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DJ Chuang, from Leadership Network was gracious enough to invite me to the Multi-Site Exposed Conference, which was being hosted by New Life Church in Chicago. Since I was already in Chicago for the UIC inaugural celebration, I decided to check it out.

They had a great line of speakers such as Mark Jobe and Dave Ferguson, who gave some insights from their experience with the multi-site model in the Chicagoland area.

One take away from this conference was Fibonacci and “rapid reproduction.” Fibonacci was a mathematician who introduced the new numeral system (the one that we have now) and changed the way numbers were counted. In our generation God is raising up Kingdom-minded people who will change the way we count. We are only going to finish the task of the Great Commission if we have the mindset of multiplication and reproduction.

It is just awesome to see that many of these multi-site pastors and leaders have such a heart for evangelism; and they want to see the Kingdom of God expanded. God is definitely up to something.

I couldn’t stay for the whole conference, since I had to catch the last flight out of Midway back to Ann Arbor. But the staff in Chicago will be taking notes for me.
 
 
 

 
Mark Jobe hosting the conference
 
 
 

 
Dave Ferguson sharing about Fibonacci

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:14 PM | Permalink

I am excited about this morning. I am in Austin right now and getting ready to head out to HMCC of Austin’s inaugural Sunday Celebration. The first of everything is very important and I wanted to be here to encourage the team and experience God’s blessings with them.

Whenever a new church is birthed, there is this sense of privilege and excitement. It is hard to believe that after months of prayer and preparation that this church is going to be finally launched.

I heard that some of the old HMCC alumni who live in the Texas area will be visiting us as well. I will write more after the Celebration and include some pictures.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 08:56 AM | Permalink

On Sunday, the family and I meant up with Christina’s side of the family to celebrate Tyler’s birthday. He is 2 years old and our kids love their cousin. It is incredible to see how a kid grows up so quickly. I was reminded of the time when our kids were at Tyler's age. He is truly adorable. Alex and Ginny are expecting their 2nd child in mid-November.

It is always a blessing to see our kids interact with their cousins. I always have a greater appreciation for the extended family whenever I head out to Chicago.

My parents also enjoyed spending some time with the kids. For some reason, I feel as if they are more extravagant in their lavishing of love on my kids than they were on me. But then again, for them to put up with someone like me, they really had to have a lot of love.
 
 
 

 
The Kim and Chung families at Bob Chinn's
 
 
 

 
Tyler is the center of attention
 
 
 

 
Tyler didn't want to let go of his present

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:51 PM | Permalink

It was great worshipping with the HMCC family in Chicago. Usually when I am there, I am preaching. But this past Sunday I was able to just worship the Lord by giving the announcements and hearing Pastor Jimmy preach. Some people in our church like to call my announcement giving as “sermon-noucements” but I like to call them “announcemenettes” :-)

We ended up praying for the team of people who will be heading up the UIC site in September. I was reminded how God used ordinary people like Christina and me to start up the church in Ann Arbor. We have a great group of guys who want to make a difference with their lives for Jesus.

The harvest truly plentiful and we are going to do everything we can to reap that harvest.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 10:52 PM | Permalink

Yesterday, we had to change our plans. The Georgian schools started this week (early huh?) and Six Flags changed their hours of operation to only the weekends. One thing I have learned over the years is that you have to be “flexible” in everything. If not, then life will become difficult – not only for you but for others.

Therefore, we shifted gears and decided to go to Martin Luther King, Jr. Center and birth home. Even though I went there some years back, this time, going with the kids was a little different. I really wanted my kids to be inspired by King’s courage, compassion and convictions. I think this is something that we want to do every year. Wherever we end up going, we want to try to find some historical aspect of that particular city and make it educational for the children.

After dinner, we went over to Pastor’s Matt house and finally met Ella, their first child (little over 3 months old). The kids loved playing with her – especially, with her hair that was constantly praising the Lord.

Then, I spent some time with Pastor Matt and his staff. It was great just listening to some of their insightful questions and imparting some of the lessons that I have learned over the years at HMCC. I told them that I have more things to share that are related to “what not to do” than things that were successfully done. Afterwards, Pastor Matt and I had some personal time to talk about ministry and life. It was a great time of just connecting together.

Today, in the morning we finally headed out to Six Flags Over Georgia. The boys wanted to go on the various roller coaster rides, so we mapped out a game plan and hit as many as we could in our allotted time. It is pretty scary knowing that my boys love roller coaster rides at this age. They might get addicted to speed and things that involve adrenaline inducing activities, just like their mother :-)

We just arrived back to Chicago and now, we are preparing to get up in the morning to visit HMCC of Chicago tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing and witnessing all that God has been doing in this church.
 
 
 

 
Trying to inspire the next generation of leaders
 
 
 

 
The birth house of MLK
 
 
 

 
The boys in front of Ebenezer Church where MLK was a pastor
 
 
 

 
The sheer joy on KiKi's face as she is enjoying the swing ride
 
 
 

 
Since Elliot couldn't be at Beijing, we decided to have our own race

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 09:18 PM | Permalink

The family and I arrived in Atlanta yesterday. We were greeted by Pastor Matt and ended up having lunch together. Then, the family and I went to the World of Coke. It was great learning about the history of Coca-Cola. The best part was being able to taste close to 64 different flavors of Coke from the various parts of the world. I was pumped when I found out that they had Stoney Tangawizi. It is like a very strong ginger ale.

Then, we ended up meeting with Jonathan Lee, an alumnus from the University of Michigan and our Focus ministry, and we went to the Cubs vs. Atlanta game. It was pretty interesting to find so many Cubs fan there. I still think they are the most die-hard fans in the whole world. In fact, I think there were close to one Cub fan for every three Atlanta fan. I have never seen anything like it.

As the kids were getting tired, after the 7th inning stretch song, we headed back to our place. We are heading out to Six Flags today.

Christina and I have been so blessed to see Pastor Matt and their whole church being so generous. Not only did they open up a whole place for us to stay (one of their member’s place) but they have been providing for all the activities and meals. I am praying that in what they sow in, they will be able to reap a double portion of blessings.
 
