God is Moving at UCLA (Sam Kim Report)

Below is a first hand report written by Samuel Kim (a youth pastor and student at UCLA) who has been co-partnering with us to reach the UCLA campus on what God has been doing this year. He wrote the below to confirm the outpouring of God's work that has been taking place on this campus. Please read...God is movn! jaeson
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In order to account for what God's been doing at UCLA, and confirm the testimony already given by Jaeson, I prepared a report of what God's been doing at UCLA.

Here it is. It can also be found on my xanga, www.xanga.com/samxk. God bless!

God is Moving at UCLA.

Before I write or say anything else, I want to first say that God is amazing, and that to Him alone belongs all the glory, honor, and praise. I don't want to write a report about what any person has been doing at UCLA, because we are incapable to do anything by ourselves. It is God that has been moving, not man. It is God that grows the seeds that have been planted, not us. We are humbled, and truly blessed to be able to partake in this ministry with Him. And the cry of our hearts has been and always will be, not to us, but to Him, and always to Him be all the glory.

I emphasize this to make it clear that neither I, nor any other worker at UCLA has the desire to take any of the glory for ourselves. In fact, I simply want to write this account in order to encourage the Church, and to confirm the testimony that Jaeson wrote earlier this year on his blog. My name is Samuel Kim, I have been working alongside Jaeson from the beginning of this year, and I want to share with you all what God has been doing at UCLA.

Last Year at UCLA till first quarter at UCLA

It all begins with prayer. If it were not for the years and years of prayer that have soaked the campus of UCLA from past generations, nothing that happened this year could have been possible. Furthermore, if this year we had not been constantly challenging, encouraging, and exhorting each other to pray for the lost, all our efforts would have been futile. This is because it starts with God, happens with God, and ends with God.

With that being said, the story of this year's revival truly begins last year. A couple of the brothers from UCLA, Josh Yang and Caleb Lin, developed a heart and vision for revival at UCLA. They began mobilizing our campus leaders and ministries to pray, and began a Wednesday night prayer meeting, coordinated a 30 Hour time of fasting and prayer, and also started a house church at UCLA called Passion Church. This campus church has contributed greatly to the intercession and prayers that have soaked the campus this year.

The prayers were definitely much needed, and were an awesome time to grow. But, very importantly, they turned their prayers into action. At the very beginning of this school year, they started doing something no one had done for years at UCLA. They went out into the middle of Bruinwalk (the center of UCLA) and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ and worshipped Him out in the open. Although no harvest was produced during this time, and it was easy to become discouraged because of it, I truly believe that they were planting seeds which were necessary before a harvest could be reaped.

God was paving the way for His plan at UCLA, because also during this time, Jaeson got a call from God to come to UCLA and to preach and share his testimony in the middle of our campus. Jaeson was faithful to that calling, and when he came, he brought not only a life of prayer, but a challenge and exhortation to the Christian community at UCLA. A lot of us were shaken from our very foundations, because we saw in Jaeson a life of more than just words. That is, a lot of us, for the first time, came face to face with a Christianity that was not about going to church, but being the church. Instead of trying to persuade people of God's love, Jaeson simply showed them His love. I can't speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself. It challenged me to my very core.

A little later that first quarter, I became convicted and began leading worship outdoors and went out with Jaeson everyday to preach, worship, and pray on the middle of campus. During that first quarter, we had a huge breakthrough one of the weeks. One day, after we had worshipped for two hours, Jaeson began preaching publicly at UCLA. People began to stop and listen, and the center of UCLA, Bruinwalk, which is usually loud with noise, suddenly became quiet. Jaeson shared his testimony, and a group of people raised their hands to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I'm not sure how many people exactly, but there were a lot of people who stopped to listen. Of course, we are not sure what happened to all these "seeds", but a couple of them are worth mentioning here because we saw so much fruit from the seeds that were planted. One of these seeds is a fraternity guy who gave his life to God, and started a Bible Study with Jaeson and Caleb. The other one is another guy, who hated Christians and wanted to kill Jaeson when he first heard the gospel being preached. But through a series of events, in the past few quarters, this man's heart has not only softened, but he actually came to one of our church meetings!

