Joon Gon Kim (March 28, 1925 – September 29, 2009) was a South Korean religious leader who was the founder of
Korea Campus Crusade for Christ
Korea Campus Crusade for Christ (KCCC) (also known as "Soon Movement" in the United States) is an interdenominational Korean organization founded by Dr. Joon Gon Kim in 1958. It was the first overseas mission post for Campus Crusade for Christ, ...
. During the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, he lost both his father and his wife.
[* , p. 95] In 1957, he went to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and attended
Fuller Theological Seminary where he met Dr.
Bill Bright, the founder of
Campus Crusade for Christ International
Cru (until 2011 known as Campus Crusade for Christ—informally "Campus Crusade" or simply "crusade"—or CCC) is an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. It was founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles by B ...
. In 1958, with collaboration and support from Bright, Kim established Korea Campus Crusade for Christ. In 2004, with much fanfare, Kim retired and appointed Sung Min Park as his successor.
Kim was also a famous Korean Christian Evangelist. The story goes that during the springtime, as Kim's family was enjoying the day, an angry band of communist guerrillas invaded the village where Kim lived, killing everyone, including Kim's family. The guerrillas killed Kim's wife and father. Kim was beaten and left for dead. Late, he awoke and fled to the safety of the mountains with his young daughter, Unhi Kim.
Kim learned from Scriptures to love his enemies and pray for those who persecuted him. The Spirit of God impressed upon him that he was to return to the village, seek out the communist leader who had led the attack and tell the communist leader, who killed Kim's wife and father, that he loved and forgave the communist leader, and to speak to the communist leader of God's love through Christ. This eventually happened, and the communist leader ended up kneeling in prayer with Kim and gave his life to Christ. Within a short time, a number of other communists were converted to Christ and Kim helped build a church for these and other new Christians. Kim later became the pastor of one of the largest churches in South Korea, and founder of Korea Campus Crusade for Christ.
Death and legacy
On September 29, 2009 he died at the age of 85.
Notes
See also
*
Christianity in Korea
The practice of Christianity in Korea is marginal in North Korea, but significant in South Korea, where it revolves around two of its largest branches, Protestantism and Catholicism, accounting for 8.6 millionAccording to figures compiled by ...
References
*
External links
Joon Gon Kim ''Naver''
2009 deaths
Fuller Theological Seminary alumni
1925 births
People from South Jeolla Province
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