There is one person in the Bible that I truly feel sorry for. His name is Asa. He was the king of Judah who ruled the nation for 41 years from 912-871 BC. He was a good king who faithfully obeyed God. 1 Kings 15: 14 says, "Asa's heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life." However, 2 Chronicles 16: 9 says, "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war." This happened in the 36th year of his reign. He lived a faithful and obedient life before God for the most part but failed to finish it well because his ...

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There aren't too many things that I disagreed with Pastor Chai about in doing ministry, but one of the things that I believed differently about was "Receiving Jesus Meeting." I didn't want just the pastors to share the gospel with unbelievers, helping them to become God's children by receiving Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. I wanted every member of New Life to be able to do this and experience the joy of leading someone to Christ. My reasoning sounded very noble and ideal but the track record revealed that it was not all that effective in saving souls and making them disciples of Christ. When someone receives Christ, the Bible tells us ...

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As you know, Pastor Young G. Chai, the senior pastor of Seoul Baptist Church of Houston retired last Sunday. The installation worship service for Pastor Sookwan Lee was followed by the retirement worship service for Pastor Chai and they were both beautifully done. All of us who were there felt extremely thankful and we rejoiced that we are all part of this healthy church that God is using in a very special way. And there were moments when we had a hearty laugh. However, we couldn't stop shedding tears because it was our beloved pastor's last day with us as our senior pastor. Pastor Chai has been a special person in my life because God has used ...

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We have 51 house churches as of now. Thirty eight of them are shepherded by married couples and thirteen by single men. It's not that the number of single house church shepherds has declined. It's just that the number of married house church shepherds has increased making the number of single house church shepherds look small. And this is only obvious and natural because over the years many single house church shepherds have gotten married. I hear very frequently from our KSC that without shepherds' wives faithfully serving and caring for their house church members, it is just not possible for house churches to do well. The role of house church ...

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If you go out to the parking lot and look at the spot where I usually park my car, you will see a brand new gray Honda Accord SE. Yes, that's mine. On Monday I got a call from a member in the KSC. After letting me know who he was and greeting me very respectfully, he began his conversation by asking me, "Do you remember what happened six years ago?" I knew exactly what he meant. Realizing that the minivan I was driving was very old and breaking down frequently, he wanted to buy me a brand new Honda Accord, which is my dream car, so I can devote more of my time in ministry and message preparation. I fought very hard to refuse the gift but he was ...

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A few things will change in our membership process starting from August. Currently, if a person wants to become a member of New Life, he takes the following steps: 1. He indicates his desire to take Class 101 (Discovering New Life Membership) by checking off the box in the communication card and also registering at the Welcome Desk on Sunday. 2. He takes Class 101 which is offered four times a year on Saturdays from 9AM to 2:30PM. 3. After the class, he turns in his membership application if he would like to become a member. 4. The membership application allows me to verify his salvation, immersion baptism and house church involvement status ...

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As I look back over the past 14 years of New Life's history, I can think of several milestones that strengthen my faith in God. The first is the several Coffee Houses we did in our earlier years in an attempt to reach out to our unchurched friends with the love and gospel message of Christ. I fondly remember how everyone served so sacrificially and joyfully as members got involved in various different ways. Through these Coffee Houses, I learned that when God tells me to do something, I will never lack people resources in doing His will. The second milestone is raising $100,000 in about a month after I came back from a West Africa vision trip in ...

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