Photo by HMCC Publications
 
 
 
I was shocked to see the influence of the Korean dramas here in Indonesia. In fact, I have heard about the K-Drama’s influence throughout Asia, but the reality and the magnitude of its influence didn’t hit me until I got to Indonesia. It was interesting to find Indonesians who spoke better Korean, than some of the Koreans-Americans that I know. The Indonesians pick up various Korean phrases by just watching the dramas.

The Indonesian culture is very relational; therefore there are a lot of things about the love stories of the K-Dramas that they find appealing. But it is a double edge sword.

While there are some important values such as sacrifice, unconditional love, and commitment that are portrayed in the dramas, there are some values that fuel a misconstrued view of a healthy relationship. In fact, it is easy for people to get a romanticized view of what relationships are supposed to be like, which often lead to a lot of disappointments and hurt when it does not happen. My wife heard from a Japanese woman that there are many Japanese ladies who go to visit Korea thinking that all Korean men are like what they see in the dramas. Christina quickly told her that that is a misconstrued reality :-)

This is why I am excited to share some biblical principles of relationships this coming weekend. We will have one for the college students and another one for the single adults who live in Jakarta.

Over the years, I have realized that people who have been in a failed relationship are the ones that can testify to the truthfulness of what is shared in my talk. It is always the ones that have never been in a relationship that have a hard time accepting some of the truth. Then, we have the ones that are in a relationship who end up not showing up because they don’t want to be challenged or scrutinized.

As we have been talking to some of the students, they have mentioned that there really haven’t been too many conversations about a biblical perspective on relationships. The media and the culture have usually been their guides. This is why I am looking forward to breathing some freshness to the conversation. But it is going to be a challenge, since I have to be not only culturally sensitive, but also blunt. In Asian countries, it is all about the indirectness. But maybe this topic of relationship, which makes us or breaks us, can be presented in a disarming manner so that they will be willing to hear the truth. It’s going to be fun.

 

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I read an article by Carolyn Arends titled, “Our Divine Distortion.” Arends’ honest sharing triggered an insight. Let me first have you read a portion of her article. Arends writes,

 
 
It is interesting how often we find ourselves “avoiding” people due to our insecurities and pride. In Arends’ story the outcome was favorable – not only was she able to confess and receive grace, but through this experience, it helped her to see something deeper in her relationship with God.

But the outcome for many people it is not always favorable.

There have been times when I found myself avoiding certain people due to something that I am ashamed of or something that I do not want people to know about. It is amazing how shame and insecurities make us hide.

On the flip side, I am put in an awkward position. Since I am a pastor, I am usually put in a position where I have to counsel and speak the truth on certain things; and not everyone is open to rebuke or correction. There have been many times when I had to speak the truth on relationships. Sometimes, I had to address certain issues head on regarding the toxic nature of a relationship or the dishonoring nature aspect of the relationship.

Now, you can imagine the response of some of the people – not everyone receives things well, even though I have tried to speak the truth in love. But the worst part of all this is the response I receive when the relationship does not work out at the end.

It just reminds me the fallen nature of the human heart.

But the worst part is the pride that I see in my own heart. Giving grace is not the easiest thing to do because there is always a price involved. If I want to become more like Christ, then I need to give grace.

You can read the full article here.

 

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The total number of recalls for Toyota is growing and it is currently at 5.3 million cars. The recall was precipitated due to one critical error of the accelerator pedal – it was getting caught on the edge of the floormat, as well as getting stuck without due cause. It created the possibility of the car accelerating out of control.

By stopping the production and sales of 8 models, Toyota took the risk of losing billions of dollars to get it fixed. But more than the money, their reputation of having the best quality and dependability was on the line.

This is definitely bringing back memories of Johnson & Johnson Tylenol recall back in 1982.

As new information is slowly coming out, it has been discovered that Toyota has been trying to cut cost. Therefore, their suppliers have been using cheaper materials, which lead to the decrease in quality.

Now, they are scrambling to come up with a new pedal design and replacing all the models with the defective accelerator pedals.

There are some leadership lessons from this situation:

 

Photo from workforjesus.co.za
 
 
 
Prayer has been one of the foundational stones that we laid down at the start of our church in 1996. Over the years we have seen people trained up in their prayer lives, as well as people growing in their hunger for God. Prayer should always be the lifeline of the church. It helps us to connect with God and learn the important lesson of dependence (Jn 15:5).

Early on in our church, we saw the importance of prayer as we did ministry. We even started up an intercessory prayer team to pray for the different concerns in our church. But as our church and ministry started to grow, we grew less dependent on God. I have always wondered about this inverse correlation – the more successful or fruitful we are, the less we pray. It should always be in direct correlation, but our pride and human independence always cause us to go in the opposite direction.

