Mission Accompished

2011. The task was heavy. But thanks God his grace is sufficient. It's time to hand over leadership to the next one who will carry on with the vision.

CSBC President Goes to Rise Up Korea ‘09

6 September 2009. Seoul, Korea. As an estimated 100 thousand young people gathered at the City Hall grounds as waves of revival filled the city skies. It was a very meaningful experience.

As an invited guest with my fellow officers and representatives of the Commission on Evangelical Unity, we are privileged to witness first hand a revival movement that spreads to other Asian countries.

Rise Up, Korea has a following of more than 50 thousand young people from various evangelical denominations—and increasing. For ten years, starting with humble beginnings, the revival was initiated among children led by Muksanim Lee. Steadily, the passion to consolidate young people from various evangelical denominations into a prayer and revival movement grew.

As the fire of hunger for God cries in the wilderness of these concrete jungles of S.Korea, the maze and glitters of living in the affluent city could not fill the vacuum it left in the lives of many youths. There is a huge spiritual need to meet among these endangered young lives.

But the colossal challenge is not impossible to face with the God of impossibility! It is such a blessing to witness young people praying for hours for their country and fellow youths. Prior to the event, with the aid of an interpreter, Muksanim Choi, I remember myself talking to these of young men and women.

“It is a privilege to stand before you and witness your passion for God and your country. I came from a country considered to be the only Christian nation in Asia. But is it also the most corrupt nation in Asia, maybe in the whole world. There must be something wrong with our idea of Christianity. But with a generation like you—the now generation who hungers for God and the salvation of the people—I’m very hopeful that our country will be transformed to a brighter future for our children and the generations to come.”

Of course, it is obvious. We cannot expect the unbelieving world to usher the breakthrough of God’s Kingdom. Godless opportunists were and are unfit to lead. 30 years ago, Korea was poorer than the Philippines. But when I asked: what was the secret why they prosper as a country? Their reply was unanimous: Christianity.

Quite ironic, isn’t it. We claim to be Christians, but we’re almost living in an accursed land and times! Evangelicals are not even united. We’re not influential witnesses to the people in the community, almost without a voice in the society. We spiritualize too much and our God is pictured irrelevant in the life of the people and country. Added to this, maybe the populace embraced a different brand of Christianity mixed with paganism and idolatry!

With due respect to our foreign friends, theirs is a fervent praying Christian life. It is not the usual front page of leading figures in newspapers praying to a god (or is it mammon?). What we need and our future generation is a changed nation by the grace of God, the Maker of us all.

In less than three minutes, I summed up my short message to those young revolutionary warriors. “If we want to see a changed nation, what we need is a change of heart.”

CSBC Pastors and Missionaries Overnight Fellowship

25 August 2009, Tuesday. Filipino and Korean Southern Baptist pastors and missionaries gathered together for “A Workers Night of Fellowship.” For the first time, the CSBC president initiated a cooperative missionary endeavor with the visiting workers in their attempt to reach out and minister to Filipinos in the Cordilleras.

With the gracious host, Dr. Kwang Su Lee, the unity fellowship was held at his developing mission center at Green Valley, Baguio City. As workers arrived at 5:00 PM, meeting with fellow ministers was mutual.

The unity program went smoothly as pastors and workers took initiative in taking the lead for welcoming, testimonials, prayer time, and encouraging each other. The sumptuous dinner was prepared by the ever-supporting WMU. During the break, some visitors went home, but the rest of the workers stayed overnight for fellowship.

Such joint activity is very rare. The officers and workers decided to make the fellowship a regular gathering since then.

CSBC 1st Summit Inspires Young Pro

Young Proffesionals, as a preferable name than the usual "Singles," took time during the Summit to make plans in accordance to the vision of winning the "now generation" for Christ. Dr Hermie Labon led the group with the support of key leaders from various member churches CSBC. Before the end of the month of June, the CSBC Young Pro had their fellowship with the association's president as their main speaker on "O.K. (Official Kingdom) Pro (ffesional) Ka na Ba?: How to be a Kingdom Proffesional in the Marketplace."

1st CSBCM SUMMIT

1 MAY 2009. This is our first ever summit as an association as a whole. But this event was succesful only becuase there we people who loved to work behind the stage. As the entire association were mobilized to join together in fellowship, the focus of this initial gathering was for visioncasting and challenging all departments to in line their ministries with our God-given vision.

WIN CORDILLERA FOR CHRIST

As we all know, we cannot do this alone. We need to do and penetrate various "mountains of culture" inorder to bring change or godly transformation to our communities, cities, and country. By God's grace and in cooperation with the greater body of Christ in this region, we are looking forward that Christ (not corruption) will be magnified in this land!

CSBC Pres Visits a Missionary Sending Church

Hartwell Baptist Church, a small church on top of the hill, continues to be a light that cannot be hidden. For several years, the members do not have a resident pastors, yet they continue to send missionaries to other towns and villages. The members remained joyful in fulfilling the Great Commission. Despite of meager resources, they inspire others to be more faithful in their call to reach out people for Christ. Thank you for setting an example, HBC!

CSBC CORE VALUES: WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT

Remember: To WIN CORDILLERA FOR CHRIST is our God-given vision! But working out the accomplishment of this shared direction demands something very important: our core values.

We teach children about good manners (asal) and values because we want them to grow to be a better person. This is every parent’s dream for their children. It makes the whole family intact. As it is expected for leaders to have the right character, core values is more than just about ministerial ethics. We need a working relationship—something common, something we share together. CSBC, to make our association better and more cohesive, these are our ELITE core values .

Evangelistic. This is our prime distinctive. In order to win our communities for Christ, church leaders and members alike must have the heart for sharing the Gospel to their family and friends. Win them!

Leadership. Officers and pastors must take the lead by their personal examples. We need to walk the talk. While administrative skills do things right; we need leaders to do the right thing.

Integrity. Of utmost importance, this is the heart of CSBC leadership. Integrity will make our leaders model servants; it will cover all areas of this administration, reliability in character, finances, dealings, etc.

Teamwork. Officer cannot do everything alone. Both visionaries and “provisionaries” have to work together in unity. God calls us to be one. And together, we can achieve more. Cooperation is a must in unity.

Empowerment. The new CSBC places value on empowering leaders and churches. To make a difference in our society, churches must be equipped and empowered by its leadership.