Ending the School Year

The school year has officially come to an end! This means that my work directly on campus is on pause until August, and my focus now turns to the summer. To conclude the year, we held our end-of-year banquet, where we reflect, celebrate, and praise the Lord for the amazing things he has done.

The students uplifted and encouraged one another, as we spent time to pray especially for our graduating students and for their futures as messengers of the gospel in new communities. To see them walk away is bittersweet but there is so much genuine excitement for what is in store for them.

We also spent some time welcoming and introducing our future leaders, including our two new staff members who will be joining Jamie and I. God has continued to answer prayers and provides the ministry and the campus with more servant hearts that are so willing and eager to serve.

Wildwood Summer Mission

I’m currently on a summer mission trip with Epic in Wildwood, New Jersey. Some of you may know that this is where I spent my summer in 2019 and is the reason I first started this page. Although it’s only been around a week since arriving here, the time has been filled with blessings and sweet times. 

Our mission trip here in Wildwood is an 8 week long trip for our students. For me as staff, I am here for the first 4 weeks of the trip. This trip has a focus on two major things. 

The first is to be a light to the people of this very broken city. Wildwood is a beach town like none other I have seen before. Along the 2.5 mile boardwalk there are 3 piers each with their own amusement parks. The off-season population of 5,000 or so swells to well over 250,000 as tourists, families, and many international students come to vacation. Our students will all get jobs on and around the boardwalk with the goal of sharing the gospel with their coworkers, customers, and any others they cross paths with over the summer. The students will be inviting the people they meet to events that we hold or simply witnessing to them in their times together. Our expectant prayer is for God to move miraculously in this city and through our team. 

The second hope we carry for the summer is to build up Christ centered leaders, which is where my role more heavily lies. Many of these students are unfamiliar with sharing the gospel, many of them being younger believers. A large part of my job is walking with the students and doing my part in building them up. We hope to empower them to live out a missional life no matter where they are or if they have any structure/leaders to set them up. This goal is highlighted by the 4 weeks students will carry on the mission without the staff team, as they learn to take ownership and responsibility of our shared mission as believers, to love the lost. I will be discipling two of the men on the trip and generally walking with the group as a whole. Our staff team is in charge of equipping these students through prayer, trainings, and general guidance as we all learn together what God has in store for us.

As I pray over these times I find myself so in need of wisdom and discernment. Only being here for 4 weeks has its purpose, however; my mind can’t help but think about how little time I have. My hope is that I would steward the time I have here to the best of my ability.

Personal Update

One of the great blessings outside of campus ministry in my life has been within my church. God has greatly grown our young adult ministry and continues to connect us with people who are hungry to know Him and find loving community. I have been slowly getting to know more and more people, even outside of our young adult specific ministry and am always so encouraged by the hospitality and genuine love for Jesus I see displayed by those in different life stages than myself. I am so grateful for the chance to learn and be guided by such God fearing people and pastors.

Moving forward, I plan to begin schooling again at Talbot School of Theology this coming fall. As a result, my capacity for campus ministry will be shifting. I am currently in the process of transitioning from a full time intern to a part time field staff role. To be transparent, this means financially, I will be raising towards a smaller goal than I did last summer. As I continue to finalize this process and return from New Jersey, I will be in contact with you all about what supporting me for this next school year could look like. One hope I have is to potentially redirect some of your support to my peers who will be raising support alongside me to begin their first year of vocational ministry next year. This is also a seamless opportunity for those of you whose financial situation may have changed to prayerfully consider pausing or stopping your financial support altogether. Ultimately, I am thankful for all of you and will continue to communicate with you the timing and specifics of this process.

Prayer Requests

• For wisdom for my team and I as we lead here in Wildwood
• For the students of this summer mission team, that they would be bold and courageous in their prayers, outreach, and love for Jesus
• For the Epic community back home, that they would continue to be challenged and in continual pursuit of God’s heart
• For the hearts of our future leaders
• For the safety and wellbeing of my sisters, as they will both be serving on missions with their church

Epic Movement Staff Conference

Houston, Texas was the location for our annual Epic Staff Conference this year. Staff from across the nation came and gathered to be encouraged, equipped, and to celebrate in the Lord together. We gathered and heard from some wonderful speakers, as well as had countless opportunities to engage with one another. We were also able to serve the local ministry at the University of Houston by evangelizing there! We spent a week together, which was admittedly intimidating, as I felt anxious about being away from campus for so long. However, the time away also served as change of scenery that helped me to reflect and assess how ministry has been. As I looked back on the week during my flight home, I was left with two key takeaways from our time.

The first was a shocking realization about the privilege I have serving in Southern California. Being able to hear from new friends during this time made me see that in other parts of the country, being an Asian-American can be restrictive, rather than conducive to campus ministry. There is an active wrestling for cultural awareness and how diversity can play a role in sharing the gospel with care and intentionality. In addition, simply hearing about the differences that exist with Epic Movements regionally was intriguing and helped to widen my perspective. I still haven’t come to a conclusion on what to do with this new information, other than a realization that I ought to be humble, as my perspective has been very limited. While I can say with confidence I have an understanding of my specific campus or ministry, there’s is still so much for me to learn. Being able to hear from and get to know faithful men and women, hearing both similarities and differences in our experiences, was such a blessing.

