Hallelujah!
Dear CMI missionaries, CMI pastors, and second-generation leaders.
Happy New Year!
Welcome to the Global CMI General Assembly.
Some of you might still wonder, “What is GCMI?”
Let me explain using the Southern Baptist Convention as an example, which has 45,000 churches in the US.
Under SBC, there are two organizations;
1) International Mission Board (IMB); supports overseas missionaries.
2) National Mission Board (NAMB); supports church planting in the US.
These two organizations function together to support the gospel work both domestically and globally. Our GCMI is like that of IMB, in other words, the CMI missionaries’ Network to support each other.
I hope that clarifies GCMI’s purpose.
Merriam Webster Dictionary’s Word for the year 2020 was ‘PANDEMIC.’
The word for 2021 was ‘VACCINE.’
The word for 2022 should be Recovery or Revival but sadly the word was ‘GASLIGHTING.’
It is a word that describes psychological manipulation and abuse. Gaslighting has happened among spouses, with children, medically, racially, politically and institutionally.
Our society is getting worse and worse.
Yet we thank God that the Lord our God is with us. He is our Immanuel!
Evidently, GCMI launched on January 16th, 2020 in Sydney, Australia, right before the Covid-19 pandemic started.
It was God’s divine hand that GCMI was established; it allowed us to form a prayer network, relief network through fund raising, even reeducation and raising the 2nd generation.
During the past three years, our fund raising ($400,000) was a living water to our suffering missionaries in the wilderness of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2022, we started praying for the vitality of each committee in the ministry.
Indeed, each committee’s work was vital as you will hear in the report.
Well, now we are in the beginning stages of 2023.
Many people feel dark, stemmed from concerns of a collapsed economy, extreme political divide, gruesome natural disasters like the recent earthquake in Turkey.
Yet, we thank the Lord our God who promises good things to us who fully follow Him.
“I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of living.
Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and take heart
And wait for the Lord” (Ps 27:13-14).
In Psalm 27, David says that the Lord God as our Light, Deliverer, Protector and our Help.
So in the Lord God, David was confident that he will see the Goodness of the Lord, regardless of his hard circumstances!
“I will See the Goodness of the Lord!”
Is this your confidence in the Lord too?
Currently, you may have faced hard, dark and painful situations.
Don’t just look at these current difficulties.
Look up to the Lord; He is our Light, Deliverer, Protector and our ever present Help.
This is why David says, “Wait for the Lord!” (너는 여호와를 바랄찌어다!)
Sometimes, waiting for the Lord seems like a waste of time and life.
You feel you should act on your own first.
You need to be patient and persevere all hardships.
So David says, “Be strong and take heart!” (강하고 담대하라!)
The Lord, who is our living and loving Father will never discourage us.
He will change our place as the land of living and let us see the goodness of the Lord.
The recent earthquake in Turkey killed more than 20,000 precious souls.
It turned out to be the land of death.
Living in these last days, we expect a lot more of such disasters.
Moreover, we are in the land of death spiritually.
Countless people are perishing in sin without God and without hope.
Our CMI missionaries suffer greatly to do the work of God.
Some suffer with sicknesses.
Some suffer with wayward children.
Some suffer with extreme financial difficulties.
Some suffer without any visible fruit.
Yet dear fellow coworkers, we have Good News in Jesus who died on the cross and rose from the dead. Through Him, we have the living hope in the kingdom of God.
Thus we live in the land of the living; we will see the Goodness of the Lord!
-Great Global Revival, millions and millions of people coming to the Lord!
-Great Parousia – the return of the Lord Jesus in glory!
New heaven and New earth coming down from heaven!
So for us the year 2023 is not dark at all, but very bright in our Lord Jesus!
It will be the greatest year!
So let us fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus.
Let us Wait for the Lord in doing His Precious Will! Amen.
Let’s say together: Wait for the Lord! Be strong and take heart!