English Ministry (EM) Pastors’ Conference

Here at the 8th annual English Ministry Pastors’ Conference in Anahiem, running from tonight (Monday) until Wednesday noon. I’m here to learn what is happening with English ministries in Korean American churches. There are over 100 EM pastors from all around the country. It’s the first time they’ve held the conference on the West Coast; in the past 7 years, the annual conference has been on the East Coast. I think this is the only annual conference like this, one that specifically serves (2nd generation) English-speaking Korean-Asian American pastors. For the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) denomination’s Korean ministries to continuing to hold this space for EM pastors is commendable. I’m told that a majority of the attendees are serving in English ministries within an intergenerational Korean churches, but there are at least a dozen independent English-speaking churches too. The hospitality has been absolutely lavish, and the fellowship is sweet.

business skills can bless people

Met up this morning with Tommy Dyo, who is currently the National Director of Epic Movement, the Asian American ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. He was in town for the Epic Conference East Coast. There’ll be an Epic Conference West Coast in San Jose, California, February 15-17, 2007. Both conferences will equip many who reach Asian Americans on the college campus.

In this side conversation, he shares about Heavenly Treasures — a non-profit ministry developed by Kathy Gaulton, a pastor’s wife, who has used her business experiences to help sell handmade products made by people in developing countries, providing income to change lives. Listen to the conversation and visit the website at heavenlytreasures.org .

Japanese and Koreans seek reconciliation

Originally published in the Urbana Today Daily Paper, December 31 edition (PDF)

Japanese and Koreans seek reconciliation
By Ingrina Shieh

Japanese and Korean attendees on the International Student track gathered together this week in tears after apologizing to each other for the past sins of their nations.

What was supposed to be about 25 minutes of combined worship on Friday turned into more than an hour of confession and prayer as each group sought forgiveness from the other, said Sewon Kim, a leader of the Korean group.

“Our schedule was messed up because of the Holy Spirit,” joked Peter Hwang, a Korean student who helped lead the Korean worship set.

Sung Woo Kim explained that this worship service was not at all planned at the beginning of Urbana.

“Our group (Korean students) heard a band playing in one room,” he said. “But we found out that it was the Japanese worship band.”

Discovering that they did not have any instruments for musical worship, the Korean group approached the Japanese students and pitched the idea to play together in a joint worship set.

“When I heard that we were combining, I knew something was going to happen,” said Makito Kawata, a graduate student at Biola University and the coordinator of the Japanese worship band.

Setsu Kuroda, international director of the Japanese Christian Fellowship Network, said that there was a similar occurrence during Urbana 93, but that was when international students participated in a separate conference. She shared the same anticipation as Kawata and the next morning, asked the InterVarsity staff to pray over the service.

“I prayed to God to do something (before Urbana),” she said. “Nothing could really happen by just meeting in the same room. God had to make it happen.”

Hwang opened up the worship set with a prayer he had written and shown Kuroda. That prayer was spoken first in Korean, then in Japanese and then finally, corporately in English, said Kuroda.

“That was definitely one of the highlights of the night,” Kuroda said.

After the Japanese songs, everyone was unprepared for Sasagu Kayama, a student at University of Oregon-Eugene and part of the Japanese worship band, to suddenly apologize to the Koreans for the years when Japan had occupied Korea.

According to Sewon, the apology was completely unexpected, and when Kayama asked for forgiveness, several started crying.

“If the Japanese didn’t speak out, then the Koreans wouldn’t have spoken out,” said Sung Woo.

As for Kayama, when the two groups came together, he felt very aware of the hostility that still existed between the Japanese and Korean cultures, and knew that God was speaking to him.

“There is always a wall between us,” said Kayama. “We could never be close to each other.”

“We’re still affected by the past,” said Sewon. “It’s been structured into our culture to feel this tension with the Japanese.”

Sung Woo expressed his surprise at the remorse the present generation felt for things that occurred more than 50 years ago.

“We were very touched because we could see that they spoke from the heart,” he said.

