For His Name’s Sake

Key Verse: Romans 1:5 “Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake”.

I was born in a Christian family and raised with love and prayers of my parents. They prayed that I might grow to be a spiritual leader and a faithful servant of God. I was very faithful in attending Sunday worship service and engaged in various activities and church services. My father named me Dae Sung which means a great star. I dreamed to be a future leader. However, my life as a college student was very dark because I saw the dark and hopeless reality of life, especially  being uncertain of my future and the problem of my lustful desire. I wished that some one, some great Master would teach me the truth of life very clearly, but unfortunately I could not find such a great teacher around me. During this time, my father pushed me to be a church pastor and asked me to enter the Presbyterian seminary after graduating from college. However, I did not want to be a pastor.

Korea is a country divided into two parts, democratic South Korea and communist North Korea. I wanted to contribute to the reunification of two Koreas, and began to prepare for the diplomacy exam. Upon hearing of this, my father scolded me, saying, “Stop it, don’t do it!” Around this time, a friend from Korea University died suddenly in a fatal accident immediately after marriage. He had married a young college student and invited his friends including me to a dinner in their new house after returning from their honeymoon. His unexpected death left a great emptiness in my heart. I did not want to study and did not want to not take the exam, but also did not want to be a church pastor. So I prayed to God, “Lord, if you let me pass the diplomacy exam, I will live for your glory all my life!” I passed the exam and entered the Foreign Ministry, but I forgot my prayer of oath and was extremely proud. However, the reality of working in the Foreign Ministry was very different than I thought, so I became disillusioned and wanted to leave.

In 1988, I was elected to get a scholarship from the Ministry to study in Madrid for two years. I went to Spain with a worldly plan to leave the Ministry after getting a doctorate in political science at the National University of Madrid. Burt God had His own plan for me. During Christmas vacation in 1988, I was on my way back to Madrid after visiting the famous Arabic palace “Alhambra” in the Southern Andalucia region. Driving at 93 miles per hour on the mountainside highway, I saw a big truck coming towards me in a curve and I, surprised, turned the wheel right to avoid it. But my car veered off the road and took flight in the air off the road, and rolled down the hill several times. When I was in the air, my past sinful life flashed before my eyes like a colorful movie. I wanted to live a meaningful life; I did not want to die like a dog in a foreign country. While in the air, I cried out to God for help, “Lord, please save our lives. I will live for your glory!” God immediately answered my prayer and saved the lives of my wife Paula, two daughters, Sarah and Rebecca, even though my car was completely destroyed. After the accident, I suffered a lot with nightmares and sweating all night. I could not study because of severe pain in my body. I wanted to read the Bible to find some comfort and peace, but I could not understand the bible. With morning fasting, I prayed eagerly to God to send me an excellent Bible teacher. Three months later, M. Joseph Ahn came to Spain to work at the Korean Embassy. I believed that God answered my prayer. He was well known as a good Bible teacher and his nickname was “living Jesus” in the Foreign Ministry. So I visited him at the Embassy and asked him to teach me the Bible but he answered cautiously, saying, “My mission is to teach the Bible to the Spanish students. Let me pray.” Before coming to Spain, M. Joseph was working at the Korean Mission in United Nations in New York. But abruptly, he was assigned to Spain though he did not finish his three year term. So he came to Spain, grumbling and leaving behind his family in Chicago. At my third request, when he was invited to dinner in my house, after dinner he asked me, “Do you have a Bible? Let us start Bible Study today”. He began to teach the Bible to Paula and me with all his heart. The Bible Study revived my soul and helped me meet Jesus and accept Him as my savior. We studied for four hours, three to four times a week with writing testimony for each study.

When I came out of the apartment to say goodbye to M. Joseph at midnight, bright stars of the dark sky began to look so beautiful and I felt like flying in the sky. During the fourth month of Bible Study, M. Joseph Ahn resigned from the Foreign Ministry and left for the U.S. to be a permanent missionary. Before he left, I shared my last testimony and told him about my car accident. He then understood why he had to come to Spain so hurriedly and unexpectedly. He gave us Christian names, Paul and Paula at the airport. After he left, I wrote a year-end testimony of the year in 1989. I recognized the great mercy and love that God showed me after the car accident. I gave thanks to God who saved and forgave a terrible selfish sinner who lived only for his own glory. I repented sincerely and made a decision to live for the glory of God as a lay shepherd and a lay missionary for the rest of my life. Obeying M. Joseph Ahn’s direction, I began to serve Sunday worship service in my apartment, inviting Spanish students and delivered the message in Spanish. I preached the gospel every day to young Spaniards. One night, I was tired and was sleeping alone in the study room. I woke up because of a bright light. I knelt down, listening to a thunderous voice that said, “Your past sins are forgiven. Do not look at the past. Stay away from all evil things in the world. Serve me with the best you have. Make every effort for the expansion of the kingdom of God and teach the Bible to your children every day.” The Light disappeared and the study was dark again. I was filled with the Holy Spirit and commenced serving world mission work powerfully. When I was a college student, I did not want to be a church pastor, fleeing the call of God. But later God called me as a lay shepherd for youths on college campuses. In 1990, when we returned to Korea, S. mark and Anna Yang served us with Bible Study with all their hearts for two years and we were appointed as UBF missionaries. We were used in the pioneering ministry of Brazil, Venezuela, Chile and El Salvador for the last 20 years.

