(The word of the Lord grew in power)
"In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. (Acts 19:20)
Preface
During the preparation of the 2004 Founders Day Mark Yang wrote the history of planting chapters in Seoul, which took him several months. At that time he was in charge of the An Am chapter in Seoul, Korea. Joseph Ahn in Chicago joined him in his endeavor and worked with him for a month. Its brief version was presented during the Founders Day. This is the unabridged version. Mark Yang raised many chapter directors and missionaries. He passed his leadership to Moses Kim and came to Chicago in 2006. He serves many brothers and sisters throughout the world through Bible study.Contents
Introduction- The motive of Seoul pioneering
- Mother Barry’s English Bible study
- Birth place of history, 37 Hyojae-dong street
- Bible Korea
- World Mission
Introduction
Last year from early UBF history written by Shepherd Joshua Lee, we learned gospel faith and missionary spirit of the pioneering ancestors. His book clearly explored what ignited UBF history covering 1961-1965.
The early UBF history laid the foundation for gospel faith based on the word of God. For 11 years, 1966-1976, Seoul pioneering laid the foundation for Bible Korea and World Mission. It was a crucially important period in which UBF became nationalized and furthermore, globalized. During this period, Daily Bread, Bible lectures, student fellowship meetings, ministry of raising Bible teachers and 1:1 ministry began. During this period, World Mission also moved toward the world power nations such as West Germany and the United States. The history of Seoul pioneering covers the period marked by Mother Barry leaving for Seoul in 1966 and Dr. Samuel Lee leaving for the USA in 1976. This time we want to review how Dr. Samuel Lee's intensive personal Bible study and Mother Barry's English Bible study laid the firm foundation for Bible Korea and World Mission. Furthermore, we want to review how our discipleship ministry of raising spiritual leaders one by one was established, and how World Mission work advanced to other nations including West Germany and the United States.
I. The motive of Seoul pioneering
According to Dr. John Jun, who was one of the UBF pioneers, Kwangju UBF began to pray for Seoul pioneering in 1964, after pioneering Jeju. Prior to Seoul pioneering, the main prayer topic was the phrase, "Let's go to Seoul, then to Southeast Asia." They believed that when they pioneered Seoul National University, the top university of Korea, they could pioneer all the colleges of Korea as well as Southeast Asia. All the brothers and sisters in Kwangju prayed for Seoul pioneering day and night for two years. Seoul pioneering was possible because of their constant crying out prayer. For Seoul pioneering, they wrote thousands of letters to support the brothers and sisters in Seoul.
Seoul pioneering began with the high school students in Kwangju who entered colleges in Seoul. These students returned to Kwangju during their vacation to study the Bible and during the school terms, Dr. Samuel Lee visited Seoul every month throughout the year of 1965 to take care of them. From the spring semester of 1966, Mother Barry, who had been pioneering Daejun was sent ahead to pioneer Seoul. Dr. John Jun, a senior Medical School student, also visited Seoul during his summer vacation and participated in Seoul pioneering. In addition, Shepherdesses Sunji Jun and Esther Chung served Seoul pioneering so sacrificially. Soon after, in the fall semester 1966, Dr. Lee finally arrived in Seoul. The first place of Seoul pioneering was on the 2nd Floor of the Yellow Building located at 25 Hyojae-dong Street. It was near the SNU College of Medicine, College of Liberal Arts and Science, Fine Arts College, and the College of Law. There were so many letters sent to this location not only from Kwangju but also from other local chapters that mail arrived even just with the address, "2nd Floor of the Yellow Building of Hyojae-dong street."
Dr. Lee was determined to pioneer SNU from the beginning. At the beginning, he talked with Dr. Wonsul Lee, who was his closest friend. At that time, Dr. Wonsul Lee had received a Ph. D. in history from the USA and was working as a professor at Kyunghee University (Later, Dr. Wonsul Lee became the vice-president of Kyunghee University and president of Hannam University). He advised Dr. Samuel Lee, "Although you were successful in a campus movement in Kwangju, you cannot pioneer SNU, for these students are too sophisticated for country people who only teach the Bible. Do not even dream about it. Large churches, such as the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church built big buildings beside the SNU campus, but these buildings are now empty. Don't try in vain. I'll introduce you a job." However, Dr. Lee believed in the power of God's word absolutely. He had experienced the power of God's word to conquer the hearts of the students in Kwangju and he believed that the word of God would change the students of SNU too. When Dr. Lee taught the Bible to the SNU students, they accepted the word of God and many were changed. In this way, innumerable SNU shepherds were raised. Furthermore, they were sent out to pioneer the colleges in Seoul, in Korea and in the whole world. It was a miracle. God blessed SNU pioneering through one man who had absolute faith in the power of God's word. God performed a miracle.
II. Mother Barry's English Bible study
Mother Barry began to teach the English Bible from 8 to 9 every morning. Fishing ministry began by distributing flyers to introduce English Bible study. It read, "Come and See! Free English Bible Study! Lecturer: Missionary Sarah Barry from the USA." This English Bible study continued for 11 years until 1977 when Mother Barry left for the United States. At that time, English Bible study delivered by Mother Barry was very popular among the SNU students. Through this meeting, innumerable SNU students came and went and were fed with the word of God, enabled to grow.
Once Shepherd Paul Rhee (Jinhee Rhee) was attending Suhdaemoon Church and happened to listen to a sermon delivered by Mother Barry. He was greatly moved to see Mother Barry speak a perfect Korean with a Mississippi accent. Like first disciples of Jesus, he asked her, "Teacher, where are you staying?" Then the place he visited was the 2nd Floor of this Yellow Building. He then brought his hometown friend, Mark Yang to English Bible study. This was April 1966, when SNU pioneering just began.
Dr. James (Hyunbae) Kim, a medical student of SNU and Dr. Yoonsook Choi (Yoonsook Nam), Sarah Kim (Saeeun Oh), Joy Rhee(Chunsook Ku), medical students of Korea University, all heard Mother Barry teach English Bible at their medical circle, called MCA (Medical Christian Association).They followed her to UBF and studied the Bible.
Missionary Joseph Ahn, one of the Seoul pioneers and a sophomore of SNU Law School, was in deep despair after losing his father. One day he picked up a flyer. The next day he came to this Yellow Building following the flyer.
Maria Ahn (Chongsook Choo), a student in the Fine Arts College of SNU, David Kim (Kilsoo Kim), a pharmacy student of SNU, Paul B. Lee( Pyungdu Lee), a medical student of SNU, Sarah Kim (Yoonsung Myung), Miso Lee( Younghae Kwak), art students of SNU, etc, attended English Bible study regularly.
Mother Barry's English Bible study gave the light of life to many college students. Not only that, her sacrificial life moved many young people. At that time, most American missionaries lived in on mission compounds and hired maids and chauffeurs and secretaries, living a different life from poor Koreans. The mansion house in front of the 100th Memorial Building of Korean Christianity was the place where American missionaries lived at that time. In contrast with them, Mother Barry lived in a manger like house heated by coal, eating kimchi and soy bean sediment soup. She warmly welcomed those who visited her and listened to their talk, while serving them with tasty coffee. Her humble and sacrificial life was enough to move such proud SNU students. So many students were touched when they heard how this Southern belle gave up all the privileges as the princess of Mississippi and even marriage in order to serve poor Korean students as their shepherd and spiritual mother.
III. Birth place of history, 37 Hyojae-dong street
37 Hyojae-dong street was an unforgettable place in UBF pioneering history. This history officially began when Dr. Samuel Lee moved from Kwangju to Seoul in July 1966. One Friday in the spring of 1967, while the number of students began to increase, Dr. Lee suddenly began tearing down his house with a hammer. One student surprisingly asked, "What are you doing here? Why don't you hire a carpenter rather than doing it by yourself?" Then, he answered, "I am enlarging the space of the room, for it is too small for Sunday worship service." The job seemed to be too big to finish by Sunday. However, on Sunday they were all shocked to find that the wall was completely gone and everything was arranged cleanly. It was beyond the idea of an ordinary man. For the sake of God's work, Dr. Lee was willing to offer his house although it would be inconvenient for his family to enter a small room. Even after that, he moved many times and finally, to 54-2 Hyojae-dong street, where the UBF headquarters are presently located. He offered his house as a mission center when he left for the USA.
