¡¡

Text Box:  March 2 - June 10, 2003       ARRIVAL:                                                    Even though I have visited South Korea more than twenty times, this past spring was my longest stay there. It felt very different to not be going home again in a week or two.  Instead, I would be going home after 3 and a half months!   I left the United States at the end of February, ready to begin teaching at K.C.U. (Korea Christian University) in the joint program with S.I.B.I. (Sunset International Bible Institute).   My plane arrived at the new Incheon airport around 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning, after a 13-hour flight from Los Angeles.   Meeting me at the airport was the Academic Dean of KCU (and a long-time friend), Dr. Moon Byung Ha, and my good friend, Kang Kee Young, a producer at the Christian Broadcasting Station in Seoul.   After a hearty breakfast at the Skylark restaurant, Dr. Moon drove me to K.C.U., where I unloaded my bags at the school dormitory.  I would share a room with Professors Kim MoonHyun and Chung NamSoo for the next three days, since K.C.U. had not finished painting my apartment.   I took a quick shower and then attended the University Church of Christ Sunday morning service.   Following the service (I decided to skip lunch and replace it with a nap), I spent the rest of first day dealing with jetlag and thinking about the semester ahead of me.   Vicki was in Tennessee, about to go to bed Saturday evening (a 14 hour time difference from Seoul), and I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what our lives would be like, apart from each other¡¯s physical presence for more than three months (the longest separation in our marriage of nearly 23 years).  Both of us knew that it would be difficult.  Yet we each knew that coming to Korea at this time for this work seemed to be God¡¯s will, and He would provide for us.   I also thank God for email and online chatting, which enabled me to stay in touch with Vicki nearly every day we were physically separated.   SPRING SEMESTER BEGINS: My first Monday, I spent participating in K.C.U.¡¯s opening ceremony for the new spring semester.    Also, I found out on Monday morning my teaching schedule for the new semester.  I already knew that I would be teaching two courses, ¡°Basic Christianity¡± (a required freshman course for K.C.U., and for S.I.B.I.), and ¡°History of the Early Church¡± (a course for the K.C.U. graduate program).   Now on this opening Monday morning, I found out that I would be teaching 4 sections of ¡°Basic Christianity,¡± three of which would be on Mondays!! (Two sections Monday afternoon, and one section Monday evening.   I would teach the fourth section on Tuesday mornings).   I would teach ¡°History of the Early Church¡± on Tuesday afternoons.  I also discovered that I had nearly 260 students in my combined freshman sections!   I said to myself, ¡°What a wonderful opportunity the Lord has presented to me!¡±   My second thought was, ¡°I will have to give them tests and grade all of them! Oh no!¡±   I guess every great challenge or opportunity comes with great responsibilities too.     Slowly I settled into a routine of heavy teaching on Mondays and Tuesday, and then preparing for classes the rest of the week.  Even though Koreans have studied English since junior high school, they do not do well at listening comprehension or speaking English.   My courses, which I would teach only in English, would thus be a challenge for me, and even more so for them.   I decided the best way to help them would be to provide them a full set of my notes for every class meeting.   I typed my notes weekly, and put them on the KCU website by Thursday evening.  I instructed my students to go there sometime during the weekend, download and print out the notes and bring them to class.   This allowed them to follow my lectures more easily.  This method seemed to work well, but put the pressure on me to finish my course preparation by Thursday afternoon, well in advance of the following week¡¯s class meeting.   THE GOSPEL TO 260 STUDENTS: President Kee informed me that only around 10 percent of K.C.U. students are members of the church.   Again, I thanked the Lord for such an opportunity, to not only teach the Bible in Seoul, Korea, but also hopefully have a chance to share the gospel to many students who had never heard it.   I therefore decided  ¡°Basic Christianity¡± would entail the most basic Christian teaching.   I led the students through arguments for the existence of God, as well as the life and character of Jesus.   I discussed the universality of sin, and our need for a Savior.  We also spent time analyzing Christ¡¯s unique message.  I also reviewed the death of Jesus, and the evidence that Jesus rose from the dead.   I spent the last few weeks of the course looking into how a person contacts the blood of Jesus through baptism, and the need to become an active part of a church, one that follows Jesus and His teachings in the Bible.    MENTORING BIBLE MAJORS: There was little time to be bored this past spring.   After I had been there for about two weeks, the son of the preacher in UiJungBoo approached me and asked me if I would study the Bible with him.   I asked if he had anything in mind that he wanted to study.  He answered, ¡°Anything.  I just want to study with you.¡±  So, every Friday morning at 10 a.m., some Bible majors stopped by my office for an informal Bible study and prayer time together.  In this small way, I began to mentor these students in several areas of ministry and Bible study. MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASS        Dr. Moon also asked me to teach English to some middle school students.  His wife had been teaching some students for a couple of years, and my guess was that she desired a break.   