For the past several months, we had been going to the Gangwashi Church, a congregation closer to my work. But on that day we stopped just beyond the gate. Something was wrong.Signs were posted everywhere, and my friends from the youth group were gathered in a circle, holding hands in the middle of the courtyard, heads bowed. As I walked toward them, I read the signs. “Pastor Yang Yudong is no longer fit to preach the gospel, and has retired as of today.”Dread filled my heart. Pastor Yudong, the seventy-year-old patriarch of the church, was a man of truth. He loved God and even covertly baptized people of any age who wanted to be Christians. Under his leadership, our church grew so quickly it went from one service, to two, to three. Eventually, we had multiple services per day—even a Korean language service. Perhaps it grew too quickly, because the government definitely noticed.“What happened?” I asked. “Is the pastor okay?”“Last night, the Communists went to his house and forced him to retire,”