This is why I was elated to hear that some people in our church back in Ann Arbor felt a strong burden to start up the intercessory prayer team again. It was definitely something that God was stirring in the hearts of the people. It was also a burden that the pastors were sensing from God. Therefore, when the proposal of restarting the intercessory prayer team came up, we just knew that this was from the Lord.

We have to keep in mind that this team is not a group of people just gathering together to pray because intercessory prayer is a bit different from “just praying.” They are specifically “standing in the gap” on behalf of others and asking God to intervene in a particular situation. They are called to follow in the long tradition of the Old Testament intercessors; but more particularly, they follow the example of Christ in being a priest (1 Pe 2:5, 9; Rev 1:5), who represents the people before God.

We also have to remember that every Christ-follower is called to pray; therefore we cannot relegate all the responsibility for prayers to this team. Instead, the people on this team have a specific calling to intercede on someone else’s behalf with a great level of faith, confidence and perseverance for God to intervene. Due to the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, we are able to approach God with great confidence and that He will hear us and answer us according to His will.

The pastors and I are looking forward to partnering up with this ministry team. They have already set in motion a two-way line of communication where they can communicate things with us, as the Lord impresses things on their hearts; and the pastors will be able to share some of the concerns and needs that will require an extra level of intense intercession.

I cannot wait to see all the ways in which God will work throughout this year with the partnership of this team.

 
At HMCC, we have always believed in transformation. It always starts with a life being transformed by the Gospel message and then rippling out to various parts of the world. This is one of the reasons why we have started the Transformasphere Movement. We believe that as we engage some of the key spheres of society, then we will be able to penetrate into the society and bring positive change.

Education is one specific sphere of society that we have to engage in if we are serious about bringing transformation to the next generation. It is through education where a person develops their mind and gains the necessary tools to make a significant contribution to the world.

We want to keep on raising up people in our churches who are in the educational field. We would love to see people who are passionate about seeing the educational sphere as an avenue to bring the reality of God’s Kingdom here on earth. This means that we need to keep on developing educators in their relationship with Christ, as well as empowering them to start up new ventures. As we keep on building our coalition of teachers in all our HMCC churches, it will be exciting to see what they will be able to do in the future.

I started to think about this again because I read a Newsweek article that was written a year and a half ago. It chronicled a woman who was determined to bring reform to the worst school system at that time (Washington, D.C.). You can read the article here. It is pretty inspiring and the things that she was proposing were very innovative.

You can also watch a Charlie Rose interview with her about some of the controversy that she and her team proposed. Start at 00:25:30.
 
 

 

 
 
 
God is amazing. It is interesting how God rarely gives us the full picture of our lives right away. When it comes to His will, God is usually giving us little pieces at a time. It is like a jigsaw puzzle (without the luxury of having the final picture on the box to see what it is supposed to look like). Usually, just having a couple of pieces is not very helpful in seeing the final picture.

I am learning that God gives a piece of the puzzle one at a time to see if we will be faithful with what we have, and also if we can trust Him for the other pieces. It has been a phenomenal journey for us at HMCC. For the last 13 years, God has been giving us pieces of the puzzle year after year. As we have tried to stay faithful to His vision and mission, God is now calling us to trust in Him for the next phase.

We will be venturing out to start up another church in Singapore. God has been working through some of our alumni there. In the last year and a half, they have been meeting together and now we sense that God wants to launch HMCC of Singapore. By all human logical and calculations, this might not make sense in light of everything that is going on; but we want to walk by faith and not by sight. We believe in a great God who will do great things through people who put their trust and faith in Him.

Please keep us in your prayers as we do our best to follow God’s lead.

Here is the introduction letter on our HMCC of Singapore website.

 

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I think I have always had a rebellious streak in me. I am constantly asking the “why” question. The why question gets stronger when there is a situation or a person who is adamant about something. Whether it is my desire to “know” why a person believes in what they believe in or my need for people to explain their convictions, I am always trying to find out what makes people tick or why things are done the way they are.

This is why when something is done in a conventional way, I am constantly asking the “why” question. Do we do things a certain way because it has always been done that way? I don’t think there is anything wrong with doing things in a conventional way. In fact, some conventional things are good things, which have been proven to be good over a period of time. But then there are some conventional things that need to be challenged. Sometimes conventionality confines us in our potential. It can also stifle creativity or the ability to come up with new solutions to old problems. Tradition should never trump how the Spirit of God is moving at a given time.

