June 11 , 2008 New York, NY --- On February 7, 2008, Bob Fu, president of the China Aid Association and close friend and colleague of Pastor Ron Lewis, was presented with the 2007 John Leland Religious Liberty Award "for courageously defending the right of all people to exercise freely their religious faith" at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.  The award, which recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to the cause of religious liberty, was presented by Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.  Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) co-hosted the ceremony.  Congressman Franks serves as co-chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus' Force for International Religious Freedom.

The ERLC chose Fu to receive this year's award based on his steadfast ministry and involvement with the Chinese Christian community.  In China, Fu served as a leader for the People's University of Beijing student democracy movement, which tragically ended in the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989.  Following this government suppression of calls for political reform, he became a pastor of a house church in China.  Shortly after beginning this church, he and his wife, Heidi, were arrested and imprisoned for two months

Bob first got connected with Pastor Ron Lewis in the summer of 1995 through a series of divine events that eventually led to the two of them ministering together in the underground house church movement in China.  It was on this trip that Pastor Ron first began to see the underground Chinese church's dramatic need for more basic Bible training for its pastors.  As a result, Lewis and Fu partnered together to establish an underground training center in China.  Shortly thereafter, Pastor Ron then founded Strategic China Initiative to establish more training centers.  To date, SCI maintains 20 training centers throughout China, and since its founding, SCI has trained 50,000 leaders in the underground house church movement (current estimates put the total number of Chinese people affiliated with the underground house church movement at 80-90 million).  In addition, nearly 1 million Chinese bibles have been distributed through SCI to the house churches. Continued...

January 8, 2006 New York, NY --- Knowing that New York City is a hub of world leaders and future world changers, Senior Pastor Ron Lewis and the pastoral team at Morning Star New York have come up with various ways to cultivate the leadership gifts and skills of MSNY's members. A particular emphasis is made on leadership development, with many special courses, ministries, and geared towards this important subject.

One of MSNY's most significant leadership development events yet occurred when U.S. Senator Sam Brownback visited the congregation's Sunday evening service last January to speak on leadership principles. Brownback was joined in by the former Rev. Harald Bredesen, a long-time minister to world leaders, and a number of close friends of MSNY family from around the country.

Senator Brownback began by sharing a brief history of his spiritual development. Although he became a Christian at an early age, he now admits that for many years he pursued his faith primarily as a way to earn favor with God and others on his quest to serve in public office. It was not until 1995 to 1996 as a US Congressman that things began to change when he received what he calls "the greatest blessing of my life" - a diagnosis of melanomic skin cancer.

He then described how his battle to overcome cancer resulted in a new understanding of what it means to truly serve God. By accepting God's challenge to face his disease and to trust that God would take care of the situation, Senator Brownback came to appreciate what the Bible means when it exhorts us to "die to ourselves." (Rom 14:7). By learning to respond to hardship with rejoicing rather than fear and doubt, Sen. Brownback can now see God's power operating in his life like never before.  Continued...