7 Significant Events For Our Church In 2004

As 2004 comes to a close and I reflect upon the past year, I’m thankful for the blessings God has bestowed on our church. I am especially thankful for 7 things that happened this year.

1. We reorganized the Mission Department. Shepherd KC Choi, who is a vice president at Bechtel – one of the largest construction companies in the world – played a key role in restructuring the department and outlining a blueprint for the next 10 years. Shepherd Don Kim was put in charge of the new department. Its first project was the Mission Festival, with guest speaker Jerry Rankins, President of the International Mission Board. More than 100 people committed to long or short term missions trips as a result.

2. We purchased 3.8 acres of land adjacent to our church campus. As an investment for the future we gave the land to the English Speaking Congregation for them to build a sanctuary and education facilities. As another investment for the future we decided to build an education building for the youth group at our current location, along with a residential building for pastors who come to learn about our house church. For the Korean Speaking Congregation, the current sanctuary will be remodeled to increase seating capacity to about 700.

3. We implemented house churches for the youth group. These house churches will assist in youth ministry outreach by allowing members to invite non-believing youths to a nearby house church, instead of just taking care of members’ kids. Youth shepherds from the KSC will be required to finish the same training classes as the KSC shepherds and will be recognized as equals.

4. Pastor JM Park started serving as Children’s Pastor for the ESC. When the ESC gets their own education buildings and enough helpers, KSC members will be able to send their kids to the ESC Sunday School if they choose, just as some of the ESC members send their kids to the KSC Sunday School now.

5. We had our first Three Strand prayer meetings. These meetings, which occurred over 10 days, took place at 5:00 AM and more than 300 people participated, also committing to dinner fasting during this period. Many prayers were answered and many new Christians learned how to pray from their older prayer partners.

6. Missionary CM Choi was appointed as Mission Director for House Church Ministries. There had previously been only two regional directors, one for North America and another for South Korea. Brother Choi will help foreign missionaries build house churches.

7. We developed a system of deacons meetings through the web. As our church grows there are more things that need to be discussed and decided quickly. We are now able to have lively discussions and make quick decisions without waiting for regular meetings by communicating via the web.