At the CTSF, we have a monthly prayer luncheon. I didn't start it, but the relatively small percentage of the campus population that attends gets a lot out of it, so I have continued the tradition. We have about 20-30 minutes of a message from an Army Chaplain, then fellowship over some kind of lunch. We don't have a Chaplain, so we get a Chaplain tasked through the Garrison Chaplain's office. Some of them show up and do what they have to do. The majority are excellent examples of Army Chaplains. Some have some fantastic stories to tell, like the Chaplain who had previously served as the death row Chaplain in the Arizona prison system, or the Chaplain who had immigrated to America with her college educated husband from Nigeria. Her husband enlisted in the Army because that was the best work he could get, they came to Ft. Hood... she somehow became a minister (that part is fuzzy) and the rest is history.
The Chaplain we had today from 1-12 CAV, CH(CPT) Kim, most definitely falls into the latter category. His message today was from 2 Corinthians 3:1-3. He was born in Korea, into a Presbyterian family. His Grandfather was born into a Buddhist family, as would be expected at the time in Korea. He met a missionary from America and started studying with him, not because he was particularly interested in the Christian gospel, but because the missionary would give him chocolate and candy that he did not get in his poor Korean household. His Grandfather eventually accepted Christ and became a Christian. His Grandfather's father beat him for going to Christian worship and eventually kicked him out of the house and he went to live with that missionary.
Later, the Grandfather went to Seminary and became an ordained Presbyterian Minister and eventually converted his own father who had previously persecuted him. All three of his sons (including CH Kim's father) also became ministers.
CH Kim identified that missionary as Horace Grant Underwood, who was landed in Korea on Easter Sunday, 1885, along with his friend and Methodist missionary, Henry Appenzeller. Given that timeline, I think it is more likely that his Grandfather met HG Underwood's son, Horace Horton Underwood, who followed his father's missionary work in Korea. Regardless of the historical details, his point was this: that one man sharing the gospel with his Grandfather yielded five generations of Christians in his family and six ministers, to date.
Fast forward to 2004: CH Kim was serving as a Chaplain in the Korean Navy when he met a US Army Chaplain at Yongson. The US Chaplain told him how the US Army was struggling to meet the demands for Chaplains to deploy to the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At that point, he decided that he would come to America and become a US Army Chaplain to pay the US back for bringing the gospel to Korea and his family.
He immigrated to America, without a word of English, and worked at a Korean Presbyterian Church in the Seattle area. His Church sponsored him for a green card...... some history happens here.... and in 2015, he became a Chaplain in the US Army and he shared his story with us today.
