Yes, I'm a minister. No, I don't have a church.

Welcome to the blog series celebrating the 2015 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, inspired by the "Our New Day Begun" series celebrating Black History Month by the Rev. Tawnya Denise Anderson. This month, you will read profiles of Asian Pacific American Presbyterian leaders, spanning many generations and ethnicities. Check back throughout May for more profiles! 
A look back at previous posts: Presbyterians Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month The Rev. Charlene Han Powell The Rev. Phil Tom The Rev. Yena Hwang The Rev. Joann Haejong Lee The Rev. Shawn Kang The Rev. Neal Presa The Rev. Jim Huang The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow is a writer, speaker, pastor, former moderator, and walker of the dog in San Francisco, CA. Are you a “cradle Presbyterian,” or did you come to the tradition later in life?  I was born into the Presbyterian Church via Trinity Presbyterian Church . Trinity was founded by Filipino farmworkers during the labor strikes in the ...

Welcome to the blog series celebrating the 2015 Asian Pacific American Hertiage Month, inspired by the "Our New Day Begun" series celebrating Black History Month by the Rev. Tawnya Denise Anderson. This month, you will read profiles of Asian Pacific American Presbyterian leaders, spanning many generations and ethnicities. Check back throughout May for more profiles! 
A look at other posts: Presbyterians Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month The Rev. Charlene Han Powell The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow The Rev. Yena Hwang The Rev. Joann Haejong Lee The Rev. Shawn Kang The Rev. Neal Presa The Rev. Jim Huang The Rev. Phil Tom is the Director of the Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. Phil Tom, with his daughter Lena,  at the Dept. of Labor 2014 AAPI Heritage celebration, where the Chinese railroad workers were the first Asian Pacific American workers inducted into  the DOL's Hal...

Welcome to the blog series celebrating the 2015 Asian Pacific American Hertiage Month, inspired by the "Our New Day Begun" series celebrating Black History Month by the Rev. Tawnya Denise Anderson. This month, you will read profiles of Asian Pacific American Presbyterian leaders, spanning many generations and ethnicities. Check back throughout May for more profiles! A look at other posts: Presbyterians Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month The Rev. Phil Tom The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow The Rev. Yena Hwang The Rev. Joann Haejong Lee The Rev. Shawn Kang The Rev. Neal Presa The Rev. Jim Huang The Rev. Charlene Han Powell of New York, NY, is the Associate Pastor for Education and Engagement at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church . Are you a “cradle Presbyterian,” or did you come to the tradition later in life? Both.  I grew up going to a Korean church but would attend a “white” Presbyterian church as well. However, I didn’t truly come into my Pr...

Welcome to my blog series celebrating the 2015 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, inspired by the “Our New Day Begun” series celebrating Black History Month by the Rev. Tawnya Denise Anderson.  I loved reading the profiles of young black leaders in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and asked Denise if I might be inspired by her work to do an Asian Pacific American series. We talked about what the series might be titled, as the Black History Month features was called by a line in “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the black national anthem. I said, bluntly, that all we have in common as Asian Pacific Americans is racism. And the month of May, of course. Here are the profiles featured so far: The Rev. Charlene Han Powell The Rev. Phil Tom The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow The Rev. Yena Hwang The Rev. Joann Haejong Lee The Rev. Shawn Kang The Rev. Neal Presa The Rev. Jim Huang A quick primer on Asian Pacific Americans… The U.S. census puts us into two catego...

For my readers:  This is a piece I presented the 2nd Moderator's Convocation on Asian American Presbyterians, an event preceding the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly, which is a gathering of the highest governing body in the denomination. The 1st Moderator's Convocation on Asian American Presbyterians took place 14 years ago, when the first Asian American moderator of the PC(USA) was elected (the Rev. Dr. Syngman Rhee).  This event was in the PechaKucha style , a Japanese style of presentation that is image-driven, lasting only 6 minutes. It was really hard for me to find images! But all of these are either mine, or from friends/family used by permission, or from true open-source websites. (Just had to say that, since I work for a publisher.) The topic I addressed, along with four other presenters, was "Where is God calling us to go?" The first thing I remember my parents teaching me about my identity was, “I’m Japanese and Jewish.” ...