Dr. Lee's house, 57 Hyo Jae Dong, was reconstructed to be used as the UBF Center. The roof was low, and had to be propped up by many pillars. Whenever it rained, the roof leaked, so someone had to climb up to repair it. Once there was a really bad odor in the Center. They could not find source. Dr. Samuel Lee was suspicious of Mother Barry, for she was an American and sometimes Americans smell with such an odor. Later, they found that it came from a dead cat. The cat got stuck between beams in the roof and could not get out. So, the rotten cat smelled.
Another problem was the bathroom. It was near the exit. It was an old style bathroom, and the toilet was not a flush toilet. It had to be cleaned with water regularly. Furthermore, it frequently splashed when used, and to avoid getting splashed with unwanted liquid, one had to do a heap dance. Dr. Lee was so nervous whenever the sisters of Korea Medical College, whom he wanted to treat like princesses, went in and out of the toilet room. Dr. Lee dreamed of building a really nice and spacious toilet in the future. When we saw this bathroom, we were reminded of the stable and the manger of Bethlehem, where the Baby Jesus was laid. However, from this place innumerable servants of God were born and the major colleges of Seoul and Korea were pioneered. Furthermore, world mission work officially began with pioneering Germany and the United States.
At that time, Sunday worship service attendants were around 50-60, but according to the seniors who attended this meeting, it was filled with something extraordinary and dynamic, because it burned with the life-giving word of God which could not be found anywhere, with pure love that treated each person more preciously than the whole world, and with pioneering spirit and world mission vision.
The students of those dark times were full of despair, but they were thirsty for the truth. In dark times, the word of God, pure love, pioneering spirit and world mission vision captured their souls. It was the great work of the Holy Spirit. In short, 37 Hyojae-dong was the birth place of a new history. Today we can see that intensive Bible study, disciple training and world mission vision laid the firm foundation for Bible Korea and World Mission. In fact, Bible Korea and World Mission were so closely intertwined as to be inseparable. However, for the sake of deeper understanding, we will think about Bible Korea and World Mission separately.
IV. Bible Korea
(1) Dr. Samuel Lee's intensive personal Bible study
First, Daily Bread writing
As the work of God expanded, Dr. Lee studied the Bible more intensively. He understood that most church going Koreans were Sunday Christians. They did not practice and obey the word of God in their daily lives. Dr. Lee had a sense of problem. He realized that a guide book was needed that could help one to struggle with the word of God and put it into practice. So Dr. Lee began to write the Daily Bread book from March 1, 1968. It required a bloody struggle, because this was the first time he had done anything like this. Dr. Lee wrote Daily Bread from 8 a.m. to 12 noon every day for 9 years until he completed the whole Bible. No matter what might happen, he never missed writing the Daily Bread. His soul was always filled with the word of God and so he enjoyed singing hymn 353 which reads, "Lord, take my all, the gift is small for Thee, for Thee; What hast thou done, O Blessed One, for me, for me. What hast thou done O Blessed One for me for me."
In the course of writing the Daily Bread, there was one significant event. A fire broke out in January 1971. One day the weather was so cold that they slept while leaving the kerosene lamp burning on the floor. By accident, in the middle of night, when Dr. Lee opened the door to come out, the lamp fell over and set the house on fire. Dr. Lee put out the fire with his hands. His hands were severely burned, and his face suffered 2 degree burns as well. He was hospitalized to the SNU hospital and experienced the suffering of death whenever the dressing on his hands was changed.
Due to this unbearable suffering, he made and dictated his last will. During the time he was in the hospital, his hands were fastened above his head with straps in the position of surrender. He accepted this as God's training. And he surrendered his life to God. Before this event, the heavy responsibility of UBF ministry gave him such a great burden that he thought about giving up campus mission and turning the leadership of UBF over to someone else. But through this event, he decided to surrender his entire life to God's will to live as a campus shepherd.
The doctors of the SNU hospital suggested that he fix his fingers in a claw-like position, because they thought that he would never have the full use of his hands again. But he refused to do this, and exercise his fingers, even though it was painful. He was convinced that God would restore his hands completely, so that he could write the Daily Bread. He was then transferred to the Christian Hospital in Kwangju where Dr. John Jun, Dr. Joseph Chung, as well as other UBF doctors were working. After 3 weeks, a miracle happened. The dead nerves in his fingers came alive and new muscles began to grow. The doctors agreed that this was the miracle which they could not explain medically. Dr. Lee wore a fashionable mantle, a cape which Missionary Esther Chung made, and returned to Seoul, marching from the Kimpo Airport like a victorious general. All brothers and sisters praised God by singing, "Christian Soldiers." They wholeheartedly welcomed Dr. Lee, and praised God for the great victory. After then, with bandages still on his tender hands, he began to write the daily bread notes. After healing completely, the scars were left on his face and hands and Dr. Lee commented that God drew the world map on it for the sake of world mission.
We realized the importance personal Bible study and began to write Daily Bread and pray based on the word of God. Thus, we could lay the foundation for our independent and personal faith. Even on honeymoons, couples shared their Daily Bread together. Medical students had no time to write Daily Bread, because they had to take an exam almost every day. But one medical student never missed the Daily Bread writing during his 4 years medical school. As a result, on graduation, his Daily Bread notebooks were more than the medical notebooks. Those who were trained to eat Daily Bread faithfully, all survived all kinds of trials and hardships and became the victorious remnants in UBF.
Daily Bread improved thinking and writing skills and enabled Joseph Ahn and Abraham Chung to pass the bar exam. During the fellowship meeting, we shared Daily Bread. Students learned how to take a deep root in the word of God.
The publication of the Daily Bread book was a crucially important event not only in UBF, but also in Korean church history. The Daily Bread made a great contribution even to the Korean church. At that time, there was no guidebook which helped QT and so many bought our Daily Bread book from the bookstore.
Second, Bible Lectures.
Along with the Daily Bread, Dr. Lee also made many Bible teaching materials. They were products of his love of God's word as well as of his broken shepherd heart for the students. Today Bible passage-oriented messages are preferred, but at that time, theme-oriented messages or commentary messages that explain one word by one word, were preferred. However, Dr. Lee developed Bible passage-oriented messages and became a pioneer in Korean church history. Dr. Lee emphasized that the Bible is the book which has unique chemistry. He emphasized that we should study the Bible intensively until we grasped basic chemistry of the Bible. Bethel Seminary in the United States selected his lectures on the book of Romans as a text book of lecture messages.
In January 1968, Shepherd Mark Yang became very tired after serving the gospel work sacrificially during his freshman days. So he wanted to go down to his hometown, Pusan to take a break and review his past life. Since he thought that it was a basic etiquette to say goodbye to Dr. Samuel Lee, he visited him. But Dr. Lee proposed him to study Genesis together. Then, he joined a team of Genesis Bible study together with Joseph Ahn, Maria Ahn, James Kim, Paul Rhee, David Kim, and they began to study Genesis every day. The Genesis Bible study captured their souls. In the bitter cold winter, while Mark Yang was writing a testimony all night in a tent room, he began to think seriously about the meaning of his existence through Genesis 3:9, "Where are you, Adam?" and he, thus, experienced a new birth. The Genesis lectures made in this way worked mightily among those intellectuals who were wandering without knowing the true meaning and purpose of life. We met God, who was very much pleased with his work of creation and said in Genesis 1:31, "It was very good." Accepting our creation by God as very good, many of us could overcome fatalism about our outward appearance and a relativistic inferiority complex arising from a comparison with others. We also discovered the absolute meaning and purpose of our existence by realizing how precious we are in the presence of God. We also met God, who called us to be a blessing through Genesis 12:2. Many of us made decisions to be a blessing. We learned the secret of how to bear God's blessings through the life and faith of Isaac. From God who raised Jacob we learned that true happiness comes from the change in one's inner man rather than through his possessions. Most of all, we learned faith in the providence of God through God who was with Joseph. From Joseph we learned how to overcome our fatalism.
In late 1960's to early 1970's, there were frequent street demonstrations against the military government. The campuses were closed so often and for such a long time. The students were wandering in despair. Dr. Lee could not do anything. But he found the solution in Bible study. In such dark times Dr. Lee concentrated to study the word of God. The classic 7 lectures of Genesis came out in that time. The 7 lectures of Genesis were used as the textbook during Genesis Bible schools. Dr. Lee used the most difficult time not only to dedicate himself to study the Bible but also to let the students study the word of God. As a result, many students studied the Bible more than they studied their school studies.
