My older sister posted this on my brother's Kakaotalk, and I'm sharing it with you.

"Do you know the word UBUNTU?" If I am for you, you are happy for me, and because of you, I can be doubly happy.

An anthropologist who was studying African tribes gathered a group of children together and proposed a game: place a basket by a tree full of fresh, sweet strawberries, a rare treat in Africa, and tell them that whichever child ran to the basket first would get all the fruit.  

Contrary to the anthropologist's expectations, the children grabbed each other's hands, as if they had made a pact beforehand, and started running together, hand in hand.

When they reached the fruit basket, they all sat down together and stuffed their mouths full of fruit, biting and giggling as they shared it.

The anthropologist asked the children, "Why did you hold hands and run together if you were going to give all the fruit to whoever came in first?" and the word "UBUNTU" came out of their mouths in chorus.

"How can I be happy when all the other kids are sad?" One of the children added, "UBUNTU is an African Bantu word that means "I am because we are together."

As President Nelson Mandela often emphasized and popularized, "Ubuntu!" In a world where it's all about being first or best, "Ubuntu!" is all about you.

Like the children of Africa, we hope you will join us in experiencing the sweet happiness that comes from being together. There is also a statistic that when you are happy, an average of 5 people around you are happy for the rest of the day. It's a world of togetherness, not alone, and I want to be happy with the people I meet today, so I wish you an 'Ubuntu' day.

Looking at the above, I think it is a chorus that is necessary for our community to live today.

The spirit of good neighborliness is found in the practice of the Good Samaritan. If individuals and organizations can unite in this spirit, I believe we can dream of a brighter future.

The spirit of ubuntu seems to be what our community needs. The amazing thing is that there is hope in our community, not strong, but possible and real. In a generation where individualism is on the rise and relationships are being destroyed and divided, I think the spirit we need to look for and pursue is the Ubuntu community, which is like a family.

  I immigrated to New Zealand in 2001, and this year marks my 22nd year as an immigrant. As of 2020, there are more than 7.32 million Korean diaspora in the world (foreign citizenship: 4.81 million & expatriates: 2.51 million). Among them is my family.

  Our two sons, aged 5 & 3 at the time, are now grown up and living their own lives. He was called to be a pastor, settled in New Zealand, was sent as a denominational missionary to Korea, and fulfilled his mission as a pastor of an immigrant church with a missionary spirit in an immigrant church.

  After 14 years of ministry, I entered my 15th year of ministry and needed to organize my thoughts about my identity as a missionary and pastor. "Am I a missionary or a pastor?" What is the difference? I spread my wings, looked up resources, and thought about it, and that's been going on since January. The answer to folding my wings came from a senior pastor and missionary I met casually.

  He has been a living witness to New Zealanders and the church since he immigrated in 1993. Among the few Korean-American pastors at the time, he said he was called to serve the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Rim. He spent the next 30 years on a roller coaster ride of indigenous ministry. The story of his ministry was familiar to me from the book "Baeni Suhsunga" (Holy Sacrifice).

  Now over 70 years old, his confession was blessed to me because of the message given by the Holy Spirit. In his ministry, which has been widely publicized on CBS's "Renew," his present-tense insights have shed light on my thinking and identity. To summarize briefly 

  Korean Diaspora church ministry can be said to be a ministry of gathering people and nurturing saints (perfecting saints). Missionary work, on the other hand, is about gathering, teaching, training, and eventually scattering. When he says this, I can see the sincerity and purity of his eyes and the resolute spirituality in his spiritual stream. In fact, he said that he prayed countless prayers to the Lord as he sent the ministers he had evangelized, nurtured, and trained to the ministry field as they were.

  At present, our ministry field is graded by how many people we attract, how well they grow and mature, and how many members we have. I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all. However, I want to have a missionary identity, saving souls to experience new life, and teaching sacrifice and service in the process of nurturing. I expect spiritual growth and maturity in the process. 
I hope and pray for a missional ministry where such saints are sent out into the home, workplace, and society.

About 10 days ago, for some reason, the tip of my nose, like Rudolph's deer nose, became red and painful to the point where I was worried that I might be mistaken for an alcoholic. The tightness of the tip of my nose caused me some pain, and it started to itch. I kept touching it, even unconsciously, and eventually, the fever broke, leaving a small scab. It was good for Rudolph, but not for me.

