To all the parents of our congregation, I give you the utmost honor and respect.  You’ve raised us from our years as helpless babes, through the terrible twos, through adolescence where you explained and comforted us as our bodies and minds changed, through our young adult years as we transition into different seasons, and will continue to love and care for us as long as you are alive.  The hearts of parents never seems to change. At the age of 27, I am still my parents’ baby.  But you can never fully protect us from this world.  We’ll open up any periodical and see the pain, suffering, injustice, and evil in this world and our eyes will see the depravity of humankind.  Parents, I do not envy you but am extremely grateful for you.
As you all know, Boston was in the midst of a terrorist attack.  Bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston marathon.  A shoot-out occurred between police and the suspects during a high speed car chase.  People were injured.  Many died.  Comments on social media range from livid responses filled with cursing and hopelessness to comments on the sovereignty and everlasting goodness of God.  “Mom, Dad… why do so many bad things happen?”… a question that will stump the wisest parent.  Reconciling evil in the world around us with the goodness of God is perhaps one of the most difficult questions to answer, for both child and parent.  These struggles, though far removed from our personal spheres of influence and life, become personal as we combine in our hearts and minds the craziness “out there” with the craziness “at home.”  Then the wrestling with God begins.
There is nothing I can write in this column to appease your “why” that even philosophers and theologians have attempted to respond to for centuries and have fallen short.  However, let me respond to the “what now” question that will inevitably consume our minds.  In a letter to believers in Rome, Paul writes to encourage them in a time of confusion and suffering.  Instead of focusing on the suffering experienced by many believers, Paul focuses and points to a God of hope who is sovereign over all things.  In the midst of suffering and trials, Paul states “we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.”  Through the Holy Spirit, perseverance is a product of suffering; it’s inevitable, it’ll happen automatically when we are covered with the power of God and acknowledge it in our lives.  Paul continues; “perseverance, character.”  When we persevere through these times, we are transformed into the image of Christ, becoming men and women that reflect the character and person of God.  Lastly, Paul states “and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:2-5).  When we reflect the image of Jesus via our character, hope flows in and out of our lives.  It will never disappoint (v. 5). 
Let’s cling to the hope that will never fail us.  Let’s strive to become more and more like Christ and show our younger brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, the generations to come, that with Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit in us, we have a hope and victory in the midst of chaos, confusion, and evil.  Our God reigns.  God bless you all.

From Pastor Keeyoung’s Heart
 April 21, 2013

Don't you have moments in your life when you just break out in laughter as a result of an enlightenment or a revelation from God? I had one this week as I wrote this column. As soon as I wrote down the title, God struck me with a thought that made me chuckle with a big smile on my face. He impressed this thought in my heart: "You thought you didn't have to commit to the 40 days of prayer and fasting since we didn't have an early morning prayer campaign for the lent season this year...well I had a different plan in mind."
Though we are going through a difficult time as a church, I am seeing a lot of positive results springing up from everywhere. People are coming out to morning prayer and other prayer meetings more than before.
God told Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land".
In response to God's call, we declared 40 days of Prayer and Fasting chain for the whole church and asked people to sign up to fast and pray at least one meal a day. The prayer and fasting chain already kicked off on 4/22 (Mon) and many are already participating in it together. However, I know many of you needed more time to think and plan before signing up so we will give you another opportunity to sign up today. Please fill in your name on the calendar posted in the hallway right outside the worship center.
On top of individual fasting and prayer, the church leadership wanted to provide opportunities for the people to come together and pray corporately because we believe there's a special unity and power that arise from corporate prayer meetings. Since we already have many weekday/weekend services and prayer meetings for different campuses and ministries, each congregation (MD, VA) will have a different schedule. Our intention is to have a corporate prayer time EVERYDAY for ONE HOUR for the whole month of May at both campuses. A new prayer meeting will be added for days that we don’t have church services and prayer meetings. Some meeting will be KC & EC joint with English translation. It would be nice to have all prayer meetings be KC & EC joint, but it requires too much coordination for such short meetings and the prayer time wouldn’t be as smooth. So most of the meetings will be held in one language. See below for a detail schedule of the prayer meetings. However, you are welcome to come and join any of the prayer meetings because God can understand all languages!

Schedule of the Additional prayer meetings (Monday, April 29th – Thursday, May 30)
MD Campus KC & EC (7:30 - 8:30 pm)
Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays  (Worship Center)
*will be in Korean – short message in Korean, and corporate prayer for most of the time

VA Campus KC & EC (7:30 pm -8:30 pm)
KC: Mondays, Tuesday    EC:: Wednesday   (Worship Center)   Joint: Friday (Connection Cafe)

From Pastor Brian’s Heart
April 28, 2013