Eric Johnson is the Director of Internet and Marketing at Desiring God.

Mark your calendars. For the first time, Desiring God is going to live-stream a session of Ask Pastor John.

It will run from 8-11am (CT) on our site next Wednesday, November 4th.

Pastor John will be responding to questions posted to Twitter with the hashtag #apj.

More details to follow. Hope to "see" you there.

On Day 1 of the Desiring God trip to China, we were able to experience firsthand some of the amazing things God is doing here.

Our first visit was to The Phillip Hayden Foundation, a foster home specializing in care for children with serious medical conditions or special needs. It was so encouraging to see dozens of staff and volunteers selflessly putting James 1:27 into practice.

We then met with an American expat family from Minnesota for an authentic (read: not Panda Express!) Chinese lunch and fellowship. Their business—and family—has been growing. They plan to add another employee this summer, and even more exciting, they are praying that their unique adoption case will be finalized later this year.

For the rest of the day, we received a crash course on the current state of Christianity and Religion in China from three Chinese citizens:

We met a man who runs a think tank focusing on religious policy in China, which in itself is an amazing testimony to the changes that have occurred in this country over the past 20 years. He explained the history and rationale behind the government’s view of religion, as well as his hope for a more open, "free market" approach to religion in the future. His research and writings are widely read by officials.

We also met the founder of  China ActionLove Volunteer Association an indigenous Christian Relief worker who mobilized Christians to assist with the relief work of last year's devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province. With tacit approval from local authorities, China ActionLove is now planning a series of Community Centers in Southwest China to extend the scope of efforts.

Finally, we met a seminary professor who explained the history of seminary education in China, as well as some of the current trends and needs for ongoing theological training. He told the story of one of his professors who had spent 30 years in prison for his faith, only to resume teaching in a seminary as soon as he was released in 1981.

At the end of this busy day, our minds were full of ideas and new insights into God's extraordinary work in China. And it's only Day 1.

You can participate by praying for the following needs:

• The Phillip Hayden Foundation could use prayer for a new Vocational Training Facility they are building to assist non-adopted adolescent orphans transfer into a meaningful, self-supporting work. They need to raise $37,000 USD by July 1 to meet an important deadline.
• Pray for a quick resolution to the our friends' upcoming adoption.
• Pray for God to bless the work of China Actionlove as they build their network of community centers in Southwest China.
• Ask God to continue to bless the work of Paul as he seeks to influence policy-makers.
• Seminaries in China are in need of more resources to be translated into simplified Chinese, especially texts of Systematic Theology and Commentaries.