In the spring of 1972, we rented a Christian hall and had a special Bible school. That year was Kim Illsung's 60th birthday. Everybody was frightened by a rumor that he had bragged that he would celebrate this birthday in Seoul. Dr. Lee opened the Isaiah Bible school with the title, "The Almighty God" to drive out fear from their hearts. He was dressed in traditional Korean clothes and hat as his expression of love for his country. The police attended the Bible school, just in case the students were zealous demonstrators against the military government. Among the policemen who watched over the meeting, one was moved by Dr. Lee's lectures. He then defended and protected the gathering. In this way the wonderful Isaiah Bible lectures were produced. Through this Bible school, we looked up at God who is the sovereign ruler and renewed faith to overcome the world. In addition, we overcame our inner fear and received power to overcome the world.
In 1976, some senior staff shepherds could not bear the strict message training and stood against Dr. Lee. He had a great heartache because of that incident. However, he did not fight them. Instead he went back to intensive Bible study. From this, the second part of the excellent lectures on Mark's gospel was produced. Soon after this event, Dr. Lee went to Germany to help the German missionaries. However, the German director and nurse missionaries did not welcome him because of misunderstanding about the senior staff event. Dr. Lee stayed there for 3 months to help them, sleeping in the train station and eating German sausages every day. He could not do anything. But he went back to the Bible and studied 1 Corinthians chapter 15 with all his heart. Thus, the three masterpieces about the resurrection of Jesus were made in that hard time.
In this way, Dr. Lee wrote many Bible lectures one by one, including John's gospel, Romans, Acts, Exodus, 1 and 2 Samuel, and Epistles in season and out of season. Dr. Lee's love of the Bible and his intensive personal Bible study were indeed the foundation for Bible Korea and World Mission.
Third, "My Life Symposium."
In 1973, Dr. Lee studied John 1:4 and wrote a lecture to help the German missionaries solve their life problem. They were becoming old maids in a foreign country. But they could not go back to Korea to solve their marriage problem. Most of them were under a heavy burden of supporting their parents and siblings in Korea. When Dr. Lee saw their sorrows and agonies, he had a broken shepherd heart for them. Dr. Lee studied and taught John 1:4, "In Him was life and it was the light of life." This one word enlightened their souls to entrust all their life problems to Jesus including that of their families. They also realized that they should not use their lives for themselves, but for the glory of God who is the owner of their lives. Through this, many missionaries found the light of life in Jesus and decided to use their lives as the light for the Gentiles. After then, God blessed their faith and established many house churches. This became the foundation for a German ministry. Since then, life testimony writing began as symposiums titled "My Precious Life." It spread to all UBF around the world. This became the foundation of Bible testimonies and life testimonies today.
Meanwhile, Dr. Lee constantly invented new and creative Bible study methods to plant the word of God in UBF leaders. These included Bible schools, Bible conferences, testimony symposiums, factual Bible study, Bible memorization, dictation of lectures, paraphrasing of epistles, Bible testimonies and life testimonies. His methods of Bible teaching were so creative and diverse that we cannot discuss them all.
(2) Bible conferences
First, Bible schools.
During the vacation, they had various Bible schools such as Genesis, John's gospel, Romans, Samuel, Isaiah, etc. Genesis chapters 1-50 was divided into seven lectures and delivered for one week. Prior to each lecture, notebooks had to be prepared to answer the questions properly. Then someone, who was appointed stood up to answer questions, and a speaker supplemented in it and finally, delivered his lecture. When the Bible school was over, the attendants raised their hands and pledged, "I will tell Joseph's story more than 100 times to my children." Those who listened to these lectures had to write the summaries of lectures 1-7 and submit it to Dr. Lee. Then he gave each person a grade together with his comments about the testimony.
In 1973, they rented the whole campus of Chungshin Girls High School to hold lectures on Genesis, Romans, John's gospel, Acts, etc, and help the students to listen to them. We also had a Romans Bible school for one week in spring or fall every year to learn gospel faith. For this Bible school, leaders prayed day and night and visited new students and contacts only with addresses. Their shoes were worn out and their feet were swollen from walking. Sometimes one would visit his sheep with the spirit of rivalry. Bible speakers were selected by fierce title matches after living and training together in the common life. Potential speakers struggled with a life-giving spirit, thinking that they were going to die, if they lost the title. Through this Bible school, a new history was begun. Laymen and students grew as Bible teachers.
From the beginning, Dr. Lee knew the importance of laymen, and gave his heart to raise students as Bible teachers. The students solved their own problems and grew up as Bible teachers through various Bible schools.
For instance, at the beginning, Dr. James H. Kim was usually appointed as the speaker of lecture 1 during Genesis Bible School. Despite exams on the next day, he prepared and delivered his lecture wholeheartedly in absolute obedience. Through his lecture, "It was very good," he solved his fatalism that he was too tall and his hair was too thin. He grew up as warrior of faith and became a main character in USA pioneering work. Shepherd Mark Yang delivered the lecture of Abraham every time. At the beginning, he thought that he was a man of great faith like Abraham, but as his faith grew, he realized that he was a young and immature man who could not follow the footstep of Abraham by his own strength. Shepherd Paul Rhee usually delivered the lecture on Jacob and through this, his human struggle was changed into a spiritual struggle. By holding and struggling with the word of God, he became a servant of God's word and a pioneer of Kwanak UBF. Especially, he was a manly, fighting and passionate shepherd who served the ministry of SNU Liberal Arts and Science College sacrificially. Shepherdess Yoonsook Choi delivered the lecture of Joseph and through this, she was enabled to overcome her fatalism and live the life of God's providence like Joseph. Shepherd David Kim was full of an inferiority complex because he thought that he was too short and that he lacked leadership. As a result, he had lived a powerless life like a paralytic. However, Dr. Lee trusted him and appointed him as the shepherd of the Thursday Fellowship. He also raised him as a Bible speaker. One day, while Shepherd David was struggling with Mark 2:5, he experienced the fire-like work of the Holy Spirit. He was changed from a powerless paralytic into a powerful servant of God. After graduation from college, he entered the army. At the beginning, when he was called to the Vietnam War, he was so afraid that he cried, holding to Dr. Lee's leg. However, when he arrived in Vietnam, he was appointed a Chaplain's assistant and he visited soldiers on the front line, sometimes in a shower of bullets to preach the gospel. He preached the gospel on the battlefield at the risk of his life. He became a courageous shepherd who taught the Bible, even to his Captain and to other senior officers. His testimony moved many people. He was recognized as a great hero of faith. When he finished his army service and returned from the Vietnam War, Dr. Lee introduced Sarah Kim to him for marriage, saying, "It is custom to give a princess to the hero."
Second, summer Bible conferences.
Until 1970, they had held Bible schools to concentrate on raising Bible teachers, and since 1971, they began to have summer Bible conferences. They held the National Summer Bible Conference at Soongshil University in Seoul with 1,000 attendants from August 3 to 7, 1971. For this conference, each center prepared the world mission dance and began to offer it as 5 loaves and 2 fish of world mission. From this conference also, there was a national prayer topic that in 1981, in 10 years they prayed that God would grant them to have a Niagara Falls Summer Bible Conference with 200 attendants.
All the chapters in Seoul area had the Summer Bible Conference held at Mengbang Elementary School on the East Coast with 300 students. It was a historical conference where they knelt down on the beach to pray for 145 nations. Out of great expectation, they had been preparing this Summer Bible Conference bigger than the Summer Bible Conferences in 1971 and 1972, but they were disappointed at the sudden cancellation of the conference place. As the conference plan was canceled, all the national staff shepherds gathered at Bulkwangdong Education Center to study the book of Acts led by Mother Barry and pray earnestly. They worried that Acts Bible study might be too difficult for the students, but they had conviction that they also could study Acts during that Summer Bible Conference, when they saw young sheep study more diligently. Especially, there was the CBF Summer Bible Conference of Acts Bible study. They could have more conviction about the power of God's word when they saw the children enjoy the lectures on Acts from the beginning to the end. That year it was terribly hot, but all the brothers and sisters prepared the questions of Acts so earnestly despite the hot weather. Through this Bible study, they overcame their vague fear, anxieties, personal sorrow and pain, and they knelt down to engage in united prayer in order to grow as the apostolic and historical figures.
