Korean Youth On Fire

 Maria Kim is a 16 year-old Korean youth currently serving in Tonga. She lives with her parents and family in Nuku'alofa. Even though she was born in South Korea, she has lived most of her life in Africa and New Zealand until God called her and her family to Tonga two years ago. Maria is one of the hosts of the World Mission Broadcast (WMB) radio ministry Youth On Fire, which airs in the South Pacific on Christian Radio 93.1 FM every Monday night at 6pm.

Tell us about your relationship with Jesus?

I was born into a Christian family and my dad is a pastor, so becoming a Christian was a very natural thing for me. However, it was just when I came to Tonga that God made me realize I needed to have a personal relationship with Him. Before, I had been attending church regularly but I wasn't experiencing God personally in my life. When I came to Tonga, God changed that and I was drawn closer to Him through many hardships and also blessings."

How did you first get involved in radio?

I got involved in radio a few months after coming to Tonga. My school has Bible classes every Thursday, and my teacher works at the Christian radio station. One day he asked our class if anybody wanted to join the youth program. I felt a strong urge to join. From that day on, I began sharing God's Word at the radio station. Actually, I have not had any training at all. This program is my first experience in a radio ministry. Everything was new to me, but I realized that God had been preparing me by giving me a talent and a huge interest in writing.How does a Korean expat teenager reach a Tongan youth audience via radio?Most Tongans can speak English, so our radio program is in English. But as a Korean, I feel very different from the Tongans in many situations. With different skin colors, languages, extremely different traditions and ways of life, trying to understand the Tongan youth and reach out to them seemed difficult. But the great thing is that in God we are all equal. Whatever skin color we are, how different our cultures are, we still know the same amazing God. It's God who connects us. When our team talks about God on the radio or even at school to our friends, we are connected by the fact that we know the exact same God.

What issues are Tongan youth facing today?

Since Tonga is a "Christian" country, almost every Tongan youth attends church. However, many go because they were taught or brought up to, or simply as a duty. Christianity is so easily accessible here that many youth don't know the true meaning of it and many of them haven't experienced God personally. They attend youth groups, sing in choirs, and come to church every Sunday; but there is no fire in them.

What type of responses are you getting from the audience?

The responses we receive from listeners are very positive, uplifting, and encouraging. Many teenagers have told us they love the music; and even though our program is a youth program, many adults have also told us they love the program and how we share God's Word through it.

How do you connect personally with your audience?

Many listeners are people we have met personally. Many of our listeners go deeper into their faith and tell us what they realized or learned from our program. As we share each other's experiences, problems, and prayers, we become closer as God's family.

What type of technology are the youth in Tonga using, and how are you using that technology to reach them?

Unless it is the city area where technology is a little developed, most Tongans don't have access to the Internet and many of them don't have computers at all. Most of the Tongan youth access the Internet through Internet cafes. Our team has an e-mail address for the listeners to contact us through the Internet. Through that e-mail address listeners are free to write to us about their testimonies, any suggestions, or questions.

Share with us one story about a listener who has been impacted by your radio ministry.

If there's a person I know who was impacted in a big way, I have to say that it's me, but also my team members. Ever since we joined Youth On Fire, we have been drawn so much closer to God. As we prepared for each program, we studied the Word of God and found out many things about our God we never knew. I believe Youth On Fire has been a huge stepping-stone for me and my relationship with Jesus. It has taught me so many things and led me to experience God in amazing ways.

One specific story would be of a young teacher in her early 20s. Here is her testimony:

I was on a boat to Ha'apai for a funeral. This was at Christmas last year. My aunty was listening to the radio station on our way. The boat was crowded and we all had to mingle to our own side, but we did manage to smile while listening to your program about Christmas and its meaning. You guys were discussing how to appreciate the real meaning of Christmas through Christ. It made me realize what I had been missing. I had been looking forward to Christmas only to get all these presents, but I hadn't been realizing what God had given me every Christmas. This had made me greedier every Christmas. Christmas had been remembered for so many years, and I was still careless and not realizing the true meaning. And just listening to the program before Christmas, wow, for the first time we were looking forward to it. You can praise the Lord for that one!
Ever since then I started listening to your program. I wanted to feed my soul with something worthwhile. The things you talk about can relate to us daily, and it can build up my spiritual life and I could share it to the kids (her students in class).

Every Monday I look forward to you guys discussing something new, which is interesting how you guys talk, how to tackle it."

Most importantly, how can we pray for your ministry?

Please pray for our members. Youth On Fire consists of four female members. I think it would be great if we could have a male member. Boys relate much better to boys than girls. Not only would it diversify the program, more boys could listen in and become closer to God. Also please pray for Youth On Fire, and for us, too, so that our radio program can be spread throughout the Kingdom of Tonga and many more youth will listen in and give their lives to Jesus.

this post was filed under Press Releases on Jun 15, 2009