Our annual Texas Baptist Pastors' Retreat at San Luis Pass was this past Monday through Wednesday so I headed down there after teaching Living Life Bible Study. For the past three years we have been meeting at this same rental home sitting by a canal. All the pastors seem to enjoy the retreat because they get to rest from their ministry routine for a couple of days to cook, eat and share with one another. The highlight of the retreat, however, is fishing. Since the home is sitting by a canal, we can freely fish at any time of the day going in and out of the home whenever we want to. Fishing was very slow during the retreat. Other than catching ...

Read More

Our Fall Retreat is just right around the corner. And I am already getting excited about it especially since it is going to take place at Camp Allen which is only 45 miles from church. The facility is clean, calm and beautiful. It also provides some of the best meals I have ever tasted out of all the retreat centers I have been to in Texas. More than all these, however, I am waiting for the retreat with great anticipation because it will be a great time of rest and rejuvenation. Singles from all the house churches will get to mingle with each other as they eat, converse and play games and sports together. Families will also get to spend time with ...

Read More

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 ...

Read More

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 ...

Read More

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 ...

Read More

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 ...

Read More

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 ...

Read More