Hills city april 2015newsletter

HCN Vol.1

April 12 , 2015

ill City News Hill City Ministeries at a Glance Hill City starts the spring with Easter Baptisms pgs.2-3

Women’s Ministry Reaches out to the Homeless pgs. 4-5

Welcome to Hill City News

W Here’s My Testimony by: Charmaine Oliver pg.6

elcome to Hill City News, a ministry of Hill City Church! We are so pleased to know that we have an opportunity to bless you with this ministry!

There have been many prayers that have gone into the establishing of this publication. I am so proud of those who have taken steps to make this happen.

An important value that we share in our congregation is the sharing of life. We believe that sharing life is a way to live as those who live in the light, as well as live lives that testify the goodness of God. We pray that through Hill City News, that we can do that throughout our congregation as well as those outside of our body!

While this publication will serve to keep others in the loop on the happenings of our church it will also encourage those who read it. The articles and stories are written by members of the church and those who are witnesses to all that God is doing in and through our congregation.

Our prayer is that the Lord will be magnified in testifying of all that he has done for us.

We can’t wait to share with you what God has been doing in our church and hope that it would be a source of immense blessing to you we share our lives with you! Continue to keep us in your prayers as we begin this journey!

Thank you all!

Blessings, Pastor Han Oh

Hill City News

Photos By: Nikeya Williams

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Hill City starts the spring with Easter Baptisms

By: Nikeya Williams HCN Editor

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After years of feeling unworthy and not loved, Theam decided after she graduated from college that she would move to Tampa.

The service started with worship led by Hill City praise team, and it concluded with water baptisms and testimony sharing from each person that was baptized.

“As I continued my life in Tampa, visiting other churches such as Without Walls, and meeting new friends and being invited to [Hill City Church], [which was] formerly known as Korean First Baptist Church

by Justin Noh,” Theam said.

“I [was] very excited [on Easter Sunday]. I’ve been looking forward to getting baptized for a long time, even before I started attending Hill City Church,” Theam said.

On Baptism Sunday, Theam decided that she would declare her faithfulness to the Lord through her baptism.

n Easter Sunday, Hill City members Daniel Kim and Sophan Theam made their declaration of faith at the Baptism Sunday service.

Both Theam and Kim shared their testimony to explain their decision to make their declaration of faith and get baptized on Easter Sunday. “ I decided to get baptized the first time when I was a teenager,” Kim said. “The way that [I got baptized the first time] was more of me repeating what the priest said, so I wanted to make it more personal [this time].”

This time, Kim’s decision to get baptized wasn’t based on how he felt or repeating after a priest’s words. He based his decision to get baptized on accepting God’s will for his life. “ I do know certain things which is that baptism is a command that Jesus has told us to do and get done, so I want to trust Jesus. He doesn’t have strict rules about it,” Kim said. “I’m just trying to entrust the church and Pastor Han [with my decision to get baptized.]”

Kim says that he hopes that after the baptism, he will grow more spiritually in his walk with God and with this church family at Hill City.

Theam continued the testimony-sharing segment by sharing her testimony about her parent’s bravery and determination to live during the Cambodian Genocide. “[My family] was starved, tortured, and forced into severe labor [camps] for three painstaking years,” Theam said. “In the middle of the night, my parents decided to take my two sisters and flee the camp by trekking dangerous jungles filled with landmines and hidden soldiers.”

Theam’s family fled through dangerous jungles in Cambia during the Cambodian Genocide during the early 1980s.

“God was working a miracle because somehow, when the chances were slim to none, my family reached a refugee camp in the nearby country of Thailand where I was later born,” Theam said.

“ I think that for a long time, I’ve had this lingering feeling of feeling unworthy, and weighted down by my past decisions and sin, and I know we all sinful by nature, but it was something that I was very weighted by,” Theam said. “ I feel that being baptized will not only restore my faith in Christ, but it will also cleanse me of my sins and of my past and of my transgressions in the past.”

To prepare each baptism candidate for Baptism Sunday, Hill City’s Lead Pastor Han Oh held a baptism class in order to help explain the importance of baptism. “[The] baptism class is the important thing where I explain the scriptural background of what baptism is and what baptism isn’t, and what it’s actually doing, how we can actually get through it,” Oh said. “ But also being there for [Daniel and Sophan] as they express some concerns that they have, because even after the class they are going to have questions.”

In the baptism class, Oh also discussed the great commission of the church to make disciples by baptizing them.

