What Time Are We Living In?

We are surely living in an unusual time. I am not talking about the recession. I am talking about something far more significant. We live in a time of unprecedented immorality. Now, for example premarital sex is norm. One who wants to keep pure before marriage feel they must defend their choice philosophically! Otherwise, they would be viewed as strange. Young teenagers regularly send their nude pictures through their cell phone and hook up with strangers for sex via internet. In order to join the European Union, a country must accept same-sex marriage. This is the time we live in. A time of unprecedented flood of immorality.

At the same time, we live in a time of unusual manifestation of God's glory. I grew up seeing supernatural healings, but we are seeing continual increase of more and more extraordinary miracles. Extraordinary healings take place. People receive gold fillings in their teeth; I saw one man in person who received a gold filling in his mouth in early 2000s and had no reason to believe otherwise. Some are covered in gold dust during worship service, or even receive gems. Just two weekends of ago, about 8 people from JOY went to a conference in Baltimore and saw people get healed not only of cancer and other incurable diseases, but people who had metal pieces in their body, like screws, received healing, and then the metal pieces disappeared! In Mozambique under Heidi and Rolland Baker, foods multiply with great frequency, feeding hundreds of people. Hundreds of people have been raised from the dead. These are miracles, greater than those of Jesus (John 14:12).

So, we live in the days of extremes: extreme sins and extreme manifestations of God, unlike any other time in global history. What does it mean? One thing is sure: the return of Jesus Christ is closer today than it was at any other time. Jesus told people what time it would be like when He returns: "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed." (Luke 17:26-30). What time are we living in? We are living in a time when we need to be awake spiritually, and not get caught up with the earthly affairs as though they are the most important.

Trickle into a Stream into a Mighty River

Once Mahatma Gandhi said, "There go my people. I must go ahead of them, for I am their leader." At some point in his leadership, he felt that his people not only understood where he was pointing them to, but they were running ahead of him.

I feel the same way these days. I see a number of people running ahead of me. I see people who run more zealously after God and love others more sacrificially than I. They are changing lives through their ministries, and getting God's vision in their work, fasting and praying that God will reign in their field. Many are gathering in small prayer groups, ministering to one another, praying for the City. It is a great feeling, at the time sobering. I'd better stay vigilant! I must try to stay ahead of them, for I am their leader.

At the same time, I see others still sitting back, not living with purpose and excitement. They still have not caught the great vision God has for them. They still live for the tiny and temporal dreams than the great and glorious dreams for which God created them.... But God will move them also. The trickle has turned into a stream, and it will become a mighty river that takes up people and changes our nation and the world. I am full of hope.

JAMAprofessional recruiting workers

JAMA New Awakening Conference originally started with college students and professionals as its core constituents. Although the first conference in 1996 in Colorado focused on this group, over the years the conference became more and more youth and family centered. As result, college and professionals have lost interested in the NA conference; they do not feel attracted to primarily youth events. While the change is understandable--JAMA felt that we must reach the people younger, and college age was already too late--the loss was real.

Thus, I proposed the idea of having separate, small conferences during the interim years: JAMAcollege, and JAMAprofessional. As the names stand, one will focus on college students and another post-college professionals.

During the summer of 2010, we plan to launch the first national JAMAprofessional conference hopefully in NYC (if not affordable, in NJ), and I am looking for core organizers. The conference will have three core messages: 1. Ownership (Dr. John C. Kim's message) 2. Prayer: repentance and intercession for the nation, 3. Leadership: that Christians must go into leadership in various arenas of life--government/law, entertainment, education, finance, etc.

Besides receiving message from key speakers, the conference will build relationships among Christian professionals. The participants will be able to connect with other Christians by their fields. We intend to group them in several key areas and develop network and relationships which we encourage them to develop throughout the year until the following year's conference.

I AM LOOKING FOR LAY ORGANIZERS. The conference must be by the professionals, for the professionals and of the professionals. I will provide guidance, but the conference must be organized by lay professionals. I am looking for key organizers from several churches from NY/NJ area: event planners, logistics people, graphic designers, etc. If you can help, please contact me at dannyhan@joychurch.com.

Dow Passes 10,000

That was the news from last week. Murmur of economic recovery is everywhere. Everyday more hopeful news come out. Is the trouble over?

Not according to Jesus Christ. According to the Bible, the trouble we are in now is because of our sin: sin of corporate corruption, sin of violence, sin of sexual immorality, sins that fill and overflow in our land. The trouble we are in is God's judgment upon our nation for turning away from God.