The converse of this thought process is that sometimes God uses unconventional things to accomplish His purposes. As one of my missions professor would always say, “Missions has always been done on the margins.” People, who at times seemed a bit radical or appeared not following the expected norm are the ones that made a difference for God’s Kingdom.

One good example from missions’ history is Hudson Taylor, the pioneer missionary to China who did not stay at the port cities like everyone else but rather went into inland China to preach the Gospel. He did missions in an “unconventional” way. Instead of doing what all Western missionaries did in China, he wore the clothes that the Chinese people wore. He also ate the food that the Chinese ate. He even had his hair styled the way the Chinese men donned, which was the long braided pigtail. Through this unconventional way, Taylor won many Chinese people to Christ.

Now, when we think about this situation of contextualization, it is a no-brainer. But if you think about it back in the mid-nineteenth century, it was pretty radical and unconventional.

As we think about church and church planting, we might have to be open to unconventional ways of doing things. When I look in our specific context, I am challenged to ask myself the “why” question again. Can church planting be done in a different way from the way we are familiar with in our HMCC context?

If we want to see God work in powerful ways, then we have to be open to unconventional ways. A lot of times, we don’t like unconventional things because it is not predictable, it will challenge us, and it shows that we are not in control. But then again, aren’t those factors essential in creating the perfect condition for God to receive all the glory when anything good comes forth?

 

Photo from Raven Foundation
 
 
 
Whenever Martin Luther King, Jr. Day comes around, I am reminded of Dr. King’s teachings and his life. I have had the privilege of going to The King Center down in Atlanta several times. When you see all the displays, you are literally walking through history. As Martin Luther King (MLK) was fighting for civil rights, the United States was turmoil. Not only was there sharp racial divide across America, but there was a strong anti-war sentiment towards the war in Vietnam.

Dr. King’s fight to stop racial segregation and discrimination through civil disobedience and non-violent demonstrations were embraced by many in the movement. It takes great strength to resist the desire to retaliate and get revenge.

Beyond all the awards and recognition that he received, Dr. King wanted to be remembered as a servant and someone who fought for justice. In a sermon that he gave, Dr. King rhetorically asked what he would like people to remember him by and he said,

 
 
Dr. King’s drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness are still being heard today throughout the world. We need to see another MLK in our generation who will address some of the biggest issues of our time.

 

Photo by US News
 
 
 
Peter L. Berger in his book, The Noise of Solemn Assemblies writes,

 
 
Berger’s quote reaffirmed a thought that I have always held. If something works in the secular world, there is usually a biblical principle behind it. But to think that the church would affirm or “operate with secular values” is something to consider.

In many ways, we have seen various secular values enter into the church over the years. One in particular is the “consumer mindset.” We see this often in the churches today. Recently, I have been describing it as the “shopping mall Christianity.” In Asia, it is all about the shopping mall. People spend most of their time in these grand shopping malls. It is a place where you can eat great food, go see a movie, get your hair done, go shopping for things, and etc. The more options, the better the mall.

This is the approach to church by many people today. It has been reinforced even in our college years. On a college campus, we have so many choices of Christian ministries that we can be a part of throughout the week. Then on Sunday we have so many choices of churches that we can attend. Therefore, we pick and choose what is good for us. For most people, it is all about keeping our options open, just in case a better church or fellowship comes along. Of course, we never want to be stuck in just one place, do we?

Even single adults, when they move into a city and try to find a church, it is advised to always keep the options open, right? Why commit to just one local Body? What if that one church does not have many single people? Then the probability of getting married decreases. But it doesn’t end there. When we get married and even have kids we begin to operate with the same values. We begin to ask, “How good is their children’s ministry?”

When did church become so much about “us” rather than about God and His mission?

I am wondering if this is one of the reasons why the Church of Jesus has been weakened and lacking in power.

If the secular world demands more commitment and sacrifice from people, then we are in trouble.

Here at HMCC of Jakarta, we started a new 2-part series called, “Built to Last.” This past Sunday, we looked into two biblical metaphors that the Apostle Paul used to describe the church – the household and the body. Then next week, I am going to cover the important topic of serving within the Body of Christ. In essence, we are going over what we called back in HMCC of Ann Arbor – Experiencing Membership and Experiencing Ministry.

It is going to be a one-two punch. As I challenge people in our congregation to become officially recognized members, we are hoping to open more opportunities for service. In this way, as people are committing to the mission and vision of the church, they will be able to make the sacrifice and take ownership of the church.

This is one thing that we have to do a better job in than the secular world or we will lose our saltiness and our light will be dim.

 

Photo by HMCC Publication Team
 
 
 
Today is the start of the One Desire Fast. As we enter into this 2-week period of fasting and prayer, I am expecting great things from God.

