Jongro I and Hwarang UBF Summer Bible Conf. Report, Korea
Joshua 4:7, “…tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
Jongro Chapter 1 had a Summer Bible Conference (July 16-19) with the Hwarang chapter at the Namhan riverside in Yeoju, KyungGi. For this conference we had early morning prayer meetings for 50 days. We had early morning prayer for 50 days for the UBF 50th anniversary and the new Korea UBF director, and God answered all our prayer topics including the ones for the missionary seminar and for serving missionaries. As God blessed the 50th anniversary of Korea UBF, we prayed to God for 50 days to bless our Summer Bible Conference also. We wanted this Summer Bible Conference to be the 50th anniversary Summer Bible Conference of Korea UBF. When we prepared for the next 50 years, we needed confidence and hope that God would be with us continuously. We thought, “If we don’t have it, our hope will be in vain.” We wanted to confirm that through our disciple raising ministry in 2011. We wanted to build up a monument for the next 50 years by raising 11 new freshmen sheep as disciples this year.
God sent 123 attendees from Jongro Chapter 1 including 39 sheep and 20 from the Hwarang chapter, including 4 sheep. God helped us to have 38 registrations and 39 attendees who were new sheep. Among them, there were 19 freshmen sheep. Usually, we had more seniors than freshmen. But this time about 20 freshmen came and served the drama, band, and testimonies. This was an amazing work of God. Through this we experienced that we could cross over the Jordan River of unbelief and defeatism when God is with us. We could see that the new generation, which is like a camel, could come into the kingdom of God, which is like the eye of a needle, when God is with us. After the conference, we made a team of 11 camels and are praying for our freshmen disciple making ministry in 2011. We pray that they may be our proof of faith and hope in 2011, like the monument stone of the UBF 50th anniversary.
I want to mention two impressive things about our conference. One is a North Korean woman who escaped from North Korea, graduated college, and now works as a nurse. She shared a heart-moving testimony. She testified how the living God was with her in her escape and college life. She said that God wanted her to pray for South Korean souls with more compassion than North Korean souls. It made us deeply repent. The other one is that the message of cross worked powerfully in our hearts. New sheep found themselves as sinners before the cross and accepted the love of God. Through this we deeply realized that the message of cross is the most powerful and heart-moving word to everyone to every generation. We can have power, hope, and vision when we hold on to the message of the cross and go forward.
I praise and give thanks to God who richly blessed our 50th anniversary UBF Summer Bible Conference in 2011.
Caleb Kim