SfK Ministries: September Newsletter

SfK Newsletter Vol. 2016-9
September 12, 2016

"Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
(Luke 12:15)

Relational Being vs. Possessive People

Jehovah God's identity centers around His transcendent being. “I Am that I Am.” His name indicates that He exists beyond the constraints of time and space. Everything is insignificant compared to the Transcendent God.

Jehovah God is also relational. His being is perfectly manifest in a triune God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Their harmonious relationship and perfect unity guides us, His creation, to follow and imitate this kind of intertwined kinship.

Jehovah God calls His people in His time, whom He chose before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1). He gives a new Spirit and life to the elect and calls us for service. He adopts us, sinners, into His Holy family and claims us as His children. This unthinkable relational blessing leads us to be relational and find any meaning of life in our relationships.

On the other hand, Satan and his demonic forces constantly try to tempt God’s people into believing that worth is only obtained through the ownership and possession of worldly things. People who fall into this trap are possessive people. Christ's warning against this temptation is clearly described in the scripture quoted above.

Missional business entrepreneurs are called to do business in this world, but not in a secular and worldly fashion that centers around acquiring power, wealth, and status. God has given missional businesses the duty to serve His people so that they may be used wisely for the glory of God, the the ultimate Provider and Sustainer, and for the benefit of those who have been entrusted with us to care for, particularly those that are socially and economically marginalized.

Missional business entrepreneurs must remember the warning that Jesus our Lord made Himself: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

MINISTRY UPDATES

SfK Life’s board has made a decision to establish a subsidiary corporation, tentatively called SfK Korea. SfK Korea will be responsible primarily for managing BAM Funds to be established to attract impact investors who desire to see transformation impacts in the lives of people being served for the purposes of His Kingdom. Rev. Dongho Kim has agreed to chair the board of SfK Korea while Jeffrey will serve as CEO and Dr. Wonmin Sohn will serve as COO. Dr. Sohn has been engaged in fund management for 26 years and also BAMer training for several years in various capacities.

Dr. Wonmin Sohn & Jeffrey Lee

SfK Life’s board has also decided to establish a subsidiary company in Chiang Mai, Thailand, tentatively called SfK Asia. SfK Asia will be responsible primarily for making investments in missional businesses in Asia, and managing the portfolio performance.

Nanuri Co. Limited, an intended missional business in Rwanda, finally received the authority’s approval to begin the construction of a medical center and a guest house to be built near the Kigali International Airport. The team gave a dedication service on September 8th, before the construction began.

Nanuri Construction dedication service 9/8/16

Jeffrey served on the panel to review and evaluate business plans that the Neo Moravian House BAM training program participants presented after 4-weeks of training. Although the presentation was not appropriate for attracting financial interest from any potential investors, a few participants may be potentially become involved in SfK missional businesses. It was encouraging! Additionally, Jeffrey met several new people who are Kingdom-minded and strongly interested in promoting BAM in the mission fields. A few agreed to collaborate with SfK Ministries.

Rev. Dongho Kim speaking at BAM Global 2016

Jeffrey also served at BAM Global Korea, a fifth consultation that is a gathering place for BAM academia and BAM practitioners sharing their ideas and realities to find solutions synergistic to the Kingdom of God. Dr. Ted Yamamori, a renowned scholar and practitioner in the BAM segment came as a keynote speaker and gave us three lectures. It was a blessing to not only learned mutually from participants but also meet with several BAM practitioners in the field and find a few potential collaboration opportunities. Hallelujah! Some content may not be disclosed due to security concern.

Dr. Ted Yamamori

SfK’s effort to establishing a cloud-based database management system for Kingdom Fellows and Missional Businesses are gaining momentum and speed. Ji Bae, Director of IT and his team members are striving to launch at least the Kingdom Fellow version before the year-end.

SfK will soon begin the design of its Korean website in anticipation for the growing needs from Korea. We plan to launch it at the beginning of January 2017, in time for the launch of SfK’s first BAM Fund.

UPCOMING EVENTS & PRAYER REQUESTS

Sept. 16-18, 2016: BAM Conference, Los Angeles, CA. This is the last opportunity for you to hear directly from speakers who are who’s who in BAM industry. Please register at www.businessconferences.com
Oct. 8-15, 2016: Jeffrey will visit Arusha, Tanzania to conduct the initial evaluation for a missional business and also to explore the most effective way to establish SfK ministry in the region in Tanzania.
Nov. 29, 2016: Jeffrey and his wife, Kristin, will be relocating to Chiang Mai, Thailand. This move is planned primarily because SfK’s Asian regional office will be established in Chiang Mai and it is becoming the missional agency centers for Asia outside the U.S. Jeffrey will continue to travel to Rwanda to facilitate ministry activities in Africa.
January 2017 (tentatively) SfK Korea plans to launch its first SfK BAM Fund in Seoul, Korea.
Feb. 18 - Mar. 10, 2017: BAMconferences.com will hold a BAM Training, Chiang Mai, Thailand. This 3-week training course will include classroom learning as well as field observations. Please learn more about the training and register at http://bamtraining.org/bam-course.
Mar. 7-11, 2017: BAM Global ThinkTank will hold its first Wealth Creation Consultation in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Jeffrey will be among 35 people who will come from all around the world and the consultation will deal with the important topic of wealth creation in the biblical and missional context.

Please intercede with prayer for SfK Ministries in the following areas:

Establishment of SfK Korea and the first BAM Fund.
Establishment of SfK Asia to engage in financial support activities for missional businesses in Asia.
Jeffrey and Kristin Lee's relocation to Chiang Mai, Thailand to go smoothly.
Nanuri in Rwanda – the construction may progress smoothly and as scheduled. Meanwhile, the preparation to run the businesses as BAM may begin in time.
We have entered into the last four months of 2016 and God may provide sufficient resources to meet the needs that we have identified, including the investment in SfK Asia and SfK Korea.

We thank you very much for standing with us in prayer and support. We pray that our Lord will continue to walk with you in your life on earth at your family, your work and your ministries.

Shalom in Christ!