It is exciting to see many churches around the world committing an extended period of time throughout this first month of 2010 to fasting and prayer. There are other networks and organizations that are bringing people together for the purpose of seeking God. God is definitely up to something.

This year, since our theme is “One Mission. One Church” we decided to unite with all the HMCC churches and fast together, as one church. The focus throughout our time of fasting is succinctly explained in the acronym FAST: 1) Faith in God; 2) Anointing for ministry; 3) Seek God’s favor; 4) Turn to God.

I have been trying to remind our members that fasting is not a bargaining chip or a hunger strike. We are not trying to “demand” God to do something for us. But simply we are aligning ourselves with God’s heart and purposes. There is something powerful about denying ourselves of basic necessities, in order to bring our wills under the submission to God’s will. Instead of telling God what to do, we are simply saying, “I am wholly available to you, Lord; please tell me what You want me to do and I will obey!”

During this period of fasting, I am praying that God will increase our faith. So often we don’t reach our full potential because of our lack of faith. As our faith increases throughout this fast, I am confident that God is going to challenge us to do some incredible and extraordinary things. He will stretch us and make us go beyond what we can imagine and do on our own.

I am also praying that there will be greater anointing for ministry. It is easy to do ministry on our own strength and wisdom. This is why we don’t see a lot of fruits and we get discouraged. But as we fast and pray, I believe that we will become vessels in which God can flow His miracles through us. We will experience more of His power.

Another thing I am praying for is God’s favor to fall on us. All throughout the Bible, when we see God’s people fasting and praying in humility, God hears them and answers with His undeserved grace. We are praying that as God pours out His favor that there will be many opportunities for us to serve and glory Him.

Lastly, as we fast and pray, I am praying that we learn the habit of repentance and dependence as to turn to God during this time. We also notice that in the Bible that when people fasted and prayed, it expressed their heart of repentance and dependence on God. God also wants us to be at this place of “turning to Him.” As we turn to Him, we will see all of God’s greatness, goodness and grace.

HMCCers, if you have not signed up yet, please do so. Click on to the Global HMCC website and pick your specific sites and go to the link on the One Desire Fast.

This is going to be an incredible journey.

I cannot wait to hear all the awesome testimonies!
Let’s believe for great things to happen because we serve a Great God.

 

Photo from Photobucket
 
 
 
I was recently reading a quote from Lesslie Newbigin’s book, The Household of God. Newbigin writes,

 
 
There is something about security, safety and comfort that we all seek. It is so ingrained in us ever since we were young. A lot of times we bring this longing in the church. Now, before I continue, I will note that the longing for those things are not inherently wrong; but it is wrong when it is place above God’s Kingdom and His glory. Sometimes, living for God means that it is dangerous and uncomfortable.

I am wondering if the Church today has lost its calling according to Newbigin’s definition of what the Church is supposed to be and do.

Are we constantly on the move? Are we trying to find more ways to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth? Do we see ourselves on a missionary endeavor?

After doing some church plants, I am coming to the realization that churches that have been in existence for more than 7+ years start to face the temptation of getting into static mode. It is easier to settle for the status quo. It is easier to do what is more comfortable. It is easier to uphold the “institution” rather than being the church on the move.

When a church is just starting, it cannot operate with a “static” mindset or it will die. Things are constantly changing and things are constantly happening on a daily basis. We have to have the courage to follow God no matter what the cost.

But why is it that the longer a church has been established, the harder it is to fulfill its calling. We need to get back to the heart of the church as we see it from the Book of Acts. The early church was definitely on the move. It was impassioned with bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth. As people were getting saved, more churches were being planted.

It must have been awesome to be a part of that kind of church.

The concept of being on the move and being on a mission started with God. As God sent Jesus into this world, Jesus sends us. As Jesus said, “In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world” (Jn 17:18, MSG).

This is my prayer for all the HMCC church – that we will be a church that is on the move with God’s mission no matter what the cost!

 

Photo from daveyost
 
 
 
I am realizing that people who are self-centered and narrow-minded really rub me the wrong way. I know that one area of character development that I need a lot of prayer for is in the area of patience with such people. Sigh.

Sometimes I have this crazy dream. I wish I had all the money in the world in order to send “self-centered and marrow-minded” people on an all expense paid vacation to a foreign country where they do not know the culture or speak the language.

Not only will it be an eye-opening experience for them, but it will help address some of the prejudices and arrogance that people have when it comes to interacting with people who are “different.”

Racism and prejudices are things that are learned, as well as perpetuated because of a lack of understanding. Without the experiences or interaction with people who are different from you, it will cause us to hold on to our prejudices.

