Alan, you said on GenX that your nephew is going to Beijing for 3 weeks on a missions team. My question is, with some sixty million (or more) indigenous Christians in China, why send American missionaries there? It costs tens of thousands of dollars to send people there who don't speak the language and are probably just going to see the sights, money that could be simply given to the families of Chinese Christians whose parents are in prison and being tortured for their faith. Wouldn't the money be better spent buying food (or rice to plant) for Christians who have been persecuted by their gov't and left nearly starving for their faith?
Any contact your nephew and his team have with local Christians may only endanger those Christians after the team goes back to America. I frankly think there are more genuine Christians in Communist China than in the U.S. of A. so why send a team there?
If the trip is all about giving him a vision for the needs of fellow Christians in countries where they are persecuted, it makes a little more sense but still, that's a lot of money. Honest question here and no offense meant.