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WITS UBF, South Africa
March 13, 2014

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

I. 2013 MISSION REPORT

1) MY SHEPHERD LIFE

Jesus says in Luke 9:23 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” As Jesus’ disciple, following Jesus should be the basic principle of my shepherd life. Yet, Jesus says it can only be done through denying myself and taking up my cross daily, and it wasn’t easy in my practical life. Looking back my life in 2013, it’s full of busy-ness, tiredness, frustration, anger and pains. As general sales manager at a branch with a few employees, the demand and expectation at work was overwhelming. I couldn’t relax even at home, thinking of the pending works I should follow up in the next week. Unceasing phone calls from never-satisfied clients made me frustrated and angry. Entertaining the clients became a big part of my role and I had to bear with silly and obscene jokes until midnight, watching clients get drunk. I felt so wasted when I got home. It seemed as if my life was no different compared to other immigrants, but it was God who used me as God’s servant and sustained my life of faith during 2013. Message preparation was always challenging. I was often in a hurry to finalize a Sunday message just before the service but it helped me not to be swept away by the things of the world. It was indeed God’s blessing in order for me to deny myself and take up my cross daily in a mission field, and to live as a shepherd for campus students. By my effort, I couldn’t follow God faithfully in my day-to-day life, but it was God who made my life of faith noble and precious in Him.

2) BIBLE STUDY

In 2013, we studied the book of Exodus and Mark. God showered us with the words of God each week. Through the book of Exodus we could see how the Lord led the Israelites according to His will and purpose regardless of their failures. God’s vision for the people of Israel was so great and profound, and it eventually became ours so that we could also have a vision for each person to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for our generation. Then we studied the gospel of Mark. At the beginning of our Mark’s gospel study, we thought message and testimony writing would be relatively easy compared to the ones based on Exodus. But it didn’t take long to realize that it was a wrong assumption. It was still hard to write unless my heart was touched by the grace of Christ Jesus. God gradually led me to meditate on Jesus’ grace and pray before writing a message and testimony until His grace came into my heart and then the hearts of our coworkers. Personally, God taught me that message writing is only partially dependent on writing skills. Rather, it’s mainly all about how deeply a messenger knows Jesus’ grace.

3) BIBLE CONFERENCE

In 2013, we had three conferences. We joined the Easter and Spring Bible conferences hosted by Pretoria UBF, and had our own leader’s conference in November.

(1) Easter Bible Conference (Mar. 15-17, 2013): The conference title was “Young Man, Get Up!” and the total number of attendees was 19 (4 missionaries, 14 locals, and 1 guest from Korea). Students were in the midst of their tests and the submission of many assignments, but those who had spiritual desire came and were touched by the words of God that revealed Jesus by heart-moving messages. Through the messages, we could learn that Jesus wants all young men of this generation to get up from their coffins of sin. We could also hear Jesus’ calling for Zacchaeus the sinner to be His disciple. We memorized 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. It wasn’t easy, but it gave us hope and joy as the result of the assurance of the victory in the Risen Jesus. In the second night of the conference, Sh. Desmond delivered a message entitled, “From now on you will catch men” based on Luke 5:1-11. He revealed that the definition of a man’s life is not defined by his degree or career, but rather by the life that God planned for him from the beginning which is revealed in Jesus’ words, “From now on, you will catch men.”

(2) Spring Bible Conference (13-15 Sep 2013): The title of the conference was “Mighty Warrior” and the total number of attendees was 23 (4 missionaries, 19 locals). All messengers were busy at school and work, but they put forth a great effort to write their messages. Through their messages based on Judges 6, we could learn that God called us to be mighty warriors like Gideon for this generation although we are spiritually young. We learned that we are God’s mighty warriors because God called and appointed us regardless of human conditions and surrounding circumstances. Sh. Desmond served the evening message with the title “Jesus Appoints the Twelve” based on Mark 3:13-19. He revealed that the appointing of the 12 apostles is linked to Jesus’ vision of saving the whole world, and that Jesus is calling all of us to be His disciples and shepherds for the wandering souls in this generation.

