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HARVEST FESTIVAL 2015-FOCUSING ON CELBRATION OF 40 YEAR WASHINGTON UBF PIONEERING WORK (1975-2015)

Washington UBF celebrated 40 years of enduring pioneering work November 6-8, 2015. More than 200 people shared the grace of God together and praised God’s faithfulness and renewed vision of God for our future ministry through our second generations. At the same time we were excited to have the new spacious parking lot and expansion of the new building. 

Day 1 November 6 Friday

Dr. Alan Wolff from Chicago delivered a key note speech with the title “A house of prayer for all nations “based on Mark 11:17a.  He shared a wonderful testimony how God changed his life through the word of God.  He said, “I felt home here because I grew up and met Christ.” 6 people shared testimonies about the great work of God during last 40 years of Washington pioneering work. They are Missionaries Grace Park, Wynelle Nett, Faith Sambuco, Folake Adebola, Joshua Kim, and Shaina Castle. They were filled with joy because God had done great works. After the testimonies, HBF/JBF members performed hand mime called “Fall Afresh.” Pastor Abraham Lee from Germany and Dr. Augustine and Theresa Sohn and Dr. John Jun joined celebration from Chicago.  

Day 2 November 7

Dr. Augustine Sohn from Chicago, a representative from HQ, read the congratulation message from General Director Pastor Abraham Kim with the title “A Town On A Hill” based on Matthew 5:14) On the second day of celebration, Dr. John Jun gave us an inspiring message with the title “Dry bones into the vast army” based Ezekiel 37:1-14. He identified today’s American young people as dry bones which have no chance to be alive spiritually. But the word of God can give them life once again. This was the right message for postmodern young generation. As long as we hear the word of God, we have hope to live again and bring spiritual revival to this nation. All people saw the hope of God through the message. Then 7 pioneering missionaries and shepherds shared their personal testimonies. They are Paul Sambuco, Allison Haga from Taiwan, David Chung from George Mason, Abraham Lee from Vietnam, Sarah Chang from Belize, Timothy Chang from India, and Pastor Abraham Lee from Germany.   At the end CBF children presented the Taekwondo presentation. As God trained the second generation Israel people in the desert as the conquering army of God, we need to train young people in the early age. Washington UBF received Korean School approval called “Washington Livingstone School” from government. They began to teach Korean language to many students every Saturday led by M. Esther Cho. It is never too early to train our children. The language school will extend to Chinese, Spanish and English as a second language later.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch in the new spacious dining hall in the new building. Many Mid-Atlantic chapter coworkers came to celebrate with us. They praised God for the growing work of God with many young disciples. 

Day 3 November 8

Missionary Jacob Lee delivered testimonial message with the title “New things I declare” based on Isiah 42:1-9. Here the new things refer to the Messiah Jesus and his work. Jesus began new things by enduring us though we were like the bruised reed and smoldering wick. He renewed us to become a new creation through the new covenant. He opened our blind eyes and freed us from our sinful fatalistic hedonistic life style.  He thanked God for saving his life from two robbers. God became his shield and rock from the dangers of life. He shared 40 years of Washington history. He summed up the history with two words “sacrifice” and “cross”. He praised God the marvelous work of God in spite of shortcomings and failures. Then he presented another 40 years of vision. He presented vision of God by raising up 20 leaders for the next 20 years and raising up 400 leaders. He prayed to find the next director like Joshua who has courage and faith and spirit.  We all enjoyed the grace of God among us and shared the vision of God and decided to share the same vision. M. Hannah Chung sang a special song “The Holy City” beautifully. Washington vocal team-Jonathan Deibert, Andrew Forbes, Jonathan Hansford, and Josh Smith sang an offering song with the title “Loving God and loving each other” with a perfect harmony. In all our life activities only love remains by giving life to those who received love. Indeed the story of love never ends. It echoes in our heart forever.  We concluded the celebration by saying Ebenezer which means “Thus far the Lord helped us.” They will have official new center dedication ceremony February 26-27 2016 with guests worldwide.

Let’s pray that God may bless Washington ministry to shine the gospel of Jesus for those who live in the darkness of sin next 40 years by the grace of God and the love of Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Attached is P. Abraham Kim's Congratulatory Address