Passing the Baton

by Pastor Dennis Brown

In a relay race, runners “pass the baton”, i.e., they hand off the baton to the next runner. That is what is happening here at Friendship. After ten years, Kay and I will say goodbye to Friendship. Actually, Kay is already in the States, close to family and friends. I will depart on August 1st. A year ago, we had not been able to recommend a lead pastor to follow me. While we had applicants, nothing was convincing. So I agreed with the elders to stay on for another year, if I could have the summer in the States and also return there for Christmas. It had been such a long time away from family that I needed more time with them. The elders graciously agreed--not knowing how the arrangement would work, or whether we would be successful in finding the right successor.

Happily, it did work, and I believe we did find the right successor in Peter Kim. He and his wife Polly bring so many things to the table that fit the church. Some of them are:

1.    Peter’s university ministry both in California and Beijing bodes well for the church. University ministry has many parallels to our own. It is young and transitory. It also requires the ability to understand the cultural context from a missional standpoint. You have to be conversant with the questions posed by intelligent young people and do your best to answer them from a Biblical perspective. You also have to learn how to relate the gospel to a changing cultural context. In my denomination, the PCA, some of its best pastors got excellent preparation as college ministers first.

2.   Peter has also had pastoral experience so it is not a totally new field of endeavor for him.

3.   Peter has made links with Redeemer City to City (RCTC) whose philosophy of ministry fits ours perfectly. He will also have ongoing mentoring from people like RCTC’s Vice President for the Asia-Pacific region, Jay Kyle and others, and be able to continue to connect our own church to a city vision of church planting and urban gospel renewal.

4.   Peter speaks Mandarin which will open up all kinds of opportunities and help develop stronger ties with the Mandarin congregation whom we work side by side with. Also, Polly is Taiwanese, so there is no problem with visas. And then they desire a long-term tenure. Many English churches have pastors who rotate in and out. A strong church needs consistent vision and leadership, and Peter will be able to build on the foundation we have tried to establish in these ten years.

5.    Peter understands the centrality of the gospel to everything. After getting through eleven chapters in Romans, the apostle Paul, in essence, says, now let me show you how the gospel works everywhere and in everything (chapters 12-16). Peter and Polly have been discipled in “Sonship”--the discipling program that impacted me more than anything else in the past twenty years, and which is all about applying the gospel to everything.

In short, I couldn’t be happier about the transition and, along with your good elders and deacons, I feel confident that the church is in good hands. On the first Sunday of September, Peter Kim will be installed, with Pastor Paul Kong preaching and leading the installation.

As for me, I don’t really plan to “retire.” The word “retirement” doesn’t appear in the Bible! And while I don’t think I want to try to be a lead pastor anytime soon, I will look for opportunities for ministry among my family and in the community where I will live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I will likely take the first few months to rest and pray and then explore some of the following possibilities:

1.    To disciple my children and grandchildren. We have ten grandchildren, and I want to seize the day to help them let the roots of their lives go down deeply into Christ and the gospel. I also want to love my wife well who has been so servant-like in all these years and has gone with me wherever I felt the Lord calling me.

2.    Lancaster has a large immigrant population and two universities. My multi-cultural experience and love for students should find an outlet there.

3.    We will join a local church. It is probably already picked out and we will seek to serve there as well as we can, or maybe help a young church planter.

4.    I hope to stay in touch with Redeemer City to City and contribute any way that I can. The church planters here in Taiwan are close to my heart.

5.    I hope to use social media to stay in touch with many who have come and gone from the church to share resources with them.

6.    Most of all I hope to keep finding my identity in Christ. It is easy for ministers to live off their activity--for ministry, preaching, and work to become their idols. Do I have the ability to simply sit before the Lord, and pray and serve in menial ways? I hope so. Upon retiring, Martyn Lloyd-Jones (usually recognized as one of the greatest preachers of the twentieth century) was asked when how it felt no longer being “the man”, i.e., the great preacher at Westminster Chapel and speaker at conferences around the world. He replied by quoting Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, “Rejoice not that the demons are subject to you, but that your names are written in heaven” (10:20). You can pray for me that I might have that same gospel poise.

In the meantime, be assured of my love and prayers. I don’t think I could have loved Taiwan or Friendship Presbyterian more. I think I will miss it every day of my life.

