June 7, 2025

8 Quality Characteristics #5: Inspiring Worship Service

“Be joyful, always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19

We arrived at the Grand Canyon Visitor Center around 11 am. We were expecting some rain throughout the day and we were worried that we couldn’t see much. We saw the heavy clouds as we approached and when we parked our cars we headed over to the Mather Point before taking the shuttle bus. I noticed people walking away from the point and they didn’t look too excited. When we got to the Mather Point, we were disappointed. The clouds and fog filled up the massive canyon and we couldn’t see a thing. ‘We came all the way here for this?’ was the thought I had in mind. My brother checked the precipitation forecast and saw that things would clear up in 30 minutes. We decided to have lunch first. While we enjoyed our sack lunches, my concern did not go away. After lunch, we ran over to the Mather point, and still nothing. We could not see anything. What do we do now?

We chose to take the shuttle bus, as the bus takes us to multiple viewing spots, in hopes to see if other places were clear. We were anxious on the bus, and when we got off the bus after 5-10 minutes of riding, we all screamed, “Yes!!!!!!! We see the canyon!” Everything was clear, the canyon was massive, and the view breathtaking. By instinct, I worshiped God immediately. “Father, thank You, and I praise You for all of this!” What a contrast it was before and after we saw the canyons. After taking a whole bunch of pictures, we got on the bus and headed to the next point, and the views got better! There was never a dull moment, and the sceneries became more exciting at every view point. After checking out the different points, we went on a short hike, that took us down the canyon. A different angle and perspective opened our eyes to various ways to see God’s beauty, and my desire to worship God became deeper and deeper.

Worship at church is similar. Our worship experience at church can vastly change by the worship atmosphere we create that helps us focus everything on God. When we offer a joyous and reverent atmosphere for worship, we also lead others to worship God when they enter into our sanctuary. God will be glorified and His holy name praised. I pray that we will worship God always, and especially in our sanctuary.

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May 31, 2025

8 Quality Characteristics #4: Effective Structures

In Daniel 4, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a massive tree which represents himself. In the dream, an angel comes down and commands to chop down the tree and have it bound with a band of iron and bronze. The purpose of this band was for the tree to stop from growing. 

The fourth quality character needed in church is effective structure. Do we truly support the growth of the church? The band in the dream shows it can stop the tree from growing (The king’s ego and pride is not the point of this message). Are we binding ourselves and preventing our church from growing further? These are some important questions for us to ask ourselves in ministry.

In Exodus 18, Jethro gives advice to Moses when he was flooded with the task of judging and giving counsel to the people. Following the wisdom of Jethro, “Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people.” Exodus 18:25. While this story is about delegation, it also shows that this can be a supportive structure to give mentoring and affirmation amongst the different layers of leadership and people. Our church represents almost every generation, and each generation can support one another through mentoring and empowering. 

Moreover, we need to have Jesus in the center to support our structure for growth. The last verse of Judges says, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Judges 21:25. This was the result of not having a King (God) but when we have Jesus in the center of our church our structure will grow stronger and multiply.

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May 24, 2025

8 Quality Characteristics #3: Passionate Spirituality

What are you passionate about? I have many hobbies that I am passionate about, and one of them is scuba diving. Back in high school, I had this admiration for the underwater world that God has created and I always wanted to go diving. I didn’t have the means during that time, but my opportunity to dive came in college. In the summer of my freshman year in college (Korean schools begin their school year in March), I finally received my certification and I explored the waters. I wasn’t able to go back to diving until I finished my military service. I resumed my diving life in my junior year in college. Since that time, until I had kids, I went all over Southeast Asian countries diving. Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Palau, Mexico (not Asia, but still), etc. I loved seeing marine life and they would always call me back to go underwater. I spent all my 20s invested in diving. I just loved it so much, and was very passionate about it.

“Passionate spirituality challenges your church leadership to observe how they, and their people, most naturally connect with God.” This is a quote from the NCD Eight Quality Characteristics pamphlet. Are you passionate about your spirituality? Are you passionate about being connected to God? When I was passionate about diving, that’s all I did. Everything I did was invested in it, that was all I was thinking about throughout the whole year. My mind was occupied with what I was passionate about. So let me ask the question again. How much are you engaged with God? Is spirituality centered in your life?

“Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fuelled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder.” Romans 12:11-12 (MSG) These words from Paul tell us how we can stay passionate about spirituality and be connected to God. I pray that our church family will always put our thoughts and focus on God all the time.

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