For many, summer means a slightly slower schedule, maybe because of less school, less homework, less sports programs and practices, and maybe less time in the car.

However, if you have teenagers, perhaps summer means spending more time in the car driving kids to and from social activities, or taking the family on vacation requiring long car rides.

How will you fill the time? A more important question is, how will you as a Christian “[make] the best use of the time” for the sake of Christ’s name (Eph 5:16)?

Suggestion: Read (or Listen) to Christian Biographies!

Christian biographies are incredibly helpful in the life of God’s people. As weird as it sound to some, in reading Christian biography, it’s like we are introduced to a long-lost uncle or auntie in the faith who can help us walk after Jesus, insofar as they do the same (1 Cor 11:1).

In diving into their lives, we gain role models as we see how Christians in current and previous generations entrusted themselves to God while living for Christ and his cause. We learn how they held fast to the faith against heretics and persecutors, and went on to love them with the truth of God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ. We find examples of those who entrusted themselves to their sovereign God in prayer, and those who have suffered deeply in this fallen and sinful world but who came to trust in Jesus who rights all wrongs and makes all things new. And in meeting all these people, we are reminded that God is our God of steadfast love and mercy in Christ.

I can testify that reading Christian biographies has spurred me on to greater trust and faithfulness to Jesus. This is what reading these types of books mean to me. It’s not first and foremost not an academic venture.[1] To me it is primarily an effort of the soul—a desire to be led to higher ground (especially when I’m in the metaphorical spiritual mud), by a brother or sister in the faith, so that I might see the glories of God in Christ, through the life of one who has gone before. Reading Christian biography for me is a spiritual and practical venture. God has blessed us with ancestors in the faith that we might stand on the shoulders of these giants, and be helped to see our eternal treasure in Christ with greater clarity, while navigating this world with greater Christlikeness.[2]

Do you desire to redeem the time? Do you desire to be encouraged in the faith? Consider reading or listening to Christian biography this summer.

Some Recommendations

Here’s a decent place to start if you are looking for recommendations. 

For older children and young teens, check out the 10 Girls / 10 Boys who Made a Difference books by Irene Howat. Readers will be treated to brief introductions (15 pages or so) to major Christian figures in church history. Amazon indicates these books are for 7-12 year olds.

If you are a teen and are up for reading 160 pages or so on a particular individual, see also the Trailblazers set, in which Howat is also an author. There are so many encouraging Christians to read about in this series so it’d be great to take advantage of it.

For more experienced readers, check out this biography (200 pages) on John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides Islands in the South Pacific. I just finished it and WOW!, what a story this was!  Be spurred on as you read how Paton and his family went to dwell amongst, and evangelize cannibals! Despite the cannibals’ self-professed worship evil, and their attempts to kill him and his family more than once (thank God they failed), they persisted for Christ their sufferings, and came to see many come to know salvation in Jesus.

Pick up Sharon James’s book entitled In Trouble and In Joy: Four Women who Lived for God, where you’ll read about the lives of four prominent Christian women from the 17th and 18th centuries. James also has a full-length treatment of Ann Judson: A Missionary Life for Burma. To encourage you in your reading, know that one of my seminary history professor’s most cherished books in his library was a 1st edition of Ann Judson’s memoirs.

Of course, don’t forget John Piper’s biographical essays in 21 Servants of Sovereign Joy. Each of the 21 chapters is around 35-40 pages (one chapter covers one individual). And for all you who love listening to books and messages, all of this content can be found in audio form as Piper’s book is an edited version of a series of talks he gave to his church. How exciting!

What are You Waiting For?

Grab some people from church, read and discuss together, and be encouraged! Then pray that God would help us by his Spirit, live for the fame of his name.

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[1] Academic study of Christian figures in the past is certainly a worthy venture as Christian biographies is a result of the academic study of a particular individual.

[2] I love the language of standing “on the shoulders of giants.” This specific phrase and concept in general comes from John of Salisbury (12th century) who actually paraphrases another saying, “We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants….we are able to see more, and further than they, not indeed by the sharpness of our own vision or the height of our bodies, but because we are lifted up on high and raised aloft by the greatness of giants.”

By Pastor Victor Chen

This past summer, twelve children in our church ages 4 - 14 successfully completed the Summer Reading Challenge! Each child submitted a written response to me indicating what they enjoyed the most about the book they read. 

The books I recommended were fictional works written with a Christian worldview. Here were the books I recommended to be read:

Kindergarten and younger (Read by parents to child)

“You are Special” by Max Lucado

“The Lightlings” by R.C. Sproul

1st through 4th grade

“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and remaining books in “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis

5th and 6th grade

“On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness” and remaining books in “The WingFeather Saga” by Andrew Peterson

“The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien

7th and older

“The Fellowship of the Ring” and remaining books in “The Lord of the Rings” series by J.R.R. Tolkien

It was once said that every household had two books in their home —the Bible and “The Pilgrim’s Progress”. My hope is that more families would be blessed by reading through “The Pilgrim’s Progress” in their homes today. In light of that, here were the book prizes I awarded to each child according to their ages:

”Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey” (Lithos Kids)

”Little Pilgrim’s Progress Illustrated Edition” (Moody Publishers)

”Pilgrim’s Progress” (Crossway)

I was pleased with how many children in our church were involved in the Summer Reading Challenge in 2021. Here was the message I shared with them on specially created bookmarks by Irene Mar:

Congratulations on completing the challenge! May the Lord grow your love for reading so that you would love to read His Word and know Him more!

