“New Life, We Truly Thank You!”

From the Pastor’s Desk (292)

The following is the letter I received from Pastor Jaewon Kang of Portland Onnuri Evangelical Church. Thank you, New Life, for your obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, which led to abundant generosity and deep sacrifice. May the Lord continue to bless and use you greatly for His eternal kingdom purposes.

Your pastor,

Eric

Dear New Life,

Seven shepherds and shepherds’ wives from our church who attended the recent Shepherds’ Conference came back and shared that during the conference, Pastor Eric led a intercessory prayer for the construction of our church.

We were already deeply grateful for that prayer, but today, I was truly surprised to receive a letter from Houston. Not only had you prayed for our church’s building project, but you also raised a special offering and sent us the incredible amount of $302,236. As this is exactly the amount we urgently needed, I was moved to tears the moment I saw the check.

Knowing that the house church aims to restore the New Testament church, I have been leading both our KSC and ESC as house churches for the past 11 years. But through this building project, I experienced firsthand that the kind of support we read about in the early church—offering large sums to help others in need—is happening in real life today. Without the help of Seoul Baptist Church and NLF, it would have been difficult to complete our church building.

For a small church like ours, trying to take on a huge project like this is overwhelming. But I believe God has a greater plan for the Portland area through our ESC (Bridge Fellowship). Our KSC is doing its best to support our ESC with the heart of John the Baptist who said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

To help cover the shortfall in our construction costs, I am in the process of selling my home and offering $200,000 as a building fund donation. I don’t consider this a great sacrifice. I believe most pastors in a similar situation would do the same. It’s the home I lived in comfortably for the past seven years and planned to retire in. But I’m simply grateful that I can offer it now because the housing market went up over the past few years. Also, I can’t even truly say it was my house, because I was only able to make payments thanks to the living and housing support provided by our congregation’s offerings.

I didn’t intend to make this public, but Pastor Eric, who is quite perceptive, noticed I had purchased an RV and asked me detailed questions—so I ended up explaining the situation and why I was giving up my house. What I’m even more thankful for is not just the building fund itself, but that through this experience, I’ve learned the value of a minimalist lifestyle. And our small act of devotion has inspired others to dedicate themselves in greater capacities, much like what happened with the five loaves and two fish. For example, James, a shepherd in our ESC, decided to enroll in seminary for an Master of Divinity after witnessing our commitment. It looks like he will become a future pastor leading our ESC.

Everything is according to God’s plan. I especially want to thank the leadership of NLF and all the members on behalf of our church. It’s not easy to act immediately on the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but I deeply respect Pastor Eric for his obedience. The leaders who followed that conviction are also truly admirable.

I pray that God’s blessings will be upon all the brothers and sisters of NLF who willingly gave both large and small offerings for the construction of another church, located 2,200 miles away in Portland.

Pastor Jae Kang
All church members