News > Asia

BUT NOAH FOUND FAVOR IN THE EYES OF THE LORD

Jakarta UBF (Indonesia) SBC 2021 Report by M. Chris

*Key Verse: Genesis 6:8, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

<See the video report below>

Jakarta UBF had Summer Bible Conference this year at the SEAM Center in Bogor for 3 nights and 4 days, from September 30th to October 3rd. For the past few months since Covid, Sunday worship services were held in three separate places. So I was grateful that we could multiply to 3 houses of worship due to Covid-19 and that we could still see each other’s faces with the grace of the Lord. For the conference, we could gather face-to-face and fellowship with one another for this conference.

Participants included 2 missionary families (M. Pe and Re Kim, M. Chris and Dr. Sherrill), 4 local shepherd families (He and Sh, Et and Ca, Sr and Ju, and Sa), 3 single shepherdesses, 7 second-generation children, and 4 African exchange graduate students. A total of 26 people attended. The shepherds who pioneered UNPAD University, which is 210 km away from Jakarta, came in advance from the evening of the 28th and prepared the conference together.

My family, M. Chris, M. Dr, M. He, and M. Sh went to the IPB campus every morning during the conference at 5:15 a.m. to take a 1.5-hour walk. IPB campus is 30 minutes away from the SEAM center, so we wanted to use our time to have fellowship while taking care of each other’s spiritual and physical health. While we went on a morning walk on the campus, the rest of the people stayed at the SEAM center and did aerobics. Especially the 2nd gens loved it, stretching their muscles and giggling with laughter.

Each message was preceded by Group Bible Studies. All the senior shepherds studied the passages before the conference and taught the passage to the second gens and the Bible students. After every message, each attendee had testimony writing time. Meanwhile, M. Sh, Sh. Sr, and M. Dr diligently prepared for us delicious food for each meal. We had an amazing opportunity to try different international menus this year: spaghetti with grilled chicken, tortilla wrap buffet, Vietnamese self-made rolls, Kimchi soup, chickpeas vegetable soup, Nasi Riwet, and many more.

This conference began its first service with the theme titled, “It Is Finished through Jesus!” and jumped into the first main message without an opening message. In the first main message, our ancestor shepherdess, Et gave a message on Genesis 6-7 titled “God’s Judgment and Ark of Salvation” (Key verse: 13-14). She taught us that we must live life as Noah did, preparingthearkbywalkingwithGodandholdingontoHiswordinthispandemicera. Above all, we were all thankful to hear her personal struggles and her prayer to serve her co-worker Shep. Ca till the end and until he is cleansed of the sin of homosexuality.

For our refreshment, we left our venue to go to the hot springs in the mountains, which took 3 hours going, on two cars and 6 motorcycles. We had so many obstacles on the way and eventually were lost in the darkness of the mountains and the rain, that we had no choice but to return. We chose to go to the IPB campus café instead and wrap our day with dinner there.

On the second day, the patriarch shepherd, Shep. He delivered the message titled, “It Is Finished” from John 19:1-42 (Key verse: 30). In his message, he said that he was saved from just a formal life of a Christian during his college years in sophomore, started to chase after God’s word and Holy Spirit, and has been living as a shepherd for 23 years in UBF. His daily resolution to look back on himself daily and renew the grace of salvation was a big inspiration to us. We praise the Lord who solved our sin problems by taking our place on the cross, which compels us to live serving others as God’s children.

After we had testimony writing time, we left the SEAM center to go to the IPB campus. We joined the 2nd gens to go on a treasure hunt, blow giant bubbles on the main field of the campus, and go on a long stroll on the campus.

For the last night of the conference, Shep. Ca, Ju, Sa, Sa, Ik, and Ay shared their gracious testimonies and Shep. He shared his life testimonies. We praised God for their testimonies that revealed their clearly changed lives before and after meeting Jesus and studying the word of God. As the highlight, M. Chris and Dr gave their mission reports from their trip to the U.S. Even in the midst of this pandemic, we were thankful that God allowed them to visit the states for 2 months. Even though they had difficulties entering Indonesia, due to their son Shepherd’s PCR test, we were touched by how God still helped them through it all. They reported concerning their meeting and fellowship with Shippensburg UBF families. They said that they were touched by the serving of M. Daniel Lee and the rest of the missionaries there. They also shared about their visit to North Carolina UBF and NC State University and that it helped them to receive a spiritual vision. I pray that M. Chris and Dr will continue to embrace and serve Indonesian souls and African students through 1:1 Bible studies to raise them up as Bible teachers and shepherds.

On the third day, missionary Peter Kim served the message titled, “Jesus Who Gave As Much As They Wanted” from John 6:1-24 (Key Verse: 9, 11). And after the Sunday service, we had communion together by breaking bread and drinking wine together. Aside from the grown-ups, we were very grateful to be able to see the growth of the 7 second-generation children through this conference. 4 out of 7-second gens wrote their own DB in the morning, studying the Bible, listened to the message, and then wrote their own testimonies. I earnestly pray that the Lord will raise these children to be the next generation of shepherds and use them preciously as campus shepherds.

On the last day of the conference, all of us went to Taman Air (Water Park) which holds pools of water in the middle of rice paddies and green fields. We went there with the purpose of having fellowship, especially with the 2nd gens.

Another thanksgiving prayer topic is the African exchange students who attended the conference: brothers Cyril, Courage, Rukundo, and Silvére. Brothers Cyril (Cameroon) and Courage (Ghana) have been studying consistently 1:1 with M. Chris for over a year. And Rukundo (Rwanda) and Silvere (Rwanda) have been following them to our Sunday worship service. I pray that these people will return to their respective countries after completing their master's studies and be used as campus shepherds.

Prayer topic

*Sunday message from M. Peter Kim and Sh. Hengky
*Coworking spirit of 4 local shepherd families and junior shepherds
*8 Universities Ukrida, Untar, Trisakti, Atma Jaya, IKJ, Esa Unggul, IPB, UNPAD *Purchasing of land for SEAM center for M ministry and Southeast Asian pioneering
*Systematic spiritual education for the second generation