 
 

 
We were getting thirsty for the taste of Coke
 
 
 

 
It was cool seeing all the different nations that Coke has reached
 
 
 

 
We told Karissa "just a taste" but as you can tell, she was gulping
 
 
 

 
It was a double blessing when we found out that it was NASCAR night at the game
 
 
 

 
Jonathan hosting us at the game... he is a die-hard Braves fan... only Jesus kept us civil
 
 
 

 
Cubs fans had to stay together in hostile territory
 
 
 

 
It was an incredible sight to see 3-1 Cubs fan in an away game - truly beautiful

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 09:05 AM | Permalink

This morning, the family and I are driving out to Chicago to spend some time with our extended family before all the craziness of a new season of ministry starts.

We will also spend a few days out in Atlanta with Pastor Matt and the JCA family. They have been so gracious and generous to invite us and host me and my family for a few days.

I am praying that this week will be fruitful with family and friends.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 09:23 AM | Permalink

In the afternoon session, we had the opportunity to hear about what God is doing in all of our missionary post around the world. The testimonies were powerful. There were stories of divine connections and appointments, Chinese nationals coming to Christ, business opportunities for missions work, and etc.

It was a fresh reminder that God is constantly at work and He is doing things beyond our own understanding. These are exciting times!

Afterwards, we all went to eat Duk Bo Sam. There are just some foods here in L.A. that are just ridiculous. Man, we have never seen that much food. Then we stopped by a new yogurt craze called Yogurtland. It is like the famous Pinkberry and Red Mango stores. But the only difference is that you serve yourself (which can be dangerous) and then you pay by the weight. This is a great idea in light of our generation that want individualized choices. This store will do well if it opened up in Ann Arbor, Austin or Chicago.

After we nearly died of food coma, we pushed through to have another session. We went around and shared what God was doing in our churches and then we ended up praying for one another. The summit has been great.

Today, I will be heading back to Ann Arbor. I am trying to get on an earlier flight so that I can spend more time with my family.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 12:03 PM | Permalink

After getting on another flight, I finally made it to the conference. It was good reconnecting with all the pastors in AMI. I ended up walking into an afternoon prayer time and the Holy Spirit was there, as people were crying out to God. We ended up fasting – from dinner until the morning. I was just reminded how awesome it is to have people who have a spirituality which really practices the spiritual disciplines of fasting and prayer.

Then in the morning we ended up going to Newport Beach to spend some time with God. One thing that we really wanted to experience on this summit is to hear the voice of God. It is so easy for pastors to be super busy by doing things and going to meetings that we won’t stop to hear what God is trying to say.

I ended up have a good time in God’s Word and spending some time in prayer, as I enjoyed God's creation.

One thing that I felt like God was speaking to me about was the importance of timing and discernment. God used a surfer on the beach to teach me this. There were two people who were surfing in the ocean and it was fascinating to watch them from the shore. They would paddle out into the water and just wait there. There were several times when I felt like the wave was coming and they did not stand up on their board.

In a weird way, they just knew which wave to ride. Not only did they have the discernment but when they caught the right wave, they were able to ride the wave for a long time.

This is when I realized that God was saying in ministry and in life a lot of it is about timing and discernment. Every time I thought the wave was a good one, later it showed that it was not a powerful wave. Every time when I thought the surfer should have stood up on the board, he ended up catching another wave that was better. How many times have we thought that something was right at the moment or thought that it was the best thing, but later on we realized it was not?

For lunch, we went to In-N-Out, a place for a bonafide Californian burger. It was Pastor Ben’s first time eating an In-N-Out burger; therefore it was a great joy to see him eat it.

The AMI pastors and I have been building our relationships together and strengthening our friendships. It has been a refreshing time.
 
 
 

 
Pastor Keith doing a teaching session
 
 
 

 
King Bruce on the throne
 
 
 

 
A great place to read God's Word and pray
 
 
 

 
The HMCC pastors and I took this picture over looking the beach
 
 
 

 
This inspired me to think about taking up surfing
 
 
 

 
Got Pastor Bruce with his monster Canon D40 before he got me
 
 
 

 
We got Pastor Ben to take a picture with an employee for this historical moment
 
 
 

 
Only Jesus and the Gospel can bring people together

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 04:42 PM | Permalink

I don’t know how long I have been traveling, but after awhile we begin to do things mindlessly. This morning, I ended up missing my flight to L.A. Since I was told that my flight was at 8AM and that I was going to be picked up at 6AM, I just assumed that everything was all set. I usually have reminders and things to double check. But this time around I was not thinking.

So you should have seen the look on my face when I was trying to check-in for my flight and I could not. I talked with an flight agent and they gave me this strange look and said, “Uh, the flight took off at 6AM!”

Wow!

But by God’s grace (and being a Platinum Elite Status member), they put me on another flight to L.A. without any charge. I just had to remind myself that God was still in control :-)

I am heading out to L.A. for the AMI Pastors’ Summit. It will be a great time of hanging out with the other AMI pastors and getting refreshed to do another year of ministry.

But I do long for home (Ann Arbor). Now, the more I travel, the more I am disliking the suitcase lifestyle and I just want to be back home to spend time with family and the church family.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:54 AM | Permalink

I met up with the team for lunch yesterday afternoon. Some of them had to work therefore they were not able to make it out, but it was a great lunch by the riverside with the rest of the team. It was a unique seafood Tex-Mex menu which was awesome. Now, I see how people in Texas can really gain weight if they are not careful because everything is BIG in Texas – from the drink cup to the portions.

The team invited a Buddhist friend that the team is trying to share the love of God with. He is a Malaysian who went to the University of Michigan and he is now getting a PhD at UT. It is awesome how God is always making the divine connections. He has even been coming out to the informal Sunday Celebration!

After lunch, we stop by one of the best coffee shops in the area called, Mozart's. It was great talking with the manager of the store because once he found out that I was from Ann Arbor, he quickly mentioned Zingerman's. He went to a Zingerman’s leadership training course last year. Once again, it is amazing to see how many avenues of connection that God gives for us to start up a conversation. We just have to start the conversation and God will do the rest.

Then for dinner, we all went over to Pastor Ben’s place. After dessert, we spent some time going around and sharing some of the lessons that God was teaching us and also some of the blessings that we have received so far. It was great hearing all the testimonies of God’s faithfulness and goodness.

There are never coincidences with God. He is the Author of our lives and as we respond in obedience to Him, God is constantly opening up doors of blessings. All the team members answered the
4-Evers (whatever, whenever, wherever, whichever) and now God is pouring out His favor on their lives.

