Message
Asian Directors' Conference
Report by Isaac Kim
Date: January 19-21, 2011
Place: Bankok, Thailand
Opening Message by Jimmy Lee of India
Title: "Three Times a Day"
Key Verse Daniel 6:10
In his message he exhorted our missionaries and native leaders to overcome hardships and difficulties through prayer. Daniel was faced with the decree that was against the life of prayer. Yet, as usual, Daniel knelt down before the Lord and kept praying to the Lord. His prayer teaches us three things: First the hour of prayer is the time to find rest and the joy of salvation in the Lord. Second, Daniel gave thanks to the Lord for the Lord is good. Third, Daniel prayed for the restoration of Israel.
Mission Reports
1. Mongolia I & II
In 2010 Bible study focused on deeds that should come with faith. Spring conference was attended by 103 attendants (Mongolia I). Mongolia II had a conference with 69 attending. Mongolia II had a summer Bible conference with 66 attending based on Mark 15:1-39. On July 22 two house churches were established at Mongolia II. Namsan UBF sent 27 orchestra members to Mongolia II from July 20-26. Mongolia II (Paul Kwon) published a daily bread booklet in Mongolian. After the Christmas worship service on Dec. 19, Mongolia II established 6 new shepherds. For the year 2011 Paul Kwon chose Psalm 119:147-148 as key verses to pray more.
2. Hong Kong
Nine messengers are working as speakers in the Hong Kong area. A total of 160 people attended the Hong Kong Joint Summer Bible Conference from August 13-16.
Paul Ho of Choongmon University went out as a missionary to Korea (Seo Kang University) teaching Math. He got a PhD from Purdue University. During his work at Purdue he established one Caucasian student Corey (Material Science Engineering 4) as a shepherd. Then he got a job offer from Korea.
Shepherd John Kwan went out to pioneer a city college.
Hong Kong UBF had a Christmas worship with 230 people attending.
Three medical doctor shepherds were established. They offer offerings sacrificially offering two tenths of their income. They pray for 350 weekly one to one Bible studies and 100 sunday worship attendants in each department.
3. Brunei - Andrew Chung
A Chinese student, Paul Hong, maintained a steady one to one relationship with Andrew. John Na from Kwanak 5 visited Brunei UBF. They pray for the self support ministry and 4 weekly one to one Bible studies.
4. Sri Lanka - Barnabas Baek
A total of 22 people attended the Christmas worship service. Missionary Luke and Sarah Chun (Kangneung Center) came to Sri Lanka UBF as a new missionary family. Nisankeur went out to Korea as a missionary. He is now attending Chunjoo UBF. Baltimore II UBF offers financial assistance regularly for child support. Chunjoo I UBF also sends some money. Sri Lanka UBF prays for self support through operating a language center and for 15 sunday worship attendants. May Paul, Pradim, and Lasiker grow as shepherds.
5. Taiwan - Steve Haga
Taiwan has two UBF chapters, one at Taipei led by Missionary Mark Kim from Hong Kong UBF and another at Kaohsiung University. Mark is doing a post doc at Taipei University. He did not attend the conference, for he is not a national director.
Dr. Steve has been in Taiwan for 4 years. During this period of time the Lord has helped him. Dr. Steve (computer science teacher) and his wife Dr. Allison (PhD in American history) are teaching at Kaohsiung University. Dr. Steve is praying for his tenure. A total of 25 people attended the spring conference based on John’s gospel, and 28 attended the summer Bible conference based on Genesis 1-11. They have a lot of chinese old misses, and they run short of brothers. They pray for 20 weekly one to one's and sunday worship attendants.
6. Timothy Ipapo - Philippines
God's work in the Philippines is slow but steady. Dr. William Allobar’s ministry sent out two families to pioneer: Dr. John and Talavera and their 3 kids to Rizal, and Timothy and Esther Ipapo and 3 kids to pioneer University Belt.