Then I started thinking about why the tip of my nose was so red. I finally concluded that something was wrong with my body and it was showing it. Normally, heat is often directed to the head, but what goes to the head is collected at the tip of the nose.

That's how the thinker's journey began again. In everyday life, it is said that you can tell a person's condition by looking at their face. As the saying goes, 'faces don't lie'. If a person is worried about something, or if something is wrong with their five organs, their face seems to show it.

Why did God create us this way? My realization is that He shows us things so that we can recognize them. It's like giving us a signal so that we can take action. In that sense, the red light on the tip of my nose was a signal to me that my body's rhythm was broken. I know this for a fact because I had sleepless nights for a few days after that signal.

My next thought was, what about the red flags that didn't show up outwardly? I realized that perhaps when I ignored the signs on my face or covered them up in my own way, I was creating a bigger problem on the inside. For example, stomach ulcers, heart disease, cancer, brain hemorrhages, etc. are invisible but growing.

I've learned that when there's poor circulation in the body, the heat comes out and manifests as small boils. At some point, I started to appreciate this. The reason is that I can recognize problems by following the signs. I think the biggest problem in life and ministry is when we don't recognize the problem.

I remember reading a book. It said that the opposite of a correct answer is a wrong answer and the opposite of a solution is a problem. If you recognize the problem, you have a better chance of finding the answer. Here, I think we can look at the problem differently. You may be able to hide what's outside your body with great grooming, makeup, or makeup. But it won't be a solution. The body is the shell of the soul. Once you see the problem with your body, I think you need to take a big, long breath and let it soothe you and bring you back to your thoughts. How?

  This April's recommended book is "I Couldn't Have Asked for More" by Rev. Min Ki Hong, famously known as Pastor Tank. It is a book where the key word is power to survive reality. I was drawn to the book and opened my wallet because it says that when we listen to and obey the words given to us by the King of kings, the work of faith will happen in reality. At the beginning of the book, we read

  Blessed are those who mourn

  Jesus continues to proclaim on the mountain.

  "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." This is not a time when we want to mourn. We want to be comfortable. We don't want to be stressed. We want to heal, but true healing is only possible through mourning.

  Mourning is facing yourself. It's looking at yourself. It's looking at your weaknesses. To look at your heart, to look at your thoughts. To look at my hunger, to look at my thirst, to look at my thirst. To see if I am living as a person of grace before God.

  That's why God says blessed are those who mourn. When that mourning is in us, when we face ourselves, when our hearts are completely bankrupt and we look to God, what does God do? He comforts us.

  Here's how he summarizes what he said earlier. "To face yourself. To see yourself right there. To see your own poverty. Blessed are those who mourn in this way. For they will be comforted."

  From its earliest days, our church has consistently sought to build healthy communities in pursuit of healing and spirituality. In this day and age, advances in human intelligence and civilization have led to robotic surgery. We live in a time when we can find diseases that we didn't know existed and treat them more deeply. However, the more we do so, the more diseases arise and the more areas we need to heal.

  In the midst of such troubles, the words of Tank Pastor Hong Min-ki, who says that real healing comes from mourning, do not sound familiar. This is because we can read the heart of the psalmist who faces himself and seeks God's face at the bottom. I want to taste the true healing of God in this age, and I look forward to the blessing of receiving heavenly comfort through lamentation.

  It is raining sporadically outside in the fall. Two days ago, late at night, a fellow pastor's wife was called to the Lord too soon after being in the hospital for several months with a cerebral hemorrhage. Although it is now in the past, the situation overlapped with his wife's previous near-death experience. As I contemplate the heart of my fellow pastor, I feel as dark as the weather today.

  I think one of the most important things in life is relationships. It is the scene of our lives that problems arise in this relationship and difficulties arise. It may be a separation due to an unexpected death, or a conflict or dispute due to miscommunication. Why do we have to face problems and difficulties in our daily lives? This was a question I asked myself during a few days of meditation. 

  One thing is clear: I have never expected or waited for these problems and difficulties. What do we do with problems that come to us as if they're looking for us? I don't want to meet problems, if I can help it. Never once in my life have I welcomed or expected problems, and yet they have come to me. 

  In my theology program, I had a professor whom I met in two classes over the course of a year or two. In a course on practical theology, I remember him, a pastor and professor, emphasizing. "If you make a problem a problem, it becomes a problem; if you don't make a problem a problem, it doesn't become a problem." At first, I thought it was some kind of crazy philosophical idea. Almost 30 years later, it still resonates with me and makes a lot of sense.

