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ATHENS UBF VISITING REPORT

Ten senior missionaries –M. Elijah and Grace Park, Jacob and Esther Lee from Washington, M. Moses and Sarah Chang from Belize, M. Luke and Rebekah from Cornerstone, and M. Daniel and Deborah Lee from Shippensburg decided to 
embark on a historical site tour in Greece to follow the footsteps of Apostle Paul focusing on his second missionary journey and Saint John who wrote the book of Revelation on the island of Patmos. So we left Washington Dulles Airport May 23 and arrived at Athens Airport May 24. 13 million tourists visited Greece in 2017. There are 11 million people who live in Greece. 5 million people live in Athens and 6 million people live in the rest of Greece. There were more tourists than the whole population in 2017. What attracted so many people to visit Greece? Greece is the birth place of many philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Stoics. Greek language and their mythology influenced the formation of the western cultures and thought world and freedom and wisdom. They worshipped 12 gods like Zeus, Poseidon, and Hercules. They had city-States like Spartans and Athens, Macedonians and Corinthians in the ancient times. They fought each other a lot but united to defend their country when the foreign army invaded the land. At the same time, it is the birthplace of early Christianity and the European pioneering by the first convert Lydia at Philippi Roman colony in the region of Macedonia.

Upon arrival at the airport, M. Paul Lee and Barnabas Woo welcomed us with joyful hearts. At the Bible center, we met three missionary families and one native shepherd family and many second gens and others. There are two chapters in
Athens-Athens I –M. Paul and Lydia Lee and Athens II-M. Mark and Pauline Lee. M. Paul and Lydia Lee came to Greece in 1992 and they are serving Athens I ministry faithfully for the last 26 years. God blessed them to have three second gens- Lydia Jr. who is working at Samsung after college graduation, Paul Lee Jr who will graduate soon with shipping engineering major, and Pauline Lee who is a college student. They are actively supporting the ministry along with their parents side by side. It was beautiful in the eyes of the Lord. They are praying for establishing a house church for Lydia Jr. M. Lydia shared that 1 to 1 Bible study in Greece requires full time commitment. She said that it took many hours to have 1 to 1 Bible study because she had eating fellowship and long talks after the Bible study. Greek students like to talk for a long time. Sometimes sheep stayed past midnight in her house and slept over for the night. She needed a life-giving spirit to raise up one disciple. M. Barnabas and Joanna Woo have been working together faithfully with M. Paul Lee since they came to Greece. God blessed them to have four children-David Woo, Samuel Woo, Joanna Woo, and little Joy. M. Barnabas is praying to find a steady job. Though it took a long time, God raised up Shepherd Timothy Savvanis as a father of faith in Greece UBF. God established a house church with M. Rebecca Savvanis from Kazhastan and blessed them to have their first son Daniel and they are expecting to have the second child in August. S. Timothy is praying to get up at 6 AM daily for daily bread and prayer life. Shepherdess Isidora Printezi, Joy Point Delgado, and Maria Scotty are growing as prayer mothers of Athens UBF.

M. Mark and Pauline Lee are serving Athens UBF II praying to pioneer Athens University Engineering College. Two daughters –Esther and Susanna are growing as prayer mothers. Esther Lee will attend 2018 Pre-ISBC Vision Camp to
have God’s vision as next gens. She is preparing a College entrance exam. They are praying for brother Panos to grow as a father of faith for Athens II UBF.

After a delicious dinner fellowship we had group Bible study based on Acts 16:1-40 with the title “The Macedonian Call.” We divided the group Bible study into three groups –Missionary team, Young people group, and the teenage group. God
refreshed our missionary vision through group Bible studies.

