SEOUL, South Korea – When all reports are in, perhaps 1,500 people here will have made professions of faith in Jesus during the recent Louisiana/Korea crusade.
Eight churches reported in with 438 professions of faith by the time of the Nov. 5 “Victory Dinner,” which took place at the largest Baptist Church in Seoul, where Young Min Pee is pastor.
“The state of Louisiana was one of the best states to help Korea, with much fruit,” Pee said as he welcomed about 100 Americans and Koreans to the Victory Dinner, including Young Sik You, executive director of the Korean Baptist Convention, and Choon Sik Choe, president of the Korea Baptist Convention. A missionary with the International Mission Board translated from and to English/Korean.
The evening’s high points included short messages from outgoing Crusade Coordinator Charles Lowry of First Baptist Pineville, and from Executive Director Yoo of Korea, as well as testimonies from American team members and Korean churches.
The 38 Americans – including eight who were staying on a third week to help make up for a significant shortfall from a promised 200 participants made by Texas – were involved in evangelistic crusades at 32 churches across Korea, announced President Choe.
In his remarks – which fell just shy of a goodbye – Lowry explained the history of the Louisiana/Korea partnership. In 1967, then-President Chung U. No of the Korea Baptist Convention came to Louisiana with O.K. Bozeman, a Southern Baptist missionary in Korea. They met with Louisiana’s executive director, Robert Lee, and the LBC evangelism director, Leonard Sanderson, and prayed together to establish a partnership.
When the formal partnership ended after two four-year terms, it was picked up by associations in Central Louisiana, and continues to this, its 40th anniversary, Lowry said. He has been chairman for at least 15 years, and with his wife Carolyn, has made 30 trips to Korea. Now 79, he spearheaded the development of the partnership both at the state and associational level.
The Korea Baptist Convention, with official roots that date to 1958, consisted of about 40 churches in 1967; today at least 2,700 churches and more than 700,000 members affiliate.
The Korea Baptist Convention is organized with the same entities as the Louisiana Baptist Convention because Louisiana helped it develop its framework for ministry, Lowry said.
He cited the work of KBC’s Church Development Board (equivalent to the SBC’s LifeWay Christian Resources), Home Mission Board, Foreign Mission Board, Annuity Board and Cooperative Program.
“In America we have a saying that a youngster who is similar to his father is ‘a chip off the old block,’” Lowry said. “You are a block off the old chip.”
He introduced David Cranford, pastor of Tioga First Baptist near Pineville, as the next partnership coordinator.
“Frankly, he is the finest planner and administrator in Central Louisiana,” Lowry said of Cranford. “I want to assure you, our Korean brothers and sisters in Christ, of our continued prayers for you as we continue to work together to obey the Great Commission of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May our fellowship and work together continue another 40 years, or until Jesus comes again.”
Executive Director Yoo spoke of his personal appreciation for the Louisiana partnership.
“The Louisiana people came to help us start the church 23 years ago,” Yoo said of the church he continues to pastor. “So I want to give you a special thanks at this time.”
He spoke from Luke 2:25 of the person God uses. It’s one who “is always honest, clean, someone immersed in godly life.” And it’s someone who follows through on God’s vision.
The church God uses is one that focuses on ministry, reaching out in the name of Jesus, Yoo said.
“Keep on being visionary,” Yoo preached. “Continue on praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”
Chung Hun Hwa of ShinGok Baptist Church in Asan City, said his congregation developed 517 prospects before the crusade, and after three Americans and 22 people from his church met in visits with 374 of those prospects, 309 made professions of faith.
Hyungki Baek, second pastor at Sermerna Church in Cheonan, said that church was five years old.
“We prayed for people from America, prayed that prospects would open their hearts to Christ, prayed that we would have people to translate,” Baek said. “God answered our prayers. It was such a happy time for us.”
One prospect came in response to an invitation not because she was interested in Jesus, but because she had never seen a Westerner, and was curious, the associate pastor said. She was among many who made professions of faith. The ‘curiosity’ factor drew in many, several Americans and Koreans said in private conversations.
The pastor of Cheong Ju church in Cheong Ju spoke so engagingly that each of his sentences in Korea was punctuated by the laughter of his listeners.
“This is my first experience with the crusades,” he said – as translated – to riotous laughter. “I prayed for the tongue of English.”
David Weng, an IMB missionary who coordinates Koreans and the 10-40 Window, spoke of the great need for more volunteers to come to Korea, to offset the shortfall in career missionaries.
