Banner Design

Ok, I can't design anything worth crap.
But we're ordering a banner from Korea (because it's much cheaper. Like an 8' by 2' banner is going to cost us about 50 dollars where as here in the US, i dont think we can get it for that cheap.)

Anyway, we didn't have time to ask one of the many talented kids at our youth group to design a banner, which will be displayed at retreats and revivals and other big functions.

The team nominated me (i have no idea why) to make one, so I played around with MS word (yes... MS word... ) to find something.
We settled, but it doesn't like that bad.
So this is the final product:



At first, i was like... aw man, what if someone think it says "Match STRTKE Ministry."

So I tried to play around with it (this looks awfully plain... but still)

Since the entire name has 3 T's, i thought i could make the cross into a big T.


As soon as I finished, I looked at it, and i couldn't stop laughing. The wife thought i was going crazy.

I just imagined this being displayed on such a big banner.

A part of me still wanted to push the second design...
Does anyone else see what's wrong/funny with the second design?

Effective Sermons

Going along with the previous sermon, what makes a sermon effective for you?

Also, today, i woke up to some sad news. Somebody went through my car, that was parked in the drive way, and stole my iPod.
I carried that thing everywhere with me... but now I no longer have the iPod.

What Do You Look for in a Preacher?

Sorry for the lack of updates. Been real busy.
Tomorrow.. er.. today kicks off our "fishing expeditions" (as Rev. Hamilton would call it).
Not only that, I'm in the midst of preparing for two retreats. It's getting crazy.

Since we are trying to reach out to our community and may have few new comers here and there, I began to ask, what would you look for in a preacher? Or expect from a preacher (whilst he preaches)?

What qualities do you think makes a good preacher?

What qualities do you think take away from the Word of God?

I would appreciate your thoughts and feedback.

Finally, a Step Forward

Today I am (finally) a certified candidate.

It was kind of intimidating when I walked into the room with all the people waiting for me. They asked me all sorts of questions based on what I wrote, and I answered them as best as I could, at times, I felt I may be saying too much and that it was going to hurt me, like my Wesley Newsletter incident.

As they told me that they unanimously approved me, they gave me four affirmations.

One of them was that they enjoyed my honesty and found it refreshing and asked me to never let it water down.
I kind of thought that was funny. I told that too my wife on the drive home. She said that some of our college students like me because I'm refreshingly honest. I found that even funnier.

I never knew I was "refreshingly honest." I still don't think I am. But I do know who I am, and I like it. (I don't know if that sounds conceited). I like me. Sometimes.
And I don't like changing who I am for others just for the sake of being liked.
I don't like holding back what I have to say just for the sake of people not liking me or people getting offended. Over the years, I have gotten better at what to say and what NOT to say.
Someone is always going to get offended at what my opinion may be. But if I have to always worry about offending someone, I won't ever be able to be me. And I like being me. (sometimes).

They also suggested that I look into being appointed as a local pastor. I expressed the desire (and the need) for our students at my church to partake in Communion, but in a way they understand what it means. They have to do Communion with the adults and it's in a language they can't understand fully (Korean language with Theology sprinkled on it). So Communion to them has become something that they just go through the motions of and not understand the importance and the wonder of it all.

I'm a step closer to ordination, yet it all seems so far away.

Korean Congregations Killing Pastors

Yes. That's how I strongly feel.
Korean congregations, for the most part, are not pastor friendly. It's ridiculous of what they expect and want from their pastors.

There's no room for error nor grace.
Many Korean pastors I know sacrifice their families to run their ministries. That's a ridiculous concept. Some pastors I know even glorify their decision. In my opinion, that is NOT the way to do things, because ministry starts at home. But the more I am involved in Korean congregations, the more I see that, for the majority of the Korean pastors, there is no room to serve both family and ministry because of the demands that the people put on them.

This is what I feel, that the church knows they are not perfect, but they don't really want to be. They'd rather see it in their leader.