  My conclusion is that there is no such thing as a problem-free life, because problems come and go on our life's journey like guests. I live in the present, confident that there is a purpose in God's providence. I'm sure many sincere believers have the same attitude. The question is, "How do we accept, react, and respond to this?" This is the point of today's reflection and thought.

  Running away from the problems that come my way will not solve them. My choice is to have the wisdom to know how to face it well. I believe that wisdom is the process of facing the problem as it is, and taking the time to objectify it with a somewhat strong mind, so as not to be eroded by it. It's easy to see yourself avoiding or making excuses for a problem. But I think it can prevent the worst risk of sinking deeper than necessary.

  Throughout my life's journey, including 14 years of ministry, problems have always found me, and the reason is simple. It's because they are alive and growing and maturing. Today, as I live my life, I have an objectification phase where when problems and challenges come up, I place them in the hands of the Lord. And then, in order not to be eroded by the problem and sink into it, I struggle with it, as if I were struggling to occupy a place of constancy.

  The battle is fought by grace in the early morning hours before the cross of the Lord. And every Thursday afternoon in the street worship service, I acknowledge my weakness and praise the Lord for His strength, and suddenly the Holy Spirit, who is greater than the problem, takes control of my heart and mind.

 Some time after I was called to the ministry, I went through a difficult time with my wife's cancer for about five years. In hindsight, this suffering was beneficial. After that, I saw the sheep entrusted to me. As I studied and thought about how to shepherd the flock God had entrusted to me, I decided to put prayer first, as taught by a pastor I admired.

  He recommended three hours of pulpit prayer a day. He said, "That's how you handle the pastoral field. So I decided at the time to gradually increase my one-hour prayer, adding 30 minutes for a few months, and then two hours in 2019. Many people may wonder why I can't do three hours. I'll share the reasons with you another time.

  Fast forward to 2019. During one of our early morning prayers, one of our leaders noticed that I was praying on my knees and said to me with concern, "You might damage your knees." I was actually having a hard time because my knees were hurting. It was true that my knees were hurting, so I prayed and asked the Lord for wisdom. The idea was to ride a bike to strengthen my lower body and get fit. So I'm currently riding 25-32 kilometers once a week in the North Auckland area with lots of hills.

  This has allowed me to pray on my knees, sometimes silently, sometimes out loud, sometimes in a trance (=sleep) and hear the Lord's will. I had a great answer experience in early 2020 and have experienced countless answers as recently as this past March. I recently returned from a trip to Korea and resumed my prayer life.

  When I resumed kneeling prayer after a one-month hiatus, I felt a lot of strain on my joints (during my visit to Korea, most churches prayed in the pews), so I tried leaning my arms on the pulpit chair and praying with my elbows up. It felt a little better. But after about 20-30 minutes, my shoulders started to ache and I felt like I was carrying a load on my back.

  Then I realized something. I realized that I needed to spend two hours in a place of prayer where I could hear the Lord's voice beyond my petitions. In this place of prayer, the prayer that is offered with my will is as strong as if a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I send my strength back down to my knees to relieve the burden on my shoulders.

  Guess what happens? Not surprisingly, my knee hurts again. Later, it was so bad that I couldn't even walk because there was no blood flow. Then, in the midst of all this, a message from the Lord comes through. "Yes, the prayers before that cross that I carried on my shoulders, that I hung on to, I heard them. Your joints ache and you can't walk because the blood doesn't flow. Now I will walk in your place, and you must follow me." This is the testimony I experienced this morning (4/14/23).

  The Apostle Paul summarizes it neatly in a few short words. "For my grace is sufficient for you, for when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10) For when I am weak, then the Lord who is strong will do the work for me.

  In my life's journey, there have always been people where my heart and mind go. I must have had many relationships with them, and the journey I took in those relationships is the "road" I want to talk about today. 

  Last week, I had a meaningful part-time job. Over the course of two days and three nights, we drove and sometimes walked on many roads. Sometimes they were big boulevards, sometimes they were highways, sometimes they were city streets, sometimes they were narrow and narrow. Looking back, everything we've traveled or are currently traveling on is a road.

