Relearning America 004: Cars and Driving

I'd been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading getting a car.  In South Korea, where we lived within a mile of almost everything we needed and had public transportation for the rest, cars were an unnecessary and (mostly) undesired luxury.
But we're in America now, the place that has more land than we know what to do with, cars are a necessity in most places here.  We quickly bit the bullet with a good deal on a minivan.  We've also been blesses with a few people generously loaning us their cars.  I thought we were done with the process when we finally paid for the car and drove away, but I forgot about insurance, registration, and all of the other paperwork.  On the docket for next week is buying one more car (for me), and getting both cars registered and plated.

Definite culture shock at the gas pump.  Even though gas is about half the price of what it costs in Korea, it's still loads more than a bus or subway ticket.  Coughing out 50 or 60 bucks at a time just for transportation still hurts.  And I haven't eve
n had to pay for any repairs yet!
Yes, I love/hate to drive.

Good News About Poverty

Finally some good news about global poverty.  Bono shares some shocking statistics about our progress in fighting extreme poverty around the world.  If you have ever had any doubts about whether we can do anything meaningful about poverty, you must watch this.

Temptation to Take Over (Palm Sunday)

First, I want to start out by thanking Greg for giving me an easy topic for my first Sunday preaching here.  I get all the really easy stuff like temptation, evil, deliverance, prayer, - oh and tie it all into Palm Sunday while you’re at it.  Now to be fair, Greg said I could wuss out and take the sermon on forgiveness last week.  He didn’t actually say the words “wuss out,” but I could see it in his eyes.  

But, since I’m not a sissy preacher, here I am, and here you are.  We’ve got a tough text on a tough Sunday, so let’s dig in.

Jesus enters Jerusalem with the crowds shouting, Hosanna!  Now, that’s not a word we use everyday.  

• How are you today?  Hosanna!   
• The Hoosiers won again.  Hosanna!  

If this word isn’t from our daily vocabulary, it must come from somewhere else.  It must have a whole other background and history.  

Hosanna is actually a Hebrew word, and it is used several times in the Psalms.  It means literally, “Lord, save us!”  But it also has the connotation of praise, something like Hallelujah! 

But there’s even more background for this word.  Remember Jerusalem was chock-full of Jews because it was the beginning of the Passover Festival.  This was the time when the Israelites remembered how God set them free from slavery in Egypt.  Every year, hundreds of thousands of Jews flocked to Jerusalem to pray for freedom again - freedom from the oppression of the Roman Empire.  And every year at Passover, the Roman armies in Jerusalem went on red alert, with every soldier on duty and every garrison ready for war - just in case the people revolted, again.

So when Jesus enters Jerusalem, and people start shouting “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the King of Israel!” this is not normal.  Even more, they are waving palm branches, which was a special kind of cultural celebration to welcome a king. 

So these Jews aren’t just throwing confetti.  They aren’t just having a welcome-to-Jerusalem party for Jesus.  They are welcoming a Messiah to set them free.  

  In the first few centuries after Jesus, various Jewish leaders led revolts claiming to be the Messiah.  Archeologists discovered some coins from one of these periods of revolt.  They were the normal Jewish coins with the face of Caesar, but over the top of Caesar’s face was stamped the image of a palm branch.  

So in our passage today, Palm Sunday and “Hosanna” are not innocent images of joy and praise, these are the actions and words of revolt.  These people were trying to start a revolt.  They were declaring to all the world that Jesus was their new king.

But here’s the real question.  Why did they want Jesus as their king?  

Relearning America: 003 - Boogie Board Sledding

The skies over Indiana gifted us with 12.5 inches of snow on Tuesday, and Wednesday night prayer meeting was canceled, so the obvious response is to get the kids and go sledding.   If you can't pray together, at least play together!

Our host proved abundantly hospitable again, this time loaning us the use of two boogie boards her sons picked up on a vacation to Hawaii.  Boogie boards are actually designed as surfboard substitutes for the oceans, but somewhere along the way, people discovered that they skim across snow just as well.

Together with Greg (my new lead pastor) and his kids, we zinged up and down a nice little hill dozens of times.  We wore out the kids, and the adults were even starting to sweat.  

The best line of the day came from Greg: "Best staff meeting ever!"

