Jesus' Way will be selling its first-ever released CDs from their Friday night worship sessions at Sooyoungro Church after each of ther worship sessions during the Atlanta tour.
Jesus’ Way, the worship band that has been leading Friday late night worship at Sooyoungro Presbyterian Church, a megachurch in Busan, South Korea, has arrived in Atlanta.
“We’re holding on to Mark 1:2-3, and striving to be like John the Baptist, who did not glorify himself, and whose voice cried out in the desert to reveal Jesus. We want to be a worship team that isn’t focused on us, but only on Jesus Christ—worshipping Him and letting Him be known,” said Jung-Min Lee, who introduced the worship team.
“We want to be a worship team that prepares the way for Jesus’ return,” he added. “More than musical perfection, we want to lead a worship that allows people to experience God’s power.”
Jesus’ Way will be leading worship at various Korean churches in Atlanta beginning Jan. 18 at Korean Community Presbyterian Church of Atlanta; Jan. 21 at Korean Center Presbyterian Church Atlanta; and lastly at Jan. 23 at Nashville Korean Presbyterian Church. During its time in Atlanta, the band is also looking forward to visiting the Passion 2015 Conference, as well as North Point Community Church, a church which Sooyoungro sees as a role model.
Jesus’ Way, which began in December of 2012, regards Friday late night worship to be one of its greatest priorities, to the extent that, more than any other reputation, the band would like to be known as “the band that leads Friday late night worship sessions.” Once a tradition in many Korean churches, Friday late night worship sessions are known for long, passionate hours of worship leading into the early morning hours of Saturday. Jesus’ Way members believe that it is in Friday night worships that the church is able to experience a radical, and crazy type of worship that pushes the church to grow.
Pastor Jung-Min Lee, who is part of Jesus' Way, said that one of the reasons Korean churches may be experiencing a decline is its loss of radical, desperate, and passionate worship.
"Korean churches express that they are going through difficult seasons, and it’s actually true,” Lee shared. “When we get into the core of why that might be, it’s because Korean churches have lost its sense of worshipping radically. Now that many families have become financially stable, they've lost that desperation, and early morning services and Friday late night worships have been weakening and disappearing.”
Lee went on to explain that Reverend Pil-do Chung, the lead pastor of Sooyoungro, has been holding onto and protecting Friday late night worship sessions “like his own life.”
"Even now, we have about 5,000 people attending our Friday worship each week, from young children to youth, older men and women, and even the elderly. So we try to lead them with songs that are familiar to all of them, including hymns, contemporary worship songs, and worship songs that are on the older end, so that everyone can worship together.”
Lee believes that the Spirit moves through worship music to touch hearts regardless of generation or time period, and thus believes all generations can worship together. He further described their music style to be most similar to British rock, but that the band is pursuing a powerful and deep style of worship.
“We’ve been preparing our hearts with prayer by worshipping and praying at early dawn prayers for the past six months,” Lee said. “He’s given us the command to ‘let everything that has breath praise the Lord,’ and we're looking forward to worship radically and passionately with the Korean immigrant churches in the U.S.”
After each worship service, Jesus’ Way will also be selling CDs of the first album the band has released, which has live recordings of their worship during Sooyoungro’s Friday night services. The team is also seeking out other churches they may be able to worship with during the 25th to 28th.
For more information, contact worshipconnector@hotmail.com.
