Sept. / Oct., 2007

Text Box: WEDDING BELLS Weddings are always fun events, especially when you know the couple.   On October 3, Korean National Foundation Day, I had the honor of marrying one of our young couples at church.   The wedding, as it turned out, was a mixture of Western and Korean style.   I did the wedding sermon and traditional Western vows in English.  They even requested that I ask the timeless question, “If anyone here thinks that this union should not take place, speak now or forever hold your peace.”  Luckily for all of us, no one spoke up.   The Korean style was seen in that the whole affair had an emcee, a woman who stood off to one side and announced every part of the ceremony to the audience.  Some singers (presumably friends of the couple) sang some beautiful love songs, including one Korean rap song.  As every wedding has to have its memorable event, this one did too.   The bride’s flowers were late in arriving from the florist, so the emcee, stalling for time, asked for volunteers to come to the front and talk about the couple.   Fortunately, within about 15 minutes, the flowers arrived and the rest of the ceremony continued as planned.   Please pray for Park Dong Hee and Lee Bo Rah as they begin their married life together.  CONTINUED GROWTH AT HANMEE During the summer, my co-minister at our congregation, Paul, decided that he could best help another new congregation in town.   We all wished him well, but wondered how things would fare with us, now down to only one preaching minister, myself.    I was also curious if we might lose some of our members who might depart with Paul.   When I returned after my summer in the States, I was relieved that none of our members had left us.  We even picked up a few new faces.   Now, nearly every week, seating in our worship room is near capacity.   Seeking some solution to this “good” problem, I presented the congregation with a few options, one of which was to move our assembly into a much bigger area in the building.   Our group decided that they really like our present worship space.  So to help alleviate the crowding, we are removing a few of the tables in the room, and replacing them with more chairs.  This will help things out for awhile.  (picture at right shows a recent Bible class at HanMee)  Another of our “problems” has been the overuse of brother Yang and his wife in the preparation of meals after the Sunday service.   I knew they were being greatly overworked, though they never complained about it.   At the same meeting where we discussed the seating issue, we decided to produce a sign-up sheet where people could volunteer to help with the meals.   Since we have a refrigerator on the premises full of Korean staples – this means, kimchee, rice and soup – the volunteers are only needed only to help prepare the side dishes.   I passed around the sign-up sheet a few Sundays, and was pleased to see that in just a few minutes, every empty slot was filled in.  We are not unique when it comes to church budgets.   Last year we tried adopting a more Korean style wooden collection box, placed outside our assembly door.  People could, at their leisure, put their contribution in the box either before or after services.   However, because it was outside our assembly room, and no longer a part of our worship time, many people were forgetting their commitments to give.   I am still learning what Korean culture, and what is just Western culture.   I discovered that many Korean churches do, in fact, give as part of their worship time.   They even pass around a cloth collection receptacle and someone then prays for the giving.  After some discussion at our recent meeting, we decided to go back to the “passing the bucket” style.   The cloth covering the small receptacle has only a small opening at the top, so others cannot notice how much their neighbor might be giving.   This is now our third week using this style, and seems to be going smoothly.   And for our nice wooden collection box?   We have asked members to suggest worthy projects which need special collections.  Thus, our wooden box will still be used as a collection place for our extra special needs.  “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.”   Nearly all of us have experienced this proverb in our own lives.   A few weeks ago, one of our English members, Bobby Wheeler, announced that he will return to the States this winter and continue his graduate education.  We will miss him a lot. Bobby has been useful to us in a number of ways, especially as a song leader.   But before I could worry too long about how this loss might affect our congregation, last week a visitor came our way .  His name is Joseph Choi.   He has just returned to Korea after several years in the States, studying first at Ohio Valley University and then Harding University Graduate School of Religion.   He stayed for our fellowship meal after the service, and then for our song training class in the afternoon.   Joseph told me that he would come back, probably every Sunday.    Joseph will be a great blessing to us.  Not only can he provide relief as another interpreter (presently, the interpretation duties fall solely on brother Yang’s shoulders), but Joseph also loves to sing, and will be a great asset in our singing class and as a new song leader.   So it is also true – “The Lord takes away and the Lord gives.”   Praise His name!   FIVE COURSES AT KCU This fall will be my busiest teaching semester since I have come to KCU.   I have been assigned 4 undergraduate courses (“General Letters,” “Acts of the Apostles,” “New Testament Church,” “Bible Geography”) and 1 graduate course (“Early Church: History and Thought”).   Luckily, I have taught four out of the five courses before.  The new class for me is called “Bible Geography.”   Since I love to travel, study new cultures, peoples and history, the class so far has been fun to prepare.   I hope the students can catch some of my enthusiasm.     POSSIBLE FINANCIAL GIFT FROM KOREAN GOVERNMENT FOR MOTHER It seems Korean schools have a very good health care and insurance system.  Not only is hospital visitation and medication a fraction of the cost it is in the United States, there is also a system in place to financially compensate for the loss of one’s immediate family members, including one’s parents.  I was surprised when Miss Kang in the main office stopped me one afternoon and told me about this.  She said that if I can provide a birth certificate (of myself) and a death certificate (of my mother), there would be a substantial award from the government.   I had no idea this plan even existed.   At present we are still in the process of obtaining these documents and their translations.   My plan, if and when an award does come, is to donate the money to some worthy project in honor of my mother who passed away this June.    I will keep you informed.  MISCELLANEOUS Last week I finished a paper on “Walter Scott: His Life and Spirit” for KCU’s annual journal.   Scott was very influential in the early Restoration Movement.   It was said that because of his great preaching, he baptized over a thousand people every year for nearly 30 years. This month I hosted  Timothy Lee, who visited our campus from Brite Divinity School in Ft. Worth, Texas.  Mr.  Lee is a professor of church history, and came to Korea to research the history of the Restoration Movement in Asia.   Thanks for all who voted for my son’s band, “Homer Hiccolm and the Rocket Boys.”  Because of your votes and their talent (of course), they were chosen the #1 band out of 600 bands who competed to play at this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival.   Who knows what they will achieve next?     As always, my work continues to go well here because of your loving support, thoughts and prayers.  It is always great to hear from you.  God bless you as you serve Him where you are. "I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, "  Philippians 1:3-5     Home