The congregation drives around in a BMW. The pastor bought a volvo, the congregation complained that a volvo is too pricey of a car for the pastor to drive. if the pastor has enough money to buy a volvo, the church is paying the pastor too much.

The congregation carry designer purses such as Coach etc. The pastor's wife carries around a real Louis Vuitton and the congregation believes that the pastor's wife should carry fake bags at best.

The congregation, expects, no demands, that they have vacation time from their jobs. But refuses to see why their pastor needs to take vacations.
I'm actually afraid to go and ask how many weeks of vacation I get in a year, since I'm not appointed and a local church hire.
Even more to actually say I'm going on vacation because the senior pastor doesn't take one (WHICH IS FREAKING RIDICULOUS!!!!!!), either because he can't nor he doesn't want to (WHICH IS STILL FRIGGIN RIDICULOUS!!!).

This is why many second generation Korean pastors leave the Korean congregation or the ministry altogether, because people should not and cannot function in such conditions.
Korean pastors with healthy families seem rare and that is saddening.

I know that there are problems within all cultures and congregations. This is just one of the bigger ones in my context and I wish there were ways to teach the Korean congregation that pastors are human, pastors make mistakes, pastors have the same (similar) needs and desires as everyone else.

A part of me is praying that after I get ordained, I will not have anything to do with the Korean church. This thought saddens me.

Church Members

So I got a call from my mom today.
There was this church member who has been attending my dad's church for at least 4 years.
The wife was a regular. Her husband, was there quite often. Their youngest kid who is in college comes out to my church's young adult service.

Anyway, they didn't come to church last Sunday, and told my father that they were going to go to a different church.
My father and mother went up to their house just to make sure that everything was OK. Just to make sure that there wasn't any bad blood between members, may be even have them come back after church shopping etc.

They asked why the family was leaving my dad's church. The answer?

The husband didn't like golfing with the men at dad's church. It's not long he didn't get along with them. I just think he didn't like them as golf partners.

!!!!

It made me upset and it made me laugh at the same time.
I mean, is golf partners a legit reason to leave a church?
Perhaps it is, but I just don't see it.

May be you can enlighten me, but I just don't get.

Golf?

New Comers Lunch

Every Tuesday, our church has a Bible study group for the new comers of our church.
And every Tuesday, they eat lunch together. I try to avoid eating lunch with them because 1) I like being anti-social 2) the food is not that great... 3) they're all old...

But today, I was hungry, and I sucked it up and sat down and ate lunch with them and our pastor and the associate pastor.

While I was eating, I realized that we were the only males in the room. All the new comers are females.
Then I realized that majority of our congregation members are female.
Even in my dad's church, the majority of them are females.

Is it like that in other cultures?

And, if so, why is it that the women are more inclined to come to church?

And what are ways to effectively reach males?
Many of the Korean members, it's the wife that faithfully goes to church and the husband that stays home, or grudgingly tags along.
I'm sure that applies to all cultures too.

What are things we can do (and that are being done) to effectively reach out to males?

Co-Director of Youth

So, my name will appear on the recommended list of District leadership positions to be approved by the district on 5/16. And I'd begin my work in July. At least, that's what the letter said. But, if it needs to approved, I didn't understand "your work will begin in July." Oh well.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.
I talk to the senior pastor of Aiea UMC (the church that we share a building with) because he's done this for 7 years. He said the two main things I need to do is hold a spring or summer retreat and to take kids to the Annual Conference.

That's something I think I can handle. But there are so many youths here in Hawaii who won't go to these things. Basically, there's too many of them and so little of me.
So what I was thinking of doing is just gathering all the UMC youth leaders (could I also try to reach out to non-UMC youth leaders..?) and meet once a week for a couple of months or so and equip them to reach out to their students, because they would know their students need more than I ever would.

