News > North America

Milwaukee and Minneapolis UBF (Minneapolis & Wisconsin, USA)

August 9, 2012

"Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve." - 1Peter5:2 -

From July 26 to 29, Milwaukee and Minneapolis UBF held a joint Summer Bible Conference at Milwaukee UBF’s church building. The theme of the conference was “Be Shepherds of God’s Flock” based on 1 Peter 5:2. Missionary Stephen Yang, Missionary Paul Dang, and their coworkers worked together to coordinate the conference. We were also honored to have Pastor Abraham and Missionary Sarah Kim attend. The total number of participants was about 80 including 38 from Minneapolis, 37 from Milwaukee, 3 from Chicago, 1 from Tampa Bay, and 1 from Boston.

The conference began on the evening of Thursday, August 26. Paul Dang Jr. preached the opening message from John 10 and Luke 5:1-11 entitled “Peter’s Good Shepherd.” Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is so trustworthy that we want to follow him. This is what Peter discovered about Jesus, and as he followed Jesus, he was formed into a shepherd whom others could also trust. After the message, we had life testimonies by Matthew Efteland, Joe Dang, and Melissa Worden.

We started our Friday with a morning devotional message from Nick Miller. His message, “Jesus Heals a Paralytic” from Mark 2:1-12, taught us that Jesus has the power to forgive our sins and to heal us from our paralysis.  He testified how Jesus forgave his sins and set him free from his own paralysis.

After the morning devotion, we broke up into eight Bible study groups to studyMatthew 16:13-28. Then we heard a message on that same passage by Shepherd Chuck Voght, “You are the Christ.” He declared that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the only one who saves us from our sins.  To be saved from our sins, we need to confess our faith in Jesus as Peter did and allow Jesus to rule our hearts more and more.

Friday afternoon, after lunch, we took time to write testimonies and share them with our Bible study groups. Then, after dinner, we started “My Confession of Christ” night with a message by Shepherd James Tetzlaff.  His message was, “If Anyone Would Come After Me” from Matthew 16:21-28. He proclaimed that if we would come after Jesus, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. After the message, we heard Bible testimonies by Lina Jung, Elizabeth Munis, Michael Brutskiy, Gereon Yee, Katie Rath, Ruth Yoon. Then Missionary Abigail Jung shared her life testimony and Dr. Jeong-kyun Kim shared about his experiences teaching at YUST. We were also blessed by a special musical performance of “In Christ Alone” by Ruth and her two daughters Lina and Rebekah.

On Saturday morning, we had an encouraging devotional message by Dr. Sarah Luebben. Her message was, “Jesus Heals a Sick Woman” from Mark 5:24b-34.  We learned the importance of persisting in faith in order to be healed. We especially need to guard our minds, resisting thoughts of unbelief and holding on to thoughts of faith based on God’s truth.

After our time of morning devotion, we broke up into our Bible study groups again in order to meditate on Luke 23. Then we gathered to hear a message on that same passage by Shepherd Jeff Cummings with the title—“Father, Forgive Them.”  He proclaimed the good news that Jesus died on the cross so that we might be forgiven and reconciled to God. He also exhorted us to extend God’s forgiveness to those who have sinned against us. After his message, Shane Wilder, who was visiting us all the way from Tampa Bay, Florida, shared a testimony of how he received Jesus’ forgiveness. Saturday afternoon, after lunch, we took time to write testimonies and share them with our Bible study groups.

On Saturday evening, our theme was “Father, Forgive Them.” Shepherd Spencer delivered a message on John 21 entitled, “Feed My Sheep.” He drew a picture of Jesus’ unconditional love for Peter expressed on the shores of Galilee. After the message, Gino Marchetti and Holly Wasecheck shared their testimonies on Luke 23. After a musical performance of “Look Up to God” by Mary, Jacob, and Moses Park, we heard the life stories of two American missionaries: Adoniram Judson (summarized by Mary Park, Hyojae Oh, and Rebekah Kim) and Elizabeth Shepping (read by Jodi Brown).  After that, the Minneapolis JBF and HBF members performed an inspiring skit entitled “You are the Christ,” which dramatized Peter’s relationship with Jesus. 

