Monday, April 30, 2007 • 5:13 pm 26
The image above is haunting. I found it on flickr and haven’t been able to get my mind off it. This past Sunday, we continued our teaching through Colossians and have parked for two Sundays to focus on Colossians 3.18-19:
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. [tNIV] Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: culture, emerging church, justice
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 • 3:46 pm 11
I was 15 when I first learned about ‘comfort women.’ I thought it was a fictitious story; I thought, “That’s unbelievable. How is that even possible?” Tragically, it happens and is still happening in different forms. I know there will come a day when my kids will learn about things that happened in my generation and will wonder, “Why didn’t anyone [including my parents] do anything about it?” That will be another occasion I will be tempted to hide. The issues of human rights, children’s right, women’s rights, and global peace must still be forefront in our hearts. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: asian-american, justice, politics
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 • 10:46 pm 8
i’ve given myself 15 minutes for this post so excuse me for the choppiness. many in the church, including myself, don’t quite know how to thoughtfully integrate the subject of ‘numbers’ into conversations. the pastoral staff and i have never once spoken about how to increase the numbers at quest. that’s why some recent criticism that i ‘only seem to care about numbers’ sting a little more than the other stuff i find in my inbox. but isn’t it fair to say that numbers should absolutely matter but that numbers can grow to become an idolatrous obsession? geez, that’s another post and i only have 14 minutes now. Read the rest of this entry »
Saturday, March 17, 2007 • 12:44 pm 1
Yes, this post is about a week late but better late… Last Sunday was the ‘Global Day of Prayer for Burma’. I was first introduced to the situation in Burma through a U2 song called, Walk On which was inspired and dedicated to Aung Sun Suu Kyi, ‘leader’ of Burma who’s been under house arrest the majority of the time since 1989. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: justice, quest church
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 • 12:15 pm 9
one of the conversations that quest will soon need to have involves ‘faith and gender.’ that’ll be a fun conversation (gulp). anyway, we fully support women in leadership which is the reason why we have both female and male pastors. scot mcknight, who i respect and enjoy very much, has a great post entitled, women in ministry: made for mutuality (with good dialgoue via the comments) up on his jesus creed blog. please check it out. it’ll whet your appetite for the conversations we need to have not only in [y]our local church but in the larger church.
Friday, March 2, 2007 • 8:11 pm 17
the fact is we are all biased and prejudiced; all depraved [and beautiful] and jacked up. we’re certainly all ‘racialized’ in many ways. long story short, i’ve been following some drama with the folks at Youth Specialties (Zondervan) over a book published by YS called, skits that teach. well, one of the skits is outright racist as it parodies asians. and yes, this is supposed to be educating the youth of america. i re-posted the above video entitled, ‘silent racism’ because it is so appropriate. it was created for an assignment during our church’s 2006 faith and race class. for me, it speaks so much to the systemic racism that exists and how we’re all guilty and must seek to see the beauty and dignity God gave to each person, each tribe, and each ethnicity. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: asian-american, christianity, church, emerging church, Jesus, justice, leadership, ministry, pastors, quest church, religion
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 • 2:30 am 3
Two of our children are now in the public school system in Seattle and our third will be on his way in 1.5 years. I’ve always been a fan of the public school system mainly because it’s all I know. I entered Sherman Elementary School immediately after my family and I immigrated to San Francisco in 1977. Philosophically, it makes sense to invest heavily into the public school system in order for ALL children in ALL neighborhoods to benefit. On paper, it’s supposed to work but sadly, easier said than done. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: asian-american, justice, seattle
Saturday, February 10, 2007 • 9:47 pm 2
i just don’t get it. and i hate going public in expressing my ‘dislike’ for a person – especially if that person happens to profess belief in the same jesus christ. i refer to pat robertson as a very distant distant distant distant cousin in the larger christian body of christ but sometimes, he just drives me nuts. because i’m a christian pastor and involved with a denomination called, ‘evangelical covenant church,’ i honestly get more questions from neighbors and unchurched friends about robertson and jerry falwell than i do about jesus. that statement, in itself, says that something’s a little screwy. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: asian-american, justice
Saturday, January 27, 2007 • 1:53 pm 2
what a great treat yesterday! was invited to a join a small group of pastors/leaders in seattle to have lunch with dr. john perkins and it was great to be able to take the bulk of our church staff. how often do you get a chance to have lunch and chat with one of your life heroes. dr. john perkins – through his books, sermons, and lectures has grown to become a significant shaper of my worldview. quest is also very privileged to have dr. perkins join us on saturday, february 24 as we host him and the royal priesthood gospel choir for one of our ‘learning events.’
several of his books, including ‘let justice roll down’ were monumental reads early on during seminary and was reminded today of the need (& desire) to read them again. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: church, churchplanting, emerging church, justice, ministry, seattle
Friday, December 15, 2006 • 5:46 pm 6
the you-tube video above is a wonderful commentary from michelle malkin about rosie o’donnell’s insensitive usage and parody of a people’s beautiful language. it’s worth watching because in the blogosphere of comments, rants, justifications, or others saying, ‘get over it and stop being so sensitive,’ this hits it right at the HEART in my opinion.
i have been biting my lips and refraining from addressing rosie o’donnell’s pathetic attempt at humor in a recent episode of ‘the view.’ i was reticent because i’m a little tired and weary of responding to random emails that i hate ‘white people.’ umm, it’s not good to be a pastor and somehow be accused of hating white people when in fact, the church you pastor is a beautiful mosaic of people. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: asian-american, justice
Friday, October 6, 2006 • 12:33 am 2
certain people radiate the grace of jesus. dick and judy anderson are such people. i met them several years ago at a wedding. their son, chad (now on the leadership team at quest) was getting married to melinda. i had the privilege of flying out to beautiful iowa to officiate their wedding.
anyway, dick and judy anderson are friends of quest; through friendship and prayer, we support their work. i’m not sure what to call them; they aren’t traditional missionaries – they are involved and invited to many places to aid in the work of reconciliation. the work of RECONCILIATION, ultimately, is the work that God has called us to – to HIM and to neighbors. they’ve spent many many years working in africa and particularly in goma, congo. they helped start, i believe, an organization called, Heal Africa, in the congo city of goma. this past year, our global presence pastor,leah was able to trek from uganda to spend some time with the andersons. she says it was a life changing experience. unjin lee, a member at quest and who started her year long internship at quest this month, will be taking a two week trip from 10/18-11/2 as part of the christian peacemaker team delegation of 10 women who will go to congo to meet with congolese women who have been raped as a weapon of warfare. it is a brutal and painful story. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: justice
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