Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Multiethnic Ministry

I am a ligament, what are you?

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The image of a bridge, or a ligament (Eph 4:16) seems to be a good way of describing my past and the direction I sense God is leading me. Being Korean Canadian, I was born in Canada, but grew up as a Korean – eating Korean food, going to a Korean church, speaking Korean, visiting Korea – basically breathing Korean all throughout my life. In high school, God used me to be a bridge between the English and Korean speaking youth groups – I was involved with both and knew individuals in both groups. I was also involved in a city wide joint worship team, which had the purpose of uniting or bridging all the Korean speaking youth groups. I co-created a Christian club in my high school to unify all the Christians together. I also organized and ran a city-wide youth worship service when I was pastoring in Montreal. While pastoring in Korea, I co-created a network for English speaking youth pastors, where we would put on events together, pray together, plan together, and strategize together.

As the groups pastor at Beulah Alliance Church, I was part of a team that conducted a survey, which revealed the current and proposed areas of integration amongst the differing areas of ministry.  I was also leading a team that consists of several pastors, in order to bring greater unity to the group life in the church. There is now one front, instead of divided fronts.

When examining my future, I believe that there are three areas that God has ingrained on my heart: church planting, pastors, and multicultural ministry.

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Egypt, Tunisia, and Wikileaks – A Vote of No Confidence

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Richard Perry/The New York Times

My wife and I just finished re-watching Bourne Ultimatum (the third Bourne movie) and it’s ironic to actually see the fictional movie elements play out in real life. This movie, along with many others, actually echo the realities of our day. If you take a look at CBC.ca, CNN.com, or any other news station, the stories of Tunisia and Egypt will be splattered across all the headlines:

Egypt ‘cannot go back’ -Egyptian activist Mohamed ElBaradei has joined anti-government protesters at Cairo’s Tahrir Square as they defy a military-ordered…

Egyptian government orders Al Jazeera shutdown

Protesters defy curfew in Egypt

The Tunisia effect

At the bottom of these stories is really a vote of no confidence in the government. Just consider Wikileaks and Julian Assange – probably one of the greatest catalysts to this vote of no confidence in the government.

One of the central tenets of postmodernism is a lack of confidence in authority and authority structures. As a result, in our increasingly postmodern world, all these current events aren’t really that surprising.

There’s a lot to say regarding this, but let me just make two points:

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Luggage Lessons – Are you processing your life experiences?

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Which image best reflects your life experiences?

I recently sat through an excellent workshop by Hugh Phillips and wanted to share one of my takeaways.

He mentioned how we all have luggage, which are processed experiences, and that our luggage will yield much wisdom and some of our greatest life lessons when they are reflected upon. This is wisdom! This is praxis! Character formation best happens through our life experiences. I love how Hugh mentioned that our luggage can either make us better or bitter, and that it’s ultimately our choice.

I want my luggage to make me better, so here’s my “work luggage” – how my most recent work experiences have shaped who I am:

  • Moving to, living in, and pastoring in Korea: I learned how important it was to place my trust in God, rather than people. Yes, people can be trustworthy, but we are called to love people and place our trust in God. Unfortunately, we too often love God and trust people. We have it mixed up.
    • Jeremiah 17:7 – “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.”
    • Matt 22:39 – “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
    • Listen to this message by Wayne Cordeiro who unpacks this concept – http://media.enewhope.org/audio/W1046.mp3

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A Community of Deal Seekers

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This morning I woke up at 2:53 am to go to Old Navy to get a free Flip UltraHD Video camera! All I had to do was to show up early (the store opened at 4 am), spend $25, and then I would get the camera for free! Regular price on amazon.ca is $159.00, but on sale for $99.00. Check out the camera by clicking on the image.

The catch? There were only limited quantities.

So right after I woke up in the morning, I went with my father in law (he’s visiting for the Christmas season) and drove off to Old Navy. To my surprise, there were already tons of people there. So I quickly parked and rushed into line. It was quite exhilarating as others were also parking and rushing to line up as well!

Just as I got into the line, people started shouting to my father in law and I, “You’re number 28 and you’re number 29!” I thought it was a bit odd that they were numbering us, so when I asked why that mattered, they told me that there were only 30 cameras available for the first 30 customers!

WHOA!! Just as they said that, probably 3-5 people lined up behind us. [Read more…] about A Community of Deal Seekers