Preface

Timothy Rhee wrote the history with the emphasis on the early years. Nancy Miquel wrote a history using the recent reports available on the headquarters’ web site. Charles Kim reviewed and combined the two. This was presented during Mexico Night.

Key verse Mark 13:10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations

1. Overview of Guadalajara

The city of Guadalajara was founded in 1542 by a Spanish conquistador named Nunyo Beltran de Guzman. He named it after his native land, Guadalajara in Spain. It is Arabic, meaning "the river that runs among stones." The current population is 7 million people including 4 satellite cities.

The city hosts 8 internationally recognized universities, including the University of Guadalajara, Tec de Monterrey, ITESO, and Autonomous University of Guadalajara. The city has more than 20 small and average-sized colleges. Among these universities, the University of Guadalajara has over 200 years of history and comprises more than 160,000 students.

2. Birth of Guadalajara UBF

The year 1992 was a memorable year for this city for three reasons. First, the city was going to be the headquarters of an international conference for homosexuals. But it was canceled due to the opposition of the citizens. Second, in April the sewer system exploded for over four hours due to gasoline leaks. The affected street in downtown Guadalajara was 8 km long, resulting in the death of thousands of civilians.

Thirdly, Missionary Timothy and Hannah Rhee began planting another UBF chapter with their Bible students Antelma, Leticia, Gonzalo and Diana, who had accompanied them from Mexico City. Other Bible students came and stayed for a short time for fellowship. But they soon returned, not being able to adapt to new situations. The four remaining Bible students became shepherds and prayed earnestly for the work of God.

The first Bible Center was near the College of Law and Social Sciences. But it was moved close to the College of Engineering by the advice of Daniel Rhee in Korea. Students came to Bible study. When they saw oriental missionaries, however, they refused to accept even a glass of water due to mistrust. Since the people had been influenced by the Catholic Church, the students were reluctant to have Bible study. Their parents also intervened to stop them from having Bible study. Several Catholic priests sowed fear that studying the Bible was the tool of Satan for deception. Parents went to Timothy Rhee and in a loud voice told him not to deceive young people for self-satisfaction.

Despite the Catholic opposition to Bible study, the shepherds continually visited the campus to invite students to Bible study and challenged the opposition through continuous prayer and having group Bible study on campus. Several students came to study, but did not grow as disciples. Some came and left like rising and falling tides. But God heard persistent prayer and brought some to Sunday worship service. The attendants were amazed at the power of the word of God and were filled with the Holy Spirit. They had originally thought that the life of faith meant going to Catholic Church and greeting the image of saints. Through Bible study, however, they learned the true meaning of the gospel of Jesus Christ and learned what it meant to worship God.

3. Growth of the church

The gospel made the new students open their eyes. They began to meditate on the questions of life, like the purpose, meaning and direction of life. The leaders helped them by studying one-to-one. When they grew to a certain point, they formed a group and studied together. In this manner, more than 10 groups were formed. They studied and shared testimonies, and became leaders. The new leaders then formed a group and went out to invite students and pray. They started group Bible studies on the spot on campus, inviting new students to study one-to-one. Thus, there were several Bible studies on campus - it appeared that all of the engineering campus was conquered by UBF leaders.

During this time God provided a new Bible Center, through a miracle. When the work of God grew in the College of Engineering, the leaders prayed to expand it to other colleges. The University of Guadalajara was divided into 5 campuses and their center campus was the College of Law. With a vision to cover all campuses, they prayed to move the Bible Center near that location. God prepared a building right in front of the entrance to the College of Law. They prayed to buy it. But they did not have enough money to buy this 576-square-meter building. It seemed impossible. But for God, this was easy. In 1997, it snowed for the first time in 100 years. All the winter merchandise in Timothy Rhee’s store sold out in one day! It seemed that all of the city’s customers gathered in the store. The sales of only that one day raised enough funds to purchase the building. It was a two-story house. They added one more floor. So God provided a large and beautiful center.

During the Latin America conference in 2002, Mother Barry, gave the direction to all the leaders: “Evangelization of Latin America by Latin Americans.” All prayed according to this direction. Guadalajara UBF had several volunteers to be missionaries. Some started as missionary candidates because the title sounded nice. For three months, they underwent training through Bible study and testimony writing. One of them, Jorge Antonio, went to Dominican Republic as a missionary. Despite the hardship, he has helped young people in the Dominican Republic.

As the work of God grew, more people attended the Bible Conferences. The city, however, did not have any place to hold a conference for more than 100 people. The participants had to travel 3 to 4 hours. In addition, the leaders had to pay a lot for rent. Whenever they held a conference they suffered much loss, since poor students couldn’t afford the expense. Through prayer, God gave them a vision to make their own conference place. God led them to find a site near the city and at a low cost. And God made Timothy Rhee’s business prosper so that he could fund the construction of the conference building. On June 2007 the conference for Latin American directors was held in this place. Dr. John Jun, UBF General Director at that time, gave it the name, "Inspiration Center."

Missionary Timothy Rhee’s son John wandered for a while when he was in high school. But he met Jesus and grew in faith. Furthermore he participated in the ministry. Some years ago he established a beautiful house church with Goheun Park from Uruguay. Now, three missionary families and six shepherd families work together to serve the University of Guadalajara. Sunday worship attendants are over 65 young souls. They have sent two missionaries to Central America.

4. Some trials, yet with new hope

When the ministry grew, a debate over baptism broke out, because Timothy Rhee was not baptized until 2009. Several leaders doubted the UBF church. Some brought Anti-UBF articles and spread doubts among the members. During the trial some left. The remnants were divided into two parties: one party wanted to keep the ministry as it was and the other party wanted to change it. During such turmoil, they discussed the mission and direction of the church. They concluded that they would keep the campus mission and raise disciples through one-to-one study. They would keep imitating Christ's life: his humility, his self-denial and sacrificial love. In the past five years these have shaped the environment, planting humility and brotherly love in Jesus Christ.

Timothy Rhee owns a factory manufacturing socks. Some employees accused him of mistreating his workers. Government officials came and investigated the factory. At that time the factory was closed and laid off around 140 employees. The officials found the accusation groundless, yet found a mistake in paying taxes. Although it happened 10 years ago they demanded an unreasonable tax fee. He suffered much from this, but received much comfort from other members worldwide who earnestly prayed for him. The factory is temporarily open, but the situation has not been fully resolved.

Nevertheless, Timothy Rhee continues serving campus ministry with his wife Hannah Rhee, holding onto Mark 13:10—“The gospel must first be preached to all nations.” Together with the help of their faithful coworkers, they have really served God and others with humble spirits and have truly followed the ways of Jesus. Please, pray that Guadalajara UBF may continue to bear much fruit, as they engage in one-to-one studies with those who need Christ and raise up many disciples among college students.