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Reflections on Onnuri Community Church in Seoul

This is a picture of Seoul that I took from where I sat every morning while having breakfast. Right now I'm sitting in the Incheon International Airport waiting for my flight back to Chicago.  It has been a great trip. I hope I was a positive influence on the thousands of church leaders that gathered here from all over the world.  But I know that being at Onnuri Community Church has been a tremendously positive influence on me. Here are a couple things that I will take away from this trip about this amazing church:

1. They work hard and they pray hard.  After my first trip I kind of dismissed the daily early prayer meetings as a reason for their huge impact.  Why?  Because they work so hard that I came away thinking that the real reason for their remarkable growth is that every staff person literally works over 12 hours a day and never takes a full-day off. And while the work ethic is remarkable (and unhealthy), this time I couldn't help but take note that they started this year with 40 days of prayer.  And prayer is integral to everything they do.  And of course there are the daily early prayer meetings that thousands of people attend.  So, I'm taking back that we need to keep working hard (but still take time off!) and we need to start praying even harder.
2. The vision is big and broad.  It is astounding the breadth of arenas this church is involved:  church planting, community betterment, publishing, broadcasting, crusades, artist development, outreach to influential leaders and personalities, ministry to all ages and multiple languages.  Just when you think you have a lot going on, you run into somebody who has ten times as much going on.  When Pastor Ha was asked about how does he lead and provide vision to so many different causes and organizations he said, "When I'm with the publishing group I turn off all the other switches and turn on only the publishing group switch...which ever ministry I working with, I think only about that one."  Interesting.  I'm not sure how this will play out at CCC / NewThing, but it is inspiring.

60,000 people at 8 locations and 32 church plants!

Landed in Seoul a little before 6 am on Wednesday and Andy (right) who oversees the English and International Ministry of Onnuri Community Church was there to greet me.  After a quick breakfast I went to their all-staff meeting.  I found out that things have continued to grow since I was here last.  The church now has 8 locations in Korea and about 60,000 in attendance (if you are keeping score, that is like double Joel Osteen's church!) and 32 church plants around the world.  Very cool.  I got to spend a little time with  Pastor Ha who founded the church.  We are scheduled to get together for a meeting in the next couple days.  I am already working on a list of questions.  Mark Choi (middle), a friend of mine from the last trip to Korea showed up early and then took Andy and I out to dinner tonight at a terrific Italian restaurant.  Two years ago Mark left Seoul to start the in2church in Manhattan, New York City.  The church is primarily targeting first and second generation Koreans and already has about 500 people that are a part of that church.

Tomorrow I will do a pre-conference workshop with church leaders and missionaries on the topic of The Big Idea.  Should be fun!  Then the Leadership Conference kicks off tomorrow night.  Stay tuned...

Off to Seoul, South Korea...

I'm sitting at the airport waiting on my 1:00 am (yes, as in the morning) flight to Seoul, South Korea. I'm going to be speaking at a Leadership Conference sponsored by Onnuri Church in Seoul. I was asked to speak for a conference at this church three years ago and it was an amazing experience at an amazing church!  Last I heard this church has over 40,000 people that attend at six locations with 36 worship services in 12 different languages.  They have asked me to speak on the Big Idea and Creating Missional Velocity so, I'm totally jazzed about this opportunity.  If you think about it, you can say a pray for me.

San Diego, NOC, book signing & getting work done on planes...

Just landed in San Diego for the National Outreach Convention.  It is going to be pretty quick for me.  I have a dinner tonight, a workshop in the morning a couple connections I'm making in between and then I'm back on a plane headed to Chicago.   

If you are here, come to my workshop on the BIG IDEA.  Or better yet - come to the book signing.  Seriously, they asked me to do a book signing which I have a hunch is really a cruel joke because nobody is going to show up.  Now  you might think this is me trying to be self-deprecating, but it's not!  They had a book signing for us at the Catalyst Conference and Jon and I stood at a table and one guy showed up to have us sign his copy of The Big Idea.  And I think he really just came up to talk to us and we started signing the book before he knew what happened.  Meanwhile Leonard Sweet is right next to us and he has a line full of people waiting for him to sign his book. Funny.  Oh well.  Probably good for me.

Did I mention it is not sunny in San Diego?  Ugh. 

