Ock Soo Park (born June 2, 1944) is an

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

based in

Gangnam, Seoul Gangnam or Kangnam may refer to: Places Stations Other uses * Kangnam (singer) (born 1987), a member of the South Korean hip hop group M.I.B. * Kangnam University, a university in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea See also * "Gangnam Sty ...

, South Korea. He founded the

Good News Mission Good News Mission (GNM; ) is a South Korean Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian ...

, a Christian based new religious movement. Many churches and theologians mistakenly or intentionally make false links between Good News Mission and ''Guwonpa''. In the midst of the Sewolho boat tragedy, it became well-known that the captain of the ship was a member of Guwonpa, a known cult in Korea. Many mainstream news outlets assumed Good News Mission was a part of Guwonpa. However, every single one of the outlets later apologised for making this false link. He has also founded other organizations, including the Gracias Choir and Orchestra and the International Youth Fellowship (IYF). According to the IYF, he has met with 29 state heads from 23 countries to discuss issues to do with education.

Early life

Park was a student at Seonsan Middle School where he met a missionary from WEC International in England, and was recruited as a missionary student. He joined the missionary school established by WEC International in 1962.

Ministry career

As a minister, Park has founded several organizations. The Good News Mission was founded in 1972 as a missionary school. The organization runs a number of churches throughout South Korea, and sends missionaries abroad. A fraud/scam case against Park and the Good News Mission ended in an acquittal by Korea's Supreme Court; the charge was that Park had sold stock fraudulently to church members and "raked in unlawful profits", but the Supreme Court held that "it is hard to regard Park as an accomplice".The two lower courts also earlier made a verdict that found Park not guilty. In 2000, Park founded the Gracias Choir, an orchestra and choral ensemble which travels with Park on his international tours. The choir has won various prizes in choir festivals, including the 2015 Marktoberdorf Choral Competition in Germany. The International Youth Fellowship (IYF) is a Christian-based NGO which Park established in 2001. It has branches in a number of countries, and also operates the "Good News Corps" for college students. Park has travelled and delivered sermons internationally. In 2016 he was invited to preach a sermon at the "King's Prayer Meeting" in Swaziland (now

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), which was broadcast by the national radio station.

Books

Park has published a number of books, through his publishing house Good News Publishing, or using self-publishing companies such as Kindle Direct Publishing and Tate Publishing & Enterprises. Titles include * ''The Secret of Forgiveness of Sin and Being Born Again'' (1997), * ''Out from despair'' (2004), * ''Repentance and Faith'' (2005), * ''Cain and Abel: The Secret of Forgiveness of Sin and Being Born Again'' (2005), * ''Notes on Genesis 1'' (2008), * ''Notes on Genesis 2'' (2008), * ''Navigating the Heart: Who Is Dragging You'' (2013), * ''Standing on the field of the heart'' (2018), * ''How I Became Free from Sin'' (2018), * ''Lectures on Offerings of Leviticus - A Four-Book Set'' (2019), * ''It Is God That Justifieth'' (2020),

References

{{morecat, date=August 2022 1944 births Living people People from Gumi, North Gyeongsang South Korean religious leaders