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Paster Abraham Kim / General Director

YOU WILL RECEIVE POWER AND BE MY WITNESSES

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Adoniram Judson, one of the earliest American missionaries to Burma, faced many hardships. But he said, “The future is as bright as the promises of God.” Today, the world is rapidly secularizing. With our human strength or wisdom, we cannot fight the spiritual battle against the devil’s evil schemes in today’s postmodern and materialistic culture. But we have the promise of power from the Holy Spirit. We have the promise of our glorified King Jesus: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Mt 28:20). Let’s take the word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit, and fight the good fight through prayers. The Holy Spirit will give us the power of witness with which Christians have overcome the world. Our Lord Jesus, king of kings, who are with us through his power of the resurrection, will surely give us a victory.

We started the year of 2017 with the words of 2 Peter 3:12, “Look Forward to the Day of God.” I thank God for upholding each of us to live holy and godly lives as we look forward to the Lord’s Second Coming. Thank God for blessing Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Africa UBF regional conferences with 658 attendants. In 2017, God sent out 58 missionaries (Korea 42, Venezuela 4, Germany 3, Taiwan 2, USA 2, Zim- babwe 2, Guatemala 1, India 1, Portugal 1) to 28 countries. Three countries (Myanmar, Nepal, Oman) were newly reached out and 13 chapters (USA 4, Australia 2, Ethiopia 1, France 1, Japan 1, Myanmar 1, Nepal 1, Oman 1, Venezuela 1) were newly planted. We thank God for blessing all regional and local UBF Bible confer- ences. Thank God for raising many beautiful house churches around the world. Thank God for being with our coworkers who were in sickness and hardships and helping them and their families to overcome difficult times.

We will have 2018 International Summer Bible Conference (ISBC) on August 9-12 at Louisville, Kentucky, USA with a theme, “His Kingdom.” When Korea UBF has whole-heartedly prayed to obey the Lord’s Great Commission, the Holy Spirit has sent out 1,802 missionaries to 97 countries. Thus, God blessed UBF to be the 2nd global-scale protestant lay missionary movement after the Moravian Missionary Movement, which sent out 2,000 lay missionaries in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many missionaries and shepherds poured out their hearts and lives to the Lord like the woman who poured her alabaster jar of perfume on Jesus. Through them, the Lord has built beautiful multi-cultural and cross-generational churches, and God’s kingdom is advanc- ing in the cities and campuses of the world. God has raised new generations including our children to be the main force of UBF.

Now shepherds and missionaries in Korea, North America, and Europe are beginning to retire from work. Still numerous campuses, cities, and countries of the world are waiting for missionaries and shepherds. Now is the time for our UBF community to pray earnestly for another powerful work of the Holy Spirit.

May God fill our senior members with the Holy Spirit so that many of them may go out to their second mis- sion fields, especially to 130 countries that are waiting for self-supporting missionaries. May God raise many young men and women among our new generations who embrace God’s vision and pour out their hearts and lives to the Lord. Let’s pray that God may raise many short-term and long-term missionary candidates through the 2018 ISBC who would reach out to all major campuses and cities in 233 countries of the world.

In Christ, Abraham T. Kim