The Chicago Evangelism Camp for US evangelization was held from May 5, Wednesday, to April 9, Sunday, at Oneness Church (Rev. Lee Deok-shin) as the base camp with more than 120 participants in attendance. It is notable that this camp had significantly more Remnants - the youth - in attendance, creating a more vibrant atmosphere than most other camps.
This event was also different in that since the end of February, a to-do list of seven items, to be completed in ten weeks, was given to lay evangelists and ministry workers. After having confirmed the answers that were to come ahead of time, Rev. Jin Sung-min (World Missions Church in Anyang) as the leader of the evangelism camp placed his focus upon keeping up with the flow of the headquarters messages. He stressed that the Evangelism Specialized Training, Lay Leaders' Evangelism Planning, and other types of training must be implemented in the mission field also. He also encouraged that the participants would give their all during this camp and to see God's plan, in order to enjoy the blessing of "one team and one place. The importance of the camp would be to bring the Kingdom of God through the answer of the golden fishing ground and regional churches.
Group 1: Damascus Covenant Church (Rev. Kim Seok-jib)
With Rev. Charles Ahn as the leader, the evangelists of the Damascus Covenant Church visited the College of Lake County (CLC). A music major named Lee Jung-hwa went to visit her advisor during the pre-camp period. Lee had been giving the evangelism tract booklets "A Joyful Gift" in Japanese, Chinese, and English to her friends since her entrance into the school. When she met with her advisor Susan Smith, their conversation started off casually, but they began speaking about spiritual matters. Smith confessed that though she came from a Christian background, she did not have a very good understanding of spiritual things. So, during the main camp, she took her friend Lee Min-hwa to interpret for her to share the Gospel. After Smith accepted Christ, she confessed that a little while ago, she saw her own friend accept Christ, which she found shocking. She found it quite surprising she herself had met with evangelists to hear the Gospel.
Smith is at an important position because she advises almost all international students at this school, which would mean that she could be an important door for the Gospel. Deacon Lee was placed in charge of a regional church during this camp. Senior Pastor Rev. Kim Seok-jib confessed during forum that he had personally struggled because though God is surely living, he had yet to experience works of evangelism in the field. He honestly testified that he had not been enjoying the Gospel, even though he has all the conditions to have evangelism take place in his life. Through their passionate hearts in seeing God's new plan, through His grace, two Darakbang meetings, two mission homes, and one regional church were opened.
Group 2: Holy Nation Presbyterian Church (Rev. Joshua Shin)
Elder Yoon Kwang-shik led the workers of the Holy Nation Presbyterian Church, who were divided into seven teams. Most of them visited Madison, known to be an unsafe town of lower-class families. In this strongly Muslim region, many Korean commercial establishments have settled in the area with dry-cleaning or wholesale stores. The workers ran into a Korean immigrant, who was willing to speak to the evangelists but claimed that he did not believe in God and that religious subjects of worship are only aliens. After listening to the man sharing his personal problems, a Remnant explained that all the complicated problems of man amount to one thing, and the only answer is Christ.
Also during the camp was the regional church establishment worship at Elder Lee Myung-jin's re-modeling and interior design store called 3KM in Rolling Meadows. Rev. Jin shared the message to encourage them to become a business that succeeds because of the Gospel, because this regional church of a particular specialty can be a great door if the businesspeople gain strength. Also, the evangelists met with a Taiwanese family at a Japanese store called Mitsuwa. The son who initially met with the team invited his mother and father. The mother read the Chinese tract out loud for her and her husband, and all three family members prayed for acceptance in English.
A Mexican American deacon named Ishidor from Los Angeles was with the Holy Nation workers, among whom there were no Spanish-speakers. The deacon had prepared all kinds of evangelism materials, which were used for a wide variety of ways. When a worker at an ice cream store accepted Christ, he asked his neighbor to come and join the Darakbang meeting he decided to have with the workers. Ultimately, they were given connections with his friends who were in the corn business and another in the peanut business.
A few Remnants, who held onto the message to not ignore the smallest detail, shared the Gospel with "a scary-looking lady who was smoking." She accepted Christ and opened up about her child. She told the young evangelists that she was afraid of her son who completely disregarded her mother and mistreated her. When the Remnants held her hand and told her not to be afraid because she is now a child of God, she allowed them to leave evangelism materials at her hair salon store. The results of the camp were 40 acceptances, 17 Darakbangs, 1 regional church, 5 evangelism material regional churches.
Group 3: Chicago Remnant Church (Rev. Baek Seung-yong)
Rev. Kim Myung-shin led the evangelism team of the Chicago Remnant Church and separated them into four regions, according to regional church locations. Though many believed that evangelism was difficult in this region, the Chicago Remnant parish found "the 99% abandoned field" by holding onto the covenant of "one team and one place"during the ten-week preparatory camp. Of our four regional churches, one is led by Elder Choi Sa-ra, who is carrying out the Word movement at Trinity International University (TIU) - a school known for its conservative theology but is losing its light of the Gospel. Fifteen years ago, Rev. Ryu Kwang-su explained Christ at the chapel of this school.
The Arnold T. Olson Chapel seems like any other brick building on the outside, but the inside is shaped like a pyramid. Theologians may have studied the Word, but perhaps in the form of darkness, which led them to lose spiritual strength - thus, falling into foolishness that only makes Christ seem weak. Here, evangelists met with a missionary in the library. His mission post was in India, and there at TIU, he was the president of an international students' club. He realized that Elder Choi was there to share the Gospel, and told her that because this school is a place where pastors and theologians study, she should go to the grocery store to share the Gospel. She argued that she was an elder and that because there are non-theological departments at the school, the students needed the Gospel. This missionary was ready to drive her out of the school.
