I hear that in Buddhists countries the beggars are not appreciative of those who help them because the beggars feel they are helping the helpers to get into the Paradise. Some house church members may have similar thoughts. Even when their shepherds and their spouses provide help for them, they are not very appreciative. They seem to believe they themselves offeing their shepherd a chance to serve. Therefore, Instead of being thankful, if the shepherd's help is below their expectation, they complain. There is no reason why the shepherd must serve their members. Shepherds are not paid a salary, nor are they full time professional ministers. ...

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Recently we have baptism ceremony every Sunday except when we have the Lord's Supper. It is a proof that many people are getting saved through our church. There is no greater joy than seeing people come to the Lord and get saved. However, there are also new challenges. Lack of parking spaces is one of them. To help solve the parking problem, I urge you to serious consider the following matters. 1. Only park in the designated spaces and times at the church next door. We can only park there after 11:15 PM, within the spaces designated by the red traffic cones. We have received a phone call from them again asking us not to park beyond the ...

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Close to 1,000 pastors have already attended the House Church Seminars for Pastors. Some successfully established the house churches while other pastors failed. Strangely, the pastors who already had well established churches failed, while those pastors without prior experience succeeded at establishing the house churches. It is evident in following two pastors. Pastor Son Won Bae of San Jose Emanuel Church, who sponsored the House Church Seminars for Lay Leaders last year, was a Princeton Seminary doctoral student, majoring in Systematic Theology before he became a pastor. His goal was to obtain three years of pastoral experience before ...

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Our church is reviving and growing. The house church is well established and many people are getting saved. The house churches are constantly multiplying. Many churches do not have the volunteers to lead the house churches but our church is blessed with many willing volunteers. As the church grows I, as the pastor must become more cautious because it is easier to stumble when things are going well. King David fell into adultery after he conquered the land and his kingdom was well established. There is no guarantee that I will not fall to similar temptations. All temptations are serious, but sexual sin results in the most serious consequence. ...

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My grandfather was a pastor who tried to live according to the Bible. During Japan's rule over Korea, he was thrown into jail for refusing to vow to the Japanese shrine. During the Korean War, he was kidnapped and martyred by the communists. One of my grandfather's teachings was for the fellow church members to avoid monetary dealings. In fact, the Bible does not state that one should not lend money. God said to the Hebrew people, "You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain.(Lev 25:37)"; "You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countryman you shall not charge interest. (Deut 23:20)" My grandfather said ...

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Sometimes organizations suffer by requiring not so important qualities from their leaders. During the Lee Dynasty era, typical leaders excelled in memorization and writing skills. The National Selection Test required in order to become a leader mainly concentrated on these two skills. As a result it produced many geeky scholars as national leaders. In America, witty people seem to become national leaders. During the presidential debate, a candidate's witty and clever responses influence their popularity and even win him the election. Unfortunately, a person of lower moral standards can become elected president as a result. What about the ...

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The 13th House Church Seminar for Pastors came to a good close, thanks to many of your prayers and dedicated services of our church members. It saddens me to think this is the last time we will sponsor Pastors Seminar in the fall. Starting next year, it will be held at Atlanta. We will sponsor a House Church Seminar for Laymen, instead. With each repeated seminar, the attendees' sincerity is increasing while the average pastors' age is decreasing. It shows that the House Church concept is peaking among the younger pastors. Saturday morning during the seminar, we hold a question and answer session. The pastors attending the seminar are seated in the ...

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