Elder Gideon Lee (Representative of Urim Funeral Support Service Company)




After Meeting the God of Love

In my young days, a relative often tried to evangelize me, but I refused to attend church making various excuses—i.e. saying, "The church is too far away from here!" Because I was successfully running a manufacturing company in Bucheon City and was proud of my health, I had no interest in attending church. But he persistently came to me and preached the gospel and urged me to attend church. At last I was reluctantly guided to a church by him, but I was so impressed at the message preached by Dr. Jaerock Lee, Senior Pastor of Manmin Central Church.
I thought, "The pastor is so good. I'll attend this church next Sunday again." It was in January, 1991. I had little knowledge of God, the Lord and the Bible, but in the message delivered by Dr. Jaerock Lee I felt his goodness and humbleness. I began to attend Manmin Central Church and also attended the Two-week Special Revival Meeting commemorating the entrance to the new sanctuary. I came to possess true faith at the revival meeting.
On the first day of the revival meeting Speaker Dr. Lee delivered his testimonial sermon titled with "The God I Met" and how many tears welled up from my eyes! He testified he had suffered from various incurable diseases for 7 years and been nicknamed 'Diseases' Department Store' but when he met the living God he had been completely healed of all his diseases by the power of God and now became a pastor who heals countless souls by the power of God and leads them to the path to salvation. I was so touched at his testimonies and met the God of love.
Though I was a beginner in faith, I accompanied my group leader when he visited group members to take care of them in spirit. I joined in the praise ministry of the choir and glorified God. This helped me concentrate on listening to the message during the service and my faith increasingly grew up. From 1994, I began being assigned for a few duties in the church—financial director of Sunday Children's School, Young Adults' Mission, and Peniel Chorus, and district leader and with the passing of time my soul became prosperous and accordingly my business also prospered and my family members were evangelized.


Entering into a New Business to Support the Church

In 1995 I was elected as the president of Businessmen's Mission and since then I have made dedications to the church in spirit and flesh whenever the church was faced with financial difficulties and performed overseas crusades. And I came to be assigned for more duties—member of financial committee, financial director of Deaf Mission and director of Immanuel Choir.
One day my heart became fervent with a strong desire to support Senior Pastor with his various ministries. I thought, 'Senior Pastor's power has increased year after year and his overseas ministry is also increasing. I'm supposed to offer more dedications to the church and his overseas ministry as an elder. Senior Pastor is also making all his efforts to give as much relief to the poor as he is able. I'll start a new business in which I can employ members who fail to keep the Lord's Day because of their works and members who have lost their jobs. Then, they will get a proper job for their living and also lead a proper believing life in the Lord.'
I prayed to God with that desire, and entered into a new business expecting God's blessing. On August 15, 2004, I opened Urim Insurance Company and offered its opening service to God. I expected I would bear a few remarkable fruits in 6 months, but conversely most of the employees left the office and my company ran out of finance. One-year effort seemed to be in vain, but I didn't cease praying to God and hoped for God's blessing. I also made up my mind to sow the seed of blessing by faith.
As recorded in 2 Corinthians 8:2, "in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality," I was in great ordeal because of financial difficulty but began to help poor students by giving them scholarships to support Senior Pastor Dr. Lee by faith.


Deeds of Faith Caused God's Blessing to Overflow in My Business

When I showed those deeds of faith, Senior Pastor Dr. Lee harbored me in his heart and prayed for me. After that many faithful and competent men entered my company by the grace of God. It was not long before we moved from the 132 m2 office to 662 m2 and the number of employees reached 100. Most of my company staff were attending Manmin Central Church and praying to God so that they could work for the company in unity and the total sales increased exponentially.
In addition, based on the Scripture saying that "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39) I began praying to found a company for the total funeral support service to give the hope not only to church members but also to unbelievers. In May, 2008, at last I founded Urim Funeral Support Service Company and tried my best to walk the right path according to the teachings of Senior Pastor Dr. Lee and to provide them with better services.
We made the necessary provisions for poor clients at a lower price, while we improved the quality of the support services according to the higher price and the requests of rich clients. The staff trusted me and we all became united and did our best to provide better services to clients. It was true that many funeral support service companies were going through difficulty in making contracts with new clients, but our company experienced the increase of the contracts thanks to former clients' publicizing words, company staff's sincerity and trust in the company.


With a Desire to Pay Contribution to the Nation and the Society

In December of 2010, my funeral support service company made contracts with the Coca Cola Company and the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans' Affairs. Through these contracts, many more governmental organizations came to know the convict of my company that the funeral support service is to be freely provided to the poor. Now we are on the going to make contracts with a few governmental organizations and many famous broadcasting and social centers including KBS (Korean Broadcasting System). After 3-year service of my company, approximately 700 people work for the company and the number of membership is 3,500 and the number is still on the rise.
In the future I want to open a company to provide total services for various incidents including employment, wedding ceremony, and funeral ceremony. I wish to take care of orphans, widows, the elderly unassisted, and the abandoned, and also to make a good provision for the welfare for the elderly and the funeral ceremony of the poor by establishing the complex center.
At the 2010 church annual general assembly held in December 26, 2010, I was awarded the plaque of appreciation from the church in recognition for providing chances of employment for many church members and scholarships for poor students. Actually I started giving scholarships to those students because I was so touched to see Dr. Jaerock Lee feeling sorry for those students who have to give up their study in the middle and experience troubles at school due to the lack of money and helping them with relief and scholarship, and then I determined to support his ministry. Senior Pastor Dr. Lee says he can provide a meal for a family if he saves such money as is worth a piece of ice cream so he seldom buys ice cream for himself. I have just followed his good example in providing scholarship to poor students, but how thankful I am that I was awarded the plaque of appreciation for that deed.
I give thanks to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who has led my life to this day and also give thanks to my Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee who has showed a good example and taught me with the truth.