“When I came here 28 years ago, there were 128 missionary families to help with these crusades,” Weng said. “Now it’s my wife and I, and this isn’t really our job. … Korea is 27 percent Christian, and the IMB focus is on those people groups that are less than 2 percent Christian. So who’s going to reach the rest of Koreans?
“Korean Christians, and you,” Weng said. “If we don’t reach them, other groups will.”
One team who served in Daejeon saw that first-hand. A team of two American women and three Korean women went to the home of an elderly woman. She listened with respect until one of the Korean women saw a photo of a Korean devil that was piled in one corner of the spacious third-floor apartment.
She brought it to the woman and poked at it with her finger, which she also used to gesture around the less-than-immaculate apartment.
“What has this devil done for you? Jesus will help you,” the Korean Christian said. The ‘devil worshipper’ clammed up, obviously cowed by the photo of the scary-looking black-and-white photo.
And while walking through a shopping area in Seoul, one Korean stopped an American, saying she was with the “Church of God.” Her words, though, spoke not of the Most High God, but of a woman god.
When the American tried to extricate herself from the Korean’s insistent witness by saying “Chook pok ham me da” (God bless you), the Korean shot back, “You can’t bless me until you believe in my god.”
Plan now to participate in the 2008 evangelistic crusade in Korea, set for mid- to late-October.
Korean missions team keeps revival alive
Louisiana Baptist Message- November 8, 2007
By:Karen L. Willoughby
Managing Editor
ANSON, South Korea – Six people made professions of faith in Jesus Christ yesterday; six more did today in this city of 1 million people southeast of Seoul.
They did so while being visited by four Americans and their Korean interpreters, part of a 38-person, 11-team mission team sent out by Louisiana Baptists in late October to participate in an evangelistic crusade in South Korea.
The crusade celebrated the 40th anniversary of a partnership between Louisiana and South Korea – both of which are about the same size – and the 100th anniversary of the first Christian revival in Korea.
Grace Song, a university student and member at Central Anson, said she had changed her opinion about American mission teams after being with the team that came to her church.
“Before these guys came here, I have been to China for short mission,” Song said about a mission trip she had participated in last year. “I can’t speak Chinese and need interpreter, so I wonder how we can do mission here. [But] We do [evangelistic in-home visits] yesterday, and I see, oh, it is effective.”
The mission team at Central Anson included Paul Perry, pastor of Coax Baptist Winnsboro; Steve Bryan, youth pastor of First Baptist Winnsboro; Jeanette Melton, member of Emory (Texas) Baptist and Bryan’s sister; and Karen Willoughby, managing editor of the Louisiana Baptist Message.
“Everything about this trip has exceeded my expectations,” Bryan said on day three of that team’s support of the work of Central Baptist Church of Anson. “Our mission here is easy, because it’s the local body that goes out and reaches the community. They’ve found the lost; they’re the sowers. We’re just reaping the harvest.”
Each of the 11 teams used the “Four Spiritual Laws” tract printed in English and Korean. The American would read the English words while running his/her finger underneath each word in English; the Korean interpreter would then read the Korean words while running his/her finger underneath the Korean words.
“They call this ‘finger evangelism,’ said David Cranford, pastor of Tioga First Baptist and coordinator of the mission trip, during a short orientation Oct. 25 at the Volunteer Mission Center in Seoul.
His instructions were clear: Don’t embellish; just read the tract. If people ask why you have come to Korea, say, “To tell you about Jesus because once someone told me about Jesus.” Use easy English; speak in short sentences but be sure they’re complete sentences so the interpreter is able to translate correctly.
“This year is very special for us,” said Choom Sik Choi, president of the Korea Home Mission Board, in his words of welcome to the mission teams. “One hundred years ago in Pyungyang [20 miles north of what today is the DMZ that separates the two Koreas, there was a] great movement of the Holy Spirit, so it is very appropriate to have crusade this year. I want [you to know that I] appreciate you. … We have really prayed for you a lot. We expect to have great things from this effort.”
Evening crusade services followed morning and afternoon in-home evangelistic visits. At Central Anson, they were as much to encourage and motivate current members as to convict and challenge nonChristians, said Associate Pastor Dae Young Phyo.
Phyo coordinated the plans for the Central Anson mission team; a Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary graduate, he also was the main interpreter.
When In Kwan Kim started Central Anson 28 years ago, there were no Baptist churches in Anson. Today, it is the largest of 35 churches in the city; about 110 people attend Sunday morning worship.
The church’s growth has been steady, despite the fact that the church changed locations five times in 25 years, as leases expired and monthly rents were increased, Young explained. Three years ago, however, the church bought land and built a four-story edifice capped by a towering cross that can be seen from a main highway.
