Link Chapters

Just over one month left to host your screening or turn in money to get your name in the hat to win a visit from a North Korean refugee!  Here's the current tally of chapters who are in the drawing. 

Remember, your chapter gets a chip for every $500 you raise, and for every 50 people at your screening.  More details here: http://chapters.linkglobal.org/campaigns/monthlyincentives

Hi guys. My name's Maggie & I am the Chapter Leader for the Baytown LiNK chapter! I am SO EXCITED to get started on this journey!

I lived in South Korea for 2 years. I was a missionary & taught English there. While there, I also got involved with different NK groups that protested for/about NK, flew balloons into NK, prayed for NK & talked to others about NK. I was also invited to speak to a church about NK & I showed them a video I made about NK. Through standing up for NK & becoming more aware day by day about what is happening there, I have found one of my purposes for living!

After being in SK, I went to India for 9 months, then came home last year. NK has never left my heart! I am always thinking about NK, & trying to raise awareness about what is happening there. I also pray daily for them. I know that I was created to DO SOMETHING BIG, & NK is apart of that plan.

When the nomads visited my hometown (Baytown, Tx, USA), I didn't plan on doing anything but being updated about NK's current situation. However, I felt a burning in my heart to work with LiNK, to DO SOMETHING BIG. After thinking & praying about it, I was confident that I wanted to build & hold a chapter mtg once a mth in my hometown. So now, thankfully, here we are!

I don't know what we will do (besides the basics), but I know one thing is for sure: We are gonna be firestarters that will spread the TRUTH ABOUT NK like a wildfire around this state & country, & hopefully the WORLD!!

Let freedom RING, & let it RING in NORTH KOREA!!

I'm thrilled to finally have the LiNK Chapter here at the College of Charleston. Now, it is just the matter of appointing passionate and exceptional students to be part of the executive board and fill out the College's chapter form to make this even more official!

Hi guys! 

Sorry for the hiatus in minutes. We are at a loss without our beloved secretary, Abbey! <3

This term we have been talking about our events for the term (Crossing screening, image exhibition, and awareness campaign) and how we are preparing for next year! We presented LINK's budget before the ASUO and were awarded $300 for our first year. We also plan on petitioning for more money before Senate. 

We are planning an image exhibition that is going to start sometime during the week of Feb. 20th. Phoebe & Yeji have been gathering images (see FB) concerning NK propoganda, the big game event and the NK people. Ideally, this will raise awareness for our Crossing Screening (which we decided on tonight), that was just confirmed for March 1st, at 7pm in Fenton 105. Rachel B. created a template card, which we will use to petition to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and to raise awareness/recruit on campus. These events will all be happening around the same time to cross promote! The majority of these events will fall on week 8 - so mark it in your planner!

There is also talk of a Korean dinner in Earl Hall. Also, we are allowed to table in the freshmen dorms - which will be a big target for advertising! 

TO DO:
- Phobe+Yeji: find location for exhibition & select pictures
- Rachel N: check dorms for LLC South reservation for spring tour
- Rachels: finish petition/recruit card

IMPORTANT DATES:
Crossing Screening - March 1, 7pm, Fenton 105

Also, be sure to check out Abbey's bio post!!!!

Thanks guys!!

- Rachel N.

Hi guys! 

Sorry for the hiatus in minutes. We are at a loss without our beloved secretary, Abbey! <3

This term we have been talking about our events for the term (Crossing screening, image exhibition, and awareness campaign) and how we are preparing for next year! We presented LINK's budget before the ASUO and were awarded $300 for our first year. We also plan on petitioning for more money before Senate. 

We are planning an image exhibition that is going to start sometime during the week of Feb. 20th. Phoebe & Yeji have been gathering images (see FB) concerning NK propoganda, the big game event and the NK people. Ideally, this will raise awareness for our Crossing Screening (which we decided on tonight), that was just confirmed for March 1st, at 7pm in Fenton 105. Rachel B. created a template card, which we will use to petition to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and to raise awareness/recruit on campus. These events will all be happening around the same time to cross promote! The majority of these events will fall on week 8 - so mark it in your planner!

There is also talk of a Korean dinner in Earl Hall. Also, we are allowed to table in the freshmen dorms - which will be a big target for advertising! 

TO DO:
- Phobe+Yeji: find location for exhibition & select pictures
- Rachel N: check dorms for LLC South reservation for spring tour
- Rachels: finish petition/recruit card

IMPORTANT DATES:
Crossing Screening - March 1, 7pm, Fenton 105

Also, be sure to check out Abbey's bio post!!!!

Thanks guys!!

- Rachel N.

Crossing - Trailer from LiNK on Vimeo.

2011 was a great year for our chapter, we were just two cents short of reaching our desired goal of $1000! We'd like to thank all our members and supporters who donated, prayed, or volunteered to help us. In this new year, we'll be sure to raise more awareness and surpass even our own expectations!

The PNW Nomads are here are we are getting ready for our screening on Thursday, Dec. 1st in Willamette 100! We will be out and about on campus before the screening, starting at 4pm. Look for us! We will be wearing red and handing out flyers, getting the word out! Screening starts at 7 and we are looking forward to connecting with new people! See you then! 

