by Sam | Jul 5, 2017 | Reflection
written by Josh Kim HEALING ROOM ORIGINS Just two months ago in May, Pursuit NYC launched and hosted our very first Healing Room service where we worshiped in His presence and went after physical, spiritual, emotional, and relational healing. It was an amazing time of worshiping and contending for God’s healing in people’s lives. For us as a team, it was a very special moment because we were finally seeing one of our dreams come to life. When our team was dreaming about Pursuit NYC back in 2013, and everything God wants to do in this region, one of the things on our list of dreams was contending for healing, especially physical healing. We wanted to be passionate about God’s healing because we simply believe that God is Healer (“…for I am the LORD, who heals you.” – Exodus 15:26) and He wants to heal people today. That is the heart behind the Healing Room services – nothing more and nothing less. We believe that God is who He says He is, good and powerful, and He’ll do what He says He’ll do. We believe that God is who He says He is, good & powerful, and He’ll do what He says He’ll do Click To Tweet GOD IS WILLING TO HEAL TODAY There are many people in our lives and in our world who are suffering from all types of diseases, illnesses, and injuries. I, myself, grew up with and still deal with sun-allergies. As I was growing up with this skin condition of being allergic to the sun, I questioned the nature and character of God, particularly...
by Sam | Jun 20, 2017 | Guest Blogger, Testimony
Testimony by David Yi, Youth & Children’s Pastor at DKUMC Sam was our guest speaker for our youth revival in May. Our theme was “Victory” and so the goal was obvious – to get our youth group to have a shift in mentality towards the battles they face in life. As we prayed together, we both felt the sense that God wanted to really encounter the students and attendees of our event. If you saw in Sam’s recent video blog, he came with his mentee, Danny, and their weekend in Delaware began with God’s healing power in the middle of a restaurant! So, it’s no surprise that the healing power of God broke out through our revival. The kids were timid to approach the front to receive prayer for healing but by the end of the evening, the front of the sanctuary was full of students and overflowing into the center aisle. Kids were all on their knees earnestly seeking the love of God and it was a beautiful sight. The two major topics of healing were for knees/ankles and family. As time passed, I had the chance to talk to some of the kids about what happened. A lot of them actually experienced partial healing in the knees and ankles and several of them commented about how God really changed a struggling family dynamic! So I decided to keep pressing in. We asked God to continue to heal the students and I was surprised to see that they were instantly completely healed! We went one step further. I prayed that they would all receive the gift of healing. ...
by Sam | Jun 13, 2017 | Inspiration, Reflection
One Sunday morning at church, I saw a friend whom I hadn’t seen in a quite a bit. All of a sudden, I was overcome with deep compassion for him. I, of course, loved him as a friend and a brother in Christ, but this was unique. As I pressed into what that was, God started speaking to me about him and opening passages from Scripture to describe where he was. Now I had no idea if these verses were relevant or not. I wasn’t sure what was going on in his life, but I decided to just share with him all of these things in faith. As I shared this with him, he had tears well up in his eyes. He responded by saying how spot on everything was and that those Scriptures were ones he had actually been thinking about recently in the past week! We were both in awe of God, and I was tremendously encouraged and thankful to be used by Him in that way. My friend continued and said this moment showed him just how much God loved him, that he wasn’t alone, and that I definitely knew how to hear from the Father. Yet when it comes to my own life and the unknowns that come with it, there are times I feel as though I’ve never heard God before. At all… That I just don’t even know how. How do I even start hearing from God? How do I even know it’s God? Do I really know how to hear from Him? And the questions and doubts go on and on. And...
by Sam | May 31, 2017 | Inspiration, Reflection, Testimony
The other week I had the tremendous honor of preaching at a youth revival in Delaware. It would be my first time doing ministry there and I was really looking forward to it. As the date approached closer, I took some time to seek God on how I could prepare myself for the weekend. Should I spend some time in extended prayer? Should I even fast? That’s when I felt like God said, “No, I don’t want you to fast. I want you to feast.” At first I wondered if that was really God speaking or my own flesh! Because of course, eating is easier than fasting. But a part of me wanted to fast because that was more “spiritual”, which meant a better outcome in ministry (or so I thought). Yet the best thing we can do is obey. So with that in mind, I did what anyone would do in that scenario. I went straight to my iPhone and opened up the app, Yelp! Being totally new to the area, I was hoping to find a spot that would represent “feasting” the best. I stumbled upon a BBQ place deemed the best in all of Delaware according to the Travel Channel. Also the name was so unique, I had to see for myself. Once there, my mentee, Danny, and I asked the owner what we needed to try, and she ordered for us. It was ribs, brisket, kebabs, and more. Truly a feast! As we were enjoying the meal, we started talking to the owner about the restaurant and how they began the business. From there God started...
by Sam | May 2, 2017 | Inspiration, Reflection
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” — Mark Twain Recently I was catching up with a regional leader on what was next. I had recently transitioned out of my home church into a new season. He asked me what I learned the most while being there. As I tried to think about the last three and a half years, I knew I learned so much, but couldn’t pinpoint one particular thing. That’s when I realized that I wasn’t leaving with just more information or knowledge, but as a fuller version of who God envisioned me to be. I shared that more than what I gained or acquired, I was walking away empowered in my identity and purpose. That my time there was more about who I became than what I learned. This was in stark contrast to my previous experience, which was probably one of the worst times of my life. I saw the dark side of leadership where people’s own agendas and insecurities negatively affect everyone. It was indeed a difficult season, but not a wasted one because I did learn so much. I learned how to submit and to honor. In retrospect, I can honestly say that it were the bad leaders who taught me the most about leadership. They taught me what not to do, whereas great leaders didn’t necessarily teach me how to be a better leader, instead they helped me become my best self. Isn’t that what true leadership should be about?...
