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“Kingdom Quest”

CBF had our Summer Bible Conference at Shipshewana in the midst of Amish Country. We wanted to build on our Vacation Bible school theme “the great treasure hunt” and study about the greatest treasure, the kingdom of God, based on the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl. So we chose Luke 13:22-29 “Enter through the Narrow Door” and John 14:1-7 “Jesus the Only Way to the Kingdom” in addition to Matthew 13 :44-46 “The Quest for the Kingdom” as main messages. Out title was “Kingdom Quest” and Sarah Yu designed a colorful crest for the program booklet giving visual aid for our theme, that was repeated in the treasure boxes given as prizes later on.

As messengers we asked young leaders, who had already served our vacation Bible school earlier in the summer. John Lee from Northwestern was chosen for the John 14 message. Melina Ruiz spoke on Luke13 and Birgit Pierce on Matthew 13. John Wang and Joanne Lee were chosen for the two world mission messages in the evenings, Daniel King (HBF) and Lina Jeong (Loyola) were chosen as morning devotion messengers. Sarah Yu delivered the opening message “Crave pure spiritual milk” and Tim McEathron gave the closing message about the heavenly banquet from Luke 14:15-24. Our kids responded well to our young messengers and liked to sit with them during meals or go boating with them on the lake during the free time. Sarah Sohn was our designated lifeguard and made sure that everyone was safe.

After the first morning devotion there was some extra time before breakfast and Shp. Tim had the idea that everybody write down what they received that morning in the space in the program booklet and then share with the person next to them and pray together. Msn. Isaac Choi suggested that we adopt this method for the entire conference. Usually our 8th graders work on a World mission project, where they lead a group of 8-10 children from all age groups, get assigned a country and have to make a flag, a map, a power point and a short drama about the UBF history in this country. This year some of our 8th graders were missing, so two 7th graders stepped up as group leaders. We were impressed by our kids’ creativity and co-working skills. One 8th grader had prepared small gifts for the group members and wrote personal notes to each kid thanking them for their contribution to the group. This personal note might have been treasured more than the
gift box with goodies each kid received as a prize.

To balance the more academic pursuit of the World mission project with some physical activity we held “Olympic games” where the same groups competed in three legged races and tug-of-war etc. Stephen Yu, John Lee and John Wang led these games with the assistance of Lina and Rebecca Jeong and Melina Ruiz. Children, who came from Milwaukee, easily made friends with our kids and participated in the games with much enthusiasm. Msn. Monica Suh served behind the scenes preparing snacks for our always hungry kids and making sure they were properly hydrated.

We are thankful for all who served and prayed, but most of all we thank God for His work in His children. May they always treasure His Kingdom as most precious.