Because He First Loved Us,

Pastor Victor

 Blessed is the man

  who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

 nor stands in the way of sinners,

  nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

 but his delight is in the law of the LORD,

  and on his law he meditates day and night.

 Psalm 1:1–3 (ESV)

By Danny Qian

When I first heard that there would be a church “campout” in the summer at our church, I was optimistically cautious.

I was optimistic because I thought that our older girls would love the fellowship with their friends and staying up late with them.  

I was cautious because I never had to be there with them, sleeping in tents (not my preferred sleeping situation) since in previous years they would just campout with the church staff.  

However, knowing that my younger two girls and my wife could also participate, we would definitely have a great time fellowshipping with church families and friends and they could simply go home to sleep and come back to church to participate in more activities the next morning (since we wanted the younger kids to get a good night’s sleep).

The campout turned out to exceed my expectations and the sleeping situation wasn’t too bad either (as I brought air mattresses).

The fellowship was amazing, especially since we really haven’t been able to catch up with many people due to COVID-19. The worship was also awesome and well planned. I was pleasantly surprised that the staff put together a really great outdoor worship program in the grass area, right in front of all the tents.

What I really appreciated beyond the nice worship, good fellowship, all the games and breakfast the following day, was how everything felt simple but to the main point of our faith. The campout simply felt like something that would please the Lord: good fellowship among brothers and sisters in Christ, where Christ was being worshipped in the center of it all.

by Pastor Victor Chen

Summer is upon us and as parents are searching for activities to keep their children busy, I would like to offer one —The Evergreen Summer Reading Challenge.

What does it entail?

I will recommend a book for your child to read during the summer. These will be fictional novels written with a Judeo-Christian worldview for reading levels 3rd grade and up. (For lower reading levels, I can recommend books to be read to your child).

Upon completion of the book by the end of summer (before the start of school) and a written submission indicating what your child liked about the book, your child will receive a prize —a recommended Christian book from me!

Why fiction?

Fictional stories spark the imagination and creativity of a child. A fictional novel teaches a child how to sit, focus and track with an entire book.

How does it work?

Email me at vchen@evergreensgv.org to receive the name of the book assigned to your child. Please indicate the reading level of your child.

Can adults participate?

Of course! Reading has become a lost discipline. What better opportunity than now to grow in this discipline by reading through a good novel.

by Pastor Victor Chen

In an old television commercial, a bear climbs a yellow trailer, rips off the roof to peek inside and exclaims, “Hey, where’s the cream filling?”

The bear thought the yellow trailer was a Twinkie. 

You too may be looking at our website, Plugin or app and be asking, “Hey, where’s the summer program?”

Good question. 

Why isn’t there a weeklong summer program?

Though things are reopening after over a year of the “stay at home” order, much of our church, especially families, are still home. As we explored having a weeklong program, it became difficult to anticipate how many families would feel comfortable sending their children to a weeklong program and how many volunteers would feel comfortable serving throughout the week. In short, there were a lot of unknowns that made it difficult to plan.

Why isn’t there an online weeklong summer program?

Producing weekly videos for families to join Church School online is already a lot of work. Producing an entire weeklong program would require even more time and additional resources. For now, the livestream service and Church School videos are the priorities online. 

Furthermore, we are still providing in-person worship services in the sanctuary and in-person Church School in the MPR with breakout sessions in the MPR and various classrooms. It would be one thing to only produce online content, but to do both online and in person requires more attention, time and resources.

Finally, as a pastor (and parent), I am concerned about the screen time consumption our children have had with a year (or more) of distance learning. This summer, I would recommend our children rest their eyes, go outside, be active and play!

Our family is comfortable returning, what is available this summer for us?

I’m glad you asked! Because we want families to return to service and Church School in person when they are comfortable, we will have opportunities for families to come out on campus outdoors as a step towards returning. 

On June 27, we will have our next Summer Worship Night where families can come early to bring dinner and picnic on our lawn from 4:30-6pm. At 6pm, we will begin our program with family-friendly group activities for both children and adults. This is followed by a time of worship with a devotion as we learn and sing songs that span the generations represented in our church.

Note that this is not just for families, but for the entire church family. At our last Summer Worship Night on May 30, we were blessed to have a great mix of generations join and participate. College students and young adults led the group activity and hand motions for kids worship. It was neat to see the entire group worship as one family.

On July 30-31, we will have our last Summer Worship Night on Friday night with an optional Summer Worship Campout afterward! Households can come set up their tent, have a dinner picnic and join with the summer worship time. Afterward, they can sleep in their tent on our campus under the stars. We hope to provide brunch Saturday morning and allow everybody to enjoy hanging out on campus together.

If you are interested in participating in our Summer Worship Campout, please contact me at vchen@evergreensgv.org to sign up!