As the number who attended the conferences increased in 1974, the participants were divided into two divisions. They were called Fire Ant Division and Water Ant Division. The Fire Ant Division had 418 attendants from Chongro(277), Dongdaemoon(65), Myungryun(40), Kyungheemoon(36), and Water Ant Division had 163 attendants from Suhdaemoon(81), Hanyang(65), Namsan(17). While this conference was going on, Dr. Lee was away. He attended the Lausanne International Conference in Switzerland at the invitation of his friend, Dr. Paul Little. Staff shepherds had to serve the conference independently. They put their heads into the water jar in front of a pig, confessing, "My elder brother pig, from now on I am going to be independent!" They repented of their dependency upon Dr. Lee and decided to serve the conference independently. They studied the book of Isaiah under the guidance of Mother Barry and established the Isaiah Summer Bible Conference. The theme of Isaiah study was "A Child." Through the fierce title match, layman shepherds such as James Suh, Isaac Kim, John Shin and Peter Song were raised to deliver the main lectures. It was the conference to support Dr. Samuel Lee and the Swiss World Conference. It was also the conference to engage in united prayer every night for the missionaries and their sheep in West Germany and Switzerland.
At this conference there was a contest to retranslate the hymn song, "He will show us the way." Dr. Mark Yoon won the prize. It reads, "He will show us the way in the way we should go. The Swiss Conference is not far away. It is so amazing to see a vision to feed the whole world. What is the work we must do except believing and praying? It is the evidence of resurrection, for we have raised lay man Bible teachers." There were also exhibitions and poetry and art contests after each summer Bible conference. It was like a dream night when all Chongro students shared reading their poems one by one with a dramatic tone. Hyunmo Ku, a student of SNU physics major, got the first prize with the title, "Pain of a truth seeker." We remember that Mother Barry also shared her poem with the title, "High Way" possibly written on the way to the airport. It read, "....the trees are running backward and backward, but world mission is running forward and forward..."
There was the Summer Bible Conference held in Jeju Island in 1975. This conference was held to support Kwanak pioneering. At that time, it was a great encouragement to us, when more than 100 SNU students from Kwanak UBF attended this conference. Although some students attended for the wrong motivethey just wanted to go sight-seeing, Dr. Samuel Lee wholeheartedly delivered the main lectures from John's gospel morning and evening as his prayer for Kwanak pioneering. There were many difficulties during the preparation of this conference. On the way we spent 20 hours to travel. We had to go by train and ship and many people suffered from seasickness. Although the Jeju Conference did not bear fruit as much as they had expected, it was significant, because they visited Jeju, their first mission land by faith and laid the foundation for Kwanak pioneering
Third, memorization contest.
Since 1976 we have memorized 1 Corinthian 15 every Easter. For this memorization, someone read 100 times, and wives memorized the copy on the wall while they were working in the kitchen. After memorization, all leaders gathered together, and then, one by one knelt on the floor and began to recite with his pledge, "I pray that I want to take out the elements of death rooted deeply in my heart through this recitation and live the life of victory by resurrection faith." Then all responded with saying, "Amen!" After then, we memorized the gospel key verses and Hebrew 11, the faith chapter.
(3) Discipleship Ministry
Although Jesus taught a large crowd of people the word of God, he mainly concentrated on a discipleship ministry. Discipleship ministry is the flower of the gospel ministry. Dr. Lee imitated Jesus' discipleship ministry. He didn't want mass evangelism, but gave his heart instead to raising a few dedicated disciples of Jesus. Because of this, although the founder of UBF passed away, UBF ministry has not dwindled, but has stood firm and even grown. Dr. Lee called UBF the spiritual academy to raise the spiritual generals, and he also called himself a sergeant to train generals. They were willing to receive any training under a sergeant out of the desire to be spiritual generals. In this way, discipleship ministry was accomplished in different ways.
First, good shepherd.
Discipleship ministry came from one's shepherd heart to help one person. Dr. Lee helped his sheep in different ways. Sometimes he was like a gentle and delicate mother, and other times he was like a strict father. He loved each person personally as if he or she were the only person in the world.
When Dr. Lee saw Shepherdess Yoonsook Choi suffering from an inferiority complex of being too tall, he said, "It is very good that Yoonsook is very tall." He also encouraged her to have a broad and big heart as much as she was tall. When he also saw her suffering from fatalism and on the verge of falling into depression like her mother, he appointed her as the only speaker among women to deliver Genesis lecture 7. It was to plant Joseph's faith in God in her heart. He helped her to establish a house church with Shepherd Samuel Choi, a father-like man, full of love and compassion.
Missionary Joseph Ahn was in deep despair after losing both parents. He came to Mother Barry's English Bible study and studied the English Bible for 1 year, but disappeared for a while. Dr. Lee sent Esther Chung to find him. She found him, and Dr. Lee invited him to live in his house for 6 months. When he finished the army, Dr. Lee introduced him to Maria Ahn for marriage. Humanly speaking, it was impossible, because he was a homeless orphan and she was the first daughter of a chief judge. Her mother was reluctant to accept Joseph Ahn, saying that he was so poor and skinny like chopsticks. But Dr. Lee defended, saying, "If he took off his clothes you could see his strong belly muscles." She finally consented. In this way his marriage became possible. Dr. Lee helped each person to the end until his life problems were solved and he or she could grow as a useful servant of God.
Second, fellowship meetings.
From the fall of 1968, fellowship meetings began. Dr. Lee noticed that Seoul was different from the other provinces, and SNU students were so intellectual that they liked to write their thoughts. They were very individualistic, so they liked to speak from what was written. A fellowship meeting was established for each school. The Tuesday Fellowship was for the Medical and Dental School; the Wednesday Fellowship for the college of Liberal Arts and Science, and the Law School; the Thursday Fellowship for the Art School and Pharmacy School. A leader and a coworker were appointed for each fellowship. The leader, coworker and students served each fellowship voluntarily. The fellowship leader delivered the message prior to the meeting and all students shared their Daily Bread. The fellowships competed with each other, so everyone worked hard. After the meeting, Dr. Lee gave them announcements and prayer topics. The time of announcements was the most joyful and inspiring time, because it planted the word of God in their deep souls.
The fellowship meetings contributed a lot to raise leaders. The early fellowship leaders were Dr. James Kim for the Tuesday Fellowship, Shepherd Paul Lee for the Wednesday Fellowship, Shepherd David Kim for the Thursday Fellowship, and Shepherd Mark Yang for the Friday Fellowship. Through the fellowship meetings, the stewards of each college were raised. SNU Medical College: James Kim, James Suh, Paul B. Lee, Augustine Sohn, Paul Koh; SNU Dental College: Samuel Choi, Samuel Zun; SNU Law College: Joseph Ahn, Isaac Kim, Abraham Chung; SNU Art College: Maria Ahn, Sarah Kim, Miso Lee, Eunjoo Chung; SNU Liberal Arts and Science: Paul Rhee, Mark Yang, Abraham Lee, Elijabeth Chung, Helen Kim; SNU Pharmacy College: David Kim, James Chung; SNU Business College: Mark Yoon, John Kim; SNU Engineering College: Jimmy Lee; SNU Music College: Lydia Koh, Daniel Park, David Hong; SNU Nursing College: Sweety Rhee, Sarah B. Choi, Pauline Park, Ruth Yoon; Korea Medical College: Yoonsook Choi, Sarah Kim (Saeeun Oh), Joy Rhee, Kyunghee Suh, Theresa Kim, Hannah Zun; Hongik Art College: Anna Yang; Sookmyung University: Miri Ahn, Rebecca Kim; Sungshim Women College: Jaeeun Cho; NMC: Grace Yoon, Gloria Choo, Deborah Lee, etc. They became the precious remnants in Seoul pioneering.
One remarkable thing here was that medical students served gospel ministry so sacrificially. The busiest people are the medical students. But many medical students in UBF offered their time, money and hearts to God and served God most sacrificially.
Third, raising Bible teachers.
