Please pray with us that…
1. God would be preparing the hearts of the students so that they would be ready to receive, be broken, and be healed at GLDI.
2. God would allow our students to experience true intimacy with Him and give each student a vision for their life during GLDI.
3. the students, faculty and staff would get along well and experience true Christian community.
4. the students would experience true transformation at GLDI and continue to live transformed lives after they go home.
5. the faculty and speakers would be effective instruments to reveal God’s heart and vision to the students.
6. the staff would be filled with the Holy Spirit and be sensitive to His promptings.
7. the staff would be both spiritually and physically healthy. 
8. God would keep all the speakers and students safe as they travel in and out.
9. God would meet all of GLDI’s financial needs and that He would bless individuals who believe in this vision and are giving generously.

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Sid came to Crown Ministries after leaving Vice President of Human Resources and Director of Strategic Business at California Manufacturing Technology Center. Sid is a seminar instructor for Crown, giving presentations on Business by the Book and Journey to True Financial Freedom. He has served local churches as Men’s Ministry Coordinator, Elder, Life Group Leader Trainer, and Crown Leader. Sid is a Fellowship of Companies for Christ International (FCCI) Leader.

Donna is adjunct professor in Masters of Leadership at Biola University. She was the first professor in the Information Decision Sciences department at California State University, San Bernardino to be selected to teach in the Distance Learning Classroom via television. At Pomona College, as faculty out-reach specialist, she was Webmaster for academic computing instructional websites. She’s taught more than 1100 college students from all over the world. Her first novel, Leaving Innocence, is being published in 2010.

Having visited in more than 30 countries and moved residences 19 times, Sid and Donna have been married 39 years and have two grown sons, a daughter -in-law, and three grandchildren.

Upon seeing an advertisement in the local Korean newspaper, I wanted to attend GLDI for my own reasons (my spiritual life had grown terrible, the past semester had been tough, I was emotionally exhausted) but as God would soon show, He had a bigger, better and dare I say, more global, plan in store for me. Not only did I get a jump-start back into my relationship with God through prayer and Bible reading, but I also experienced God stretching my heart for others during those six precious weeks. I was always pretty concerned about my spiritual health (have I been reading the Bible? do I feel close to God?) but during GLDI God blew me away with how vast His plan is compared to my very small-minded view of spirituality.

While God does love me very much, I learned that my life is not about me. That’s a hard one to swallow. It seems like an easy enough concept, but I had a difficult time living it out. Before GLDI, everything in my life, from my time, to activities to relationships, was about how it could benefit me. It was during this very special summer that God began to expand my heart. He first opened my heart toward GLDI brothers and sisters, and then gradually for the nations.

I realized how shallow I had kept my relationships with friends, including fellow believers–never confessing my sins or asking deep questions about others’ lives. I didn’t want to bother with other peoples’ problems because it would be burdensome for me, and I didn’t see how I could help at all. A “solo saint” for most of my life, I usually kept to myself, with bouts of pastoral guidance here and there. But then we had the 12-hour prayer rally at GLDI, which soon became my favorite moment of GLDI. That night was absolutely divine. One of the brothers shared a verse from James, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). It was then that I took the mic and began confessing sins that I’d bottled up for the past four years. I shared the ugliest things, the things that I thought no one else struggled with or understood. As I confessed each sin, one by one, I experienced an instantaneous healing in my soul. Contrary to what I’d expected, I was not judged by the other GLDI students but rather, embraced and prayed for all the more.

Beginning the next day people would say things like, “You look really different –as if this shadow casting on your face weren’t there anymore,” “Like a thousand weights had been lifted off your shoulders,” “Your face is glowing.” My relationships at GLDI deepened dramatically, and I became more warm and open. When I got back to school people saw a change in me, and these days many people have been coming to me for advice, or just someone to talk to when they want to feel loved. This is a miracle. I was not like this before! I had been stingy with my time and my energy but God has transformed me and made me radically generous. This is the power of the cross.

If that weren’t wonderful enough, God also stretched my heart for the Kingdom of God and for the nations. Before GLDI the Kingdom of God was a vague concept that meant nothing to me, and global missions seemed like an activity for “overachieving” Christians. I had been content with being a good member of my church and serving on a ministry team, even being a part of a small group. However, God revealed to me during times of prayer and fasting, that I had lacked a longing for the Lord’s appearing and that I was not laboring for the cause of world evangelization. He made the correlation between the two so clear and I realized that reaching to the nations was not a superfluous endeavor but actually central to God’s heart.

