No 24 - December 17, 2003
Editor: Kandus Thorp, Assistant to the Director, Adventist Television Network
KOREA Celebrates Centennial with Satellite Evangelism
[The following report was received from Richard Caldron, Amazing Facts Coordinator for the recent satellite series in Seoul, Korea.]
We praise the Lord for the awesome event Amazing Facts and Korean Union Conference have experienced. Fall is a cool and fresh time of year in Korea. The misty morning overcast often gives way to periods of sunshine in the afternoon. The fall colors are evident everywhere. Harvest time is over and people in the villages can begin to rest.
One hundred years ago, God's end-time work began in Korea. To commemorate this milestone, the Korean Union Conference chose to begin the celebration with a nine-day reaping satellite series with Pastor Doug Batchelor as the speaker. On November 7, 2003, we began our satellite series from Sahm-yook University in Seoul, Korea. Adventist Television Network [ATN] was instrumental in the satellite broadcast of the series in Korea and around the world. More than 550 churches throughout Korea participated at 400 downlink sites. The average nightly attendance at the main site was 2,729, and the average nightly attendance at the other sites was 20,466.
Of course, whenever you plan to do something for God there are trials and problems to solve. This series was no different. But as we look back at the blessings, the difficulties seem insignificant. Each night soul-stirring testimonies poured in from the different sites, to the glory of God. Here are a few examples.
A mother of two was attending the meetings and enjoying them, but on the third day of the series, both her children woke up ill. The youngest had a fever and the oldest had broken out with red spots. She prayed all afternoon that God would heal them so she could attend the meetings. By faith she went to the meeting, and by the time she arrived, they were both miraculously healed!
One lady, a leader in the world's largest Christian church, said she could not sleep after she heard the message about the Sabbath. She wrestled all night with the conviction of truth, but by morning her struggle was over. She decided to follow God's teaching, rejecting the traditions she had been taught. A good friend of hers, a leader in another Christian church, also accepted the Sabbath truth, and both were baptized.
The Seoul Sanitarium and Hospital staff gathered every morning for a special session of prayer for the meetings at their downlink site. The usual attendance for nightly worships at the hospital averages 30 people, but for this series attendance averaged 200 per night!
Kangnung is a city often plagued by typhoons and flooding. In September 2002, at least 150 people died in the worst typhoon in 40 year, and more are still missing. Typhoon Rusa battered wide areas of the country, submerging roads and railways, destroying shops and homes. Then in September 2003 another powerful typhoon struck Kangnung, dumping 18 inches of rain, killing over 100 people, and triggering floods that forced 25,000 people to evacuate their homes. During the satellite evangelism series, a report came in from the local pastor at the Kangnung downlink site. He says the people of Kangnung were experiencing yet another flood-not a flood of destruction but a flood of healing and encouragement. Many attending the meetings were finding comfort, peace, and hope as they listened to God's Word preached by Pastor Doug Batchelor.
On the fourth night of the series, Pastor Doug used a decision card to give people an opportunity to accept Christ as their Savior and express their desire to follow His teaching. After that meeting, leaders wondered how to attract Internet users with the same appeal. Pastor Doug suggested posting the decision card on the website in time for his next appeal-and in response, 57 decisions were made through the Internet!
This series of satellite evangelism meetings from Seoul was a great success! To date 3,627 people have been baptized through the intensive pre-work and the series of meetings. The Korean Union Conference projects an additional 700 baptisms will result from the follow-up work. We thank the Lord for blessing the hard work of our Korean brothers and sisters.
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