(3) Leader’s Conference (22-24 Nov 2013): It was our first leader’s conference. The title was “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’” The total number of attendees was 15 including 7 growing local leaders. Msn. Stephan & Hanna Choi from UJ2 joined this conference with Sis. Thoba. Msn. Daniel & Miso Rhee also joined this conference to support it. All leaders prepared a short message based on the passages they chose. The main messages were delivered by Sh. Desmond with the title “A Royal Priesthood” (1Pe. 2:9), and Bro. Donald “Do not say ‘I am only a child’” (Jer. 1:1-9). We learned that the validity of God’s calling upon each one of us is not based on our will or ability, but on God who called us as His servant before we were born. Based on this, we could write a deep testimony and all of us shared their own during the conference.

4) FELLOWSHIP MINISTRY

This year we established three fellowships. Msn. Matthew, Sh. Desmond and I became fellowship leaders. After the Sunday service, each fellowship sat around together and shared testimonies. A fellowship became like a family-like gathering for students who have mostly grown up in broken families. Fellowship leaders had a meeting on every Friday to study the Bible and share a testimony. We prayed that each fellowship leader may grow as a father-like shepherd for their fellowship members with love and responsibility, and that each fellowship may grow as an independent church so that students are cared for and loved within the fellowship. We also prayed that in 2014 each fellowship will have its own gathering at least once a month.

5) SELF-SUPPORTING MINISTRY

Wits ministry could be maintained by tithes from missionaries and shepherds as well as weekly Sunday offerings. What they offered was more than the tenth of their income because of their faith in God and prayerful heart toward God’s ministry. As a foreigner, it’s always not easy to maintain the employment, but God helped missionaries to get a new job this year. Msn. Matthew’s family came to South Africa in 2012 with two kids in their 40’s. They both had to work under poor working conditions to survive as a self-supporting lay missionary. This year Msn. Matthew got a job at Samsung with the income to support his family alone, and as the result his co-worker could be a full-time missionary. His family became a big supporter of Wits ministry. Sh. Desmond, as a young bachelor, had a desire to buy cool stuff, but he grew in offering-faith each month. I could learn from him that offering to God is not based on having extra; but rather, we offer to God first and then experience the truth that God provides everything. I also got a new job and could strengthen my career in the logistic field.

6) PERSONAL THANKGIVINGS

I personally thank God for granting me a permanent residence. It has been almost 10 years since getting a little sticker on my passport. We’ve been praying about this for so long because it’s impossible to get a loan from a bank to purchase a Bible house. To get a 100% loan from a bank and to find a perfect house within our budget is a new prayer topic for us in 2014.

I also thank God for those who supported Wits ministry. Msn. Matthew and Joann came to South Africa as missionaries in their 40’s. Nothing was easy, and surviving was a real challenge. But they took care of one fellowship, and they gave me spiritual advice and prayer support. Although I’m younger than they are, they respected me. I mismanaged and misdirected many things, but they always embraced my mistakes, and encouraged me.

I also thank God for Sh. Desmond for his support. He was busy at work, travelling overseas, but he also took care of the brothers in his fellowship and prepared the church environment. I’ve been praying for his marriage for so long, but he has been quietly waiting for God’s time with faith and trust in Him. God will grant him a suitable helper this year.

I personally thank God for Msn. Rebekah. She took care of many things for the ministry and family so that I could focus on Bible study and message preparation. She took care of our two children and sometimes barely slept at night; she also did this and that while busily working on her PhD. In order to do all these things, she needed to be superwoman, but she never complained. God will help her finish her PhD early this year and get a job at school.

II. 2014 YEAR KEY VERSE AND PRAYER TOPICS

My 2014 year key verse is Hebrews 12:2: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” I wanted to be a good messenger. I studied how to write. I read hundreds of sermons on website. I studied English everyday to be an excellent English Bible teacher. But I didn’t know much about Jesus and His grace. I did write a message each week, but I didn’t know how to write a heart-moving message. My heart wasn’t moved while delivering the message about Jesus’ grace and love. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.” It was God’s one-sided grace that I prepared the Sunday message based on this passage, and I could learn a little bit what it meant to fix my eyes on Jesus. I realize that Jesus should be the key of my message. He should be the key of Wits ministry. He should also be the key of my personal life. I hope and pray that Jesus may be the center of my personal life in 2014.

PRAYER TOPICS FOR 2014

(1) Please pray for Msn. Jacob to prepare a heart-moving Sunday message each week
(2) Please pray for each fellowship to grow as a family-like gathering for campus students
(3) Please pray for purchasing a Bible house this year
(4) Please pray for Sh. Desmond to establish a house church this year
(5) Please pray for co-working with Msn. Matthew’s family
(6) Please pray for Msn. Rebekah to finish her PhD this year

Jacob Kim