After attending the History of Redemption seminar in Orlando

Participants:
Elder Sang-hoo Lee, Elderess Kyeong-sun Lee (President of the Women’s Ministry), Elderess Myeong-suk Lee (Vice President of the Women’s Ministry), and Elderess Geon-mi Park

Members of Pyungkang Cheil Church were present during the History of Redemption Seminar held from the 25th to the 28th of May in the Green Hill Church in Orlando, Florida. They stayed in Orlando for two weeks and had fellowship with the members of the Green Hill Church. Although a month has gone by, they say that when they recall the memories of their time there, they felt their hearts grow warm.



Elderess Kyeong-sun Lee: When we first purchased the site for the Orlando church a couple of years ago, I just thought “we are building a church here” without feeling anything. When I visited this time, I was overcome with joy as I saw that the wonderful sanctuary had been completed through the prayers and efforts of the congregation on the land that God had prepared 7-8 years back. It did not seem like a “Korean church” but an American one.
Elder Sang-hoo Lee: It is the eighth year that I have been running a company called “Kadaros” (meaning “clean” and “pure” in Hebrew) and every day I work for almost 24 hours. Not once did I leave my position in the company for a long period of time. However, I thought that if I went on an overseas mission, then I, too, would gain conviction. I started longing to gain a truly firm faith. The mission period was originally set at ten days and since there are many holidays around then, I thought that I could go. Then, the period was extended to two weeks. At first, I was certain I could not go. However, God gave me a heart of obedience. Throughout the whole experience, I kept thinking that God had brought me there through grace.
Elderess Myeong-suk Lee: The seminar started and foreigners?white and black?entered the place in groups of twos and threes. As they came in through the hallway, I felt my heart warming and thought as I watched, “Oh, so these things are really happening before my eyes. This is when people rise above their respective environments, races, and nations and come before the message of the redemptive history.”
Elderess Geon-mi Park: In the Old Testament, the center of the earth and the universe was the Ark of the Covenant, but now, God’s Word is at the center. Hence, if we have the Word, we are indeed at the center of the world. That is what I felt while attending the seminar. I felt that this seminar was the first step, first footprint, first starting point towards the world and the beginning of our missions. We were moved to tears.
Elderess Myeong-suk Lee: The pastor’s message on the first day was very impressive. We know that Americans have great pride. Thus I heard that, for them, coming to a Korean church was not an easy thing to do. The pastor started his sermon by asking “do you know the Republic of Korea, have you heard of it?” He then said that “the Republic of Korea is within the 20 most powerful nations of the world through God’s help, and because you helped us 61 years ago in the Korean war, the land of ruin was able to develop into an economically robust nation. Also, your soldiers came and died in our country and your missionaries taught us about God.” He uplifted the pride of the Americans at the start. Saying that “we want to repay this debt now, not with money or objects but with the message of redemptive history,” the pastor began writing the names in the genealogies?Adam, Seth, Enosh and so on. He was explaining that Adam and Lamech lived together for 56 years; when he explained that the reason Adam lived so long was because he was so desperate to tell his descendants about his fall and that he told Lamech about the Word during the 56 years they lived together, the Americans applauded and their hearts melted. I still cannot forget their awed expressions as the Word of the beginning was written down before them on the board?their expressions that showed they had never heard anything like that before.