And even with the recession, followed by 9/11, our nation has NOT repented. We have tried to cope with the problems, minimize its effective by propping up businesses, but WE HAVE NOT REPENTED. Sins still fill our nation. Immoralities have not decreased. We have not repented. Then, our trouble is not over.

God said through Prophet Amos (chapter 4) that He sent disasters after disasters to Israel to bring Israel to repentance, but "still you would not return to me." Therefore, at the end the nation would be destroyed and no more. Even after disaster after disaster, our nation also has not repented from our wicked ways and turned to the Lord. Thus, disasters will continue.

More troublesome is the relaxed attitude of Christians. Even Christians do not realize that the trouble is from the hands of the Lord. We have eased ourselves into the diminished life, (Human beings can adjust so easily!) instead of waking up spiritually to pray for our nation. We pray no more.

It is time to awake and pray for our nation. We must pray that our people would repent from our sins, turn from our wicked ways and to God in humility. We must pray for repentance movement to sweep through our nations, that people would voluntarily kneel on the streets of NY and repent before God to forgive our sins and heal our land.

This is a call for Christians to wake ourselves up from our spiritual slumbers and pray for our nation. We must intercede for our nation. Every Christian must pray, pray everyday, fast and pray, and pray for our nation that it would recover and be reestablished in the Lord. (Check http://www.weprayforamerica.com).

For years I have tried to have the JOY family to get into the Scriptures. While many have take extraordinary steps to consume the word of God (for example, Jacob Chung's group finishing the Bible in a year), I suspect that the vast majority are not even reading the Bible regularly.

During summer, I would like to provide you with some devotional help.

I. Each day you will receive a simple devotional guide. We will start easy: just one chapter of the Bible during July. Then, 2 chapters during Aug. By the end of Aug, you will finish all the letters of St. Paul! At the end, if you do not want it, you will not do it. But with a little help and encouragement, maybe you will get into the habit of this basic necessity of our spiritual life.

The following is the guideline. It has three steps:
1. 1-2 songs of worship (you can use your own worship music, or youtube. Plenty of great music.) You can use the ABC's of adoring God.
2. Bible reading: You will receive a few questions to reflect and pray about.
3. Prayer using the Lord's Prayer
a. "Our Father Who Art in Heaven" -- Acknowledge that God is your Father. You are His child. He loves you
b. "Hallowed be Thy Name" -- Worship God, acknowledge His characteristics: his power, love, etc.
c. "Thy Kingdom Come. Thy Will Be Done on earth as it is in heaven." -- Pray for God's Kingdom before your own needs, for example, for your friends who need God, for church, ministry, the poor, missions, etc.
d. "Give us today our daily bread." -- Pray for your needs: your job, finance, emotional needs, etc. Anything that weighs on your heart.
e. "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us." -- Ask for forgiveness, and forgive those who sinned against you.
f. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." -- Pray for spiritual protection.
g. "For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glorfy forever." -- End with worship.

I encourage you to pray through the Lord's prayer everyday. It is the best prayer guide.

II. Besides personal devotion, I ask you to find "marvelous comrades." You may use your LTG partners, or get back to them if you have not met for a while. If you never had an accountability partner, search them out today. Find at least one or two others. Get together with them weekly and share what God is speaking to you and to pray for one another. During summer, without TLC, I encourage you to begin this. I hope you will continue even after summer.

So, let's begin today:
1. Songs: listen to some songs by Matt Redman on youtube, or any other music. Worship God as you listen.

2. Read Romans 1
Questions 1) Paul identifies himself as a servant of Christ. What is your self-identity?
2) Paul thanks God in v. 8 for Romans. What can you thank God for?
3) Paul writes the process of how a person's heart gets corrupted (vv. 18-32). How do you see that around you? Are you in danger of becoming corrupt?
4) Pray for things that God impressed upon your heart, whether thanksgiving, conviction, things to obey, repent, etc.

3. Pray (using the Lord's Prayer)

Summer Spiritual Helps

For years I have tried to have the JOY family to get into the Scriptures. While many have take extraordinary steps to consume the word of God (for example, Jacob Chung's group finishing the Bible in a year), I suspect that the vast majority are not even reading the Bible regularly.


During summer, I would like to provide you with some devotional help.

I. Each day you will receive a simple devotional guide. We will start easy: just one chapter of the Bible during July. Then, 2 chapters during Aug. By the end of Aug, you will finish all the letters of St. Paul! At the end, if you do not want it, you will not do it. But with a little help and encouragement, maybe you will get into the habit of this basic necessity of our spiritual life.