Relearning America: 002 - Snow Blowers

Texas doesn't have many snow blowers.  When it snowed in Houston, it was a few little flurries once every five years, and everyone rushed outside to witness this strange event.
But today, when we got home I heard a strange humming sound, kind of a cross between a lawn mower and a chainsaw.  Snow blowers.
Then, I learned how to crank one up and do it myself.  Our lovely host, Pam, showed me the snow blowing ropes, and I gave her driveway a good workover.  I'll try to clear it again tonight or tomorrow morning - paying our rent in labor.
We probably won't buy a snow blower when we get our own home, but I'm sure there will be days when I'll want one.   Welcome to Indiana.

Relearning America: 001 - Alpo Tacos

My family and I just moved back to America after nearly 9 years away, so naturally we're going to have some reverse culture shock.  Of course, we came home for vacations and visits to family every so often, but that in itself brings its own culture shock.  You mean America isn't the land of perpetual vacation and crossword puzzles?!
I just finished up a series of 100 Things I Love About Korea.  (See the archives at the right.)  So I'm going to follow that with 100 Things I'm (re)learning about America.

One of our first lessons came today.  We were making lunch - just sandwiches or wraps or whatever people wanted.  Emma was making a taco.  She reached into the fridge and pulled out an innocuous red can.   She asked if she could put some of it on her taco.  I briefly glanced up from my crossword puzzle (still slightly in vacation mode), and I saw what looked like refried beans, so I said, "Sure."
About five minutes later I get up to rustle up my own grub, and as I'm milling about the counter I take a closer look at that red can.  The picture looks great, but then I read the label: ALPO.

I quickly scan the counter and locate both my daughter and her father-approved taco.  Oh, thank God, she hadn't eaten any yet.  "Emma, I don't think you should eat that taco.  That's not refried beans.  That's dog food...  I mean, you probably could eat it.  It's probably safe, but I wouldn't recommend it since it IS dog food."

Lesson #1: Don't be fooled by those pretty pictures, read the labels.

Disintegration of a Home

(I actually wrote this in November, and as I was cleaning out my desk, I realized I had never posted it.)

First a friend came over

And left with picture frames

And poker chips.

Brickabrack in storage

Emerged as hearty substitutes

For their departed peers.

When the plants walked away,

They left a barren wasteland,

Until we decorated for

One last Christmas.

Tomorrow we’ve invited loving buzzards:

“Come. Pick the flesh off our bones.”

How to donate the old piano?

Given us via cancer,

Too precious to sell,

Too large to pack.

Few, few, very few

Treasures will be packed,

The well-loved sediment of our lives,

Seeds to start again,

Grafts to rebuild,

As we move home again

To the place where we

Have no home.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #100 - KNU International English Church

I saved the best for last.  The only problem is that it's impossible for me to list all the reasons I love KNU International English Church.
Of course, the people are awesome and loving.
The community is multicultural in almost every way possible.
God is doing good things among us and through us.  People are being transformed by God's grace.
We are reaching out to our local community and to the global community through Bangladesh.
We are creative, innovative, resilient, and faithful.
I could go on and on and on.  Instead, I'll just share the my historical reflection from Sunday.  (I love you guys.  Thank you for letting us be part of your church, your lives, and your hearts!)

Transition in Context

Today, I want to do a quick review of the history of our church.  I guess 90% of us here today have only known this church with me as the lead pastor, but our history extends far beyond me.  

Everyone, please stand up.  I want to thank you for being here today to worship and to celebrate God’s grace in the midst of this transition.  God needs all of you.  Whether you are a new attender or an old member, I hope you will engage what God is doing here with your whole heart.  Volunteer, serve, show hospitality to each other and to new people.  God is changing the world through this loving community here.  Many people through the years have said this is the best church they have ever experienced, and they are right.  You guys are awesome!  Give God your heart here, and you and our world will never be the same.

---

OK, now, if you have started attending our church within the past three years, please sit down.  For those of you standing, you have seen some amazing things happen in our church over the past few years.  

• We’ve had baptisms of new and recommitting Christians once or twice a year.  In 2011 we had our first baptism service outside on the KNU campus, with 9 people from 4 different countries.
• After a season of spiritual dryness, we started doing 24/7 Prayer in 2010, and God has used that to pump spiritual life into our church every semester.
• In 2009, we established our partnership with the Village of Hope in Bangladesh, and since 2010, we’ve sent a total of six teams to care for our widows and orphans there.  Last year we began sponsoring the kids, and this has become an integral part of the life and mission of our church.  God is using our church here to draw KNU and other Korean churches into partnership with Bangladesh.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #99 - Annual Reports 2011 and 2012

Doubling up here to finish at an even 100, and I've already posted these, so here are the links.