I don't think I'd be the best teacher, but I think I have some valuable insights that I picked up during youth ministry courses in Seminary.
But I think, more than this be me teaching them, it'll be us teaching one another, supporting and affirming one another, to build healthier ministries and provide a place where kids can explore and deepen their faith. That way, when we do have big events such as retreats and stuff, we can get the youth leaders to be more involved so that it won't all be on my and Mr. Tony (the person that I'd work with).

Now, this sounds all good in my head. And looks pretty good as I am rereading what I am posting.

But will it actually work out?

The thing I'm frustrated with being in Hawaii is that people are too laid back, especially when it comes to the churches. Or ,maybe that's just me, and what I just said is a very broad and general statement.

Well, the only thing I can really do is pray, and pray, and pray.
And I intend to do that.

This is going to be hard. Especially with all the work I have to do in my own church.
But this is also going to be fun and exciting and I know that this is part of my call from God. And God promises that wherever I go, He will be with me.

Joel Osteen

What do you think of him, and preachers like him?
I have mixed feelings.
Every Sunday morning, as the wife and I get ready to go to church, I turn the TV on to watch Joel Osteen. I don't know why I started doing this, but it's been about 3 months that I have been doing this.

I just don't know what to make of him and others like him. For me, his messages rarely go deeper than the surface of the scripture that he is using. It's very seeker oriented, but it never seems to have an outlet to go deeper.

But here's the most disturbing thing that I've noticed about his telecast last Sunday.
He doesn't seem to have a cross in the church. Maybe he does and it just doesn't show on the screen, but what I do notice is a big globe rotating in the background.
You may not think it's a big deal, but it struck me a little odd.

And I think that's one problem I have with Seeker Friendly churches. Most of the seeker churches do a good job of providing ways to go deeper in their faith, because one can't always be a seeker.
But a few churches don't provide ways to get deeper, and I feel, at times, they replace the cross with something easier to handle and carry. A church here doesn't have a cross at all, instead they replaced it with a dove.
Sure I may be reading way too much into this, but it just felt odd.

If anyone stops by and reads this, let me know what you think.

In Other News...

A couple of months back, I had a conversation with the Hawaii District's youth coordinator. He was telling about things that he was planning on, but had a hard time to getting church's to commit. He asked if we could come (i think he used to be a member of the church i'm serving).
We had something that we've been planning for months, so we couldn't commit either. He felt discouraged and starting telling me how tough this position was and he think it was time to quit.
I had no idea why he was sharing this with me.
But after our conversation, a thought popped in my head.
I had this crazy notion that maybe if he did quit, i could do something with that position. I told myself that was ridiculous. How in the world could I balance that AND doing full time at AKUMC? It seemed impossible.
But the thoughts wouldn't go away. Instead, it'll be nagging at me.
For example, out of nowhere, while reading a book on youth ministry, another thought popped into my head.
What if I held some sort of workshop for the youth leaders of the UMC in Hawaii? Pass along my readings, pass along what I learned in seminary and encourage them to start going to National Youth Worker's Convention and giving them ideas and resources.
I played with that thought, and of course, I concluded with: I don't (and won't) have time for this. Which I strongly believe.

I haven't thought about any of this until today.
Out of the blue (isn't it always 'out of the blue'?) I get a call from someone at Christ UMC. She tells me that she is an elder and is part of the District Committee.
I had no idea what she wanted with me until she dropped this bomb:
The committee was discussing it, and your name came up. We want you to serve as co-director of youth for the District of Hawaii.

WHAT???

So, there you have it.
God works in funny ways.
My first gut reaction was: I don't have time to do this...

But I think the first thought was put in my head by God.
I've said earlier that I think God has big plans for the youth in Hawaii, and our little island in general.

The more I thought about it in the past hour, the more it make sense to me that this is part of my calling from God.
I don't want to do this, but the possibilities excite me.