I cannot thank God enough for the priceless experiences I had at GLDI. The relationships I developed were some of the deepest and most encouraging bonds I’ve ever formed. Rooted in the gospel and based on God, our solid rock–my friends and I are able to share our ugliest of sins and still feel loved because we know His wonderful forgiveness. Knowing that I have a league of people praying for me and supporting me all over the states is deeply comforting, especially when I need a lot of prayer. I can’t express how much love I have for my new “family” who has taught me much more than they may know, and I have never encountered such a loving staff from any other organization. GLDI is another clear reminder of God’s generous and wonderful provision in my life. I will remember it forever and cannot thank Him enough for this “heaven on earth” experience. God is truly good. He is so, so good.

If I could rename GLDI, I would call it Global Servant Developing Community. Underneath all the intensive training, GLDI has taught me a simple yet profoundly fundamental truth about leadership: to become a leader is to become a servant. The greatest leaders are the greatest servants and the greatest servants are the greatest followers.

During one of his lectures on leadership, Dr. Os Guinness distinguished the difference between worldly calling and biblical calling. Calling, according to Dr. Guinness means to be and do what we are. The world tells us “we are what we do.” But biblical calling means, “We do what we are.” This is very true. In this society, we are defined by what we do, what school we went to, or the achievements that we’ve accomplished. Our identity and calling, therefore, are dependent on our achievement and works of being proven worthy. But biblical calling and identity are in direct contradiction to this idea. “We Christians do what we are,” said Dr. Guinness. We are called to be the servants of Christ, His followers. The words that changed the world are “follow me,” and we always have to remember that we are not called to be someone but we are called to someone. Although GLDI brings many influential Christian leaders from various spheres of fields in society, all of their lectures on leadership can be summed up into one word, obedience. From obedience come integrity, humility, and trustworthiness before the audience of One. When we take all we have and make it obedient to Christ, we become faithful servants, leading us to become the greatest leaders.

Conclusion 1) GLDI is a different kind of school. It’s a Christ-centered community that enables people to become the best servant and follower of Christ. Speaking of community, one of the greatest aspects about GLDI is that you get to live in the community of Christ. As much as I’ve learned from world-renowned speakers, I’ve learned from my fellow colleagues. Living with the same people for 40 days in close proximity can be challenging, as it is fun. As iron sharpens iron, my brothers in Christ have sharpened me by enabling me to see and shave away my pride, ego, and selfishness. And through the discussions, sharing, and fellowship, we got to challenge, correct, heal and encourage each other in love. GLDI doesn’t just teach mere knowledge on leadership. It shows us how to live to become servant leaders. It teaches us how to think, see, and live biblically, how to love and serve, and most importantly, how to become the followers Christ.

Conclusion 2) This simple truth on servant leadership was powerfully liberating. God wasn’t looking for my ability but for my availability. And God is not waiting for me to do something great but He is expecting me to be faithful to small things that are given to me now so that He may entrust me with great things in the coming years. Even as I’m back in the reality of the world, I feel an unexplainable sense of peace and security that my identity has been purchased at the cross, not by my works. If I can take one thing home from my 40 days in GLDI, it is to live for the audience of One. GLDI has given me the right idea of leadership and has secured my identity as a follower of Christ.

Top guns and men of Isaachar. Those were the words that Dr. John Kim spoke of on the first night of GLDI. "GLDI is looking for top guns–fighter planes that can go off together and target the enemy. We need our generation to produce men of Isaachar–men who ‘understood the times and knew what Israel should do’" (1 Chronicles 12:32). Such words marked the beginning of change for me. I always thought of my role as a Christian in this world as a very limited and passive one. It was not until GLDI that I realized that if we, God’s children, do not step up and claim this country, then Satan’s forces will. When Dr. Kim spoke of how we must claim America as our nation and rise to take ownership of it, something stirred in my heart. All of my life I had a very narrow view of the role that Christians had in this world. GLDI emphasized that we are Americans with a Korean heritage, and thus called to be owners of this nation. Such a statement of truth immediately changed my view on life. If America is my nation, then it is my duty to rightfully claim it back for God. I realized that for far too long I had put my view of my life as a Christian in a box. But the messages and experiences of GLDI were the keys that unlocked this box to release new passion and vision for God.

