Pastor Sun Moon Lee's Speech

at Reach 2004

Those of you who attended the LINC Annual Meeting and Mission Festival (REACH 2004) had the privilege of hearing from Rev. Sun Moon Lee, Missionary-at-Large to the Korean Community in Houston. We feel his message is worth repeating.
“Greetings from brothers and sisters of the newly started Korean Lutheran mission to all of you who attend the mission festival this evening. I give thanks to our Lord for this privileged opportunity to share my personal testimony and the true meaning of LINC with all of you.

Some of you may already know, while others may not, how the Korean ministry started in Houston. Last year, I had to leave my church in Toronto, Canada that I had served for 16 years. I received a call from the Texas District and arrived here in Houston in July 2003. Receiving warmest welcome and loving interest from all members of St. Andrew Lutheran church, the Korean service was started in September, following my installation as Missionary-at-Large to the Korean community in August.

Starting a new mission is a very difficult task. Without God’s help and His grace, it is overwhelming and at times even impossible to start from the bottom line. Among the Koreans there is a prevailing misconception and ignorance of Lutheranism which is even for some, considered a very strange and unknown sect. Apparently, however, this is my mission but sometimes a heavy burden as well.

Naturally, I feel pressure and loneliness often come upon me while evangelizing people I am meeting for the first time, making them as one community gathered by confession of one true faith in Christ. It was then when I came to know LINC. Through Pastor Mark Junkans' encouragement, support and prayer, many problems have been solved very nicely. Let me tell you a couple of important things among them.

First, he gave an enormous help to start an ESL school. My survey clearly indicated this need in the Korean community. Many immigrants are having a hard time and struggling to learn English. Given that, I thought if our church could start an ESL school, this would be a very good tool to help the community and, ultimately, an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel.
Without hesitation, I asked for help from Pastor Paul Ferguson of St. Andrew Lutheran church. It is St. Andrew Lutheran church that recruited the ESL volunteer teachers. Meanwhile, we did not actually know how to teach ESL. All we had was great zeal and energy. It was then when Pastor Mark took charge of training the volunteer teachers through LINC. In other words, LINC made it possible for our ESL ministry to serve and evangelize the Korean community.

Second, when we started the mentally challenged children’s ministry, LINC also gave a huge support again. One of the main reasons why so many Korean people come to United States is children’s education. Especially those parents who have mentally challenged children come to United States with one desperate hope, which is also a kind of vague idea as well, that this country could give their children a better education and a better chance to live as equally treated human beings. But they don’t know exactly what would be the reality of living here. After settling down, it is not long until they come to realize that there are not many things for them to do for their children, definitely much fewer than expected. Language obstacles and status matters, which cut any possible access to government supports for their children, are a few examples of their problems.

This convinced me that our church should do something practical for them by starting a mentally challenged children’s ministry. Thanks to God’s grace, we would meet 11 children out of 10 families. For these parents, we made a ‘parent supporting group’. And for their children, we opened a ‘Saturday school for mentally challenged children’. Every Saturday, we have 25 volunteers from the Korean community, 10 families, and 11 mentally challenged children - over 40 in total.
At first, the main challenge was to train the volunteer teachers. Again, this was done by Mr. and Mrs. (Rick and Kathie) Laurie who take charge of special education and Chaplain David Cecil of Bethesda. They were introduced by LINC. Indeed, LINC is the organization that God has prepared ahead to give crucial helps for the Korean ministry. I strongly hope that not only our Korean ministry but also all other ethnic ministries in Houston take part in building and extending God’s kingdom in partnership with LINC.

Do you know what is the nickname of Pastor Mark Junckson (Junkans)? His nickname is the ‘Godfather’. When you hear the word, ‘godfather’, you might think of the ‘Mafia’, but no, he is not! He is the Godfather of Korean Lutheran mission. From the very beginning of Korean ministry here in Houston, every single step was possible by hard works of LINC and the precious supports from LINC.

(Through tonight’s event,) I would like to express my thanks from the bottom of my heart to those of you that support LINC. I pray that God’s grace will be revealed continuously by LINC. Also, I would like to give my thanks to Pastor Ferguson of St. Andrew who helped our Korean ministry from even before it was started. Finally, I give my thanks to all Korean members who work together for Korean Lutheran ministry in Houston.

By working together, we make the ‘mission impossible’ to the ‘mission possible’. I would like to ask everyone (who has gathered here tonight) to give continuous support to LINC for God’s ministry.”