Let me elaborate on the fruits that have been produced through the fraternity brother throughout the year. The bible study with this one fraternity brother grew from one to two in just one week. That was first quarter. It is third quarter now, and this small group has grown from two to about ten to twelve, (maybe more) brothers and sisters coming together to learn about God, and His love for them. In just two quarters, it grew from two people, to twelve people! And the most beautiful and amazing thing about this is the fact that everyone at the bible study is hungry for God! I went to the bible study just a few days ago, and I heard them speaking about the Word of God as if it really were the Word of Life. I emphasize this last point because of this. They were hungrier for the Word than most Christians I have met. It blew me away. Here are new converts, most of them have barely accepted Jesus Christ into their lives within the past week or two, and they were already so desperately hungry for the Word of God! At the meeting, it became obvious that these brothers and sisters have faith that the Word of God actually has a message that can change their lives. They expect God to speak to them through His word, and because of this expectation, He has been. Praise God!

Another thing to mention about this, is that a week ago, one of the frat brothers who had never come out to the bible study before, gave his life to God one day and was baptized on the same day in front of all his fraternity brothers! God is truly amazing, and myriads of angels are rejoicing right now in heaven because of this! What a joy it is to serve with God!

The second guy, the guy who wanted to kill Jaeson while he was preaching, has also been coming along! Like I said, this quarter he actually came to our church service! He hated Christians, and now his heart was completely changed! A lot of us have spoken to this man, and seriously, to see how God has changed his life from first quarter to now is incredible! Furthermore, he does not see us as enemies anymore, but we are able to show him God's love everyday through actions, words, and whatever it takes! He has not accepted Christ yet, but I believe that God is eagerly pursuing his heart. Recently, he has had a family tragedy, and I truly believe God placed us into his life at this critical moment, because He wants to show this man His love for him.

Second Quarter at UCLA

These were some of the things that happened first quarter, that carried over to this third quarter. Mostly first quarter was about planting seeds. Now, I must admit something at this point. The second quarter was nothing like the first. In fact, Satan began to attack us very powerfully during the second quarter. A lot of people became discouraged, a lot of people started questioning whether the things we were doing in the middle of campus was "really worth it", and many of us were filled with an intimidation that only Satan can manufacture. It served its purpose. Even though the bible study with the two guys from the frat continued (remember, it only grew to twelve within the last two weeks of third quarter), nothing new seemed to be happening this second quarter.

God used Becky Tirabassi to change this. God put on her heart to fan the flames of revival all across the United States by challenging the Universities of America to take up a day (or more) of 24/7 prayer. I was put in charge of this, and honestly, at this point I was really burnt out and discouraged, and I really didn't have a heart to put the prayer room together. Yet, God put it on my heart that I had to coordinate this prayer house, even though I didn't really want to. Now I understand why.

The 24 hour prayer house produced in many of us an encounter with God that really shook us. God spoke to so many of us through the one day of prayer, and most importantly for me, He healed my sister of bulimia, which she had been struggling with for four years!

Let me elaborate this point. The bulimia lifestyle and guilt had gotten so bad in my sister's life that she became suicidal, and threw up three to four times a day! She was struggling with depression, and was having an incredibly hard time even wanting to live. But the amazing thing is this. She could have gone to psychologists and it would have taken years for her to get healed. But God healed her in just one encounter with Him. God is the greatest physician. Amen? That night, in just one night, God gave my sister some prophetic words, and it radically shook her life, and she left their completely healed emotionally and within a week was completely healed physically! Right now, she has been growing, and really desires to know God more! We even talked about going to missions together at some point in our lives! I could never have imagined having a conversation like that with my sister ever before!

Needless to say, God reignited my heart dramatically. I became so desperate and hungry, and one thought that kept consuming my heart was this, "what if she had killed herself?" Suddenly I began to understand that there were other people who, just like my sister, were in need of a Savior. They needed a God who will love them and heal them of their sicknesses and emotional hurts. With this newfound passion, I began to coordinate student movements, and went out there to preach and worship God on the middle of campus with newfound fervor. Something came over me. Most of the time, I was the only one out there, but it didn't matter to me anymore. All that mattered was that I was faithful to God, and I wanted to show these people, not persuade them, about a God who loves them.

One particular door God opened up to me, was the opportunity to share the gospel to 400-500 students in one day (maybe more, maybe less). A guy named Preacher Dan, who spreads a false gospel of how people have to literally be perfect to go to heaven (I don't mean perfect through Christ, but perfect in action and in works), came out on one of the days I went out to worship. He came out like he usually does, and God put it on my heart to stand up and preach the true gospel out on the middle of Bruinwalk in order to counter the false gospel that was being preached. You have to understand. This man would literally yell at people calling them "devil child's" and he would call girls that were walking by whores because they did not cover their heads!

