News > North America

N. America

February 12. 2013

The annual North America UBF Members’ Meeting was held on Saturday, February 9, 2013, at the Chicago UBF center. It was the first time the meeting was held on a Saturday as it has traditionally been held on a Friday evening. Due to the severe snowstorm that impacted significant portions of the East Coast, some members were not able to attend. In total over forty-four members and staff from across the United States and Canada joined to listen to the reports on the past year 2012 and to pray for the Lord’s work in UBF in 2013.

Sh. Jim Rarick opened the meeting by reminding members of the purpose of the meeting and the responsibility of members to be prayer servants and stewards of the UBF ministry. Then Dr. James Kim delivered a message based on John 17:11b and John 17:23. He stressed the importance of spiritual unity as UBF grows into a larger organization. We must grow in the image of Jesus, especially in humility.

The opening address and message were followed by reports from Pastor Abraham Kim (General Director’s report) and Pastor Mark Vucekovich (USA/Canada Coordinator’s report) and then reports from various departments and committees. We thanked God for the prayers, service and labor of those who participated in each department and committee. The Lord continues to move forward in providing continuing education and support for UBF house churches in North America, support for world mission including short-term missions and medical missions, co-working between UBF and other missionary organizations and CBF ministry. The Board of Elders has also formed an ethics and accountability committee and a committee on financial planning for UBF staff and retiring missionaries. Though relatively new, these committees made significant progress in 2012. Both victories and concerns were raised and all were encouraged to pray.

New members Grace Sun Lee (Urbana/Champaign), Jonas Chen (Cincinnati), Russell Kille (Toledo), Arthur Miranda (West Loop), Jeff Cummings (Milwaukee) and Bill Pottenger (Lehigh) were welcomed as new members and each of them shared their prayer topics. They have all faithfully served our Lord Jesus in their UBF home chapters and in some cases, multiple chapters. David Gates was also welcomed in absentia as he was not able to come due to the weather.

This year’s meeting featured a new question/answer component in which members could raise questions and we could have an open discussion. It was popular but due to time constraints we were unable discuss every question that was raised.

The meeting ended with Dr. Abraham Kim sharing prayer topics. He thanked God for the service of those who could not share.  We prayed for the North American staff conference February 21-23, to support UBF ministry worldwide and for the International Summer Bible Conference. He encouraged us to prepare for the conference by praying humbly and by vigorously participating in 1:1 ministry. We also prayed earnestly for religious freedom in areas where Christians are persecuted and the gospel cannot be freely proclaimed.