David Yonggi Cho - Early Life

Early Life

He was born on February 14, 1936, in Ulju-gun, now part of Ulsan metropolitan city . The son of Cho Doo-chun and Kim Bok-sun, Cho was the eldest of five brothers and four sisters. He graduated from middle school with honours. Because his father's sock and glove business went bankrupt, he could not afford most high school or university tuition. Subsequently, he enrolled in an inexpensive technical high school to learn a trade. At the same time, he began frequenting an American army base near his school, and learned English from soldiers whom he befriended. He mastered English quickly, and became an interpreter for the commander of the army base, and also for the principal of his school.

Raised initially as a Buddhist, Cho converted to Christianity at the age of 17, after a girl visited him daily telling him about Jesus Christ, after he was diagnosed with terminal tuberculosis. One day, she knelt down to pray for him and began to weep. He was deeply touched and told her, "Don't cry...I now know about your Christian love. Since I am dying I will become a Christian for you." She gave him her own Bible and said to him, "If you read it faithfully you will find the words of life." He subsequently had a series of spiritual experiences, including what Pentecostals call the Baptism of the Holy Spirit - during which the believer experiences glossolalia - when he saw Jesus in a vision. Believing that God had called him to the ministry, Cho began working as an interpreter for the American evangelist Ken Tize. In 1956, he received a scholarship to study theology at Full Gospel Bible College in Seoul. While there, he met Choi Ja-Shil (최자실), who became his mother-in-law and a close ministerial associate. He graduated in March 1958.