Korean Pastor Honored with Degree from NNU

Nampa, Idaho  

Northwest Nazarene University conferred an honorary degree on Ki-Dong Han during an October 10 university chapel service.

 

Han was honored with a Doctor of Divinity for his life of service as pastor, district superintendent, and trustee of Korea Nazarene University; for his leadership in establishing the Jeonwon Church Movement throughout Korea; and for his impact on the Church of the Nazarene and all churches throughout Korea.

 

He holds a Bachelor of Theology from KNU and is an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene. Han has served as pastor of the Kojan (Korea) First Church of the Nazarene for the past 25 years. In addition to serving as district superintendent of South Korea National District, he is a member of the KNU Board of Trustees, a member of the Times Korea Board of Advisors, and co-chair of the Korean Association of Holiness Churches.

 

From 1978 to 1989, Han pastored three different Nazarene churches, growing them in attendance while also constructing new sanctuaries. In 1989, he was assigned to pastor the Nazarene church in Kojan. This assignment came while Korean society was experiencing rapid urbanization, causing the decline of rural churches.

 

In response to this societal paradigm shift, Han set out to create a new ministry model for rural churches that became the Jeonwon Church Movement. Jeonwon means "field and hill" and emphasizes the natural, pastoral setting of the rural life.

 

Han is now recognized as the founder of the Jeonwon ministry throughout Korea. He and his church were featured in numerous media stories focused on rural ministry in an increasingly urban culture. Han's church was selected as one of Korea's Top Ten Beautiful Sanctuaries and one of Korea's Top Thirty Growing Churches in the Jeonwon Church Movement. Because of his innovation and its impact, Han is sought for various leadership roles across Korea.

 

To listen to a recording of the chapel service and degree presentation, visit nnu.edu/chapel.

 

--Northwest Nazarene University  

Kansas City, Missouri

Click here for the story on NCN News

 

• A new NPH Board of Directors was elected and installed, filling three of the vacancies created when the previous NPH board resigned.

Bob Brower, president of Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, California, was elected chair. Serving as at-large members of the NPH board will be 1) Monte Chitwood, senior vice president of D.A. Davidson, a regional brokerage firm and partner in Chitwood Pedey Investment Management Group, Spokane, Washington, and 2) Keith A. Pardue, founder of Pardue & Associates Law Firm. Austin, Texas.

As general superintendent in jurisdiction of NPH, Graves serves on its board as a non-voting member.

The new NPH board will manage the business affairs and all required legal corporate obligations of the publishing house for the benefit of the Church of the Nazarene.

• Mark D. Brown was appointed interim CEO of NPH and will work closely with the NPH board.

• A crisis management team was named to work simultaneously with the new board to coordinate the closing of NPH, provide resources in the transition, and re-envision NPH for the future.

Jack Stone (former general secretary for the denomination) will lead the team, reporting to the BGS, while also serving as a resource to the new NPH Board of Directors.

Members appointed by the BGS include: Mark Brown, NPH closure project manager; Frank Moore (general editor for the denomination), transition and resourcing project manager; Jim Van Hook (former NPH interim CEO), re-envisioning project manager; and David Wilson (current general secretary), legislative harmonization project manager.

Working in collaboration, the crisis management team and the NPH Board of Directors will focus on several goals set by the BGS:

• Proper closure of the current business model of NPH while securing care for the employees and assets of the organization

• Targeted and uninterrupted provision of ministry resources to local churches during the transition period

• A new business model that will help the Church of the Nazarene continue focusing on its mission to make Christlike disciples in the nations

According to David Graves, several months of Sunday school curriculum is already prepared and will be available to the churches. NPH is in the process of shipping the December-January-February curriculum for 2014-2015.    

Put them together and you have a shoe that can grow five sizes and last for five years.

After about seven years of research and development, one Nampa man will launch TheShoeThatGrows.org to provide children around the world with a pair of shoes that readjusts to fit their feet as they grow.

"I'm just excited to get these out there, because I really believe it is just a good, solid shoe for kids," Kenton Lee said. "And I'll do whatever it takes to get as many of these to the kids who need them."

