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Korea
December 19, 2013

ENLARGE THE PLACE OF YOUR TENT

“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. (Isaiah 54:2,3)

During the last of November I made a brief trip to Korea to attend the opening of the UBF history museum in Kwangju. Some people thought it a little weird to make such a long trip just to attend the dedication of a museum. I thought so too. But Dr. John Jun spoke about the crossing of the Jordan in Joshua 4. After the people had crossed the Jordan on dry ground, one man from each tribe took a stone and put it in the river at the place of the crossing. The Lord and Joshua were teaching the importance of remembering God’s grace and remembering what God has done. M.
Grace A Lee’s life testimony was heart moving.

Actually, this museum was very special to me. When I moved off of the missionary compound in Kwangju, I moved into the upstairs of this small building that had been used as a pool hall. I lived there three or four years. I put a sign on the building which said, “Christian Student Center.” It was a critical time in Korea. The students overthrew the Syngman Rhee government in 1960 (4/19) and the military, under General Park, put a lid on revolution with a military take over (5/16). I had returned from my first furlough in the USA with a burden on my heart for the students of Korea. With the consent and help of the S. Presbyterian Mission, I moved downtown and opened the student center. Samuel Lee also had burden for students. He accepted a call to pastor Tae In Church, which met in the first floor of the Student Center, and to seek to reach University students. After a short time, he turned Tae In Church over to another pastor and dedicated himself full time to student ministry, to raising disciples of Jesus. God called us to work together and helped us to do so for 40 years. This is the building which UBF recently purchased; this is the UBF history museum which was opened and dedicated November 25, 2013. It is not a large, beautiful building. It is still like a small manger. It reminds us that we started as a manger ministry. I thank Korea Director David Kim who invited me to come, and I am grateful to Nehemiah Kim, Kwangju director who prepared the museum. I returned to Korea with a heart full of praise and thanksgiving to God. Most of all, I thank God for Samuel Lee. He was a very special person; God trained him; he dedicated himself unreservedly to God, and God greatly used him. I am grateful to God who enabled Dr. Lee and me to cowork in this student ministry for 40 years. I am grateful to God who worked through a handful of students, beginning with Dr. John Jun and Dr. Joseph Chung (2nd year medical students) to bring the gospel to students in Chun Nam and Chosen universities and to the Education college in Kwangju. From the beginning we accepted Jesus’ world mission command, “Go and make disciples of all nations”. We prayed and offered our “five loaves and two fish.” God did his own work among us. God answers prayer. We accepted God’s direction and enlarged the place of our tent to reach out to students from Seoul and from all over Korea, then overseas to Cheju University. From there, we enlarged the place of our tent to extend to Germany, USA, Asia and the world. God himself did an amazing work in a short time. The window of opportunity was open, and God put us there. God helped us to work together and UBF came into being. I wanted to visit the museum to praise and thank God and ask him to help us continue to enlarge the place of our tent, to continue working together and to continue to guide and bless UBF around the world. I pray that we may be salt and light in our campuses, in our working places, among our neighbors and through our house church families. May God be glorified !