Kong Hee Says His 'Spiritual Father' Is Pastor David Yonggi Cho of Yoido Full Gospel Church
Singapore's City Harvest Church pastor Kong Hee has praised Pastor David Yonggi Cho and Grace Kim Sunghae of Yoido Full Gospel Church, the largest Pentecostal Church in the world, as being "one of the most amazing couples in the history of Christendom."
Kong also said that Cho, who founded Yoido in 1958 and saw it grow into a congregation of 830,000 members, has accomplished "things of biblical proportions very few could imagine possible."
The CHC pastor explained in a detailed post on Facebook some of the history behind South Korea's Yoido, noting that Cho, who is now its pastor emeritus, also founded several other Christian institutions, including Church Growth International, Elim Welfare Town, Hansei University, the International Theological Institute, and the Kookmin Daily newspaper.
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"Cho's teaching on the Holy Spirit and the Fourth Dimension has been nothing short of transformative in our generation," Kong wrote.
He added that Kim has also accomplished a great deal helping her husband in five decades of ministry, noting that she is an accomplished concert pianist, educator and ordained minister of the Gospel, along with the current president of Hansei University.
"Most of all, she is a 'mother' to hundreds of pastors, missionaries and churches in Korea and around the world," Kong wrote.
"Sun [Ho] and I are blessed to have Cho and Kim as our spiritual parents. Cho is our pastor and discipler, and Kim our encourager and intercessor," he continued.
"During our recent trip to Seoul, we were honored again to spend private, quality time with both of them, and also with some of their closest disciples. I was given the privilege to preach at the 40,000-member Nowon Full Gospel Church, as well as the famous Gangnam Full Gospel Church, a congregation fervent in prayer and intercession."
Kong has also praised the major growth of Christian megachurches in South Korea during his recent trip to the country, noting that it has seen "one of the greatest revivals in the last 100 years" of Christianity occur there.
"They have been consistently baptizing 1,000 new converts every month! If you ask any Korean church what is the key to their success, the answer is unanimous — PRAYER!" he wrote last week, referring to Yoido's success.
Both Kong and Cho have faced controversies and their own separate court battles, however. Kong was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison last year along with five other CHC members of misusing millions of church donations for the popstar career of Ho, an accusation which he denied and has appealed against.
Cho, on the other hand, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2014 for embezzling church funds, concerning church officials buying stocks owned by his eldest son, which resulted in $12 million in losses to the church.
Yoido remains the largest megachurch in South Korea despite the controversy, however.
In his Facebook post, Kong noted that Cho will be celebrating his 80th birthday later in February, and said that he sends his prayers "for this dear man of God on his special milestone."
