News

Korea UBF
February 24, 2014

Follow Me

Matt. 4:19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

The 12th UBF Korea National Student Conference was held from Jan 21 to 24, 2014 at Sorak I Park Condominium which was beautifully covered by white snow along the foot of Sorak Mountain. There were 252 UBF brothers and sisters in attendance, including staff shepherds who participated in the conference from 33 Korean UBF chapters. Special guests M. Paul & Lydia Lee from Greece and a native Shepherd from China also attended this event.
Through this conference we all could listen to the voice of Jesus, “Follow me" and we renewed our life direction as disciples of Jesus.
We praise God for the mighty work of His word and for granting us much grace and joy along with a variety of outdoor programs throughout the conference.
We also thank God for leading us for one month in preparation of the conference details and letting us see the beautiful work of the Holy Spirit through the conference. We want to share with you what God has done through this conference and to give glory to God through this report.
This conference was quite different from former ones in that student leaders initiated the direction of the conference from the beginning to the end and staff shepherds only prepared lectures and helped them on the side.
That is why most of the student leaders willingly made decisions to serve it and they held a preparatory conference from Dec. 26-27, 2013 prior to the main conference.
Under the leadership of Sh. Jacob Kang (Hanyang 2) all the GBS leaders actively worked together to make the program and develop unity for the conference. Sh. James Lee (Choongchung) visited the conference place as many as five times for preparation. We believe that God accepted all our student leaders’ sacrifices as five loaves and two fish.
God has given us grace and clear direction to follow Jesus as his disciples through the lecturers. Sh. David Kim (Korea UBF national director) served the opening message, “Follow me"(Mt 4:19) as the theme of the conference. Lecture1 was entitled, "Give Your Best to the Master"(Eph2) by Sh. Youngchan Oh (Chungneong). We became glorious children of God only by his one-sided grace though we don't deserve it. We who have received His great love ought to give our best to the Master Jesus our Lord.
Lecture 2 was entitled, "Consider Carefully What Is the True Purpose of Your Life"(Mt 4) served by Hunseok Jun (Hanggong).
Through this we learned what our true life purpose should be as Jesus’ disciples. We should obey the Lord even to the point of death like Jesus who won the victory over Satan's temptation in the desert. In a word, we should lay down our life for campus mission.
Lecture 3 was entitled, “Cultivate the Field of Your Heart" (Mt 3) served by (Nowon Song Kyoungki ). Through this lecture we learned that God wants us to repent being like Pharisees and instead fully repent cultivating the deep field of our hearts. In order to put it into practice we need to die every day like Apostle Paul who said, “I die every day." Then the kingdom of God will come upon us.
Sh. Nehemiah Kim (Kwangjoo1&6) served lecture 4 with the title, " Go into the World, You Disciples." When we listened to the powerful voice of Jesus who said, “Go, make disciples of all nations," we felt that our hearts were burning for world mission.
We believe that when we go into the world preaching the gospel boldly this sin-sick generation will be transformed.
There was a special lecture served by Sh. John Park (Kwangjoo2 ) entitled, " A Missionary to Korea." In the remote times the gospel message was sown in the land of Korea by sacrificial missionaries and martyrs from the Southern Baptist Church of the USA who came to Korea to preach the gospel. As a result of their sacrificial lives living and dying like a kernel of wheat, the gospel seed has grown up in this nation making it a missionary-sending country, a holy priesthood and a holy people.
As for early morning prayer meeting Sh. Elijah Kim (Inchon) served Rom 8:1, 2 "Set You Free from the Law of Sin." Sh. Joshua Jung (Injae served Ecc12:1, 2 God Will Bring Judgment."Sh. Paul Moon (Youngnam UBF) served 1Cor 1, "God is Pleased through the Foolishness of What was Preached".
Nine life testimony speakers presented their beautiful, moving testimonies which were full of the grace of salvation. They were Bumseok Kim (Hanyang ), Nayoung Byun(Chunan UBF), Sangwook Lee (ChongRo1), SeongIk Oh (Yonhee), Hanwool Park (Choonchun), Hannah Cho (Pusan Kyodae ), Jaewan Kim (Anam2 ), Peter Park (Kyoungsung ) and Gideon Kim( Anam 1).
Through their testimonies we were moved that God loved each of them so much and thanked God for loving, saving and leading each of them personally though each of them has a very different character, sin problem and life problem. We believe that God saved them by his absolute sovereignty and his wonderful plan. We praise and thank God for his marvelous love.
There were abundant events and outdoor programs in the conference.
On the first night we had a talent contest. Anyang UBF, Anam 1UBF, ChongRo1UBF, Kwangjoo1,6UBF, Kwangjoo2,3 UBF all participated in the program; it was a parody of the Korean Gag concert but applied to UBF community, giving us many laughs and helping us to empathize with each other.
Each team revealed their hidden talent in their presentation with dancing, dumb show, and more, giving praise and glory to God.
The second day we went to the “Ice Fishing Festival" in Injae. We enjoyed ice fishing and snowboarding. Most of the sisters went to the water-pea having fun in the water using the facility as their own. Through the ice fishing we learned one lesson: That we need to be patient when we invite one soul to one to one Bible study because even we had to wait for three hours to catch a fish.
On the third day we had a ski program; it was the highlight of the conference program. We thank God that by God's grace there was no incident during the event. Especially six student leaders served beginners as their teachers denying their desire to enjoy the high level course in order to learn Jesus's beautiful servant-ship.
Climbing up to Kwankumsung of Sorak Mountain and Rock of Woolsan and traveling to the East Sea were all full of joyful sightseeing and we thanked God because we could enjoy God's beautiful and amazing creation.
On the third night delicious fresh Sashimi was offered to each GBS team. And team by team they prepared dinner and enjoyed the eating fellowship as if they were Jesus's disciples eating together with Jesus, though each of us came from different chapters.
Followed by the last student conference in Cheju Island, we again were surprised that we received much grace and clear new direction even in the many outdoor events.
Even in the midst of a busy schedule and being very tired, they got up early in the morning to listen to the messages and write testimonies. Through them we could see the student leaders' zeal for Jesus our Lord. We see great vision that God will use their zeal for the Lord mightily when they serve the campus ministry with all their heart.
Again we thank God for answering all our prayer topics for the conference.
Personally, I made a decision to serve the Lord as a full time shepherd according to the word God has given me: “Go and make disciples of all nations."
I pray that I may be used by God as a disciple-maker so that I may serve 12 one to one Bible studies per week.
We also thank God, for he has given us beautiful weather during the conference providing us with a wonderful and safe environment to enjoy all the outdoor programs.
Finally, we thank God for allowing us to enjoy all the best facilities at a low cost allowing us to have money left over since we had prayed earnestly for our financial burdens.
Prayer Topics:
• All the students who attended may hold on to one word of God given through the conference and devote themselves to campus ministry in 2014.
• All UBF student leaders throughout the nation and who attended the conference may find their true identity in Jesus and contribute to making a loving community continually, having the same vision and rest in Jesus our Lord.
• By this each of them may be used by God as spiritual leaders transforming Korean campuses and the world through the gospel message.

Jacob Kang