2011: How our church is preparing to make space for God's Next.

2012 - Part A: Vision Sunday 2012 - 'Mission Impossible' actually happened here.

2012 - Part B: The Hard Part - We're Moving.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #98 - The Year 2012

Thanks to the apartment the church helped us buy in 2011, we were able to host small group in our home that fall and in 2012.  We really enjoyed hosting again, and John David really connected with Pete!

We really enjoyed spending more time with James, Beth, and Abby Picket.  We had lots of fun Sunday afternoons (and into the evenings) playing Catan and just generally hanging out.  We were sad to say goodbye as they moved back to the states to prepare to do church planting in Hawaii.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #97 - The Year 2011

One benefit of living in Korea has been relatively easy access to other countries.  In February, our church took our second trip to Bangladesh, with Wooyoung, HaYoung, and Il-Ho (among others).

Thanks to my mom coming to visit, Sarah and I were also able to do up our 10th anniversary in style.  We took a hop, skip, and a jump down to the Philippines to a great little resort on a spectacular beach.

We had fun times at the local park with Bruce, Susan, and Gabriel Kim.  We've gotten a lot of use out of this little park.  Emma has done countless laps around the track on her bike or inline skates.

Hermann Gschwandtner and Nathan Biswas came to Korea to talk about our partnership with Bangladesh, and we were about to tag along on a KNU culture trip.  They loved making kimchi and bulgogi.

A few months later, we welcomed John David into the world, named after my father and uncle (who were named after their uncle, who was named after ...).  My mom came over early and was here when he was born.

The icing on the cake was that Sarah's sister Elizabeth gave birth to Ella in the same hospital just three days later.  They were literally across the hall from each other for a day or two.  I'll never forget the look of terror on Michael's face when we walked into the room (after hearing Ella cry from across the hall through two closed doors).  He said, "We've got a screamer!"  She's gorgeous, but she's a feisty one!

100 Things I Love About Korea: #96 - The Year 2010.

JD Wiley entered the world with all of his cute old-man-baby looks.  That meant we were able to be with Joe and Elena for the birth of all three of their boys!

A high schooler at our church gave Emma a baby rabbit for Christmas.  After debating hundreds of normal names, Emma named her Moscow.  Unfortunately, she died a few days later (probably due to a combination of us introducing new foods too quickly and her being separated from her mother too early).  We made it up to Emma by getting her a new rabbit for Easter, whom she promptly named Charlie Brown.  After we discovered that Charlie was a girl, we changed her name to Manilla.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #95 - Annual Report 2009

Dedicating ShinHyuk Kim

This fall we are 15 years old. (So how old are we in Korean years?)  To get a feeling for how much we've grown, I thought it might be fun for us to look at some of our previous “firsts.”  

The first baby born in our church (Jenny Mitchel's daughter 2001).  (The next baby was Esther Kim in 2006.)

The first Advisory Council was elected in 2003.  For our first 8 years before that, we were just a hodge-podge group that worshiped together.

Our first mission trip (Indonesia, 2004).  We are now planning our fourth, and we're hoping to do one every year.

Our first year with regular heat in the winter (2005).  That may not seem like such a big deal, but it's easier to worship when you don't have to wear gloves and a hat just to stay warm!

Our first store room – a tiny janitors closet, which we were forced to get because we bought a drum set (2005).

Our first assistant pastor  - Hoom Jeong (2005)

Our first big attendance day: 79 (2005).  We were really excited about 79 people back then!

More than 50% of our regular attenders from outside the KNU community (2005)

First after church snack time – started just once a month (2005).  I remember our fellowship team feeling really concerned about trying to do it every week.

First website – a free blog that Susan Kim set up for us (2005)

First church members to get married (Anderson and Dianna Cheon, 2004)

First baptisms (2006)

First time to have organized children and youth activities (2006)

First time worshiping in Patch Hall and at a “normal” time (2006).  Before this, our worship services began bright and early at 9 a.m.  

First time to have more than one Korean on the Advisory Council (2006)

First time to have more than one returning Advisory Council member (2007)

First time to take in members and to be an official Church of the Nazarene (2007)

First church soccer team (2007)

100 Things I Love About Korea: #94 - The Year 2009

2009 was a year of joy and sadness.  The ever beautiful SoYoung Gu threw a birthday party for Sarah and Isabel, and lots of folks turned out to celebrate my Mom's first birthday without my Dad.  But shortly after this, SoYoung was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.  She was gone by Easter.  That was a hard, hard three months!