Elder Sang-hoo Lee: The Americans were surprised when the pastor said that 33,629 American soldiers came to Korea and that we must repay our debt. After the lecture, when the head of the elders asked the pastor how he had thought of saying that in the beginning of the sermon, the pastor replied that he had not planned to say those things. The words came to him as the Holy Spirit had worked within him.
Elderess Kyeong-sun Lee: The members of the Women’s Missions went to the seminar with our aprons ready. The day after our arrival, we started cleaning the sanctuary. It was very moving, even as we cleaned. I felt that we must carry out meaningful tasks ourselves? that everyone has a mission in their lives?and I naturally began to repent. I began to understand how difficult it must have been to build our sanctuary and spread the message of redemptive history in the American society when I lived a comfortable life of faith. Therefore, we had dawn prayer services every day for two weeks. I felt that from now on, we must spread the Word without rest.
Elderess Myeong-suk Lee: In the afternoon, we studied the sixth book of the History of Redemption series with the Orlando congregation members. We discovered our identities while learning about the workers of the sanctuary?temple servants, the 24 divisions of Levites, 24 divisions of Singers/Musicians, 24 divisions of Gatekeepers, and 24 divisions of Priests.
It dawned upon me that I am a Levite, a royal priest, a holy land and God’s people. I ascertained who we are and to whom we belong. The Women’s Missions of the Orlando church also realized that it is not only their families that they must take care of?they received the calling to take care of people beyond borders of race and generations. I experienced the work of God in which He built the new sanctuary?so perfectly and wonderfully?and sturdily establishing workers within it. We are eternally grateful just for the fact that we were at the historical site of His work in a new generation.
Elderess Kyeong-sun Lee: I felt that the congregation members of the Orlando church are taking on an enormous amount of work. Few members of the congregation go to the retreat center every Friday to hold prayer meetings and clean. Fighting against time every single day, they are sustaining their huge church. I strongly felt that our congregation members must pray for branch churches’ congregations like the Orlando church; and I came back with a sense of duty bubbling up within me along with the conviction that everyone must carry out their roles adequately in order for the Orlando church to become the foundation of world missions, resulting in the message of redemptive history being spread throughout the world.
Elderess Geon-mi Park: In our main church, the work is rotated among the districts but the Orlando church only has one main department so they have to work all the time. It is extremely difficult. I always believed Orlando was the cornerstone of world missions. So then I thought now is the time in which we should work for the church more earnestly and pray for it more thoroughly. I felt many things at the retreat center as well. Everything was prepared in order to house many people, and facilities were offered for the convenience of people from various classes. I truly felt that people from different classes came and I, overall, gained a sense of duty.
Elderess Kyeong-sun Lee: Another thing that touched my heart was the way the wives of Elders John Park and Philip Cheon were evangelizing through the Parent Teacher Association. They invite American parents to their house. When the Americans see the way the women’s children behave, they are amazed and send their own children to the house to play. In this way, the two women have such power in the words they speak. That is how they evangelize Americans. I felt that the women are carrying out a great work.

Elderess Myeong-suk Lee: The Sunday School children of the Orlando Church sang the generations and genealogy songs at every seminar. It was a time of grace in which the Word was accentuated as the Americans gave a standing ovation to the children who had come out in their formal clothes to sing the generation and genealogy songs in English. I observed that when the Sunday school children sat down after the long song, the American children surrounded them and wanted to make friends. However, the Sunday school children are very mature and extremely confident. I could see that the American children wanted to approach them and talk to them. It was like watching ourselves, us who have received the Word, in the future.
Elderess Kyeong-sun Lee: I was sorry that there were only a few English speakers in our church with the many foreigners that came. If we were good at English, we could have had one-on-one time with those people and introduce our church to them. Also, the foreign congregation members have great love for the Word. Some travelled 36 hours from Arkansas in order to come to the seminar. They could not stay for long and only participated in two lectures. They love the Word to that extent but we, who are immersed in the Word, do not realize how blessed we are.
Elder Sang-hoo Lee: I actually looked at the US Map to see how far Arkansas is from Florida. Its distance is equal to that of Beijing to Seoul. They travelled this distance by bus. My district is quite far off. It is district 25. I repented. In comparison to those who came from Arkansas, our church is practically on my doorstep. I realized that it is not about the distance but the love and passion for the Word. So what I really want to say to the congregation of the main church is that we are not taking the passion of the foreign branch churches seriously enough. After getting back from Orlando, I became tired again, but now that we discuss this, I am renewed once again (laughter).

Interview conducted and summarized by Jeong-hwa Suh