And by the way - plane rides are great places to get work done.  I edited a powerpoint presentation, worked on my workshop talk and wrote two articles for different publications while flying from Chicago to San Diego.  That is awesome.

Philippines Trip: Jeff Pessina

After a quick stop in Japan and then Detroit we landed in Chicago yesterday - back from the Philippines. The first thing  I did was go out with the family to get something to eat.  It's kind of becoming a family tradition that  after we have been apart (camp, CIY, mission trips, etc) that we go out to eat and get a chance to hear all the stories and catch-up.  So I told the Ferguson gang all about our quick trip to the Philippines.  One of the things I told my family about was this guy - Jeff Pessina.

Jeff is the Director (I just made that title up - it may or may not be his actual title - they aren't really into titles - but he is the guy that everyone looks to for direction) of Frontline Ministries.  At the age of 20 he became a follower of Jesus and decided to follow where ever the Spirit of Jesus led him.  Within 6 weeks Jesus needed him in the Philippines, so he quit his job and sold everything he had to live with the poorest of the poor in this third world country.  For the first five or six years he lived in a tent.  When I asked Jeff about his budget he said, "we live on whatever God sends us".  Stuff does not seem to be a big temptation to Jeff.  He lives as simply as anyone I know.

There are a lots of things I admire about Jeff and what they are doing through Frontline.  I admire...

• ...that since coming to the Philippines he has led a team of evangelists that have literally seen hundreds of thousands of people make first time commitments to Christ. 
• ...his commitment to the poor of his community includes weekly outreaches to street children, sick in the hospital and those in prison (almost sounds like he got these ideas from the Bible).
• ...his courage take Frontline in a brand new direction of planting reproducing churches.
• ...his vision to see their first church reproduce 17 sites within San Pablo and to train future leaders to "take the nation".

However, the thing I admire most about Jeff is the genuine Biblical community that he has created.  There are about fifty people (counting kids and all) that are a part of Frontline.  They all live on the same 3-4 acres and do life together.  They eat together.  They share bathroom facilities together.  They  work together.  They play (lots of) basketball together.  They worship together.  Together they love the lost.  Together they love the lonely.  And they really do love each other.  It is perhaps the best example of Acts 2 community that I have seen.  Amazing!  I wanted my family to know about my new friend and a guy I really admire.  I want you to know about him too.

Philippines Trip: Frontline Crusades

Frontline Ministry has a long history of doing outreach through crusades all over the Philippines. This photo is Josh giving his testimony at one of the crusades with a translator.  Over the last couple decades more than a million people have made first time commitments to Christ.  Amazing! 

Over the last several years Frontline has seen the need to transition their ministry to planting reproducing churches.  Their first church plant, Frontline Worship Center is already one of the largest churches (maybe the largest non-Catholic) in San Pablo.  The vision is for this church to reproduce sites and have 17 sites in each "barangay" (sub-division) in the next ten years. 

In the future rather than doing crusades all over the country and not being sure about the follow-up they will be repositioning these crusades as outreaches in each of these "barangay" as a strategy to help people find their way back to God and get them connected into a new site of Frontline Worship Center.  These crusades are more like CCC's annual "Fallapalooza" than they are like a Billy Graham Crusade.  There is great music and entertainment of all kinds and then a twenty minute felt-need gospel presentation.  I think this is a brilliant strategy for creating a reproducing church.  I love having them in the NewThing Network.

Philippines Trip: Meet Angie

Yesterday I got to meet Angie.  Angie is a ten year old girl who lives on the streets of San Pablo, Philippines.  I met her when I was with the Frontline team who were feeding street kids hanging out on the square of downtown San Pablo.  When we first walked up Angie she was curled up in a corner and hiding from us.  We tried to talk to her but she refused to show her face to any of us.  Eventually we got her to talk.  What we found out was that she was abused by men on the street this past weekend.  The Frontline team was able to take her back to their camp, give her a shower and something to eat.  Today, one of the team members had a meeting with her mother and she signed a paper giving Frontline responsibility for her.

