Archives for category: Kingdom of God

An Unlikely Church Planter

August 30, 2014 //

Today’s headline comes with a grateful tip of the hat to my friend Dan King, author of The Unlikely Missionary: From Pew-Warmer to Poverty-Fighter.

“Adventure” almost sounds too simple to describe our church planting journey over the last nine (!) months, but I’m not sure there’s a better way to describe what an unexpected, joy-filled, nerve-wracking, and humbling journey it’s been so far!

When I read my friend Wayne’s recent blog post, I felt a deep resonance with his words:

I stepped back, sat down in my chair and watched it unfold(ing) before my eyes. I didn’t have to do much. The people are doing it. It’s high collaboration, and requires minimal management, because we all are heading down the same track: that of a missional church with a multiethnic mission in the suburbs of west Houston.

Switch out H-town for sunny San Diego, and you’ll get a pretty good sense of our Anchor City story.

I’m beyond grateful to plant along my extraordinary wife: A truly gifted pastor, preacher, teacher, and developer of leaders. I’ve loved seeing God work through her to unleash the people of God to join Him on His mission of redemption and reconciliation. I often tell people (and only half-jokingly) that my job around church is to set up chairs (and, humblebrag: I’m pretty good at it!).

From time to time, you might see church leadership articles ask the question: If you were not on staff at your church, would you be part of it? For me, as I look at the amazing things God is doing through Anchor City, the answer is a thousand times yes!

Our community has taught me so much about generosity, devotion, laughter, and hard work. I believe in our friends so much — and when such a gifted group is willing to share their kindness and talents so freely, quite frankly, it’s easy to believe in them. I can only pray that God will shape me into a pastor worthy of such a church community.

We’re far from perfect, but God is raising up a beautiful family through Anchor City. If you are in the San Diego area and you’re looking to become part of a church community, we invite you to be a part of the story God is writing in and through our lives.

Categories church, faith, Kingdom of God, ministry, missional, race, reconciliation

For the City, For the World

February 6, 2014 //

Following Jesus’ call to plant Anchor City Church in January has been an adventure all the way!

Please take a minute and watch this short video (filmed and produced by some very talented creatives from our community) that introduces our heart & vision for Anchor City:

May God’s will be done in San Diego as it is in heaven!

Categories church, community, faith, family, Kingdom of God, ministry, missional

Anchor City Church!

January 1, 2014 //

Adventure

A very happy new year, friends!

When I responded to God’s call over 17 years ago to serve in full-time vocational ministry, I had no idea what was in store. God always knows what He is doing, though, right? There’s no way I was prepared for the ups & downs ahead, but Jesus has always had more than enough mercy & grace for the journey.

Our family is so thankful for the next adventure to which God is calling us. We are incredibly grateful to partner with a group of generous, thoughtful, faithful, kind, compassionate, and talented individuals and families to plant a new church here in San Diego: Anchor City Church!

We believe God is calling us to plant a third culture, multiethnic, multi-generational church to bless and serve San Diego and the world, and are excited to respond to the call. We believe a diverse church with Christ at the center reflects the joy & creativity of God and forms a beautiful, credible witness to a broken, divided world (Revelation 7:9-10).

As Asian Americans, we have experienced the pain of being not accepted as fully Asian or American. However, through the redemption only Christ can bring, our journey has been transformed from “neither/nor” to “both/and.” We believe God is calling us to leverage this gift for the sake of others at the margins, who might not feel at home elsewhere and to invite them to sit at Christ’s table among the family of God. As the psalmist says, “God sets the lonely in families.”

As pastors, my wife and I seek to unleash the God-given dreams of each member of our community, to cultivate better expressions of Christ’s love for the world, and to join the redemptive work of the Holy Spirit throughout San Diego and the world. Christ is the true Anchor for our souls (Hebrews 6:19), the One who harbors us in the eye of the storm and who gives us the courage to venture forth and risk the ocean.

We dream of kids & families growing together in the truth that this is our Father’s world and following Jesus is an adventure like no other. We want to engage and unleash the God-given creativity, curiosity & wonder of people of all ages through music, art, science, food, and play.

We will begin gathering in homes this week as the new year begins. If you, or someone you know, does not belong to a church community and is looking to find a church to call home, we invite you to consider Anchor City Church. We believe God has not given up on the world, and neither have we!

Friends, we deeply value your prayer & intercession. We want to cultivate an outward-looking ethos & culture in Anchor City, and we believe that is only possible through the leadership & guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In the weeks to come, I will be posting more about our heart, ministry, and life together — including our social media accounts and website. We look forward to connecting and collaborating for the Kingdom!

Categories church, faith, family, Kingdom of God, leadership, ministry

Your Voice Matters

October 21, 2013 //

Every once in awhile, my lovely wife and I will bust out our Lord of the Rings special-edition DVDs (no, not Blu-Ray. We’re old-school like that) and immerse ourselves in the epic world of Middle Earth.

Funny timing, then, that we recently finished a viewing right before a set of events unfolded that would remind me that—as much as I’d like to be Aragorn or Gandalf—I’m more like one of the Shire-folk. But there is great honor in learning to fulfill our small part of God’s Kingdom work: after all, some of the greatest Kingdom work is accomplished through the unnoticed and overlooked.

