One For Every Ten

House churches are being established all over the North America. Although there are house churches in large cities such as New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago, none of them are exemplary ones I can wholeheartedly recommend. House Church Ministries, the organization formed to help traditional churches convert to house churches, has decided to select a church in each large city and be more aggressive in helping them become model churches. Surprisingly, at the last conference at Jacksonville, good candidates were found for each city. I think it was God's providence, not ...

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Sunday Worship at 3:30PM

Beginning Sunday, May 15 New Life will need to have Sunday worship at 3:30PM at least for a month if not for five months. As you have noticed, there is a lot of construction going on in our church these days. Our Korean Speaking Congregation (KSC) is remodeling their worship center and fellowship hall to accommodate their growing needs. In about a month, they will need to tear down the walls of their worship center and put a new wall around it to expand their space. This process will take about two or three weeks during which they will need a place to worship. Their ...

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I Am Not Tone Deaf

Some of our newer church members have joked about my singing. After his baptism, one member gave his testimony and said, "Before I started coming to this church, I had heard some of Pastor Chai's sermon tapes. I thought his sermons were pretty good. But his singing voice was terrible." On another occasion, a new female member said, "I like Pastor Chai because he is tone deaf, just like me." I admit that my voice quality isn't great. The church sound technicians have mentioned that my voice is... "unique", so it is hard to adjust the sound system to get good quality ...

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No More Work For My Wife

My wife will no longer be working after April 15. She has been working about 20 hours a week part time but was recently informed that her position will be eliminated. My wife has worked her entire adult life except for a brief period after our son Danny was born. Even then, she worked until the very day of his delivery. This wasn't our intention. Our plan was for her to work up until 2 weeks before the delivery date. But her labor started 2 weeks early, on her last day at work. So she ended up working until the day he was born. This is not a good time for her to stop ...

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Free The Gym

I am proud of New Life Fellowship. I feel like a father watching his child grow into beautiful adulthood. At first, you were completely dependent on the Korean Speaking Congregation (KSC). We paid Pastor Eric's salary and provided space and facilities. As the English Speaking Congregation (ESC) grew, you pulled more and more of your own weight. You started by supporting half of Pastor Eric's salary. You continued by volunteering to take care of 3 "G"s for the church: gardening, grass and garbage. When Pastor Paul was hired as Youth Group Pastor, you took responsibility ...

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Wearing The Wrong Hat

There are several types of pastors. Some pastors are best described as visionary. When these pastors start a church, they plan it with an organizational chart fit for 1000 members, even though the initial membership is only a handful, often just family members. As membership grows, he fills ministry positions in the org chart with workers. Many pastors of mega-churches are this type of pastor. Another type doesn't start with a specific type of vision or long term plan. They become pastors because they see needs that they feel God has called them to meet. So they usually ...

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I Can’t Defend Myself

When there have been changes of administration in Korea, people from previous administrations have often stood trial for corruption. When I read about these trials or watch them on TV, I have mixed emotions. On one hand, I feel that they should be punished for the wrongs they did. On the other hand, I feel sorry for them because while they did engage in illegal activity, it was something that every official was doing, so they're being unfairly singled out. The people who have been on trial have usually responded to prosecutors' questions by saying, "I don't remember." ...

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