The whole experience was surreal.  It is so two-dimensional when it happens.  You feel like all the traffic should stop and every passerby ought to offer to do something, but none of that happens.  The traffic continues and pedestrians walk on by without ever noticing.  It kind of got to me.  They asked me to pray for her and the other kids.  I did.  I know it was the right thing to do, but in the moment it felt like I needed to do a whole lot more.  Maybe I do.  Maybe we all do.

Update:  The next day I was at a Frontline crusade and guess who sat in the same row as me?  Angie.  She was quiet, but smiling.  Here it was 24 hours later and she was off the streets and in a safe place. She was surrounded by a community of people of all ages that loved her and wanted the very best for her.  This is exactly what God had in mind when He founded the church:  a community of people that relentlessly love all people and include them in their ever expanding eternal community.

Philippines Trip: Josh and the kids

We finally arrived in San Pablo Philippines, the home of Frontline Ministries.  I stayed awake working on the flight to Toyko and then slept on the four hour flight from Toyko to Manila. So, we arrived last night around 2 am and I got another 4 hours before I woke up.  So, I'm feeling pretty good and wondering where the jet lag is going to kick in.  Maybe not!

I like this pic of Josh, my son and a couple of the kids who are part of the ministry here at Frontline.  The smiles are not just for the camera - they are genuine and continuous.

I'm really impressed with the vision of Jeff Pessina and the Frontline Minstry team.  For years they had been involved primarily in evangelistic crusades throughout the country.  The last several year have been a real time of transition as they focus on planting a reproducing church and now have a vision for 17 sites in the next ten years.  There is tremendous alignment between NewThing and Frontline.  They have adopted much of our philosophy about being a reproducing church and our language which includes our slogan "helping people find their way back to God".

On Vacation...

I'm now on vacation with Sue!  When I get back I have a ton of stuff I'd like to say about the Exponential Conference.  Thanks to all of you who were praying about this event.  I think it was wildly successful!  I'm already pumped about next year.

I'll talk to you when I get back...

Relief!

You may have noticed that I have not been blogging much over the last week.  (Or maybe you didn't notice?!?)  It's because I have been using every spare moment trying to get ready for the National New Church Conference.  The biggest stress is getting ready for the plenary session that I'm doing.  In the words of Jon Ferguson, "try not to suck!"  Well, it was Thursday morning about 5:15 AM that I had a break through and figured out the direction I want to take this talk.  For me to put a talk together I first need the Big Idea and then I need an outline and then lastly I put all the content around the outline to make sure I'm getting across the Big Idea.  And it was early Thursday morning right after my alarm clock went off that God gave me an outline.  RELIEF!!  I think this picture describes how I felt later on Thursday once I realized that I was going to get this talk finished.

In addition to the plenary session I'm going to doing six presentations and a couple of panels and then an interview or two.  I'm jazzed, but have been kinda stressed about getting it all done in time.  Well, I leave tomorrow for Orlando and I'd love to have you guys praying for me.  I'm going to get to connect with a lot of terrific leaders and speak to over 1800 new church leaders; I want it to really count for Kingdom gain!

Follow Janet on Her Trip to India

I know that many of you (particularly from CCC) started reading my blog during my trip to Rwanda and said it "it felt like I was there with you".  If that was you - then you might want to start reading Janet McMahon's blog called Losing Life.  Janet has just landed in Mumbai, India as member of a team of ladies who will be teaching at women's conferences in that part of the world.  I'm sure it will be an remarkable adventure that you won't want to miss.

E-mail from Rwanda

I got an e-mail (actually 3) yesterday from Ben Pahlow of Global Family Rescue telling me that he had a meeting with most of the 250 families that GFR supports. One of the people he got to connect with was my friend Faustin (the family we support) and so he took this photo and sent it to me.  Ben also told me that he found the gifts and some other stuff we had for Faustin that got misplaced in the great Rwanda lost luggage debacle. If you look closely at bag that Faustin is holding it contains a photo of the Ferguson's from last Easter.  Sue was glad to see that they got this picture of us.  Ben told me that when he saw Sue and boys (he has already met me and Amy) he asked, "When are they coming to visit me?"  Good questions!?

I'm still thinking about the trip to Rwanda and it was good to hear from Ben and Faustin.  It is still amazing that $59.00/month can literally save a family!  One of the cool things that has happened since I got back is that I have had four people contact me after reading this blog wanting to support a family in Rwanda.  Very cool.  Well, I just wanted to let you in on this Rwanda postlude.