The following is the guideline. It has three steps:

1. 1-2 songs of worship (you can use your own worship music, or youtube. Plenty of great music.) You can use the ABC's of adoring God.

2. Bible reading: You will receive a few questions to reflect and pray about.

3. Prayer using the Lord's Prayer

a. "Our Father Who Art in Heaven" -- Acknowledge that God is your Father. You are His child. He loves you

b. "Hallowed be Thy Name" -- Worship God, acknowledge His characteristics: his power, love, etc.

c. "Thy Kingdom Come. Thy Will Be Done on earth as it is in heaven." -- Pray for God's Kingdom before your own needs, for example, for your friends who need God, for church, ministry, the poor, missions, etc.

d. "Give us today our daily bread." -- Pray for your needs: your job, finance, emotional needs, etc. Anything that weighs on your heart.

e. "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us." -- Ask for forgiveness, and forgive those who sinned against you.

f. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." -- Pray for spiritual protection.

g. "For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glorfy forever." -- End with worship.



I encourage you to pray through the Lord's prayer everyday. It is the best prayer guide.



II. Besides personal devotion, I ask you to find "marvelous comrades." You may use your LTG partners, or get back to them if you have not met for a while. If you never had an accountability partner, search them out today. Find at least one or two others. Get together with them weekly and share what God is speaking to you and to pray for one another. During summer, without TLC, I encourage you to begin this. I hope you will continue even after summer.



So, let's begin today:

1. Songs: listen to some songs by Matt Redman on youtube, or any other music. Worship God as you listen.



2. Read Romans 1

Questions

1) Paul identifies himself as a servant of Christ. What is your self-identity?

2) Paul thanks God in v. 8 for Romans. What can you thank God for?

3) Paul writes the process of how a person's heart gets corrupted (vv. 18-32). How do you see that around you? Are you in danger of becoming corrupt?

4) Pray for things that God impressed upon your heart, whether thanksgiving, conviction, things to obey, repent, etc.


3. Pray (using the Lord's Prayer)

5/7 National Day of Prayer

I have been encouraged by our people. The response to the 40 days of Repair Your Altar has been enthusiastic. Several have come up to me immediately after the launch and said something like, "I have been wanting to restore my spiritual life, but did not know what to do. I am so excited about the 40 days because we can do it together." Those responses tell me that our people have spiritual hunger. They will not let their spiritual lives slide passively. Since the launch on Sun, I have attended both the morning prayer (I come at 7am when some have already left) and evening Marveling Place. There also, I have been encouraged. The attendance has increased significantly. People are truly seeking God.

If you have not join the campaign, I urge you to join today. 1) Fast: some time-eating, non-life-giving activities like watching TV, or surfing the net and a meal a week for devotion; 2) Feast: devotion (Scriptures reading; we will provide more materials); 3) Focus to hear God. Ask God to speak to you during the 40 days. I encourage you to do it together with another person(s). It's always easier together than alone. If you have co-workers who are Christians, ask them to do it with you. If not, find someone from your TLC. If you are homemaker-mom, take this time to form a spiritual comaraderie with other moms. Reject spiritual passivity. You are called to make an eternal difference.

Coincidentally, tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer. What wonderful opportunity to pray for our nation! I encourage you to boldly ask your co-workers to pray for your company and for the country. Make it be known that you are a Christian, and you are praying for your company and the nation.

Warning: Fogs and Tentacles

Someone shared yesterday about a vision (a mental picture) one of his TLC members had last Sunday. In the vision the member saw a group of people, some of them JOY members, standing in a fellowship setting. Then, a fog came and surrounded them. Out of the fog came out tentacles that separated people from each other. The fog represented a spirit of confusion that comes over people that prevents people from seeing clearly; the tentacles represented works of the devil that try to separate people and create division.

As we considered what is happening in some of the members' lives, we could tell this type of division was at work. Some people are upset at each other, and some have not attended church for a while because of relational strains. Others want to leave a TLC, etc. Going forward, we see a greater possibility of division, with the elder selection process for example.

It is imperative that we pursue unity of the spirit. After St. Paul severely rebuked an immoral member of the church, and after a time of the member's repentance, St. Paul asked the church to forgive and restore him to fellowship for "we are not unaware of the devil's schemes" (2 Corinthians 2:11). What is the devil's scheme? To create division in the church, and through that division destroy people's spiritual lives. And that kind of scheme happens constantly around us. People leave churches because they are hurt by someone and eventually quit their relationship with God. These are not just small relational problems that we can overlook. People's eternal destinies are at stake. It is imperative that we pursue the unity of the spirit.