It is going to be exciting to see what God is going do through them throughout this first year of the church plant.
 
 
 

 
The cafe by the river was awesome
 
 
 

 
Getting ready to eat at Pastor Ben's place
 
 
 

 
The joy of church planting

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:32 AM | Permalink

It was good seeing the whole team last night. We ended up going to a real Texan BBQ. It was incredible because they cook all the meat right in an open pit. As we were sharing in a meal, we had an opportunity to catch up.

We praise God because most of the members have gotten a job and are working to help support themselves. Also, it was encouraging to hear some of the testimonies from the members. I was particularly bless to hear how some of them survived on minimal resources. The men ate mac & cheese, peanut butter & jelly and ramen noodle for most of the past month. Therefore, it brought me great joy to see them at this BBQ.

They have about 4 more weeks before the official launch of the church. God provided a movie theater right on campus for them to meet on Sundays, which was a big answer to prayer. God is truly paving the way for the team.

We are going to head out to campus in the afternoon and tonight we will spend some time in prayer for one another and the church plant.
 
 
 

 
Getting ready to order
 
 
 

 
The Texan BBQ pit
 
 
 

 
Another angle of the meat feast
 
 
 

 
TouFue and I got an up-close view of the pit
 
 
 

 
The HMCC of Austin team

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 12:12 PM | Permalink

I am at the airport (again). Today, I will be heading down to Austin to spend some time with the Austin church plant team. As they are getting ready to launch their first inaugural Sunday Celebration at the end of this month, I wanted to go and encourage them and pray with them. This is part of the apostolic calling that God has placed on my life.

I have heard that it is in the 100 degrees down there… man, it is going to be HOT!

Then I will head out to L.A. with Pastor Ben and some of the other AMI pastors for our AMI Pastors’ Summit. It will be good reconnecting with the other pastors in our community of churches.

It is always hard coming and then leaving the family again. They have been so gracious to release me to travel and fulfill my responsibilities. I am looking to spending some extended time with them when I get back.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:30 AM | Permalink

We are almost home as we are waiting in Seattle. Our flight to DTW is going to board in about 2 hours. It almost seems surreal that we are back in the States. Sometimes after spending time away from the States, a person goes through a reserve culture shock.

But one thing that I am looking forward to is being welcomed by my family. It is always one of my favorite moments after getting back from a long trip. I am also looking forward to getting back to the rhythm of things. I have to re-train my body with the daily 2 miles of running.

Now, I will need to write down some of the things that God accomplished through this trip.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 02:49 PM | Permalink

We spent a good portion of the morning just reflecting and sharing some of our thoughts from the trip, especially in Jakarta. It is always helpful to process some of the things that we have experienced in order to put the proper perspective on things.

We had our last dinner in Indonesia with Louisa and Engel; then we headed out to the airport. Now, we are in Singapore on a layover before we get back to Ann Arbor (via Tokyo and Seattle). Even though it is going to be a long plane ride, it will be good to reflect on the trip and spend some time reading.

I can’t wait to share with the rest of the church all the things that God is doing on this part of the world and all the things that He has revealed to the team.
 
 
 

 
We rolled out in style as this is our last picture in Jakarta - we found out from the owner that it is a $1.4 million Rolls Royce. It is crazy to meet people who have that much money to spend... crazy!
 
 
 

 
The men are spending some time in reflecting and writing in their journals
 
 
 

 
Some of the women were journaling and resting

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:11 PM | Permalink

One thing I have been telling the team is that in Indonesia (or any part of the world) we have to learn to be flexible. There are so many unknowns that happen all the time that without being flexible, we will get easily frustrated.

As we were planning on going to a particular international church, there was this unexpected traffic. This caused us to run really late for the service that started at 10:45AM. So, as we were waiting in traffic, I found out that the other international church was close by and the service started at 11:00AM. So we decided to be flexible and go to the later service.

After the service we talked and fellowshipped with many of the single adults and expatriates. Many of them studied overseas and now they are back in their home country starting up their own businesses or working for their parents’ companies.

We ended up at a local café, which by the way was much better than Starbucks, and just hung out. I realized that doing a church plant from scratch requires relationship building. Sometimes the thing that we have to focus in on is just sitting down with people and talking with them.

Then we headed out to Louisa’s aunt’s place for dinner. Indonesians place a high value on family, therefore having all the family members together for a meal is very important. We had many members from Louisa’s family come out to eat with us.

Today, we are going to wrap things up here in Jakarta and start our journey back to the States. We will have a layover in Singapore for 5 hours. I am looking forward to heading back to the States. I can’t wait to share all the blessings that God has poured out on us on this trip.
 
 
 

 
It is hard to believe that in this picture we have 3 generation of HMCC people
 
 
 

 
In my opinion, Louisa's aunt is one of the best chef's in Indonesia. She cooked up a feast for us.
 
 
 

 
The Halim family has become like family to us
 
 
 

 
This is a wise quote that was at the local cafe - "Actually this seems to be the basic need of the human heart in nearly every great crisis, a good hot cup of coffee"

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 08:42 PM | Permalink

We made a trip out to Bandung today. Bandung is known as the textile capital of Indonesia and even possibly in all of S.E. Asia. But our main purpose for going to Bandung was to visit some of the universities. Some of the top Indonesian universities are located in Bandung.

It was a long 2.5 hour car ride. We started our journey early in the morning. As soon as we arrived, we were greeting by Irene Tanu and her sister, Sylvia. Irene is a HMCC alum and she is now back in Bandung as a working professional.

Once again, I am just amazed and humbled to see not only all the HMCC alumni who are placed all over the world, but their willingness to sacrifice and host us. Every time we want to bless them with a meal, they constantly beat us in getting the bill. Our whole team has been blessed by the generosity of our alumni.

Our first stop was at Institut Teknologi Bandung. This is the best engineering school in all of Indonesia. It is also known for its strong Muslim population amongst the student body. We walked around campus and introduced ourselves as former students from the University of Michigan. It was great that we had Rebi on our team who graduated from the UM’s engineering school. Once we told the students that Rebi was a graduate from UM as a engineer, our respect level boosted up a notch! You should have heard the “ooh” and “wow.”

