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The 2017 Summer Bible Conference for the Mid-Atlantic region ministries was held July 20-23 with the theme “JESUS, THE WAY” (John 14:6) at James Madison University in Virginia. Over 260 people from 15 chapters participated in the conference, with guests coming from Belize, Taiwan, Boston, Dallas, Kentucky and New Jersey. We were so happy to see our spiritual family members coming from near and far, some all the way from Tampa (FL), Auburn (AL) and Atlanta (GA).

God blessed us abundantly with his living words through the 12 messengers who labored to prepare the messages for over two months and through the Holy Spirit whose presence was evident to us. Paul Sambuco (Baltimore I) opened the conference with a powerful message entitled “Invitation to the Thirsty” (Isa 55). The three main messages were served by Abraham Lee (“Jesus, the Light of the World” from John 9), Tunde Adebola (“It Is Finished” from John 19) and Phillip Brown (“I Am The Way” from John 14). Abraham Lee returned from Vietnam where he served young people with the gospel while stationed as a diplomat there. He will leave for Poland in August for his next assignment. Tunde Adebola (Washington) prepared the message while finishing up his Ph.D dissertation at George Mason University. Phillip Brown will assume the directorship of the Washington UBF beginning in November 2017.

We divided the two morning devotion meetings into three groups based on age. The Friday morning message “You Will Fish for People” (Luke 5) was delivered by Abraham Song (Washington), Paul Jin (George Mason) and David Hwang (Shippensburg), while the Saturday morning message “Daniel Resolved” (Daniel 1) was served by Steve Gan (Lehigh), Pauline Park (Philadelphia) and Joshua Kim (Washington).

Nate Turnock (Philadelphia) delivered a powerful message, “Instrument of Righteousness” (Romans 6), for the Life Testimony Night on Friday. A total of 15 people testified to the grace of God in their lives:

• Hannah Cho (Philadelphia) – “Life is a rollercoaster ride but God is with us” (Php 4:13)

• Joanna Cho – “Living before God”  (Ex 3:4)

• Adrian Coles (George Mason) – “True love comes from God” (Ro 8:18)

• Jesse Diamond (Shippensburg) – “Look up at the sky and count the stars” (Ge 15:5)

• Andy Gholson (George Mason) – “From Pleasure Seeking to Mission Seeking” (Jn 14:23)

• Ekan Gilpin (Washington) – “God chooses, God waits” (Jn 15:16)

• John Griggs (Shippensburg) – “The works of God might be displayed in him” (Jn 9:3)

• Mark Jung (William & Mary) – “From a desperate student to a shepherd” (Jn 12:24)

• Hannah Kim (Korea) – “Fear the Lord your God and serve him” (Ex 10:20)

• Stephen Krocheski (Baltimore III) – “One kernel of wheat” (Jn 12:24)

• Justin Park (Atlanta) – “Why are you so afraid?” (Mt 8:26)

• Lydia Park (Baltimore III) – “Learning to love God wholeheartedly” (Dt 6:5)

• Diego Rodriguez (Tampa) – “From a self-centered IT entrepreneur to a devoted layman Shepherd” (Mk 8:34)

• Bobae Song (Washington) – “Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20)

• Summer Thomas (Baltimore I) – “Offering my life as a living sacrifice” (R0 12:1)

For the World Mission Night on Saturday, Chris Sherrill (Shippensburg) served an inspiring message, “I Am Sending You” (John 20), encouraging both young and old people to accept and obey the supreme commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. The message was followed by four mission reports:

• Aaron Gentle: Belize

• James Roh: YUST

• Bob VonMoss: Mongolia

• Stefany Yeimy: Taiwan

Dr. Harry Shields, a professor at Moody Bible Institute, gave us a special lecture on “Controlling our thoughts and transforming our souls” (Romans 12:2) and also conducted an informal session on sermon preparation.

A total of 19 group Bible study leaders were raised. Various UBF chapters prepared special music, dance and skit programs, including Philadelphia’s creative rap musical on spiritual warfare, a Taekwondo performance by HBF/JBF team, and Washington UBF youth team’s skit on a young woman’s journey to find the Lord (the 10 member team will travel to Belize for a mission in late July).

On Sunday morning, before the communion and worship service, two young men (Andy Gholson and Diego Rodriguez) were baptized to declare publicly their commitment to the Lord.

In summary, God blessed our summer conference to be filled with powerful words of God to inspire us, renew our faith and deepen our personal relationship with him. We cherished this opportunity for our spiritual communities in the Mid-Atlantic region to get together to share our fellowship in Christ and to be mutually encouraged in him. We continue to pray for our single-family ministries in Charlottesville (Chris & Christine Kelly), Raleigh (Andrew & Heather Dellinger), Richmond (Mark & Esther Yoo), and Tampa (David & Praise Cho). We also pray for a smooth transition of leadership in Washington UBF by blessing Phillip Brown with his vision, spirit and wisdom.

[Conference messages are available at www.ship-ubf.org/biblestudy/books/sbc2017]