I don't think I've ever been this busy in my life. I hope I don't burn out. And I hope I survive. But I'm excited. It's been a good start to the semester, and I'm hoping that that will continue.
Some have said that I've kind of fallen off the face of the earth. I apologize. It's like so hard to find time to just chat, talk on the phone, email, et. these days. Unbelievable, isn't it? So I decided that the least I could do to update people (the few that actually read this) is to update my blog.
My second (and hopefully, my final year) of graduate school is well underway. I'm taking a full course-load, and all the classes are very interesting. Nuclear North Korea needs no explanation. Political Risk Analysis is a class where I learn how to build political risk models. Intelligence and Foreign Policy is a class where I learn how intelligence is used to support foreign policy of a state. My classes are Tuesday through Thursdays from 8:10pm to 10:40pm. Needless to say, night classes are really tiring. I've also resumed taking Chinese class which is on Mondays from 6-9pm.
In addition, I'm interning full-time at a think tank called the Korea Economic Institute. It has been a worthwhile experience, learning new things (sometimes more than I actually learn from school) about international economy, North Korea, U.S.-Korean relations, Northeast Asian affairs, etc. I get to meet a lot of important people including former assistant Secretary of States and other officials in previous administrations. So that's been really cool, but very tiring since I work 9-5 everyday.
I've also been looking for jobs more intently, since many of the jobs I'm interested in require security clearance that can take up to a year. I've applied to or am in the process of applying to several fellowships including the PMF that would be awesome if I got. But I'm not putting all my eggs in that basket, and so I scour usajobs.gov for federal jobs and other sources. It's been discouraging at times when all these jobs require so much experience in the field. But I believe God will provide the right job at the right time. Just gotta hold onto faith.
So, my day-to-day schedule is packed. Sleep and even eating regularly have become a luxury. I try to squeeze in a Michigan game and a pro-football game in the weekends, but doesn't always happen. To make things "worse," this schedule will continue next semester because I was informed that I got another internship next semester at the Dept. of State. And next semester, I have to write my thesis. I'm really excited about what God has graciously given me, but I'm also terrified that I'll burn out by the end of the year.
I've also begun checking out a new church plant in the city. I had been going to Open Door Presbyterian Church (which is in suburban Virginia) for the past year, but one of the pastors left to plant a church in downtown DC. I really liked the pastor when he was at ODPC, and I began wanting to go to a church closer to the city so that I could reach out to friends who live in DC and bring them out to church. They do church planting differently than HMCC (the only frame of reference I have when it comes to church planting). If you want to know specifically how they do it here, email me and I can share with you. I'm still undecided if I'm going to stick with the church plant, and I signed up for a small group at my previous church (it's definitely awesome and encouraging to be a part of it). So we'll see what happens.
This was a long long update, and for those of you who've lasted this far, I applaud you. If you haven't reached this point, then you are not my friend. Just kidding.
Shoot me an email, a phone call, or gchat. I'd love to keep in touch with all of you, my dear friends. =)
Showing posts with label church plant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church plant. Show all posts
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Separatism and Missions
As the struggle for Iran's political future continues, albeit largely overshadowed by the media's saturated coverage of Michael Jackson's death, there's another struggle that is bursting at the seams of another authoritarian government. In Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Uyghur minorities are taking to the streets in Urumqi and Kashgar to voice their displeasure against the communist government. Theirs is a long and tense history fueled by racism and brutality from both sides. In order to keep stability at all costs, the Chinese government has pulled all the stops by turning off the internet and social networking tools and clamping down on the riots that have already claimed hundreds of lives according to official count.
Media coverage of this new rebellion is hardly as colorful as the Iranian struggle and even the "saffron revolution" in Burma in 2007. Is it because all Uyghurs have been generally portrayed as separatists and terrorists according to China, the United States, and the European Union? Perhaps. But whatever the reason for the limited media coverage on this issue, this recent spade of violence in Xinjiang saddens me on a personal level.
