Board members from the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church held a nominating committee on November 3 at the church region’s headquarters in Paju, South Korea, to elect a new director for the 1000 Missionaries Movement Training Center.

The session, which took place during the NSD Year-End Meeting, approved the appointment of Suk Hee Han, who served as the Mongolia Mission president for three years and will succeed Jeon Jae Song as the leader of the 1000 Missionaries Movement (1000MM). Han will commence his duties on March 1, 2024 and is a member of the first generation of the 1000 Missionaries Movement. His wife, Eun Kyung Jeon, also served in the Philippines, making them the first husband and wife missionary team to lead the 1000 Missionaries Movement, church leaders said.

Han’s ministry journey includes roles at Geojin Adventist Church in the East Central Korean Conference, Yeongdong Seventh-day Adventist church pastor, editor-in-chief of the Sijoso Church Journal, and vice president of the 1000 Missionaries’ Philippine Training Center. Before his presidency at the Mongolia Mission, he held various positions, including NSD communication director, chief editor of News & Views, coordinator of Adventist World, Adventist World Radio (AWR) director, the His Hands Missionary Movement, and assistant to the NSD president.

Following the fifth Mongolia Mission session in 2021, Han actively worked to reignite spiritual revival and soul-winning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. His initiatives included leading local evangelization through a nationwide crusade for the mission’s 30th anniversary. Additionally, this year, he established a branch of the 1000 Missionary Training Center to deploy missionaries to strategic mission sites.

In an interview with Korean Adventist News, Han said that “just as the big picture of history is divided into B.C. and A.D., it is no exaggeration to say that my life is divided into Before 1000MM and After 1000MM. The purpose, reason, and spirit of the movement, which I have repeatedly said in my heart, ‘Once a missionary, always a missionary,’ still runs through my veins.”

He added, “As I recall the determination and dedication I had as the first missionary and the vision for world missions, especially for the unreached, I am amazed and grateful for God’s providence in entrusting the least of these servants. I will serve the mission field, missionaries, and training centers wholeheartedly with the attitude of ‘I will go wherever I am called,’ not ‘I will go according to the conditions.’ I will devote myself to spreading the message of the three angels to the whole world and rely more on God.”

After graduating from Soongsil University with a degree in English, Han earned a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from Sahmyook University Graduate School of Theology. Currently a doctoral candidate (Ph.D.), he is married to Eun Kyung Jeon, and they have two children, Jung Eun and Ji Eun.

New President in the Mongolia Mission

At the same time, Eui-Sik Yang was elected president of the Mongolia Mission, regional leaders reported.

“Mongolia is a special land for me spiritually,” said Yang, who was serving as an associate chaplain at Sahmyook High School in Korea.

Yang has deep ties to Mongolia. He began his ministry in Mongolia as the 15th missionary in the 1000MM program and has since served at the Wuxi Church of China of the East Central Korean Conference. He also served as the director of the 1000 Missionary Training Center in Peru, associate pastor of Gangnam Central Adventist Church, coordinator of the Compass Training Center, senior pastor of the Bayangher Adventist Church in Mongolia, and director of the University Student Missionary Training Center in Mongolia.

In an interview with the Korean Adventist News, Yang said, “Mongolia is a special land for me spiritually. In 2000, I served as the first Korean Seventh-day Adventist missionary to Mongolia. Out of that experience, I decided to give the rest of my life to God and began my life as a lifelong missionary.” He added “I served as a missionary in the Philippines, China, Peru, and then again in Mongolia until 2022.”

For Yang, the call to Mongolia is symbolic of the same call Jesus made to Peter three times. “I will accept the command of Jesus, who asked for Peter’s life the third time he was called, as the mission given to me, and I will go forward with full trust and reliance on God to fulfill the final mission,” he said.

The original version of this story was posted on the Northern Asia-Pacific Division news site.