From the Pastor’s Desk (264) Today is New Life’s 25th anniversary Sunday and the word that describes my heart is grateful. I am grateful to many people as I reflect on the past 25 years of New Life’s ministry. Seven, however, come to my mind. First, I am thankful to God. Why is God using a person like me who is full of flaws to build His glorious church? I do not know. It is His grace. Second, I am thankful to Deacon Suh and his wife whom I met in Boston in 1990 when I became a Baptist while studying in seminary and went a small local Korean Baptist church. ...

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Many thoughts are going through my mind as I reflect on the House Church Pastors’ Conference that I just attended in Carson, CA. There were about 140 pastors, missionaries and their spouses present this time, and 20 of them were English speaking. This was the biggest number for English speaking side. I think the number will continue to grow as New Life faithfully serves as a resource church for those pastors and churches that want to learn and are committed to build a New Testament church. I get various kinds of questions and requests from pastors and churches in ...

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From the Pastor’s Desk (262) We pray because God told us to pray. We pray because God promised to us that He would hear and answer our prayers. This is what James said: “13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess ...

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From the Pastor’s Desk (261) One of the greatest joys and blessings from God that I have been experiencing and enjoying in the recent years is that we have added amazing pastoral staff who are on the same page as I am and respected and appreciated by all the members of New Life. It is incredibly refreshing for me to see Pastor Jabez serving as our youth group pastor, Pastor Sang as our college ministry pastor and Pastor Mia as our children’s ministry pastor. God has truly blessed New Life with these amazing pastors who are diligently equipping and building up ...

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From the Pastor’s Desk (260) When I think about the lay leaders’ seminar that we hosted last weekend, all I can say is, “Praise God and thank you, New Life!” Thirty-three shepherds responded to the invitation to open up their homes and house churches to host sixty-six participants who came from all over the United States. Every one of us, especially those of us who served in the frontline, has experienced the blessings of God in an amazing way. And these blessings of God came to us in various forms: experiencing joy, getting to know and fellowshipping with ...

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From the Pastor’s Desk (259) Pastor Sang will transition out from his house church to give his full-time devotion to our college house churches starting from October. In order to help his house church to go through this transition well, the members have been informed of this and encouraged to pray to see who should serve as their next shepherd. They unanimously chose Andy Liufu to serve as their shepherd. The single house church members will remain, but two married couples will find and join other house churches for practical reasons. I vividly remember when I ...

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From the Pastor’s Desk (258) Years ago, I was made aware of a New Life house church shepherd who officiated his own house church members’ wedding. When I heard of the incident, it didn’t sit well with me because something that should not have been done was done. I left it at that because it was or seemed like one isolated incident. Just recently, however, I was made aware of another incident where not a house church shepherd but a member officiated one’s own family member’s wedding. I was happy for the couple who got married but not the way the wedding ...

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