Our Summer Bible Conference took place in the Black Forest on July 11-13, 2008. The conference theme was "One body and many parts". We had studied Paul's first letter to the Corinthians during the past months and wanted to bear the fruits of this book during the conference. We chose chapters 12 and 13 as the main lessons, because chapter 12 teaches the constitution of a Christian ministry and chapter 13 the love, which makes it a harmonious unity. This truth is of special importance in Germany, where due to strong individualism even Christians want to keep their independence as free individuals, and as a result Christian ministries according to this biblical standard are rare. Besides we wanted to learn from Apostle Paul's faith. We held the conference together with the coworkers from Frankfurt and Darmstadt with a total of 73 attendants including children.

The conference began on Friday night with a presentation about the city of Corinth and the cultural, religious and philosophical background of the people, and we were amazed by the similarity to the humanistic thinking of modern people today. The opening message was on chapter 1:21-24 with the title "The Cross – God's power and wisdom", held by Shp. Markus Abel and Shp. Jonathan Hong. We learned that Paul concentrated on preaching the cross; because even though the cross is rejected by most people, it is God's power and wisdom and the basis of each person's faith as well as the basis of the Christian ministry.

On Saturday morning Shp. Martin Ziegler held the morning devotion on chapter 9:19-27 with the title "To win as many as possible". Apostle Paul was truly free in the Gospel, but he became a slave to everyone in order to win as many as possible for Christ. We learned that we must create an atmosphere where every student feels accepted and must become their friends. The first main lesson was chapter 12. After Bible study in groups we heard the message on this passage from Shp. Henoch Hong. We learned that God gave each of us gifts which we should use for the benefit of all. Even though we are all different, God made us one body through the Holy Spirit. He gave each one a specific position and mission in the body according to his divine wisdom and sovereignty. So no-one should envy others or should look down on others, because everyone is precious and indispensible for the body. In the afternoon we had time to write our testimonies on this passage and shared them in groups.

On Saturday night Shepherd Simona Sahiry gave a message on chapter 10,23-31 entitled "Do it all for the glory of God". In her message she personally confessed how she was bound by many bonds of sin but she praised Jesus for her new life for the glory of God with true meaning and freedom. After the message the new Msn. Peter Kim from Frankfurt UBF and Msn. Markus Kum from Koeln II shared their life testimonies. Afterwards there was a program with various joyful and meaningful contributions to the conference theme. A "Photo love story" illustrated the Song of Love in chapter 13 in a humorous way. A drama showed why each part of the body is important and indispensable. The co-workers from Frankfurt had made a video clip showing how the blind and deaf girl Helen Keller could learn to speak through the patient love of her teacher. Finally our younger 2nd generation co-workers performed a beautiful North Korean dance as their prayer for North Korea. Their heart moving dance inspired us to renew our prayer for the salvation of the people in North Korea.

On Sunday morning we had group Bible study about the Song of Love in chapter 13. Then Shp. Aydin Hassani gave the message on this passage. In his message he confessed that we are nothing without love. True love is patient and kind and bears sinners until they finally return to God. God has loved us by giving his one and only Son as a ransom sacrifice for us. Only with this love all the parts of the body form a harmonious unity and become pleasant to God and useful for his purpose. In the closing message on John 21:15-17 Msn. David Cho from Frankfurt preached Jesus' question: "Do you truly love me more than these?" and his command: "Feed my lambs!" Our love shall not only remain within our ministries, but it shall reach out to the wandering students on the campuses and feed them with the word of God. We thank God for blessing this conference abundantly through his words and the work of the Holy Spirit. God's love touched our hearts and refreshed our souls. Co-workers and students could find or renew their identity as parts of the body and have a new desire to form the body of Christ. May God help us in every chapter to form the body of Christ as a community full of love where many thirsty souls can meet Jesus. May God bless the international Summer Conference in Purdue with his words abundantly and reveal his great love to each attendant!