Dr. Lee put great effort in raising Bible teachers. Today it's natural for laymen to teach the Bible or deliver sermons, but at that time, this was unacceptable. Not only this, it was exceptional that students taught the Bible and became speakers during the Bible school. One theology professor rebuked the students severely, "Even I don't teach the Bible, but you students dare to teach the Bible!" However, the theology professor did not teach the Bible, for he had no faith, but the students taught the Bible, for they had faith. Although they did not know the Bible much, like a blind beggar of John 9, they taught by faith based on one thing they knew. God blessed their faith and performed the great work of God.
Fourth, one to one Bible study
One to one Bible study was the basic foundation for our ministry. 1960-1970 was the period in which mass media was emphasized, but individual personality was ignored. In this atmosphere they tried to avoid group Bible study and concentrate on one to one Bible study in order to imitate Jesus, who treated one soul more preciously than the whole world. But one to one Bible study did not start from the beginning. Until 1968, they had engaged in group Bible study on the campus with the question papers made by Mother Barry, who was the master of inductive Bible study. The question paper was composed of three steps; first, reading; second, thinking; third, acting. Since the genesis lectures were published, one to one Bible study began with dictation of the lectures. But one person resisted the dictation Bible study. Finally, he was persuaded to do it anyway. He did it, but with much body twisting and a frowning face. However, when he finished the dictation, he said, "It is quite good!" and he returned home, filled with joy. After this, we studied by personally paraphrasing the Epistles, and using these paraphrases to answer letters sent from local the provinces including Kwangju. This became the foundation for testimony writing. Since around 1969, question papers like today's had been made and used for one to one Bible study.
One to one Bible studies emerged in 1969 and became the foundation of UBF disciple-raising ministry. Although they did not know the Bible much, if they studied one lecture, they taught that lecture with absolute obedience. When the students did not accept their teaching, they rebuked them with great authority.
For instance, Pastor Abraham K. Lee, a freshman of SNU was greatly moved by his first Bible study. He soon volunteered to be a campus Bible teacher. He was teaching his sheep Genesis 1:2, "...the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Here the word "spirit" also means "shoes" in Korean. So he taught his sheep confidently that the huge shoes of God were floating on the sea just like Ship Pueblo anchoring on the East Sea at that time. When his sheep began to shake his head, he rebuked him, saying, "Why don't you accept it?"
Once, while Shepherdess Sarah Kim was leading the Bible study, Miso Lee was moved by the word of God, "What is your name?" and continually attended the Bible study. She also attended the Genesis lectures delivered by Dr. Samuel Lee and experienced that the light of God was shining brightly in the darkness. Especially, she was moved by Abraham, who lived according to the word of God and she decided to live according to the word of God and began to be a shepherd of God's flock. One day, while she was visiting a sheep who was living in a dormitory, a fire broke out. When she jumped down from the 5th story to the 3rd story, she injured her feet. Through this event, her faith grew strong and later, she established a staff shepherd family with Shepherd Daniel Lee. They pioneered Namsan UBF in 1973.
Dr. James Kim was helping Dr. James Suh through one to one Bible study in a lecture room of SNU Medical School. Suddenly Dr. Suh told him that he was going to stop his Bible study because of the heavy burden of medical study. Then, Dr. Kim severely rebuked him, saying, "You are a man who has no sense of history." Dr. Suh accepted his rebuking humbly and continued one to one Bible study. Later, he became a professor in medical school, a fruitful shepherd for the medical students, director of Kyungsung Chapter, and president of the board of elders in Korean UBF.
Dr. Samuel Choi invited all the students of SNU Dental School to one to one Bible study except one person, Sam Zun. Samuel Choi did not invite him, because he looked like an easy-going person without a sense of problem. One day Sam Zun visited Samuel Choi, protesting, "Why did you invite everyone but me to Bible study?" This way they began one to one Bible study. Through this, Dr. Sam Zun changed to a man of good heart and later, became a staff shepherd to pioneer Cincinnati UBF.
This kind of one to one Bible study fired on every campus, beginning with SNU Medical School and Korea Medical School. In this way the word of God gained power and spread mightily to pioneer all SNU campuses.
Fifth, staff shepherd training.
Dr. Lee gave his heart to staff shepherd training. His prayer topic was for each staff shepherd to be a great servant of God's word and a good shepherd for God's flock. The staff shepherd training was high level, for a staff shepherd must be a spiritual general to raise spiritual leaders. For this, various creative methods were applied. All of Dr. Lee's training came from the word of God. Through intensive personal Bible study, Dr. Lee received wisdom and shepherd heart to train the staff shepherds.
Once in early Seoul pioneering, all staff shepherds had to wear black glasses although they had good eyes, in order that they might look intellectual. Even one shepherdess bride appeared in a wedding hall with her black glasses. Another time, Dr. Lee suddenly ordered that staff shepherds had to bring all the note books of 1 year's Daily Bread and factual Bible study of Acts. He weighed them, scoring the weight and published each rank in the UBF newspaper. Those who belonged to the highest rank were awarded a scholarship. On the other hand, those who were negligent were sent walking to Soowon. This was the origin of Skokie training. Another memorable activity was called the "Looking at the morning stars movement." It was during the study of 1 and 2 Chronicles. The two books were divided into major and minor titles. The names of all the kings were memorized along with the years they reigned. The staff shepherds took a test each following morning at 5 AM. Thus it was rightly called Looking at the morning stars movement.'
Among all staff shepherds, Shepherd Joshua Lee, Moses Kim and Mark Yang received the most training. Since Joshua Lee did not accept the word of God, but rejected it like a bouncing ball. So he received "ball bouncing" training. He had to run around the playgrounds, shouting, "Do not bounce! Let's accept the word of God!" To break off his strong ego and pride, he also received another training. Through this training, he was remolded into a man of humility and obedience. He revived Kwangju UBF greatly and became a great servant of God.
Shepherd Moses Kim often skipped Daily Bread writing. As a result, he had to go to the public grave yard at Bulkwang-dong Education Center during the cold winter and shout from 1 PM to 11 PM, "Let's write Daily Bread without skipping!" Since his notes of Acts factual Bible study scaled under-weight, he received diving training 50 times in the swimming pool outside Bulkwang-dong Education Center. That's not all. Since he was too good-minded, he had to stab a bundle of straw with a knife. He also received the training of cultivating the flower of chrysanthemum during winter. Because of this intensive training, he has kept God's ministry in the midst of storm's attack. He was like an immovable rock. In addition, he has served all kinds of menial jobs in UBF all by himself, and he, thus, became a great servant of God.
Shepherd Mark Yang served Sunday worship service as a doorman. He also had to clean the toilets, especially the lady's toilet and do all kinds of the menial jobs. After Sunday worship service, he had to listen to Dr. Lee's message by recorder all night, in order to dictate, print and distribute the manuscript. As a result, his arms grew very strong and thick like a wrestler, and he became the champion in arm wrestling competition during the staff conference. He was weak and feeble both physically and mentally like a sick-chick, for he grew up as the only son of a widow. Dr. Lee loved him like his own son. He, thus, depended on Dr. Lee as his own father. Dr. Lee knew this and so he trained him so harshly sometimes in order to take out a spirit of dependency. He received all kinds of training for more than 10 years. Through this, he could grow as an independent and strong warrior of faith. All this training also became the foundation for him to grow as an outstanding servant of God's word. When Dr. Samuel Lee and Mother Barry moved to the USA, he was appointed as the director of the Bible study committee. In order to oversee this work, he slept 4 hours a day for several years so that he could engage in intensive Bible study. As a result, his ministry grew and reached 500 Sunday worship attendants. He became the best messenger trainer and trained all intern shepherds as well as staff group Bible study.
In this way, those who received Dr. Lee's training pioneered Dongdaemoon, Suhdaemoon, Myungryoon, Hanyang, Nansan UBF, etc. After 1976, Anam UBF pioneered Korea University, Yonhee UBF pioneered Yonsei and Ewha University, and Hanyang UBF pioneered Hanyang University.
Sixth, missionary candidate training.
