Faith with flair

A few years ago, Beany Cho was an award-winning bartender with dreams of owning his own bar. Today, Cadet Beany is studying to become a Salvation Army officer, in his first year at Booth College of Mission. He’s been given a completely new dream, and a brand new future.

Born in South Korea to a Buddhist family, Beany never really fitted in with his own culture. He went to a prestigious private school, where standard working hours were from 7 am to 11 pm, going to school seven days a week—something that Beany points out is actually illegal … but still expected.

Beany gave himself his English name after looking up the word in the dictionary and discovering it means ‘spirited’. It’s a mirror to Beany’s lively, at times unconventional, personality.

At school, Beany was sporty, but rebelled against the schooling system. To let off steam, he began drinking alcohol at the age of 13.

Although South Korea has a fairly even split between the Christian and Buddhist religions, Beany prided himself on his rational mind and describes himself as ‘persecuting the Christians, like Saul, because I saw them as hypocritical’.

But the door to faith in Jesus was opened by a Christian girl Beany was trying to impress. He went along to church with her family, and recalls, ‘I was sitting there ready to criticise what the pastor said, but I enjoyed it, and I couldn’t explain it by rational thinking. That was the first day of my life.’

Meanwhile, Beany had found his place in the hospitality industry as a bartender, winning competitions with his ‘flair’—the art of flipping bottles while mixing drinks.

The night life

It was then that Beany found himself half a world away, in New Zealand, where he dreamed of a change of pace and lifestyle. But in the Kiwi hospitality industry the motto ‘work hard, play hard’ still rang true. Beany had stopped going to church, immersing himself in bar culture—he came third in a national bartending competition, winning regional competitions for his flair.

But Beany didn’t like the person he was becoming. ‘I was arrogant, mean. I was an alcoholic who drank every day. I stole and I cheated on someone who loved me,’ he admits. ‘I thought stealing from my workplace was fair because I didn’t think I was paid enough, so I topped it up from the till. I set my own moral standards, because I was arrogant.’

It was one fleeting moment that changed the course of Beany’s life. When he was dropping his car off at a workshop, a young girl nudged her dad and pointed over to Beany. The man came over and gave Beany a newsletter from The Salvation Army Auckland City Korean Corps  (church). Beany put the flyer in his glove box and promptly forgot about it.

But one Sunday, Beany found himself with a rare day off. ‘I had worked Sundays all my life, so I didn’t know what to do with myself. I thought I would go to church. I remembered the flyer and discovered the corps was really close to my house, so that’s how I started going to church.’

He was a ‘church-goer’ for two years, but kept a list in his mind of things he couldn’t believe—‘At the top of my list was the existence of God. Could I really believe that God existed?’ reflects Beany.

God is real

But a series of seemingly unrelated events began to take place, in which God was conspiring to show Beany that he was real. And that he wanted to be real in Beany’s life.

Alcohol had taken hold of Beany, putting a huge strain on his relationship with his girlfriend at that time. So Beany promised that he would stop drinking for a year. But, with a newly cleared head, Beany began to see that his life was falling apart. ‘I lost my job, I lost my visa and I had no money—even for groceries or rent. I was so desperate.

‘All the time I had been going to church, I had heard that if you repent, God will forgive you. I realised the situation I was in was a result of the life I had been living.’

Early the next morning, he went to the Korean prayer service—which starts at 5:30 am. ‘I started to pray, for two hours, three hours. I kept praying and praying, and I felt a gleam of light on my back. At that point, I sensed God was there with me. God told me, “Whatever you did, and whoever you are, I still love you. I love you, Beany. I love you, Beany.” I started speaking in tongues and couldn’t stop for half an hour.’

He finally knew without a doubt that God was real. And that God loved him. ‘After that I was changed. It wasn’t that I changed, it was that I was changed completely by God.’

The real life

Without his even realising, God had already been helping Beany to stop drinking. Now Beany knew he had to take the next step, and stop selling liquor to others—but it meant leaving behind everything he knew.

