A Brief Personal History
By Rev. Daniel Gong
September 4, 2025
My name is Daniel Gong (宫景耀), my father was a pharmacist dedicated his career to working in a hospital, while my mother was a professional technician. I was born in the 1970s at Tianjin City[i] in Mainland China, witnessed shifts in worldview, values, and life perspectives during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Throughout this period, successive movements aimed to eliminate all religions, cultures, and value systems that had existed for millennia in China. These changes were intended to replace traditional beliefs with the utopian vision of communism and the conviction that humanity could overcome natural limitations. In practice, however, these transformations led to a society where individuals were often driven by competition, covert power struggles, and betrayal rather than care, love, and mutual benefit. Many original churches were repurposed as factories, theaters, and warehouses, while former priests and elders were reassigned to labor duties, with many losing their lives in labor camps. (From 1949 to 1989, an estimated 80 million people died unnaturally, and Mao Zedong alone caused the first number of deaths in the population in the history, surpassing Stalin and Hitler)
My grandmother, though never formally educated and a traditional housewife[ii], was my first mentor. She took me to visit each of her seven children, where she assisted with household tasks and observed their family values and lifestyles. Her involvement brought together the extended family. In her final two weeks, she brought me, her favorite grandson, to see all her children again. After her passing, it became evident that she provided support through her ongoing assistance and presence. Her actions had a significant impact for my life, and her passing was also the first experience I had with death and bereavement. And I don’t know my grandmother have any religion and even all my family members because everybody in China must be Atheist. (even today)
During the 1980s, as an adolescent, I started developed a profound interest in art and painting. I enrolled in an art school to receive professional training with the goal of becoming an art teacher. The curriculum for training art teachers required me to study both Eastern and Western art and painting, as well as gaining knowledge about the civilizations from which these artistic traditions emerged. This academic pursuit led me to encounter the Christian faith, and to achieve a deeper comprehension of Western art history, I began reading the Bible it was borrowed from a Christian I knew, and the Bible was preciously preserved during the Cultural Revolution since it was forbidden. After a year and a half of thorough reading, I was deeply influenced from the teaching in the Bible and was touched by the spirit of God. It led me to become a Christian. At that time, my goal was to become an artist, teacher, and even though I was a devout Christian, but never thought to be a pastor.
In June 1989, I faced to a changing moment in my life. There was a significant shift in the beliefs and values of the Chinese people. Despite being directly or indirectly persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, many still held onto their faith in communism. However, as instances of corruption within the government became evident, citizens took to the streets to protest at Tiananmen Squar, shout “give liberty or give me death”. They stood behind the students, expressing their hope that the government could continue to lead the country towards the envisioned utopia. on June 4, the army opened fire on students and citizens in Beijing, Numerous students and innocent citizens lost their lives during the Tiananmen Square Protests and Massacre (Some reports put the figure as high as 10,454). I had witnessed my peers who had the same dreams of artists lose their lives from nationwide political persecutions. I realized that only God could save us, the mercy and grace of God is needed for me, my community and my country. I realized that without divine grace, on any institutional change of political status would result in bloodshed rather than substantial improvements. which made me realize that I could not continue to live in my own small world and enjoy the tranquility of the years and the tranquility of the art world. It can be said that in the midst of the bloody storm, God made me choose the future life, whether to continue to live for myself or to live for God and the gospel of God's grace to the best of my ability. This is a major life turn of mine. In December 1989, under these circumstances, I was assigned to speak from the pulpit, representing a significant milestone in the beginning of my service to God. It has been 36 years since that moment.
When the SARS broke in 2003, China shut down like what we saw during the covid pandemic. It caused churches not being able to hold regular services. I decided to come to the United States to pursue theological degrees during the shutdown. I graduated and returned to China in 2005 to continue my ministry. However, by late 2006, the CCP government required me to promptly show up at the police office weekly and report my weekly schedule to restrict my ministry. It ended up with being very difficult to continue all my ministry since I had to protect other ministers from being persecuted. Therefore, I came back to the States and continued my theological study. By the summer of 2008, I received my M.Div. and Th.M., and my dissertation themed on the history of the Eastern Roman Empire and Christianity, was published in mainland China.