The students wondered if I could teach them two nights a week.  I agreed to one night per week (Thursday evenings).  I inherited four of Mrs. Moon¡¯s students (ages 12-14).   Their ability was already very good, even ahead of some of my college students at K.C.U.   Since my wife had taken several graduate courses in ESL, I quickly emailed her for some ideas of what and how to teach.  She responded with a wealth of information, which I implemented for the rest of my stay in Korea with these students.  When I asked Mrs. Moon about the religious background of these students, she answered that she was not completely sure, but thought that two of them were Buddhists, and the others were of a Christian denomination.  Again, I marveled at how the Lord was opening up doors for me.   CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN KOREA: I have not placed membership in any congregation yet. Instead, I visited many of our congregations throughout Seoul and neighboring cities.  There are more than seventy churches of Christ in South Korea.  Most are very small, and have less than one hundred members.  The major problem for most of these churches is a lack of well-trained leaders.   Many of these churches have turned to pragmatism, and use whatever seems to attract the most members, without any serious Biblical study or reflection at all.  All of our churches still practice immersion for the forgiveness of sins and weekly Lord¡¯s Supper, yet many have incorporated various things from denominations (including robes, choirs and even the recitation of creeds during worship).  Here is the list of congregations I visited.  -         Korea Christian University Church of Christ -         Ilsan Church of Christ (I taught two Wednesday night classes there, one on the ¡°Claims of Christ,¡± another for a men¡¯s study of Covenant in 2 Corinthians). -         UiJungBoo Church of Christ  (Spoke on the Lord¡¯s Supper) -         KangSeo Church of Christ -         HyoChongDong Church of Christ -         HongJaeDong Church of Christ (Spoke on ¡°To Touch His Garment¡±) -         BuSan Church of Christ (Spoke on ¡°To Touch His Garment¡±) -         SACS Church of Christ (American military congregation) -         BangHwaDong Church of Christ -         DongSeo Church of Christ -         KongHongDong Church of Christ -         WoonSan Church of Christ (located deep in the South, had only 6 in attendance)   Most every congregation, following the Sunday morning service, had a fellowship meal with its members.  Almost always I stayed for these (who can pass up a free meal?), ate with the preacher there, and tried to encourage him in his ministry.   DETOUR TO JAPAN: Because I had to leave the States quickly and come to Korea in time for the spring semester, I lacked sufficient time to obtain the proper visa.  Thus, I came on just a visitor¡¯s visa, which needed to be changed before a month passed.   I was advised that the best place to clear my visa status and get a working visa would be in Tokyo, Japan.   I was also excited at seeing several Japanese preachers, whom I have met during my time working with Harding University Graduate School of Religion back in Memphis.   According to plan, I left Seoul Wednesday afternoon and flew to Tokyo.   It was a short two-hour flight.  One of the members from the Ochanimizu Church of Christ met me and took me directly to the Wednesday evening service, already in progress.   Brother Sagatani took me to the Korean Embassy first thing the next morning.  I wanted to be first in line, obtain my visa, and then fly back to Seoul that afternoon or the next day at the latest.  After submitting the paperwork to the receptionist, she informed me that all visa applications take at least a day to be processed, and that tomorrow was a national holiday and all government offices would be closed.  No one in Korea had thought about this possible problem in advance, or knew of it.  My heart sank.  I knew I would have to stay extra days in Japan.  She asked me to come by Monday afternoon at 4 p.m.   I agreed to return at that time, having no choice.    Brother Sagatani took me to his home, where we checked the flight schedule from Tokyo to Seoul.  There were no flights after 4 p.m.!   So, I would have to stay yet another day.   Looking back, these extra days in Japan may have been providential.  I was able to meet with more Japanese ministers and their families, and did what I could to encourage them in their difficult situations.  All of these men work in a field that is unlike Korea.   Korea is quite open to the Gospel.  Japan is much less receptive.  The work of the Japanese preacher in Japan is a tiring, frustrating one, where only little advance is made year after year.  Still the men I met, Shiro Obata, Sami Sagatani, Yoshi Noguchi, Jinei Tomura. Masa Nonogaki, and others remain faithful and diligent in the work of the Lord there.   As my plane touched down the following Tuesday at noon on Korean soil, I felt relieved to be back in a land where I was much more familiar.  I hit the ground running once again.  After a quick lunch with Kim DongGoo (KCU staff who picked me up at the airport), I headed straight to my afternoon graduate class, ¡°History of the Early Church.¡±    POWER FOR TODAY & BIBLE ENGLISH: The other work, which continues to go well, is the ongoing work with the C.B.S. radio program, ¡°Bible English.¡±   This hour long broadcast, heard seven days a week, has continued now for more than 4 years.    Vicki and I contribute one segment of it, a dialogue dealing with the English text of Power for Today (published by 20th Century Christian).   In the past, Vicki and I recorded the dialogues from our home in Tennessee, and emailed the audio files to Yang SangYong, director of the Bible Correspondence Course Program.  He then took the files to the CBS station, where they were later played as part of the daily radio broadcast of Bible English.   