Just as I was humbled, I was maybe even more so encouraged and emboldened during this time. I had the opportunity to learn more about the story of Epic as a ministry, and how it became what it is today. Specifically, hearing the story about how God used our current national director, Margaret Yu, inspired me. To put it simply, as the story of our ministry continued to unfold, so many people continued to point towards the steady faithfulness and trust that she displays. I’m sure there were many other accomplishments or successes that were significant, but I was struck by what stuck with the people around her. While there were ups and downs, both in ministry and in her personal life, everyone continued to see the love of Jesus through her life. As I flew home, I reflected on what I value, and why. I was reminded of Martha and Mary, and realized that so often I am scrambling, hoping to put in my best effort and to please those around me, so much so that I can lose sight of Christ. The pieces of Margaret’s story I heard pointed me to Him, and reminded me to simply abide in Him day by day, and to trust Him with the rest.

Brother’s/Sister’s Appreciation

In place of two of our regularly scheduled general meetings, we held our brother’s and sister’s appreciation nights! These events serve firstly, as a time and space for our students to express appreciation and to encourage one another. A secondary purpose for these times is to help bonding amidst the planning processes. I was only able to see the brother’s planning firsthand, but during the time I observed brothers stepping up and out of their comfort zones to contribute! I was also proud of some of the guys who were great facilitators and delegators, valuing the voices of everyone in the room and helping the group stay focused on the heart behind the event. The sisters also did an amazing job and I had such a blast during the time. Despite having much less manpower in addition to appreciating such a large group of guys, they put together a blissful time.

SoCal Epic Vision Dinner

One large event we had to conclude the month was our first ever Epic Vision Dinner. This was a time where we shared about what God is doing in and through Epic nationally over the last year and more specifically here in SoCal at Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Fullerton, and USC. One of the key components of the time was also an opportunity to partner financially and through prayer with the ministry.

Despite it being our first time hosting a time like this, we felt that the time was a success! I had the opportunity to see and meet some parents of students and was so encouraged by how the students were eager to share about their college ministry to people in their communities. I realized how blessed I am to be able to daily witness first hand how God is providing and moving in the lives of these students!

Prayer Requests

• For our future staff members
• For the students, that the summer break would be a blessed time
• For our upcoming summer mission to Wildwood, NJ
• For me, that I would have wisdom and discernment in how to love and serve everyone and anyone who walks into our community

Campus

Every Thursday, we have been setting up a table in the schools quad to evangelize and reach out to our peers. University hour is from 12 – 1 and is a time where nearly all of the students do not have class. We spend this time approaching students and getting to know them, inviting them into our community.

These times have been relatively difficult when compared with our annual club fair that was mentioned in earlier posts. During the club fair, a large crowd of students wander around, actively seeking communities that interest them; however, the weekly times of outreach look pretty different. We have found that most students are busy attending club meetings, studying for class, or trying to grab a bite in between their classes. There have been weeks that this has honestly been discouraging, and I’m unable to have a meaningful conversation with even a single student. I have found comfort and humility in the reality that I am just one small part of how God is pursuing them.

One day after tabling, as I carried our equipment back to my car, I passed a large crowd and commotion in front of our school’s library. I began to slip by uninterested however began to hear phrases regarding God and Jesus being shouted back and forth. I paused and spectated, as an older man who came to evangelize was fiercely debating some students who were clearly against what he was talking about. I asked some nearby spectators what I had missed and apparently the man had been speaking false gospels and misrepresenting God’s character as one that was condemning, unforgiving, and hateful. They stated, “he’s just pushing his racist and hateful agendas using religion”. I can’t share here the things he had allegedly stated and hearing this left me feeling so dejected and confused. I continued to listen as they screamed at each other in circles, neither side even listening to the other and decided to walk away. As I walked, with my hands full of evangelism tools and Epic posters, I thought, what was God asking me to do in that situation? Should I have spoken up and added a third voice to the fray? Should I have waited and confronted the man or maybe stayed to attempt to explain to the students what the gospel was really about? I felt guilt at a potential missed opportunity but also powerless and even insecure in my role as a campus minister.

Ultimately, I still don’t know what the wisest course of action was for me in that moment, but I know with certainty that God was reminding me how large the need for Him really is. If I ever let my perspective narrow or grow anxious over my own will for the movement, that I will quickly forget about the world we have been called to share the gospel with. There is so much turmoil and tension regarding Christianity in the world, and God called me to more genuine, expectant prayer for the campus as a whole.

Spring Break Trip

Spring break trip is an annual trip that is only for our movement at Cal Poly Pomona. We spent 4 days at an airBnB with the theme of intentionality. This trip has many purposes, one simply being a space for students to grow in relationship with one another and to walk with one another. One underlying goal for the trip is for students to take charge and giving eager students opportunities to lead and learn in a new setting. Both of these goals were accomplished during this trip!

Regarding planning for this trip, I contributed very very little. And I say this proudly! The team of students that was assembled greatly exceeded our expectations. I was simply able to show up and do what they needed me to do, which was not much at all. I felt guilty for failing to realize how hungry and willing they were to serve their fellow brothers and sisters, wishing I had created more space for them rather than rushing to fill in the gaps myself.

Incidentally, this created a very different experience for me during the duration of the trip. At almost every opportunity this year, I have cherished hopping into discussion groups and being able to get to know the students on a deeper level. However, this time, as I watched the students split up and begin to converse I decided to sit out. Of course I still wanted to hear what they had to say, but I was also eager to watch from afar, and witness how wonderfully God has been in working in them from this new perspective. I was so proud and grateful for the way I get to be a part of their lives.

Prayer Requests

• Prayer for our campus, for faculty and students, that God would soften their hearts and that we would have opportunities to witness to them
• For our students, that they would continue to run the race with boldness in light of the world we are surrounded by
• For me, that I would have humility and wisdom to nurture these young brothers and sisters