Our congregation recently voted to reinstate four deacons as active deacons for the next 4 years after each took a year-long sabbatical. 94% of the people who voted checked the box: "I believe that it is God's will for this candidate to serve as a deacon for the next four years." Although this was an overwhelming majority, I was curious why 6% checked the box, "I believe that it is not God's will for this candidate to serve as a deacon the next four years." On our church website, I asked those who checked this box to state their reasons. Many responded. Based on their responses, I realized that many people felt uncomfortable with the wording of the ...

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Two well-known megachurches in Korea recently invited 1.5-generation Korean-American pastors to succeed their retiring pastors. This seems to have shocked the members of the churches at which the pastors were currently serving. Many large churches, when their pastors retire, recruit pastors who used to serve in those churches as assistant pastors to succeed them. Most of them accept the invitations, immediately leaving the churches they’re at. They may do this out of respect for the retiring pastors or because they love their former churches. I understand their reasons, but I can't help but feel sorry for the members of their current churches who ...

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Principles are important for pastors involved in House Church ministries. Many pastors follow the latest fads and hip ministry methods and lose sight of the very purpose for which Jesus called them to ministry. Pastors need to hold on to their principles so their churches don’t lose their integrity and purity. Like many house churches, our church has many "principles" and "rules". Someone recently criticized our church anonymously on our website, saying "many of the so-called principles of our church are nothing more than our pastor's opinions codified into rules." I can understand why he thinks this, since many our church rules originated with ...

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God answered your prayers! In recent tests, my wife’s ovarian cancer biomarker CA-125 dropped to normal levels. As you know, her cancer recently recurred after 13 years of remission. Blood tests showed that her CA-125 count had shot up to 100. The only option left was to to return to chemotherapy. But blood tests taken before her first scheduled treatment showed a dramatic decrease in her CA-125 count - to 50 - for no apparent reason. The doctor thought there must have been some error and ordered another blood test. This result showed a lower count: 47. Since there was no longer an urgent need for treatment, her doctor postponed chemo for 4 weeks ...

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I just returned home from a 4-week trip. I spoke at 2 seminars for lay persons, 2 conferences for pastors, led 2 revival meetings, and gave 2 special lectures. It was a tight schedule. When I reached Taegu in the morning, where I was scheduled to lead a revival, I realized that it had taken exactly 24 hours to get there from Houston. The revival started that very evening. I didn't have a single day of rest, but I didn't feel tired throughout my trip because wherever I went, I saw beautiful people. Members of the churches that sponsored house church seminars made me feel thankful and grateful by serving participants with overwhelming kindness and ...

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During my regular prayer times, I pray that the blind see, that the deaf hear and that the crippled walk. If the House Church is truly a New Testament church, such things should happen, because they happened in New Testament times. Do I earnestly believe that these prayers will be answered? Honestly, I’m not sure. But despite my lack of confidence, I still pray because there’s a possibility - however slim – that my prayers may be answered; Jesus said that faith as small as a mustard seed can move a mountain. I also pray so that my requests won’t not happen because nobody prayed. Also, the Bible seems to say that God will perform great signs ...

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It's our policy to not accept members from other churches in the area as members of our church, regardless of whether they’re saved or not. Some Shepherds have asked me to make exceptions to this policy. Their reasons vary, but the most common ones are that they’re not yet saved or they haven't gone to church for a long time. Let me post portions of an email response I sent to a Shepherd who made such a request to explain the policy; hopefully I won't get any more requests. "We sometimes accept people who have been members of an area church if they haven’t gone to their church for over 2 years and one spouse is not saved. But this is an ...

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