It was only two summers ago that I walked the very streets where blood has been shed these past few days. In the Uyghur sections of Urumqi and Kashgar, my team and I snapped photos, talked with locals, and even shared the gospel of Jesus Christ. The smell of fresh naan and lamb meat is still freshly vivid as is the signs of decay in the shanties. Children played with plastic bottles in lieu of toys, unemployed men loitered around the local mosques, and women covered from head to toe walked down the streets. The people I talked to voiced their displeasure of Americans and of the Han Chinese. They talked about their grievances--of lack of economic opportunities, of limited freedom to worship, of exploitation, of secondary social status, etc. They talked about George Bush and how his wars have only exacerbated their conditions.
These were the people we lived with for three weeks. These people, most of whom had never heard of Jesus Christ, were the ones that God called a team of eleven college and young adults to preach the good news to. These people, whom we had previously never knew existed, would open our eyes to a new world and teach us how much God so loves his people.
But as the state clamps down on these very people we reached out, I often find myself having a very pessimistic view of the situation. The missionary that we worked with in Urumqi had said that one of the main obstacles for Uyghurs to put their trust in God is that there is no viable indigenous churches in Xinjiang. And to make matters worse, the burgeoning underground church movement in China has largely skipped ethnic minorities, especially in the western part of China due to the long and complicated history between the Han majority and their ethnic minority peers. And if race relations between the Hans and Uyghurs continues to escalate into violence, how will the gospel penetrate into this lost people group?
But at the end of the day, I'm reminded that God is the one in charge, not me. My pessimist view on reality is dwarfed by the way God can work in impossible situations. Even in such a tense climate, I'm challenged to have faith that God is at work even when we cannot see it. It just reminds me that I need to be more dilligent in praying for the people that I met and for a local church to grow and reach the lost.
Media coverage of this new rebellion is hardly as colorful as the Iranian struggle and even the "saffron revolution" in Burma in 2007. Is it because all Uyghurs have been generally portrayed as separatists and terrorists according to China, the United States, and the European Union? Perhaps. But whatever the reason for the limited media coverage on this issue, this recent spade of violence in Xinjiang saddens me on a personal level.
It was only two summers ago that I walked the very streets where blood has been shed these past few days. In the Uyghur sections of Urumqi and Kashgar, my team and I snapped photos, talked with locals, and even shared the gospel of Jesus Christ. The smell of fresh naan and lamb meat is still freshly vivid as is the signs of decay in the shanties. Children played with plastic bottles in lieu of toys, unemployed men loitered around the local mosques, and women covered from head to toe walked down the streets. The people I talked to voiced their displeasure of Americans and of the Han Chinese. They talked about their grievances--of lack of economic opportunities, of limited freedom to worship, of exploitation, of secondary social status, etc. They talked about George Bush and how his wars have only exacerbated their conditions.
These were the people we lived with for three weeks. These people, most of whom had never heard of Jesus Christ, were the ones that God called a team of eleven college and young adults to preach the good news to. These people, whom we had previously never knew existed, would open our eyes to a new world and teach us how much God so loves his people.
But as the state clamps down on these very people we reached out, I often find myself having a very pessimistic view of the situation. The missionary that we worked with in Urumqi had said that one of the main obstacles for Uyghurs to put their trust in God is that there is no viable indigenous churches in Xinjiang. And to make matters worse, the burgeoning underground church movement in China has largely skipped ethnic minorities, especially in the western part of China due to the long and complicated history between the Han majority and their ethnic minority peers. And if race relations between the Hans and Uyghurs continues to escalate into violence, how will the gospel penetrate into this lost people group?
But at the end of the day, I'm reminded that God is the one in charge, not me. My pessimist view on reality is dwarfed by the way God can work in impossible situations. Even in such a tense climate, I'm challenged to have faith that God is at work even when we cannot see it. It just reminds me that I need to be more dilligent in praying for the people that I met and for a local church to grow and reach the lost.
