China Update:Christian Pastor Released From Prison

CrossPolitic One-on-One — Show Notes: China Update with Missionary Ben

On this episode of CrossPolitic One-on-One, the Waterboy sits down with Missionary Ben — host of China Compass on the Fight Laugh Feast Network and himself a deportee from China — for an update on the underground church. The conversation covers Pastor Ezra Jin's miraculous July 4th release from prison (and the eight still behind bars), the latest crackdown on Pastor Wang Yi's church network, how Christians should think about doing business with China, and what the American church can learn from brothers and sisters who are forced to make hard decisions for their faith every single day.

Timestamps

03:35 — Intro — Fight Laugh Feast conference update and Business Makers Network

07:06 — Meet Missionary Ben — deported from China, host of China Compass

08:11 — Pastor Ezra Jin: from Tiananmen Square to Zion Church — and his July 4th release

10:32 — How Zion Church grew and why it became a target — the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and Xi Jinping's crackdown

12:22 — October 2024: Jin's arrest, the simultaneous network raid, and the eight still in prison

13:04 — Did Trump broker the release? The May meeting with Xi and why this one worked when others haven't

14:45 — Jin's Wall Street Journal op-ed: "I'm Free Now. Pray for China." — Hebrews 13:3

16:19 — Zion Church splits into house churches — and may now be larger than before the arrest

17:22 — Why not just join the state-sanctioned church? — a stopgap, not a home