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True Beauty

A young women's conference was held Dec 28-29 at the church with the title "True Beauty." The conference was hosted by the UIC ministry with the support and participation of women from other campuses including Triton, Indianapolis, and NEIU.
About fifty women meditated on Proverbs 31 together to understand and accept God's vision for us to grow as the bride of Christ and helpers through fearing the Lord. Christian Misurac gave the main message and we learned that we must take our eyes off of ourselves, other women, and up to the Lord. We are to fear Him by growing in humility, knowledge of God, and devotion and obedience to his Word.
Throughout the conference we heard powerful testimonies of God's grace to sanctify young women: Loren Walls, Ine Suh, Brooke Budzileni, Joann Ismail, Ethalle Thompson, and Faith Lim shared honestly how God brought them to reject lies, accept Jesus' love and their new identity, and grow practically in noble character. All attendants also shared testimonies in groups.
Grace Park shared a gospel message based on Phil 2:13, which pointed us to Christ as our initiator, sustainer and power source to transform us into women of true beauty.
We are thankful for the prayer support of the church, God's work first in the mentors' hearts, and then his work in young women to make decisions of faith to commit themselves to grow as women who fear the Lord. This commitment was solidified through a ring ceremony and prayer by mature women of God.

Manhood Restored
In December 28-29, a men’s conference titled ‘Manhood Restored’ was held at the Leningrad house, accompanying a young women’s conference titled ‘True Beauty,’ both hosted by the UIC ministry with support and participation from other chapters.
A total of 36 men, from the Chicago area with several from Indianapolis and St. Louis, gathered to learn a Biblical definition of manhood, as designed by God in Scripture. Together, we watched 4 lectures from ‘The Quest for Authentic Manhood’ series by Robert Lewis, and walked through Genesis 1:26-3 to learn God’s design of a man, how sin distorted manhood in its original design, and then how Jesus Christ restores manhood as it should be. Together, we learned a Biblical definition of manhood for us to personally accept and live out as we follow in Jesus’ footsteps to “reject passivity, accept responsibility, lead courageously, and expect a greater reward, God’s reward.”
We heard short testimonies of men who reflected on their own manhood throughout the conference, a life testimony by Mike Diaz, and a powerful testimony from Joseph Im, who walked us through his own life journey to struggle, grow and slowly become a man of God. In our small group discussions, men wrote and shared small testimonies in light of Jesus’ exemplification of manhood as well.
After two days of fellowship, reflection and prayer, a small, intimate ceremony was held, inviting men to personally accept God’s calling to Biblical manhood, and to make a personal decision to step up to manhood beginning in the new year and actively grow as men of God. After prayer, each men came up to receive and sign a certificate confirming their decision to live out Biblical manhood.
We are thankful and grateful that even today, God is growing young men as men of God, and creating a community of men who actively struggle to pursue Biblical manhood, in community. We are incredibly thankful and humbled that God is beginning a small movement of men who are growing in desire to be servant leaders for His Kingdom and church, and pray that God may raise many men disciples of Jesus, who actively pursue Biblical manhood for the generations to come.

Erick L.