I stood up, and preached the true gospel, and a large crowd began to develop. By the end of the day, hundreds of people heard the gospel, and although the direction God was taking me wasn't to "ask them" to accept Jesus (if you were there, you would understand why this was so), I knew that God really began to open up the heavens and hearts of many of the students at UCLA. During this time of preaching, myself and other student workers noticed that many of the people gathered there were visibly touched by the Holy Spirit from this message of God's love for them.

Third Quarter at UCLA

Then came this new quarter, third quarter. I already told you guys previously a lot of what God has been doing at UCLA this quarter with the fraternity bible study that grew from two to ten/twelve. I want to share with you all the other stuff. I don't go into as much detail as Jaeson did on his blog site. This is because if you want a "closer" look, you can just read his entry. I simply want to emphasize the points that I thought were important, confirm the testimony that Jaeson himself gave, and share with you how God has used those things to reach out to the campus of UCLA. This third quarter, God answered many of our prayers, opened doors, and showed up at UCLA in an incredible way.

This quarter, from the very beginning, was one of conviction. Both Jaeson and I felt strongly that God wanted us to go out there every day and preach during one of the weeks at the beginning of the quarter. Jaeson took this 7 foot cross out with him onto Bruinwalk, and I kid you not, that cross is anointed. The interesting thing is, is that that cross was at the 24 hour day of prayer we had at UCLA!

Being faithful to His call, we went out there Thursday before good Friday, and we preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the students that were out on Bruinwalk. This particular day, (much like every other day we were out there) Jaeson was acting weird and losing his mind. He kind of blankly stared out into the open, looking at nothing, praying quietly to himself. After a while, he began preaching and a lot of people stopped to listen to God's Word. To be quite honest, I don't remember all that happened on that Thursday, but I do remember that it convicted us to go out everyday the following week.

With that being said, the following week, we went out there every day. And God showed up. Monday, Jaeson was out there with his cross, and I and a couple other student leaders began preaching. Some people listened, some didn't, and after about one hour of us preaching, Jaeson started acting rather eccentrically. He began walking around in little circles with his cross, and saying stuff like "it doesn't make sense". I felt the same way. Both of us, I know, were at the same place with the same question. Where is the power of the gospel? Why is the gospel being preached and no one being changed by it? After a time of prayer, Jaeson suddenly began rapping out on the middle of bruinwalk. That's right. He was preach rapping about the love of God. Needless to say, this attracted some people to stop and listen to the Word being preached, and in particular, Jaeson felt like God was going to give him a fraternity.

After rapping, Jaeson began sharing his testimony. It's a powerful testimony, and if you have never heard it, I strongly recommend that you do. A group of students from this fraternity that God put on his heart were sitting there, listening to Jaeson preach, and I could tell that the Holy Spirit was really speaking to their hearts. They couldn't take their eyes off Jaeson, and they heard every word that was preached! While he was preaching, something amazing happened. Jaeson prayed over one of the guys who had broken his leg earlier playing basketball, and immediately after the prayer Jaeson told the guy to stand up and walk. Obviously, he was skeptical to do it at first. But then he got up, and he was able to stand up and walk all around bruinwalk after the prayer! It was truly amazing to see it, and although the reality of what just happened didn't sink in till later, God healed him! Furthermore, God gave Jaeson prophetic words that really convicted some of the brothers. These were truly incredible and amazing things that happened!

With that being said, though, I want to say this. There were a lot of other people "there", listening to the Word of God being preached, apart from the fraternity. A lot of them, when given the opportunity, did accept Jesus into their lives. But a lot of those seeds were lost. Some were good soil, and some were bad. It's how God told us it would be when Jesus shared the parable of the four soils. All we are responsible is to preach the gospel, and plant the seeds. He is the only one that can make the seeds grow, and that's why He is the only one who deserves our worship.

However, the good soil bore much fruit. I want to share with you the incredibly encouraging story of how God opened many doors to salvation through this day of preaching. That day, we started a bible study with that fraternity. It was more of a spiritual discussion group, and at first, it was discouraging because we saw that these "seeds" were heavily contested by Satan. However, on one particular Thursday, very recently, actually, about eight brothers from the fraternity came out to the bible study. That night, something amazing happened. While I was walking up to the place where we meet them, I really felt the Lord telling me that He was going to save people today. I didn't know what to think of it, but before the end of the night, FOUR of the eight gave their lives to God! It was amazing! What's even more amazing is that these brothers that came on this particular night had NO previous encounters with us, (in the sense that this was the first time we shared the gospel with them), and God already opened a door for salvation! What was very sobering and surprising was that these guys had NEVER heard the TRUE Gospel of Jesus Christ ever preached or spoken to them! God opened doors, and through these doors, souls were saved! Right now, angels are rejoicing in heaven, and honestly, I am joining them, because these guys are going to heaven!!!

