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Chicago UBF
August 7, 2014

If Anyone Would Come After Me…

God blessed our Oakton SBC more than we expected. It was held July 31-Aug. 2 near Devil’s Lake. The theme was discipleship which we got from our Mark’s Gospel studies and from the book we’ve been reading, Not a Fan. There was more participation and our Oakton members were deeply satisfied with God’s word and the balanced program that was like having a huge fish fry or grilled chicken dinner. There were 20+ attendees.

God raised up M DK who spoke on the parable of the Growing Seed and Mustard Seed. This message gave us renewed conviction in the life-giving power of God’s word and having vision that the work of God will grow even though it begins from humble beginnings. S. Jack Magardician was a powerful and profound messenger who spoke on Peter’s confession of faith, the nature of the Messiah and the way of discipleship (Lk 9:18-27). He emphasized that we must make a confession of faith in Jesus as God’s Messiah and then follow Jesus according to the way of the cross. Self-denial is the first step. This begins with humility and acknowledging that our self is sinful and egocentric and that it must be put to death or crucified with Christ on the cross. Then we can deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus. Jack confessed that his areas of self-denial that he is working on are emotions and anger. He sometimes gets “road rage” when other drivers cut him off. He prays to be a loving, forgiving and patient servant of God. Elder Dennis Miller gave us the closing message on Mt 28:18-20. Jesus gave us the Great Commission, not the Great Suggestion. This is a lifelong direction to be obeyed by the church and every member. We can see fruit and not have to taste death but rather taste the resurrection victory even now in our Christian life. Finally, some of the members laid hands on me and prayed for my missionary life. I am grateful for M Elijah and Mary and all our Oakton coworkers.

God blessed two devotion messages by Quy Tran who spoke on Mk 8:34 and Sara Miller who spoke on Jn 13, love one another. I saw the fruit of Oakton ministry through Qui a sincere foreign student/Bible student who is growing as a disciple of Jesus. We also heard two presentations: The Five Love Languages by Val and Lailani Gava and Leadership Succession Between Generations by Dayani Pieri. Both were very informative and challenging. We must learn our spouse's love language and love them according to their love language instead of in our own selfish way. Love languages: words of affirmation, physical touch, time together, giving gifts and acts of service.

Dayani's presentation on leadership succession helped us to see the differences between generations and to be sensitive to each one: Silent Gen (1925-1940), Baby Boomer Gen (1940s-1960), Gen X (1965-80), Millennial Gen (Gen Y) (1981-2002). Each one is very different and must be considered respectfully in times of leadership succession when people can get hurt. Leadership succession is compared to white water rafting. A group of people in a boat (kayak) riding the rapids must cowork together to overcome the current. Sometimes (often) members are thrown into the water and must be rescued. All of this happens in times of leadership succession.

The Oakton SBC was graceful and well-balanced. It was historical in that we prayed for sending out M DK to Korea. He will leave August, 6 and will start a new job as an English teacher at Dream School where Damon Londrigan works. May God continue to bless Oakton ministry in both campuses: Des Plaines and Skokie. May God raise up one new coordinator so that M Elijah can work behind-the-scenes and do other projects in the future. Praise Jesus God’s Messiah and for teaching us the way of discipleship!