From the Pastor’s Desk (273)
I have been thinking and praying a lot about our next youth pastor candidate ever since the previous one resigned, which was June 2023. These are the criteria or qualities that I believe are very important for our next youth pastor to possess. So, for the past several months, I prayed and asked God to provide us with a person who have these qualities.
What are those qualities?
- He/she must be a person of good character/integrity.
- He/she must be respectful towards the senior pastor and humble and teachable.
- He/she must be a team player working well with the existing pastoral staff members.
- He/she must have a high view of God’s word studying, preparing, teaching, and preaching it with accuracy, conviction, and passion.
- He/she must be bilingual and work well with both KSC and ESC.
Last November, a few KSC members approached and asked me what I thought about Pastor Chris Joo, our KSC’s children’s pastor, as our next youth pastor. I didn’t give too much thought to it because I had someone else in mind and he was already serving as the children’s pastor in our KSC. However, after a series of events, I have come to realize that God has indeed brought Pastor Chris to us as our next youth pastor. And I am amazed how at God has answered every single item that I have been praying for in our next youth pastor in Chris.
I see Pastor Chris every Wednesday morning when I attend the KSC’s pastoral staff meeting. He is always very respectful not just to me but to everyone. When he shares the books that we read together as staff, he is always well-prepared, thoughtful, and self-aware, and he finds ways to apply what he reads in his own life and ministry. All the KSC staff members who work very closely with him daily have nothing but positive things to say about him. Furthermore, I have heard from multiple people in the KSC that everyone there, both young and old, truly loves and appreciates him for his character and the messages he preaches at adult worship services occasionally. So, I knew that he was a man of character and integrity (#1), respectful, humble, and teachable (#2), and a team player working well with his coworkers (#3).
However, I never had the opportunity to hear him preach either in Korean or English, although I knew he had a high view and respect for God’s word by the way he has been doing children’s ministry. Therefore, I invited him to come to this past year’s youth winter retreat and asked him to preach one message to get to know him better and assess his preaching. He preached on the necessity of prayer using the Lord’s Prayer as one of the anchors in our life, and he did a fantastic job (#4).
Pastor Sang and Pastor Mia don’t know him very closely. However, through several interactions they had with him in the past including the times they had spent together during the youth winter retreat, both of them have many positive things to say about him and would love to work with him (#3).
Interestingly, both he and his wife, Eunice, have experience living overseas, attending international schools in Hong Kong and Singapore when they were young. And they are both fully bilingual (#5).
I would like for New Life to meet and get to know Pastor Chris and Eunice. Our Leadership Team has already met with Pastor Chris on Saturday, April 6. And I would like for New Life to meet him and his wife as soon as possible, but they will be traveling to Korea in the second half of April. So, we will have “Get to know Pastor Chris and Eunice” on Sunday, May 5 at 1PM in our youth sanctuary. Please mark your calendar.
I want to thank you for praying for our youth pastor search for the past several months. I believe God has answered all our prayers by providing us with an excellent youth pastor for both congregations.
Once again, God has shown Himself to be faithful to His children who are faithful and obedient to Him.
Your pastor,
Eric
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