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| Title | The Mentor in My Life] Mrs. Vera Shaw, the Missionary in Harvard University, Who Is the Mentor of Professor Jung Joo Kim in Yonsei University | 2008.06.18 |
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FROM: 국민일보 From the autumn of 1980 to the spring of 1981 at the Fuller Theological Seminary, while fasting every Friday, I prayed to God asking Him to send me as a missionary to the most impoverished place on this earth. Since, at the time, Korean churches were in the early stages of sending missionaries, it was very difficult to go abroad as a missionary. When my graduation was near at hand, I got admitted into a doctor's program in the study of the New Testament, at Harvard University. After asking God, "Is this your answer to my prayer, when I asked you to send me to the poorest place?", I left for Harvard. In the spring of 1982, while meditating on the Bible, on the first Good Friday I greeted in Harvard, I sought the reason for why God had sent me here and what He wanted to do through me. At the Memorial Church, on Good Friday, there was a three-hour special service, which I planned to go to with my friend. However, the service had already begun and we could not go inside. At that moment, an old lady was coming up the stairs, so we asked her how we could enter the chapel. She said to us, "follow me," with a kind smile. We followed her and sat on the front row of the beautiful chapel. The sermon and hymns were about Jesus' seven words on the cross. Just as Jesus said to his disciple, John, "She is your mother," indicating Mary, He told me that the old lady next to me would be a mother-like mentor to me. My first encounter with Vera Shaw began like this, under the cross. Vera shaw was the wife of Prof. Jim Shaw, who was the advisor of the Harvard-Redcliffe Christian Fellowship. She had dedicated herself to missionary work on the campus of Harvard with her husband. When I was studying with my brother(Young-Hoon David Kim, the chairman of Daesung Group) in Harvard, Vera Shaw often prepared dinner for us and invited us to their home. Having the 350th anniversary of Harvard ahead, Professor George Williams, an authority of the history of the church, was looking for a faithful Christian student so that he could research on the history of Harvard together. Shaws recommended my brother, who was at that time enrolled in a Mater of Divinity course at Harvard Divinity School. Although Kim was very busy writing his graduation thesis, he spent about 50 hours in the Harvard Archive and prepared a draft of the history of Harvard for its 350th anniversary. Kim clarified, first of all, that the original principle of Harvard was "For Christ and His church." Then, he pointed out that Harvard became distant from the concept and switched to humanism, just as when the temple of Solomon was corrupted into a temple of mixed religions. He also urged the school to repent and return to Christ Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins, resurrected from the dead in three days, now reigns with all authority over the heaven and the earth, and who will return soon. Before Professor George Williams gave a presentation about the history of Harvard, based on the research at the ceremony of the 350th anniversary, he visited my brother and expressed his gratitude. I met David Adeney, introduced to me by Shaws, who was honored in the global mission community, and invited him to speak at Harvard Divinity School. He went to China and met pastor Wang Ming Dao, an old friend of his, when China just started to open in the early '80s. Adeney shared the stories of the leaders of Chinese churches, who had been imprisoned for decades for the name of Christ, and many students at Harvard were impressed with them. When Chinese communist students, Buddhist scholars, and peoples of various religions were converted to Christ on Harvard campus, Shaws and I tried very hard to nurture them. Every time I felt spiritually exhausted while I was writing my Th.D. thesis, analyzing Paul's understanding of the Holy Spirit in Romans chapter 8, Shaws encouraged me with prayers and willingly volunteered to proofread all my thesis. When I had my thesis bound, they rejoiced over it as if they were looking upon a newborn baby. I invited them to Korea to attend the world convention of WWCTU (World Woman's Christian Temperance Union), held in 1998. Vera Shaw encouraged 700 representatives of WWCTU, from over 28 nations, giving lectures on prayers, based on her mission as an intercessor. In Paradox Leadership (wriiten by James Lucas, translated into Korean by An Jin-hwan, published by Korea.com, 2008), Lucas advises to widen our visions but narrow our focuses in order to be good leaders. The life of Vera was truly one to model. She not only prayed that Christian universities all over the world, including Harvard University, would soon recover the original vision of their founders and revive through faith in Jesus Christ, but also, she focused on and sincerely cared for one soul. I will always thank God for sending me as a missionary to the campus of Harvard, not only by myself but with Prof. and Mrs. Jim and Vera Shaw as my mentors and partners throughout the process. "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." (John 12:24) ◆ Who? △ Professor Jung Joo Kim got B.A. in English Literature from Ewha Woman's University, M.A. in English Literature from the University of Michigan, M.A. in Missiology from Fuller Theological Seminary, Th.D. in the New Testament from Harvard University, the vice-president of WWCTU, specially appointed Yong Jae Professor of Yonsei University, and the advisor of Yonsei Christian Student Union in Yonsei University. △ Mrs. Vera Shaw= born in Canada, B.S. in chemistry from Mcgill University, her husband, Prof. Jim Shaw, served in the Department of Nurition, the Dental School, Harvard University. Prof. and Mrs. Jim and Vera Shaw served faculty advisors of the Harvard-Redcliffe Christian Fellowship, over 50 years for the campus ministry, 1945~1995. Mrs. Vera Shaw also published Thorns in the Garden Planets (Zondervan, 1996). |
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| 12 | The Mentor in My Life] Mrs. Vera Sh... | 2008.06.18 |
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