Emma embraced life with her characteristic drama and flare.  Never a dull moment!

After many years of trying, Paul and Hoom returned from Turkey to start the baby boom in our church - 9 straight boys!

We initiated more people to the good times at DaeCheon beach.  This time around it was: Keith, Megan, Shannon, Heather, and Stephanie.  

Not wanting to pay an arm and a leg for turkey (extremely expensive in Korea), I made duck for Thanksgiving.  It was definitely tasty.  The only problem was it was one scrawny bird!

100 Things I Love About Korea: #93 - Annual Report 2008

Preparing the Foundations

My first time to attend an annual meeting as a pastor, I forgot that I was supposed to give an annual report.  I had only been a lead pastor for about two months.  Near the end of the meeting, Cathy Williams asked if I had a report to share, and I said something profound like, “Uh, not really.”  Every year since then, I've tried to spend some time thinking of an analogy or a story that will help us put the year in perspective.  I've talked about zits and puberty, giant flies, Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon, and how God answered a prayer I prayed while walking across a basketball court.

This year, I want to tell a story about some of the times I've worked with my Uncle John.  If you think I'm crazy, you should meet my Uncle John!  One year for Christmas, the women wanted to have a nice formal dinner, so they asked the men in the family to “dress up” and to put on some “nice clothes.”  My Dad and Uncle John disappeared into the bedroom and came out looking like this.  (silly picture)  I distinctly remember them saying, “What?!  We're wearing ties!  What else do you want?”  (They also had the nice 80's afros going, too.)

Uncle John is also an expert concrete worker.  Sometimes during the summers or when I had free time in college, I would work with him doing the concrete work for new houses.  The concrete truck drivers said Uncle John was so good that he could do jobs by himself that usually took 10 people to finish.  When I helped Uncle John, I usually got all the jobs he didn't want – shoveling rocks, carrying steel, drilling into old concrete.  But I also learned a little about what it takes to make a good foundation for a house.

Step 1:  Clear and Level the Land.  Before you can do anything else, you have to get rid of all the trees and junk, and you have to make the ground fairly smooth and level.  No, I never got to drive one of those cool little bulldozers.  

100 Things I Love About Korea: #92 - The Year 2008

2008 brought us some friends from Russia.  Ilya, Yulia, Sasha, Mirek (and later Misha) moved into the same apartment complex, and our girls became fast friends.  We also started wonderful a tradition of celebrating New Years together (which is the big holiday of the year in Russian speaking cultures).

English camps brought in extra money as well as extra friends and family.  Here are my dad and Jerry and Raylene Tucker, who adopted Emma as a grandchild of their own!

As always, we had lots of fun, including a KNU trip to Busan, our annual trip(s) to Daecheon Beach, and the annual halloween costume party at Outback.  Bruce and Susan Kim usually have the best costumes of anyone there.  Here's Susan (the cafeteria lady) polishing my boots!

Adam, Robb, Houston, and a few other folks also hosted a charity concert at the "Helicopter Bar," which is actually inside a restored chinook helicopter.  Amazing location, amazing music.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #91 - Annual Report 2007

Ladies Retreat 2007

Tonight our focus is on telling stories, so I want to start by telling a story.  This story begins a few years ago.  During my first year here, we said goodbye to leader after leader, as people moved back to their home countries.  After about a year, I began to realize that we need more stability, and I also began to realize that stability was only going to come by having more Korean leaders involved in our church.  

I remember praying one day when I was walking home.  I was thinking and praying about this problem of rotating leaders in our church.  I thanked God for Dr. Cho.  (Some of you might not remember Dr. Cho.  He no longer attends here because he is preaching regularly in the Sunday evening service of another church.)  I prayed, “God please give us 25 people like Dr. Cho.  Give us 25 committed and passionate Korean leaders.”  I figured that would be enough to give us a stable core group, year in and year out.   

This year, we have seen this prayer begin to be answered.  This year more than 60% of the Advisory Council was Korean.  We celebrated this with great joy, and rightly so.  It is right for an international church to have international leadership.  Also, this was a great answer to our prayers and a great step of progress toward becoming a stable, enduring church.