Of course, i have to be in prayer over this.
I told the elder, I need to ask my senior pastor first, in which she replied: "Oh, we already briefly talked to him about it and he seemed very excited over it." (great.)

I then told her, please give me time to pray over it.

I'm excited about this and at the same time, scared.

But if this is truly what God wants me to do, then I have nothing to be afraid for God will go with me.

NUMB3RS

There was something that a previous pastor used to always tell our kids and it frustrated me so much.
He kept asking our kids to bring in friends, new members to our church. Each Sunday, during announcements, if there wasn't anyone new, he would say "c'mon guys! We need to start bringing people. If we don't bring new people, our ministry is a dead ministry! We're dying!"
I can't tell you how much it upset me to hear that.

It almost wanted me to ask what was his purpose of his ministry? To make it physically big as possible?

For all my seminary career and so far in my ministry career, numbers has been the last thing on my mind. Blame it on my professor of youth ministry and Doug Fields, but I've been putting extra effort into not thinking about number.
If i hold an activity and event, i don't think it's a failure if 2 people show up. Sure, i'll be disappointed, that's natural, but if we fulfill the purpose of the activity and event through those 2 people, then what we aimed to do was a success.

I'm not saying that having a big church is wrong or not. But we shouldn't deem a church more "successful" if they are bringing in 3000 members compared to the church down the street who has 30 members.

My focus has been to have a growth spiritually with our kids. If God chooses to bless us by having us multiply in numbers, that's great! If we stay the same size yet we are becoming more mature in our spirituality, that's awesome!

That's a hard mentality to keep with my church.
I think the elders and the pastor expects some physical growth within the first year of my ministry here to see if i'm doing my job.
It saddens me that some have to think like that.
I know i'll hear grumbling if our youth size stays the same for the next two years. the saddest thing is that they'll never know how God is working through those youth, because all they want to see is physical results.

I honestly don't know the exact size of our youth group and many people don't understand why i don't know.
I like to keep it that way, for many reasons.

Oops, must get ready for tonight.

Jump 2007

This is the fourth event that I have attended with the name Jump.
National Youth Worker's Convention of 2005 was Jump.
My winter retreat of 2005 was named Jump.
My winter retreat at my new church in 06 was jump.

Now this at the biggest Korean church in Hawaii.

Almost everything is in Korean so it's been a little bit difficult for me and some of the kids at church from my church.
But the amazing thing? I think the kids are still learning and feeling the presence of God, despite the language barrier.

I believe that God is going to do something amazing for our church and for the state of Hawaii.
The world is going to see how God is moving in this tiny island of ours.

New Office Space

Well, I complained about my office space. Problem solved, I guess.
I got moved out of the basement office and replaced at the upstairs office with everyone else. Good news? I'm no longer isolated and no longer in that messy, stuffy room. Bad news? My desk space is really small... and I have to come in more regularly, (haha.. i know that sounds horrible) and I have to look busy (that sounds worse).

It's like a bullpen as a friend said. We don't have cubicles, so everyone can see everyone. Like right now, I bet the secretary and the associate pastor think I'm doing something important, since I've been typing away. Little do they know I'm actually updating my blog!!! (-_____-)

But, I do prefer being up here than downstairs.
And the best part of it is that they FINALLY came to their senses and got a cable ISP and wireless internet.

And this is good for me because no one up here is that great with their English. It'll force me to speak more Korean and on top of that, it'll force me to be social once in a while and talk to them.

But for those of you who think I don't do anything productive... you're only half right.

Whatever that means.

The Holy Spirit

Tomorrow sermon is the "I believe in the Holy Spirit" part of our Apostle's Creed sermon series.
I was trying to think back on what i was taught about the Holy Spirit when i was in Sunday school. I realized that i couldn't think of many times we really discussed the Spirit. We talked a lot about God and Jesus.
And i think churches still do that. I think the Spirit becomes the lesser of the Trinity. Like a really big celebrity's brother. i.e. Casey Affleck. Charlie Murphy. Haley Duff. Tito Jackson. and so forth.

