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PEARLAND—The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention hosted its annual Asian Family Retreat June 26-28 at Parkway Baptist Church. The event was designed to encourage pastors, their families, and church leaders to continue working as disciple-makers, spend time together, and be refreshed by listening to preaching from the Word of God.
Tony Mathews, SBTC Missional Ministries senior strategist, opened the retreat by welcoming and praying over pastors from more than 10 countries. Worship was led by First Indonesian Baptist Church and International Victory Church.
David Kim, pastor of Good Community Church in Torrance, Calif., served as the guest speaker. “Evangelism is just the beginning,” Kim said. “The essence [of] discipleship is to save the lost, share the gospel, and live out the gospel.”
Kim referenced the story of the prodigal son from Luke 15:11-32, explaining that the parable “is a perfect example of the heart of our heavenly Father.
“The father in the parable waited every single day, every single hour, asking himself hundreds of times, ‘Will today be the time that my dear son will come back?’” Kim said. “There are hundreds of people [who are] lost, and we are sitting [and] giving hundreds of excuses why we cannot go [and share the gospel with them].”
Kim also shared from Colossians 2:6-7 to inspire pastors to recognize and live under the leadership and lordship of Christ, letting Him be the master of their lives. “Everything in my life is a blessing from God, and it is a privilege given to me by the Master, not a right,” Kim said. “I allowed God to be the control tower of my life.”
Kim also highlighted the importance of discipleship and described a disciple as someone who completely submits to the lordship of Christ and follows the leadership of Christ, resulting in “an overflow of thankfulness to God.”
Retreat participants were given time to gather by regions (Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, etc.,) and by ethnic fellowships to share the strengths, progress, and challenges of their ministries, as well as to assess pastoral and family wellness. Each ethnic group was led by an SBTC representative: Mathews, Jacob Cates, Bruno Molina, and Kaibin Fu. The regional groups were led by Michael Liga, Al Manigsaca, and Hyoung Min Kim.
The retreat also included a time of fellowship, praying, and learning for the pastors’ wives. They were encouraged to pray for one another, develop a way to stay connected, and to serve and glorify God by working together. This time was led by Clara Molina.
Prayer was a major part of the retreat. Various pastors participated in corporate prayer led by Liga and Fu, who each prayed that God would develop a heart of passion and compassion to help those attending share the gospel.
Sastry Meesala from India offered a testimony, and the children who attended the retreat did a presentation. During their free time, families were encouraged to celebrate and spend time with one another doing activities around town or playing games at the church.
“The Christian life is to be a celebration—not because Christian life is easy, but because you get to experience the empowering presence of God even in the dark moments of our lives,” Kim said.