The first missionary candidate training began with Inkyung Suh (Mary Song of New York), Whaja Lee and Donglan Suhl for one week, before they were sent to West Germany. They received Daily Bread training and German study training. American missionary candidates gathered every day to memorize the whole English textbook of Middle and High School. Missionary candidate training focused on developing the responsibility over one chapter or one nation in the future mission field. For this, they received basic training and spiritual training in various ways. Brothers received Daily Bread training and English training along with Taekwondo and boxing training. They often had boxing competitions in front of sisters in order to increase their fighting spirit. They fought fiercely until their noses bled. One brother was too weak and had no spirit, although he was a brother, and so he received training to cut tofu with his bare hands. In addition, they received walking training to the airport or to Soowon many times. They also received dead dog training not to excuse or insist his own ideas, but to obey God's will absolutely. It was because a living dog barks loudly, but a dead dog never barks although it is kicked this way and that.
Those who received this kind of strong training became fruitful missionaries and precious remnants. Dr. Paul Hong became a professor of Toledo University and an influential shepherd to take care of many American students. He remains as a remnant of old Suhdaemoon UBF. Missionary Jacob Lee pioneered Maryland University and became a fruitful shepherd by raising many American shepherds. He remains as a remnant of old Kyungheemoon UBF. Missionary Wesley Yoon remains as a remnant of old Dongdarmoon UBF and Missionary Isaac Kim in Akron remains as a remnant of old Myungryun UBF.
Sister missionary candidates lived common life on the top of Naksan, eating only tiny salted shrimp and taking English tests every day after memorizing 100 words. They also received training of dressing in a light black skirt and white blouse in order to concentrate on training only, not on outer-appearances. In short, this was called Baekdu Mountain training. At that time, Shepherdess Grace Yoon was in charge of this.
Seventh, raising women staff shepherds.
1960-1970 Korea was largely dominated by Confucianism. It was a male dominated society with no place for women. But it was amazing that Dr. Lee treated Christian sisters preciously like princesses and loved them as his own daughters. Not only that, he helped them, whoever had faith, faithfulness and ability, to be used in God's work preciously. It's amazing that several women were raised as full time staff shepherds.
Missionary Maria Ahn lacked nothing as an art student of SNU and a daughter of a chief judge. Her father graduated from Waseida Law School in Japan and became the chief judge in the High Court of Justice. However, she was not satisfied with such a rich life. In her freshman year, she met Jesus through Bible study, and her life view and value system completely changed. She began to love Jesus with all her heart and mind, and serve the gospel ministry faithfully. Then, she was severely persecuted and violently beaten by her father because of her faith. However, her devotion to Jesus never changed. Rather, through this persecution her faith took a deeper root and grew more. In the midst of her persecution, Dr. Lee never sympathized with her, but he helped her to overcome her persecution by relying upon God and not upon him. She, thus, could grow as a heroine of faith. After graduation, she really wanted to be a full-time staff shepherd. But Dr. Lee had no intention to raise women staff shepherds. However, Maria Ahn was determined. So Dr. Lee allowed her to pioneer Chongro Graduate Fellowship. God worked mightily and her fellowship became the largest one. It took over the financial support of UBF. It also became the headquarters of missionary training. It became the foundation for today's Chongro ministry. Personally she rejected many promising judges and prosecutors as her marriage candidates and instead, by faith she established God's family with Joseph Ahn. After then, Maria Ahn served God's work in Korea and Joseph Ahn worked overseas as a diplomat. So they had to be separated for 10 years like Altair and Vega. It was a historical event in UBF world mission work.
Then, Shepherdess Sarah Kim followed pioneering Chongro 3rd Graduate Chapter as a full-time staff shepherd. She established Yonhee UBF together with Shepherd David Kim. Shepherdess Anna Yang also followed pioneering Chongro 4th Chapter as a full-time staff shepherd. She established Anam UBF together with Shepherd Mark Yang.
Shepherdess Sarah Kim started her life of faith from the winter of her freshman year, when she received God's calling, "You will be a blessing" moved by Dr. Lee's Genesis lecture. She gave good influence by serving God's work so faithfully from early morning until late evening, while she attended UBF from over one hour distance. It was not easy for her to sacrifice her life as an art student of SNU, for she was pretty, romantic and multi-talented. However, she became a fruitful mother of nations. Especially, every year she served Christmas drama sacrificially. In 1976, God blessed her to establish a staff shepherd family with David Kim and raised innumerable shepherds and missionaries through pioneering Yonsei and Ewha University.
Shepherdess Anna Yang was very sorrowful and fatalistic, when she was born as a second daughter instead of a son. During her childhood, he lost her father in the Korean War. But during the Genesis Bible school, she overcame her fatalism by Genesis 1:31, "It was very good." She was also sorrowful when she tried to receive human love and recognition from Dr. Lee, comparing herself with Maria Ahn and Sarah Kim. But she overcame her sorrow when she made a decision to serve others instead of being served based on Mark 10:45. After then, she visited Lydia Koh every day to teach the Bible. Later, she became an ancestor of SNU Music School. She served God with all her heart and mind and became a fruitful shepherdess. Especially, she became the shepherd for all music students and offered many music students to God as fruit.
Shepherdess Helen Kim became a full -time staff shepherd in Kwanak pioneering in 1975. Kwanak UBF was separated from Chongro UBF in 1975, when SNU moved to Kwanak. Dr. Lee visited Kwanak center every weekend and served the testimony sharing meeting in order to support Kwanak pioneering. He did this more than 2 years until he left for the USA. Because of coworking between Shepherd Paul Lee and Helen Kim, many sacrificial missionaries were raised from Kwanak UBF. Many times Dr. Lee said, "Kwanak offered even the base of a pillar for world mission work."
Seventh, house churches
As God's ministry grew, we realized that it was very important for the students to marry by faith and establish house churches. No matter how great one's faith might be during his college days, we realized that his faith does not grow unless he establishes a mission-centered family of God. Since most student organizations established families through love marriages rather than through Bible-centered marriages, they failed. Dr. Lee had a sense of this problem. He trained brothers to see sisters with a pure heart. For example, brothers had to call women elder sisters despite the age, even if they belonged to the same year, and women also had to call those who were older in years, elder brothers. Furthermore, Dr. Lee helped them to overcome the Confucian culture, which looks down upon women. He also helped them to treat women preciously as the future mothers of faith. Through this, they were able to overcome romantic feelings which were easily indulged between man and woman. In this way they were able to establish the mission-centered house church based on Genesis chapters 2 and 24.
The first house church in UBF was established between Dr. Joseph Chung and Missionary Esther Chung in 1970. As a medical student of Chonnam University, Joseph Chung was extremely poor and enjoyed smoking cigarette stubs. In addition, he talked about worldly philosophy, watched third class movies and hung around on street corners. On the other hand, Esther Chung grew up under a noble family and graduated with a degree in costume design at Chosun University. She was teaching as a college professor. At the beginning, Esther Chung considered herself better than Joseph Chung. She thought that marrying him would be a losing business. But she overcame her human thinking and established the first blessed house church by obedient faith. After then, she helped him to grow up to be president of UBF international and a board certified pediatrician and the UBF saint.
The second house church was established between Dr. John Jun and Shepherdess Sunji Jun. John Jun was working as an intern of the Christian Hospital in Kwangju after graduation of Chonnam Medical School. Dr. Samuel Lee advised Dr. Jun to help the marriage between Moses Kim and Sunji Jun on the condition of sending him to Canada with a scholarship. John Jun visited the older brother of Sunji Jun and explained to him what a great bridegroom Moses Kim was. However, the family of Sunji Jun refused it. After then, Dr. Lee asked John Jun's opinion to marry her, explaining that Dr. Lee was not sure about her marriage with others. Then John Jun accepted it as God's will and obeyed his direction. Humanly speaking, it was impossible for John Jun to tell her brother without wearing an iron mask, because he had strongly recommended Moses Kim a few days ago to be the best bridegroom candidate and now, he wanted to marry her. However, he overcame all these barriers and obeyed it by faith to establish a family of faith. After then, John Jun gave up his medical career to be a successor of Dr. Samuel Lee, when he left for the USA.