    On Sunday, November 13th, Greenville experienced a somewhat unusual benefit concert organized by the Greenville College LiNK chapter. The unconventional nature of this show was not in the bands that played, the fans that came, or the cause for which it was raising funds. The element that separated this concert from others was that it took place in a two-car garage at the home of Charley Wheeler, Ben Johnson, and myself. We were ecstatic to share the blessing of our garage with the community, and believe that, by the end of the show, everyone who attended understood the concept of a real good time.
    The main goal of the concert was to raise funds for LiNK, a grass-roots organization dedicated to resettling North Korean refugees into the U.S. and South Korea. The LiNK chapter at Greenville College has two goals this semester: to raise $2,500, which is the cost to resettle one refugee, and to spread awareness of our chapter here on campus and in the Greenville community. These two goals came together in the form of the Open Garage Concert, which about 50 people came to and rocked out.
    There was a t-shirt making booth, food, coffee, hot cider, and six bands that each performed a talent-packed set. The bands that performed were The Commune, Mobile Mic, Michael Trieb, Gregg, Another White Suburbanite, and Shower Curtain Madness. Everything was “sold” on a donation basis, except for the t-shirt making, and over $150 were raised by the end of the night.
    Earlier that morning, Carrie Sleme, Brittney Rand, and myself had the privilege of attending a church in Granite City that had roughly 30 people in attendance. The pastor had met us at the showing of Seoul Train, a documentary about the rescue attempts of three North Korean families that our chapter showed in the Upper Union a few weeks prior to our coming to his church. He was so moved by the film that he wanted us to come to his church to show it to the congregation, and speak about what we were doing. They took up an offering for our chapter, and we were presented with a check for $352 by the time we left. That in itself was a huge blessing, but it was not the full extent of the blessing.
    While we were in the midst of planning the benefit concert, we were informed by The Reliance, LiNK’s online fund-raising branch, that an anonymous donor had given a large pledge. Because of this, The Reliance gave each chapter the opportunity to double the amount they raised by a fund-raising event. The only conditions were that they would match the amount up to $2,500, and it was for one event only.
    This event was a testament to God’s provision, the generosity of strangers, and timeless feel of a garage rock concert. The next LiNK event on campus will be a screening of LiNK’s documentary at which a group from LiNK, the Heartland Nomads, will be speaking and answering questions. It starts at 7 p.m. on December 6 in the Upper Union. As for the future of the garage, it will function as a music venue under the tentative title Garaj Mahal.

-Gabe Hernandez

Being on a Christian campus can be really overwhelming because there are so many good organizations, but I feel like people are especially drawn to LiNK because of the severity of the issue, and the change we can actually make in the lives of refugees.

A thing I didn’t expect to come with working with LiNK is how liberating it is to me spiritually. It’s just so unconsequential that as our main focus is liberation and ending the human crisis, we end up applying that focus to ourselves spiritually. I didn’t think about this correlation until our team went to Tapestry Church in Granite City last weekend. (Listen to the audio here if you’re interested: http://crdbrdastrnt.posterous.com/tapestry-community-is-our-mission)
This is the most free I have felt in such a long time. All of my struggles just seem so small in comparison the the world’s struggles. It changes my perspective, it alters my way of thinking, and that changes my life.

So many people are struggling, physically and spiritually. LiNK isn’t a “Christian” organization, and it mostly focuses on liberating the physically bounded, which we do support completely. But as a chapter of LiNK on campus, we will not neglect the spiritual bondage of those in North Korea, and even those around us. I’ve been thinking, caring about North Korea is not necessarily easy. It’s easy to just pass it up because it has no relation to us, or so it may seem. In order for people to become as passionate about rescuing North Koreans, it needs to become personal for them, it needs to stir up some kind of rage or frustration, it needs to hit them at the core and compel them to want to do something. As we focus on liberty in North Korea in a physical sense, I can’t help but find a way to relate that focus to our campus. People are physically bounded in North Korea, and that breaks my heart, but, people I talk to or see every day are spiritually bounded by sin and need to be set free, and that breaks my heart even more.

While we do whatever we can to set the captives free, we need to do whatever we can to turn those who are spiritually suffering to a relationship with God, so that He will free them spiritually, because their eternity relies on that. As a LiNK chapter on campus, we are each growing individually through this experience. We are realizing the correlation of physical and spiritual bondage, and as we do physical things to rescue those in physical bondage, we are praying for them spiritually as well.

The North Korean religion is to worship Kim Jong Il. They are brainwashed into thinking they have it the best and refer Kim Jong Il as “dear leader” or “great leader.” They do not know of anything else, and we pray that as they are being liberated from the harsh conditions, that they will find God and hope and realize they can be freed spiritually too. Our LiNK chapter can’t just focus on North Korea and ignore the suffering around us. Here we can actually talk to people, encourage them, build impacting and meaningful relationships as well as pray for them. I think our team is realizing this, our LiNK meetings are becoming deeper, and I think this idea will draw people to want to work with us and support our efforts. I find this motivating and encouraging, and it’s only been our first semester as a chapter. I think LiNK has potential to become something huge, and that excites me.

-Carrie