“Baptism is a command, if you read in Matthew 28,” Oh said. “The great commission, Jesus actually says after he says make disciples of all nations. He actually says make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

Oh held the baptism class a few weeks before the actual baptism, and he hopes to hold the baptism class again for the next set of Hill City members that want to declare their faith.

In the future, Hill City hopes to have more opportunities for members to get baptized. For more information about baptisms or the baptism class, please email Hill City’s Lead Pastor Han Oh at: pastorhanoh@ gmail.com.

Not long after her birth, Theam’s family received a sponsorship from Zion Lutheran Church in Bristol, Connecticut, and it was in Bristol where Theam and her family would learn about the Bible.

“We grew up at the church, learned bible stories, and sang hymns to the sound of organ music, but I can safely say that the presence of the Holy Spirit was never felt,” Theam said. “My family, including my extended family, began to part ways with the church.”

After Theam’s parents worked hard and saved money, they were able to move away from Zion Lutheran Church and buy their own house and live the American dream. “ My family, including my extended family, began to part ways with the church,” Theam said. “What I witnessed and experienced while growing up was brokenness, depression, gambling addictions, alcoholism, love affairs, divorce, greed,” Theam said.

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Women’s Ministry

Women’s ministry reaches out to the homeless By: Nikeya Williams HCN Editor

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n Saturday, April 4, Hill City Women’s ministry, led by Melissa Choe, decided to rekindle an old idea to make care bags for the homeless in the community.

“Susan Unnie came up with this [outreach idea] several years ago,” Kyuyon Yo said. “We were doing it for a bit, so I basically remembered what she did…thank God for [Susan] that we were able to do this [again].”

It took the ladies about an hour to make about 40 care bags, but the ladies didn’t mind working hard for an hour. “[I enjoyed] being able to serve with my sisters, and helping someone in return,” said Choe.

The care bags were labeled with the scripture verse Jeremiah 29:11, and filled with non-perishable items such as water bottles, toothbrush, toothpaste, granola, hand wipes, soap, and a Bible track.

Many of the ladies enjoyed making the care packages for the homeless in the community.

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“The most exciting part [about this outreach today] was filling the bags with granola, wipes and soap,” Kyuyon Yo said. “ You don’t realize that these are basic necessities that some people don’t have [access] to [daily].”

Other ladies in the ministry enjoyed packing the care bags too, but for the reason of planting a seed of hope in someone’s heart.

“I think it’s nice that we all get together, and do this, but the fact that we can make a difference, I think the thought of it, is the most exciting part,” said Grace Kim. “One person may not know about God, but this bag can plant a seed in their heart, and it can spark an interest [in God].”

Hill City Women’s ministry plans to do another outreach in the near future. To get more information about Hill City’s Women’s Ministry, please contact Discipleship Intern Melissa Choe at Melissa.Choe1989@gmail.com.

Photos By: Nikeya Williams

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Creative Corner Here’s My Testimony...

By: Charmaine Oliver HCN Copyeditor

Charmaine Oliver shares her testimony

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rowing up, I knew how important it was to do well in school.

My mother always told me, “Good grades will allow you to be somebody and to achieve the American Dream. You’ll make it out of this neighborhood and be able to live comfortably.”

Not surprisingly, I came to idolize grades and define my self-worth in terms to how many “A”s I earned. “A”s, I thought, would make me “somebody.”

Although The Greatest Commandment is quite clear: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Matthew 12:30), I worshiped school, not the Lord. Grades—my success in high school and college—came first, not God. It was apparent where my heart was: It was on worldly concerns, “things of the flesh” (Romans 8:5-8). As a result, what relationship I did have with the Lord was self-seeking. The prayers I did pray were for me to do well in school, and my service in church and attendance on Sundays were sacrifices I thought would earn me God’s favor and in turn encourage Him to answer my prayers about school and my future.

It’s safe to say that my heart had not been fully transformed by the redemptive act of Jesus’ death on the cross, and my understanding of the Gospel was completely skewed.

I lived a life of self-legalism and bondage, but praise God that by the grace He offers us through the Holy Spirit, I am no longer enslaved to wealth and the need to possess an affluent lifestyle.

School, and the grades I earn in classes, no longer validate me or affirm my worth.

The Lord began this work in my heart during my first year of graduate study at the University of South Florida (USF). I entered the program certain of my success, but it was clear within the first couple weeks that I was no longer at the top of my class. As the semester progressed, “A”s seemed next to impossible to achieve, despite long hours in front of the computer and in the library.

