ROCKWALL, TX (March 19, 2015) What happens in South Korea isn’t confined to that country or to Asia. Even in America, babies are thrown away, sometimes left on the side of a road. But on the streets of Seoul, it’s not unusual.
Lee Jong-rak, pastor of Jusarang Community Church in Seoul, takes in abandoned children, even though abandoning babies is against the law in his country. Yet unwed mothers and their disabled babies receive very little government support inSouth Korea; they also face rejection by family and society.
A June, 2011, Los Angeles Times article about Pastor Lee’s work got the attention of a film student, Brian Ivie. Before graduating from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, he read the article, “South Korean pastor tends an unwanted flock,” which profiled Lee’s ministry to abandoned babies—mostly disabled. It told how the pastor first learned to love the disabled many years ago, after his son was born with cerebral palsy and resulting brain-damage. Others began to call Lee “the pastor” because of his ministry of love to their disabled children. Lee said the disabled in his country were viewed as embarrassing curiosities at the time and are still seen as a national shame.
Drop box for unwanted babies
Ivie, a would-be film director, saw a hero in Lee Jong-rak, who built a baby “depository” into an outer wall of his home in 2009. The blanket-lined drop box had a bell that rang when opened. A sign near the box stated: “If you can’t take care of your disabled babies, don’t throw them away or leave them on the street. Bring them here.” Within two years the box received several dozen babies. Seoul authorities wanted to shut Lee’s ministry down due to overcrowded conditions.
Ivie felt called to raise awareness of the injustice. He also wanted to raise support for Lee’s work to serve mothers in crisis and to rescue the children the pastor calls “perfect.” He launched a Kickstarter.com fund to raise $20,000 to shoot a documentary. Within weeks, he reached that goal and headed to South Korea with a team of fellow film students in late 2011.
The resulting film, The Drop Box, won several awards, including “Best of Festival” at the 2013 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. Brian shared some good news at this event: “I became a Christian while making this movie. . . These kids with disabilities had crooked bodies. I have a crooked soul. And God loves me still.”
Shared passion for the sanctity of life
Ivie connected with Focus on the Family while searching for the means to promote and distribute the film. The Christian organization decided to support it as part of their work to emphasize a Christ-centered response to social issues, including the sanctity of life. The first week of March, 2015, The Drop Box was released for three week-nights only to select theatres nationwide, including Cinemark in Rockwall. (TheDropBoxFilm.com will post future opportunities to view the documentary). Many churches and community leaders purchased group tickets to help spread the movie’s message that every life has value.
Pastor Lee has now rescued more than 600 babies. Part of the movie’s profits will enable his church to construct a rescue center for mothers and their children, which should inspire compassionate outreach for orphans and the disabled everywhere.
Local compassionate outreach
In Rockwall, several churches encourage the disabled and their families through respite care ministry. The websites of First United Methodist, Eastridge Church of Christ, andLakePointeChurchmention various opportunities.LakePointealso offers special-needs classes during service times.
The last two mentioned churches also promote foster care and adoption—both domestic and international. (While some 100,000U.S.children wait in the foster-care system for adoption, the number of orphans worldwide is over 150 million).
At least one local ministry also seeks “to bring justice to the fatherless” (Isaiah 1:17; ESV). Go Be Hope specifically addresses the global need to rescue orphans and to reduce their numbers through community development in impoverished countries. Tim Cypert, a Rockwall businessman, is the president of this ECFA-Accredited ministry, which began in 2006 to support a Vietnamese orphanage. GoBeHope.com shows that the grass-roots organization has grown to include efforts inKenya,Honduras,Haiti, and other places.
“My house is the headquarters,” Cypert says. “It’s a light organization with hardly any overhead.” Area churches provide some support, but most funds are raised through a local golf tournament, a banquet, and social media networks.
While other area churches might offer some of these ministries, those mentioned have the information on their websites. But any church desiring to offer special-needs ministry can receive help through Joni and Friends, which offers training, resources and phone support to Christian churches (visit Joniandfriends.org/Texas). Stacy Hodge, Church Relations Manager for theTexasoffice, welcomes requests for information. Contact her at: 972-941-4525 or shodge@joniandfriends.org.
By Blue Ribbon News contributing writer Patti Richter of Heath. Photos are courtesy of www.thedropboxfilm.com.
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