That was just Monday. Tuesday, we went out again, and another group was "touched" by the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, this second group, we have not seen much "growing" with them. I say this to emphasize this one point. All we can do is do what we're told. We were told by God to pray for this group, to reach out to this group, to love this group. It is God who will change them, transform them. Although we have not seen progression with this group yet, I pray that God will really move within their hearts in the coming days, so that the seeds that were planted may grow and be harvested!

Wednesday, we went out there to worship God, and nothing more than that. A group of about 30-40, maybe more, brothers and sisters from all different campus organizations came out to worship God. It was moving. Literally, it was heaven on earth. A lot of people who weren't even Christians told us that they were "touched" by our worship of Him out on Bruinwalk. How beautiful it is to see His children worship Him!

Thursday, Jaeson did more preaching, and people were filled with the Holy Spirit. I was not there for most of this day, but I do remember that I went around and collected the names of about 10-12 people who wanted to start a bible study of some sort with us. Once again, not all of these "seeds" were harvested, but some of them are bearing fruit today!

God is moving at UCLA. Revival is here. I can't even begin to describe in words how awesome it has been to serve Him, and love others. However, I want to say this. Some people may think that "this isn't revival". Of course, we haven't seen hundreds and thousands of people come to Christ. But I truly believe that this is the beginning of a transformation at UCLA that will rock the core of the University. God has been giving us favor among a lot of the student groups, and He has been opening doors that we never expected or imagined! By the grace of God, we will see the entire campus of UCLA come to Christ by next year! He can do it!

Another thing, is this. Some people said that these new "converts" are simply Christians from different ministries that transferred over. As you can see from this account, this is entirely false. Many of these people who have come to Christ this quarter and previous quarters have never even encountered God before! Many of them, this is their first time even reading the Bible!

There are many other things going on, and bible studies that have started during this year. Right now I believe there are about 8-9, (maybe more) bible studies that have been started as a result of this year. Another thing that we are truly excited about, and blessed to have is a personal discipleship training meeting with Neil Cole, the writer of Organic Church. We have really been learning and growing a lot through these trainings. So, in short, while this covers most of the "major" events that occurred at UCLA, things are constantly happening that may not be as "noticeable", but are definitely still shaking the foundations of UCLA. The most important thing is this?almost every week, we see people accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Neil Cole said this one thing, and it really struck me during one of the meetings. This is what he said. "Sometimes, I think we underestimate the power of light. We sit there, and cower away from the darkness, not realizing that our light, Jesus Christ, can penetrate any darkness".

Final Thoughts

He is truly amazing. I am seriously just in awe of how awesome He is. I hope that this report would encourage you, and more than that, challenge you. God doesn't desire just Jaeson, or just me, or just Caleb, or just Josh, or just Passion Church to go out there and spread the Word of God. He wants every one of His children to do this. Not all of us are called to preach out in the middle of our schools. But all of us are called to share the Gospel. Remember, wherever you go, He goes with you. And wherever He goes, you know what happens! People are saved. The sick are healed. The blind can see again.

I want to end with this. One thing that God has challenged me with, and I challenge you guys with is this. Schindler, at the end of the movie Schindler's List, realized the importance of just one life. He had already given all his money to save all the Jews that he possibly could, and after all the events happened, they made him a ring to show their appreciation to him. When he got that ring, he broke down, and started to realize that everything he kept for himself (like his car) was another person that could have been saved. Schindler realized the worth of even one person's life. One person. A life. God recently put this scene on my heart during a time of prayer. And after the scene came to mind, He kept asking me this question over and over again, what is a life worth to you? For twenty minutes, it seemed like the question would never stop. What is a life worth to you? Sam, what is a life worth to you? What is a life worth to you? It kept going on, and I didn't even know how to answer it! Then it ended with these sweet, life changing, beautiful words. Your life was worth everything to Jesus.

I have to ask. What is a life worth to you?


-Samuel Kim

posted by Jaeson Ma @ 5/21/2006 08:29:00 PM