And in the 15th year, the first and second volumes of the Book of Revelation were published. And on December 31st of that year, the last Sunday, I quit my ministry at that church. The pastor simply told the church members that I had finished my ministry at that church and did not stand me up in front of the church. I sat down among the church members without them even knowing where I was sitting, and my 15-year ministry ended. I was fired when I entered, and when I left, I left silently.
Around the time I published the book of Revelation, I had a dream that I was attending graduate school. I went into class during class, and the professor came in and stood me up from the front row and praised me. After about 20 years, I finally received a compliment. I think the reason God called me was to publish that book.
Shortly before I came out to that church, God made my wife’s income good, so I was able to manage the household with her income, and I received $3,000 monthly in the church at the end of the church. I was able to prepare for the church planting. With about $40,000, my wife and I rented a church in Torrance for a year and started pioneering, paying $1,000 a month. I started pioneering without a single trained church member helping me. I went out on the streets to meet Korean people, I gathered about 20 people, but they were haphazard, so when I helped to solve their problems, they would leave the church, and I was wasting my time.
After the one-year lease was up, all the funds for the church were used up, and I had to leave that church building. While I was looking for a church, I came across a Lutheran church that said they would let me use the church without rent if I joined their denomination, so I moved into that church and started again.
While I was pastoring in the new church, I published two books, The Secret of the Genesis prehistory and The Mystery and its Glory of Resurrection. And I also prepared three other books. When I was preparing my sermons, I was preparing them for publishing the books, and after I preached, I uploaded them to the church website and published the books.
When I went to the El Paso church, the church members doubted my appointment. Because they thought i would get a green card and leave. At that time, some of the predecessors left after serving for 1-2 years, so the congregation was hurt a lot. So I told the congregation, ‘I am a Canadian citizen, so I can live in the United States without a green card. You don’t have to be obsessed with a green card. I promised you not to doubt or worry because I will be with you for a long time.’ I kept that promise, and the congregation hated me and kicked me out, so I was able to leave that church.
When I left, the church’s finances were running low, so they gave me about a thousand dollars. But a neighboring church member gave me two thousand dollars, which I used for moving expenses. I was not obsessed with money when I was pastoring. Later, God compensated me for everything. Before our church bought the parsonage, Church had a house that church had rented, but they suddenly asked me to vacate it. Thanks to that, our church was able to buy a house close to the church, and since there were so many children that there were no classrooms, some classes had to study the Bible in the bathroom. And because we needed a place to have fellowship time, we decided to build the education center and pushed forward.
My Korean brother sent me $5,000 in construction funds, and I paid all of the $200 or $400 I received as salary to fill the $10,000 mark. Our church members worked together to build it without debt, putting in $90,000.
In the spring and fall, I climbed up on the roof of the parsonage and church to prepare the six manual air conditioners, fixed the men’s and women’s restrooms when they were broken, worked hard with my church members’ husbands to mow the 5-acre backyard lawn of the church, tended the vegetable garden in the backyard of the church to help with the church finances, collected brackens in the mountains to add to the church finances.
I wasted time on church chores. I always asked myself, “Is it right for a pastor to waste time like this?” For 15 years while serving as a pastor, I asked myself, “Am I really a true servant of the Lord? Am I doing well before the Lord? Am I a false servant?” I wondered if I was truly a pastor called by God, or if I had become a pastor because I had nothing better to do after running away for 10 years, trying various things in the world, thinking I would never become a pastor.
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