The best way to do it is first to pray. Pray for protection. Pray for humility among us all to seek unity. Before we try to humanly bring unity, we need to pray, for our struggle is not against people, but against the spiritual forces of evil (Eph. 6:12). Second, we reach out to people, humble ourselves and reconcile. Do not let one person perish because of our pride. We commit ourselves to do all we can to restore fellowship, knowing that their eternal life may be at stake.

After hearing about the vision, the group of us spent time praying for protection of our church. This morning, I shared the vision at our staff meeting and again prayed for protection. I ask you right now to pray for protection of the church, and if you know of anyone who has fallen away because of relational issues that you would reach out, call, email, etc., and bring them back to fellowship. Blessings.

Elder Nomination

The ball is rolling. In February JOY passed the bylaw and affirmed the decision to go forward with the eldership. After getting the board's input, I have selected the nominating committee. We decided to choose five members so that the burden would not fall on few shoulders but shared broadly. At the same time, we did not want the number to be too big thus causing the process to consume too much time. The nominating committee members are: Sung Park, Paul Lee, Kathy Lee, Sandy Moon and Susan Yom .

Nominating committee plays a very important role in selecting elders. Therefore, I prayed and looked for the following characteristics in selecting the nominating committee: People who deeply care about the church, are respected leaders of the church and will give discerning and unbiased opinions. I also chose people who represent different pools of people in the church.

There is no mystery in elder selection process. Besides the biblical requirements about elders (1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9), we are looking for people who 1) have no selfish ambition in serving as an elder, 2) have wisdom and discernment, 3) are conciliatory in nature, and thus seeking harmony, 4) have leadership (others respect them as leaders), 5) are long time members of JOY, 6) supportive of pastors, and 7) people who together will bring a mixture of gifts to the church leadership.

Starting now, these people will take charge of the nomination process. They will ask for nominations, screen and interview them, and eventually provide me with the short list from which the elders will be chosen. Once chosen, they will be affirmed in the congregation vote, go through training (proposed period is six-months) and once they pass the elder ordination exam, they will be ordained publicly. This is an important step our church is taking, so please keep the elder selection process in prayer throughout the whole period.

It's Lent. Have you been praying?

For the first time in Bergen County Asian-American history, seven churches have been gathering every Friday for praise and prayer during this Lent season, moving from one church to another. The Bible and history demonstrate two elements are necessary for revival--unity and prayer--and through the joint prayer, we are trying to accomplish exactly that. Although the overall participation is encouraging, I find the lack of JOY members' participation disappointing. There are the usual faithfuls who show up at every Friday prayer, but I had hoped that many who usually do not come out to pray would come out, it being a special Lent season. I am mostly disappointed about that. Even in this dire economic climate, most remained unmoved. For some people, especially parents of young children, I understand the difficulties. Still, even for them, I long for the old days, like when I was a young boy. My mother took me to the prayer services, which was completely age-irrelevant to me; I found it boring, frequently fell asleep in the middle of the service, etc., but in those services I caught something. The spirit of revival. I felt the Holy Spirit move in those passionate prayers. And those prayers changed the nation--in this case, the nation of South Korea. I wish those days would come to us, that the spirit of desperation would descend upon us, and we would pray as though the world depends on our prayers; and it does.

We are living in a momentous point in history. The tipping point of history is upon us. It is not time to sit idle with TV. It is not even time to panic with news. It is time to pray. The world is moved by God, and prayer moves God. It is time to come together and pray. The people of God must take up their battle positions to pray and change history.

"I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth." (Isa 62:6, 7)

Manhattan Site

I am preparing to launch JOY's third site in Manhattan. For those who wonder why we would want to do that, I write this blog entry. A year and a half ago, we began looking for a second site to provide room for growth. That search led to the Edgewater Site. However, what began as a simple search for physical room to grow led to a total paradigm shift of how we would do church. As the congregation prayed for one month concerning the decision to have a second site, God began to give us confirmations via many people. One verse particularly struck me: "Jesus went through every city and village, preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God" (Luke 8:1). This is a most simple verse describing Jesus' ministry, but it struck me hard. Until then my paradigm of doing church was : build it as large as you can and have people come to you. However, this verse showed a different picture: Go where people are and build churches. Jesus did not put up a large tent and gathered people from all over the country; he went to people and preached the gospel. Thus, before we launched the Edgewater Site, we had changed how we would go forward. We would look for places where churches are needed--especially places where concentrations of Asian-Americans live without Asian-American church presence--and build churches. As we started the Edgewater service, we were already planning for the third site for the fall of 2009.

