New Community Covenant Church is a multi-ethnic church in downtown Chicago, led by Pastor Peter Hong, with a mission to be a city within a city (an alternate Chicago) that passionately loves Jesus Christ, intentionally engages in authentic community, radically advances the cause of Jesus.

On November 26, Daniel spoke during New Community Covenant Church’s Sunday service. Tune in to listen to his message titled: We Are the Years the Locusts Have Eaten (Joel 2:24-29) :

Sermon Snippets

The idea of God restoring “the years that the locusts have eaten” is a metaphor for a theological reality, that says: Regardless of your personal and corporate responsibility for suffering, none of it is meaningless. And none of it is irredeemable by God.

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A short while after arriving in the US through the sponsorship of a Lutheran Church in East Moline, at the age of 40, my dad became a Christian. He’s the first Christian in our family’s ancestry. It boggles my mind to think that my dad is the first known Christian in the history of our family.

And to my dad, America isn’t the restoration of the years that the locusts have eaten. Jesus is. Jesus is the field full of grain. Jesus is the wine and the oil.

There’s pain that Jesus endured that set us up to accomplish more of God’s purpose. Let his pain inspire you.

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What if the nations aren’t here in America just so Americans can reach the nations. What if through immigration–politics and border security aside–what if the nations are here in North America so that God can use them to reach North America?

I know Asian, Hispanic, Indian church planters literally asking themselves, “How can I reach White Americans?” in the same way White Americans used to ask, “How can I reach Asians, Hispanics, and Indians?”

The Church is the restoration of the years the locusts have eaten.