Campus mourns student death
Liberty comforts grieving parents after son dies from the effects of stroke
Liberty University senior Zhecun Jin, 22, died Wednesday, Sept. 17, from the effects of an unexpected stroke.
After nearly four weeks in the hospital following the Aug. 21 stroke, Jin was removed from life support Wednesday. Jin, a senior, completed Liberty’s Aviation Maintenance Technician program before studying in the School of Business.
Tragedy — Zhecun Jin is remembered by family and friends. Photo provided
During the weeks of Jin’s hospitalization, Liberty staff and students rallied around his family in support, according to Tim Voogd, campus pastor and Prayer Center manager. Voogd explained that dozens of students visited Jin and his family, despite a lack of clear direction for how to be perfectly supportive.
“(When) somebody’s hospitalized (or) something’s a very difficult story, … that’s when you go, and you make yourself present, even though you don’t know what to say or do,” Voogd said. “And I think that was evidenced in a positive way by the Liberty community.”
According to Voogd, visitors from Liberty showed Jin’s family love in tangible ways.
“There were several Chinese-speaking students, as well as English-speaking students, who spent many hours in the visitors’ room, bringing the family food, bringing them other supplies … (and) just being there for them, to visit with them,” Voogd said. “… There was just a lot of physical presence in that hospital available to the parents for almost four weeks.”
Following a Campus Church service Wednesday night, Sept. 10, approximately 300 students joined David Nasser and Jin’s parents, through a simulcast from the hospital, to pray for Jin, according to Campus Church Director Ian MacIntyre.
“(That) night showed a tremendous picture of how the Liberty family comes together in times of crisis and need,” MacIntyre said. “There’s no better place, there’s no better representation of the body of Christ than there is in Campus Church. And in that prayer service, hundreds of Liberty students stayed afterward and gave up their time to intercede on behalf of Jin and his family, and it’s something that this community will not forget. We will continue to pray for Jin’s family, even in the wake of this tragedy.”
According to Voogd, Jin’s father also shared his appreciation for the support of the Liberty community during the prayer service.
“(Jin’s father’s) testimony was that there was so much love shared with he and his wife and for his son, through the people that were coming to visit them from Liberty, that that had made a very large impact on them,” Voogd said. “(For) two people that really did not know Jesus at all prior to coming here, the testimony of the students was a loud message saying there is a loving God, and Jesus Christ is his son.”
A memorial service for Jin is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. at Pate Chapel in Thomas Road Baptist Church.
BROWN is the editor-in-chief