Psalm 46:1-11 The Good News: Our God Reigns

Love Sonata 2009 - Kobe, Japan

Kobe, Japan. The people's hearts were so tender towards the Gospel. It was awesome to see. Each time I go to Japan, my heart grows for it more and more.

Makito and his father. His father became a Christian as a student and then his family kicked him out. He hasn't seen his family for quite some time. Now he's a pastor and Makito is a seminary student and missionary in Nepal. A wonderful family of faith :)

One of our lunches. I love Japanese food.

The end of our service where over 2,500 Japanese came to hear the Gospel. Please lift up a prayer for Japan even now. May salvation continue to spread throughout that land.

Romans 12:3-8 The Good News: You Are Gifted

OEM Drama: Everything

John 3:16-18 The Good News: You Are Loved

Full service here.

Mark 2:1-12 Loving Them by Bringing Them

Cherry Blossoms in Korea

I love the spring time in Korea. On Monday morning, I was able to walk around our church neighborhood and take some photos of the many flowers that were starting to bloom. Here are some of the photos. I put a quick video together of some of the pictures I took today; the music in the video above is by Sungha Jung, a young kid with some huge guitar talent.

Prayer Requests and Verse of the Week

Living Life Memory Verse of the Week: Isaiah 57:1

"The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil." (NIV)

"The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity" (ESV)

Praise Reports:

• Several people gave their lives to Christ for the first time in both of our services yesterday. God is saving! Another sister gave her life to Christ while doing her devotionals with Living Life :)
  

• One sister was set free from a spiritual stronghold that held her captive for 10 years last week. God is awesome!
  

• Another sister was also set free and delivered from anger through the prayer time during our Sunday service.
  

• Another member was set free from the spirit of fear that griped her during her whole time in Korea. God is doing a great work and we praise Him for it!

Prayer Requests for This Week:

• Please pray for OEM to finish our Lent fast well this week - for strength and faithfulness.
  

• Please pray blessings over our AIM Good Friday joint worship service.

• Pray for salvation to come upon all those who have yet to know Christ for our Resurrection Sunday Service.

• Pray for that the students in my preaching course on Friday would be well equipped to study passages faithfully in sermon preparation.

• Pray for anointing and power for me, our praise team, the drama team and the choir for our Resurrection Sunday services.

Thanks so much. Your prayer support is my life support.

Your Prayer Support My Life Support

God has renewed my conviction once again of the need to raise up intercessors for spiritual leaders and pastors. Either through ignorance or false humility, the enemy has done a good job in causing so many Christians to neglect the crucial role prayers have in the effectiveness of their churches and the blessings upon their own lives. I'm hoping to change that within the culture of our church, and this sermon was the first step in making daily intercession a norm for church life. You can watch the full service here through the CGNTV website or just watch the sermon in the YouTube link above.


A couple of books I found extremely helpful on this topic of praying for pastors and spiritual leaders is "Prayer Shield" by Peter Wagner and "Partners in Prayer" by John Maxwell. These are one of the few books dedicated solely to the topic of praying for pastors.

I've been giving away copies of Prayer Shield since my seminary days because I believe so much in what this book has to say. Plus, if it'll get more people to pray for me, then it's totally worth it. So listen, read, and keep praying daily for your pastors. One truth I've realized is that for the pastor, "the congregation's prayer support is the pastor's life support." Thank you for your prayers.

The Freshest Juice in Korea

For those who know me, know that I basically only drink water and juices. Maybe a Coke here and there with pizza, but in general, I don't like carbonated drinks nor do I drink anything hot (so yes, I also avoid coffee and tea). No, I'm not Mormon and no, it's not because of health reasons. It's just personal preference. Growing up in the US, it was no big deal because every store would have tons of juices and non-carbonated drinks to choose from. Anyways ... living in Australia and Korea was tough because the drink selection for my 'categories' of drinks was so limited.


But one company I have discovered and been thankful for is Fruitist. They not only have 100% pure fruit juices to choose from, they have the freshest process of making the drinks straight from the fruit to the bottle. Not like the typical "from concentrate stuff". Good taste, good quality and good for you too. Pretty cool.

They're going to be selling these at 7-11's in Korea from this weekend and I hope it'll take off because we need more good, healthy juices to choose from over here! So if you're in Korea, stop by a 7-11 this weekend and pick one up. Here's to your health ...