Monday, May 19, 2008
To Austin
This past weekend, Pastor Ben, Susan, Isaiah, and several brothers and sisters were commissioned to launch a church plant at the heart of the University of Texas in Austin. Most of them left after Sunday Celebration yesterday for their new home down south. It's kind of surreal to think that some of these guys that I've known for some years now are no longer nearby. I guess that's what happens when close friends and people you serve alongside for years are gone from your life.
Though I am a bit sad that I won't be seeing these guys anymore, at least not in the near future, I'm more excited to see what God is gonna do in Texas. We're living in an exciting chapter in our lives when the possibilities seem endless and God is moving people towards their destinies. For these brothers and sisters, their short-term future lies in Austin, laying down the foundations for the body of Christ that desires to extend Christ love to unreached people at UT. And though I will not be readily connected to the HMCC family upon my departure to Washington D.C., I hope to hear stories of God's faithfulness and power demonstrated through this church plant.
So to the brothers and sisters of this team, I've been blessed to have known you (some better than others). But regardless of the nature of our relationship, I've been thoroughly encouraged and inspired by you all through the years of serving together in building up the body of Christ in Ann Arbor. And now as you have gone to fulfill the destiny that God has given you, I'm looking forward to hearing magnificent testimonies from you all. Whether you plant your roots in Austin or go on to bigger things for God elsewhere in America and/or the world, I hope that we can still be connected through whatever means available.
I hope to visit Austin one of these days, and so if I do make it out there, I'll be looking forward to some porterhouse steaks. And if, for whatever reason, you come out to Washington D.C., you'll have a friend to call out.
God bless, and I'll be praying for you guys.
Though I am a bit sad that I won't be seeing these guys anymore, at least not in the near future, I'm more excited to see what God is gonna do in Texas. We're living in an exciting chapter in our lives when the possibilities seem endless and God is moving people towards their destinies. For these brothers and sisters, their short-term future lies in Austin, laying down the foundations for the body of Christ that desires to extend Christ love to unreached people at UT. And though I will not be readily connected to the HMCC family upon my departure to Washington D.C., I hope to hear stories of God's faithfulness and power demonstrated through this church plant.
So to the brothers and sisters of this team, I've been blessed to have known you (some better than others). But regardless of the nature of our relationship, I've been thoroughly encouraged and inspired by you all through the years of serving together in building up the body of Christ in Ann Arbor. And now as you have gone to fulfill the destiny that God has given you, I'm looking forward to hearing magnificent testimonies from you all. Whether you plant your roots in Austin or go on to bigger things for God elsewhere in America and/or the world, I hope that we can still be connected through whatever means available.
I hope to visit Austin one of these days, and so if I do make it out there, I'll be looking forward to some porterhouse steaks. And if, for whatever reason, you come out to Washington D.C., you'll have a friend to call out.
God bless, and I'll be praying for you guys.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Incarnational
People at HMCC have heard this term so much in the past couple of years. Leaders are beat over the head with this terminology without allowing for the meaning to settle in and register. I wonder how many of the leaders and, consequently, the members of the church fully understand what it means to be incarnational in ministry. The term, still not officially a word in the dictionary by the way, is veiled in mystery and vagueness that is loosely thrown out by everyone and anyone.
I wonder if there is one concrete definition of the term. Regardless, I've recently begun reading Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz," a book that I kind of pushed aside from reading until now. The prose is surprisingly well-written, and his style engages his audience effectively. In any case, he writes about a story he once heard from someone. I don't remember the exact details of the story, but it dealt with a hostage crisis that lasted a long time. Finally, the U.S. Navy Seals were sent on a covert rescue mission to extract the hostages out. When they got there, the hostages would not budge. The hostages had been subjected to torture and other atrocities which prevented them from trusting these Seals. With time running out and the hostages not responding, one of the Seals took drastic measure to rescue the hostages. He took off his mask and got real close to the hostages, close enough that the hostages would feel their humanity. With that, the hostages slowly warmed up, and soon enough, they were out of their.
To me, this pretty much encapsulates the word, "incarnational." It is to remove any barrier to the people and allow them to see Christ's humanity through your humanity. It is to be close to the people for them to experience Christ through you.