In 2008, I was invited by a Chinese church in Miami, Florida to serve as a full-time pastor. I served and let that congregation for nine years. Despite having over eighteen years of evangelical experience, I felt that leading the Chinese congregation in North American presented me a entirely new life experience and challenge. Back in Mainland China, Christian faces political persecution and social challenges. Here in American, attending church is safe and secure. However, as a pastor, I felt that it challenges me more on helping people building up their spirituality. In those years, I have re-assured my calling, refined my ministry approach and strategies, and actively guided and influenced the church’s direction and the establishment with faith and compassion.[iii]
Regrettably, a profound change altered our lives when my first wife later became terminally ill, and we had to move to South Carolina in the hope that the change in environment might somehow support her healing process. As her health continued to decline and the inevitable became clear, we spent our days in the hospital, cherishing every remaining moment. During her final times, we were visited by several chaplains from local hospital who came to offer their spiritual guidance and support. Although we had done similar ministry before as volunteer clergy in Florida, the tender care, genuine prayers and heartfelt encouragement provided during this time were remarkably impactful and remain etched in my memory. Through this journey, I came to feel the deep blessing that compassionated end-of-life care can be for the deceased and their families, because there are many things that cannot to bear without aid, especially the inner struggles of hopelessness and blindness that will always consume our souls. Thank God that we were facing death in a completely unfamiliar place (Anderson SC), and the unexpected appearance of Chaplains, whom I will forever be grateful for this divine intervention during such a difficult chapter.
She passed away in 2017, after 24 years of marriage, and I burry her when I was 47 years old. She left behind two sons, the youngest being only eight years old at the time. And part of me were gone, I feel like part of my life was gone, and that was the end of my life. In this valley of the shadow of death, I found comfort not from Augustine of Hippo or Pseudo Dionysius, but from the local church in our neighborhood, and two dear friends among the saints in history: Dante Alighieri and C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis expressed his grief after losing his wife in "A Grief Observed," while Dante's Beatrice disappeared in the light of Christ at the end of his journey to Paradise. The grief is life-long process, though wounded, my journey was far from over, as God soon opened a new chapter in my life beyond my imagination.
Then I met my soulmate Lucinda, we got married at 2018 during a very long journey, I met her at Vancouver, we married at Seattle, then drive back to South Carlina. Make long story short, after marrying my wife Lucinda, who was a minister in a Chinese church in Canada. God Called for us to relocate in Richmond, Virginia in 2019. We planned to plant a Chinese church in RVA. Meanwhile, I established an art studio, where I resumed teaching and painting commissions. while also preparing to start a new church. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the first official Chinese service commenced in September 2022. Currently, the Aletheia Chinese Christian Church conducts Mandarin services every Sunday from 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM in Hall 280 on the second floor of the Richmond First Baptist Church, and it has been going for three years. It is a small church with a small amount of congregation, but we are so glad that through the internet, we could support ministries in Mainland China. This is whole other chapter of my life.
And God give us two kids in Richmond, both born in St. Francis Medical Center, five years boy and twenty-two-month girl.
When my daughter just 80 days, on the evening of February 8, 2024, I had a serious heart attack. I went to St. Francis Medical Center’s emergency room and underwent the entire process of myocardial infarction diagnosis, followed by stent insertion. A week later, I had a Triple bypass surgery at VCU. The various forms of support provided for both my physical health and emotional well-being were profoundly impactful. During my heart attack and subsequent cardiological surgery, whether in the hospital bed or at St. Frances's Cardiac Rehabilitation Center, I realized the importance of people caring for and encouraging each other, transcending boundaries of race, culture, and language. This interaction between individuals was particularly significant in the context of the AI-cyber age.
I live with my wife Lucinda, and my two sons, Antipas (16) and Peniel (5), as well as my daughter Clementine (2) in Midlothian, VA. My art studio is located at Art Works LLC, 320 Hull Street, Studio 192, and I’m the member of Portrait Society of America, I was celebrated the annual art show at independent golf club as an exhibiting member of the Bon Air Artists Association in late March 2025.
[i] Tianjin City was very easy to find because of its similarities to our city, Richmond. It is two hours from the capital, two hours from the seaside, and about two hours from the mountain area. The city is also crossed by a river and experiences all four seasons, with rain in the summer and snow in the winter. You can reach my hometown in the Southeast of Beijing capital.
[ii] In the last 1500 years the traditional Chinese housewife does not allow to read, write, and have bind their feet from their youth, so that they even can’t walk fast with very small feet, only that kind of dignified girl can be able to marriage to the good family. This tradition got change until missionary came to China 150 years ago.
[iii] My MBTI result was: (INFJ =298; I100 N81 F61 J56) in 2010, I believe there should be some changes now. FYI