The Koreans, in turn, stood up and apologized for the hatred they felt towards Japan and its people throughout the generations.

“This reminded me of Christ reconciling the Jews and the Gentiles,” said Sung Woo. “I can now pray for the Japanese people out of love instead of duty.”

Kawata commented that he felt an indescribable joy at seeing how God exceeded all of their expectations.

“This is my first time at Urbana and I never experienced worship in such a large setting,” he said. “But even though this service was much smaller in numbers, it felt exactly the same.”

During the latter part of the meeting, everyone broke into small groups to pray for each other.

“Korean and Japanese guys were hugging and praying for each other while the girls were holding hands,” said Kuroda. “A lot of things were happening.”

“It was a really beautiful picture,” said George Takeda, a student at University of California-Irvine. “I thought (the tension) was never going to be cleared.”

“It was the greatest international God-moment I had ever experienced,” said Kawata. “It reminded me why we were all created.”

Ingrina Shieh is a student at Boston University.

* Reprinted with permission from InterVarsity and Urbana Today. For more information on Urbana 06 go to www.urbana.org.

Answering God’s call and honoring parents

Originally published in the Urbana Today Daily Paper, December 31 edition (PDF)

Answering God’s call and honoring parents
By Mary Chou

Even though Susan Hong’s parents are Christians, schoolwork always came before church.

“I feel that to our parents, spiritual life is important as long as we’re doing well in school,” said Hong, a UCLA graduate, reflecting on her experience as a Korean-American student. “If our grades got behind, it becomes ‘Oh, you’re spending too much time at church.’”

Lisa Yu, InterVarsity staff at Adelphi University, who led two Asian-American-specific seminars this week, said many Asian-American students struggle with their parents about career plans because of the clashes between Western culture and traditional Eastern views of success.

To most Asian parents, success means stability and many times it means to be financially stable, Yu said. She said Ephesians talks a lot about unity and the body of Christ. And in discussions this week, students used Ephesians as a way to build a connection they can share with their families.

“Those are good values that the Bible affirms,” Yu said.

“Many times, students feel that they are letting their parents down if they do not do things exactly according to their parents’ wishes,” Yu said.

“I feel like, our parents, they came to America to have a better life,” said Pauline Lee, a Korean-American student and a psychology major at UCLA. “For them, it’s to do careers that are esteemed.”

Lee, who plans to be a nurse, said when her father heard that she’s going into the medical field, he encouraged her to be a doctor: “He wants me to be the best and highest in whatever I do and to him, it means being a doctor.’’

But God’s calling, Yu notes, does not always line up with high paying jobs.

Her father still does not understand her choice to work with InterVarsity, but she said that she has learned to draw boundaries. “Following God doesn’t mean that paychecks and financial security aren’t important, because they are,” Yu said.

“It is about knowing limits,” Yu said, adding that it is important for students to talk to their parents to figure out realistic plans.

Deborah Chong, a Korean-American University of California-Santa Barbara student said her parents have lived in the United States for 20 years and have adopted a lot of American values.

“They gave me the choice to find my own passion, as long as I follow God,” Chong said. “My relationship with my parents is so much greater because they understand.”

Mary Chou is a student at California State-Sacramento

* Reprinted with permission from InterVarsity and Urbana Today. For more information on Urbana 06 go to www.urbana.org.

reaching Vancouver

Got to catch up with Jeff Wong of Point Grey Community Church out in Vancouver, British Columbia; that’s north of the border in Canada. Jeff’s a gifted musician, worship leader, and pastor I met at L2 Foundation’s inaugural event back in 2001. I recorded a part of our phone conversation– listen in as Jeff shares about a spiritual revival in Vancouver, where Christian leaders from churches and organizations are coming together, finding new unity in Christ, and worshiping together in a powerful way at a youth rally called One Life, described as “Multi-Ethnic, Multi-Highschool, Multi-Region, Multi-Denominational… Multi-Everything”, reaching over 1,400!

What do you think? We’d love to hear what’s happening in your city, too!