Someone just recently forwarded a TIME magazine article to me that made me dream again about having a billion dollars. The article is titled, “Harvard’s Hoops Star Is Asian. Why’s That a Problem?”

Now, that caught my attention.

Harvard University’s Jeremy Lin is an anomaly. He is an Asian-American who plays basketball and plays it well. He is leading the Harvard team in points with 18.1 per game. He also averages 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.7 steals per game. In fact, this dude is so good that he has led the team to a 9-3 record, which is one of the best starts for Harvard in close to 25 years.

To put these facts into perspective, there are fewer than 0.5% of Asians who play in a NCAA Men’s Division I basketball team. Therefore to see an Asian excelling it is pretty rare.

So what is the problem?

Well, if you read the Time Magazine article, you will realized that it is still hard for people to accept that an Asian-American can beat your favorite team because he has skills.

In the article, it said that he had to face racial slurs and racial jokes all the time. He has been called anything from a “chink” to “sweet-and-sour pork.” Wait a minute. Isn’t that what non-Asian people like to eat? (being sarcastic).

But the encouraging part of this article is that Jeremy is a Christ-follower. He is even considering vocational ministry. Maybe his commitment to Christ is enabling him to stay strong in the midst of negative and derogatory comments.

All throughout history, there have been many Christ-followers who were in the minority that had to stay strong and not retaliate with hatred. It is easy to lower our standards and go down to the level of ignorance and prejudice. But Christ has called us to something greater.

God was all about teaching moments and addressing the prejudices in our hearts. But it didn’t take him billions of dollars – it cost Him his life.

 

Photo by HMCC Publications Team
 
 
 
After all the prayers and fasting, the time has now arrived for our first ever HMCC of Jakarta congregational retreat. This is something that I have been looking forward to for some time now. As I reflect and look back to some of the first retreats of our other church plants, I realized how significance they were in the overall movement of the church life.

I am particularly more excited about this retreat because Pastor Andrew Jun will be coming to be our speaker. As many of you know, he will be the pastor that will take the leadership here in Indonesia once my family and I return back to the States. I believe that God will use him to be God’s voice to deliver God’s Word to us.

I have been praying for a divine connection with Pastor Andrew and our awesome members here in Jakarta. As Pastor Andrew lays down a good spiritual foundation at this retreat, I am confident that there will be stronger relationships built in the years to come.

As I gave it more thought, I realized that these first retreats are good because:

 
 
We will be able to look back at this retreat in the years to come and give thanks to God for the incredible start of HMCC-JKT here in Indonesia. We are always standing in amazement and in wonder of who God is and what He is doing.

 

Photo by Getty Images
 
 
 
There was an incident that happened recently that just reminded me how human beings make horrible judges. According to the dictionary, the verb, “to judge” is defined as, “to infer, think, or hold as an opinion; conclude about or assess.”

First of all, since we are biased people, we cannot make a 100% spot-on judgment on everything. Secondly, we are finite; therefore our judgment on people and situations are not always 100% accurate. I say all this to preface what happened recently where I had to bring my whole family together and apologize.

About 2 months ago, we lost a miniature soccer ball that I bought for the kids to play around with in the house. Then after some time, the soccer ball just disappeared. We literally looked everywhere for it – we turned the house upside down trying to find it.

After our failed attempt to find the ball, we started to entertain the thought that someone might have possibility stolen the ball. As we went through a list of all the people that entered into our house, we came to the conclusion that some of the workers who came to fix things in our house were the guilty culprits.

In fact, I went on this speech about how we have to be careful with the people that we trust and how we must always be vigilant when workers come into our house.

Fast forward to Christmas Day.

Someone gave each of our children miniature soccer balls for Christmas. The kids were overjoyed that now they had a replacement for the ball that was stolen. Then one day as Karissa was playing with the soccer ball, she started yelling, “I found it! I found it!” Christina and I were in the kitchen area so we asked, “Found what?”

Then, she brought the “stolen” ball with holy reverence.

You should have seen our faces. We were all in shock and disbelief.

This is when I brought the whole family together and talked about passing judgment on others. But something inside of me felt that was not enough. Then, I proceeded to apologized to them for leading the charge in accusing the workers as the “soccer ball thief.” But the people that I needed to apologize to the most were the workers. Lord willing, if they ever come back to work on our house then that will be priority number one.

How often do we pass judgment on others and then at the end we realized that we were wrong?

When God judges, He judges perfectly and is justified in His judgments. But when we judge, we judge imperfectly and make unjustified judgments, which estrange and bring enmity with others.

Maybe this is why Jesus taught, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”
(Mt 7:1-2).

Thank God that He is our perfect judge!