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NY14 Lock-In

From February 28 – March 2, the Queens Korean SDA church hosted the NY14 Lock-in event featuring Pastor Henry Johnson as the guest speaker. This event was the second of the NY 13 outreach initiative that was sponsored by the Greater New York Conference. The Lock-in was a collaborative effort of the Queens Korean SDA, Northern New York Korean SDA, Westchester Korean SDA, New Jersey Korean Central SDA, Trenton Korean SDA, and New York Central SDA churches.

The ambitious theme for the weekend was: God on trial: demanding real answers on God, evil, suffering, individuality, and salvation. The weekend started off with Henry Johnson speaking for Friday night vespers. His initial talk focused on how “God is love” is the prevailing principle of how the universe runs. Because the very nature of love requires total freedom of the individual to accept or reject that love, there was much risk that God took in creating the earth as He did.

The subsequent four talks on Saturday focused on the ramifications of the way the principle of “God is love” was perverted by selfishness. Pastor Johnson reviewed key stories of the Old Testament that revealed the heart of God as He attempted to bridge the gap between God and humankind when we chose selfishness.

Four messages in one day, on such a “heavy” topic seemed quite a challenge but because Pastor Henry spoke in such an animated and engaging manner, the participants listened attentively to each message. At the final meeting, many people, young and old responded to the altar call.

Interspersed between the talks was great food provided by the Queens church, and some fun icebreaker activity led out by David Koh. Following the Saturday night vespers, many young people had fun at a nearby gym that was rented out for the night. Gym night was followed by a lock-in at the Queens church in which board games and getting to know Pastor Henry, who gamely consented to participating in the sleepover, was the prevailing theme. He finally caved at 3AM, but the rest of the youth were gamed until sunrise.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend of fun, fellowship, and a deeper revelation of God’s profound love for every single individual. A big thanks goes to Pastor Henry Johnson for making sense of such a difficult topic with sensitivity, wisdom, and humor. Thanks to the Queens church for being wonderful hosts and providing great meals.

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