개신교 수도원 수도회 원장 김창길목사 2015년 '노만 빈센트 필' 수상자로 선정
11/23/15 
김창길
뉴저지장로교회 원로목사
해외 한인장로회 뉴저지노회 공로목사
2015년 5월 12일 화요일 오후 7시 맨하탄의 예일클럽에서 노만 빈센트 필 상 (Norman Vincent Peale Award on Positive Thinking) 시상식이 있었다. 개신교수도원수도회의 원장님이신 김창길목사님께서 다른 세 분과 함께 수상자로 선정되었다.
이 상은 블랜튼-필연구소및상담센터(The Blanton-Peale Institute and Counseling Center)의 공동 설립자이자 '적극적 사고' (The Power of Positive Thinking)라는 책으로 유명한 노만 빈센트 필의 이름을 따서 제정됐다. 과거 수상자 중에는 로널드 레이건 대통령, 리차드 데 보스(암웨이 창시자), 존 템플턴, 콜린 파월 장관, 엘리자베스 돌 상원의원 등이 있다. 김창길 원장님은 한국인으로는 홍혜경(성악가)와 재미과학자 박윤수박사 (한미장학재단 전국 이사장과 미주 이민 100주년 기념사업회 회장을 역임) 등에 이어 네번째 한국인 수상자가 되었다.
다른 세분의 수상자는 Cleveland H. Dodge Foundation의 재단이사장인 William Dodge Rueckert와 Templeton Foundation의 재단이사장인 Dr. John Templeton과 Marble Collegiate Church의 성서학자인 Carol Perry 수녀이다. 이들은 긍정적 사고방식을 가지고 인류를 위해 봉사함으로 인류애를 실천한 분들(Service and Philanthropy)로 수상자에 선정했다.
아래는 김창길 원장님이 시상식에서 발표한 수상 소감이다.
It is a great honor and privilege for me to receive the 2015 Norman Vincent Peale Award for Positive Thinking this evening.
As a college student, I read The Power of Positive Thinking by Reverend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and was deeply touched by the book. I read the book again after I received the notice about the award. It prompted me to look back and reflect upon my life. Has my life truly demonstrated positive thinking? Do I truly deserve the award? While I do not think that I measure up to the Award, it is also very true that Dr. PealeЎs Positive Thinking has greatly impacted my life in various ways.
When I was 10 years old, the Korean War broke out in 1950. During the war, my father was kidnapped by North-Koreans and martyred for his religion and patriotism. To me and my five brothers, living without my father felt as if a central pillar was pulled out of our house. However, sadness and fear did not overcome the positive thinking in us. Even though our life was veiled with deep grief, poverty, and hardship, we did our best while looking up to my mother. To support her six young sons, my mother worked all day long at the marketplace and did needlework during the night at home. My elder brothers lived and worked as tutors at their studentsЎ homes. With help from my younger brothers, I was responsible for household responsibilities such as cooking food and changing briquettes to heat the rooms until I became a tutor in the eighth grade. With praise, worship and prayer, we did our best to keep our family a joyous and happy one. I diligently and consistently worked towards higher education from middle school to high school, to college, and eventually to graduate schools. My favorite verse then was ЎI can do everything through Him who gives me strength.Ў (Philippians 4:13)
Positive thinking became more explicit in my life after having read Dr. PealЎs book, especially in my ministry. My first ministry was with a church of 31 people. It had a history of changing pastors; there had been 6 pastors there during the previous seven and a half years. I was not discouraged by the gloomy past history of the church and my sheer desire was to tend the sheep like a shepherd for the Lord God. I devoted my life to my church as a father would for his children. Caring for the congregation was my sole priority, something I placed before even my ability to put food on the table. It is a blessing from God that I pastored the same congregation for 30 years and that during that time the church grew substantially enough to be able to establish two campuses and minister to many needs, both in and outside the United States. All was possible by the grace of God and with the cooperation of the whole congregation.
After my retirement from the church, I organized and established the Protestant Abbey Mission for the Korean diaspora. It is a monastery movement of the Protestant church. I think it was a mistake for reformers to abandon the abbeys and convents when they were separated from the Catholic Church. Protestant Abbey Mission does not advocate departing from the world as Catholic monasteries do. PAM supports spiritual rest and renewal for people to go back to the world and create history anew. I prayed that this movement would expand worldwide so that the negativity in the world would be overtaken by positive thinking from the rest and renewal from the Abbey. As Jesus said, ЎCome to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,Ў (Matthew 11:28) it is a place of rest in the Lord through the Word, meditation, and labor. It has been four and a half years since this movement began and I am grateful to God that a growing number of churches and their members have come to understand PAMЎs mission.
I give my deepest gratitude to God and Blanton-Peale Institute for this award which inspires me to resolve and pour out all of my energy for the rest of my life for the Protestant Abbey Mission. Thank you.