I thought the third site would be near Parsippany. I never thought of going into NYC. What a wild idea! How daunting it looked. However, some people shared with me their impressions from God that the third site would be in NYC. These were unsolicited; therefore, I began to mull over this possibility and inquired what other people, especially those who live in NYC, thought. The responses were enthusiastic: "We need JOY in NYC. People want to come to JOY but cannot because it is in NJ," etc. Thus, we began seriously thinking, and it made more and more sense that the third site would be in Manhattan--where massive number of Asian-Americans live with limited church presence. Julie and I also visited the Redeemer Church and The Journey Church and came back more convinced that JOY will have a role to play in NYC.

The Manhattan site launch will not be as Edgewater launch. It will be much more limited. Edgewater launch was a passive structural change: 70-80 people coming out to start a new service. For Manhattan site, I expect 20-30 from JOY to come out. While Edgewater was a like division of forces in half, Manhattan will be like sending a special force.

Therefore, we are looking for mission-minded people, people who look forward to the hard work of tilling a new soil, people who want to begin something for the sake of many. Already a good number of mission-minded people have signed up. If you are interested, please let me know. We need people who will lead TLC's, ministries, and worship band (for worship band, please talk to Kevin Jun if interested kevinjun@gmail.com) . If not, please assist us with prayer that many will be brought to God's Kingdom through this new site.

We will be duplicating what we are already doing at Tenafly and Edgewater. I think the service will begin at 4:30pm, somewhere midtown. I will preach. TLC will take place immediately following the service, just as at Tenafly and Edgewater.

A Lesson from Old Soviet Republic

In 1991 the seemingly impossible happened. The feared, powerful Soviet Empire collapsed in a nearly less revolution. Only after the seemingly impossible took place, the facts began to emerge for the general public. The Soviet System was dysfunctional and had been crumbling for decades. The collapse created a panic throughout the Soviet state.

But for Christians, the collapse of the evil empire created an opportunity like never before. Previously, Christians had to smuggle bibles into the country. Followed by KGB, once captured, a Christian could be imprisoned, or at least deported. But when the empire collapsed, the Russian people began to seek Christ, not in hiding, but out in the open, even aggressively. The Christians who visited the Red Square during those years would testify how Russians would clamor around anyone seemingly Christian and ask them to tell them how to be saved. Once Christians had to risk all to preach the gospel, but now the iron curtain of darkness was lifted, and people sought the gospel. Many became saved, and churches were born.

The open window however did not last for long. Within 10 years, the nation began to clamp down on missionaries. More important, the inundation of the western materialism possessed people's hearts, and the once spiritual hunger lost its sharpness. The window of opportunity lasted only a short while.

In America today, we face perhaps the most spiritual open season in our life time. The collapse of the financial system has brought desperation in people's hearts. Christians, this is the time to share the gospel. It is no time to share in the same fear, but show our reasons for hope and bring others to this hope.

I wonder what steps you are taking to throw a lifeline to your friends or co-workers? Do you ask them how they are doing, and share how you are doing--that you are confident because of Christ? Do you share your testimonies of how God miraculously met your needs? Do you invite them to church? Do you initiate prayer meetings at work? (I tend to think it is the best to start a company prayer meeting. Who would object to "Let's start praying for our company and one another?)

Like Russia, the window will not remain open forever. In life, there always is a season of opportunity and it closes. We must step into it. There is no time for fear or hesitation.

In the same vein, I believe this is the right time to start our new worship site in NYC. We have 15-20 people interested but are looking for more. If interested, please send me an email (dannyhan@joychurch.com).

Unnecessary Fear of the Unknown

We live in the most fearful of our lifetime. We feel a heavy, dark cloud hang over us. Most of us are doing OK. We still have our jobs, and houses, but the fear is palpable: "Am I next? Will I be OK?"

As we face these dark times, I want to share with you a few truths.
1. Do not fear the unknown future. Remember that God has already gone ahead of you into your future and waits for you. There is nothing to fear. The future is unknown, but our God is not unknown. He is good. He is working out His good plans for you through the dark times, and He is sovereign. Do not fear the future.
2. If you have been at JOY for a while, you have been prepared for such a time as this. We have talked extensively about the time of God's judgment, and in the time that was coming (which is upon us now), it is not what we know that matters, but who we know. You should know God and Christ now, that He cares for you and that He is sovereign. If you do not know Christ intimately, this is the time to seek God, even now.

