Before I came to America as an immigrant from South Korea in 1988, I worked as a translator in South Korea: My translations include Andrew Murray’s The Spirit of Christ and The Full Blessing of Pentecost. 

I studied at Westminster Theological Seminary (Master of Art in Religion – Urban Mission Emphasis; 1994), The New School for Social Research (M.A. Candidate in Liberal Studies; 1995-1998), Union Presbyterian Seminary (M. Div.; 2002), and Columbia Theological Seminary (Th. M. in Systematic Theology; 2005). I served as a residential chaplain at Yuma Reginal Medical Center from 2002 to 2003. And I was ordained as a pastor at the Michigan Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church in June 2018 and served as a pastor at Alpena First United Methodist from July 2018 to June 2022.

My favorite Bible verses are 2 Corinthians 10:3-5: “Indeed, we live as human beings, but do not wage war according to human standards; for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

My vision of the church is to bring all nations or every kind of people into reconciliation beyond their differences in race, gender, class, nationality, or age so that we may transform the world into the image of Christ, who has brought us into reconciliation with God and each other. Christ is our peace (Eph. 2:12-14).  I have the vision of the church as the city on a hill, where every nation, tribe, and language gather to worship God and serve one another. It is the participation in the vision of The United Methodist Church to make disciples of all nations for the transformation of the world.