5 Questions With...Joanna Cheng

1. How did you first get involved with Friendship Presbyterian? I used to attend the Mandarin service in Hsin-Yi FPC in Taipei for a while but was not involved in their activities, except for attending a few sessions of Sunday school. When I met a new Christian friend from my hometown, Manila, who was looking for an English-speaking church in Taiwan, I brought her to the FPC English service. After attending for a few Sundays, since I was not yet a member at the Mandarin service, I decided to stay in the English service. I have been attending FPC for quite some time now and it is a wonderful privilege to be a member of this church.

2. What do you do Monday through Saturday? I work as an export sales secretary in a manufacturing company located in Hsinchuang district. The company specializes in producing industrial machines and spare parts. My job basically involves writing emails to foreign customers and arranging shipments. I sometimes help create an electronic catalogue of our products using software like Photoshop, Paintbrush, and Microsoft Excel. I also get to help in assembling spare parts once in a while.

3. What is something people might be surprised to know about you? People often mistake me for a pure Filipina, but I am actually half Chinese and I can understand Mandarin and a little Taiwanese language.

4. What do you find most challenging about being a Christian today? For me, the most challenging part of being a Christian is to wake up really early in the morning to spend time with God before going to work. One important truth I have learned lately about spending time with God in the morning is that when I give God the first part of my day, it is like giving Him the first fruits of my crops. I also believe morning is an ideal time to spend with God before other things invade my mind. If I spend enough time with God in the morning, I can handle whatever comes my way throughout the day with His grace.

5. What is your favorite book of the Bible? My favorite book of the Bible now is Romans because I have just finished studying this book at BSF recently, and I have also been listening to the pastor’s preaching for the past 8 months. I found that there were so many wonderful biblical truths that I have overlooked before. One of the truths I learned is from Rom. 12:3. It says that even our faith, the very thing that enables us to commune with God, is itself a gift from God. It is also written in Rom. 9:18 that God has mercy on anyone He wishes to, and He makes stubborn anyone He wishes to. This truth changed my perception of the secular world, especially when trying to share the gospel. It shows me that I have no right to judge or look down on the unbelieving world, because I am no better than them. Left to myself, I am just as capable of sin as anybody else, given the right circumstances. The only difference is that I have been saved by God’s grace, and His power enables me to overcome temptation. So instead of judging, I should learn to have compassion on those who do not know Christ.

Vern Poythress Visits FPC

We are excited to announce that this Sunday and next, June 10th and 17th, we will have a special opportunity here at FPC. Renowned theologian and teacher, Dr. Vern Poythress and his wife, Dr. Diane Poythress, are visiting Taiwan and Vern will be giving an hour-long talk at 1:15pm, both Sundays, on the 7th floor of the 261 Roosevelt Road building. He will also be delivering the Sunday message on the 17th. (Jump to the bottom of this article for a brief video clip of Dr. Poythress.)

Dr. Poythress earned a B.S. in Mathematics from California Institute of Technology, where he was class valedictorian, and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University. He completed an M.Div. at Westminster Theological Seminary as well as a Th.M. in apologetics. He has received an M.Litt. in New Testament from Cambridge University and a Th.D. in New Testament from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. He has also served on the Translation Oversight Committee for the ESV Bibles that sit in our pews.

We encourage you to make time to attend his Sunday, June 10th meeting. Naturally, we think you will be enriched by both talks, but Sunday afternoon schedules are often filled with activity. So, if you can carve out time for just one of the two talks, make it the one on the 10th. 

There are two good reasons for this. First, if you like what you hear on the 10th, you will still have the option of coming back for more on the 17th! Second, the topic for the meeting of the 10th will have more of a practical focus (Studying the Bible in God's Presence) and will likely be a better "starter" talk than the one scheduled for the 17th (Christ in Leviticus), though we are equally excited about both. You are welcome to bring your lunch for both of the talks. 

The chance to personally "sit at the feet" of Dr. Poythress is an enriching opportunity that few have. For those who attended any of the marvelous lectures by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson here at FPC last fall, be assured that Dr. Poythress is a "Ferguson-level" teacher (some might even say that Dr. Ferguson is a "Poythress-level" teacher!).

To whet your appetite, here is a short video of Dr. Poythress giving an introduction to one of the most challenging books of the Bible, the Book of Revelation. Hope to see you on the 10th!