Well, like they say, be careful what you pray for.  Sometimes God answers our prayers in ways we don’t expect.  And sometimes God’s answers bring their own challenges.

After we elected the 2006-2007 Advisory Council, I felt like we were “off to the races.”  Our Vision Team had just finished establishing our mission and vision statements.  Our people seemed to agree that this is what God was calling us to do and to be.   I felt like everything was finally coming together.  

Within the first few months of the 2006-2007 year, we decided to become an official Church of the Nazarene on the Korea National District.  We also welcomed our first official church members, and we went on a Work and Witness Trip to Indonesia.  And as a great surprise to me, the Korea National District worked out the details for me to be ordained here in Korea.  We were also experiencing our highest attendance ever, with an all-time high of 139.

I was ready for our church to explode with growth and momentum.  I was pumped and read to go.  But I was probably a little too pumped.  

100 Things I Love About Korea: # 90 - The Year 2007

Ah, the joys of the McDonald's highchair train.  Life doesn't get any better than this.  For a spell, about half of our church would gather for Sunday lunch at McDonald's.  Not so healthy for the body, but oh so healthy for the heart in other ways.

In March, my Mom and Dad came to visit so they could witness my ordination.  (And that, by the way, was an interesting story.  Apparently, the KNU President and the District Superintendent kind of pushed me through the ordination process, skipping over several steps, so that when our church was officially organized in April, we could have an ordained pastor at the helm.)  While my parents were in town, we went to the zoo and the folk village, and our friend YoungMin took us out for Bul-Dalk (Fire Chicken).  Thankfully, YoungMin was wise enough to bring along a few liters of milk to cool the flames in our mouths!

100 Things I Love About Korea: #89 - No Tipping

The price you see is the real price.  No guessing.  No estimating.  No guilt.  No trying to figure out how good your service was.  Best of all no 10-25% extra charge at the end of your meal.
Korea gives great service, and they simply pay their serving staff enough money to keep them happy, without relying on tips.  I love it, and I'm going to miss it - especially when I have to start paying tips again.
(Thanks again to Ron K. for pointing out this excellent part of Korean culture.)

100 Things I Love About Korea: #88 - 2006 Annual Report

Across the Rubicon and Setting Up Camp

Annual Report 2005-2006

Pastor Josh Broward

In 49 BC Julius Caesar had a decision to make.  He had spent the last few years serving in Gaul and extending the Roman rule across Europe.  The Roman Senate now called him back to Rome, and they told him to come without his army.  If Caesar had gone to Rome without his army, he would have lost power and possibly lost his life.

One little river served as the boundary line for Julius Caesar’s choice.  It was the Rubicon.  By Roman law, no Roman general was allowed to bring his army past the Rubicon.  

If Julius Caesar crossed this stream, he would begin a civil war.  As Caesar stood on the banks of the Rubicon, he looked at his companions and said, “Still we can retreat! But once we pass this little bridge, nothing is left but to fight it out!”   This was the point of no return.  This was the deciding moment.

Caesar and his troops crossed the Rubicon.  Then, he tore his shirt off and gave a tearful speech.  (Don’t worry – I’m not going to tear my shirt off!)  Caesar’s speech included the famous words: “The die is cast.”  This is referring to a game of dice: “The dice are already thrown.”  In other words, the direction has been set.  The decision has been made.  There is no going back now.  Caesar quickly took control of Italy and eventually gained control of the entire Empire.  But all of this started with a few short steps across the Rubicon.

This year our church has “crossed the Rubicon.”  Two little decisions stand as our Rubicon.  The first decision was moving to Patch Hall in March of this year.  This move has provided us with space to grow, access to technology, consistent temperatures, much-needed storage space, and convenient classrooms.

The second decision was much more important than the first.  When we moved to Patch Hall, we also decided to change the time of our worship service from 9:00 am to 10:30 am.  This was a HUGE decision for our church.  There were two factors in our decision.  First, we decided that we wanted to be a primary church, not a secondary church (a place people go before their “real church”).  Second, we decided that we wanted to reach out to people who didn’t usually go to any church, and we felt they would be much more likely to join us at a later time.  (Really, 9am is like the crack of dawn for a lot of people around here!)  So in this one decision, we identified ourselves as a primary church deserving of primary commitment and as a church committed to outreach.

This was our Rubicon.  We have declared our course for the future.  In a sense, “The die is cast.”  We have followed the Spirit and rolled the dice.