Pastor Kim leads morning prayer for UN
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Rev. Billy Jang-hwan Kim
By Park Jin-hai
Rev. Kim Jang-hwan, chairman of the missionary radio station Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) Korea, led a prayer service for the United Nations in New York, Tuesday.
At the annual international prayer breakfast, organized ahead of the U.N. General Assembly by the U.N. Foreign Service Fellowship, the prominent Korean Christian evangelist spoke “the power of one person” to 250 U.N. officials and diplomats including U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Oh Joon.
Kim, also called Billy Kim in English, became the first Korean person to lead the prayer.
Saying that “One person can make a great difference beyond culture, geography, race and society,” Kim shared his personal story, about his humble beginnings working as a houseboy for the U.S. military under Sgt. Carl Powers in Suwon during the Korean War (1950-1953), coming to America in 1951 and receiving an education with the sergeant’s help.
“During the Korean War, he turned down five rotations to be sure this Korean houseboy would be safely on his way to the U.S.,” Kim said, recalling the late army under-sergeant who went to great trouble to free him from the misery of war and funded his education for nine years in the U.S.
Powers enrolled Kim at Bob Jones Academy in Greenville, South Carolina where he converted to Christianity.
“Without his help, that houseboy will still be a houseboy, today,” he said.
Kim served as an interpreter for Billy Graham in the 1973 Seoul Crusade, and was seated as the president of the Baptist World Alliance from 2000 to 2005.
“As one song can spark a moment and one tree can start a forest, one person can make the difference and you are the one,” he said.