10 Years Since Chicago

Over the past few years, I've hit a number of ten-year "milestones". First, it was ten years since I graduated from Southwestern. Next, I hit the 10-year anniversary of my move to Bangkok. Two years later, it was the ten-year point of my return home. Then, I was thinking about Boston-related marks in time. This week, I finally hit the ten-year point regarding my move to Chicago.

In the summer of 2000, I visited the SBC church plant director in Chicago. He gave me a one-week tour of the place, and I also got to stay and catch up with an old seminary friend in the process. Almost instantly, I believed I was called to do ministry in the Windy City. However, I first had to get "secular" employment to pay bills. It seemed rather easy to get a job at the Vietnamese Association of Illinois, and I was blessed by that experience. However, due to various internal and external reasons, my own church plant vision never came to fruition. By January 2003, I knew my time in Chicago would end. Discouraged and confused, I gave up on the idea of "formal" ministry in America's third biggest city.

However, since starting classes at Wheaton that fall, it's become increasingly clear that God isn't done with me yet. Wheaton gave me both a spiritual and intellectual boost for which I'll forever be grateful. Handong University provided me with a plethora of opportunities to grow as a teacher, and the local community gave me approximately ten preaching opportunities per year. Since moving to Incheon, God has continued the process of intellectual and spiritual growth.

Since early 2009, I've done perhaps more "choice" reading on a continual basis than ever before. This, along with conversations with Dr. Ro and Gana, has gotten me to considering PhD work seriously for the first time in 15 years. I still don't know if I'll ever do a PhD, though I certainly believe additional formal education is likely.

Perhaps the greatest development I've experienced here, however, is related to my spiritual growth. My own faith has grown exponentially over the past 18 months. I've increasingly come to know just how much God loves me and why it's a message I must share with others. Further, I have come to see how Word of Life International Fellowship has helped to provide me with opportunities to better understand and utilize my spiritual gifts. In the process, I've begun to reconsider the idea of vocational ministry down the road.

As you can tell, I've gone through a lot these past ten years. Yet, a dream that seemed to die in Chicago may very well come alive again in the near future. That, to me, is the most wonderful thing to celebrate at this ten-year anniversary point.