Let me introduce to you my coworkers in the house church movement. They are pastors of churches where I led house church seminars or preached. You will hear about them more often in the future. Pastor Oh Myoung-kyo pastors The Bright Church in Namyang-ju, Korea. For many years, he pastored several churches on small islands in the Southern Sea off of the Korean peninsula. (That is where he met and married the sister of Pastor Koo Ji-Hong, who was a member of our church for 3 years while he was wrote his D.Min dissertation at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.) He then moved near Seoul to start The Bright Church. After starting the church, he ...

Read More

I just came back from speaking at the Conference for Korean Baptist Foreign Missionaries, held in Indonesia from September 4-7. It was the first conference for missionaries serving in Southeast Asia. Brother Ha, who serves as regional director of Indonesia for House Church Ministries Intl. hosted the conference. He believes that the house church is the best church model for hostile mission fields and desired that his fellow missionaries learn about it and implement it in their fields. He expected around 70 missionaries to attend, but 97 came - from Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Nepal, Indonesia, and Cambodia. There was at least one missionary from ...

Read More

We just completed the second House Church Conference for Shepherds, held at the Swanbo Hotel in Chung-Chung Province. It was decided to have the same speakers for this conference as in the first conference held in Houston. Since all the speakers came from Seoul Baptist, many of our church members flew to Korea for the conference. Shepherdess Myung-Hee Lee spoke at a plenary session on "Common Misunderstandings About House Church Ministries." In her talk, she shared how she had considered herself better than others simply because she had been a Christian for a long time and completed many Bible courses. Her illusion was shattered when she started ...

Read More

Next Tuesday, I'm leaving Houston for a four-week trip to Korea and Indonesia. Originally, it was meant to be a two-week trip to lead house church seminars, but several events made it necessary to lengthen it. First, the House Church Conference for Shepherds, originally held in Houston in early August, will hold another session in Korea. It will have exactly the same format and speakers as in Houston. As one of the speakers at the first conference, I had to attend. (Starting next year, I won't have to go.) Also, Brother Ha Ho Sung, the regional director for House Church Ministries International in Indonesia, emailed me saying that he wanted to ...

Read More

At the church where I served before I came to Houston, there was man who had once been an active member of a well-known campus mission organization. He was married and had two kids. He was not happy with his church life, however, because he was suffering from guilt - guilt that he was not dedicated enough as a Christian. His guilt stemmed from the high standard for committed Christians that the mission organization he belonged to set up. It was so high that only college students without families to support could reach it. It became next to impossible to live that kind of life once they got married and had children. So many became full time staff ...

Read More

During my Sabbatical, I watched the movie "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" starring the classical actress Ingrid Bergman. It was based on the true story of the missionary Gladys Aylwards. She was born in 1905 in England. She committed to becoming a missionary to China at a meeting she attended while working as a housemaid. Missionary societies required a certain level of education from their missionary candidates and she wasn't qualified. So she went to China at her own expense via trains, ships, coaches and mules. Most missionaries in China were unwilling to work with her because she was not a formal missionary sent by a missionary society, and she ...

Read More

I sometimes visit the websites of Korean newspapers. I am often shocked by the user comments to newspaper articles. They express extremely raw feelings in crude and violent language. They exude hatred and anger. Many people seem to write whatever thoughts and feelings come to their mind when they first read the articles, no matter how extreme. Many people seem to think that speaking their minds without any filter whatsoever is being honest and transparent. I'm not sure if that's true. Being honest means letting others see your true self. Does saying anything that crosses your mind really reveal your true self? We have many different and contradict...

Read More