  When I look back, I realize that every road I've traveled has been important and meaningful. There have been times when I've traveled at high speeds and saved a lot of time, and there have been times when I've been thrilled to be on the open road. On the other hand, there have been times when I've been stuck in heavy traffic, running late for appointments, feeling restless, especially when my limbs ached and my stomach felt like it was going to explode.

  On other occasions, I've been inspired to be broad-minded as the road crosses open meadows on both sides, and at other times I've been moved by the narrowness of the roads as I've wandered through them and seen things that I would have missed in the fast lane. You can see that this whole journey is taking place on the Way.

  As I meditate on this Way, I've been gifted with new insights from the Psalm 119 lectionary I started earlier this year. Crucially, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (v. 105), which I think sums up the entire Bible. Just as there are many paths in life, so there are many ways in Psalm 119. There are good ways and bad ways. There are commands, words, and promises.

  The important thing is that in order to walk all of these roads, we all have to make choices. It's common knowledge that when traveling on Route 1 across New Zealand, there are countless choices to be made. But the choices are never simple because they have consequences. I don't think this outcome can be transferred to anyone else, which is why we worry and sometimes lose sleep over it. 

  But the gospel that is given to us on this journey of life is the gospel that Jesus himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) I believe this is the Good News that provides a neat answer. 

  I'm seeing a generation that's falling for the illusion that Google's recently upgraded Nevi and its revolutionary AI and ChatGPT will replace this path. They are tempting and threatening, but we must remember that they are no substitute for Jesus, who is the way of truth and the way to life.

What is the most important thing in life? I've thought of three things. 
  The first is the heart, which we discussed last week. And I think the second is relationships.

  The world we live in is full of relationships. We have family/blood relations, including married couples, parents and children, brothers and sisters, relatives, and so on; fellowship in the church; relationships with neighbors in our daily lives; business relationships in the workplace; and so on. We are social beings who cannot live outside of this.

  One of the words I recently recognized is "dinks". It's an acronym for Double Income, No Kids. The idea is that couples work together and don't have children while watching their parents' generation struggle financially and raise their own children. The implication is that they will be happy if they live well and die well without children. This is a huge contributor to population decline. When I see this generation, I feel like it's another generation that I didn't know before.

  Moreover, a news outlet recently raised social issues by introducing the isolation and reclusive lives of young people. According to another source, 510,000 young people in South Korea are in a state of social isolation. When I look back, I realize that these factors have been close to my own family and I see real-life examples around me.As almost everyone knows, the number of people living alone is increasing around the world. I see this as a crisis for the next generation.

  Is it a concern to see the same phenomenon happening in our churches and feel a sense of crisis? In the same relationships, there is healing and restoration in the church community because of relationships, and unfortunately, there is hurt and pain because of relationships. This can be an emotional roller coaster as a pastor, and it can be exhausting.

  How do we restore ourselves when we seem to get lost in so many relationships and connections? In that sense, I think I need to have a reconciled relationship with the other me (the old me). How can I be in full harmony with my twin, who is the same as me, but different from me, and how can I be in beautiful harmony with my many neighbors, with whom I cannot live separately? These were my questions and meditations recently. 

  At the end of the day, the answer is: "Love God and love your neighbor" (Luke 10:27). This means that vertical relationships must be addressed first and foremost. I believe that when our relationship with God, the source of life, is restored, our relationship with ourselves and with our neighbors will function properly.

  In last week's short article, I said that the first of the most important things in life is to guard your heart. This is because, as Proverbs 4:23 says, this is where the source of life comes from. Recently, I participated in a study group of pastors for personal development. It's a 10-week course called "Developing a Discerning Heart".

  The first session was an introduction, which delved into the topic of the heart in a biblical approach to helping believers. The human heart is addressed more than 540 times in the entire Bible. When I think back to the book of Samuel, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but I, the LORD, look at the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7), I don't think I've given much thought or study to this important aspect of the heart.

  Of course, it wasn't until I realized God's providence that I realized that I had been backed into a corner in the midst of a time of hardship and adversity in my past life journey. When I was in elementary, middle, and high school, a common saying was, "Life is what you make of it." This is because the interpretation and response to the same situation depends on how you think about it. However, after walking down the road of life, I realized that it is the mind that determines these thoughts.