Afterwards, we met up with Pastor Sammy who lived in Seattle for 8 years. He came back to Bandung to be a pastor of a church. It was great talking with him because he was the 3rd culture person that we are finding ourselves connecting with very well. He mentioned that the transition from the United States back to Indonesia was not easy. People like Pastor Sammy are a growing population in many of these global cities. Due to their experience of the Western culture, they struggle in acclimating back fully to their culture right away – not because of language or food but rather because of a widening of their worldview. In many ways, they make up their own culture or better known as the 3rd culture.

Then we went out to a place where they had a school for prayer and worship. It was more like a retreat center. The part that blessed the team the most was meeting Pastor Jacob and his wife, Esther. They had a phenomenal testimony of God’s grace and their obedience to God’s will. Pastor Jacob was a famous musician who literally changed the face of music in the Indonesian culture. He has been recognized as one of the top guitarist in the country. We got to sample a little bit of his playing and we were completely blown away!

He and Esther heads up the School of Prayer and Worship that is run by a large church in Jakarta. They have up and coming worship leaders and musicians come out for 2 months to get trained and equipped for the worship ministry. Their ministry has grown so much that now they are hosting people from countries like, China, Taiwan, and Malaysia.

We closed out our time in Bandung with a good Malay dinner in the heart of the city where so many people gathered on the weekend.

There is definitely a lot of potential for ministry in this area. It is exciting to see different ministries doing their part in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tomorrow we are going to visit an Indonesian church so that we can get a taste of the local church here. Then afterwards we are going to visit an international church in order to get a feel of how international churches are done here in Jakarta.
 
 
 

 
We took a picture with some of the engineering students at ITB
 
 
 

 
Rebi dazzled them by sharing that he graduated with an engineering degree from UM. As you can tell from their project, they are Mechanical Engineering majors
 
 
 

 
Once we found out that they had a Russian MiG Fighter Jet, which they took apart the engine, we had to take a "Top Gun" picture
 
 
 

 
This was the School of Prayer and Worship's piano training session
 
 
 

 
They had prayer rooms in their training school, which was influenced by the "Prayer Mountains" in Korea
 
 
 

 
We invited Pastor Jacob to play for us and we just sat there blown away as he made ordinary and simple songs like "Lord I Lift Your Name" into a jazz concert
 
 
 

 
We ended up joining one of the session for worship and the Presence of God was sweet
 
 
 

 
Pastor Jacob was a great inspiration to the whole team with his humility
 
 
 

 
Louisa and Engel have introduced us to the joys of street food
 
 
 

 
After dinner we walked around and saw another live concert in the mall

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 02:34 PM | Permalink

Today, we went to Karawaci and met up with Dan over at Universitas Pelita Harapan. It is one of the premier universities in Jakarta. The great thing is that it is a Christian university. They have stated that they wanted to be like the Wheaton College of Asia.

We ended up meeting with the Vice President of the university and the administrator for the teachers’ college. It was exciting to hear the vision of the school and even their future vision for all of Indonesia. The best part was that they were using the same language that we have been using for the Transformasphere Movement. They believe that education will be one of the key pillars for transformation in a society.

We then went to the Business School of UPH and talked with some professors. One professor ended up giving us a session on micro-financing. It was hilarious because some of us were really interested and others were drifting away in their minds.

Afterwards, we met up Lew Belcourt. He moved to Indonesia with his family about 9 years ago. Lew had great knowledge about the situation in Jakarta. I ended up picking his brain about various practical things about living in Indonesia.

It was also great meeting up with Grace Liu. She just recently graduated from UM and now is living in Jakarta working in hospital administration. She took us around her home town in Karawaci. Once again, I am so blessed to see so many of our alumni placed at different parts of the world. The ripples are truly being sent out from Ann Arbor.
 
 
 

 
Met up with the staff of UPH
 
 
 

 
We were getting schooled on micro-financing
 
 
 

 
It was great having lunch with Grace and meeting up with Lew Belcourt

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 03:21 PM | Permalink

We rejoined the rest of the team today in Jakarta. It was good just catching up and sharing some of the things that we witnessed in Lampung to the other teammates.

Then we went out for dinner with some of the people that we have been building a relationship with here in Indonesia. They took us to a seafood place by the water. It was a pretty cool place because they had various types of seafood in coolers and you went around choosing which seafood you wanted. Then you tell them how you want it cook and it comes out ready to eat.

The group that we ate with is such an international group that at any given moment there are four languages spoken at once. It is truly transcultural. This is what I love about global cities.

After dinner we took a nice walk along the pier. I am realizing more and more that ministry is really about relationships. As we are seriously considering the future church plant here, I am reminded of the first years at HMCC of Ann Arbor (and Chicago and now Austin) that a lot of the ministry was about eating together and hanging out together. This is where good conversations are started and we are able to build some genuine community.

When we got back to our hotel, our team ended up just hanging out at the lounge with our coffees and sharing some spiritual warfare stories – crazy! But it was a great time of bonding.

Tomorrow we have a full day at Karawaci, which is an expatriate community on the west side of Jakarta.
 
 
 

 
The seafood was just placed in these coolers... it was like a fish market at the restaurant
 
 
 

 
"Wow, these crabs are awesome! I can't wait to eat them."
 
 
 

 
"We are more 'wow-ed' than you Rebi"
 
 
 

 
The team is willing and waiting to eat - hmm... they seem too happy
 
 
 

 
Music is big in S.E. Asian countries. They had a live concert by the pier. It will be great to see some of the HMCC members do a live performance one of these days
 
 
 

 
Our group that ate at the seafood restaurant by the pier

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:14 PM | Permalink

We arrived safely in Jakarta last night. It was great being welcomed at the airport by some old friends like Louisa and Engel and even Yonas. It is hard to believe that I have been to Indonesia enough times that I am beginning to develop a strong relationship with some people.

The team split up that night because several of us were going to Lampung to visit a school. The rest of the team stayed back and checked out Yonas’ company.

Our team got up early in the morning and headed to the airport (again) to catch a flight that would get us to Lampung in a very short flight of about 45 minutes. Louisa reminded me that it is faster to fly into another city than to drive through the traffic jam in the city of Jakarta… oh the ironies of life!

After our short flight, we drove two hours to get to our destination. Lampung is pretty much a small little city, until we reach the compound of the Sugar Group Companies. This conglomerate that owns so many other corporations in Indonesia have their largest sugar cane factory out in Lampung. At first they told me that the property is 100,000 hectare. I was thinking – how many acres is that? I realized that is close to 247,000 acres! It is double the size of the country of Singapore.

