Even though I am an American citizen, being of Korean heritage, I'm still interested in the political situation there. The recent Presidential campaign was heated and I followed the debates closely. Last Wednesday, the Korean people chose Lee Myung-bak as their next president. I'd like to share some thoughts on the past, present and future presidents of Korea. The Bible says, "The authorities that exist have been established by God." (Romans 13:1) I think that God loves Korea and has allowed it to have presidents who were most effective for their given times. People criticize President Roh Tae-woo for not accomplishing anything. But as a former ...

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Last Monday I interviewed a shepherd candidate couple. When I interview candidates I usually treat them to lunch, but this couple insisted on buying. And I enjoyed lunch a lot. They took me to a Korean restaurant. The wife asked me, "What would you like to have as an appetizer? I heard they serve delicious dumplings." I said, "Dumplings sound good." "Which do you like, steamed or fried? I recommend the fried dumplings." "OK by me." "What would you like for the main dish? Their mackerel special is supposed to be good. It comes with bean soup." "I'd like that." I felt like I was treated very well. When people invite me to a restaurant they ...

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I recently watched the movie "Amazing Grace", and it made me think about the upcoming Presidential elections in Korea and the U.S. Religion has become a political issue in both countries. In Korea, the leading Presidential candidate is a church elder, and camps have formed for and against him based on his religion. In the U.S, one of the Republican candidates is a member of a Christian cult, which has led to a division of opinion among mainline Christians about whether to vote for him. The movie is about William Wilberforce, an English statesman in the 18th century. He was born in 1759, at the dawn of the British Empire, to a well-to-do merchant ...

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When I see mentally or physically handicapped people, I tend to avoid them rather than embrace them. When I come across homeless people begging for money on the street, I feel anger instead of compassion, because I feel that they choose to depend on other people's charity rather than stand on their own feet. My negative feelings increased after I read a newspaper article that said that many homeless people use the money they collect on the street for alcohol or drugs. However, deep in my heart, I know that this attitude of mine is wrong. Jesus cared about and even identified himself with helpless people. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, ...

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I'd like to ask all house church leaders to follow a standard format for house church meetings. The order and time distribution should be: 1. The Love Feast 2. Praise (25 minutes) 3. Announcements from the Sunday worship bulletin (3 minutes) 4. Bible study (20 minutes) 5. Sharing (1-2 hours) 6. Intercessory prayer (15 minutes) 7. Mission challenge (15 minutes) You may change the order when you have a visitors but it would be good to follow the set order as much as possible for regular meetings. This format has been refined by trial and error and has proven to be best, and it would be unwise to ignore it. It seems that some house churches discuss ...

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Each week, we read from a book chosen by one of the staff members and share our thoughts on it during our Wednesday staff meeting. The last book we read was the Koran, the most sacred book for Muslims, in an attempt to understand their religion better. We read 30 pages and discussed it each week. After reading through it with the staff, I learned a few new things about the Koran. The Koran is not a collection of many books like the Old and New Testaments; it is a collection of sayings by a single person, Mohammed, the founder of Islam. He could not read or write, so one of his disciples wrote down what he said. Mohammed claimed that his words were ...

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I recently read an article about the happiness quotient of different countries. The results surprised me; I had expected that economically rich countries would have a higher happiness quotient than poor countries, but surprisingly, the opposite was true. One of the countries with the highest measured level of happiness was Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world. The seminary I attended is located in one of the most expensive areas in Northern California. The seminary bought the land and erected their buildings when the land was cheap. Later, rich people started buying the areas around it because of its beautiful surroundings, and it ...

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