The world isn’t paying much attention, but the terrorists in Afghanistan have killed a second Korean hostage. The brief articles that do make it into the newspapers usually don’t mention that this is a Christian group, send to do relief work in Afghanistan. For a summary of information about the situation see this article by D.J. Chuang. For more detailed information updated on a daily basis, see Eugene Cho’s web site. Much of his information is translated from Korean news sources. He says that there are

23 Korean hostages of which 20 are members of Saemmul Presbyterian Church in Pundang, Korea [on the southern outskirts of Seoul, Korea. Saemmul Church is a 9 year old churchplant that has grown to nearly 4,000 people.

Cho’s web site provides a wealth of information about the hostages, their background, and their situation. Please keep them in your prayers.

Update: This article in today’s paper does mention that the hostages are a “Christian church group.”

I have upgraded to the latest version of Wordpress, and a few things aren’t working correctly yet. The “News and Notes” in the right sidebar is missing, and the books I have been reading do not show up. I’ll be working on fixing this, so if you notice anything else wrong please let me know.

Update: Everything seems to be working now.

DJ Chuang over at his L2 Foundation Blog has two interesting posts related to Asian churches. In Advantages of an immigrant Asian church he sums up an article by Daniel Eng about the benefits of being a part of a bilingual immigrant Asian church.

Then in growing autonomous churches via duplex model he describes the ministry direction taken by the Young Nak Korean church in Los Angeles. The “duplex model” is one of a number of possible solutions the the challenge presented by having two or more different congregations with different languages in one church. In the “duplex model” the different congregations function largely independently but share a common facility, much like a duplex housing unit includes two separate homes under one roof. DJ’s article includes a link to the proposal submitted to the leadership of the Young Nak church in 2001 outlining the rationale for and structure of a duplex church model.

Dr. John Johnson of Western Seminary in Portland writes a helpful article on Avoiding Worship Narcissism. We far too easily turn worship into a quest for spiritual experiences instead of something that begins and ends in God.

I have finished sorting through the 500+ photos that we took in China. I’m really liking Picasa as a photo management tool, and it makes it very easy to upload albums to Google photos. For those who are interested, here is a link to our vacation album:

China Trip 2007

Enjoy!

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an interesting article on the sense of entitlement among college students. Professor Don Chance at Louisiana State University observes that American students, but not Asians, seem to feel that they always deserve an “A.” He says
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We have returned from our trip to China and I wanted to share some of my impressions with you. During the tour we didn’t really have time to search out internet access, so I wasn’t able to give any more updates during the trip. But I was able to jot down some notes of things that caught my attention, so I will share them as a list.

• There is new construction everywhere, especially in Beijing and Shanghai. I have heard that construction companies in the U.S. have been having some problems because China is buying such a large percentage of the world’s steel and concrete.
• We saw older people exercising in the parks, but they were doing dance aerobics to western music instead of Tai Chi. Some couples were doing swing dancing.
• Even in 5 star hotels, the staff doesn’t speak much English. It is very helpful to be able to speak Chinese.
• In China you need to budget some money for buying numerous bottles of drinking water every day.
• How to cross the street in China: (1) follow the crowd–the locals know what they are doing, (2) don’t run, because it will confuse the drivers trying to miss you.
• People driving in China weave through traffic with very little room to spare. Some of the people in our tour group had to avoid sitting in the front of the bus, because they panicked every time a bicycle or taxi suddenly cut in front of the bus. I’m amazed that there aren’t more accidents.
• The cities were cleaner than we expected, but the air pollution was pretty bad, especially in Beijing. We went to several locations that were supposed to provide a good view of the city but we could see very little.
• The airports and train stations were new and modern, with bilingual signs.
• The 2008 Olympics is a big deal in China. They are putting a lot of money into fixing up Beijing before the big event.
• The new construction areas include room for trees and shrubs. Very nice.
• There are quite a few parks in the middle of the cities, many of which were originally established for the emperor or a rich family. Now they are public property, but you have to pay a fee to get in.
• “Mister! You want Rolex watch? Cheap!”
• There are some people who are making a lot of money, and evidence of a growing middle class. In Shanghai, in order to get a local car license plate (necessary for using the local expressways) you must participate in an auction. The cost is about $3500 US for the license.
• According to our tour guide, Shanghai has more high rise buildings than any other city in the world.
• The government has built some very nice, large homes for the farmers to encourage them to keep farming.
• The distinction between the street and the sidewalk is not always clear. Cars and motorcycles drive along the sidewalk to find parking.
• There are a few “open” churches, which are very crowded, but there is a need for many more churches. Apparently it is very difficult to get permission to build additional churches.