October 25-29 marked the last GYC Board of Directors meeting that I’ll chair as the president.  I’ve been doing some reflection and here are the things memories I’ll cherish most.

5.  Her Condition
We were at our first Board meeting in Country Life at Oak Haven in Michigan.  Andrea and I were at it again during lunch, and Mike was with us.  I forgot the details of our conversation together, but somewhere along the line the impression was given that Judy and I were expecting–I said we were expecting, but I didn’t say WHEN we were going to start making an effort to get.

The day ended with the start of Sabbath and we took a break from business.  No one brought up what was discussed in our lunch conversation…until

Saturday night.  We are electing new ECOM members for two-year terms.  I was elected president and was allowed in the Boardroom to help select the rest of the committee.  During our discussion, Judy’s name was brought up.  Up to this point, she served as our Executive Secretary, Programming and Logistics Vice President, and Standing Committee Chair (Steve Waterbrook made up that title: creative, but…interesting).

Mike starts off: “I don’t know, Israel.  Do you care to share some thoughts?”

I’m thinking, some people are thinking about the wisdom of having a married couple be on the ECOM together, and Mike wants me to open things up.

I say: “No, go ahead Mike”

Mike, speaking VERY slowly: “Well, regarding Judy’s…condition”

I’m thinking, condition?  That’s an interesting way of looking at marriage.  No wonder he’s not married yet 🙂

I look at Mike with a funny expression on my face…

Mike, acting kind of stressed: “Seeing that she’s… I don’t know how public this is…pregnant?”

The Board responds — but Dr. Pipim’s “ISRAEL!” was the funniest of all.

I explained, and we laughed.

4.  Food
I love food.  And never have I tasted any better vegan food than at Oak Haven’s Country Life.  It was ridiculously good!  Having a small event?  Ring them up–there food is not only out of control, they’re prices are also very affordable!

3.  “Five minutes”
Our first GYC was pretty intense.  First meeting was a 6 am, had workshops on Friday, almost until sundown.  Everyone was tired.  I was rooming with Justin Kim, Steve Waterbrook, and James Kim.  Can you believe that one of our ECOMers was not going to make a morning meeting because he was too tired?

Good thing we had Judy and Justin.

Justin convinced all of us that if we prayed the night before, God would get us up.  I think he forgot to pray the last night, because he failed to get up on Sunday morning.  Hahaha.

But Judy, every morning, would faithfully knock our door.  Justin would open with his big glasses on.  Judy would immediately start yelling and talking at speeds of a jumbo jet about to take off.  In the middle somewhere, we always heard “lalalalallalallalalala FIVE MINUTES!!!! (Judy shows five fingers in case Justin is a visual learner)  lalalalallalalaa” — that was her telling us that the program was about to start (in five minutes) and that Israel should head up since he was platform chairman every morning.

The funny thing is that Justin would close the door during the last part of Judy’s…compelling plea to hasten.  And after we got dressed, we opened the door just to see Judy waiting for us.  She walked with me from the room to the platform giving me the details of all the announcements that I needed to make.

2.  3ABN?
I’ll never forget when 3ABN called me to ask if they could come and broadcast GYC live.  It was a crazy experience!  I won’t forget the crew that came–such great people!

1.  Chatting
It was like 2 or 3 in the morning and I couldn’t sleep.  I was in California at that time living at home with my parents for the semester.  The thought came to start GYC and I needed to share it with someone.  I got online and saw that Justin Kim was logged.  I thought that his computer was left on and he’d gone to bed.  I messaged him “please be on, tell me you’re on…” and he responded.  We got excited about the possibilities and divided up the contacting of the rest of the group.

For the next year, our ECOM meetings were to be done online through chatting.  People would type whole prayers on chat.  It was interesting and comical.  Thanks to Staci for introducing the free conference call website.  It’s used by a bunch of different ministries and is the preferred choice of teleconferencing that I know of!

A special thanks:
Everyone on GYC has impacted my life.  But I wanted to thank a few people:
1.  Justin — seems like we’ve been twin brothers in ministry through this whole thing.  GYC and CAMPUS and all the other things.  Pretty crazy!  It’s been a blast.  We’ve gotten mad at each other, we’ve been frustrated with other people together, and we’ve enjoyed the shocking moments of seeing God granting success together.  I’ve appreciated this journey with you and will be praying for you as you continue with it.

2.  Andrea — If JK’s my brother, you’re my sister.  I can’t think of a better diplomat.  Hitting up those meetings with you was always fun.  Watching your gentle yet significant presence take control of discussions always made my job a lot easier.  We’ve been like partners together in a lot of things and I’ve enjoyed it very much–especially the times I succeeded at making you lose your composure!

3.  The Doc — if anyone really believed in young people, it was Dr. Pipim.  Blasted us a bunch of times, but in the end he was the first to put his reputation on the line for this thing.  May other leaders rise up for God’s cause as he has.