A total of 2,754 new believers have been added to the kingdom of God through a partnership evangelism project involving Baptists from the United States and South Korea.
W.H. “Dub” Jackson, who helps organize partnership evangelism projects for the International Mission Board, led a team of 121 Southern Baptists from the United States to South Korea. There, the volunteers paired with Korean believers to host 37 evangelistic campaigns in local churches.
“The experience is better in every way than any of us could have ever hoped for,” said Alan Tungett, a LifeWay Christian Resources employee who led one team. “There are very few things in my Christian life that can compare with what our team has experienced over the last few days.”
Partway through the outreach, Tungett reported his team already had witnessed 19 people accept Christ. One of the new believers did not have a Bible, so Tungett gave the man his. Another volunteer, Paul Dowdy from McKinney, Texas, led a team with Kim Jo Mo, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Suwon City, Korea. Kim’s church averaged about 30 attenders before the crusades. Fifteen new members joined the church and contacts were made with 20 other new believers.
Dowdy’s team witnessed in apartments, public schools, a university and a Samsung Electronics building.
Through their visits, the Christians shared the gospel with many people and saw God work in extraordinary ways.
The team was invited to lay hands on a Korean woman who was suffering from a severe back injury. After the Christians prayed for her, she experienced a complete healing. The woman accepted Christ as her Savior and led several others to the Lord through her testimony.
The teams conducted home visitations during the days and held evangelistic services in the evenings. The Christians’ activities attracted the attention of the mayor of Suwon City, who welcomed the team and their ministry.
The number of new Christians is significant for Baptist leaders in South Korea, who feared their convention was no longer growing. They contacted Jackson last year to request volunteers for the nationwide campaign, which officials hoped would jumpstart new growth in the convention.
“We heard many wonderful testimonies of how God had worked during the crusades,” said Dennis Brotherton, an International Mission Board missionary in Korea.
Jackson already is beginning to plan for a number of evangelism projects in Hong Kong, scheduled to take place July 18-31, 2001. Hong Kong Baptists have requested 20 teams to help 290 churches. The cost of the trip is $2,595.
For information , contact Jackson by phone at 915-698-8480; fax, 915-698-4000 or e-mail, whdubjackson@compuserve.com. The address is 2426 Spyglass Hill Court, Abilene, TX 79606. (BP)
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