It is no time to panic. It is God's time.
1. If you do not know Christ intimately, this is the time to seek Him. Do not panic; instead, seek Him earnestly. Come to Marveling Place or Morning Prayer, and seek Him. Worrying will not help you; intimate knowledge of God will help you. You will know you are secure in Christ.
2. If you know Christ, realize this is God's time. We have been praying for the spiritual repentance and revival of this nation, and the great spiritual harvest. This is such a time. Those who know God must lead the way and tell others about Christ. Share with others the confidence you have in Christ and how they can know Christ also. This is the time we have prayed for. Now that the time is here, do not lose the opportunity.

As your pastor, I am not worried about your future. God is in control. He cares for you. He is even through what is happening working out His wonderful plans for your life. We will look back at these times one day and give thanks to God for what He accomplished.

Bylaws and Elders

This Sunday we will take a congregational vote on the bylaws. This is a big step and according has raised significant jitters. The core of the fear concerns eldership. Most people have witnessed bad eldership cases where churches have split, and many question, "Do we need to have elders," "Are we ready to have elders," or "Is anyone ready to become an elder?"

Why do we need eldership? Much work happens behind the scene at church as in any organization. Let's compare the church to a secular organization, a store. For the store to look immaculate and function well, we know that many people work furiously to keep everything in good order in the backroom. Likewise, many things happen in the background to keep the church minister to people. Over the years, the present board--me and the elected lay leaders--have found the present system of board structure no longer sufficient. Average congregation members do not feel the strain the old system increasingly put on the staff and the board, but for those who work day-to-day, the strain had become tremendous. Thus, we embarked on searching for a new system and came to the conclusion of having eldership . Ultimately, it is a biblical even if we had bad experiences with it, and we decided that the should be redeemed rather than discarded. I ask you to trust the leaders that you elected to consider the welfare of the church and their decision to choose eldership.

Are we ready? In some ways I wish our congregation was older. Because most people are still in their 20s and 30s, they are busy building their career and raising young children. Eldership requires great sacrifice, and it will be a very difficult choice when people are still so young. However, if the question is about maturity of our members, we have to counter the question with another question. "Will we ever be ready?" Is anybody ready to get married and bear the burden of marriage as he/she is supposed to? Is anybody ready to become a father/mother? No one should be so proud to say that they are ready. Lord have mercy on the person who thinks he/she is ready. Rather, we humbly enter marriage or parenthood and become competent in the process. We all need to be humble--those who will become elder--and the rest must help those who will become leaders to grow into those roles.

If there is anyone who should be most concerned about eldership, it should be me. When the eldership falls apart, the one that pays the highest price is the pastor. Churches have split, pastors have suffered under pressure and even been kicked out. Initially I had significant reservation, but I agreed for a couple of reasons. First, I trust in God. Joy Christian Fellowship is not my church; it is God's church. If the worst happens to me, and I get ousted, that's really OK. It's not the end of God's church or my life. Second, I trust in the fundamental decency of our leaders. I have worked with many leaders now. It has not always been easy, and we have not always agreed, but I have found all of them good people seeking the best of the church without personal agendas. So, in that sense I believe we are ready.

Is anyone ready to become an elder? is another question that people ask. A long time ago, a young lady came to me and asked if a certain young man who was seeking her hand was fit to be her husband. At that time, she was far more mature in faith and like most women she had hoped for a man who would be her spiritual leader. I told her that she should look at 1) the fundamental character of the person, and 2) potential of the person. Is he a fundamentally good person, and does he have the potential to become the kind of man you would like to have as husband one day? He had both qualities. They married and the man has become a spiritual leader. Therefore, we should look also not for people who are completely ready--when will that come--but look for people with fundamentally good qualities, qualities like gentleness of spirit, humility to genuinely listen to other people's views with whom they disagree, and sacrificial love for Christ and His church. Personally, I believe we have many people who will become great elders.

This Sunday is an important vote for our church. Please pray for the church, vote, and pray some more.

2009: Hope to the Hopeless

2009 started 26 days ago, so this entry is very overdue. In this entry, I want to lay out the theme and main goals of 2009 for our church. We--the church--prayed for a month in 2008 and felt that the theme for 2009 would be "Hope to the Hopeless." It is a phrase from Chris Tomlin's song "God of the City." The message of hope would have largely two dimensions: First, God is our hope. We will find our hope of our hearts in Jesus Christ. Many find hopeless situations, whether with their jobs, marriage, addictions, etc., but we will find hope in hopeless situations in Jesus Christ. Second, once we find unfailing hope for our own hearts, we will be able to give hope to the hopeless, whether in Wall Street, or the Streets of poverty-and-AIDS-ravaged Zimbabwe. That is the gist.

