(California – September 3, 2025) In a Sunday gathering inside a high school auditorium in Torrance, Southern California, the sound of worship music filled the air. Among the crowd, an elderly man in a dark suit, moving slowly, raised his hands and sang with the younger congregation: “I’m going to lift my hands/ Till I touch heaven.” His name is David Lin, a Taiwanese immigrant, U.S. citizen, former chemical engineer, and Christian missionary who has just returned from nearly two decades in a Chinese prison. 

For many, Lin’s name had long faded from public view. Beyond the fragmented reports of his 2006 sentencing and conviction by Chinese authorities to life imprisonment on charges of “contract fraud,” little was known to the outside world of his experiences. That silence has only recently begun to lift after Christianity Today published his testimony of faith from prison, bringing to light a story both weighty and complex. 

What he endured was not only eighteen years of imprisonment and suffering, but more so a profound reflection of personal faith, family resilience, and the realities of international politics. 

From A Californian Engineer to an Underground Church Preacher 

David Lin and his wife, Cathy, immigrated from Taiwan to the United States in 1980, settling in Huntington Beach, California. He was initially a chemical engineer with little interest in religion, until one Easter, after watching the Christian film King of Kings with his family, the portrayal of Jesus in the film deeply moved him. Shortly afterward, a dream in which Jesus, along with Peter, John, and James, “preached the Bible” to him permanently altered the course of his life. 

Soon after, Lin left his job and devoted himself to full-time ministry, focusing particularly on China’s house churches. Entering China monthly as a businessman, he engaged in private faith discussions with officials, military officers, scientists, and other intellectuals. Such preaching activities carried significant risks in China, yet Lin remained steadfast, believing that it was “God’s calling.” 

Chinese Christians began inviting David to speak at house churches, state-sanctioned Three-Self churches, and missionary-led congregations. He baptized persons, prayed for them, and witnessed healings from God. In one instance, he prayed for a scientist diagnosed with late-stage cancer; by the next morning, her symptoms had eased, and soon after, she and her husband became Christians. On another occasion, he baptized a government official in a hotel bathtub, and the two became close friends. 

In 2002, two police officers followed David into his hotel. “You are a good person, we already listened to your tapes,” they told him, “but do not preach the gospel here.” David Lin made no promises; instead, he gave them more sermon tapes. 

“It was an underground, secret journey of faith,” he later recalled. 

Arrest and Conviction: The Chinese Government’s Red Line on Faith 

In 2006, Lin sought government authorization for a ministry license to conduct missionary work in China. Months later, he was arrested. Authorities charged him with “contract fraud,” citing his 1990s rental of a Beijing building as a Christian training center. Lin insisted these activities had been approved by authorities at the time, arguing that the actual reason for his prosecution was his growing influence and the vast number of people coming to Christ. 

He was confined in a cell with 14 other prisoners, required to sit on wooden boards for the majority of the hours, barred from reading uncensored materials, and even had his Bible confiscated. According to accounts from fellow foreign inmates, overcrowding, food shortages, and the absence of basic human rights protections were the norm. 

“They did not imprison me because of a crime,” Lin said. “They imprisoned me because too many people had heard the gospel.” 

A Chinese court sentenced him to life in prison, though the term was later reduced in 2012 to 19 and a half years. The U.S. government did not receive official notification until 2007. 

Faith Sustained Behind Bars: Preaching, Translation, and Miracles 

Inside prison, Lin continued to spread the gospel. He claimed that as many as 90 percent of his fellow inmates came to Christ through his preaching. Over the course of seven years, he translated the English King James Bible into Chinese and wrote sermons, secretly sending them out of prison. 

His efforts, however, were closely monitored and punished. His Bible was confiscated three times. In 2017, Christmas celebrations were banned, and even the word “Christmas” was forbidden from mentioning it. Lin was barred from praying or hosting small worship gatherings on Sundays. In earlier years, during Christmas, prison staff who he had befriended allowed him to lead two-hour celebrations with fellow inmates and even bought hot cocoa and candy for the prisoners. 

Lin’s health gradually declined, his teeth fell out, and he suffered from malnutrition. His family in the United States also endured heavy burdens. His wife’s mental health deteriorated, and his daughter Alice at one point lost her housing. 

The Price of Freedom and the Power of Prayer 

Beginning in 2018, Alice began advocating for her father. Though she had no legal background, she worked through church networks and human rights groups to bring her father’s case to the U.S. Congress and the White House, even writing directly to then–Vice President Mike Pence. That same year, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) officially recognized Lin as a “prisoner of conscience.” 

Alice recalled that at times she nearly lost hope, but church friends would tell her, “You do not have to have the faith today. We are going to have the faith for you.” 

On September 14, 2024, while Alice and her family were visiting her mother in Orange County, she received a call from her State Department contact. The official said, “I have someone here who wants to talk to you.” Through a discreet prisoner exchange agreement between the U.S. and China, David Lin had regained freedom. When Alice heard her father’s voice on the phone, “tears streamed down her face.” That call ended her 18-year wait.

Ministry After His Return 

After returning to the United States, Lin reunited with his family at a U.S. military base in San Antonio. Though nearly two decades of imprisonment had left him frail, he embraced his family with big hugs the moment he saw them. He was still the same David Lin, full of humor and full of faith. 

He quickly returned to the pulpit, sharing his story in churches and launching Great King Ministry, a platform that broadcasts his sermons online to Chinese-speaking Christians worldwide. 

Alice said that since her father’s return, the dark cloud hanging over their family had finally lifted. Her greatest joy was seeing her mother restored. David Lin and his wife, Cathy, now enjoy the simplicity of daily life, taking walks, teasing each other, and cherishing ordinary moments. “My life is complete,” Alice said. “To see things become whole again is such a privilege and a miracle to witness.” 

David Lin’s story traces a journey of faith that transcends borders, cultures, and political ideologies. It highlights the real pressures faced by underground churches under China’s tightening religious policies. 

At the same time, it represents a rare humanitarian intersection in U.S.-China relations, reminding the world that in the bilateral relationship dominated by geopolitics, economic and trade disputes, there remains space and a voice for religious freedom and human rights. 

Reported by Gao Zhensai for ChinaAid, based on Christianity Today