Because my identity and self-worth depended on my performance

in school, I was crushed. I had worked hard in school for more than eight years, but it hadn’t been enough. Something, I thought, was inherently wrong with me: I wasn’t good enough—not smart enough, not intelligent enough, not talented enough. It wasn’t possible for me to be “somebody” anymore. My once bright future was not so bright anymore and economic security seemed a thing of the past. I was lost and broken.

I firmly believe that God allowed me to enter this place of confusion and brokenness. In this place, I encountered Jesus. Although The Lord had been in pursuit of my heart during high school and college, I was finally in a place where I could do nothing but accept The Lord’s love and receive the grace with which He so desperately wanted to shower me.

During this season of my life, my Heavenly Father showed me how crucial it is that my identity and self-worth are rooted in Him and who He says I am, not in what the world says about me.

Here are just a few things He says about us: The Lord calls us “precious,” (Isaiah 43:4) “chosen” (1 Thessalonians 1:4), “beautifully and wonderfully created” (Psalm 139), “treasured” (Deuteronomy 7:6), and “loved” (Psalm 91:14).

Regardless of how well I do in school, I know that I am loved and accepted by the Most High and that if I seek first His kingdom He will provide for any needs I might have (Matthew 6:33).

Jesus’ resurrection broke the power of sin and enabled me to have life in Him. Thank you God for the freedom on You can provide.

Welcome Spring!!

By: Sophan Theam HCN Photoeditor

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t’s once again that time of year... Spring. When icicles melt off roof tops, early spring buds gently emerge through soft earth, nearby robins chime in happy song together while scavenging the ground for fresh, squirmy worms to feed their eager young... and when you wake up in the early morning of dawn, a gentle, exhilarating fog covers the air and wraps you in pure delight and intrigue. That is Spring in my early memories as a child growing up in Connecticut.

The way of the Lord is mysterious. We do not know or see His plans, but as the changing seasons emerge every year, so too do the promises of our God. May you feel His presence in your heart and soul. May you always remember that through every transition, despite the struggle you must endure, that He has and always will love and nurture you. And may your branches and roots always grow deeper, as you yearn higher towards the Son.

Song of Songs 2:11-12 “For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.”

Florida celebrates Spring in a different kind of way. The picture is painted with contrasting brush strokes, however, a sense of hope and a new beginning is very present as we approach the new season of life-giving and gentle rainfall. Remember the old months of nighttime chill, severe drought, and occasional brushfires? Ponder for a moment on the feeling that previous season impressed in you...

Love and Peace, from your sister in Christ, Sophan

Well, that time has come to pass, and as we ready our lives for a new transition, so too should our hearts be ready.

The skies will change, we will endure uneasy nights filled with soul-shaking thunder, and perhaps, we will feel unequipped for this abrupt change.

Isaiah 43:1-6 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.”

In this transitional phase, where life might appear grayer than we would like it to be, there is a beautiful change within us happening. The Lord is with us, working inside us, and getting our hearts prepared for a new season. For when it comes, we are to fully rejoice with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind. The past is now gone, and tomorrow will come with a beautiful new dawn.

Luke 21:36 “But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Are you ready for all our God has in store for you? Will His love and grace too greatly overwhelm you? When He calls you to obey and serve, regardless of the circumstance, will you immediately drop everything and say yes?

John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Psalm 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

Photos By: Sophan Theam

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Small Groups

Photo By: Sophan Theam

Mustard Seeds visits nursing home for monthly outreach By: Nikeya Williams HCN Editor

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ecently, Mustard Seeds small group decided to start doing a monthly outreach in the community at Fairway Oaks nursing home located near the USF golf course.

Since January 2015, Mustard Seeds has been diligent in serving at Fairway Oaks nursing home.

The outreach has been a series of different activities for the nursing home residences and for the Hill City Mustard Seeds small group members.

On the first visit to the nursing home, members from the Mustard Seeds small group sang hymns from Amazing Grace to the Old Rugged Cross to the nursing home residences.

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The second visit to Fairway Oaks nursing home consisted of Mustard Seeds members making Valentine cards for the nursing home residences.

The third visit to Fairway Oaks nursing home allowed Mustard Seeds members to sang once again to the nursing home residences, and Mustard Seeds members were able to talk and interact with the nursing home residences.

Mustard Seeds small group plans on continuing to serve in the community, to get more information about Mustard Seeds small group upcoming serving events please contact Jacob and Melissa Choe at Jacobschoe@gmail.com and Melissa.choe1989@ gmai.com.

Photo By: Nikeya Williams

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