It was truly an overwhelming feeling as we drove through the huge compound… and even then, we only went on a small portion of the land. It is literally a small country of its own.

We met up with the principal and the overseeing director. They gave us a tour of the place and allowed us to visit some of the classroom. The secondary school is the state-of-the-art. It was a blessing to hear about the testimonies of this school. Not only is it free for these students but they are given an opportunity to go to various well-known universities in Indonesia. Their motto is: “education is the key that opens the door to your future.”

Then at the last minute, they wanted our team to present something to the whole student body and then open the floor up for some questions and answers. We were taken back because we were not prepared to present anything – it came at the last minute. But we welcomed the opportunity. We shared about how the world is becoming more flat and interconnected, and we also shared about the importance of education and how it is going to open up many doors of opportunities.

We finished off the day with a BBQ with the teachers. It was great getting to know these teachers on a personal level as we ate together and just chilled. I had some good conversation with some of the younger teachers (they just came out of college not so long ago).

Tomorrow after the morning assembly, we will be heading back to Jakarta to join up with the rest of the team. Things are moving fast and God is opening our eyes to so many things.
 
 
 

 
The students greeted us with an Indonesian greeting by putting our hands on their foreheads or their cheeks
 
 
 

 
This was a primary classroom
 
 
 

 
This was an elementary classroom
 
 
 

 
Students are using computers in the library
 
 
 

 
Julie was pleasantly surprised to see that Google is being used globally
 
 
 

 
This is why I didn't like biology
 
 
 

 
In this school even their shoes are provided for - they like the old school Converse
 
 
 

 
We stopped by the music room and Rachel revealed something that we did not know about her
 
 
 

 
They even had an mini art gallery where the students showcased their work
 
 
 

 
Since most of the student body are Muslim, the students have opportunities to do their prayer. These students are preparing (cleansing) themselves to go to the prayer room
 
 
 

 
The boys pray in the front of the room
 
 
 

 
The girls pray in the back of the room
 
 
 

 
We ended up doing a make-shift presentation in front of the whole student body about the importance of education
 
 
 

 
Louisa was fielding some questions about getting into American universities
 
 
 

 
The Indonesian kids love taking pictures
 
 
 

 
Julie had a hard time choosing her drink - she finally tried one of the local brands
 
 
 

 
Principal Purwadi and Nia helped in hosting us - they are doing an incredible job with the school

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:32 AM | Permalink

Today, we started off our day by meeting up with John Ng, a HMCC alum who just happened to be in Hong Kong at the same time as us. It was great seeing John and his wife but his father’s battle with cancer has been brought some challenges. As we were catching up, we ended up praying for his family and for God’s love and grace would fill their home.

Then we meet up with Albert and Charlotte – they are students at Northwestern University attend HMCC of Chicago. We headed back out to the island to have lunch at the International Finance Centre. As we were walking and talking, I was just amazed at the network of relationships that we have developed over the years. It was cool to see Albert and Charlotte (the younger generation of HMCC members) walking alongside some of our teammates (the older generation of HMCC members).

It is my prayer that some of the values and DNA will be passed on from one generation to the next.

Then we had the privilege of meeting up with Joyco Yung, who started up something called, “UFire,” which is sweeping across the various universities around Hong Kong. They even started up a Love Revolution, which had some powerful affects in this city. It is always encouraging to meet people who have a passion for college students and college campuses.

The light blub went off in my head when he was sharing about how there are mainland Chinese people who come from various places around China to study in Hong Kong. If they were to reach them with God’s love and disciple them, then they will become the missionaries to reach the various parts of China. It is a localized vision for his nations, but it has the same principles for us reaching out to international students who come to UM, NU, UIC, and Austin. They will eventually be sent off to make a difference in their cities – the ripple effects on a greater scale!

Then we met up with Dave Ng for one last time before we leave for Jakarta tomorrow. Hong Kong has really been a blessing, not so much because of the place itself but more because we have alumni who are living out the Gospel message in a powerful and transformative way.

We need to see more people who will live out Gospel – this is how nations will be transformed.

We are heading out to Jakarta tomorrow morning. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us there!
 
 
 

 
Meeting up with John and Candice was truly a God thing. It was good catching up with them and even praying for his father.
 
 
 

 
Ate some good Chinese dessert with Albert and Charlotte, our HMCC of Chicago members
 
 
 

 
Heard some great testimonies of what God was doing on the college campuses in HK from Joyco

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:19 PM | Permalink

Yesterday, we went to The Vine Christian Fellowship for our Sunday Celebration. It is an expatriate international church. The interesting part of the whole experience is that a lot of the things that happened throughout the celebration are familiar. We had a good time of worship with songs that were familiar. The Word of God was relevant and the response time was powerful.

I am noticing a trend throughout many of these international churches in the global cities. Many of these churches are able to contextualize the experience that fits into a culture full of people who have left their home country (for whatever reason) or they have been abroad for studies or work. It is a unique group of people that in some ways have their own culture.

The key is trying to give this mobile community a vision to reach the people of their host country and for the national to reach their own people. It is important that they are equipped and empowered.

After the service, we had lunch with Dale Kauffman and his wife, Carol. They are the key founders of King’s Kids International, which is part of the Youth With A Mission ministry. It was a blessing to just here all the things that God is doing in China.

After I shared a little bit of what God laid in our hearts with the campus church planting and eventually planting international churches, Dale shared with us a trend that is happening in China. He said that one of the fastest growing movements right now in China (more than the House Church Movement) is the Chinese who have studied aboard and then come back to their country to work. They are reaching out to the various part of China’s society (similar to the Transformasphere Movement). They are reaching out to the business sector, the movie industry, the healthcare field, and etc. by starting up home fellowships.

It was so encouraging to have some of the things that we have always hypothesized about get confirmed from a giant on the field.

Then, after our meeting, we walk around the city; but this time we went to the island. It was good spending time with Dave and getting to hear all the various things that God has been doing in his life.

We capped off the night by taking the Peak Tram up to the mountain side to get a panoramic view of the whole city. It really caused you to stand there in awe of God. I was thinking how incredible it was to think that God knows and loves every single person in this city. It was humbling to also remind myself that God has been working in this city long before any “missionaries” arrived on the seen.

