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MY GOD, MY LORD

On August 16-18, Jakarta UBF held their annual Summer Bible Conference with the theme “My God, My Lord.” The location was at the SEAM center in Bogor. The theme of the conference reminded us about God our Creator and Jesus our Lord who holds our life and our ministry. All of our messages and Group Bible Studies were from the book of Mark. There were 25 attendees in total, including children and Sunday school teachers. We were quite discouraged because some students who attended the past conferences did not join and there was a decreased number of new students. Nevertheless, it was a great opportunity to co-work among our 13 growing leaders and house church families, 4 Bible students, 6 2nd-gen, and 2 Sunday school teachers who came from afar to watch and teach our 2nd-gens while the rest of us were focusing on the conference. 

Each morning began at 5 a.m. with sharing daily bread in our individual Bible Study groups and having an hour hike to the countryside nearby. On Friday morning, after a delicious breakfast, Juni gave a message from Mark 2:1-12 (Key: 5) entitled, “Son, Your Sins Are Forgiven.” He set the tone for the conference by reminding us that Jesus is truly the Son of God and is the only one with the authority to forgive our sins. He also shared a personal testimony of how his completely transformed life in Jesus proved that Jesus is the only one who has the authority to atone for his sins. Not only did Jesus take away his past sinful habits such as smoking and pornography, but he was also called as a leader like a campus shepherd and married Sri with 2 beautiful children. Please keep praying for him so that he may continue to grow as a messenger and a shepherd like a leader with a depth of insight into God’s word. Afterward, we had a group Bible study preparing for Eta’s message, delicious homemade lunch and testimony writing&free time until dinner time. In the evening, we heard a message from Eta based on Mark 7:24-37 (Key verses: 28-29) titled, “Yes, Lord.” We learned that we need to have a humble faith like the Syrophoenician woman who humbly agreed with Jesus’ comment. We must trust in Jesus’ sovereignty and be humble when he tests our faith. Only when we do so, we can witness His wonderful miracles. In her message, Eta shared her struggles that she has been careless to help her husband without much prayer for him who has been still sick with homosexuality. She made a firm resolution to keep praying for a humble faith before God’s sovereignty upon their house church and to pray for her husband. After the message, each leader shared testimony upfront.

On Saturday morning, after our daily bread sharing, morning walk, and breakfast, we had another Group Bible Study for the next message based on Mark 5:1-20 (Key Verse: 9). Then, Hengky delivered the message, entitled, “What Is Your Name?” In the spirit of Indonesian 74th Independence Day, he taught us what it truly meant to be independent and free spiritually. We can become like the demon-possessed man enslaved under the power of sin and impure spirit when we do not walk in God’s will. We must depend on Jesus and God’s Word to have a clear identity in Him. We learned how important our names are because we can learn who God is when we know our identity. Hengky learned that he was weary with obeying God’s mission as a campus shepherd since his house church was pioneered to Sumedang, a place 4 hours away from Jakarta. He repented his tendency to sit idly at home and resolved to find his identity in God by absolute eating of Daily Bread and fishing for sheep in UNPAD campus. In the afternoon, we held an exciting outdoor game day on the IPB college campus, one of the pioneered campus near the SEAM center. The evening program began with a message by M. Chris who delivered from Mark 6:30-44 titled “You Give Them Something to Eat,” with the help of his wife’s translation by his side. The message focused on our responsibility as shepherds who tend to escape from our spiritual responsibility deriving from our unthankfulness. M. Chris confessed that he had treated his mission in Indonesia as a rest from American life. He repented his self-righteousness and resolved to feed Jesus’ sheep in Indonesian campus. He and his wife recently were admitted to IPB (Bogor Agricultural University) as graduate students majoring in Agribusiness, and we are praying that their house church may be used by God to preach the gospel to H souls. After the message, we heard testimonies from 3 bible students who are undergoing the process of the future pledge to become semi-shepherds. Please pray for them so that the shepherds and house churches co-work well to help these students to know and follow the will of God for their lives. The last program was a festival night where everyone prepared a performance. There were Indonesian comedic singing, hymn singing, hilarious marching dance, and reciting a passage in the bible in their ethnic languages. 

On Sunday, after daily bread sharing, morning walk, breakfast, and Group Bible Study, we held a Sunday service and a communion service led by Msn. Peter. The Sunday message was based on Mark 12:1-12 (Key Verse: 1) titled, “God’s Marvelous Love.” This message concluded our conference by reminding us of God’s love that prepared everything for us. We learned of our tendency to be like the Pharisees and religious leaders who did not want to accept Jesus’ authority. We must remember God’s love that withheld his every right as the owner of the vineyard and be good tenants of his field, i.e. our campuses, our families, our work, etc.  

We thank God for the co-working of M. P and R, all messengers, shepherds, cooks, and Sunday school teachers despite their busy work and campus activities. We could reap the fruit of messenger meetings which we held 3 weeks before the conference. Thank God for His grace upon the conference this year. Please pray for the prayer topics:

1. Co-working of M. P and Hengky, Eta, Juni, and Chris for Sunday messages.

2. 5 house churches and M. P’s family’s co-working to continue the pioneering work of 8 campuses.

3. For M. Chris’ house church to adapt well in graduate school life and to be healthy. 

4. For brother Leo and Marsel, and for the semi-shepherd vow of sister Ike and Ayu.