October 2003

 

 

 

 

Text Box: TRIP TO BUSAN As I sit in my office during this first week of November, I think back to how quickly October has flown.  I blinked twice and it was gone. It was definitely a full month. It began with my trip to Busan , Korea ’s second largest city, along the southern coast. The expected trip of 5 hours by car, took nearly 9 hours because of heavy traffic. (I have found out that one reason so many Koreans wish to immigrate to other countries is because of the stress of driving in continual traffic). I was accompanied by two other teachers from Korea Christian University . The first weekend in October was designated as “KCU Sunday” in churches of Christ here. Several faculty and staff visited various churches on this day to not only encourage those local churches, but to ask for their continual support through prayers, and if possible, financial help. I visited the SeoMyeon Church of Christ in Busan, where brother Jong Bae Lee is the minister. The church has about 60 to 70 members. After my Sunday morning lesson, I was treated to a wonderful Korean lunch around the table with the elders of the congregation. We talked about the problems in the Korean churches. The elders were very interested in finding ways to help the church to grow in Korea , and especially in Busan. They told me that the first century church grew rapidly; and then the question, “Why aren’t we growing as fast?” Of course, the answer might involve several hours of theories. I tried to boil my answer down to these things: The first century church was led by the apostles. God granted them the ability to perform miracles to confirm their message. Every member in the early church seemed to accept the responsibility of sharing their faith with the lost. I said that we cannot bring back the apostles, nor should we try to recreate their miracles. Yet, I told them that we can, as leaders in the church in Korea , do more to let our members know that the message will not spread rapidly because we have paid evangelists. It will spread when every member finds a way to share his or her faith. Our discussion of this could have continued much longer, but it was time to accompany my fellow travelers back to Seoul . Please pray for these elders in Busan, and for all the church leaders in Korea whose hearts are in the right place, and just need strength and encouragement, as do all of us, to do the right thing. A NEW POSITION Two weeks ago, KCU gave me a new position. Actually they just added on to my present workload. In addition to my teaching Bible classes, I am now the Director of the International Exchange Program. Korea Christian University recognizes that the future of the Church of Christ in Korea depends greatly on its leaders, present and future. Lack of good leadership has been a continual problem for Korean churches since their beginning here in the late 1950s. My role as the new Director of this program will be to seek ways to exchange talent between the West and the East. I will be seeking other qualified teachers to come and help in the K.C.U program.   It does not matter whether they can stay a week, a month, a semester, or a year or longer. I will also be looking for good students to come and work alongside the students at K.C.U. They can provide classroom instruction or private tutoring in all kinds of fields. In addition, I will be asking our sister schools in the states to co-operate with us through their prayers, sending staff, and opening their doors to qualified KCU students who could study in American schools for a year and then return to Korea . As you can see, there is more than enough to do. I applaud the present K.C.U. administration in its vision of what can be done when Christians work together in love.   God Can Still Find Me in Korea I found out that God really does watch over me. I was asked to attend a public concert of Korean popular music, produced by my good friend from CBS. It was held at an exhibition center downtown. The center was off the main road, but I felt I could find it easily enough by exiting from the nearest subway station and then walking about 5 minutes. However, as I began to walk in search of the center, I realized that I had walked 30 minutes and had still not seen any sign of such a center. I stopped to ask one policeman where it was. He pointed me back to the way I had come, and told me to turn right after a few blocks. I attempted to follow his instructions. Then when I turned right, I found myself inside a huge apartment complex. I felt that the Center was surely on the other side of the complex, so I tried to just cut through it. However, the other side was blocked by a fence and a steep hill. By this point, I was becoming a little frustrated I usually do pretty well at directions.   