Ezra Jin, the pastor of one of China’s largest underground churches, is free after spending 266 days in Chinese prison for the crime of practicing and preaching his faith.
On Friday, July 3, Jin arrived in Los Angeles, where he reunited with his family, including his wife, Anna Liu, and daughter and son-in-law, Grace and Bill Drexel.
The family says Jin’s release, on the eve of America’s 250th birthday, is a “miracle.”
“We are feeling so overwhelmed with joy. We thank God for this tremendous miracle,” the Drexels wrote to The Free Press in a statement.
It was the first time in eight years Jin saw his wife, and the first in six years he saw his daughter. His family members began leaving China in 2018, following a previous round of arrests of Christians, but Jin stayed behind to continue leading his church. On his arrival in America, Jin also met his grandson, who shares his name Ezra, for the first time. Grace and Bill’s baby was born exactly one month ago, on June 4, the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing—the same event which inspired Jin’s initial conversion to Christianity.
