News > Asia

Asia UBF
January 21, 2014

"Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-- with great patience and careful instruction." (2Ti 4:2 NIV)

Asia is the most populous continent in the world. We believe that 21st century is the century of Asia because it is a spiritual battle ground where Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and communism will collide for their dominion. During January 16-18, 2014, 45 precious servants of God who engaged in the spiritual battle in their various mission fields in Asia met together to study the word of God, share their mission reports and have fellowship with each other. The Asia directors' conference was held at the campus of National Sun-Yat Sen University which is located at the city of Kaohsiung, the Galilee of Taiwan. The weather was warm like the summer and we could see the beautiful harbor where many ships were coming from and going out to the Pacific Ocean. The mainland China was 100 miles away from this beautiful harbor. The conference was hosted by American missionaries Drs. Steve and Allison Haga who were sent out from Washington UBF 7 years ago. We were so happy to see the fruitful ministry of American missionaries who devoted themselves to the study of the Scriptures and prayers without ceasing. The main theme of the conference was "Preach the word," based on 2 Timothy 4:2.

Opening message was delivered by M. Daniel Jeong from Japan who is serving Asian as continental coordinator. The title of the message was "Fix your eyes on Jesus," based on Hebrews 12:1-3. He encouraged us to run the race of faith in 2014 by fixing our eyes on Jesus, because Jesus completed his mission as the author and perfector of our faith. We are surrounded by many fathers of faith who kept their faith and finished their race. Now they are cheering us not to lose hearts but continue our journey of faith. After the opening message, the national coordinators shared their mission reports. God blessed M. Doyeol Lee and his family to pioneer Cambodia. He shared a tearful report about how God led him to serve the Cambodia mission. Cambodia was known as a killing field because of the massacre of two million people which was 1/3 of population, by Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. It is a land of God's pain. Indeed it is a land of darkness and hopelessness. But God sent the Lees to plant the hope of God to the people of Cambodia. Most children do not have shoes to wear and so they go around with barefoot. He began 1 to 1 Bible study for the students of Cambodia. Pray for his self-supporting job so that he may stay and serve Cambodia mission.
In the evening Shep. Om Giseong from Shinchon chapter in Korea gave us a special lecture about the book of Jonah. His lecture moved our hearts because God showed his mercy on the people of Nineveh, the Gentiles. Jonah did not want to preach the word to them and ran away. But God gave him the second chance to save the people of Nineveh. Jonah repented and preached the word reluctantly, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed." (Jonah 3:4) He delivered the shortest message of 8 words. But the whole city repented and accepted God's message. But Jonah was rather to die than to see the people of Nineveh be saved. He represents the nationalistic and selfish Jewish nation. Shep. Om reminded us that "We are like Jonah," because we are selfish and narrow-minded because we only concerned about our fellowship, our center, and our country. God wants us to show his mercy to all people. We understood God's broken heart out of which he even used Jonah, a reluctant missionary, to save people under darkness of sin and death.

On the second day January 17, Pastor Abraham Kim delivered the main message based on 2 Timothy 3:10-4:8. Apostle Paul gave his spiritual son Timothy the last charge in this passage. The last charge was "Preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season." He encouraged us to serve God's mission by depending on the word of God. He explained the authority of the Bible and the usefulness of the Bible to equip us to do every good works entrusted to us. The success of God's work depends on our deep Bible studies and devotion to Bible teaching in season and out of season.

We all wrote sincere testimonies and shared in each groups. We had the second lecture on the book of Jonah and four native shepherds shared their testimonies. They were Mark Hui from Taipei, On Pauline from Bangkok, Hengky from Indonesia and Baartarzul from Mongolia. One change in this conference was that many native leaders attended and presided the meetings. The main language we used was English.

On the third day, Shep. Moses Kim from Hanyang chapter in Korea delivered the second main message entitled "Paul took the disciples," based on Acts 19:8-21. He emphasized the key member training Apostle Paul focused on. It is important to pay attention to several key members. He shared his personal experiences about how he helped two key members who became missionaries later.

Dr. Steve Haga delivered the closing message based on Exodus 17:8-16. He emphasized the importance of coworking together as a team by using Moses' example in the battle. When Moses held up his hands, Joshua was winning. When he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. So Aaron and Hur helped Moses to hold up his hands. In this way the Israelites won the battle. Of course, it is God's hand which brought the victory. Steve asked all of us to hold up our hands to practice the spirit of unity and coworking.

After the conference, there was the first wedding between Yoshnao Miyagi and Mandy. Yoshinao Miyagi is a young man from Okinawa Japan and Mandy is an ancestor of faith for Kaohsiung UBF. We all prayed for the newly-wed couple to be a blessing to China and Japan.
Shep. David and Sarah Kim gave us a full support for the conference. Pastor Abraham Kim gave us a direction to pioneer 11 countries in Asia including Laos, Myanmar, North Korea, Nepal, Iraq, Iran, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. Next year the Asia directors' conference will be held in Singapore during January 8-10, 2015.

On Sunday January 19, Kaohsiung UBF held the new Bible center dedication ceremony. God has done a remarkable thing for them to have the new Bible center near the campus. After the dedication ceremony, a young growing student Gregory was baptized after accepting Christ as his Savior. It was good news because God was raising a brother among many sisters. Please pray for Kaohsiung UBF to pioneer surrounding campuses and send out missionaries to other Asian countries.

One word: Preach the word