Home Again.

I'm home. 

On Saturday we said good-bye to all of our new friends from Rwanda and got on board a plane that would take us from Kigali, Rwanda to Nairobi, Kenya to Amsterdam, Netherlands and then Chicago.  We spent about 18 hours in the plane before landing in O'Hare.

As I look back on the trip there are several things that I will take away:

• Getting to go to Africa with my 15 year old daughter Amy.  She did great and we had a terrific time.  There were so many moments that she mad me proud.  I loved seeing her with the Rwandan children.
• Getting to meet Faustin and Antoinette and their new baby - this is the family we support through Global Family Rescue.
• Visiting the Kigali Memorial Centre and seeing up close the tremendous consequences of evil and what circumstances bring about that kind of evil.
• The worship service outside in the small village of Gitumba.  The best part was when it just  broke out into a party with Ben Pahlow and I dancing with the choir.  It was worship and it was fun! 
• I gained a new understanding of contentment from the poorest of the poor.
• I discovered some universal organizing and strategic principles for church planting and the possibility of taking our NewThing Network to a new and exciting part of the world.

It was a great trip and we had a great team! Thanks!!

Poverty and Contentment

Take a look at this picture.  My new friend Faustin makes less than $100/month and has all his life (and that includes the support we now send him every month).  He lives in a two bedroom mud house with dirt floor, no electricity and none of the modern convenience that most of us in the States take for granted.  And I'm not talking about microwave or dishwasher; I'm talking about a fork, knife and spoon - he doesn't have it.  Faustin mother died when he was very young; his father was shot in the genocide and he was left to raise his four brothers at the age of 14.  He knows what it is like to beg for food; he knows what it is like to see his first two children die before the age of two and he knows what it is like to be the poorest of the poor. 

But when I saw Faustin holding his new born baby boy (like in the picture) - I'm telling you he was content!  Look at the grin on his face - that is one happy Dad!  He seemed to really have everything he needed.  It was the perfect example of what Paul said, "I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance."  I have to admit that I was surprised.  I assumed that anyone that poor must be discontent. 

My assumption was that poverty and discontentment always go together.  That assumption led me to believe that my role as a Christian from the United States was two-fold 1) end his extreme poverty and to 2) bring him contentment.  My support helped him in his battle against poverty but Faustin is a follower of Jesus and he already has contentment. 

Today I remembered Mother Teresa once said, "the poverty in the United States is far worse than that in the streets of Calcutta, because it is a poverty of the soul." In the couple hours that I spent with Faustin and his family I almost forget that they were poor.  Why?  I think it is because they are content.  And we believe that it is impossible to be poor and still be content - but they are.

So, my role as a Christian from the United States is to help end Faustin's extreme physical poverty and Faustin's role as a Christian from Rwanda is to help end my "poverty of the soul" and show me how to "learn to be content in whatever circumstance." 

Making Bricks For A New House

I know that it looks like we are just playing in the mud...and I guess we are!  But it is really an "umaganda" which is what they call it when the whole community comes together to construct a house. This picture shows how they make bricks for homes in the mountain villages of Rwanda.  First they mix mud and rocks with water.  Then you mix in small chopped up pieces of grass.  Next, you get someone like you see in this picture to mix it up with their bare feet.  Finally you put the mix into brick mold, let it set and you have bricks for a house!

Most of today we spent helping with the construction of a new house that will be the home for six orphans.  The oldest of the six is an 18-year old girl who is the head of the house.  This project is being sponsored by Community Christian Church's Kid City.   

If you want even more on this check out Melody Pahlows post, "Umaganda".

African Safari

Gotta love the hippos!  Since it was noon they stayed in the water.  That's probably ok since hippos are the number killer of any animal in Africa.

We saw dozens of baboons.  They were by far the most entertaining of all the animals that we saw.  This guy got within just a few feet of our vehicle and just sat there as if he was posing for a picture.  I guess he was.  Pretty cool to be this close.

We also saw a lot of impala's.  It is not that these are such exoctic animals like many of the others that we saw - I just liked this picture.  I thought it was amazing that it even showed some of the details in the horns.  Just liked these pics and thought I'd pass them along.

