Dr David Yonggi Cho

Contents
Part 1
A Sickly Teenage Boy Meets Jesus
Part 2
Growth of the Tent Church
Part 3
Ministry in Seodaemun Church
and the Encounter with the Holy Spirit
Part 4
The World’s Largest Church
Part 5
A Ministry That Extends Out to the World

Book’s extract “Dr David Yonggi Cho: Ministering Hope For 50 Years“

A Sickly Teenage Boy Meets Jesus

The Death Sentence Announcement
In 1950, there was a war in our country between North
Korea and South Korea that lasted approximately two
years. It was called the Korean War. Bombs from that war
destroyed buildings, homes, and schools in every
mountain, plain, and city in our country, and many people
were killed or injured throughout Korea. There were also
many heartbreaking family separations that took place.
People led difficult lives of poverty and hunger even after
the war ended.
My story starts here. My hometown is
Kyungsangnamdo Uljugun Seonammyun Kyodongni. I was
a mischievous, energetic, young boy with many dreams,
and I was on my elementary school’s baseball team. When
I was at Dongnae Middle School in Busan, I was a brightly
smiling adolescent who knew how to appreciate the
melody of the birds that seemed to sing about dreams and
the refreshing wind. When I entered high school, even
though we were in hard times, I would visit the nearby
United States Army Base and learn English from the
soldiers. I worked various odd jobs after school to earn my
tuition, and I was always happy as I worked, because I
had many dreams of a bright future in my mind.

While walking to school one morning, I saw two men,
one of whom I often worked for, and I said, “Hello Sir! I
think I will be able to help you after school today.”
“Sure,” he said, then he turned to the other man with
him and said, “What an energetic and honest lad!”
“He sure is!” the other man replied.
I worked hard every day and heard compliments that I
was diligent and smart due to the English that I learned
from the U.S. soldiers. Then one day something
unexpected happened to me. I was in my second year of
high school (eleventh grade), and I was working as a
private tutor to a young student. Suddenly, blood started
pouring out of my nose and mouth, and I eventually
passed out because the blood continued without stopping.
I was seventeen at the time.
To save me, my shocked parents hurriedly took me to
the largest and most well-known hospital in the area. At
the hospital they took X-rays and drew blood samples
from my arm. I had many tests, and finally after several
days, the doctor told us, “The results of the tests are back,
and unfortunately, it is tuberculosis.”
The moment we heard this, everything turned dark for
my parents and me; it was as if we had been hit hard over
the head with something. “I have tuberculosis?” I said.
“The disease that kills everyone that contracts it?” I could
not believe it. These days tuberculosis is curable through treatment…