Lee graduated from Northwest Nazarene University in 2007. He spent the next year traveling on mission trips, stopping for five months at an orphanage of 140 children in Kenya. Their parents had all died from AIDS.

The orphanage's electricity would go on and off, there was no clean water and while nobody starved, food was lean, Lee said. Conditions were dirty and dusty.

One day, Lee and the children were going for a walk. He looked at one of the girls. She was about 6 years old. Her shoes caught his attention.

"They were so small that she had to cut the front of them open to let her toes stick out," Lee said. "I thought, spur of the moment, 'Oh, that would be nice if there was a shoe that they could just adjust and expand.'"

The thought stuck, and Lee couldn't shake it once he returned to the U.S.

Samaritan's Feet, an organization that works to distribute shoes around the world, states two billion people worldwide are plagued with parasitic diseases that could be prevented by wearing proper footwear.

In 2009, Lee launched Because International, a nonprofit organization. His first project was to make a shoe that would grow. Five years later, The Shoe That Grows is ready for people to buy and distribute around the world.

"I know I could go back right now and give a pair of these to that little girl, and she could wear them for a few years," Lee said.

TheShoeThatGrows.org will be a one-stop shop where people can buy shoes in packages of one, five, 10, 25, 50 or 100.

"If they travel to places where they know kids need shoes, and kids struggle with that, I'll ship these to them and then they can take them themselves as they travel," Lee said.

An order of 25 shoes comes in a duffel bag with 25 drawstring backpacks to package each shoe.

People can also pay $10 for a pair of shoes that will go to five partner organizations around the world. Once a bag of 50 pairs is filled up, the shoes are sent.

In the coming weeks, Lee will receive his first shipment of shoes to his house from a factory in China.

"I don't know how quickly the first 3,000 are going to go ... but we're excited to place more orders and keep doing that," he said.

A gleam forms in Lee's eye as he explains the launch of a product he has watched grow and expand, much like the product itself.

But it wasn't always easy for a guy who has no shoe experience.

Lee called companies such as Nike, Crocs, Tom's, all of whom said it would be a good idea, but told him to call back once he had the idea ready. They told him the idea wasn't something those companies already produced.

When that failed, Lee thought maybe he didn't explain it well enough. He spent $500 of his own money to make a video and sent it to shoe companies.

There was still no interest.

He kept thinking of the kids in Kenya and how his concept would make more sense to be able to adjust with their growing feet.

Lee bought about 20 pairs of Crocs and cut them all up to find out how the idea could possibly work, but he didn't make much progress.

"I knew I didn't know what I was doing with shoes," Lee said. "I was picturing trying to make a factory in my backyard. I didn't even know the first place to start."

Doubts crept in. Maybe this wasn't a good idea.

Lee went to one Nampa Chamber of Commerce luncheon - the only one he has ever been to. He explained his idea to a fellow NNU grad there, who pointed him toward another NNU grad in Portland, who connected him to a person in France, who connected Lee to Proof of Concept, a shoe company in Portland that specializes in developing footwear.

"They loved the idea," Lee said. "Without them, I probably would have given up about two years ago."

Gary Pitman, founder and president of Proof of Concept, has been in the shoe industry for about 30 years, working for Nike and Adidas. He also grew up in Emmett.

Pitman was interested in the concept and thought the idea was doable. But what made this project stick out above the rest?

"I guess it was the concept of giving back and helping a nonprofit like Because International make a difference in the world," Pitman said.

The shoe went through about six prototypes. Then, a year ago, 100 pairs of prototype-shoes were made, and Lee took them to schools in Kenya. It was a make-it-or-break-it trip to see if the shoe would work.

The kids loved it and were excited about it, Lee said. The adults were excited too about the shoe's sturdiness, because the shoes available to those children are cheap and last only a few months, Lee said.

After feedback, the shoe was adjusted to the design today, with a patent in the works.

"For a long time, it was just an idea, just kind of a harebrained idea," Lee said. "I never really thought anything would come of it. Just step by step, through a lot of failing, too, we finally made it."
--Republished with permission from the Idaho Press-Tribune