“I never expected this big of a building,” said Pastor Kim, as interpreted by Young. “We didn’t have much money, but I believed God wanted me to build it. … We had a crusade five years ago, but that was [at the church’s previous location.] Now we have this building and plenty of space, so the people need to be motivated to evangelize the community.”
That need for motivation was the reason he wanted to participate in the USA/Korea partnership crusade, Kim said.
With one more day left in Anson before traveling via train on Thursday to Daejeon, the mission team talked about the things that were standing out to them: the graciousness of the people was number one; the excellence and variety of mostly spicy-hot food; the ability of Pastor Young to maneuver the church van down narrow streets without mishap; and the number of apartment dwellings.
At least 20,000 people live within a one-mile radius of the church.
“People are very impressed by your visit from the United States to South Korea,” Phyo said. “They have good experience with you. You can see in their face more pride, big smile. I think that’s good motivation for my people.”
Volunteers needed for Korea mission trip
Louisiana Baptist Message- October 11, 2007
A great need remains for volunteers to join the Oct. 24-Nov. 6 evangelistic mission trip to Korea. A 200-person group from Texas dwindled to 16. If you have a passport, you can join this trip even at this late date. Rudy French decided to go. He had talked a year ago about going, then got involved with volunteers to help with Katrina recovery as well as evangelistic witnessing in St. Bernard Parish. When he heard of the great need to cover for the Texas shortfall, “God being God, Rudy booked his ticket last night at 10 o’clock,” emailed his wife Rose French. If God is in it, you too can be part of this international evangelistic event. The photo is of a store in southern Korea; a Baptist church meets on the second floor.
Anniversaries peak interest in missions trip to Korea
Louisiana Baptist Message- September 6, 2007
By:Karen L. Willoughby
Managing Editor
TIOGA – Forty years ago, Louisiana Baptists entered into a partnership with Korea. That anniversary plus the 100th anniversary of the Great Korean Revival coincide this year with heightened interest in the annual missions trip to Korea.
“We have 34 volunteer missionaries who are planning to fly with us into Incheon, the international airport that serves Seoul, South Korea,” said David Cranford, coordinator of the Korea Missions Partnership and pastor of Tioga First Baptist Church. “That’s up from 11 last year, and eight from the year before that.
“The word from Korea is that there hasn’t been this much excitement around the crusades in years,” Cranford added. “Our host church leaders are gathering by the hundreds and praying throughout the day for revival.”
During these crusades, American Christians are sent out with people from local churches across the peninsula nation who have been cultivating prospects over the last year. The American Christian tells his/her story about the difference God has made in his/her life, which is translated by the Korean Christian for the prospect. The prospect then is invited to turn his/her life over to God.
“Thousands have made a profession of faith in these crusades over the years,” Cranford said. “Entire congregations have been built, and the Korea Baptist Convention has grown explosively.”
More volunteer missionaries from Louisiana are needed for the trip planned for Oct. 24 through Nov. 6, the coordinator said. Another missions partnership was to bring about 200 people in the week after the Louisiana group, but they may only be bringing in half that many.
“The problem is that the Korea Home Mission Board has already lined up 40 churches for those 200 volunteer missionaries,” Cranford said. “Those churches are preparing for crusades and expecting missionaries. We’ve been asked to take as many as 20 of these churches for our assignment, in addition to the ones who already are expecting us.”
Cranford, who has reworked the people already signed up for the Korean Crusade from six teams into seven, sees the need for at least 10 more volunteers, and 20 would be better, he said.
“If we do not get more missionaries, there may well be some churches that aren’t able to conduct the crusades they’ve been preparing for, for the last several months,” Cranford said. “Korean people love Americans. Your presence will open doors that God can walk through, straight into the hearts of the people Korean Christians have been praying for.”
South Korea, on the southern portion of the Korean peninsula and straddled between the Sea of Japan and Yellow Sea, is about 75 square miles smaller than Louisiana. It’s about a six-hour drive from Seoul to the southernmost tip of the nation, and less than an hour from the Demilitarized Zone – DMZ – that separates it from Communist North Korea.
A day-trip to the DMZ is to take place the last day of the mission trip, Cranford said.
Volunteers need to make their own plane reservations. At press time it was about $883 from Dallas and $883 from Houston to Incheon on United Airlines. An additional $925 in-country missions fee covers housing, transportation and almost all meals in Korea. Some $350 scholarships are available, Cranford said.
For more information, contact Cranford at 318.640.4760 or d.cranford@tiogafbc.com.