Even More Favorite Pics From Rwanda

One of the highlights of the trip was when Cyprian decided to get baptized.  We found this beautiful setting for his baptism and to hear Cyprian's amazing story of survival during the '94 genocide.  During the genocide his entire family was killed.  He literally escaped near death experiences on hundreds of occasions and  dozens of times he was told that "this will be your last day".  He ended his story by telling us that it has only been in the last couple months that he has been able to talk about those atrocities and now he wants to forgive those people who killed his family. 

This is Amy and myself with the family that we support through Global Family Rescue.  This is Faustin and his wife Antoinette and their 2-week old baby.  Not shown in the picture are his four younger brothers that he has had to raise since he was 14 after his father was shot in the 1994 genocide.

More Favorite Pics From Rwanda

I love this picture.  This is Amy holding hands with a couple of the kids after church on Sunday.  We were all walking to Constance home, a widow in Gitumba.  The kids really loved Amy and she loved the kids.

One of the really cool "extra" things we got to do on this trip was go on a safari in Akagera National Park.  Within the first few minutes we were just yards away from giraffe.  Very cool!  In addition we saw zebras, hippos, baboons, crocodile, wart hogs, monkeys, a cobra and lots more!  It was spectacular.  There were six giraffe; but at least two are in this photo. Can you find them?

Meet Faustin, Antoinette and their baby boy

I just got back from visiting the family that we are sponsoring through Global Family Rescue.  It was very cool experience.  Here is the quick scoop:  Faustin, (age 26) is the Father and Antoinette (age27) is the Mother and they have a 2-week old baby boy.  The baby has a Rwandan name that means "glorify God".   They had two other children that had died - one at birth and another at the age of 1 1/2.  Antoinette was not in the original photo that was given to us by GFR - she was probably in the field working.  The two boys in that photo along with two more boys are Faustin's younger brothers who live with them.  Faustin's mother died when he was young and his father was shot to death during the genocide and he was left to raise his four younger brothers at the age of 14.  He said he survived the best he could and was often forced to beg.  Faustin and Antoinette live way, way, way, way out in the mountains.  Ben Pahlow who was with us said that the hike was the farthest and most remote of any he has taken.  However, you could see the house of the family that Tim Sutherland supports across the valley from Faustin and Antoinette's home.  The hike was pretty rigorous - about 3 miles total.  Since we started sponsoring this family 4 months ago they have been able to buy a house (2 rooms with dirt floor, no electricity or anything like that) afford medical insurance (it's hard to believe it is actually available out there), a few chickens, a couple goats, a little land to farm and a latrine outside of the house.  They also were able to afford the basics like shoes, clothes, a bench, and a couple chairs.  They knew we were coming and had a gift for us - a container they bought from the market filled with beans they had grown.  That was awesome!  When I explained why we were supporting them; Faustin jumped right in to explain that he was "born again" and went on to tell us that he attended a local church and that they were both in the choir.  Which led them to sing a song for us; that was great!  Then we did our best  to reciprocate and sang a song for them and I'm not so sure that was great.  Overall, it was an amazing experience! 

If you want more pics and another perspective on our visit with Faustin & Antoinette visit Ben Pahlows blog.  He has seven posts with a whole pictorial on the visit under a post titled Visiting Dave Ferguson's Sponsored Family.

It's A Crazy Place...

This picture was taken on Sunday - it's Amy, myself and one of the GFR staff, Vianney.  Vianney is a very respected leader within the local communities (he serves as a judge) and within the churches.  However, when we woke up this morning we got news that during the night Vianney had been arrested.  Crazy!?!  Evidently some people who have a vendetta against GFR accused him of having some involvement in the 1994 genocide.  The accusation was enough for them to take him away until they can conclude that he was innocent.  So, before we took off to visit some of the GFR families in the mountains we tried to follow-up on Vianney and see what we could do to help him.  We talked to his brother, his wife and some of the local community leaders and they reassured us that he would be out of jail in a couple of days; that while in jail he would not be harmed and that everyone knew these accusations were false.  It was a pretty emotional event for the whole group.  We were supposed to eat at Vianney's home on Friday night and he was going to tell us his story of how his wife and child were killed during the genocide. We are praying for his release.  Please join us. Rwanda is still in many ways a crazy place!