The Chinese Bible Church of San Diego held host its 11th annual retreat last weekend, drawing a crowd of over 500 people. The event, themed “Christian in a Secular World,” gave a lasting impression for those who attended and rest from leading weary lives in the secular society.
This retreat is the first independently sponsored retreat for CBCSD. In the past, CBCSD co-sponsored the retreat with other churches around San Diego including the Trinity Christ Church which they collaborated with for the past three years. This year, Rev. Lam, senior pastor of the church, and the church members decided to host an independently ran retreat.
The retreat, held in Temecula at Calvary Chapel Bible College, featured guest speaker Dr. Wang Shou Ren and four workshops organized for the different age groups that attended the retreat. Dr. Wang, a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary, addressed the issues of sanctification and the common problems of faith that are faced each day. His skill to reason and interpret the scripture was an appeal to the intellectually minded congregants.
Power points were utilized during the workshops, providing an innovative experience as lecturers use vivid examples to reach their point across. The workshop on “Post-Modernism” presented slides illustrating the differences of Star Trek: Original Series and Star Trek: Next Generation and how the director portrays the thoughts of today’s generation. In the history that progressed since the Enlightenment, intellect has steadily grasped its hold over human sensitivity. The lecturer emphasized how in the modern society where the truth no longer exist, people use reasoning in attempt to seek perfection; post-modernism has strayed from the modern views as signs of hunger for truth and love becomes apparent. With other modern examples, the lecturer was able to conclude on the remark how Christ and faith is needed in our lives today despite a secularized society, and guidelines to tackling secularism daily.
This year, retreat coordinator Mr. D.J. Wang prepared surveys for attendants to give their inputs. To encourage people to write the survey, the retreat team offered gifts in exchange for filling the forms, which prompted over 200 responses in the mailbox. The team will utilize statistical analysis software to compute the responses and obtain a general picture of the audience’s reflection. Mr. Wang said that through the survey the church wish to know the voice of the congregants and address their concerns in the following retreats.
To Mr. Wang and his retreat staff, the retreat has always been an unforgettable experience. While each person on the team have separate occupations outside of church, the time and energy they volunteered at the retreat holds a different meaning. “Although I am the coordinator, I don’t force my volunteers to work. It is different to work with the origin of love. If someone is insufficient, all of us would lend our hands. We would share words of comfort as we work, which I thought was something really beautiful.” Said Mr. Wang.