In 1992, I went to Brazil and worked as a consul. I visited the National University of Sao Paulo during my lunch hour two or three times a week and preached the gospel to young Brazilian students learning the Portuguese language everyday. The three Korean missionary families including M. Elijah and Maria Park went fishing at the university in the evening along with their children. I taught the Bible to two students, Gilvan and Coelu. In 1994, I was suddenly appointed to Venezuela. When I arrived there, there wasn’t any missionary. I started Sunday worship service in my apartment with three little daughters and my wife Paula. Paula and I went to Central University of Venezuela during lunchtime and preached the gospel to students. Later I invited M. Anna Choi to Venezuela as a typist for the Embassy. It was not easy for me to serve the pioneering ministry, especially Summer Bible Conference while working at the Embassy as a counselor. I taught the Bible to Jorge Vasquez, Leonardo Valera, Carlos Pinto, Yobel Yupanqui who had grown to be shepherds later. 10 months before leaving Venezuela to return to Korea in 1997, M. Juan Seo married M. Anna Choi and came to Venezuela. But they had great difficulties in adapting to their marriage by faith. Later they established a beautiful house church and served the Ministry with all their hearts. I thank God who has greatly blessed the ministry of Venezuela, raising many disciples of Jesus.

After working in Korea for two and a half years, I was appointed to the Korean Embassy in Washington D.C. in 2000. M. Joseph Ahn asked me to preach the gospel to the students of Georgetown University, which is 10 minutes away from the Embassy. I served three U.S. and Korean students with 1:1 Bible Study. I felt happy and grateful, taking them with my car to the Sunday Worship Service of Washington UBF, which is about one hour away from Georgetown, almost every Sunday for three years.

After three years in Washington DC, I wanted to return to Korea, but I was assigned to Chile. Soon after arriving in Chile, M. Joshua and Anna Chun moved to Chile from Mexico where they served for three years. M. Joshua and I delivered the message in Spanish every other week, studied the Bible together and had a Saturday Morning Prayer meeting for three years. I taught the Bible to two students, including Jose. I remember that it was a beautiful coworking relationship with them. In 2006, I was appointed as an adjunct professor of Korea University and I served Anam ministry for one year. In 2007, I was appointed as the Ambassador of Korea in El Salvador. At that time, one Mexican missionary family, M. Isidro and Edith were struggling to pioneer the National University of El Salvador. M. Isidro and I delivered the message every other week and I served group Bible Study with them. I served 1:1 Bible Study with one brother, Juan Carlos and we purchased the Bible Center near the campus. Before leaving El Salvador, three shepherds were raised, brother Juan Carlos, two sisters Aida and Seneyda. They are serving the pioneering ministry with all their hearts. Last year, when I returned to Korea, I taught Latin American politics to the students of Korea University again as a diplomatic adjunct professor.

Although I was born in a Christian family and grew up under the prayer of my parents, I lived a powerless life because I did not know who Jesus is and who God is. I was wandering, not knowing the purpose and direction of my life because I did not know Jesus. However, when I studied the Bible with M. Joseph Ahn, thanks to God’s call in Spain, the light of life of Jesus Christ shone into my dark and dirty heart. My soul became strong and I could serve God and His ministry without fear, even mightily. My three daughters used to ask me, “Dad, other fathers work in advanced countries like in Europe. Why do you always have to work in Latin America?” I am convinced that God accepted M. Joseph Ahn’s broken heart and prayer toward Latin America and called me in Spain to continue to serve the pioneering ministry in Latin American countries. Obeying the direction that God had given me in Spain, I tried to serve God with the best with my whole heart and teach the Bible to my children almost every day. It was difficult to raise students as disciples of Jesus, as I had to move to other countries every three years, but curiously, God used my family as pioneers in the manger ministry of Latin America. In obedience to the will of God, I gave all my effort to establish the foundations in the manger ministry of each country and I focused on encouraging and supporting the missionaries. I praise God who used me and my family in the pioneering ministry of Latin America, after calling me, a helpless and useless sinner.

When I visited Spain to defend my PhD dissertation in 2009, twenty years after finishing the coursework, I found out that Spain had not been pioneered yet. So I began to pray to God to send me there again to serve the pioneering ministry of Spain where M. Joseph Ahn planted the seed of the gospel in 1975. I asked prayer support to many servants of God including Dr. John Jun, M. Barry, Dr. Mark and Anna Yang, M. Grace A. Lee, M. Sun Ji Jun, Dr. Samuel H. Lee and all staff shepherds in Korea. God worked in a marvelous way to send me to Spain as an Ambassador. Many diplomat colleagues envied and congratulated me. Some Christian colleagues told me, “It is a victory of faith.” I praise and thank God who answered our prayers. I pray that God may change Spain into a missionary sending country, especially for Latin America. I pray that Paula and I may encourage and support M. Joshua and M. Esther Kang there. May God raise one Abraham and one Sarah from among young Spanish students.

One word: Lord, please reveal your glory in Spain!