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.”

Collaboration

When the job is bigger than one congregation

December 2004

What does a congregation do when pastor and people recognize the mission opportunities in their community but don’t have either the expertise, the staff or the financial resources to be able as a single congregation to be effective?
At the 2003 Houston 2020 Conference, the word collaboration was introduced as a means by which Lutheran congregations could become more effective in reaching their ethnically and culturally diverse communities with the Gospel. By pooling resources, working together as pastors and people, several congregations together could accomplish great things.
Following is a success story of collaboration - how five Lutheran area congregations have come together to bring a new church planter to the far northwest sector of Harris County – to make the commitment to be financially responsible for him and his family and to work with him as volunteers in the Hispanic community to which he is being called.

Northwest Houston Hispanic Ministry
In the first months of 2004, several pastors on separate occasions expressed interest in starting an intentional outreach to the growing Hispanic population in his congregation’s community. All expressed an awareness of the growth of the Hispanic community in their area but each knew that their congregation working alone would not be able to afford a major outreach effort.
In late Spring, Mark Junkans, Executive Director of LINC Houston, met with leaders and pastors from St. John’s Cypress, Salem Tomball, St. Timothy, Trinity Klein, and Resurrection Spring to discuss how they, together with LINC, could most effectively plant groups of new believers in an area north of the Beltway and between Hwy 290 and I-45, essentially from the St. John’s area to Resurrection. The discussion centered not only on the financial commitment that each congregation would have to make but also on the volunteer support that would be necessary in order to bring a church planter who would work with the congregations. There was also considerable discussion about finding the right person.
In May the group met with Lincon & Noemi Guerra to discuss the possibility of their coming to work as mission planters. On August 1 they began their work among the Hispanic community in northwest Houston.
In preparation for their arrival, a hospitality committee was formed under the leadership of Ray and Flora Tacquard from Trinity, Klein. After talking with the Guerras, a list of furniture and household needs was distributed to the five congregations. Working together, the congregations have provided a town home in the area at a rent the couple could afford, furnished the home, and stocked the pantry with basic food needs. Volunteers came together on a Saturday to clean the home and then another group volunteered to move the donated furniture items so that the house would be ready. A group of Hispanic families who live in the Greenspoint area and who have worshipped at Centro de Fe y Esperanza will become the core group of a new worshipping community.
But the best is yet to come because the people at these five congregations will have opportunities to partner with Lincon in his ministry so that relationships can be formed and the Gospel shared.

About Lincon & Noemi:
Both Lincon & Noemi’s fathers are pastors with a missionary heart. The families were friends in Panama and both came to the United States as missionaries to the many Hispanic immigrants coming to this country, Lincon and his family to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1999 and Noemi’s family to Houston in January, 2000. Lincon served as the regional youth director for all of North Carolina until a church in Raeford, NC was without a pastor and Lincon was asked to lead the congregation. Lincon and Noemi were married in June 2001 and continued to serve the church in Raeford for three more years. They have one son, Joash, who was born in December, 2002.
According to Noemi they always felt the Lord had a bigger mission field for them. “We have our hearts on fire! We cry for all of those souls that are going to hell...we want to do something! And we pray the Lord uses Lincon to spread His Word among the Hispanic community (in northwest Houston).”
Beginning in the fall of 2004, Lincon Guerra will be enrolled in the Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology, a three-year theological program through Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, whose purpose it is to provide an alternate route to ordination for men engaged in pastoral missionary contexts in ethnic immigrant and urban cultures in North America.