Time has flown by so quickly. It just seems like yesterday that I was heading back to the States to make my first visit to all the HMCC churches. But for some reason, this time around it definitely feels different.

The first time back to the States in November 2009, I went with a different mentality. I think I went with some trepidation wondering how the church was transitioning without me being there. But to my delight, the church was strong and growing; and the other churches were also experiencing God’s blessings.

I am so proud of our guys. They did not just try to “survive” but instead they determined to thrive in the midst of all the transitions. We have seen many new people give their lives to Christ; and we have seen the spiritual foundations of the members strengthened.

On this trip there are 4 clear goals for me:

I have vowed not to make this second trip as crazy as the first one, where I was going back to back with non-stop meetings, but as I am looking at my schedule, it is not going to happen. It is just too hard with the limited time that I have in each of the churches. Therefore, I am asking for extra prayer and a lot of espressos!

God is doing some great things all over the world. God is moving and we want to be in step with Him. I am excited to come and visit for 2 weeks. I can’t wait to share all that God is doing in Indonesia and even Singapore!

 
We just got back from spending some time in Yogyakarta (a.k.a. Jogja). The team and our family went on an 8.5 hour train ride to get away and build some team unity. It was not only cheaper to take the train, but we were able to enjoy the Indonesian scenery along the way.

We were also humbled to see God provide in so many different ways throughout this trip. We had one of our members connect us with a well-know business person who had a “palace” near the center of Yogyakarta. It was a special treat for us to be able to see the elaborateness of the palace. He was an avid art collector. Therefore, there was art throughout the whole place ranging from statues to keepsakes from different parts of the world. Since I love art, I think I enjoyed it the most.

God also provided us with a church member who lived in Yogyakarta. She took us around to various places and helped translate for us. Even though it was vacation time for her, she took a few days to host us. I am constantly amazed to see the generosity of God’s people.

Even though it was a bit tiring going from place to place, it was enjoyable to hang out together and just have fun. We were able to strengthen our relationships together as we went to various famous sites and even stopped by a beach to see the sunset.

As we close out the 2009 year, we are just thankful that God called us here to Indonesia and how He has sustained us for the last 5.5 months. Now, as we look ahead to 2010, we know that God has greater things in store for us. It is amazing to how God keeps on showing us incredible things along this journey.

Now with some of the gatherings that we have for Christmas and New Year, we are ready to go with renewed hearts and renewed strength. God is good!
 
 
 

 
This is just one of the rooms in the place where we stayed for free
 
 
 

 
Sticking our heads out on the Prambanan Hindu Temple, which was built in the 9th century. Can you find the HMCC frisbee that we took with every picture?
 
 
 

 
A reminder for us as to why we do what we do – sending ripples to the nations

 
It’s been a while since I have posted something on my blog; therefore I wanted to post a quick entry.

I am in Singapore’s Changi Airport waiting for my flight back to Jakarta. It has been good to just catch my breath in light of the six-day whirlwind trip back to the States. Even though I wished my trip was longer, God allowed me to accomplish everything I needed to in such a short amount of time.

It was encouraging to see people in all the HMCC churches. It is always a joy to see familiar faces and to just reconnect with people. Also, I was thrilled to meet some new people who have been coming out to our churches. Some of them have just recently accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. This reassured me that our members have been reaching out to people and sharing the Gospel. It was a blessing to see.

I also had many opportunities to share what was happening in Indonesia. After awhile, I felt like a broken record repeating things over and over again, but I was blessed to see that so many people were interested in what God was doing in Jakarta. It just reminded me that this church plant is really a partnership. I am thankful for all the people that have been praying for us and financially supporting us.

The best part was spending some time with the site pastors. Whether it was over a meal or sharing some coffee, it was great just hearing all that God is doing in their lives and in all our churches.

I am praying that all the churches will reach the next level.

Even though it has only been four months since I left for Indonesia, as I went to all the locations, it felt as if I never left. Thanks to all the sites for their hospitality and prayers.

 
We got in to Singapore safely. It was a long flight but my family and the team made it by God’s grace. We were picked up at the airport by several of our alumni around 1AM! We went directly to a retreat center and then spent all of Thursday just resting. One of our main objectives was to make sure that we adjusted to the time zone and get over the jet lag. Also, we wanted to adjust to the new culture and we felt that coming to Singapore first was a good middle ground before heading directly to Jakarta.

It was good spending time together as a team to reflect, study the Bible and to pray. These times are precious; therefore we made the most of these opportunities.

Today, we headed out to see the city. Traveling with just a few people compared to a whole team is always a challenge, but we were able to get to one place to another by taking buses and trains to get to our various locations. We also logged in many miles of walking today. It was a lot of fun checking out Little India, Malaysian town, Chinatown and the Escapade. Singapore is such an awesome city!

