Archive for April, 2014

SJ Lee

sj

SJ Lee testimony (with edits)

Before i met God, I was just a kid that did not know what I was doing and basically did every bad thing there is. One day a family friend told me about God while visiting our family. When I first heard the story it was amazing! I wanted to know more about this God. Our family started going to church around that time. The first few churches were not a good fit for our family. In the mean time, I was still a lost sinner, doing whatever I liked. Finally my parents settled on a new church and I thought it would be like other all the other churches: small number of people, no one my age, and me not understanding the bible. But it was the complete opposite! It was awesome. When I got home that day I told my mom that the church was awesome and I wanted to go back. However to be honest, I wanted to go back not because God, but to play with my new friends.

As I continued to attend Risen Sun church I began to grow in faith. I began to notice that I desired to learn more about God. One Sunday service, we learned about not just going to church but being the church. When I heard that phrase I understood what that meant! I knew what the pastor was talking about! After the message, I responded to the invitation to pray. I prayed that I wanted to be the church and not just go to church. I wanted to be a member of God’s church! Thats when I knew I had finally met God. That’s when God became important.

From that day on, I have been growing in my faith and my life started to change. Even my thought process has changed. Before God I would do whatever I wanted. But now God has changed me. Now I think before I act and try to spend more time with God. I am growing in my faith and I trust God to continually work in my life.

Sylvia Kim

sylvia kim

Testimony – Sylvia Kim

I was blessed enough to be born and raised in a Christian home. All throughout my childhood, I never missed church, loved to sing and dance to worship songs every Sunday. But as I grew up and entered into my teenage years, it was no longer about the Sunday school songs and the pleasant stories I heard about Jesus. Church became more of a social network to hang out with friends than a place of worship. I always wanted to fit in with the kids at church because I felt like I was always the outcast in school since the move I had in 2nd grade from Korea to the United States. To be more involved at the church, I served and became a student leader. I never really knew what it really meant to serve God but the winter retreat I went to in 7th grade has really changed my life. The guest speaker was talking about the love of Jesus how He died for our sins on the cross and rose again from the grave. At the end of the message, he brought out a notebook and a pen to write down your name if you felt in your heart you wanted to dedicate your life to Him. Something in my heart tugged and I decided to write my name on the book. Shortly after in April, I was baptized and accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior. Though I didn’t fully understand in 7th grade what it meant to write my name on that notebook, I am slowly but surely understanding the love that the Father has for me. I am a sinner but I know that Christ died for my sins (1 Peter 3:18) and His grace is sufficient for me (2 Corin. 12:9). No matter how hard the circumstances nor how big my sin is God is always faithful. He will never leave me nor forsake me, I believe that Jesus will make my difficult situations into a path I can walk on. (Isaiah 49:11)

Philadelphia Team’s excursion

cool view

On Saturday April 5th, the 2014 Philly team was invited by Great Commission Comm Church to run their VBS during their church’s annual retreat. It was a LONG excursion (4 hour round trip), but mostly it was a time to earn some precious on-the-job training, as well as spend some quality team building moments.