7. Japan - Daniel Chung
Japan has 15 chapters which are divided in three regions: west (4), east (9), and Kyushu (2).
Nagoya - John Lee and Esther Lee went back to Korea serving Hankang Center.
In April 2010 Sigmond from New York moved to Tokyo UBF teaching English at the Korean language school.
Paul Kwon moved out of Nagoya to pioneer the Gifu area.
One hundred people attended the Tokyo UBF Christmas worship service.
They pray for 120 sunday worship attendants among all Japan UBF chapters.
They keep praying for disciples to be made from Tokyo and Waseda University.
8. China - Moses Kim of Hanyang (Details are reserved, and remain intentionally omitted)
9. Indonesia - Peter Lee
There are four chapters in Indonesia (Jakarta, Salem, Cawang, Depok). They love one another and hold joint conferences such during summer and christmas. Peter Lee found a new job. There are old sisters who are yet to be married. Presently, at the Depok center, between 70-80 students come to worship services.
10. Philippines - John Jung
Eight people attended the summer Bible conference, and four of them were Filipinos. Many Filipinos want to go out of the country to make money. Missionary Sarah was sick. Dr. William Altobar sent his son Samuel to cowork with John Jung’s ministry pioneering UP (University of the Philippines) Diliman. They moved to a condo close to campus. The president of his company extended his contract. He used to serve the ministry for 3 years but operated without a vision.
11. Thailand (Bankok) - Peter Lee
A total 27 of students attended the Summer Bible Conference (May 14-16, 2010). In October they had a discipleship conference where 20 students attended. On December 19 they had a Christmas worship service at the center. A total of 36 people attended the service. In Bankok it is difficult for students to attend the Sunday worship, primarily due to family ties and tourism. Six disciples/shepherds are growing (Monkon, Joe, Pauline, Don Timothy, Luke, and Tam Paul). Tam Paul majored in electrical engineering, working at a nationally reputable engineering company. He is 31 years young. Thailand UBF published a daily bread booklet in Thai. Peter Lee’s self supporting business (marketing LPG gas) is steadily growing. This year he was elected as the chairperson for the Thailand Missionary Association (about 500 members).
12. Singapore - Joshua Hong
Four people faithfully attended the sunday worship services. Singapore UBF serves 6 weekly one to one studies. To cover Missionary Joshua Hong making frequent overseas trip, beginning April his wife Pauline served the sunday worship messages. Through her leadership and prayer five sisters (Wawa, Tutu, Grace, Sherlin, and Rachel) are growing.
13. India - Jimmy Lee
In May India UBF held a discipleship conference where 66 students attended. During the conference they studied the book of Daniel and established three new shepherds and three shepherdess candidates.
On July 11, 2010, Shepherd Abraham Neal went out to pioneer DU (Delhi University) East, for he found a professor's job at an institute near DU East.
On Sept. 29, 2010, Maria Jr. gave birth to a son named Matthew. All were joyful for she remained barren for 9 and half years. Finally, Jimmy Lee and his wife came to see a beautiful grandson.
In October (20-22) three junior shepherds served as messengers at the Summer Bible conference.
Shepherd Samuel of DU North served a Christmas message "Good News of Great Joy".
Several senior shepherds came to be influenced by the IHOP. As a result several sheep left UBF.
Dr. John Bunyun and Missionary James Kang serve Bengalo UBF. Two brothers and three sisters are growing.
Missionary Jimmy Lee sold his business and is now working to develop a new business venture.
India UBF prays to establish 320 professor shepherds.
Thursday evening they put together two special programs: one, Missionary Jacob Lee's special lecture entitled, "Empowering the Next Generation", and two, "The Outline of the Whole Scriptures [from the perspective of the Kingdom of God]" by Shepherd Nehemiah Kim of Kwangjoo UBF.
