yesterday i went to a korean-american pastors conference. right before the first session started, pastor david chae (i went to seminary w/him, & i was on staff w/him at onnuri church) handed me a guitar & asked me to lead some worship. yurie song happened to be there so she helped me to lead the worship. yurie was traveling w/the ywam team from kona. yurie was one of our youth group teachers in korea & she was a singer on the worship team at onnuri church. it was a surreal moment because during the worship i realized that loren cunningham was right in front of us in the front row. he is the founder of ywam (youth w/a mission), & i've been a fan of his since i was in high school. also in the front row was pastor danny han (who was my youth pastor & role-model when i was growing up). & sitting behind them was dr. john kim (leader of the jama movement). ever since i was a teenager i've seen dr. john kim speaking at many large events. it was weird to see all those people together in that setting.
many people make fun of my black rockport shoes & call them "grandfather" shoes. i noticed that loren cunningham was wearing the same shoes as me.
loren cunningham led a session & it was awesome. he basically shared his testimony of how he started ywam. even though i knew the story because i read his biography, it was amazing to hear him tell the story. he talked about "walking through the cross", or suffering for the ministry. he shared about how he was so ashamed when one of his big ministry projects failed in a big & public way. there were a lot of sniffles & tears in the room.
before that i've heard loren cunningham speak twice at large events. & honestly i wasn't thrilled about his messages. but yesterday i was so moved when he opened his heart & shared his life experience w/us.