The Macedonian Call refers to a God-given vision that directed the route the Apostle Paul took on his second missionary journey. God changed Paul’s plan to go to Macedonia. Paul did not question God’s vision but he obeyed the vision. If the
Macedonians needed help, then they would go to Macedonia (the northern and central parts of modern-day Greece). The Macedonian Call resulted in pioneering Europe first. It is evident that these early missionaries were sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The route they took relied heavily on the direction of the Spirit and on prayer. Had they followed their original plans, their work would have been confined to Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). As the Spirit closed doors, the Missionaries continued to seek direction for their journey. We realized that we need to seek God’s direction as senior missionaries are retiring from their ministries. We need a new Macedonian call as M. Moses and Sarah Chang received a Macedonian call. They wanted to pioneer Peru but God led them to Belize, an English speaking country. God blessed their silver missionary call and they became fruitful missionaries in their silver mission. It is important to follow God’s vision instead of our own human ambition. Pioneering a new territory or starting a new thing is not always easy. When we see God’s vision through the Holy Spirit, it is important to give God’s vision the first priority though it may seem strange at the time. God uses a man of vision who obeys God’s command. Pioneering begins with vision with the help of the Holy Spirit. God blessed the Macedonian call because many other churches in Macedonia were pioneered during Paul’s second missionary journey like the church at Philippi and the church at Corinth and the church at Thessalonica. These churches played important roles in the early church history which Paul wrote letters to the Philippians, Corinthians, and Thessalonians. Prayer was a key in pioneering Europe. God wanted to change the Roman Empire through Europe, and carried the Gospel to America, Asia, and the whole world. 

Without Macedonia we cannot think about Greece. Alexander the Great, the son of King Phillip II conquered the world at the age of 33. The Persian Empire was the fearful enemy of the Greek kingdoms. Persian Kings like Darius and Xerxes invaded Greece but could not conquer them. Alexander the Great’s first campaign was to defeat the Persian Empire forever and he was successful in his war against the Persian Empire. He engaged 10 major battles and he won all of them. It was impressive from a military standpoint. But he died from marsh fever at the young age of 33. He conquered the world but could not conquer his sickness. We need to take care of our health in order to serve the gospel work to the end. He also carried the Greek language and culture wherever he went. By doing so he laid the ground work for the Apostle Paul to preach the gospel to all Greek speaking people. It is amazing that the New Testament is written in Greek. While I was in Macedonia, I pictured the Apostle Paul preaching the gospel message to Lydia in the riverside, the purple dealer.

Four days later, we had united prayer at the hotel and the next day we had another Bible study “Jesus feeds the five thousand” based on Mark 6:30-56 with the Athens team. Jesus blesses us when we offer what we have like 5 loaves and 2 fish. God works through people who give their 5 loaves and 2 fish daily. We visited University of Athens and prayed for the campus as our fields are ripe for harvest. We enjoyed three night’s fellowship, prayer and Bible studies. My impression of the Athens ministry was that all second gens grew up as spiritual leaders and they are working together
with their parents, feeding sheep, and making spiritual environments for the ministry. It was beautiful to see them grow as the next gen leaders. We established prayer relationships with our Athens coworkers and had tearful good-byes
entrusting each other to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

God blessed our senior missionaries’ 10-day tour of the Holy Land following the footsteps of the Apostle Paul. God renewed our missionary vision once again through this mission trip. Though the glories of this world fade away as we saw the ruins of the great temples, the seed of the gospel will grow and produce fruits in the future as the Apostle Paul changed world history as Emperor Constantine declared the Edict of Milan in 313 AD allowing Christians to worship God freely and build the churches. When we obey the vision of God, God will make us become history makers. Indeed those who sow the seed of the gospel with tears, they will reap the harvest of souls with songs of joy. We left Athens Airport June 2 hearing echoes of a man of Macedonia, “Come over us and help us.” Who knows someone like Lydia and the jailer are waiting for a missionary to come over and help them be saved by the word of God? I pray that God may bless our 2018 ISBC to rekindle the Macedonia call and renew our world mission vision.

One word: Obey the Macedonian call of vision to serve the world mission.