These dialogues are also incorporated into the Korean version of Power for Today, which has become the number two best religious seller, following the Bible in South Korea.  (I am glad that the Bible is still number one!).   We have been honored to be part of this publication for the past four years.   However, now that I was separated from Vicki in Korea, I had to devise a new strategy, if Power for Today and Bible English were to continue in their similar format.  After consultation with my wife and brother Yang, we decided that I would still write the dialogues, but my wife and my son would do the recording of them.   This would be a new twist, which hopefully Koreans might enjoy.   Yet, I knew it would be difficult for both my wife and my son to find time to do the recordings.  My son had become a youth minister intern for a church in Memphis, and had already moved away from home.  His recording time with his mom would be limited.  Thus, the new format would be that on the odd days of the month, Power for Today and Bible English would contain a ¡°Vicki and Brandon dialogue;¡± and on the even days of the month, they would include a one page Biblical commentary, which I would write for the Bible text for that particular Power for Today reading.   This continual writing kept me busy, and prayerful.     PREACHERS¡¯ MEETING AND SEEKERS CLASS: This past April, I also spoke at the annual Preachers¡¯ Meeting, held on the campus of K.C.U.  I was given an hour and a half slot in which to present something of value.  I decided to present to the preachers a topic which I called, ¡°Dreams, Dangers, and Diversity in the Restoration Movement.¡±   It seemed to be well received by all who were there.  One of the ministers present was brother Won Young Hee (a long-time friend who preaches at the East-West Church of Christ in Seoul).   He also teaches a weekly class at KCU for seekers.   KCU requires that non-Christians attend a special Seekers class once a week.   Following my presentation to the preachers that morning, brother Won asked if I would come and preach to the students in his Seekers class.  I asked him when the class met.  He said, ¡°We meet 45 minutes from now.¡±   In my mind, I thought about all kinds of excuses not to do this.  I prefer time for preparation, study, and organization, and planning ahead, and¡¦and¡¦.and....were the things going through my mind.  Then, I thought, ¡°Shame on me for wanting to turn down such an opportunity!¡±   But what would I tell them?   Then I thought about Paul in the book of Acts.  Whenever he was asked to speak, he most always just told his own story, and how the Lord had changed his life.  I could do this too.   It would take little preparation, and the message would come from my heart.    I met with the class later that morning (about 12 of them).  We sat in a circle around a table, and I told them why I believed in Jesus.   It went great.  Some of these students were also freshmen in my ¡°Basic Christianity¡± course, so it gave me time to get better acquainted with a few of them.   TRUE LIGHT PUBLICATION: One of the activities in my final month in Korea this spring was to write an article for the ¡°Cham Bit¡± (True Light) publication among churches of Christ.  I submitted an article entitled, ¡°The Marks of a Successful Church.¡±  This article was to be translated and put in the May-June issue of ¡°Cham Bit.¡±   RELAXATION: There were actually times of relaxation and refreshment in Korea this spring, especially on Saturdays.  Usually every Saturday, several producers from C.B.S. and myself would hike through the gorgeous mountains outside Seoul   This gave me a chance to exercise, see great scenery, practice the Korean language, as well as become friends with some great people.   One of these producers has even asked me to study the Bible with him in the future.   THE FUTURE: I have agreed to return to Korea for the fall semester.   It begins on August 25.   I have been asked to teach four different courses, ¡°Gospel of John,¡± ¡°Acts¡±, ¡°Revelation,¡± and ¡°Paul¡¯s Letters (part two)¡± (this means all of Paul¡¯s letters except Romans and Galatians).   I will have my hands full.  CBS, which produces Christian television as well as radio programs, has asked me to consider doing a weekly half-hour television show, beginning in September.  They even suggested that the content and format are mine to choose.   At this point, I am considering doing something along the lines of interviews with famous characters from the Bible.  This would have more appeal than just me lecturing behind a podium for 30 minutes, which would surely be switched off by most viewers.  But also interviewing Bible characters could be not only be entertaining, but also quite thought provoking as I examined great lives of faith, and clarified doctrinal issues by interviewing the authors themselves! (in a manner of speaking).    FINAL THOUGHT The months of the spring of 2003 flew by quickly.   I knew that back in the States were many people and a faithful wife keeping me in their thoughts and prayers.   Because of this, and a Lord who listens, it was a great spring!   Only the Lord knows the future.        

                                            Spring 2003

¡¡

                                

¡¡

Home
Sept. / Oct. 2008
Summer 2008
Spring 2008
Jan-March 2008
Nov., Dec., 2007
Sept. / Oct., 2007
Summer, 2007
April - May 2007
March 2007
Oct/Nov Report 2006
September, 2006
April-May, 2006
March 2006
Oct / Nov report, 2005
September, 2005
Summer, 2005
April - May, 2005
March 2005 Report
February 2005
Oct / Nov report 2004
September 2004
May-June, 2004
April 2004 report
March 2004 Report
Winter Interim Report
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
Spring 2003
K.C.U.
B.C.C.
Photo Gallery
New Page 13