Korean Winter Youth Meetings

The Korean winter youth meetings were held in Daejeon, Korea, from January 10 through 13, 2008. There were 122 young people in attendance from 6 churches: 34 from Busan, 30 from Seoul, 34 from Daejeon, 8 from Daegu, 8 from Okpo, and 6 from Akyang.

Reverend Park Young Keun presided over the first meeting, which opened with the combined young people's orchestra playing the prelude. Prior to the time for testimonies, the combined young people's choir sang a special. One young student testified with tears in her eyes, saying, “God blessed me very much last year. Before I got saved I fought with others quite often and spoke bad words to them. I am thankful that after I got saved I have been good at school; I have good dreams, and good friends. I am praying for my papa to be saved. I am sure God will do it.”

The first sermon was preached by Reverend Soe Ok Soo. He said, “God is rich, so we should be rich: Be rich with faith, wisdom, grace, power, and love. If we are rich with those things, we can give something to others in Jesus' name.” After the sermon, teachers and ministers helped the young people pray at the altars. God blessed both those who prayed for others and those for whom they prayed.

In another meeting, Kim Jung Min, the youngest minister at the youth meetings, preached about happiness. He began with the question, “What is true happiness?” Then he explained about four people in the Old Testament who were good examples: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Abraham showed faith; Isaac showed obedience; Jacob was a man of prayer; and Joseph showed purity and endurance. He pointed out that these characteristics are the keys to true happiness. Jesus has all of these characteristics, and we should follow Him.

Reverend Park concluded his report by saying, “All of the meetings were very good, especially for our young people. They have realized and understand that prayer is a very important part of our faith.”