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CIS UBF
January 17, 2014

From January 2-4 of this year, CIS directors held the New Year Bible conference at a resort located on a beautiful beach in Lake Galilee. All 82 people (including 18 invited guests: seven from United States, seven from South Korea, two from Canada, and two from Israel) attended this conference. Even before the conference began, all missionaries and directors were very excited because they were in Israel, where Jesus himself served God's work and preached the gospel.

Sh. Konstantin Kalinkin from Moscow delivered the opening message entitled, "My Food, Said Jesus, Is" based on John 4:34. In his message, he suggested that we gain real spiritual food for our souls and strength through the words of God during the conference.

On the second day (Jan. 3), we divided the book of Jonah into two parts and had group Bible study two times --in the morning and in the afternoon. Sh. Vladmir Point from Turkey served the first lecture based on the book of Jonah and M. John Lee from Odessa served the second lecture. Through deep Bible study and through the messages, we could identify ourselves with Jonah who always complained and disobeyed God. We realized that we became superficial and prejudiced like Jonah, who forgot the heart of God's love and mercy. We deluded ourselves into thinking that we knew God very well. So we all deeply repented and made a decision to clothe ourselves with the heart of God, who loves all of mankind with mercy, and prayed earnestly.

On the third day, after deep group Bible study, P. Abraham Kim delivered the message entitled, "Preach the Word," based on 2 Timothy 4. In his message, P. Abraham Kim powerfully touched our hearts when he testified that God himself sends his chosen people to us to raise disciples of Jesus when we work hard to preach the gospel in season and out of season. We all wrote our own reflections based on the heart-moving message while repenting of our laziness in preaching the gospel and only blaming our situation and circumstances. We made a new year resolution to strive hard to preach the gospel in each country of CIS.

To conclude the conference, M. Joshua Lee from Toronto delivered a heart-moving closing message, entitled, "Feed my Sheep" based on John 21 on the Galilee shore, the very same place where Jesus talked with Peter.

Along with the main lectures, we also had several special lectures based on various topics: Annual reports from 20 local chapters; an introduction to the book of Jonah by Sh. Stephen Ahn from Korea, 'A Man and His Bible' by Dr. Samuel A. Lee from U of I, USA (which was about his own father, the late Dr. Samuel Lee's love of the words of God). From January 5-7, our heart-moving pilgrimmage was full of God's grace. On the last day, we woke up at dawn and went up Golgotha Hill with praise and prayer, the same way Jesus went up as he carried the cross. While we were walking on the trail, we renewed our hearts and meditated on the meaning of Jesus' cross. We made a decision to continue our lives all the way with Jesus to the end.

Thank God for giving us a clear direction for this new year with one word, "Preach the word" and greatly encouraging all the missionaries and shepherds through the conference and the pilgrimage. I pray that God may abundantly bless the coming CIS International Summer Bible Conference from Aug. 21 - 24 in Moscow.