But the best part of the day was spending time with the HMCC alumni. Many people came out and even though some of them could only come out for a short time, it was encouraging to see all of them.

It warmed my heart to hear that some of them are still getting together two times a month to share, pray and fellowship together. This is definitely a good foundation for a future church plant if the Lord leads us in this direction.

After dinner, we all went out for dessert. Our team gave gifts that we prepared for them – some Michigan apparel and HMCC things. But the blessing for us was when we received a love offering from the alumni. I am always humbled to see the generosity of our alumni. Not only are they constantly treating us when we go out to eat, but they decided to partner with us in this church plant by giving financially.

We will be heading out to Jakarta tomorrow. The adventure is beginning!
 
 
 

 
We are all packed into a bus
 
 
 

 
The oldest mosque in Malay town. It reminded us of the mission in Indonesia.
 
 
 

 
Walking around Little India
 
 
 

 
Checking out Chinatown
 
 
 

 
The ever increasing skyline of Singapore
 
 
 

 
Kite flying reminded us a little bit of home
 
 
 

 
We decided to take a family picture
 
 
 

 
Getting ready to eat with the alumni
 
 
 

 
Some of our alumni wearing their Michigan apparel
 
 
 

 
Our alumni sent us off with their financial and prayer support

 
I am currently in Chicago for a Leadership Network conference for Asian-American pastors. It is a small cohort that started back in May 2008 and it will finish out in November 2009. There are some incredible mentors in this cohort. They have all been tested and put through the fire and now their ministry shows that good leadership always allows God to do great things.

It is going to be an awesome conference as well as a challenging one. We will be addressing various issues in our churches and our own personal lives.

I am looking forward to sharing some of the insights as I come back to Ann Arbor. Please pray for us.

 
Christina and I are in transit right now in Singapore. We are getting ready to board our flight from SIN-NRT-DTW. As I sit here in Singapore’s airport, I am realizing that the last 5 days have been a whirlwind experience. Our times have been filled with meetings with people. Each one of the meetings have played a significance role in strengthening the conviction that God wants to do start this international church here in Indonesia.

I am going to have to spend some time in reflection throughout my plane ride back to the States to process a lot of the things that happened in the last few days. There are things that I realized that will not work in Indonesia that might have worked in the U.S. There are other things that we did not consider here in the States that we will definitely have to consider in Indonesia.

I am convinced that the three things that we really need as we prepare to come to Jakarta are flexibility, fluidity, and faith. Things don’t always go as we planned, but this is when we have to have the faith to be flexible, as well as become more fluid in how we roll with what comes our way.

God is constantly moving and bringing about many different opportunities. It is possible that we can miss out on what God is doing if we are so set in our ways and not being sensitive to His leading. Part of living our lives with faith and trust in God is learning how to take each day at a time with God’s promises.

The best is yet to come.

 
It has been weird here in Karawaci because even though I am getting a few hours of sleep, I feel pretty rested. Maybe it is all the high pace of meetings and trying to get everything done before we leave on Sunday.

Early this morning, I was awakened by the Muslim call to prayer. There is a mosque several hundred yards away. The night before, I slept right through it, but this morning I woke up to the call to prayer at 4:30AM! Instead of going back to sleep, I felt led to spend some time in prayer.

Then we had our first meeting with the spiritual growth director at UPH. There was a Michigan connection because he went to Calvin College in Grand Rapids. It was good connecting with him and hearing about the spiritual climate of the students in Karawaci. There is truly a great need to reach out to the college students in Indonesia.

We tried to look at a few more places for housing in the afternoon. We have until tomorrow to make a decision. Then we had Christina visit the school that our kids will be attending. It was great meeting another Indonesian who studied in the States and is now back in Jakarta working for an IT company. This is a people group that is growing in Indonesia and around the world. They are unique people. They have a perspective that is different from a typical American and also from a typical Indonesian mindset. They are in a category all by themselves and I believe that God is going to use them to bring transformation to Indonesia.

Then we headed out to Jakarta to meet up with some people who were interested in starting the church with us. Throughout the last couple of days here in Indonesia, I have been sharing the vision of the future international church plant. It has been refreshing for me. Every time I share it, the more I am reminded of the awesome privilege I have in being part of God’s bigger plan.

Tomorrow morning we will be heading out to an international church that is doing some great things to reach out to the city. I’m looking forward to worshiping with other believers in the international community.
 
 
 

 
Met up with some leaders from UPH in the morning
 
 
 

 
A view from one of the future member’s house. He built it from scratch and wants to use it for ministry purpose – praise God!
 
 
 

 
There have been rapid growth in various neighborhoods around the city of Jakarta. This is one of the nicer areas near the ocean.
 
 
 

 
Cathy is one of the expats who have been hosting us along with Dan, her husband. They have been a blessing to us.

