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07563 September 7, 2007
Cho honored by Korean laymen
Former GAC chair is first U.S. citizen to receive 'Great Award'
by Emily Enders Odom Associate, Mission Communications
DURHAM, NC - In recognition of his faithful service at every level of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the National Laymen's Association of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) presented elder Youngil Cho with its Laymen's Great Award on Aug. 15.
In the Korean church's more than 100-year history, only three people have been so honored.
Cho, a former presbytery moderator who also served as chair of the General Assembly Council from 1996-1997, is the first American Presbyterian to receive the award.
Over 3,000 people, well exceeding the auditorium's capacity, attended the ceremony, which was held at the Daesung Resort Park near Seoul, Korea. Among those who rose to recognize Cho was the eldest of his five children, Thomas K. Cho, a commander in the U.S. Navy stationed in Singapore, who flew in for the occasion.
"I was so happy to see him," Youngil Cho said.
Commander Cho, whose duties called him to leave almost immediately after the awards presentation, stayed just long enough to ask his father why an American, not a Korean, was the recipient.
"God doesn't care whether you are Korean, American or Japanese," answered Youngil Cho, "as long as you are glorifying God."
Born in Seoul, Cho was profoundly influenced by Presbyterian missionaries in his native Korea. While traveling as a young man to the Untied States, a coup toppled the government that he served.
Cho remained in the United States where he was eventually reunited with his family and built a new life centered in his deep faith. In 1974 he helped organize Raleigh, NC's first Korean Presbyterian congregation, the DuRaleigh Presbyterian Church, where he was ordained as an elder in 1979.
Today, he remains active at DuRaleigh while serving as professor of marketing and associate dean of the School of Business at North Carolina Central University here.
According to Cho, the seeds for this unexpected honor were planted back in 1978, when as president of Presbyterian Men he was responsible for bringing 50 Korean men to the organization's annual meeting in New Orleans.
One of those men was the 35-year-old Kyung Woong Kim, who was then the PCK's youngest elder. Kim, who considered it a great honor to come to the U.S., was impressed with Cho's initiative, leadership and service on behalf of the church.
"I want to be like you," Kim told Cho.
Kim realized his goal in 2000, when he became general secretary of the National Laymen's Association of the PCK. Chief among Cho's many supporters in Korea, Kim was also the church leader primarily responsible for Cho's nomination for the Laymen's Great Award.
Cho traveled annually to Korea for 20 years beginning in 1980, when he also established an exchange program for Korean and American youth and lay leadership. He was highly regarded for providing PCK leaders with invaluable counsel and guidance in church matters.
Among his current leadership roles on behalf of the national church, Cho serves on the board of trustees of San Francisco Theological Seminary, the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic Permanent Judicial Commission, and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands, the five-year campaign of the PC(USA) to raise $40 million for new overseas missionaries and church growth in this country, particularly racial ethnic and immigrant congregations.
Linda Bryant Valentine, executive director of the General Assembly Council, congratulated Cho on his high honor.
"I am extremely grateful to Youngil for his service to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), including in particular most recently on the Joining Hearts & Hands steering committee," she said. "How very important it is for the church to continue and to enlarge our mission around the world. I thank faithful disciples like Youngil for his ongoing support of this effort."
The award's many elegant accoutrements humble Cho, who now holds a 24-karat gold key signifying permanent membership in the National Laymen's Association.
"I feel like a Nobel Prize winner," he said, "and most of all, I thank God for this award."
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