Matthew 9:37-38 "Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'"
The work of God is in need of faithful and devoted harvest workers called by God, the Lord of the harvest. God renewed our vision to pioneer 561 major USA campuses, launching the HAS project, which stands for the Harvest is plentiful, Ask the Lord of the harvest, and Send out workers into his harvest field.
This year's program was completely organized by our Young Disciples of Jesus (YDJ) team. Our vision to transfer leadership to the next generation of young leaders is slowly becoming a reality over many years of prayer and working together.The major theme of the festival was "God is Love," based on 1 John 4. Shippensburg UBF presented video interviews on "What is love/What is God's love?" M. Sunji Jun said, "God's love is patience." M. Sarah Kim said, "God's love is to sacrifice." We all agreed that God's love is eternal. You can watch the video in the attached file.
Dr. Henry Park from OSU delivered a keynote message titled, "God is love." He described God's four-dimensional love - height, length, depth, and width - with humor and many examples. He shared God's love in his personal life. God trained him in America through working in a factory, though he had a rich father. In suffering, he experienced true love in God who molded his character to be like that of Christ. He brought ten co-workers with him from OSU to the festival to celebrate the harvest of souls: John S., Sean Smith, Amanda Logsdon, Bob Preest, and Andrew and Deborah Kim.
After the keynote message, all the participants broke up into ten groups. They were each given one theme to prepare as a skit for the next day. All the topics were related to love. On Saturday morning, each team practiced together, and at 10:30 am, each team presented their skits. We did not know what to expect from these skits. But we were surprised by how talented and resourceful our young leaders are as we enjoyed each skit. I found that they possessed unlimited, potential spiritual growth if given the opportunity with the proper environment.
The ten skits were based on the following:
1. Pray without ceasing: cowboy, moon
2. Forgive without punishing: airplane, shepherd
3. Share without pretending: wizard, football practice
4. Give without sparing: mime, ballet
5. Promise without forgetting: restroom, fisherman.
6. Speak without accusing: judge, playground.
7. Answer without arguing: fashion show, clown
8. Trust without wavering: beekeeper, underwater
9. Enjoy without complaining: chef, dessert
10. Listen without interrupting: jungle, robot
Dr. Bill Pottenger, Dr. Herny Park, Brian Annear, and Jacob Lee served as judges. The three teams that collected the most points received an award. Team 5 won first prize, Team 3 second, and Team 10 won third. Team 2 was last, but they received an encouragement prize. Please enjoy the attached video and judge for yourself who the winners should be.
After the presentation of the winners, Brian Annear delivered a closing message titled, "God's love made complete."He explained many aspects of love from the Old Testament to New Testament without a manuscript and with the use of only two chairs.
On Sunday, Pastor Jacob Lee delivered a message based on Matthew 9:37-38. He shared God's urgent calling for harvestworkers for the USA and the world. He emphasized that America is our mission field and we have to raise up leaders here and now. After the message, ten students shared their testimonies. They were Stephanie Beckett, Carrie Wolford, Emerald Brooks, Rona Aquino, Michael Yacob, Yi-hsieh Wang, James Wang, Jonathan Deibert, Michelle Stanton, and Roger Tzu. All of them accepted one word of God through their testimonies and took deep root in the word of God to grow as harvest workers.
Pastor Abraham Kim sent Steve Stasisnos, Yvonne Timlin, and Grace Martin from Chicago as prayer support for the harvest festival. Most chapters from the Mid-Atlantic region joined us with joyful hearts and prayers. More than 150 people enjoyed God's love demonstrated through his Son Jesus Christ. We felt God's unfailing, unending, unconditional, and sacrificial love through the festival.
Below you will find video links to watch all the programs from the Harvest Festival.
