COURTESY PHOTO Members of the Korean Children's Choir are shown during a performance.

Korean choir to perform during Baptist gathering

Seventy Baptist church leaders from six continents will meet in Honolulu next week to plan a 2010 international conference that will bring more than 13,000 delegates from 120 countries to Hawaii.

About 150 local church representatives will attend the Baptist World Alliance Executive Committee business meetings at the Hawaii Convention Center tomorrow through Wednesday.

But other church members and the public will have the opportunity to share their inspirational entertainment, said the Rev. Rick Lazor, of Honolulu.

The 45-voice Changwon Children's Choir from Seoul will present a public concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday at First Baptist Church of Honolulu, 1313 Pensacola St.

The youngsters, ages 7 to 13, perform Korean dances and sing ethnic and Christian music. They are at the beginning of a tour that will include appearances in several California cities, sponsored by the Far East Broadcasting Co. They will sing at several Oahu elementary schools while in Hawaii.

The children will perform at a hoolaulea at Hawaii Baptist Academy at 6 p.m. tomorrow. The international leaders will meet local Baptists at the event, which will feature Hawaiian food and traditional games and entertainment by Kaukahi, Debbie Kelsey, Na Wahine O Waiala'e halau and the Trinity Baptist Church Liturgical Dance Team.

The young choir is accompanied the Rev. Billy Jang Hwan Kim, president of the Far East Broadcasting Co. and pastor emeritus of a 15,000-member church in Suwon. A past president of the Baptist World Alliance, Kim will be a speaker at next week's meetings.

Also speaking will be:

» The Rev. David Coffey of England, president of the Baptist World Alliance and a leader of Baptist organizations in England and Europe.

» The Rev. Neville Callam of Jamaica, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance and a church leader and educator in his country.

» The Rev. William J. Shaw, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, the largest African-American religious organization in the United States, and senior pastor of White Rock Baptist Church in Philadelphia.