wfn.org | Rhee elected moderator on 50th anniversary of his flight from North

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Note #5965 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Korea
24-June-2000
GA00020

	Rhee elected moderator on 50th anniversary of his flight from North Korea

	Korean-American pastor says faith in God is only sustenance

	by Jerry L. Van Marter

LONG BEACH, June 24 -- The Rev. Syngman Rhee, 69, who exactly 50 years ago
today was forced to flee North Korea when the Korean War broke out, was
elected moderator of the 212th General Assembly on the first ballot.

	He received 257 votes, two more than the needed majority.  The Rev. Jill
Martinez, a housing development worker from Santa Barbara, Calif., finished
second with 107 votes.  Youngil Cho, a Korean-American elder from Raleigh,
N.C., finished third with 82 votes and the Rev. John Herndon, III, a pastor
from Huntsville, Ala., trailed with 65 votes.

	It was the first moderatorial election in history in which there were no
white male candidates.

	Rhee, a member of Atlantic Korean-American Presbytery, is professor of
mission and evangelism and director of the Asian American Ministry and
Mission Center at Union Theological Seminary/Presbyterian School of
Christian Education in Richmond, Va.  He was formerly associate director of
the Worldwide Ministries Division in Louisville.

	In a halting voice, Rhee spoke of his flight from North Korea at age 19
with his younger brother.  His mother remained in North Korea.  His father
was martyred by the communist regime for his faith.  "I remember the hunger,
being afraid and cold and feeling hopeless," Rhee told the 558 commissioners
during his campaign speech to the Assembly.  "The only thing that sustained
me then and the only thing that sustains me now is faith in God."

	Recalling relief efforts by Church World Service that brought "food,
blankets and most important of all hope" upon his arrival in the south, Rhee
said, "You can understand why mission and evangelism are, for me, the urgent
tasks of the church."

	The Rev. Rebecca McElroy, a commissioner from Missouri Union Presbytery who
nominated Rhee, called him "a zealous man of God" and a "passionate
proponent of evangelism and reconciliation."

	In response to one question from the floor, Rhee rejected the assertion
that an "irreconcilable impasse" exists in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
 "We are in conflict not because we hate each other but because we love our
church."  The key to resolving conflict in the church, he said, is to affirm
the centrality of Jesus Christ no matter what the disagreement."

	Such an approach to conflict lead Presbyterians to "hold our convictions
with humility, to say to each other: ‘This is the best I know but I may be
wrong before God so please forgive me."

	Martinez demonstrated an infectious enthusiasm in her speech and answers to
questions.  "Life in God is so exciting," she said, "you just can't NOT do
ministry in God's name."

	Herndon said his greatest strength is his ability "to dare people to
dream."

	Cho urged renewed personal spirituality, including an appeal to all
Presbyterians to spend at least 15 minutes each day in personal Bible study.

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