"Do Something!"

The Word of Life Bible Institute Jeju campus hosted its annual missions conference on February 17th-19th. With “Do Something” as the theme of the event, the weekend focused on the different ways we as believers can be ministers of the Gospel. Attendees included current students and staff of WOLBI Jeju, staff members from the WOL School of Youth Ministry in English on the mainland, and church members from the community.

WOLBI teaching assistant, Joshua Hankins, managed and lead the conference, ensuring the program was packed with fun icebreakers, meaningful worship, and powerful messages form God’s Word. "Geography Kimchi" was a unique and exciting way to start each session, as students, staff and visitors would compete against each other to answer geography questions and win points for their team. Taking the chopsticks and being the first to completely eat a piece of kimchi, allowed the person to have the opportunity to answer the geography question.

The conference kicked off on Friday night with a powerful meeting, highlighting the impact young students had on missions throughout the generations. The speaker, WOLBI Jeju director Steve Nicholes, shared about the young students who stepped out and made a difference in mobilizing others to missions, to motivate this current set of students to go and be leaders for the gospel wherever they go in life. The night ended with an international dessert buffet with foods from six countries Word of Life is currently ministering in. Western chef, Sammie Sickel, added this unique touch to the weekend to help, “enhance the call to worldwide missions.” Sammie explained, “Part of missions is going into a new culture. Food is often a big part of culture. I like giving the students the chance to experience those different cultures through food.”

Keynote speaker and regional director of Word of Life Europe, Alex Konya, delivered three powerful messages during the course of the weekend. Everyone was challenged in the three areas of “Do something in the storm”, “Do something in the cities” and “Do something for the deplorables”. Students walked away challenged to minister to the hopeless people of the world. They were also challenged to minister in the city, knowing that a majority of the population all across the world lives in the cities. Overall, the students walked away from the conference encouraged to keep ministering effectively with what God has entrusted them to at the Bible Institute this year. Whether that is leading Momentum events, decorating for Bible clubs, or leading a prayer group, the students are eager to give their full effort for the glory of God.

Together as a class, the students and staff have committed to raise over $5,000 to go towards four different ministry projects! This includes helping a Nepal seminary to train pastors, help purchase a camp property in Paraguay, support for two alumni ministering at SYME Korea, and buying equipment for evangelism in Italy.

Missions Conference is always a special time of the year not only for the students but also for the staff as well. Encouraged to keep going forth in the ministry, the staff are excited for what the rest of the year will hold for the WOLBI class of 2017. We cannot wait to see what God does with each of their lives as they continue to live as an ambassador for the Gospel.