Monday, March 12, 2012

Greetings from Capitol Hill. After a wonderful two days in Kentucky Sally and I are back in VA and looking forward to another preaching opportunity. On Sunday March 25th we’ll be preaching at the 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. services at Love and Truth Church located at 169 North Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, NJ 07621.

This is very exciting because Sally and I ministered for over 3 years in a Korean Church (International Calvary Church in Springfield, VA) pastored by Dr. Sharon Lee and her amazing team.

Let me give you a little history of the Korean Church. In 1900 Korea and Japan were both about 1% Christian and about 99% Buddhist. In 1906, at the same time as the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, the Spirit poured out in Pyongyang, Korea and many thousands of Koreans came to Christ. In 1910 Japan invaded Korea and subjugated its population until the end of WW2 in 1945, persecuting the rapidly growing Christian population and forcing the Japanese Shinto Religion (Ancestor Worship) on the Korean people. Many atrocities occurred during the Japanese occupation.

Today S. Korea is about 30% Christian, Japan about 1.2%. The world’s three largest churches are in S. Korea. The largest is Yoido Full Gospel Church founded by Rev. Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho who is still active at the church, now led by Lead Pastor Rev. Dr. Lee Young-Hoon and his 526 staff pastors. During our time with Dr. Lee and other pastors we were told that many Korean youth are embracing the spirit of communism. Jonathan and Sung-Joo Aird whom we support monthly through Dunamis, are making a big difference there. They spearhead the Teen Challenge Center and pastor an AG church in Seoul. In the past 5 years they have seen about 4,000 young people come to Christ.  

In August 2009 I had the privilege of preaching in the 11:00 service at Yoido (FGC) which was just after the Korean version of my first book, Take Charge of Your Destiny, was released by Pure Nard publishing in Seoul. Korean Christians are very disciplined prayer warriors and evangelists. ICC in Springfield has grown to over 1,100 active members and frequently sends short term mission teams to many countries including India, Nepal, Africa and Israel.

We have much to learn from our zealous Korean brothers and sisters in Christ.

God bless. Alan

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