 
It has been great coming out to Indonesia. It is hard to believe in about 55 days we will be here with the whole family. Yesterday, we just reconnected with a few of the UM alumni over dinner. There is nothing better than food, fellowship and good conversation.

This morning Christina and I started off the day at a café drinking some coffee and talking about our future move to Karawaci (expatriate town west of Jakarta). I really enjoy just sitting at a café and watching people as they move about and go through life. It allows me to develop a greater burden for the people that we will be reaching here in Indonesia.

Then we went off with a realtor to look for housing, both for our family, as well as for the church plant team. I realized that this is truly not my passion! Thank God, Christina has the eye and the common sense to decide on a place that will be best for the whole team.

Due to the heat and humidity, it is easy to get a bit fatigue after all the moving around. So after our housing excursion, Christina and I decided to take a quick nap. We finished the evening with dinner and good conversation with one of the expatriate couples from the States who have been hosting us.

I am amazing how their time here has really shaped their perspective about the world and life. I am convinced that spending some time overseas for an extended period of time will transform the way we look at things. It will not only increase our heart for the nations, but it will help develop our perspective for God’s Kingdom.

Since Christina and I are staying at a guestroom at Universitas Pelita Harapan, it has been good meeting some of the students. This is the university where we want to reach out to the students. There are close to 9,000+ students who are from all the different islands in Indonesia. Since it is one of the top universities, it is drawing a lot of good people who will make a difference in the future, especially in the Teacher’s College. The harvest is truly plentiful!

Tomorrow we will meet up with the spiritual director of UPH and try to find ways where we can work together to reach the thousands of students in Karawaci. We are praying that there will be open doors and avenues to partner together.

We are also going to look at more housing and then head into Jakarta to spend some time with people who are interested in being part of this church plant. One conclusion that we are getting after some talk with people here is that there are many people who are longing for biblical community. There is also a desire for people to grow deeper in their relationship with God. We are praying that God will meet people where they are through this church plant. These are exciting times.
 
 
 

 
Hanging out at a cafe in the early morning before some of our meetings
 
 
 

 
Found a place where they have free wi-fi, but the highlight is the live music

 
Even though I was struggling a bit with jetlag, I was able to get a few hours of sleep. Christina and I started off the morning by reconnecting with some of the alumni here in Singapore. We went out for brunch and just ended up talking together.

We also checked out a retreat center in the afternoon. With our Jakarta church planting team first flying into Singapore in July, we want to make sure that we first take some time to acclimate to S.E. Asia. Singapore is a good middle ground to make the transition. This retreat center is going to be a perfect place for us to recover from jetlag and prepare ourselves to move into Jakarta.

Then later in the afternoon, since it was Christina’s first time in Singapore, we took a brief tour of the city. For me it was like the 5th time, but I always enjoy seeing people experience something for the first time. Then we headed back to our hotel to get some rest… well, Christina did, while I was working on some e-mail and other various things.

In the evening, we meet up with some of the other alumni for dinner. It was good catching up with everyone over a meal. Then we walked around the city soaking in the city life. Singapore is an amazing city. It would great if we can plant a church here one of these days. It is an awesome city to have a base to launch other works all throughout the S.E. Asia region.

Then Christina and I closed out the night by watching American Idol. Yup, we couldn’t resist. Even though it was one day behind, we were able to catch the last episode before the finals. It is going to be a tough call – all three guys did a great job.

Tomorrow, we will meet up with some more people for breakfast and then fly out to Jakarta where we will be welcomed by more alumni who are living in Jakarta. I am just amazed at the generosity and sacrificial hearts of our alumni. They have displayed for us what it really means to be a servant of God. Christina and I have been blessed by all the meals and the time that every single one of the alumni invested in us so far.

You guys are awesome!
 
 
 

 
In front of the infamous water breathing lion – the pride and symbol of Singapore
 
 
 

 
It is always a joy reconnecting with some of the alumni in Singapore
 
 
 

 
It was cool seeing the Riady family donating money to help NUS Business School, one of the top universities in Singapore. This is the same family that started Karawaci, the city that we will be starting our church and UPH, the university we want to reach.

 
This whole Swine Flu has taken over all of Asia. It is incredible how “fear” can drive people to do anything. After we landed and taxied to the gate, we had to wait in the plane until the quarantine team came and checked everyone to see if anyone had the flu. We literally sat in the plane for one hour.

We thought we were going to miss our connecting flight… but our flight to Singapore was delayed, so it was a relief.

Now we are patiently waiting to board.
 
