wfn.org | TCN: Paralympic champion and pastor Rainer Schmidt to hold evangelical rally in Taiwan

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3003 Edition

>September 14-20, 2009

Paralympic champion and pastor Rainer Schmidt to hold evangelical  rally in Taiwan

>Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong

>Written by Lydia Ma

German Paralympic table tennis champion Rainer Schmidt, who is  also a pastor,

will arrive in Taiwan on October 15th and hold evangelical rallies  and conduct

other speaking engagements for the next seven days. Schmidt’s  rallies have

been highly anticipated and will take place at Mackay Memorial  Hospital in

Taipei and Chang Jung Girls’ Senior High School in Tainan.

Besides holding rallies, Schmidt will also visit churches, social  service

organizations serving people with disabilities, broadcast  stations, seminaries,

and universities where he will give lectures and interviews. His  visit is highly

anticipated by local churches and also welcomed by educators and  social

service organizations who view him as a great inspirational  speaker. Both

Christian and social service organizations will be major sponsors  of his events in

>Taiwan.

Schmidt is expected to hold an evangelical rally on October 17th  at 7:30 p.m. at

Mackay Hospital, said Rev. Chen Wen-chin from Suang-Lien  Presbyterian

Church, who is also the convener of events held in Northern  Taiwan. Chen

commented that from a human standpoint, it is incredible that  Schmidt won

several Paralympic gold medals in table tennis, a discipline that  requires much

hand-eye coordination. As Schmidt is also a pastor, event  organizers hope that

he can tell others how God and faith in Christ can help people  achieve

unimaginable heights despite many disabilities and challenges.

“Seeing how Pastor Schmidt overcame many challenges and now  leads an

abundant life should give anyone some courage to start anew. We  hope that

Presbyterian Church members living in Northern Taiwan will each  invite one non-

Christian friend to attend Schmidt’s rally,” said Rev.  Chen.

Several presbyteries in Northern Taiwan will participate and help  at events held

in Taipei in cooperation with PCT General Assembly Ministers  Committee. Every

church member planning to attend the rally is urged to bring  another non-

Christian friend along to listen to Schmidt speak about his life.  Christian

participants who register for the event will also receive a DVD  recounting

Schmidt’s road to Paralympic gold to distribute to their  non-Christian friends in

advance to encourage non-Christians to attend the rally.

Event organizers in Southern Taiwan hope that an extra evangelical  rally can be

scheduled at Kaohsiung Arena because Christians in Southern Taiwan  have

responded enthusiastically to Schmidt’s rally in Tainan set  on October 19th and

have already filled Chang Jung Girls’ Senior High School  auditorium to maximum

>capacity.

According to Schmidt’s own testimony, he used to fervently  pray and hope for

supernatural healing so that his body would grow a pair of new  arms. However, in

God’s kingdom, physical healing is only one of the many types  of miracles God

performs to change a person’s life. Besides drawing  non-Christians to God,

event organizers hope that through Schmidt’s personal  testimony, Christians will

develop clearer and more accurate perspectives on miracles.

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