(UBF HQ-General Director) Pastor Ron's Visit to Washington and Central Asia
- by ubfhq
- May 18, 2025
- 1139 reads
Pastor Ron Ward
Last weekend, Dervilla and I visited the Washington area. It was by the invitation of Pastor Phillip Brown to share a Sunday message during his sabbatical leave. I delivered my New Year’s message, “A Living Hope” from 1 Peter 1:1-9. The Lord helped us glimpse his heavenly kingdom and planted living hope in our hearts. While delivering the message, I could sense among them a deep reverence for God’s words, and heard very thoughtful responses. It is a mature spiritual community. At the same time, many young people participate with passion and eager expectation to experience the work of God. Coworkers from other nearby chapters also joined, including Cornerstone, George Mason, and Baltimore. It was a blessed worship service, full of the joy and love of Christ. It was a great privilege to meet and share fellowship with many great men and women of God.
We saw how mightily the Holy Spirit is working in Baltimore as we participated in their Friday night group Bible study at the Towson University campus. Led by Joanna, the Bible study was deep, engaging, and full of joy and laughter. We met more than twelve young disciples of Jesus who are all students at TU, including Isaiah–a leader among them, and three freshmen boys. We gave thanks to God for blessing the sacrificial lives of Paul and Faith Sambuco, who have served local students for more than three decades. A few years ago, they went through a “spiritual tsunami” when several families left their chapter for various reasons. During that time, they sought God earnestly through deep Bible study and prayer. Now God has blessed them to reach many students. They pray for the students to participate in the Sunday worship service and grow as Jesus’ disciples. Their daughter Grace has just finished her Ph.D. and is working together wholeheartedly to serve the ministry.
We were also blessed to see the growing work of God in the George Mason ministry. More than 12 young leaders joined the worship service, including Matthew, who is regarded as the Abraham of faith. He has faithfully participated in the ministry for 14 years and is preparing for marriage soon. It will be the third Christian family established in their ministry. After having worship services on the campus for many years, they are now in the process of purchasing a Bible house, which is just a three-minute walk from the campus. As we observed the great faith and compassion shown by the ministry pioneers, Missionaries David and Hannah Chung, we saw the love of Jesus in action. God’s blessing on this beautiful ministry is overflowing. There are so many great men and women of God in the Washington area: Pastor Jacob and Esther Lee, Missionaries Joseph and Monica Chun, Dr. Luke and Rebekah Lim, Dr. David and Sarah Yun, Missionaries Elijah and Grace Park, and so many more, plus many second gens. I am sorry not to name all of them; God knows and sees their sacrificial lives of faith. They are shining like stars in the night sky. We thank God for raising Phillip Brown to serve this beautiful community as a pastor and for the wholehearted support he receives. May he serve the Lord all the more powerfully after returning from his sabbatical leave. Though his wife, Sara, suffers from back pain, her faith is very evident through her prayers and acts of service. Their younger son, Noah, is growing as a Bible teacher for high school students and currently teaches about six people per week. We owe a special thanks to Missionaries James and Maria Park, who served us from the beginning to the end with love and grace in Christ. Let’s thank God for this mature, vibrant, and loving community and pray for their outreach and disciple-raising ministry to transform each campus, Washington, and the whole world!
For the next three weeks, our HQ journey team (Ron and Dervilla Ward, David and Joy Kim) will be visiting Central Asia. The first stop is Almaty, Kazakhstan to participate in the Sunday worship service to dedicate their new Bible house. We will stay for a few days to serve group Bible studies and give special lectures. Following that, we will go to various chapters in Central Asia to serve with Bible studies, messages, and prayers. The places we visit are: Astana 1 and Astana 1 in Kazakhstan, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and Osh and Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. We earnestly pray to be a blessing in each house church and to see how God is working mightily among them. God willing, we will return to Chicago on May 27. Please pray for us to be full of the Holy Spirit, full of the love and grace of Christ, and to be a blessing to our dear brothers and sisters in Central Asia. Please pray for us to be healthy and safe so we may not be a burden to them. And please pray for us to see the great work of God that is happening through Central Asia and to share it with you. Thanks!
