Asian American Pastors on Megachurch Staff

As growing numbers of megachurches (weekend attendance over 2,000) in America have adapted and developed into multi-site churches (being one church in multiple locations), perhaps one of the next nascent developments is an intentional multi-ethnic diversity on their pastoral staff.

In recent years, I’m starting to notice (and getting occasional phone calls) an uptick in the number of Asian American pastors on churches with larger number of staff to better serve a multiethnic and multicultural diversity in the church’s community. Thought I’d put this list out there (in no particular order) and see if you’re noticing this too (and with your help, we can keep this updated). Also, see this list of Asian American Pastors leading Multiracial Megachurches.

Large Churches with Asian American Pastors

* indicates lead pastor or senior pastor of a multiethnic megachurch (see below for link to a list of ethnic Asian megachurches)

Saddleback Church: Sam Yoon, Steve Yu, Kyung Lee, Julie Chung, William Kim, Chris Yi, Dennis Choy, Kevin Jaehwan Lee, Stephen Lee, John Chan

Mariners Church: Daniel “DK” Kim, Steve Bang Lee, Cree Vang, Ryan Hsu, Yohan Shin, Van Ibasan

WestGate Church: Jay Kim*, David Kim, Finny Abraham

Christian Assembly: Albert Kim, Jacob Park

Menlo.Church: Eugene Lee, Sue Kim-Ahn, Mark Kim, Donavan Doan

Redeemer Presbyterian Church: Ed Sirya, Aaron Bjerke, Paul Yoo, Shirley Hyun, Charles Chung, Abraham Cho

Resonate Church: Ryan Kwon*, Yvonne Cheung

VantagePoint Church: Mark Lee*

Discovery Church: Scott Kim

North Coast Church: Andy Na

North Coast Calvary Chapel: Jung Park

Rolling Hills Covenant Church: Vance Hartzell

Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa: John Hwang

Evangelical Free Church (Diamond Bar CA): Tim Park*, Kevin Ahn, Eddie Lee

Chase Oaks Church: Peter Park, Jianbo Guo, OnDat Truong, Godwin Tsang

The Austin Stone Community Church: Halim Suh, John Yeng

Houston’s First Baptist Church: Lee Hsia

Willow Creek Community Church: Jeremy Chia, Julie Jin

Liquid Church: Hyo Sil Seigel, Mike Lee, Paul Benjamino

Grace Chapel: Jeanette Yep, Tom Lee

Grace Community Church: Mitchel Lee*, Tae Pae

Seneca Creek Community Church: Jon Shumway

Capitol Hill Baptist Church: Deepak Reju

The Summit Church: Peter Park

Grace Fellowship (Albany NY): Justin Yim

The Crossing (Costa Mesa): Michelle Yuen

Cathedral of Faith (San Jose): Cedric Tsang, Vaughn Thompson

Quest Church (Seattle): Gail Song Bantum*, Aaron Cho

Bethlehem Baptist Church (Minneapolis): Steven Lee

Calvary Community Church (Westlake Village): Carolyn Taketa

Perimeter Church (Atlanta): Jimmy Kim

McLean Bible Church: James Park

National Community Church: Jenni Clayville

Timberlake Church (Seattle): David Choi, Lydia Choi

Christ Church (Chicago area): Alex Chu

NewSpring Church: Dan Lian

Kensington Church: Andrew Kim

Grace Church (Ann Arbor, MI): Sung Kim*

Central Presbyterian Church (St. Louis): Ben Tzeng

Blackhawk Church: Charles Yu, Charles Huang

New Beginnings Community Church: Tilden Fang

Purpose Church (Pomona, CA): Claire Colinco, Tamiko Chacon

Village Church (Beaverton, OR): Paul Choi*, Insil Kang, Kwang Kim, Tony Huynh

Rockpointe Church (Calgary, Alberta, Canada): Naim Choi, Jon Lim

Beulah Alliance Church (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada): Daniel Sangi Im*

Real Life Church (Valencia, CA): David Park

New Life Fellowship (Elmhurst, NY): Cate Song, Helen Kim Nowalk, Sherin Swift

Chelten – a church of hope (Drescher, PA): Jin Lee*

Rockharbor (Costa Mesa, CA): Glenn Packiam*

Lake Avenue Church (Pasadena, CA): Matthew P. John*

Bent Tree Bible Fellowship (Carrollton, TX): Libin Abraham*

The Orchard (Chicago): Herb Ahne, Shohei Shuzuki, Tom Yoon, Tae Hwang

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In some Asian American circles, this kinda fits what sometimes is called a “hotel” model of church. And what’s significant of this developing story is how a significant number of English-speaking Asian Americans are not just attending largely Anglo/ Caucasian churches but also serving on staff and maybe making a bigger ethnic & cultural contribution in the future.

And, yes, there are ethnic Asian American Korean megachurches and Chinese large churches, plus several growing multiethnic churches (I know of) that have an Asian American lead pastor on that trajectory of becoming a megachurch.

(photo credit: pastors.com)

// [clarification: this list seeks to spotlight multiethnic diversity in both attendance and pastoral staff, not just one or the other] //