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Challenging the ‘overrated’ generation

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Eugene Cho is a dedicated pastor, devoted father and husband and a lover of the Lord.

Cho spoke at John Brown University’s chapel on Thursday based on Matthew 6:19-24, “You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Although he recognized the people listening “did not have much money to think about,” he encouraged them to build a foundation of stewardship now to prepare for later.

“Every one of you will become a millionaire,” Cho said. “Over your lifetime you will earn a million dollars, if not more.”

He informed his audience that people spend about 80-85% of their awake time thinking about money, whether it is earning money, spending money or dreaming about money.

“Even Jesus compares the love of money can be a competitor to the worship of God,” Cho said.

Cho challenged the students to live out the ideas they ascribe to.

“You hear that you are the greatest generation, that you will change the world,” Cho said. “I think you are overrated. I’m overrated. So much has been given to us. We are to steward the responsibility to be a blessing. We fall in love with the idea of changing the world but we don’t change the world.”

The Honors classroom was packed with students and faculty as they listened to Cho during the talkback session. Over and over again, students thanked Cho for his message in chapel.

“Chapel was awesome,” sophomore Monica Southern said. “He was so real.”

Cho is the founder and lead pastor at Quest Church in Seattle, Wash., and the founder and executive director of One Day’s Wages.

One Day’s Wages is a “movement of people, stories, and actions to alleviate extreme global poverty.”

The easiest way to become involved with the ministry is to journey with the organization on Facebook, Cho said.

“We currently have about 4,000 people around the world who are involved with this movement,” Cho said. “We have about 36 different countries donating. Most of the donors are from the U.S.”

The project has earned approximately $1.3 million. All of the money goes to different projects happening in different countries around the world.

Anyone can go to the ministry’s website, www.onedayswages.org, to start a campaign and choose which project the donations go to.

One of the main campaigns that people pick is the birthday campaign. Instead of people buying presents or dinner, they send the money they intended to use to a person’s birthday campaign.

Cho moved to America from Korea with his family when he was six years old. He said his parents moved for educational opportunities for their three sons.

“They were not supportive of my ministry at first because they wanted me to be a doctor,” Cho said. “But they are now.”

Cho became a Christian at the age of 18. He studied Psychology and Theater at the University of California, Davis. In his third year of college he received a call to ministry. He later attended Princeton Seminary.

He now travels about 12 to 14 times a year to speak at conferences or schools.

Cho has been married for 16 years to his wife, Minhee, whom he met while pastoring a church in Korea. They have three kids: Jubilee, 13, Trinity, 11, and Jedi, 9.

Cho said he influenced the choice of his children’s western names. Each name is biblical and also includes a pop culture reference. Jubilee means celebration, Trinity is theological and Jedi is short for Jedidiah, which was the name given to Solomon.

Cho encouraged students to start taking steps to make a difference.

“I know your purpose in life, you are to be the salt and the light to the earth,” Cho stated. “I don’t know who you are going to marry but I know your purpose. You cannot change the world but you can impact one.”

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