Shepherd appointment Testimony - Edward Eun
Hello. My name is Edward Eun and it is through God’s grace, that I am being appointed today as a shepherd.
I want to share with you, a bit about myself, how I decided to become a shepherd, and how I will serve as a shepherd.
My family moved to Canada over 40 years ago and God has blessed me with a beautiful and faithful wife and a precious daughter. After working about 10 years in Canada, I got a chance to work in Korea. So we sold our house, packed up everything and moved to Korea in 2003 and we stayed nine years in Korea.
Although I didn’t expect it but during the nine years that we were in Korea, God had worked in me, to open-up my mind and my heart, and really transformed me. Before we moved to Korea, I attended church and did a lot of church work, but I don’t think I truly knew about God’s grace and love. I did not have a deep understanding of what the gift of salvation is, what it means to be redeemed and what we are to do with this salvation. During the nine years that we were in Korea, we attended a church where I received training on what a disciple of Jesus is and what our mission in life is. It sounds very basic stuff but it was something that was not deeply taught to me while I was in Canada. This training and teaching were truly a blessing for me and helped me to understand who God is, who I am, and that God provides all that we need.
After living nine years in Korea, we moved back to Toronto in the summer of 2012. It was a huge adjustment for all of us and it was not easy re-establishing our lives in Canada again. We visited several churches but we could not settle on a church that Sharon and I felt was the church that God had wanted to us join. Then one of Sharon’s friend said that we should visit Living Water Fellowship or LWF at Mokmin Church. So, we visited LWF and after we prayed about it, we decided together to make Mokmin our church and LWF our ministry. About four months later, Pastor Caleb’s family and our family held LWF’s first house church gathering and we attended that house church for one-and-a-half years. However, we wanted to be part of a house church where the members were closer to our life situation. So last summer, we joined Kim Hyun-soo’s Vitamin house church and we have been attending that house church since then.
When Kim Hyun-soo announced that he was stepping down as a shepherd because of Jang Kyung-hee’s health condition, he said that there were two ways that a new shepherd can be appointed. Someone can volunteer or someone can be nominated. After he said this, I was hoping that no one would nominate me. I was thinking this because it already wasn’t easy meeting every week and sharing my life, and to be a shepherd, I just felt that I couldn’t do it because my work was too busy and stressful enough. And then, our house church nominated me. I took a deep breath and said that I needed to think about this and to pray about it and talk it over with Sharon. I asked if I can have one week.
During that one week, I felt like there was a heavy burden placed on me. Whenever, I spoke to Sharon about this, she often would say to me “you have to decide” I prayed about this every day and just when I felt like I could do it, I was making excuses why I couldn’t do it. Timing is not good for me right now or I am not capable to be a shepherd or work is just too busy these days, and I have no time nor the energy to be a shepherd.
Then one day as I was reading the Bible, I came across the book of Psalms chapter 127 which said:
“Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
It felt like the Holy Spirit was convicting me through these verses. “ … the Lord builds … the Lord watches …” I realized once again that my life is not my life. I do not build my life nor do I make it with my strength. I do not have hope in myself. My life was purchased for a price and therefore I am a disciple of Jesus. Luke 9 says “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” The Lord is in my life and he will build it and provide all that I need. If the Lord wants me to work in his ministry and be a shepherd, then I just need to obey.
After I prayed about this, I accepted the nomination to be a shepherd. I told Sharon about this and asked her if she is ready to be a shepherd’s wife. And she said “yes” but with a slight hesitation. Of course, this does not mean that we will never face difficulties with house church or that there will be no conflicts or tough times. Satan will try his best to stop God’s ministry by creating problems, but I am going forward … we are going forward, not because we can do this on our own but because I know that the Lord will provide all the strength and love that we need to do HIS ministry.
Through this, I realized once again that it is so easy for us to look for things that will make us more comfortable or avoid situations that will cause stress or hardship, but I don’t believe that is what a disciple of Jesus should be doing. House church is a ministry of serving to save lost souls and serving requires love and strength. This love and strength cannot come from me alone but must come from the Lord. God will often use a weak person to do his ministry and I need your prayers so that I can get strength and love from Him.
I went to Houston conference last year, and the pastor there told us that the shepherd’s wife does 80% of the work. So, also please pray for Sharon as the shepherd’s wife. I hope and pray that through the Holy Spirit working in our house church, that we can love each other, understand each other and earnestly pray for each other. I also pray that through our house church and through other house churches, that many VIPs can come to know the love of Jesus.
I thank God for Kim Hyun-soo and Jang Kyung-hee, for their love and patience for serving as shepherd and shepherd’s wife for the last five years. I also thank the Lord for Pastor Caleb, and his prayers and dedication to building up LWF and preparing EXIT students for adulthood. Please continue to keep LWF ministry in your prayers. And finally and foremost, I want to thank God our Father, for giving me and Sharon this amazing privilege and opportunity to serve as shepherd and shepherd’s wife in his ministry. Thank you for listening to my testimony.