The marriage between Shepherd Moses Kim and Shepherdess Kyungrae Kim was also a very humorous story. Moses Kim had to overcome many difficulties to marry Shepherdess Kyungrae, who was an elementary school teacher. The first difficulty was to overcome the passive attitude of his eyes blinking and his hands folded behind his back and to propose her positively. One day Dr. Samuel Lee asked him, "Did you hav a date with Kyungrae?" He answered, "Not yet." Then Dr. Lee gave him training to shout the slogan, "I must climb on a persimmon tree. I must stretch out my arms and pick a persimmon. And I must eat it." Dr. Lee took off his coat so he could give it to his bride as a gift. Dr. Lee sent him to her house after 10 PM to get permission from her parents to marry her . When he arrived at her house, the dog furiously barked at him and her family turned off all the lights pretending that they were sleeping. However, Moses Kim overcame this barrier by faith and finally, he got permission and established God's family.
In April 1972, the marriage between Shepherd Paul Rhee and Shepherdess Joy Rhee was performed. This was the first house church since Seoul pioneering. At that time, many brothers and sisters among Korea Medical School left UBF to get marriage by love, and as a result, yeast against marriage by faith spread. Dr. Lee established God's family between Paul Rhee and Joy Rhee in order to leave a good example of marriage by faith. They had romantic feelings toward each other during their college days, but they overcame themselves and gave good influence. At that time, Paul Rhee was serving the army as a private soldier so it was not easy for him to marry. But he got off by faith and marched down with a shaved head. Their wedding became a great blessing to all attendants.
On October 9, 1973, four house churches were raised including the house church between Joseph and Maria Ahn, and Samuel and Yoonsook Choi. On June 22, 1974, there was a wedding between Shepherd Mark and Anna Yang, Daniel and Miso Lee. On June 10, 1976, a staff family between David and Sarah Kim was established. On October 24, 1974, the family of faith between James Suh and Kyunghee Suh was established. Since Kyunghee Suh stayed in New York as a missionary, they were separated like Altair and Vega for 1 year. It was followed by the house churches between Abraham and Eunjoo Chung, Isaac and Rebecca Kim. In this way, the firm foundation for the layman house churches was laid.
In Seoul pioneering, Missionary Grace A. Lee's role was so great. She made all the environments prayerfully for Dr. Samuel Lee to concentrate on the Sunday message preparation. She controlled people's visiting and calling not to hinder his message preparation. Not only that, she visited all the needy people in UBF, praying for them and serving them practically. Her letter writing ministry has a long history. She never failed to answer all the letters from all over the world, including the children's letters. Among those letters sent to Dr. Lee and her, she selected good letters, copied and sent them all over the world. Most of all, she served meals of all the poor students Dr. Lee brought his home every day without any complaint. Through her great labor of love, countless young people could grow both physically and spiritually.
Eighth, tent common life at Sungbuk-dong.
One of the significant events that cannot be missed in Seoul pioneering was the common life among 3 brothers. This was the first common life in UBF and it was the origin of common life all over the world. We called this Sungbuk training center so that the tent life itself became a training center to raise disciples of Jesus. From the fall semester of 1967, Shepherd Paul Rhee, Mark Yang and Joseph Ahn, who were SNU students from Kyungsangdo province, rented a room on the top of Mount Sungbukdong and began a common life. They could have lived a comfortable life in a relative's house or lived as resident tutors. But they denied their comfort and voluntarily began a common life in order to grow as disciples of Jesus. Since they had no time to eat rice, they ate the bread from their pockets, while walking to visit their sheep. They often fasted in order to save money for world mission offering. They invited homeless people and served them. Many homeless people passed through their house. While brothers were physically struggling with each other in a practical life, this tent life became a spiritual training center to learn Jesus and grow as his disciples. Those who lived a tent life in this place all became shepherds and missionaries.
Ninth, relief offering.
During Seoul pioneering, one unforgettable event was to offer a relief offering for the people of Bangladesh, where one million people were killed due to floods. On February 15-21, 1971, during the spring Bible school, we had a big ceremony to offer one million won to Dr. Nelson, the chairman of World Vision Institute. He was a short man. Dr. Lee recommended one brother who was tall over 190 cm to deliver this relief money to him. It was a great inspiration to all attendants that Koreans who had always received aid from the United States offered money to American Institute. Through this, we had faith that from now on, poor Koreans could help Americans not only through the gospel, but also financially.
Not only this, every year we visited orphanages, homes for wounded soldiers, and needy people to invite and share food. This was to learn and practice the love of Christ.
Tenth, beautiful coworking between Dr. Samuel Lee and Mother Barry.
The most difficult thing in doing God's work is to make one unity among the coworkers. However, when we review Christian history, there was always one unity behind the fruitful ministry. When we also review UBF history of Seoul pioneering, God blessed Seoul pioneering so abundantly, when Dr. Lee and Mother Barry made one unity for 40 years. The coworking between Dr. Lee and Mother Barry was really amazing. Humanly speaking, it was impossible because their nationality, background, character and everything were different. But it was possible only in Jesus and also, with the common prayer topic to expand the kingdom of God on the earth. It was also possible because they denied themselves and respected each other in Jesus. In this way, the vessel of the Holy Spirit to embrace all different kinds of people was formed.
V. World Mission
Whenever we studied the gospel, we encountered Jesus' world mission Command. From the beginning, Dr. Lee was burning with world mission vision and thus, planted that vision in the hearts of students. He helped them to spin a globe, shouting, "The world is our bread! The world is our bread!" Almost every week we visited the airport for worship service. Whenever the worship service was over, we held hands by hands, shouting, "Bible Korea; World Mission; Enlarge the place of your tent!" This became the UBF motto.
However, ideals and reality were on quite different continents. In reality, it was impossible to even think of sending missionaries to other countries from Korea. Koreans firmly believed that Korea was entitled to receive missionaries. At that time, it was largely presumed that only blond and blue-eyed Americans could become missionaries. People used to think that professionally trained pastors who received abundant financial support could become missionaries. Furthermore, at that time, there were frequent incidents in which South Koreans who traveled abroad were kidnapped by North Korean communists. Despite all these hindrances, Dr. Lee realized that obeying Jesus' world mission command and sending out missionaries to preach the gospel was the will of God. But he could see no way. It was impossible to obey Jesus Great Commission to send missionaries to the ends of the earth. So, like the early Christians, Dr. Lee and all UBF people began to pray. At that time, our prayer topic was, " Bible Korea; World Mission; Enlarge the place of your tent." When world mission looked impossible, all UBF people learned to pray, crying out to God. Whenever meeting was over, we knelt with our heads to the floor and buttocks in the air and prayed.
UBF members continued to pray for Southeast Asia for 8 years. In March 1969, we finally sent out one missionary to Singapore. However, when he accepted a scholarship to Germany, he left UBF without even saying good-bye. We were so disappointed.
However, our God is the God, who opens another door, when one door is closed. God led us into a direction that we never expected. God turned the direction from Southeast Asia to the superpower nations such as Germany and the United States. God began to open the door for tent-making layman missionaries like Apostle Paul in various ways such as medicine, education, technology and science, etc. This was an epoch-making turning point. If we read the UBF Newspaper on November 23, 1970, it reveals that they were full of the USA vision, when they sent out Missionary Myungsoon Huh to New York.
"The United States is the modern Rome. Korea has currently received much support from the United States politically, financially, militarily, and furthermore, spiritually. It was because the gospel ministry in Korea was fulfilled through American missionaries. However, how is American society today? They are enslaved to secular humanism and hedonism and they have lost not only missionary spirit which their ancestors left for them, but they also have confronted so many problems inside and outside. They also have been suffering like an eagle that rolls over the floor from stomach-sickness after eating a poisoned pheasant. We UBF have wanted to pay back our debts. We have a burning desire to preach the gospel to the United States by any means, like Apostle Paul, who had an eager desire to visit Rome to preach the gospel. For this, we have prayed fervently. God finally answered our prayers. God opened the door for us to send out our missionaries and send out Nurse Myungsoon Huh to the United States as a layman missionary. ...Now Missionary Myungsoon Huh, who is going to the United States according to God's will, will be a stepping stone to hold the UBF International Bible Conference in the USA during the 1980's."
Through this, we were full of world mission vision. We were fired with passion to send out our layman missionaries to 50 countries in 10 years by sending out missionaries as medical doctors, scholars, teachers and technicians.
First, West Germany pioneering.