The words of Bluetree's song, “God Of This City” came to my mind as I looked out and prayed for the city of Hong Kong. I know that Chris Tomlin made it popular, but I stood corrected by one of our musicians that Chris Tomlin did not write the song - you can find out more information on this song here. Also, here is the Bluetree's version of the song.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 10:59 PM | Permalink

We finished off our time in Singapore this Saturday afternoon by having lunch with some of the alumni. One thing that has really blessed me was the principle of sacrifice that the alumni displayed to our team. Sometimes, as a pastor, you wonder if some of the principles that you try to teach ever sink in with people – especially, the principle of giving and generosity. But I can confidently say that many of our international students are living it out.

When we got to the Changi Airport, there were a handful of HMCC members who came out to say bye. Even though we stayed only for a few days in Singapore, our hearts were bonded to our alumni and it was sad to depart from them. They ended up praying for us and for the rest of the trip.

After the 3.5 hour flight to Hong Kong, we met up with David Ng (another one of the HMCC alumni). We checked into the hotel and then went out for an authentic Hong Kong noodle dinner. Then we walked around the harbor and took in the breath-taking scenery of the city skyline – it was incredible!

Dave shared with us various happenings around Hong Kong and in particular some of the great things that God was doing amongst the business sector. God is bringing executives and business leaders into His Kingdom.

After some time, we prayed for the city of Hong Kong and then headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow we will be visiting an international church in the city. The whole team is looking forward to this, since we are praying about starting an international church in one of the global cities in S.E. Asia.

We will also be meeting up with some pastors and other church leaders in the afternoon. Then we are going to try to meet up with some of the other HMCC members who are here for the summer.

Even though things have been non-stop, we have been experiencing God’s grace and just enjoying all that God is doing in this part of the world. Our hearts are full of thanks.
 
 
 

 
Saying bye to the Singaporean alumni and members at the airport
 
 
 

 
Check-in to the YMCA hotel and motioned the YMCA sign... Moses was making sure we were doing it right
 
 
 

 
The skyline of HK was incredible... it just made you want to pray for this global city

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 02:25 PM | Permalink

After a short layover in Tokyo, we arrived safely in Singapore at 1:30AM! Some of our current members had house that were big enough to house us, which was a tremendous blessing. The men stayed with one of the brothers and the women stayed with one of the sisters from our church. By the time we ended up going to sleep it was about 3AM.

We got an early start at 8:30AM and headed out to Chinatown to meet up with some of the other HMCC alumni for breakfast. The food court in Chinatown had a plethora of choices for Chinese food that can paralyze a person from Ann Arbor. We literally tried a little of everything!

Then we headed out to a convention center to meet up with a pastor from Indonesia who is doing some incredible work with the Dayak people in Borneo. It was quite amazing how his vision was in line with a lot of the things that we have our hearts on. He really has an apostolic ministry of church planting, pastor/leadership training school, school, and etc. They also have two orphanages. Pastor David’s ministry is reaching people holistically, as they are engaging the culture and reaching various parts of society.

Afterwards, we met up with some more HMCC alumni and walked throughout the center city of Singapore. It was the most I have walked in a long time! But it was good taking in the sights and also praying, as we saw various part of Singapore.

Then we all gathered at the Marina Centre to have dinner. We added a few more alumni and current members to the group by this time. Every year this group is getting bigger and bigger. We also had current members who are back in Singapore for summer break. They were all in various internships.

The hospitality and generosity of these guys were incredible. Oh boy, did these guys know how to order the food. The Chili Crab and some of the noodle dishes were slamming. We were truly blessed.

To top off the night, after dinner, we went out for dessert. We just ended up talking and hanging for hours. As I looked out at the group, I was just thankful that God brought us all together. It is hard to believe that the thing that brought us together was not only Jesus Christ, but by our common experience at HMCC.

I am truly seeing the ripples that were sent out from Ann Arbor reach all the way to Singapore.

Tomorrow, we will be heading to Hong Kong to meet up with some other alumni and current members. We are going to also scout out this global city for a future church plant. It is just amazing how our global connections through our alumni are opening up so many different doors for us. God is truly good.
 
 
 

 
The choices for breakfast was overwhelming for Rebi, but he was a happy man :-)
 
 
 

 
Meeting Pastor David was a great honor for us
 
 
 

 
The Esplanade Theatre or affectionately known as the "Durian Building"
 
 
 

 
Our team trying to rescue the jumping children
 
 
 

 
This was suppose to be a serious picture, but Rachel could not hold back her laugh
 
 
 

 
Music is huge in S.E. Asia! They have random bands playing in the malls
 
 
 

 
We ended the night with a typical "Asian" picture with our victory signs

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:19 PM | Permalink

We are at the airport and getting ready to board the plane. I am taking five other people with me on this scouting/survey trip. We are looking forward to spending some time with our alumni and even meeting up with some important contacts.

This is trip is significant because it will give us a better gauge of starting up the international church that we have been praying about.

I will try to update throughout this trip as much as I can.

Now it is time to board the plane!
 
 
 

 
The joy of airport food!

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:23 PM | Permalink

We spent yesterday talking about the “Kingdom of God” theology and how it affects the way we engage the world. It was a pretty heavy theological discussion. We went through the whole evangelical movement in America and looked at some of the pros and cons. It is interested to note how many things we take for granted in our suppositions on things. It is not until it gets challenged that we realized that we held on to beliefs that we have not really thought about.

Today we are going to spend more time in applying the kingdom of God theology into our various ministries. Just having all the various views and personalities in the room is helping me to stretch my thinking and perspective.

We are also going to present some of our conclusions to a handful of guys who are making their way here to Charlotte. They have gracious donated some funds so that we can even be here. As they have imparted to us with resources, we are going to impart to them with some of the knowledge that we have glean in the last 3 days.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:13 AM | Permalink

We arrived to a beautiful Bed & Breakfast home on Monday. It is definitely away from the busy city life and in more of a rural area with a river in the back yard.

Already we had two intense sessions, where we talked about several of Dallas Willard’s books. It is always a lively conversation and dialogue when some of my close pastor friends are together, but mostly because of the topic of transformation.

Today, we covered the whole idea of inner transformation. As pastors, we have concluded that people in our churches do not change as readily as we would like to see them radically transformed. We looked a little bit more reflectively on ourselves and concluded that we, as pastors don’t change as quickly either.