 
 

 

 
I am getting ready to leave for my trip with Christina to Singapore and Jakarta. We are leaving today. Christina is already packed and I have still yet to pack (what else is new). I don’t know why but for some reason I have never understood the philosophy of packing ahead of time, but Christina reminds me of the importance when I forget to pack something in my rush to catch the flight :-)

This trip has a threefold purpose. First, we are going to finalize all the logistics for our move to Indonesia – finding a place to live and taking care of various administrative things. Secondly, we will be meeting up with some people who are interested in starting the church with us in Jakarta. At this gathering, I will be casting the vision for the need of an international church plant. Lastly, we will be meeting up with alumni in Singapore and Indonesia and spending time with them to encourage them and just simply to reconnect.

The alumni have been such a blessing to us. They even contributed their own resources to purchase Christina’s flight. The principle? When something is important to you, it is demonstrated by the investment and sacrifice that is made.

My parents are here to watch the kids and we have a lot of people in our church who are going to help out with the kids’ rides and other things. It is in times like these that remind me that we are not planting this church in Jakarta alone. We are doing this together.

I will be updating via blog and Twitter (twitter.com/sethskim)
Please keep us in your prayers.

It has just been about 24 hours since I landed in O’Hare airport yesterday, but already it has been an awesome time catching up with people and also ministering God’s Word. Yesterday, I met up with the leaders at HMCC-Chicago and re-casted the vision, as well as gave the leaders an update of the church plant in Jakarta.

Since time is always short in Chicago, I have to be strategic in trying to meet up with all the staff members, as well as some of the leaders in the church. I still have a few more people to meet up with within the next 20 hours, but I am enjoying every minute of it. This has been one of the joys of the apostolic ministry. In Acts 18:23 we notice what Paul did – “After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.”

The Sunday Celebration on the campus of Northwestern University went well. Even though many of them were in the midst of finals (quarter academic system), they received the message well as we closed out the “Image” series with Part 3: Success.

Now I am at a student lounge on the University of Illinois-Chicago campus and getting ready to preach at the Downtown site.

It has been a great weekend here in Austin. HMCC of Austin had their first ever congregational retreat. They decided to contextualize it for the many pre-Christians who came out (over half of the people were not believers) and called it the Winter Getaway. It was truly an awesome getaway – we were able to build relationships with one another and experience God together.

As we started off the retreat, we decided to go around and count the number of different nations that were represented in the room. By the time we went around the whole room we counted a total of 11 nations. It was just a breath of fresh air. Even in the beginning stages of this church, God is allowing us to plant the seeds of transculturalism.

The theme for this getaway was “Meet Us Here” and God was truly faithful and allowed us to encounter Him in a powerful way.

One of the highlights was the ropes course and team building activities that we did on Saturday afternoon. Through it we were able to strengthen our relationships with one another and build a greater unity within the group.

Then today, I spoke at HMCC of Austin’s Sunday Celebration. I shared about the importance of building God’s spiritual house. Seeing some of the recent believers who came to know the Lord through our church helped illustrate the important point of reaching out to people to build up this spiritual house.

We finished off the day with an incredible Texas style BBQ. I don’t think anything can beat it. Texans really know how to do their BBQ’s. It was good to just be around the table with good food, friends and fellowship.
 
 
 

 
Fueling up before the retreat with Torchy’s Tacos
 
 
 

 
We had to get our whole team on the platform
 
 
 

 
Chillin’ with one another
 
 
 

 
Dave trying to keep the fire going
 
 
 

 
The guys getting ready to pig out with the ribs
 
 
 

 
What more can I say
 
 
 

 
Great bunch of guys… it makes church planting so much fun

I just came back from a retreat. I brought one of the guys on the worship team with me to help out with leading worship. It was a great experience for the both of us.

We ended up ministering to a small group of leaders who are serving in the inner city of Cincinnati. It was an awesome time of worship and fellowship. Once they found out that we have been fasting for 21 Days and we were going to break fast today, they ended up joining us in fasting from Friday through Saturday. It is so refreshing to find people who are willing to put everything on the line to seek after God.

The humbling part of our trip was just observing the lives of these leaders and listening to the stories of sacrifice and love. Their love for the inner-city people was inspiring.

They literally gave up things of this world in order to live amongst the people and minister to the people with God’s love. It was truly a demonstration of incarnational ministry.

Today in the afternoon we got a tour of the neighborhood. As we were driving around, I couldn’t help to notice the hopelessness and despair in the eyes of the people. We even encountered real live drug peddlers on the street corners. I was just a fresh reminder that we need God’s light to shine in the inner city.

It wasn’t too comforting knowing that there was a shooting near their place last week. We were just thankful for their bulletproof windows in their home. But even with the safety issues, the families were willing to risk their lives to preach the Gospel.

We ended the retreat by praying for each person and asking for God’s anointing on their lives. Then we ended up breaking our 21 days of fasting at a well-known local pizza place. It was great having some “grain” in my system.

As we were driving in to Ann Arbor, my heart was filled with praise for all that God accomplished in the last few days.