As I continued to walk through the apartment complex, looking for the nearest way out of it, a voice behind me in perfect English, said, “May I help you?” It was a young man around college age. I told him that I was looking for the Yu Sung Plaza. He told me that it was this direction. He then said that I should follow him and he would lead me to it. He spoke all the while in very fluent English. I felt relieved. Then he asked where I worked. I told him, “I teach Bible at Korea Christian University .” “Do you know Professor Lim,” he asked. “Do you mean Lim Sung Taek?” I responded. “Yes, I know him well. I met him in Lubbock , Texas , when I was a student at Sunset Bible Institute.”   At that point my mouth dropped to my ankles (at least it felt that way). I told him that I was working now for Sunset here in Korea .  I shook his hand again, even stronger, telling him how happy I was to meet him here in this place, of all places. And when I thought more about this encounter later that day, I thought to myself, “What are the odds of meeting this individual in a huge city of 14 million people, just at the right time and the right place, to provide me the exact help I needed?” Some might call it a crazy coincidence. I prefer to think that the Lord, in His providential care, still provides for His people. Thank God for such a blessing!   “An nyong hee gah say yo” (goodbye) to"BIBLE ENGLISH" November 9 will be the last radio broadcast of Bible English. Last month, I wrote of the program’s 5 years of history. Little did I know that everything would end so quickly. It seems that because of budget concerns, CBS is ending this program. There have been numerous complains from its listeners. Some have even sought to call the management. The only response from those on the other end of the line is, “Sorry. We can do nothing about this.” I had a nice supper last evening with Philip Kim, the emcee of the program (picture above). He told me of so many lives that have been changed through this daily broadcast. Phil, like so many people, is puzzled by the actions of CBS. He feels that they had no idea of the size of the listening audience. Perhaps they will find out when the wave of complaints come across their desks. I sent a small notice to the program’s website message board. Here are a couple of responses I received in return.   Thank you for your all work last five years. I've been wonderful time with "Power for today" QT. Especially your dialogues was so nice. I've been always enjoying your script and your life sharing. We don't know exactly what Bible English is going, but we know God has blessed Bible English. I praise God who let me know B.E. and P.T., and you!!! Take care and God bless you!! with love in Christ, one of listeners HyunJu. Here’s another one: Don and Vicki. Thank you a lot for your devoted love to Koreans. We are deeply grateful to you and wish you God's endless bliss. Sure enough, there are many Christians around us who replace Christian values with worldly wisdom. That's how I feel about CBS recently. I believe that to live ignorant of God's wisdom is rather a shame as Christians. I pray God we consistently grow in God's wisdom... Thanks again, Don and Vicki and Brandon.. We all love you so much... From Jin K. Lee Please keep Phillip in your prayers as he looks for other meaningful employment. TV transcripts Even though Bible English will not continue, I have been asked to provide translation help for some upcoming half hour CBS (Christian Broadcasting Station) TV programs. These programs deal with the history of the church, and the character of Jesus. I will produce written transcripts of the audio of each of these shows, and then turn them over to a Korean team who will produce Korean subtitles for these shows, making them more accessible to the local Korean audience. These shows are pre-made in America . I have completed 8 programs so far, and found them to be very helpful as well as interesting. Bible Correspondence Center on the Move The B.C.C. office will be moving soon. As it waits for more funds to be given to construct its own building (architectural drawing on right), BCC will soon move to a new office space not too far from its present location. The new space consists of the fourth floor and basement of an office building, and will provide the needed extra space for offices as well as a temporary classroom. The basement can easily be converted into worship space for a new congregation. The contract for this property has been signed, and the move may come later this month, or sometime in December. At this point, it looks like the beginning of a new congregation (see September report) will have to wait until the first of next year. Keep praying for this.   TEACHING CONTINUES In the meantime, I enjoy teaching Bible at K.C.U. I gave the mid-term tests last month, and now the final is less than a month away. Since I am teaching in English to students whose primary language is not English, I have had to go extremely slow to allow for understanding. So, I am sure we can still finish the book of Acts, and all of Paul’s letters, but the next couple of sessions will see us flying to get through everything. As you enter this holiday period, my thoughts and prayers are with you. Drop me a line sometime.   Home
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