Whirlwind Tour of Seoul

Testimony of Mr. Koh, our Korea Ministry Tour coordinator

January 4, 1951, the North Korean soldiers (and their Chinese allies) quickly roared down to South Korean territory. At that time, Mr. Koh's family was living near the Seoul area. His parents fled to the edge of the South while his mother was pregnant with him. 

When the war ended, his family returned to their hometown near Seoul to see only one church building still standing. Most families were living in homemade shelters, but Mr. Koh's mother stayed in the tiny Prayer Room of the church, where Mr. Koh was born.

Mr. Koh's Hometown

He literally grew up in the church, and his family was very involved. He could say all the Christian words and prayers, but didn't believe in his heart. After walking away from the Lord, he believed in Jesus in his twenties and was later called to missions. 

Now, Mr. Koh has opened a music school outside of Manila and given students an opportunity to excel. Many students started from scratch, but (after a vigorous 3-4 year boarding program with Mr. Koh and other teachers) were then accepted into music programs at the University of the Philippines and other top schools. 

Mr. Koh's older son attended Faith while one of Carl's brothers was a student, and now his younger son is a student of Carl's. Mr. Koh spoke very candidly to our students about knowing how to seem Christian on the outside but not believing on the inside, and he is passionate to involve the Korean church in ministering to the needs of missionary families. 

As he led our tour with Faith Academy, we experienced firsthand how he carefully planned each performance, shared about the ministry and students at Faith, and shared how to minister to missionaries.

Here was our basic itinerary:

The whole crew at an outdoor performance 

Oct 3 - Visited missionary cemetery, the King's palace, street performance

Oct 4 - 4 performances in church services
Oct 5 - performance at 1 school and 1 subway station
Oct 6 - performance at a middle school and joined English classes, several hours of laundry!

Oct 7 - performance at girl's school and Wed evening church service
Oct 8 - 2 performances at Seoul Presbyterian College and Seminary, and a HS
Oct 9 - visit to Seoul Tower, 3 street performances

Oct 10- picnic in countryside and performance (Mr. Koh's testimony), 2 street performances

Oct 11 - 4 church performances, head home!

The students had their own perspective on what happened. Here are a few of their comments...

• I did have a "God Moment" and it was when I felt like nobody was watching our concert on the street. I don't usually think about the lyrics of what we sing but when we sang "The reason we sing" I was reminded that it's partly for the people that we are singing but really it's for the glory of God and to let the people know that.

• I looked around and was just overwhelmed by God's blessings in my life. I looked around and was overwhelmed by those in the crowd, I looked around and was overwhelmed by the amazing friends God has given me, I was overwhelmed by the talent God has given to every single one of us through our voices! It was a very humbling moment for me, and one that I will never forget!

• God really showed me the unity of the church and how he works in all of us seeing the hospitality and kindness of the korean pastors and church goers.

Thank you for all your prayers and support! Lives are changing here, in Korea, and around the world!

New Beginnings

In more than one way, I suppose the title is significant. I haven't touched this blog since, oh, around 2010. Since then, we've had another kid, I've become something more than a wet-behind-the-ears Bible teacher (though much less than a master-teacher by a long shot), and we've been drawn to a growing ministry of Member Care here in the Philippines. Through all of those changes, our call has remained constant, and the need to bring the Bible to life has never changed.


This year, as a High School, we adopted a new Bible curriculum, which many of you have read about (if not, check it out here). All four grades in high school have been covering the same material this year, which has come with its own set of challenges; overall, the experience has been ovewhelmingly positive.

Parents have come to us and thanked us for the curriculum, after an assignment in which the students had to interview their parents about foundational beliefs. One parent wrote the Bible teachers an email: "I thought that assignment was terrific. It "forced" us to talk about spiritual things in a way that would not have happened otherwise." Students have the chance this year to wrestle with questions about reality, faith, truth, and the Bible that are forcing them to engage with their beliefs in new ways.

This curriculum is also bringing to the surface many students' lack of faith, as they realize (some for the first time) and hat they are not yet disciples of Jesus. One of my students wrote in a recent reflection, "I've learned that I am a Materialist." Pray that students will be confronted not just with their lostness, but also with the grace and life that are in Jesus.

Not quite a month into school, high school went on their annual retreat. The theme for this year, both at retreat and in chapel, is that of paradox: losing to find, dying to live, and being weak to be strong. At the retreat, students were challenged to examine their response to Jesus' call to "pick up your cross and follow."

Around 10 pm the second night, one student in my cabin asked to talk with me. We sat outside after lights-out, talking till nearly 1 am. His questions basically boiled down to this: "How do I know I'm following God?" 

These conversations are precisely why I love teaching here at Faith Academy; the chance to mentor and disciple these students is such a privilege. Any time I'm invited deeper into their lives it reminds me that our calling is not to teach a subject here, but to make disciples.

"Jack," the student I asked prayer for last year, has continued to share his struggles with me, and I have seen quite a bit of growth in him. Please continue to pray for him; I can't share all that he's going through, but he certainly needs your prayers.

Please bear with me a bit longer; I know this has turned into more reading than you were expecting. I guess that's what happens when I wait too long before posting anything! Hopefully these will be a bit shorter next time through.

That was all the beginning of the semester, which is now nearly halfway over. At the beginning of this month, Claire left me -- I mean, went with the Concert Choir on tour in Korea for all of October Break. I've been Mr. Mom for ten days while she's been touring Seoul!

I guess you could pray for her, too; travel mercies and keeping up with loose high schoolers and all that. Pray too that the trip will be the ministry experience that the choir director has in mind, not just a fun (exhausting!) tour. The choir has performed 12 times so far in six days, and will keep up a similar pace for the rest of the 10-day tour!

Now, to bring this long-winded post to a close: Thank you so much for being part of all this! There's so much that we've done here and been privileged to witness and facilitate, but ultimately, God is the one doing the ministry here. We and you simply get to be part of it.

So thank you, and may God return the investment you've made in us here back to your own life multiplied tenfold!

Carl for the Family