Beany gave up his new, high-ranking job running a bar. And he became a regular at the early morning prayer meeting. ‘I was thankful to God. I was changed a lot by the Holy Spirit, and I was so thankful that God loved me as I was. And I found myself committing my life to [Salvation Army] officership. I no longer wanted to live for myself, but for Christ alone,’ says Beany, recalling 2 Corinthians 5:15, which has become his life verse.

With Beany’s change of lifestyle, things started to get better. He began saving to buy his own restaurant, and was accepted to study theology at Auckland University. Beany felt his life was on the right track. ‘Basically, I forgot about my officer calling,’ says Beany honestly.

He may have forgotten, but God hadn’t. At a meeting with the Auckland City Korean corps officer (pastor), Beany sensed God was nudging him towards another vision for his life. But Beany didn’t want to give up his dreams for a second time. ‘I started to pray for my vision, and I committed to praying for 40 days. If I was going to become an officer, I wanted a really big calling.’

He went to church each morning and prayed, ‘God, give me a big calling.’ God gave him several confirmations, but Beany replied to God, ‘That’s not enough. I want more!’

One Sunday, the assistant candidates secretary was visiting Auckland City Korean Corps and Beany was asked to come up the front and pray for him before the message. ‘I still hadn’t felt the calling. But as I prayed, I had a vision that the officer was waving at me and calling me up to the pulpit, and I sensed that was God.

‘It’s hard to explain God’s presence logically, but I had a strong assurance that God was calling me.’

Everyone’s experience of being called to officership is different, explains Beany—‘But we are still fragile human beings, and I felt that if I didn’t have a strong calling I would give up when it got hard.’

He was accepted to train at The Salvation Army’s Booth College of Mission in Upper Hutt. But God still had to show Beany just how fragile he really was.

What happened, God?

After two years sober, and with officership firmly in his sights, Beany returned to Korea for a visit. He wanted to show his family just how much he had changed. ‘And not a joke, as soon as I got there, I picked up all the bad character traits I thought I had thrown away. I was hot tempered and swore. As soon as I got to Korea I forgot to pray,’ says Beany humbly. ‘After a week, I cried out to God, “What happened?” I have a big call to officership and look what I’ve done.’

But even in this, God was sovereign. ‘There was a reason, and it was that God showed me that he wanted to use me, Beany, as I really was. I had wanted to throw out who I was, but God showed me that he wanted to use me. He didn’t want a missionary or a preacher, he wanted me.’

Even today, in the midst of his studies at Booth College of Mission to become a Salvation Army officer, Beany says his ‘biggest fight is always against me’.

‘That’s why I want to encourage others that God will use you for who you are. You can assume you’re not good enough to be an officer, but you will be used as you are. You have strengths, and if you have the right passion and direction, God will equip you.

‘I believe every officer should be their true self—and that’s a journey that doesn’t end. We struggle with our weaknesses, but we pray, and we overcome.’

The journey continues …

Just days before entering training as a cadet, Beany was reminded again that ‘taking up his cross’ for the sake of Christ would require all of him. ‘Just before I entered college I saw my old house being renovated, and it came flooding back to me that owning my own home and renovating it had always been my dream,’ he remembers. ‘But God said to me, “I sacrificed myself for you.” Compared to his sacrifice, those dreams are nothing.’

At 38, Beany has placed his singleness in God’s hands to fulfil his calling. And God has replaced old dreams with new:

‘I know that if I had continued with my old life, I would be  dead by now. It’s by total grace that I am here. God has given me a second chance at life, and I am following his way. Today, that’s who I am.’

Following the Call

An officer is a senior soldier who has responded to a calling from God to devote all their time and energies to the service of God. The road can be hard, but it brings incredible joy and immense fulfilment.

Register your interest

Speak to your local Divisional Candidates Secretary or talk to your corps officer. The application process that follows gives time and space for God’s will to be tested and confirmed.  Go to  www.salvationarmy.org.nz/officership for more info.

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by Ingrid Barratt(c) 'War Cry' magazine, 25 June 2016, pp 5-7
You can read 'War Cry' at your nearest Salvation Army church or centre, or subscribe through Salvationist Resources.