Why do we spend so much time on God and Jesus, but not so much on the Holy Spirit?

My Last Months At KUMC of GW

I was talking to a friend about Ethics class in seminary. He was asking me about the professor he has, whom i also had for my ethics.
Dr. Wheeler was one of my favorite professors at Wesley and i really learned a lot from her.
Two of my proudest moments in Seminary were:
In preaching class, Dr. McClain looked at me square in the eye after i gave a sermon in front of him and the class (we had to preach a sermon, then after we were done, the entire class sits in front of you and they tell you what they liked and what they didn't like, and the professor lays his final judgment, s0-to-speak) and Dr. McClain says to me (i've been intimidated by his presence all semester) "you can preach, boy. don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise."
Another proud moment was when i received an A on an Ethics paper in Dr. Wheeler's class. The paper was a sermon on homosexuality and she really liked it, and even suggested that i preach to the youth kids.

So after much thinking, i finally decided i would do so. I knew that i was going to leave the church in about a month or two, and i just wanted the kids to know that we are called to love any and every one.

So i went and preached that sermon.
And i did a fairly good job preaching it.
After i was done, that's when the drama ensued.

The head youth pastor called my and the other part-time youth pastor and fellow seminarian into his office and sat us down and locked the door.
He started yelling at me about how i was promoting homosexuality to the kids and how i was going against his teachings. He was upset that because he thought i told the kids to go to see Brokeback Mountain, because he told the kids not to go see it because of the homosexual content. In my sermon i said, "we were told not to go see Brokeback Mountain. I feel we shouldn't see it because it's another way Hollywood promotes and glorifies extra-marital affairs."

Then he started attacking the things that i preached, and how i use the pulpit improperly. I was rather offended, because he, a month ago preached to the kids that interfaith marriage is unclean, and if a Christian marries a non-Christian, it was light mixing with darkness. He fully knew that they were more than a handful of kids who had a parent that didn't go to church. He also knew that one of the students sitting there had a hard time coming to church because her mom was dead against Christianity. Not only that, he once told us that a student came to him and was struggling with his sexual identity and wasn't sure if he was homosexual or not. The very next Sunday, he prays (from nowhere, really) "May you convict the hearts of the homosexuals. Have them turn from their evil ways and let them see the light."
Since he never revealed the identity of the kid, i was praying that that kid was not present when that prayer was prayed.

He then basically banned me from preaching to the high school kids (we had a separate worship on Sundays for jr. high and sr. high). I said fine, less work for me anyhow, and left the meeting.

Then, he accuses me of swearing at him. He said that i flicked him off as i was leaving the office. The other part-time had his head down, so he didn't see anything, but he confirmed that i did not use any swear words, which i was also accused of. I thought to myself, am i back in jr. high school?

Before i left church that Sunday, i stopped by the Sr. Pastor and wrote him a letter of what happened. I basically said, I preached about homosexuality, the head youth pastor is upset, and some parents might be upset, because he is upset. And i apologized for the headache that i will cause him.

The head youth pastor apparently saw that as a threat and asked me why i went to the senior pastor behind his back. I explained that i wasnt going behind anyones back, but that i was informing the senior pastor so that he doesn't get blindsided just in case someone else was upset as he was over the sermon.

Anyway, that was the end of a long Sunday.

We had a staff meeting on Tuesday, just the three of us, and throughout the meeting, it was as if i never existed. He had his body turned away from me and never acknowledged my presence. When the other part-timer went to the bathroom, he finally acknowledged my presence and said, "i have a meeting with [the senior pastor] today. but don't worry, i won't tell him about the unfortunate event where you swore at me."
I kept my mouth shut, but i thought to myself, i already told the pastor that you thought i swore at you. But i didn't, and the other part-timer witnessed the entire thing and also says that i never swore.

