Warm greetings to you in our Lord’s name! I am honored and thankful to join the ChinaSource team in this vital season.
I would never have considered the possibility of taking on the leadership of ChinaSource without the blessing of my dear and longtime friend Dr. Brent Fulton. For the past twenty years Brent and his wife Jasmine have lovingly and wisely stewarded ChinaSource—one of our Father’s gifts to Christ’s church in China and throughout the world.
As many of you know, Brent and Jasmine are now in the midst of a sabbatical, waiting on and seeking God for the next season of their life and ministry.
Meanwhile, Brent has pledged to help me and to be a constant encouragement and resource going forward. I am grateful for his support and friendship, and I know, however the Lord guides Brent and Jasmine in the future, we will be able to partner and serve together in some capacity for the sake of Christ.
For me, taking up leadership in ChinaSource is a special privilege. I have always loved the calling and work that ChinaSource has been about—engaging and serving Chinese Christian communities, inside China and around the world, facilitating substantial collaboration and partnerships with the global body of Christ.
We often spend so much of our time on the vision and mission of our endeavors that minimal attention is paid to the core values which are established to help us find God’s way of living, on our way to achieving what we understand to be his purpose and calling.
I have especially been drawn to the core values upon which ChinaSource was founded. They are summed up in three words: Engage–Collaborate–Serve.
Here I would like to focus on serving. The desire to foster effective service in China and among Chinese globally lies at the heart of the ChinaSource calling. We value holistic service lived out through relationships, words and deeds, and resulting in transformed individuals, families, and communities. By serving those who serve, ChinaSource plays a unique role in advancing God’s purposes in and through China.
In so doing, priority is given to the development of indigenous leadership with local distinctives. ChinaSource also seeks to help indigenous leaders identify their place in the larger body of Christ.
Over the last twenty years, I have often had a front row seat as Brent and the ChinaSource team have lived out this kingdom value of sacrificial service. Whether at conferences, consultations, facilitating partnerships, rolling out strategic initiatives, or simply encouraging one person at a time, Brent and the team have sacrificed and served not caring who received the credit as long as Jesus Christ got the glory. Christ’s church has been built up and his kingdom advanced.
I have seen Brent in scores of relational and group situations and it always seemed to me that, like John the Baptist, Brent’s calling was to decrease so that the church in China and the name of Jesus would increase.
By God’s grace, ChinaSource is a trusted and respected platform and catalyst because Brent, Jasmine, and the ChinaSource team have sought to serve like Christ. I have attended many gatherings and fundraising events where Brent has championed the kingdom causes of many others, by introducing them, providing networking opportunities, and encouraging them along the way.
In John 13, just moments after washing the disciple’s feet and telling them to serve one another in the same way, Jesus said:
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this will everyone know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35
I have been profoundly moved and humbled through the years as Brent and the team have washed the feet of the body of Christ in China, as quietly and kindly as possible.
I know Brent will be uncomfortable with what I have written here. However, I believe it is always a good thing to thank our great God for any of his friends and servants who personify in real time what genuine service looks and lives like. Brent and Jasmine have mentored my wife Debra and me for decades in this core value and we are grateful!
I am sure that many of you also have benefited from the ministry of Brent and Jasmine as they have led ChinaSource. I encourage you to take a few minutes and write a thank you note to them. They won’t be able to respond right now because they are on sabbatical after all. But your encouraging note will be part of what the Father is saying to them in this season of waiting and listening.
Moving forward, there are so many unknowns. But we know how the Lord brought us here. So please pray with us that the core value of sacrificial service, motivated by Christ’s love, will be replicated in the lives of everyone on the ChinaSource team and all who have been called to serve his church in China and worldwide.
To write to the Fultons, please send email notes to admin@chinasource.org.
Physical letters can be sent to: ChinaSource, PO Box 2160, Orange, CA 92859, USA
or
ChinaSource Partners, Ltd., 17/F Unit B, Wing Cheung Industrial Building, 58-70 Kwai Cheong Road, Kwai Chung, NT, Hong Kong SAR, PR of China.
Image credit: JLB1988 on Pixabay.
Kerry Schottelkorb
Rev. Kerry Schottelkorb is the president of ChinaSource. For twenty years Kerry was involved in local church planting and youth ministry, both in the US and Hong Kong. He was the founding pastor of the Cle Elum Alliance Church in Cle Elum, Washington and one of two founding pastors of Evangelical …View Full Bio
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