EDITOR’S NOTE: Bobby Welch recently traveled to South Korea as the SBC’s strategist for Global Evangelical Relations. The following article is part of a series sharing a glimpse of his visit with Southern Baptist military chaplains and dialogue with Korean evangelical leaders.
SEOUL, South Korea (BP)–Bobby Welch’s first act at the Korea Baptist Mission offices in Seoul probably wasn’t surprising. He asked for evangelistic tracts to distribute to those he might meet in his travels around the Korean peninsula.
Welch’s primary purpose in Korea was to connect with Korean evangelical leaders, International Mission Board missionaries and Southern Baptist military chaplains in his role as Strategist for Global Evangelical Relationships with the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee.
But another facet of his passion was evident in the random and seemingly inconsequential interactions with those he met along the way.
While waiting for a train at Seoul Station, an elderly woman approached Welch with Jehovah Witness literature. Welch politely declined but placed a tract in the bag she was carrying. As she smiled, bowed and walked away, Welch shook his head.
“That woman is trying to earn her way to heaven,” he sighed.
Later in the day, Welch made an unscheduled stop at a church in Taejon that was advertising the F.A.I.T.H. evangelistic strategy that he pioneered as pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla. Although Welch speaks no Korean, he impressed the Taejon church staff with his presence and his enthusiasm. He signed copies of the F.A.I.T.H. workbooks and left a note on a whiteboard in the conference room where the F.A.I.T.H. class would meet later in the week.
On another day, Welch gave an impromptu address to an Evangelism Explosion class at the Global Mission Church in Bundang. Speaking through an interpreter, Welch shared in his own unique style the importance of sharing the Gospel every day in every way to as many as possible.
Throughout his Sept. 3-10 visit in Korea, Welch took every opportunity, both formally and informally, to share his testimony and his faith. He spoke in three Sunday morning services on the Yongsan Army Post and he was the first Baptist to preach at the First Glory Presbyterian Church in Seoul.
He also shared his faith as often as he could with those he met individually and prayed with at least one young American to receive Christ.
It is no surprise, then, that at the end of the week, all of his evangelistic tracts were gone.
Certainly, Bobby Welch truly is a man of F.A.I.T.H.
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Ann Lovell is a media worker based in Seoul, South Korea, with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.