He did go to see the senior pastor. I don't know what he expected to happen, but i knew that it wasn't what he wanted.

I received an email from the senior pastor and he told me that what i did was okay. that he supports my theology and sermon (i had sent him a copy because i was advised to). He said the issue was probably that i preached without the head youth pastor's permission (which i agreed and understood). He said that he asked his son (who was in the youth group) about the sermon. His son replied that it was the best sermon he has heard since he was at KUMC. He was challenged to think differently, and was challenged to just love.

A part of me, honestly, felt good, but mostly relieved that i wasn't in trouble with the senior pastor.
The relationship between myself and the head youth pastor was pretty much non-existent, though i tried my best to restore before i left. (I eventually sent a letter after i moved out, and i was told he was very appreciative of the letter.)

But what i felt the worst about was that he was already in a lot of trouble. There were things that he was doing that even i felt uncomfortable with, and i wasn't supposed to know about it but found out through outside parties.
This disagreement was the straw that broke the camel's back, well that and my leaving too. I'm not saying i was such an integral part... but we had a good yin-yang going on in the youth ministry. We complemented each other fairly well. And at times, i think i served as the buffer zone.

As soon as i left, i heard things from my friend, the other part-timer, that it's not going well. Within 3-4 months, the head youth pastor resigned (with pay for the rest of the year).

It was a sad way to end things... but it was going to happen sooner or later. I just felt bad it had started with me.

I wish he really listened to what i was preaching. I wasn't promoting homosexuality in the sermon.
But what i was promoting was love. We are all God's children, regardless of our race, gender and sexual orientation. And in the eyes of God, we are all sinners, no one is better than the next. We are all given grace, equally and freely. And that we should extend the grace and love we received to our neighbors.

It's Friday!

Tonight is our Praise Night. I want to come up with a different name instead of the generic "Praise Night." In DC, my colleague held called his "praise night" NeXus. It stood for Next Generation is Us.
It's also a hair product, i believe. But i still like that, The Next Generation is Us.

I have the songs ready and i have the message prepared. Basically, i'm really looking forward to tonight.
As soon as i'm done posting this, i'm walking back to church (am at the starbucks across the street) and start going through the songs and the message. I have 2 hrs before the praise band comes.
I feel excited for tonight. More than usual. I just need to now prepare my heart for worship.

I love leading praise. There's something so powerful about it. And it's more exciting when i see young people share in the joy and love of God with me. It's a moving experience. And there's power in music. But sometimes, we make the mistake of limiting worship just to the praise. Worship is that and much more.

To worship is to change.
When we are in the presence of God, when we meet God, it's impossible for us to leave being the same.

I wish everyone well.

It's Wednesday

This week is moving slow. Or actually i feel like i'm moving slow.
I just feel lazy, and that's not good.
I have all these things to do, but i'm putting it off. Which is real bad.

Today, our bed comes in. Yay. I guess then we can start living in the new place. We spent all of yesterday cleaning up the place. That was a lot more tiring than i thought.

Today, i missed Mass. Not because i slept in, but because my brother took a shower this morning. By the time he came out, it was already too late.
So instead, i read a little scripture and spent time in prayer. But no gym. haha. It's raining. I didn't feel like going out.

I just have tons of things to do.
I have to prepare 3 sermons and a bible study.
We have our praise night this Friday, and i'm going to give a short message. I'm looking forward to this praise night. It's been a while since we had one.
The praise night message, i think, will be about love and worship.

And then i have the two Sunday sermons to prepare for.
In other words, i have no time to dilly dally.
but dilly-dallying is one of my favorite things to do.

Whew

I am tired.
I sprained my ankle pretty severely last December. (I made a trip to the ER because i thought i may have broken something).