At that time, many Korean nurses and miners went to West Germany to be employed as laborers. From a human point of view, it was a national sorrow that the daughters of Korea were being sold out far to West Germany at the bloom of their youth to make money. However, God turned this fatalism into God's providence and through this, he opened the door for world mission. In July 1969, there were some nurses who were sent out to West Germany. Dr. Lee went to the airport, enlisted Inkyung Suh(Mary Song) and 2 nurses, taught the Bible and German language for one week and commissioned them to be the UBF first missionaries to West Germany. Dr. Lee saw them as the 5 loaves and 2 fish of Germany mission and offered it to God. It was not easy for anyone to discover some possibility from them. They never received any training. Furthermore, it was impossible without faith to train them for one week and send them out with commission certificates to be missionaries. Because they never received any official Bible study training, they were not able to serve Bible study in West Germany. They did nothing but reading the Bible and sharing testimonies at 8:30 PM after finishing their evening duties. However, many nurses flocked around this meeting. This became the birth of German ministry.
However, German ministry officially began in 1971, when 6 missionaries, Sookchul Kim, Kihyang Lee, Moonhang Park, Wolshin Lee, Youngsuh Kim and Heesoon Song were trained and sent out to West Germany. It was historical that they were somewhat trained missionaries who received Bible study training such as Mark gospel, Genesis, etc, and German study training. Through them, one to one ministry officially began in West Germany. From that time, world mission vision set on fire among us. We always began to pray after reading the world mission command such as Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:17-20 and Mark 16:15, etc. Although world mission pioneering began from the beginning, it was this time that it began on a large scale. Humanly speaking, to grab 3 nurses and send them out as missionaries was as ridiculous as Andrew's 5 loaves and 2 fishes. Later he blessed UBF to send out 1,247 missionaries to 77 countries. It was a miracle in world mission history.
After then, there was an International Bible Conference in Switzerland in 1974, and Frankfurt Bible Conference in Germany in 1975, and these two conferences were the climax of early German ministry. The Swiss Conference in 1974 was held with 169 attendants and the Frankfurt Conference in 1975 was held with total attendants 220; among them, 169 attendants from Korea and 40 attendants from the foreign countries. There was the great work of the Holy Spirit, when Dr. Samuel Lee delivered the pearl like messages such as John's gospel and 1 Cor 15, etc. It was a miraculous work of God that not only women missionaries kept faith for 8 years beginning with 3 missionaries, but they also performed vigorous pioneering work. At that time, when most women missionaries returned to Korea or moved to the United States for their own marriages. But only one person, Missionary Sarah Kihyang Lee decided, "I will bury my bones in Germany." God accepted her decision of faith and blessed German ministry. Then Pastor Abraham Lee established a house church with her and left for West Germany in 1978. God began a new history by changing a leadership from woman to man in Germany.
Second, USA pioneering.
USA pioneering began, about one year and half behind German ministry. It began in November 1970 and in March 1971, when NMC nurses, Jooim Koh, Myungsoon Huh, and Chungsook Park were sent out to New York. Missionary Mary Suh (SuhInKyung) returned from West Germany to Korea and established a layman missionary family with Missionary Peter Song. They were also sent out to New York. Through their labor, Bart Solazzo was raised as first fruit in New York UBF.
One of the most remarkable events in USA pioneering was that in one hot summer of 1971 during the time of announcement of prayer topics in ChongRo UBF, Dr. Samuel Lee suddenly announced a prayer topic, "In 1981, 10 years from now, may God allow us to have a Niagara Falls Summer Bible Conference with 200 students!" At that time there were only a few missionaries in the USA who were sent out with immigration visas. So it seemed to be an unreasonable prayer topic. Everyone woke up by the unreasonable proposal that Dr. Lee made, which was like Don Quixote. And they all laughed inwardly. Dr. Lee also laughed at his unreasonable proposal. Since he already announced this prayer topic, he could not avoid this prayer topic every announcement time. Then, an unexpected thing happened. Students were burning with world mission vision and prayed day and night with this prayer topic. Dr. Lee began to worry that this prayer topic might not be answered. He said later that he regretted this prayer topic. However, God accepted their prayer and blessed this conference miraculously. In 1981 we held our historic Summer Bible Conference at Niagara Falls with 220 attendants. Through this event, we learned how much God answers our prayers faithfully, and how earnestly he wants to carry out his work for world mission.
In 1973, we had the historical Summer Bible Conference held at Mengbang on the East Coast. The most unforgettable event was to have united prayer on the beach for 145 nations. All the attendants were divided into 5 by 5 groups, lining several hundreds of meters along the East Coast. They knelt their heads on the sand, lifting their buttocks in the air and began to pray. Each person called each nation with its capital city, holding 10 pages of print material. We prayed for the countries which we had never heard about. We also prayed that God may send UBF missionaries to those countries. Their prayer was so sincere and loud that it shook the whole world. Our united prayer on the beach was so beautiful that it was like dreaming. After the prayer meeting, each person shouted toward the East Sea, "The world is our bread! The USA is our bread! Russia is our bread!..." Although we shouted with a loud voice, we never imagined that our prayer topic would turn into reality.
From the spring semester of 1972, pioneering ancestors went out to the front line as missionaries. Following New York, the family of Dr. David and Insun Lee, the family of Dr. James and Sarah Kim, and the family of Dr. Joseph and Esther Chung, and in 1973, Soonhan Chang, Grace Yoon, Kyungsoon Suh. Saeyoon Lee and Boksoon Yoon were sent out.
Third, Dr. Samuel Lee, the field commander sent out.
Meanwhile, Dr. Lee continued to train several senior shepherds. However, they did not want to receive any more training. They left UBF out of rebellion against him. However, this became a turning point for Dr. Lee to be sent out to the front line of world mission. During this period of trial, Dr. Lee did not fight them. Instead he wrote lectures on Mark's gospel 9-16 wholeheartedly and planted faith in the suffering of Jesus' cross and victory of his resurrection. He finally decided to obey Jesus' world mission command and go out to the front line of world mission. When he tried to go out, it looked impossible for him to get a visa. But while he was praying, he realized that he was born in Japan and he, thus, obtained an immigration visa through Japan.
On June 13, 1977, Dr. Lee finally left for the USA as a missionary. It was the greatest event in USA and world mission pioneering. God used him so preciously for 16 years, in Kwangju for 6 years and in Seoul for 10 years. And Dr. Lee gave up all the privileges and securities in Korea and left for the mission field as a field commander at the age of over 50. Through this event, God made UBF stronger and opened a new era for world mission. In fact, God turned a time of adversity into fruitful victory. Humanly speaking, there was no reason for Dr. Lee to move out to the USA, because his heart was deeply attached to Bible Korea. He wanted to do world mission; yet he was reluctant to go out by himself to the front line. But through this event, God pushed him away to be sent out to the USA in order to fulfill his glorious purpose for America to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
In 1991, Dr. Lee was appointed an honorary Ph.D. in literature from his Alma Mater, Chonbuk University. The Korean government recognized him with high honor as well. They recognized his lifelong devotion to the development of Korea and Korean churches. His ministry among young intellectuals took place in a critical era of national turmoil. This honor was his victory, our victory and furthermore, God's victory.
When we review 10 years' UBF history of Seoul pioneering, we conclude that God alone begot this life-giving history for Korea and for all the nations of the world in this generation. God sent Jesus to die on the cross and be raised from the dead in order to begin his world salvation work as he promised. God sent his Holy Spirit to begin the early Christian history in Acts of the Apostles. It was the work of God and of his Son and of the Holy Spirit. When the Apostles obeyed the word of God absolutely, God worked mightily through them and turned Satan's work into his victory. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power in the early Christian history.
It was the same with UBF history of Seoul pioneering. In short, UBF history of Seoul pioneering was the history of the word of God. It was God who began his history in Korea through one person who loved the word of God with all his heart, soul and strength. God used Dr. Lee, who obeyed the word of God absolutely and studied the Bible intensively, especially when adversity arose. In times of adversity, Dr. Lee never engaged in human struggle, but engaged in struggle with the word of God until God turned adversity into fruitful victory. God also used Dr. Lee's shepherd heart for young people until they could also obey his word absolutely. God accepted Dr. Lee's intensive personal Bible study and Mother Barry's English Bible study to lay the firm foundation for Bible Korea and World Mission. May God bless us to go back to the Bible. May God bless us to inherit the spiritual legacy of Dr. Lee, especially his intensive personal Bible study. If we do so, God will change America into a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.