The next morning (Friday) there was a group Bible study. I belonged to a group Bible study led by Mother Barry. In the group the following people attended: Abraham Noji (Director of Osaka Japan), Anna Yang, Dr. William Altobar, Shepherd Timothy Ipapo, Dr. Steve Haga, Lucas (a shepherd at Bankok UBF), and Tam Paul (a shepherd of Bankok UBF). Through the group Bible study I learned that as one commits himself or herself fully to the Lord, the Lord works and causes revival to arise in and through that person. Lucas is like Timothy, an old Christian. He brought Tam Paul to the ministry. Tam Paul testified that his company keeps sending him out to overseas for work. So it is difficult for him to keep sunday worship services. The same thing happened to himthis week, for although Missionary Peter Lee asked him to serve the Asian directors' conference, his company had a plan to send him on an overseas trip. But as he prayed to obey, the company's plan was postponed so he could fully serve those who are attending the conference.
After lunch and a time of fellowship we had a panel discussion. Thus far Korean churches have sent 20,000 missionaries, ranking no. 2 among the missionary sending nations worldwide in terms of the number of missionaries sent. Thus far UBF has sent 1,791 missionaries to 93 nations. It has been more than two decades since UBF first sent missionaries to Asian nations. [Missionary Jimmy Lee went to India 23 years ago, Peter Lee to Indonesia 21 years ago, etc.]
Thus far several issues demand consideration. One of them is the issue of coworking. In the case of Depok chapter in Indonesia, there are 5 missionary families and 8 house churches among native leaders. Another issue is, "What does a disciple mean?" Still another is the way to resolve cultural differences. After Peter Lee's presentation, while Paul Kwon and Jimmy Lee were seated up front as panelists and a question and answer session followed.
After dinner, in different groups, we had another group Bible study. Again Mother Barry led the group Bible study on Philippians 2, "Christ's humility". At the plenary session Shepherd David Kim of Yeonhee UBF Korea served the message.
Then after joint prayer we put together Mother Barry's 80th Birthday celebration. Bankok UBF prepared two birthday cakes for Mother Barry. Shepherd Daniel Rhee and his wife Miso played a special music piece (with Daniel playing clarinet and Miso violin). David Kim of Yeonhee sang the Lord's prayer. Several women coworkers offered a special song entitled, "I Thank Thee," with lyrics specially dedicated to Mother Barry.
At a separate meeting among the Asian directors' meeting, Dr. John Jun elected Missionary Daniel Chung of Tokyo, Japan as the new Asian Continental Director replacing Missionary Jimmy Lee. They also decided that the venue for the next Asian directors' conference should be in Manila, rather than in Mongolia.
Saturday morning, after breakfast, we had a testimony sharing meeting in groups. Mother Barry led the English group where I belonged.
After the group testimony sharing missionary Bansuk Lee served a closing message entitled, "Divine Power to Demolish Strongholds," based on 2 Corinthians 10:4. In Thailand, strongholds include the roots of Buddhism (generating fear) or Hinduism (breeding fatalism). The divine power represents the gospel truth based on the Word of God coming with the power of the Holy Spirit. It has divine power to transform any sinner into children of God. We also need to pray a lot. In Thailand the material and cultural Satans kept attacking. Through the messages spoken in Thai, and morning daily bread devotion, the Lord kept working. In ten years, God started working among college students.
Prayer topics: 1. Personal revival by repentance; 2. To pioneer 22 Asian countries; 3. UBF 50th Anniversary; 4. Asia has the most number of idols. More than 60% (4 billion) of the world’s population are in Asia. More than 50% of the unevangelized tribes are living in Asia. Missionary Daniel Chung was elected as the new Asian Continental Director, and Missionary Peter Lee of Indonesia as the vice director. Their nomination will be subject to approval by the International Board of Directors.
After the conference, we visited the Chulalongkorn University campus where Shepherdess Helen On introduced the campus to the visitors. Thereafter we visited the Bankok UBF Center.
One Word: Revival at Mizpah