But because the message that day was about finding disciples when there is persecution, the team was curious as to what God would have in store and visited the cafeteria. As soon as they walked in, a middle-aged man who was sitting at a table with booklets told them to take some. This man was there to introduce Christian literature created by those who discover the Gospel in their everyday living.
Rev. Baek walked up to this author and said while his work was great, he should rather touch upon lives that suffer from spiritual problems, idolatry, mental problems, depression, and all kinds of afflictions and upon how our children also suffer all the same. All of a sudden, this man got up and said he is the man the pastor was talking about and was asking for help. This man happened to be a TIU professor. He exchanged his number and e-mail, and asked the pastor to come to his office. Theologians at TIU believed that learning about Christ was basic, whether it is fifteen years ago or now. Rev. Baek explained why the professor needed to hold fast on to the covenant and to stand as a disciple, and why the evangelists' team was out in the field. The team had witnessed the fulfillment of God's Word.
There was a senior citizen home by a Presbyterian foundation that provided a dwelling place for the wealthy elite elderly. The team met with a filipino transgender nurse named Angel Swatts, whose husband is Jewish. She accepted the Gospel, and agreed to hold Darakbang meetings at a Lutheran church. The results of this camp were 14 acceptances, 12 Darakbang meetings, and five regional churches.
Group 4: Immanuel Chicago Church (Rev. Kim Je-dong)
Rev. Brendyn Huh (Immanuel Church of Busan) led the evangelists of the Immanuel Chicago Church and separated them into three teams after taking a look at nine regions. They sought after the answer of "one team and one place." They had prepared for this camp for the past year, and looked carefully into the field, and the works of darkness were evident in the north, south, east and west. There were Hindu temples, Baha's temples, a Buddhist temple called Chunbulsa, a horse race stadium, and many cathedrals.
Notably, the Willow Creek Community Church is also found in the area.
The first team visited Glenview, Northbrook, and Wheeling, where the workers found prepared disciples within the church and witnessed them open doors into the field. As the Word came to fulfillment, the evangelists met with Caucasians, Korean Americans, Chinese Americans, and Hispanic Americans. The second team went to Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, and Elk Grove Village, and the third team went to Niles, Des Plains, and Morton Grove. During the pre-camp period, these teams would eat at McDonald's, where the evangelists met with different people to share the Gospel. Some who had left the church met with the workers, and some gave connections to their acquaintances to hear the Gospel. Soon after, they were sharing forum and the hamburger store had become an evangelism field. Doors to all kinds of ethnicities opened up because many of the workers were English-speakers. They were able to witness doors open through the people whom God had prepared.
An Indian man named William, the father of Deacon Chung In-du's daughter's friend, invited the evangelists to come to his house, where the Gospel was shared, the family accepted Christ, and a Darakbang meeting was opened. The two families are meeting together to restore themselves from some interpersonal troubles they had. Also, Elder Hyun Yang met with Maria at a Laundromat, who was struggling with problems at her church. She heard the Gospel, and decided to join the regional church meeting on Wednesdays. Her children, Geraldo, Karen, Julicia, and Naomi also accepted Christ. The evangelists also met a Mexican American named Emulia who was working at a bookstore. She considered herself a Christian, but upon hearing the Gospel, she decided to partake in sharing the evangelism materials. The results of the camp were 12 acceptances, 2 Darakbang meetings, and one regional church.
Group 5: Oneness Church (Rev. Lee Deok-shin)
Senior Deaconess Ryun Choi led the evangelists of the Oneness Church, which separated into seven teams. In Oak Park, a Triton College student named Chuck filled out a survey where he honestly shared he was suffering from nightmares, troubles with sexual desires, anger, and anxiety. He was receptive of the Gospel and decided to meet with the evangelists on a regular basis.
The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is the largest higher education institution in the Greater Chicago area. While only about 650 schools out of more than 4,000 colleges in the US receive research funds from the state, UIC is ranked number 50. There are over 800 Korean students at this school, and Deacon Jung Jong-jin, who had been praying for the school, met with a KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) graduate Ph.D. student. The deacon shared the Gospel with the man who accepted Jesus as the Christ. He confessed that he was afraid of what may happen because his family is Buddhist. They decided to meet regularly at 7:30 a.m. on Mondays.
One senior deaconess had been praying for her nephew's wife, and ran into her in the field. The woman had heard the Gospel once before, but told herself that she would believe if she heard it again and start going to that person's church. And the encounter happened exactly according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The resultsof the camp were 15 acceptances, 6 Darakbang meetings, one evangelism material regional church, and 3 regional churches.
Again, it was proven through the Chicago Evangelism Camp that there are so many people out there who have never heard of the Gospel and are suffering. The workers experienced doors of evangelism open through the fruits they bore in their everyday living that naturally led to the salvation of souls. The results of the camp as a whole were 86 acceptances, 39 Darakbang meetings, 2 specialized churches, 12 regional churches, and 6 evangelism material regional churches.
During the same time period, Rev. Kim Bok-sang (Grace Church in Daegu) led an evangelism camp in Houston, TX. Special to note from this camp, over 20 Hispanics were connected to Elder Anthony Fuentes of Houston Antioch Church. Through this camp, 31 from Chicago and 2 from Houston were appointed as lay evangelists, who will be given the privilege to partake in the Evangelism Specialized Training.
