Jan 312007
The annual PCA English Ministry Pastors’ Conference ended today after a lavish lunch. The hospitality at Sarang Community Church surpasses lavishness! A note of welcome to the EM pastors I got to meet in person!! Was going to write up a few highlights, but had a good surprise visit with Jeff Jue while sipping on a iced venti cafe con leche. Now I have to be off to a meetup, and a visit with extended family (read: in-laws), then off to Long Beach airport for a red-eye flight overnight back east to DC.
[update] 48 hours later, here’s a few highlights worth noting and I feel okay writing about:
- uniquely valuable gathering: more than 100 English-speaking Korean/Asian-American pastors, good to know they’re out there ministering on the front lines
- tons of food: the most incredible hospitality by the host church Sarang, plus free WiFi internet + power strips at every table in the main meeting room
- tons of content download: 6 keynote lectures + 2 sermons focused on evangelism and the Gospel-centered church, great “back to the basics” but kinda generic theology that most (if not all) of the seminary-trained attendees knew already; a missed opportunity – to address the specific issues of being an EM pastor (cf. Ministry Demand and Stress Among Korean American Pastors)
- I’m hearing a little more desire for a conference that’d intentionally gather English-speaking ministry leaders from different Asian American ethnicities
- my prayer was to talk with the right people there for my research, but in hindsight, found out that I still didn’t get to meet (at least) 2 people that I wanted to
- best unverified rumor: comedian Robin Williams was spotted attending a worship service led by one of the pastors at this conference
Nice to meet you to DJ!
Nice to meet you too DJ!
I know the pastor that you are talking about (re: Robin Williams) and I’ve heard him first hand talk about it. I believe RW was attending his church for a few months. RW supposedly was converted in a PCA church and visits PCA churches at different cities (Redeemer, etc).
Billy, thanks for the confirmation. I met that pastor at the conference, and had heard the RW story second-hand, but I felt embarrassed to ask him directly about it, b/c I didn’t want to be perceived as yet another celebrity hound. I’ve heard that RW used to be Episcopalian.