A lot of the discussions have really stirred up some good ideas as well as food for thought in our ministry context.

In the evening we have been fellowshipping together and building our relationships. It is still hard to believe that I have known some of these guys for close to 25 years. It is always a blessing when you have people that you are still running the race together with.

Tomorrow we are going to talk about bringing forth transformation in society with the Kingdom of God perspective. I am already excited just thinking about it… it should be a good day tomorrow.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:54 PM | Permalink

I am at the airport getting ready to board my plane to Charlotte, NC. Over the years I have learned to appreciate my times with fellow pastors and friends who are in the ministry. It is good to constantly challenge one another and also to learn from one another.

Every two years, some of my closest pastor friends have committed to gathering together to sharpen our ministry skills. As I have said many times, “everything rises and falls with leadership.” If I, as the lead pastor, am not growing spiritually, then the church cannot go beyond a certain level. In many ways, pastors become the lid for the church.

This is why I am constantly challenged to grow and bring our church to the next level. My pastor friends and I usually have a topic that we read up on and do research on and then we come together to discuss and share our insights together.

In the past, these have been awesome times of stretching my thinking and perspective. In fact, after some of our discussions, I have implemented some of the “take aways” into our ministry and I have seen some good fruits from it. I am praying that this year will have greater fruits because we are talking about transformation within (character) and transformation without (engaging the world).

This year will be a bit different because a handful of younger guys who are faithfully serving the Lord in the marketplace have helped fund some of the expense… and then in return, we are going to share a meal together and give a summary of what we talked about. I was blessed to see that there are people who are willing to learn from us and they were even willing to pay their own way.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 09:36 AM | Permalink

We finished off the conference with Dr. Steve Lee finishing off on Esther 4, with the famous phrase of, “If I perish, I perish.” Dr. Steve has been developing the theme about the Sovereignty of God in the last two days of this conference.

During yesterday’s morning session, we prayed for all the missions teams and even for the Austin church plant team. It was a powerful time. As the various teams were circled around, it just struck me, not only how diverse the people were but also how only the Spirit of the Living God can bring people together in unity.

Once again, it was great spending some time with the other pastors in AMI and also being reminded of the greater mission.

Now, I am getting ready to head out to the airport. Since, I will be preaching at HMCC of Ann Arbor, I am praying hard that there will be no flight delays due to weather or mechanical problems. I am looking forward to spending time with the church family, but most of all, I am looking forward to watching the Euro 2008 finals with the family.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 04:03 AM | Permalink

So far the conference has been going well. It has been good worshipping together with people who have the same spirit when it comes to praise.

I spoke the first night on God’s glory is God’s mission. This morning we hear from Pastor Ulysses from Remnant Presbyterian Church on learning how to stand with your convictions. The next two nights we will hear from Dr. Steve Lee.

We finally had some Philly Cheesesteak last night. I always enjoy food that is well-known in a particular city. I cannot imagine some people eating it everyday, let alone once a week.
 
 
 

 
We were praying that God's glory would fall on us

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 06:20 PM | Permalink

I am out in Philadelphia now for the AMI Revolution Conference for college students. A lot of the AMI pastors came out early to pray together and to prepare for this conference. This is our 4th year doing this conference and we have seen God work in great way in the past. Now, we are praying that God will do a fresh work in our hearts and in our churches.

It is going to be great to reconnect with all the different pastors from the AMI family and also to see our college students interact with other college students who have the same vision and mission in life. There is something powerful of experiencing God with other people who are set on living a radical life for Christ. We are expecting great things.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:52 PM | Permalink

I came back from the conference last night. As I was in the plane and even as I was recounting my experience with Christina, I was reminded of how big God’s Kingdom is. It was great meeting other people who were doing their best to stay faithful in their calling to be pastors.

As we spent time with some of the seasoned veterans in the ministry, I was humbled by their humility and their vulnerability. They shared from their hearts; and they just had hearts of a servant. It was great hearing from their life lessons in ministry and even took the time to share some of their battle scars from years of ministry.

It was also good reconnecting with some old friendships and catching up on things. God also opened up new relationships with people who are building God’s Kingdom.

After these kinds of conferences, I am constantly reminded about the importance of relationships in the ministry, as well as the importance of seeing the world through God’s eyes.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 09:28 AM | Permalink

Today was a full day. We started at 8:30AM with breakfast and then went non-stop until 5PM. We met up together in various group settings. Some of the sessions were together as a whole group, while other sessions were held together in smaller groups of three. It was an intensified time of picking some of their brains as well as sharing some of our ideas with one another.

The great thing about the learning community model that the Leadership Network people use is that it helps people to contribute to the greater whole. There is usually synergy that is happening as we are covering a topic. They also allow room for spontaneity so that people can bring up things that are on their heart.

The hospitality has been incredible. They are feeding us like crazy.

This morning I was reminded about the importance of accountability. Before we went to sleep, Pastor Dave Lee and I decided that we would get up in the morning and exercise before we went to our first session. When the alarm clock sounded, I refused to get up. But Pastor Dave went downstairs to the workout room.

As I was lying there in my comfortable bed, I was thinking about Pastor Dave being true to his word about working out, while I was making excuses. So when he got back, it motivated me to workout as well. Accountability truly works.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:22 PM | Permalink

I am at the airport now getting ready to head out to Dallas. The Leadership Network is sponsoring an Asian-American Leadership Learning Community. It is going to be great meeting up with other Asian-American pastors around who are leading multi-ethnic church around the United States.

I’m looking forward to networking with people, sharing ideas and just building relationships. I will try to give regular updates.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 12:38 PM | Permalink

Last night, I meet up with the staff of HMCC of Chicago and the leaders of the UIC ministry. We spent some time evaluating this past year’s small group ministry on the campus and then we read up on some statistical information about the campus. As we were sharing and reading up on the information, my heart continued to break for the people and the campus at UIC.

I know that each university around the world is different on many levels. There are specific issues that are relevant to the UIC campus. Therefore, it is important that we do not “cookie-cutter” the ministry at UIC.

But there are definitely some basic needs of college students that are universal and we want to make sure that we meet those needs and make a difference for God’s Kingdom. The harvest is huge on this campus. As we reach out to the students, it is our prayer that we will be able to reach out to some of the young professionals in the downtown Chicago area.