  As a pastor, how do we overcome the mental difficulties we often experience in our daily lives? And how can we help our congregation? This question is a big prayer and homework for pastors. I think back to all the times when I was studying abroad, when I faced visa problems and living difficulties, when my wife's cancer battle and my own health were red flags, and when I was in a ministry crisis. A typical pastor's response would be, "It's all by the grace of God". It's the same confession, of course. 

  But when it comes to the details, the grace is that Almighty God touches the heart by giving the Spirit of wisdom. In the pastor's Bible study mentioned above, when dealing with the heart, we covered four aspects of the heart in the Bible. It can be broken down into desires, thoughts, choices, and emotions. When we take a closer look at our hearts, we understand that they are driven by our intellect, will, and emotions, starting with our central longing.

  Knowing the grace that takes into account my intellect, emotions, and will in the midst of my burning longings, and fills, guides, and envelops them with what is appropriate, the problem I was facing did not change much, but I was able to overcome it, because God gave me the spiritual wisdom to reflect on the knowledge, experience, and consequences of God's Word on top of the longing at the center of my heart.

Guard your heart more than anything else, for from it are your life's resources (Proverbs 4:23).

 Not long ago, I watched an interview with a female hospice doctor on YouTube. She talked about her experience of seeing many people near death. One of the things that stood out to me was that she was able to learn about death. This was a bit of a challenge for me because I'm used to being told to prepare for death. It's called learning to die. They say it's important to learn about death because it changes your life course and attitude.

  One day, I looked around, and one by one, people who were close to me got sick, fell down, and went to meet the Lord first. In the mid-50s, I thought about the most important things in a given life. Since each life is different, I believe that there are many different thoughts and opinions. I'm going to try to summarize my thoughts today in a very simple way, based on my 55 years of life.

  First and foremost, I think the most important thing is the heart. I was born as an infant and raised by my parents with unconditional love. When I was in school, I was immature, so my thoughts and power were very limited. However, as an adult and after completing my military career, I can live as my heart leads me. I realized that life is lived according to my heart, and the answer to this realization is: "Guard your heart above all things, for it is from it that life comes" (Proverbs 4:23).

  The second most important thing is relationships. A senior pastor I admire and want to emulate said that relationships are the first thing to a healthy church and ministry. As I reflect on my past and present life, it is clear that it is all about relationships. Relationships with your spouse, family, friends, classmates, coworkers, etc. are what you must face if you want to keep your heart. In this regard, enlightenment in the Word is found in the "love of God and love of neighbor, which is the commandment in all the Law and the Prophets (2 Corinthians 4:4: Luke 10:27). The key to relationships is our relationship with God. 

  I think the third is Way. In my past life journeys, there have always been people where my heart and mind have gone. The journey you took with them in relationship was the Way, whether you walked, ran, biked, drove, sailed, or flew. Sometimes the Way took you over high mountains or through deep tunnels in life's struggles. Reflecting on the paths we have traveled, the best choice is to know and choose Jesus, who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).

  Just as it is natural to be born, grow, and live, it is also natural to die. However, I think it is wisdom to learn and prepare for death, which can come at any time, in the midst of life's lessons, so that we can renew our hearts and minds in today's real life, and appreciate the various relationships that are gifts in today's reality. Most of all, it will allow you to choose the path you take on the rest of your life's journey a little more carefully and wisely.

 Last week (NZ: January 27), Auckland was hit by the worst flooding in 100 years. I was returning to Auckland from Sydney that day and was unable to be there due to the closure of the airport, but after an emergency landing in another city and three days of inconvenience, I returned home on Sunday evening.

  I arrived in Christchurch late at night and had to find my own accommodation. It was an emergency, and the airline was in a panic trying to deal with hundreds of people. After standing in line for four hours, I secured a return flight and reached out that night. Two fellow pastors reached out to me, and I stayed at one of their homes until after 1 a.m., slept, and woke up after 8 a.m. The next morning, and as a bonus, I got to meet and comfort and thank several people.

  One sad thing I heard from out of town was that a fellow pastor's house was flooded and in desperate condition. There is no content insurance. Not much hope of compensation from the state. After returning to Auckland, I made my first run the next day, arriving earlier than I had promised to help. The rain is still falling intermittently. Piles of trash need to be moved off the road. I couldn't speak, but I didn't feel comfortable.

  However, more and more helpers arrive, and more than 10 people help. I was encouraged by the speed with which time passed. I had no particular words of comfort for my fellow pastor who was affected, but the Lord reminded me, "Pastor, they say that when a person is in crisis, their report card appears. From the looks of the outpouring of help, you have a good report card for the life you've lived. Take comfort in this." I said it as a given. In retrospect, I realize that these were words of wisdom from the Lord.