On Sunday morning, Missionary Maria Wang woke us up with a devotional message on Acts 1:8 “You Will Receive Power.”  The Holy Spirit gives us power to live for Christ, to pray, and to be Jesus’ witnesses. In order for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit we need to yield to the word of God. Maria personally prayed that she would become an effective one-to-one Bible teacher by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

After our time of morning devotion, we again broke up into our Bible study groups one last time to study 1 Peter 5:1-11. Then we gathered to hear a message on that passage by Paul Dang with the title—“Be Shepherds of God’s Flock.”  Through the message we thought about why we need to be shepherds of God’s’ flock, how to be shepherds of God’s flock and what reward God has for shepherds. After his message, Pastor Abraham Kim delivered a closing message “Paul’s Shepherding at Ephesus” based on Acts 19:8-22.  Pastor Abraham emphasized that Paul’s shepherding was fruitful because of his deep Bible study, prayer and discipleship ministry. Pastor Abraham then closed our conference by leading the benediction.

Throughout the conference, Minneapolis UBF’s and Milwaukee UBF’s praise teams and music servants blessed us with their beautiful ministry. We praise God that each messenger could preach on the passage that was fitting for them.

Each of the messengers prayed deeply and meditated earnestly on the word of God.  God blessed their earnest hearts and helped each of them to hear his voice personally. We thank God also for each of the group Bible study leaders (Stephen Yang, Jacob Park, Dr. Peter Jeong, Vision Lyu, Dr. Charles Baik, Tim Ralston, Holly Wasechek, Elizabeth Ralston, and John Dang) who served with life-giving words. We thank God for blessing everyone to experience heavenly joy and spiritual growth through the conference, and to learn of Jesus’ shepherd heart.

Both in preparation for the conference and during the conference itself, we experienced God’s presence in many ways.  First, God provided us with cool weather in answer to our prayers. Before and after the conference, the weather was unbearably hot and humid. But during the conference, we had cool comfortable weather. Our God lives!

Second, Jesus our Good Shepherd supplied our needs. Two days before the conference, we found that the hotel where the Minneapolis coworkers were supposed to stay had cancelled their reservations. It seemed impossible to find rooms for the Minneapolis coworkers because hotel rooms are in high demand that week. Butthe coworkers from Minneapolis cried out to God on their knees.  And the next day, God blessed themto find another nearby hotel that had exactly the right number of rooms and better rooms at that. Praise Jesus our Good Shepherd!

Third, we thank God for his work in the hearts of his people through the conference. God granted us 14 new Bible students, including three HBF members from Minneapolis. Each of them has been studying the Bible for more than 9 months. In answer to their prayers for spiritual rebirth and direction, God enabled many of them to confess "Jesus is the Christ." Katie made a decision to live as a disciple by devoting herself to Sunday worship service; Abebe decided to enter into common life in the brother's apartment; and Gereon accepted God’s call to grow as a shepherd. Shane, who returned to Tampa after the conference, prayed that he might study the Bible with one person. Greg made a decision to be a shepherd of God’s flock. Many people received God’s forgiveness and decided to forgive others. Praise God for the mighty work of the Holy Spirit among us through the conference.

Being a shepherd of God’s flock is the most glorious and blessed life. When we help people to listen to the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, by feeding them with the word of God, watering them with the labor of love, and protecting them in prayer, our sheep can come to know Jesus personally and can also grow to be shepherds of God’s flock.  May the Lord bless us to grow in Jesus and become shepherds of God’s flock. May the Lord bless his work in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and every UBF chapter throughout the world as we feed Jesus’ sheep. 

By Stephen Yang and Paul Dang