I wonder if there is one concrete definition of the term. Regardless, I've recently begun reading Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz," a book that I kind of pushed aside from reading until now. The prose is surprisingly well-written, and his style engages his audience effectively. In any case, he writes about a story he once heard from someone. I don't remember the exact details of the story, but it dealt with a hostage crisis that lasted a long time. Finally, the U.S. Navy Seals were sent on a covert rescue mission to extract the hostages out. When they got there, the hostages would not budge. The hostages had been subjected to torture and other atrocities which prevented them from trusting these Seals. With time running out and the hostages not responding, one of the Seals took drastic measure to rescue the hostages. He took off his mask and got real close to the hostages, close enough that the hostages would feel their humanity. With that, the hostages slowly warmed up, and soon enough, they were out of their.
To me, this pretty much encapsulates the word, "incarnational." It is to remove any barrier to the people and allow them to see Christ's humanity through your humanity. It is to be close to the people for them to experience Christ through you.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Church Planting
All the years since AMI was formed, I had heard the idea of church planting so often. And I can honestly say that I didn't fully understand why AMI chose to focus so much on planting churches as a means of doing missions. It's not that I didn't believe in it. It's just that I couldn't really see it. I had no basis to concretely put church planting as an important means to further the work of Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice for the nations.
This past summer, I had the opportunity to go to a second summer missions trip with HMI. Three summers after my first trip to Cambodia and Thailand, I thought that this was the best time to go abroad once more to solidify a burden for missions work in Asia. We went to China not knowing what type of ministry that our team would be participating in and/or how everything would look like when we got to the field. But when we got there and got involved with the ministry that the local missionaries were participating in, especially the work in western China, the correlation of church planting and missions became clearer.
Where we stayed, there were no signs of a viable disciple-making indigenous community of believers. In a region where there are only a few hundred believers scattered among a population of ten million, the lack of a viable church became a stumbling block for at least a few people we met and shared the Gospel with. For them, their religious identity was tied in with their ethnic identity, that it was hard for them to accept the Truth. They had never met anyone in their own community who chose to believe in Jesus Christ, and therefore, they could not, in their conscience, choose to abandon what they had grown up with.
It is in this environment that missionaries we interacted with gave us a picture of what AMI had been reiterating over and over again. AMI's paradigm for missions work is to send out kingdom workers (foreign missionaries) to places in order to plant churches that'll raise up indigenous workers who can reach out to their own people group. I'm beginning to understand how church planting fits into the global perspective of missions, and perhaps this is how I will be involved in one form or another in participating in world missions, to be a part of a team of church planters who will go and start something.
This past summer, I had the opportunity to go to a second summer missions trip with HMI. Three summers after my first trip to Cambodia and Thailand, I thought that this was the best time to go abroad once more to solidify a burden for missions work in Asia. We went to China not knowing what type of ministry that our team would be participating in and/or how everything would look like when we got to the field. But when we got there and got involved with the ministry that the local missionaries were participating in, especially the work in western China, the correlation of church planting and missions became clearer.
Where we stayed, there were no signs of a viable disciple-making indigenous community of believers. In a region where there are only a few hundred believers scattered among a population of ten million, the lack of a viable church became a stumbling block for at least a few people we met and shared the Gospel with. For them, their religious identity was tied in with their ethnic identity, that it was hard for them to accept the Truth. They had never met anyone in their own community who chose to believe in Jesus Christ, and therefore, they could not, in their conscience, choose to abandon what they had grown up with.
It is in this environment that missionaries we interacted with gave us a picture of what AMI had been reiterating over and over again. AMI's paradigm for missions work is to send out kingdom workers (foreign missionaries) to places in order to plant churches that'll raise up indigenous workers who can reach out to their own people group. I'm beginning to understand how church planting fits into the global perspective of missions, and perhaps this is how I will be involved in one form or another in participating in world missions, to be a part of a team of church planters who will go and start something.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
