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Easter Conference Summary – Milwaukee, Loyola, Oakton, Harper and CBF teachers

From the weekend of March 30th to April 1st, Milwaukee, Loyola, Oakton and Harper UBF, together with members of the Chicago CBF team held a joint Easter Bible Conference at Milwaukee UBF’s new church building.

The theme of the conference was “New Creation” based on 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Shepherd Jim Rarick, Missionary Elijah Park, Missionary Paul Dang, and Shepherd Jeff Cummings worked together to coordinate the conference. We were also honored to have Dr. John Jun attend. The total number of participants were 149, with 84 adults, 40 students, and 15 children.  (31 adults, 11 teens and 8 children from Milwaukee) (17 adults, 14 students and 1 child from Loyola) (27 adults, 15 students, 6 children from Oakton/Harper) (9 adults from CBF teachers)

The conference began on the evening of Friday, March 30th. Grace Yoshiba preached the opening message from 2 Corinthians 5:17 entitled “A New Creation.” She proclaimed both bad news and good news. The bad news is that, apart from Christ, we are all filthy rotten sinners; the good news is that, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Then, Paul Dang Jr. delivered the Main Message I, based on John 17, entitled “Father… Glorify Your Son That your Son May Glorify You.” We learned that God has called Christians to represent him in the world by being one. We can be one when we imitate Jesus by being faithful to God’s character and obedient to God’s word. After the messages, we had beautiful testimonies by Emmie Sheng, Brianna Solomon, and John Dang.

We started our Saturday bright and early with a morning devotional message from Christine Mun. Her message, “A New Spirit” from Ezekiel 11:18-21 taught us that God will fill us with his Spirit, take away our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh when we repent of our sins and idol worship. After our time of morning devotion, we broke up into Bible study groups for deep meditation on John 19. Then we gathered again and were greeted with a wonderful video from Oakton students clearly portraying Jesus’ grace to forgive our sins, followed by Charles Womack singing “Were You There.”  These opened our hearts to hear a powerful message on that same passage by Shepherd Tim McEathron with the title – “It is Finished.” He declared that the greatest problem for all mankind is our own sin, but that Jesus solved our mountainous problem of sin through his death on the cross. Thus, Jesus could say, “It is finished.” Therefore, when we believe in Jesus, we are forgiven of all our sins, and we can live in the freedom and power of the Holy Spirit.

Saturday afternoon, after lunch, we had a chance to rest and relax. Missionary Caleb Kim, a taekwondo master, led us in a time of stretching and warm-up. Dr. Charles Baik over saw the afternoon activities which included a UWM tour, ping pong fellowship, treasure hunting, basketball fellowship, and for many sleeping fellowship. We also took time to write testimonies meditating on the finished work of Christ on the cross and share them with our Bible study groups.

Then, on Saturday evening, after dinner, we had an intensive New Hope Seminar with a two part message on 1 Corinthians 15, eight Bible testimonies, a skit and a dance. The first part of Main Message II was given by Katrina dela Victoria; it was based on 1 Cor 15:15-34 and entitled, “Alive in Christ.” She demonstrated that Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. And she explained that since Christ is the first fruits from the dead, we also have a sure hope of  the resurrection. The second part of Main Message II was given by Pauline Ahn; it was based on 1 Corinthians 15:25-57 and entitled, “We Will Be Changed.” Pauline deeply accepted the resurrection principle – that in order to experience the resurrection, we must die. She testified that because of the resurrection principle, Christ can give us victory even in the midst of our sufferings. After this hope-filled two part message, we had Bible testimonies by eight growing Bible students – Zachary Sours, Nicole Nowak, Kate Hilbrant, Amanda Corcilius, Janna Proctor, Florence Lee, Albee Andrada, and Mary Miranda and. Then we had a hilarious skit by the Loyala team which told the story of Ignatius Loyola. God made him a new creation, changing him from a swashbuckling romantic to a heaven-bound soldier and gospel worker. We also enjoyed a graceful dance by a team of sisters from Oakton fellowship. Finally, we ended the night with a session of joyful praise and worship.

On Sunday morning, Bradley James Tetzlaff woke us up with his devotional message on Acts 9:1-19a, “Paul’s Conversion”. We relived the experience of Saul, who was transformed from a prideful man who breathed out murderous threats against Christians to Paul, a humble servant of the gospel who was willing to suffer much for Jesus’ name. We learned that when we encounter the Risen Christ, we too can be made into a new creation, transformed into useful gospel workers. After a short break, we had our final service. Shepherd Mark Mederich delivered Message III, based on John 20, entitled, “Our New Father”.

Shepherd Mark told us that because of Jesus’ resurrection, we do not need to remain in the paralysis of fear and anxiety. Instead, we can experience the deep peace and joy in the loving care of our Heavenly Father. Then, Missionary Paul Dang delivered the  closing message on 1Cor 15:58 – “Give Yourselves Fully to the Work of the Lord.” He exhorted us to be absolutely steadfast in our hope of the resurrection, and to give ourselves fully to the work of bringing people to God, because our labor in the Lord is not in vain. Following the closing message we saw a wonderful 13-minute video created by Missionary Joshua Min that perfectly summarized our theme “A New Creation.”

Throughout the conference, we were blessed by the beautiful music ministry of the combined praise team from the Chicago chapters as well as Milwaukee’s praise team and music servants. We also enjoyed a combined Loyola-Oakton vocal ensemble, the father-daughter duo - Shepherd Jim Rarick and Hannah Rarick, and the Chicago chorus directed by Shepherd Tim McEathron.

Everyone was grateful to the Milwaukee women coworkers who prepared delicious meals. And all of the Milwaukee coworkers and Chicago coworkers worked together to prepare and maintain the church building as an excellent environment for worship.

We were also very thankful to God for allowing this joint conference from the many ministries.  We learned a great deal from one another and encouraged one another greatly.  We became one in Jesus.  The humble coworking of all the ministry members revealed God’s grace practically.  We cannot thank God enough for this wonderful grace. Jesus prayed in the upper room that we may be one as he is one with the Father.  We only praise God who made us one by his grace.