So i stopped all physical activities.
Until today.
Today was our flag football day.
I couldn't keep up, and i felt really upset that i couldn't. No matter how old you are, i don't think the competitive spirit ever goes away... well maybe that applies to me. I don't like losing. Especially to my youth kids... well anyone, actually...

anyway, i realized that i'm terribly out of shape. Not to mention the rolls that are forming in my midsection. I used to be fit.. *sigh*

This brings me to the topic of Lent.
I know way too many people that treat Lent as a short term New Years resolution type of deal. Like giving up chocolates or fast food. I'm not saying that's bad, but they don't apply that in being closer to God, or reflecting on the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. And of course, i did that quite often.

Well, this year, i was going to hit the gym faithfully, until i started asking myself, how does that help me spiritually?
And i couldn't really come up with an answer that would satisfy me.

So this Lenten Season, I decided to wake up early and attend Mass at a nearby church. Instead of taking something away, i decided to add something onto my daily routines that will bring me closer to God.
I never attended Mass before, and that was the only morning option i had. I could've gone to our Early Morning Prayer service that my dad's church holds and my current church holds... but the entire thing is in Korean... AND it's at 530 in the morning, whereas Mass is at 8am.
I just need to be tactful and discipline in my Spiritual life, and i figure this was a great way to jump start that.

AND, if i feel up to it, i'll hit the gym after Mass. however, i feel that it's a big "if"...

Getting Along With Your Boss

So Marty Schottenheimer was fired from the Chargers because, basically, he couldn't get along with AJ Smith.
And Marty is a good coach. He's turned around 4 franchises. Just never really got it done in the playoffs (5-13 in playoffs).
He finished the season with a 14-2 record. The last coach to get fired after a 14 win season was in the 20's. (how do i know that? i don't know).

But today as i was coming home from church, i was listening to ESPN radio and they were talking about no matter how good you're at your job, it doesn't really matter if you cannot get along with your boss, which is why Marty got fired.

I keep forgetting how much humility is needed to be working at church (and of course elsewhere).
I personally feel that i do not need to completely like the people i work with. when there's that many people involved, it's expected that i won't like everyone. but it's imperative that i respect them and love them, and find ways to mutually exist. and that requires tremendous amount of humility.

Looking back, so many problems in the churches i've been involved in could've been resolved with a little humility.

At this church, my relationship with the senior pastor (my boss) is ... weird. It's not bad. I just don't think there's that much relationship there. It's hard working with 1st Generation Koreans. Basically, i feel like the senior pastor has given me freedom to do whatever i think is necessary until i screw up.
While i like that freedom, i don't think it's the healthiest way to do ministry.
And i wouldn't be surprised if other Korean church youth pastors feel that way.

I just realized i could go on a whole different tangent on the relationship between first generation koreans and the second generation. but i'll save that for later.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I have to be at church. So the wife and i are celebrating today.

What's Taking Jesus So Long...

So like i posted earlier, we decided that the sermons on Sundays and Bible Studies on Fridays will be based on the Apostle's Creed. The bible studies will be taking my sermons deeper...

anyway, so this Friday was the first Bible Study.
We have 10 small groups, and i don't lead one, so i get to choose which one to sit in on.

I sat in one of the 10th grade ones, and it was rather interesting. I know my bible study lessons aren't the best and most fun things in the world... but it gets interesting when kids take some of the questions, and start reflecting on what things mean to them and so forth...

The group started talking about creation, and one got off on a tangent of different planets and life on other planets and if they believe in God, and if God created them and so forth.
The guy was talking about maybe God made an alternate universe across the galaxy where in this planet, Adam and Eve didn't take the apple... it got pretty weird (he's a weird kid, a good boy, but a tad bit weird.) heh.

then another boy chimed in saying that the universe just seems too big and too vast for us to be the only form of life.
then he became silent.
then he said, "OH! maybe that's what's taking Jesus so long for him to come back to us. He's stopping by all these other planets before he gets to earth."

I couldn't stop laughing.

i love our kids.