  Just as the results of a student's hard work in school are revealed in a report card through examinations, I think the report card of our lives is the same when we face tests or tribulations. Especially from a pastoral perspective, I have seen that the faith of the saints is clearly revealed when they are tested. Whether you are excelling (B/A) or wandering between two homes (D/E), this is your faith report card. 

  We all know that in order to have a good report card, you have to be able to handle the test. If you run away because you don't want to, or back away because you're scared, you won't get a good report card. In life and faith, the principle seems to be no different. When a crisis or difficulty is at hand, you can look at your past report card, and if you look it in the face, you can trust that there will be benefit in your suffering.(Psalm 119:71)

  I want to testify with gratitude that in times of trouble, I have been comforted by a good report card from someone else. Our own report cards will appear in many places. At weddings, as guests; at funerals, as mourners. Hopefully, even though we won't be able to see them at the funeral home, they will be seen and praised by the Lord in heaven.

  About a month ago, my prayers for more than three years were answered, and I served a meal to welcome a valuable guest. The weather was fine and the restaurant was neat. I parked on the road and checked the time carefully. It was free parking for 1 hour, so I ate and left appropriately.

  However, I noticed an unexpected ticket fluttering on my wipers. I wondered what the problem was. There was no problem with the parking time or line. I checked to see if my car was too far into the sidewalk, but there was no specific reason given. Wondering if it was a parking enforcer's mistake, I looked around and saw the enforcer at the end of the street. I chased him down with a piece of paper and politely asked him. What was the basis for this ticket?

  He searches through his papers for a moment, then shows me. It turns out I'm overdue for a WOF (vehicle safety inspection) by more than two months. He was busy preparing for the end of the year and mistakenly thought he was buying a car at the end of December. The sister's food had cost $16 that day, but she had been treated to a $216 meal. He paid the fine, consoling her pain by blessing her with a life worth living.

  This experience made me realize something about our current times. What happens when we have a good plan in our daily life and faith, when we live honestly and righteously, and when we do well in worship, service, and devotion to God, but we have a disconnect with God like Wuf? The thought flashed through my mind. It happened in the car on the way home from church.

  I was driving home from church, and I thought, "What if I'm evangelizing for the Lord, ministering in various situations, getting along with people, and receiving praise, and the Lord says, 'I don't even know you? As I was driving, I pulled over to a place where I could stop and jotted down these ideas. After a few days of meditation, I'm writing this post.

  I realized that no matter how good, brilliant, and well-prepared I am, if I don't have a plan that is in line with my relationship with God, any notice from His side can be a WOF default sticker that I never expected. This is my realization today, after receiving this fine bomb. I am reminded of the basic but most important relationship with God.

Many are the plans of a man's heart, but only the will of the LORD will fully stand (Prov. 19:21).

 In New Zealand, the Auckland Council of Korean Churches (Ohanhyeop) is one of the few great united communities among the many united organizations in the world. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the organization's beginning in the history of immigration. I look forward to God's plan for this year, especially as he has entrusted me with the presidency.

  I think the secret to the harmonious unity of the Ohan Association, which is centered on fellowship, is that there are three things. First, it was possible because there was a practice of loving one another, like water seeping into every crack and gap. Second, it was possible because service to one another was the glue that held the relationship together, which means that loving one another and serving one another were in harmony like a culture.

  And it was respect that made this harmony as strong as concrete. I have a handful of mentors that I look up to, and I prefer to call them by their proper names (in New Zealand): the man who is known as Hangman, the skinny, bony guy known as Baeni Suonga, the man who is willing to be called a woodcutter, the man who is known as a steady hand wherever he goes, the brother who is a soother, the brother who is a friend, and so on. I can count on 10 fingers the number of adults I look up to. 

  Some are people I see regularly to encourage me, some are events, and some are people I interact with online through social media. Looking back over the past 10 years, I confess that I am who I am today because of the respect, care, and encouragement I have received from those I admire. 

  In particular, there were people who encouraged me to take on the role of president a few years ago. However, at that time, my own heart, which was exposed to honor, was confirmed, and I prayerfully stepped back from the opportunity to be president. As more time passed and I was challenged by my mentor, I decided to stand with a heart of service rather than honor, and now I am serving as president. 

