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Rev.David Yonggi Cho l Profile |
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After graduating from the theology school, Pastor Yonggi Cho
along with Pastor Ja-shil Choi and her three children held the
first worship service at her home.
The home church began to
grow more and more and had a membership of fifty.
Then a tent
was pitched out in the yard. At night, even in winter, church
members prayed all night and then went out to witness all around
the Daejo area during the day.
Amid the chaos and destruction
of the war's aftermath which brought great hardship and poverty
to the people of Korea, Pastor Cho proclaimed the message of
the Three-fold Blessing: the well-being of the spirit, body,
and circumstances.
With the fullness and the miracles of the
Holy Spirit, many suffering from various illnesses were healed
and Christians who came to church were filled with hope.
The
church was growing remarkably well when Pastor Cho received
an enlistment letter in January of 1961.
The church had grown
to a membership of 400 within three years of its founding and
had just purchased a plot of land to build a church.
So the
mandatory enlistment was truly devastating.
A few days prior
to his enlistment, Pastor Cho asked missionary John Hurston
who had been led by the Holy Spirit to the church, to take charge
of the church, and Pastor Cho went into the army in January.
While in the army, Pastor Cho suffered from an intestinal illness,
which required surgery at the army hospital.
However, even after
major surgery-which took him to the brink of life and death,
his condition would not improve.
Therefore, Pastor Cho was discharged
from the army after seven months of service. |
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