As Galadriel tells Frodo in the midst of his fear:

Even the smallest person can change the course of the future

I am truly thankful for the leadership, tenacity, truth-telling, and grace of leaders (many of whom I’m blessed to call friends) such as Kathy Khang, Helen Lee, Ken Fong, Sam Tsang, Nikki Toyama-Szeto, Bruce Reyes-Chow, David Park, and many, many others.

Jesus is recreating a people for Himself from those who are near and far away, from every tribe, nation, culture, ethnicity, and language.

This is our story to tell the world:

A better story of hope, redemption, life, salvation, justice, beauty, and truth in a diverse church that reflects the creativity and joy of Christ.

Recent events have reminded us how far we have to go in that journey, but that there is always hope.

I invite you to join with pastors, doctors, professors, artists, students, missionaries, attorneys, editors, accountants, counselors, moms, dads, and friends and raise your voice and sign this open letter to the church, to commit yourself to racial reconciliation, understanding, and forming a more credible witness to a broken world around us.

As I mentioned, I have felt quite Hobbit-ish in the midst of all these heavyweights. Most days, all I want to do is be the best husband and dad I can be, provide for my family, and live into our calling here in our little corner of the world in San Diego. My role in this story has been quite small, but I know that it is important not to give up—to lift my voice for my family, our church community, for Asian Americans, and for all people so that the world will know how great a Redeemer Jesus is.

I am incredibly thankful for my lovely wife—a profoundly gifted pastor, church leader, wife, mom, and reflection of the humble love of Jesus to the world. In many ways, it was her voice that became a sort of holy tipping point for one particular conversation with our friends from Exponential. As she shared her story, the doors of empathy and understanding opened.

It is no mistake, I think, that God used her voice to speak powerfully to a group consisting mostly of men. Like my friend Eugene, I also support women in all levels of church leadership. I believe this is the faithful reading of Scripture and, from my experience, the story the church needs to share with the broken world around us: God is unleashing His dreams through all of His daughters & sons, just as He promised so long ago.

As this conversation moves forward, I look forward to the unique leadership of brave, godly, and strong women (as well as the voices of my brothers in Christ).

Friends, your voice matters.

If you need to be reminded, I encourage you to read Connie Zhou’s story. Perhaps some of you will see yourself reflected back. Or, even if you are coming from a different place altogether, you will benefit from hearing her voice.

As the Church, may we plant and cultivate communities who are radically committed to loving our actual neighbors with the transforming love of Jesus.

Categories asian american, church, community, culture, faith, family, Kingdom of God, leadership, ministry, race, reconciliation

To Live and Live and Keep On Living

May 8, 2013 //

Dallas Willard — author of seminal works such as The Divine Conspiracy and Renovation of the Heart — died today.

Although I did not know Dr. Willard in a personal sense, the impact of his work changed the direction of my life and ministry in ways that continue to reverberate today. Clearly, based on the outpouring of love & sorrow I’ve seen via social media streams today, many feel the same way.

My friend Steve sums this up beautifully:

Spirit Farmer

Dr. Willard opened my eyes to the ways in which we so easily distort the beautiful, wild, incredible life of loving & following Jesus Christ to become a gospel of sin management. If I just avoid drinking/dancing/etc., then I will have fulfilled my Christian duty.

From The Great Omission:

Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.

Willard’s call to live today in Christ, becoming an apprentice of His way, transformed how I viewed my everyday life. Grace is not a static theological trophy gathering dust on the shelf or a paperweight with which we can club others over the head.

Grace compels us to live.

Today, we are not only saved by grace, we are paralyzed by it. We will preach to you for an hour that you can do nothing to be saved, and then sing to you for forty-five minutes trying to get you to do something to be saved. That is confusing, to say the least.

Grace calls us to a life infused with Christ’s resurrection life — His joy, peace, purpose, and strength:

Spiritual formation does not aim at controlling action. It is a matter of reworking all aspects of the self. It is a process that involves the transformation of the whole person, and that the whole person must be active with Christ in the work of spiritual formation.

This vision of life in Christ renewed my understanding of spiritual disciplines. We don’t pray or read our Bibles or fast to prove how “spiritual” or “mature” we are; we don’t fast as some kind of divine punishment. Rather, we are retraining our souls for a new way of life:

Spiritual disciplines are activities in our power that we engage in to enable us to do what we cannot do by direct effort.

A couple of years back, I had the chance to hear Dr. Willard speak live. It would have been easy for his words about discipleship, sin, and transformation to be heavy or burdensome. Instead, because of his winsome approach, I found his words to be freeing and pointing toward joy. One thing he said, in particular, has stayed with me (and I hear it echo in my mind today as I think of Dr. Willard fully entering into the presence of our beloved Savior):

Followers of Christ are people who live and live and keep on living such that, when we die, we won’t even realize it. Rather, we will continue living our lives in Christ.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ save us in every way, and bring you the fullness of God’s shalom peace today.

. . . . .

All of the above quotes (except for the final one) are from The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teaching on Discipleship. I would highly recommend this book for those who are interested in engaging Willard’s writing. I found The Divine Conspiracy to be kind of intimidating (and heavy) at first — The Great Omission is very approachable and is overflowing with wisdom.

Categories faith, Kingdom of God, ministry