  One of the most important character traits I have learned while serving on the leadership team at OHANA is respect. When this respect is extended to one another, I have seen strong relationships built, and I believe that unity is built on that foundation. Beginning in 2023, the term of the President will be reduced to one year from the previous two years. In the year that I have been given, may I share the love and service I have received with my seniors, colleagues, and juniors alike in a vessel of respect.

I've been reading "Korean Church Trends 2023" in my spare time for the past two weeks, and it makes me think a lot. In particular, the fact that it was objectively researched and analyzed in the actual field by organizations such as the Pastoral Data Institute and Hope Friends Hunger Response adds to its credibility. How should our church prepare for the rapidly changing times? In the middle of the book, the following summarized text caught my eye and mind.

The discussion of the online church is growing. Since the early 2000s, several theologians have been discussing the "cyber church," "digital church," etc. COVID-19 has brought that discussion to the forefront of today's challenges. When the doors of church houses of worship were closed due to the pandemic, the reaction of the church community was twofold. One side argued that in-person services should be held no matter what, and the other side argued that services should be held online for quarantine and the safety of the congregation. Two years later, many churches are still using a combination of in-person and online services. Even after COVID-19, the willingness of church members to participate in online services is growing. The next generation, in particular, no longer sees in-person and online worship as an opposition or a matter of right and wrong. 

If online is a needs-based space, offline is a wants-based space. People are looking for fun and efficiency online, and meaning and experience offline. In order to prepare for the coming era, churches need to transform into hybrid churches. A hybrid church is a church that is neither online nor offline. A hybrid church does not prioritize either online or offline presence. Hybrid ministries are very authentic and care for both online and offline with equal attention.

It's not a church model that will go away as a fad. As the convergence of virtuality and reality continues to accelerate, and the spheres of life explode, churches need to shift to a hybrid ministry that seamlessly connects online and offline.Based on the research on hybrid ministry, we need to develop a sustainable ministry model and make specific efforts to witness to the gospel through an organic "omnichannel" presence.

 We are living in a generation that talks about 5G, AI, and the metaverse, and it is believed that the coming generation will have to face the same challenges as the Internet revolution and the smartphone market did in the past. I think it would be wise to proactively build a hybrid treatment and adjust it appropriately rather than following it.

Last week, I read a column by Chaplain Hwan Ki Kim of The Salvation Army Ride Church in Sydney, Australia. His short, concise writing style is one of the things I look forward to each month. In the October issue of The Christian Review, he wrote an article titled "Praying with the Word, breathing with the Word, and the Word works."

  Here's a quick recap Paul, who had much to boast about, counted it all as "dung." He boasted about three things. Boasting in his weaknesses (2 Corinthians 11:30), boasting in the cross of Christ (Galatians 6:14), and boasting in the saints in Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 2:19).

  Praying with the Word: Praying with the words of Scripture. In both the Old and New Testaments, the word "covenant" means "to bind" or "to promise. The Bible is God's word of promise. To pray with the Word means to pray in reliance on the promises, pointing out that the best way to draw life from the Word is to read it in prayer and to pray with it.

  If you breathe in prayer: It is said that through prayer you change yourself to be on God's side, which means that prayer is about giving sovereignty back to God. Prayer is spiritual breathing. Breathing consists of an exhalation (呼) and an inhalation (吸). In English, this is exhalation and inhalation. The exhalation is the speaking prayer and the inhalation is the listening prayer. We breathe out our requests, and we breathe in God's Word.

  The Word works: "For this reason we give thanks without ceasing to God, because when you received the word of God, as you heard from us, you received it not in the word of men, but in the word of God; and this word also works in you who believe." (1 Thess. 2:13) The written word of revelation, the Logos, becomes the rhema (the word given to each individual) and works in the believer. To "work" means to "do work.

  Cmdr. Kim's short article made me reflect on our prayers today. So many of our prayers and requests seem to be driven by necessity, and I admit that we are so focused on our immediate and urgent needs that we often leave behind the Word (the Bible), the surety of our promises. 

  Jesus, the Logos, or Word, is the source of power, and this truth is too often overlooked. Word-based prayer is about asking for your requests and listening to God's Word, like inhaling and exhaling. When we pray in this way, we believe that the Word Himself will work in us to accomplish whatever we ask.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)