Another thing we have to be reminded of is that God has already been working on the campus even before we even started thinking about starting up something there. This should help us to see the greater redemptive history of God. He has been preparing the way for us and we praise God for this.

The needs are great, but we serve a great God, therefore we believe that all things are possible.
 
 
 

 
I love the city. This is a view from one of our members' apartment. You can even see the Sears Tower.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:09 PM | Permalink

It was smooth sailing on my flight to Chicago. I was a bit concerning about the flight since it was the last flight that would get me to Chicago on time for the Sunday Celebration. I realized that Sunday mornings are the best time to fly – there are less people and fewer interruptions in the airport.

I shared a third part of the “Taking Up the Challenge” series (a message specially designed for HMCC of Chicago). I laid down the vision of reaching campuses in the Chicago area and even future international church plants.

Afterwards, I had some good conversation with people during fellowship time. It is our prayer that we would continue raise up radical followers of Christ in the Chicagoland area who will live for God’s Kingdom purposes.

Today, I am going to meet up with some members and staff members. Then we have our vision meeting for our new site at UIC with the leaders and staff. I love strategic meetings. It is a great way to train ourselves to listen to the voice of God and then put things into motion for the future.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:19 PM | Permalink

I am heading out to Chicago early this morning. I will be concluding the “Taking Up the Challenge” sermon series today. Not only have we been focusing in on evangelism and discipleship, but today I am going to share about the greater vision for Chicago and reaching out to various campuses within the city.

I always enjoy my trips out to Chicago because I get to reconnect with the staff. It is always great hanging out with them over a good meal or coffee and just talking about life and ministry. I love envisioning and strategizing the future with them.

On this trip, I will be meeting up with the key leaders for the UIC ministry. They have started a small group ministry this year and it has been going well. We are going to be talking about getting things prepared for a future site on the campus of UIC. We realized that it is an enormous harvest field on this campus. God is truly preparing the way for us. It is humbling to know that God is giving us the privilege of reaching this campus for His glory.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 06:05 AM | Permalink

Yesterday, I came back from Dallas. It is good to be back home. Usually after these kinds of conferences, I come back with mixed feelings. On one hand, I am a bit overwhelmed realizing some of the great things God is doing through some of these pastors and churches. It reminds me that God is so much bigger than one ministry or church.

I am also encouraged and more determined to apply the various “best practices” and principles in our context. It was inspiring to hear that all of these ministries had humble beginnings, but now they are making some global difference.

Last night, Dino Rizzo shared about some lessons about not going surfing alone. It was a get metaphor for how ministry should be done. We also heard from Mike Durso, who pastors Christ Tabernacle in NYC. They have one of the best choirs and ministry to the hip-hop culture. Pastor Mike was commissioned byJim Cymbala and Brooklyn Tabernacle Church. He talked about the importance of corporate prayer and how it transforms a church.

It was great reconnecting with old friendships as well as make some new ones. There is something about being around people who are like-minded and are striving towards the same thing that brings encouragement and inspiration.
 
 
 

 
It was great hearing from Dino as he shared his personal testimony and some awesome insights

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 04:39 PM | Permalink

Last night we had our first session of this conference. Robert Barriger from Peru shared about branding and the importance of value. He used the famous Blue Ocean Strategy to help describe what is going to take to do ministry with a whole new paradigm. It was challenging.

This morning we started off with a continental breakfast and some time of fellowship. Then we had a session on “Longevity in Ministry” by Doug Balcombe, from Living Way Church in Poway, California. Nowadays it is hard to find people who stay in the ministry for an extended period of time. Doug has been in that place for over 25 years. There were other people in the room who have been in their churches for a longer period. It is my prayer that I can be at HMCC until the Lord takes me home.

Another lesson I learned so far is how the Kingdom of God is a web of networks. I had the privilege of meeting Ralph Fair. If any of you went to Peru for our summer missions trip, you will remember the Limatambo Orphanage in Cusco that we served in. He was the man with the vision and the financial backing for the project. As I was sitting there with him, I was just amazed to see how everything came full circle. He was the one that had the vision and sowed in the financial resources and I was connected to him because we sent teams there for years to minister to the kids.

It is always awesome to experience these “God moments” when we are just humble to see how God sovereignly brings everything together.
 
 
 

 
Robert doing a teaching on the "Blue Ocean Strategy" for ministry
 
 
 

 
I had the privilege of meeting Ralph Fair who help financed the Limatambo Orphanage
 
 
 

 
Our conference is held in an incredible indoor environment - everything is BIG in Texas!

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 04:42 PM | Permalink

I am out in Dallas for a few days reconnecting with some pastors at a networking conference. Over the years I have developed a relationship with some like-minded pastors who are making a difference in their sphere of influence.

There seems to be a greater longing in the hearts of ministry leaders to connect with other leaders. It is not just for sharing of resources, but for learning from one another, and even partnering together to have a greater impact.

Today I will be meeting up with Bob Roberts. He has started up a ministry called Glocal Network which is making a difference around the world.

You know that it is a God-thing when you start meeting people who are thinking about the same things who have never met before. Even though the terminologies are different, the concepts are the same. This is exciting… God is up to something.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:11 AM | Permalink

We had a great Sunday Celebration. I did the part two of talking about God’s grace. It was encouraging to see some of the Ann Arbor church members join us. This is the beauty of being connected like this as a church. People from both churches are able to visit one another and lift one another up in prayer.

After Sunday Celebration, I met up with two couples. I realized that in the midst of all the travels back and back to Chicago that I did not spend as much time as I wanted to with the married couples in our church. It was good to just chill with them and even here some of their perspective about playing a role in our church.

Then I finished off a pre-marital counseling session for an engaged couple. It is exciting to see that the Chicago is not just for the college campus guys but that we are reaching out to some of the single adults and married couples.

In about 10 minutes, I will be heading out to UIC campus to minister to the HMCC group out there. Today is going to be special because we will have some in-coming freshmen join us in our time together.

Then afterwards, Pastor Peter and I will be meeting up with a youth pastor here in Chicago. It is always good to hear what God is doing in the high school and junior high students because they will be the future college students.

Hopefully, I will get some rest after everything is over and then the whole week starts up again tomorrow with our staff meeting. God’s overflowing grace is more than enough.