Such new passion, I found, could only come from loving God. This passion fueled my desire to not be number one, but to be the best. I learned that leadership means ownership, which means taking initiative. Too often, the rest of my generation and I have been guilty of being passive, waiting for others to make the first move. Yet if God has called His children to be leaders, then we must rise and live like owners of our country. We cannot wait and hope for things to get accomplished; if God has given us visions and burdens, then it is our responsibility to take action. During the third and fourth week of GLDI, God gave me such an opportunity to put into practice what He revealed through the speakers and sermons about leadership. I was given the privilege of being the second family group leader, and such an experience allowed me to see the role of leadership on a deep and personal level. I learned that being a leader meant a lot of sacrifices. I had to sacrifice my time and energy for my family, and for the first week I had difficulty accepting this. While my members were playing volleyball or engaging in fellowship, I had to refrain myself from such activities to prepare for reflection time discussion questions and go to meetings. Although I desperately wanted to spend my available time to rest or hang out with others, I knew that as a leader, I had to sacrifice such desires. The fact that it was so hard for me to give these things up without complaint made me see the selfishness of my own heart.

I found that selfishness, pride, and fear were things that still bounds me. During my first few days as a family group leader, I had the mindset that I was called to take charge and keep my family members in order. I feared that I had to meet certain expectations from my family members, and that if I did not meet their expectations, then I would not gain their respect and love. I was still living with the secular definition of leadership in my mind. I forgot that to God, being a leader means being like Jesus, and Jesus came to earth to serve and not be served (Matthew 20:28). Thus I had to humble and die to myself every day. I had to realize that I was called to be a leader for a purpose, and that purpose was to serve my family in love. I re-learned what serving meant through my experience as a family leader. I was there to bring out the best in my sisters, to allow each one of them to use their talents and passions to grow to be the best that they could be. The importance of working and serving as a team was revealed to me, and I saw that if one member of the family was struggling, then it was up to us to help that sister out. If one member fell, then our whole family would fall as well. As a leader, I saw how beautiful our family members’ dynamics were and how each girl contributed something special to our group.
But such loving interactions could only come from transparency and vulnerability. I learned that until we started to openly share with each other our struggles, sins, joys, concerns, cares, and burdens, then slowly the walls of defense and pride would come down. When such walls crumble, God can finally come and bring breakthrough. From GLDI, I witnessed love move in such powerful ways. Our family began to truly care for each other, praying for each other on a daily basis, fasting together and reading the Word. We grew stronger and accepted each others’ faults. I was so humbled when I found out that my family did not count my sins and mistakes against me–that they in fact loved me the same, if not more, after I shared with them my fears and struggles. Such sound love without judgment was something that I had never experienced before, and this bond that grew in our family radically changed my view on what small groups and the church as a body should look like.

I never would have thought that GLDI would have impacted my life in such a way that would have changed my view on who I am as God’s child in this world. After experiencing forty days of being a servant, leader, sister, follower, prayer warrior, encourager, learner, and student, I now am ready and eager to implement what I have witnessed and learned from GLDI to my home, family, church, and school. I do not look at July 31st, 2009 as the end of GLDI, but the beginning of something new. I will stand as a firm warrior for Christ. I will not forget what I have been taught. I will go and be a leader, knowing that I have ownership of this nation and thus will make the effort and pains to carry out God’s work. I want the body to be as one in love, I want the church to be like the beautiful bride of Christ, I want prayer movements to awaken campus ministries. I know that the visions and teachings I received from GLDI were given to me to be carried out, and I will not stop or rest until Christ comes. I will wait patiently and with strength and guidance from the Spirit, will carry my work with faith and joy, clinging onto that hope when one day, Jesus will come and say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

한국에서  태어나 남들이 다 가는 학원도 다니지  못하고, 순수한 공교육의 혜택만 받으며  자라왔던 저에게 교육 받은 아이들, 유학생들, 한인 2세들은 부러움의 대상이었고 늘 저는 교육을 충분히 받지 못한 것에 대한 쓴뿌리를 안고 있었습니다. 그런데 GLDI를 통해 하나님께서는 저의 저주를 축복으로 바꾸실 수 있다는 것을 보여주셨고, 저처럼 교육의 혜택을 누리지 못하는 전세계에 수 많은 아이들을 위해 한 손에는 교육을, 한 손에는 복음을 가지고 가서 그들을 제자삼으라는 비전을 주셨습니다. 저의 중심을 보시는 하나님께서 제 삶을 통해 날마다 찬양 받으시기 원하고 그 분의 온전한 뜻이 이루어 지기를 간절히 기도하며 저에게 새로운 인생을 허락한 GLDI에 너무 감사 드립니다.