I have set five bullet points goals for our church for 2009.
1. Continue to build what God has started. We do not abandon what God began to build to pursue novel goals. We continue to build. So we build intimacy in our hearts through Marveling Place or Morning Prayer. We build community through TLC, serving hearts through ministries, knowledge through New Life Institute and compassion for the poor through various mission involvement.
2. Hope Center. Our church has worked to build the house of the Lord, which would be the Hope Center, for a couple of years. We will continue the work, and Lord willing, find a place this year. Many have given sacrificially for the purpose of building a house for the Lord. We will continue this work joyfully. If the Lord prompts your heart (Exodus 25:2), I urge you to give and make pledges.
3. Hope for the Poor. Our church has been involved me missions from the beginning. At the end of last year, we reviewed our mission involvement and decided to bring focus and concentration on a couple of mission fields. We will continue our mission support to some 30 missionaries all around the globe, but focus our church's effort on 2-3 areas. We chose the places to be Paterson and Zimbabwe. We feel especially called to bring the whole gospel to the poor both preaching of the gospel and the need to meet the needs of the poor. We feel that the needs of Paterson and Zimbabwe fit what God has given us--not only finance but the professional knowledge in many fields. We are in the process of developing plans to connect the haves (us) and the have-nots (Paterson and Zimbabwe). We will make at least one more trip to Zimbabwe (projected date, August; please inquire Melanie Kim, hmelaniekim@gmail.com, especially if you are in medical, IT or education field), and are looking for right ways to connect more deeply with the community in Paterson.
4. Third Site in Manhattan (?). When we started the second worship site in Edgewater, we believed that God gave a paradigm shift. Instead of trying to build a mega-church, we will build churches wherever concentrations of Asian-Americans exist. The first such place was Edgewater. When we began the service in Sept 2007, we already planned to start the third site in the fall of 2009. I have had a couple of unexpected and unsolicited prophetic counsel that has led me to think Manhattan as the third site. This was completely unexpected for me, because NYC is not a place I would think of starting a service, and I thought the third site would be in the west, like Parsippany. However, after receiving the counsel, NYC makes much sense with its many young professionals and college students. Although great churches like Redeemer or Time Square Church exist, community-based, Asian-American churches like ours do not. The launching of the third site would not be as exhausting as launching Edgewater; we are mainly duplicating what we already have--same service, TLC ministries, and pastoral care. However, we will need core people to start this new work. If you are interested, please contact me @ dannyhan@joychurch.com. If the Lord confirms this is right--by sending the right people to start the work--the preparation work will begin in March.
5. Recovery Program. One of the most hopeless experiences is addiction whether , gambling, , etc. For several years we have watched our brothers and sisters struggle with addiction without being able to help them effectively. We have begun the research about church-based addiction recovery program (thanks largely to a couple of our church members whom I would not name here, but thanks). We will explore more, and hope to launch a recovery program that will give hope to the hopeless this fall.

That's the gist of it. If you are interested, please contact me (thrid site) or Melanie (Zimbabwe).

Zimbabwe Trip

This will be a long entry. I hope you will read through.

Peter Shin and I embarked on a scouting trip to Zimbabwe on Jan 9. Our goal was to investigate the possibility of developing a long-term (10-20 years) partnership with a local pastor, Tatenda Gonguow, in holistic mission, that is, a community development via education, job-creation as well as preaching the gospel and care of orphans. Feeding the poor and care of orphans do not provide long-term sustainability. Only holistic mission can. Peter and I went to see if such relationship would be possible.

Zimbabwe is currently one of the poorest nations in the world. What once was the bread basket of the southern Africa has disintegrated to quadrallion percentage (that is three zeros to billion) inflation in one year. People travel to neighboring countries to buy the basic necessities of life. Intellectuals and skilled people, whether doctors or engineers, have fled the country, and the naiton has been in a free fall, especially in the past decade. Interestingly, I found out during this trip the president Mugabe had his officers trained by North Korea! Being a Korean-American, I somehow feel I share in the responsibility even more.

