After two months of trip to Southeast Asia and to Korea, my family and I made it back to Houston in one piece this past Tuesday. Although I already miss certain people, places and aspects of our trip, I am realizing that there is no place like home. It truly is good to be back! I will be sharing more about the trip in the weeks and months to come especially about which areas of the world we will focus on to do our missions work more effectively, but these are some of the things that I have learned and experienced during the trip that I would like to share with you now. First, I have learned about the importance of participating regularly in ...

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There will be some changes taking place in our staff in the near future. As you know, we have been looking for an administration assistant for some time now. As a result, Phil Shin, our Missions Team Director, has been taking care of much of the administrative responsibilities for some time. We are in serious need of finding someone soon with the gift of administration so that the pastoral staff can focus on and fulfill their ministries that God has given them. This will help New Life to be strengthened and grow even more. After much prayer, Phil recently has been sensing that God is leading him and his family to overseas missions for possibly a ...

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This coming Tuesday my family and I will be leaving Houston to go to Southeast Asia for about two months for our sabbatical missions. I am both excited and nervous at the same time. I have never been out of the country this long and the thought of traveling with my family and living from suitcase to suitcase makes me feel somewhat uneasy though it sounds adventuresome. I think I can relate in a miniscule degree to what Abraham must have felt when God appeared to him and told him to leave his country, his people and his father??s household and go to the unknown land that He will show him. He must have been frightened and scared to death. But he ...

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In just a month from now, my family and I will be leaving Houston to go to Thailand for a sabbatical mission trip. It has already been eleven and a half years since I came to Seoul Baptist Church of Houston and began serving, first as the youth pastor, then the head pastor of New Life. During sabbaticals our pastoral staff can choose to do one of the following: 1. Continue education for a semester on a full-time basis 2. Interne at another church on a full-time basis 3. Do missions work As you can see, the purpose of the sabbatical is not to rest but to equip and train oneself more for the sake of church. My family and I have chosen the third ...

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I praise God for what has been taking place in our children ministry, Joshua Cross Stars (JCS), over the past two years. Pastor Jaemo has been working very hard to develop and put structure and system into this ministry and we are reaping and enjoying the benefits of his and many faithful volunteers labor in the Lord. Let's remember to pray regularly for JCS, Pastor Jaemo and his family and volunteers. In order for us to continue to have a great children's ministry here at New Life, however, we the parents must do our part as faithfully as we can realizing the significance of our children's spiritual growth. As I shared with you last Sunday, I ...

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What Is House Church? House church is a community that is made up of 6-12 people led by a lay shepherd that meets at least once a week at members' homes in order to fulfill the mission Christ has given to His church. This house church exists in conjunction with the larger gathering of believers for the purpose of receiving God's Word from pastors, experiencing God's majesty through corporate worship, providing Christian education for adults and children and fulfilling God's mission for the world through combined resources. Christ's church is made up of both house churches and the larger gathering of believers. There are unique and distinct roles ...

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Why do we do it? When I was studying in graduate school (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) I spent much time thinking about how I as a future pastor should build a church that is healthy and pleasing to God. I wouldn't have pondered so earnestly if churches then, as a norm, were God-honoring, being the church that God wants them to be. I would have had plenty of examples to follow after. It would have almost been like second nature to me since I would have grown up and experienced a healthy biblical church myself. But the reality was far from it. Most churches were weak and dying. This discrepancy between the church in the Bible and the ...

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