, David and Virginia read Courageous Leadership. And though they’ve never met the author, he became one of the most influential pastors in their lives. “Every time we faced hardship, in church life or in our careers, we would reference what we learned from the book,” David said. “We also introduce the book to other church leaders we know are frustrated or discouraged to help them back to the right track.”

While living in Los Angeles, they visit home regularly, attending their former local church, Taipei Truth, whenever they’re in town. On one particular trip Virginia took in 2009, the church happened to be hosting the GLS; the flyers caught her eye because. She decided to attend, and immediately recognized how valuable this encouragement would be to her husband, and her church community back home in Los Angeles. She bought the Summit CD.

“The message on Holy Discontent pierced my heart,” David said. “I also shared it with my pastor in Los Angeles, Pastor Frederick Chen, and through each and every message he wept and wept. It spoke right to his passion. He had been depressed because he sensed the churches in the area were dying or weakening. The GLS reignited Pastor Chen. He urged the church team to do more for Jesus, because he was on fire about the idea that ‘the local church is the hope of the world, only when it’s working right’.

“Since then, our church has become a partner, hosting the GLS in Los Angeles for the Chinese Churches in our community,” David said. “Under Pastor Chen’s leadership, my team and I are encouraged to do more and dream to bring more people into God’s family, do what Jesus would do, and walk with Him daily. Our church is breaking down barriers and serving our local community. We’ve been able to raise funds to buy equipment and furniture for local schools when the school funds were cut in California. We also went into China’s poor country side to build schools and do volunteer medical work, reaching out to the village to evangelize people.

“But the most rewarding thing is seeing people turn their life to Jesus, not only receiving Jesus as their Savior, but also following what the Bible teaches us to do. Nothing can compare leading non-believers to meet with Jesus, and seeing lives connect to God. The joy overflows beyond what words can describe. God has done many awesome new things through our church that we experience when we submit ourselves to be servant leaders.

“The GLS reminds me that this world needs to be blessed by God through the local church, and that the local church must to have right leaders leading the way. The GLS enriches me and my team, and reignites our vision for the lost.”

 In addition to the Chinese GLS in Los Angeles, within the US we also hold the GLS for Spanish, Korean and Polish communities. Thanks to the generosity of our faithful donors, we will translate the GLS this year into 59 languages. Leaders across the world will be able to experience the same great material in their own context and language.