'WATERWIND' TO EXPLORE ASIAN AMERICAN WORSHIP

Interested in discovering how to contextualize worship for Asian American ministry settings?

If so, then you’ll want to explore “Waterwind: An Asian American Worship Conference,” the 2003 Drexler Lectures. Sponsored by the Asian American Center, the conference will be held March 22 at ABSW. All are welcome.

“The Waterwind conference is meant to help meet the urgent need for an Asian American ‘voice’ in worship,” says Dr. Tim Tseng, associate professor of American religious history and director of the Asian American Center. “We hope it will inspire a network of exceptional Asian American worship leaders in the Bay Area.”

Dr. Ken Fong, senior pastor of Evergreen Baptist Church in Los Angeles, will be the keynote speaker. Fong is a much sought-after inspirational speaker and consultant on Asian American ministries.

Dr. Russell Yee, formerly pastor at New Life Christian Fellowship in Castro Valley, Calif., will also speak. Yee is teaching an ABSW course on worship in Asian American settings and is the driving force behind the conference.

The conference will offer a number of workshops to help church leaders develop styles of worship for Asian American contexts.

The conference title “Waterwind” has two sources. The first is Jesus’ words to Nicodemus: “… no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and wind” (John 3:5).

“Water is our human, natural birth, including our racial and cultural identity,” Yee says. “Wind is our supernatural rebirth through the Holy Spirit, who creates our redeemed identity as followers of Jesus Christ. Waterwind thus expresses the sources of our whole selves as created and redeemed by God.”

Waterwind, Yee notes, is also a reversal of the Eastern teaching Feng Shui (“wind water”), which emphasizes the power of settings and objects to affect the flow of life energy. “The Christian calling reverses the impulse towards human manipulation and control,” Yee says, “calling us instead to live by faith and obedience.”

Dr. Frederic I. Drexler helped found the California Baptist Theological Seminary, which was a predecessor to ABSW. This lectureship, endowed in his honor, seeks to continue Drexler’s particular passions for evangelism and spiritual formation among seminarians.

To learn more about the conference, contact the Asian American Center at 510-841-1905 or send e-mail to asiancenter@absw.edu. The center’s web address is www.asianamericancenter.org.