The Mission Festival held a few weeks ago was very fruitful. From the Korean speaking congregation alone, 33 people (including some couples) committed to long term missions, which means they are willing to serve in a foreign country for 2 years or longer. This may be a good time to say something about our mission policies concerning sending our own missionaries. We will support but not send our own missionaries. Some missionaries have gone to mission fields without belonging to a mission organization, relying solely on the support of their local church. While some are ...

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I just returned from Korea after leading three meetings there on the house church - one conference, one seminar for pastors, and one for lay people. The seminar for pastors, held in Junju, was especially meaningful to me. For the first time, multiple churches co-sponsored a seminar, here four churches, each having a little over 100 members. It was also the first time a seminar was held in a commercial building; the church that provided space meets in the basement of a downtown commercial building. Many small churches meet in commercial buildings and their pastors must ...

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"Are you traveling again?" a member of our media team asked me with sadness as we were shooting Sunday's video announcements. I know she asked because she misses me but it made me feel guilty because I have been doing a lot of travel lately. It was a rule of mine that I would vacate the pulpit no more than 6 times a year. For the most part, I've kept this rule since becoming the senior pastor of our church. But recently I have left the pulpit more often, especially this year, taking a ten-week Sabbatical to write a book. I've been leaving more often in order to support ...

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Some members are proud when their churches are growing. But a closer look often shows that there's no reason to be proud because their churches aren't truly growing, they're just getting fat: the increase in membership isn't coming from conversions but through people coming from other churches, people who already believe being attracted to good preaching or a strong education program. I know several churches whose Sunday attendance is in the thousands, but they baptize only a few people a year. The reason few people are coming to Christ at these churches is because so ...

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Many of you may remember Dr. Kang Young Woo, Special Assistant to the President of the United States, who came to speak at our church last year. In his talk he mentioned that he was trying to invite as many influential U.S. officials as possible to Korea and introduce them to Korean leaders. I think he is doing a tremendous service for Korea, because a human connection is important in international affairs. Years ago the Korean President wanted to meet the U.S. President but could not get an invitation to the White House because there was no one who could exert influence ...

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Our church members say that our church is reputed to be a place in Houston where people change. We thank God for that. The agent God uses to change people's lives is the Word of God. That's why Sunday sermons are so important. One of the reasons that some people don't change is that they don't know how to listen to sermons effectively. They hear sermons passively, vaguely expecting that the preacher will somehow move them and change them. Sometimes things do happen even to the most passive listeners, leading to life change, but that's rare. If we want to have our lives ...

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Last Thursday our deacons, ministry staff, and their wives threw a party to celebrate my 60th birthday. I was slightly embarrassed by the public party because Deacons Yoo, Ha, and Lee all recently celebrated their own 60th birthdays with small family celebrations. I can't believe that I'm 60 years old. Even though I now have a grandchild I still feel funny when children call me a grandfather at church. I'm still pleased when young parents say that they feel like I'm their brother and slightly offended when they say they feel like I'm their father or uncle. I still enjoy ...

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