Our trip met an immediate road block. When Peter and I arrived at the Newark Int'l airport, we discovered that our reservation had been cancelled. My agent had booked our flight the day before he left for vacation before Christmas and handed the case to another agent, and he had neglected to notify us that the airline had cancelled our flight. So, Peter and I stood at the airport with large bags--those large vinyl bags Koreans used when they immigrated to the US--filled with underwear for the orphans and medicine with no flight. I called the agent. He told us to go back home. No seat available on the flight! We could not do that we said; all schedules were booked. We were to meet different groups of people in Zimbabwe, some from the US, etc. The only flight that he could find was a different airline at a different airport, JFK, in three hours. But, we had only a confirmed flight from JFK to Nairobi. No tickets were confirmed from Nairobi to Harare, Zimbabwe, or the return ticket back home. We asked the agent to book our flight to Zimbabwe and back to JFK by the time we arrive in Kenya, and took a cab from Newark to JFK. Thus, our adventure began.

The trip brought several unexpected fruits. First was the taxi ride from Newark to JFK. The driver, a Haitian, picked up on our conversation. When he found out that we were Christians, he told us to pray for his family and friend. We were able to encourage him and his family to find a church and commit themselves to it instead of getting anxious about finance. Right there in the car, he called his wife to tell her the same. Secondly, in the flight from JFK to Zurich, Peter sat next to a radiologist from Monclair, NJ, a non-practicing Catholic. They talked the whole time for nearly 7 hours, and Peter led him in prayer right in the plane. The man was moved by our mission, he gave $100 for Zimbabwe, which we later passed to Pastor Tatenda. Finally, when we got to Nairobi, we were picked up by Dr. and Mrs. James Jongdo Lee, 13-year-missionaried who run a Bible college in Kenya. This contact was made at the last minute also the night before we left. We had to stay overnight to catch the connecting flight, and did not want to risk getting a cab and being driven to some scary place, and had been searching for a contact in Nairobi. What was supposed to an overnight stay turned out a two-day stay. Had it not been Dr. Lee, our time would have been wasted. But because of Dr. Lee, who also is involved in holistic missions, we learned what to avoid in missions. Further, through him we met with a key person in World Vision, whose headquarters for the entire Africa operation is in Nairobi, only about 30 min. away from Dr. Lee's home. Dr. Lee knew some key people in World Vision, and Peter and I were able to set up an appointment and ask the World Vision director important questions about community development, in which World Vision is one of the leaders. When we finally arrived in Zimbabwe, we were able to do all that we planned to do within the shortened stay. Had we arrived earlier, in fact, Peter and I agreed, we would have had complications. Thus, the nervous detour, I am convinced was planned by God. It was not our plan, but it seems clear that it was His.

Throughout the trip, Peter and I experienced closed doors every step of the way, which opened up at the last minute. First was the ticket from JFK to Nairobi. When we arrived in Nairobi, we discovered the agent had not found us flight from Nairobi to Harare. He left for the weekend in utter irresponsibility and made himself unavailable through cell phone either. We waited for two days, and when we could not reach him, we bought round trip tickets to Harare--we had no choice. We found late night flight--departing a few hours after the time we bought the tickets. Had we not found the late night flight, we would have never met the group that we were supposed to in Harare, so another door opening. After spending time in Harare, we boarded the flight back to Nairobi, without the assurance of flight from Nairobi to JFK. The agent had booked us for Jan 20 tickets. Even in doubt, Peter and I proclaimed that God would open doors. When we got to Nairobi, we found out that our desired flight was completely booked, and we would be wait-listed at numbers 19 and 20! Not a good sign. We might have to purchase expensive one-way tickets back, which we did not want to. The agent at the airport turned out to be God-sent, an angel. She nogotiated with the airline and moved us within 45 min. from numbers 19 and 20 to 3 and 4. Still not good enough. We waited longer. Within next 30 min. we had boarding passes. We were on our way home!

The experience taught me a few lessons:
1. The mission to Zimbabwe would not be so easy. It will have many obstacles. We will see closed doors. We will have to pray much.
2. But God will come through. If we believe, and keep on believing, the door will be open, often at the last minute.
3. The unplanned detours are planned by God. In those detours we encounter people and experiences that God had planned for us, that we need. The detours are a part of God's divine plan.

Presently we are planning a return trip with a larger group in July/Aug. We want to bring a team of medical personnel, computer trainers and teachers. So many are sick, and when they hear about a doctor coming, people gather in masses. Seeing a doctor is like seeing Jesus for them. Computer personnel will help the local church train trainers. Finally, we want to bring teachers who will teach the orphans a week-long intensive English and/or Math. Hospitals, and schools have mostly shut down. Even a week of training will do so much for them.

If interested, please contact Melanie Kim @ hmelaniekim@gmail.com.

I am also looking for people who will go long-term. They are so desperately needed.

Thanks for reading.