josephchu

Church Musical

2011-11-16T10:19:00.003-05:00

one of my small regrets in life is that i never performed in a high school musical. but i had a chance to live out my dreams in our church's first musical which was performed at an evangelistic event. the musical was about 40 minutes long and included two song/dance numbers. we, the actors, received some pretty high-quality coaching and directing. the practice schedule was grueling, as we prepared for four months. now i have so much respect and appreciation for actors. it takes so much work to memorize your lines and dance moves. and it takes so much energy to practice and perform it right. there is already talk about an encore performance.

bronx zoo

2011-11-02T16:59:00.001-04:00

Pastor Ha

2011-08-03T09:43:00.002-04:00

Pastor Ha Yong Jo passed away this week on August 2, at the age of 65. He was the founding pastor of Onnuri Church in Korea. Onnuri has become one of the most influential and innovative churches in the world. He was a great leader and a true visionary. He was so creative with his ministry plans and in the way that he saw the future. I found this old picture that I took with him back in 2003, when I was on the pastoral staff at Onnuri. I remember being upset when I took this picture because some of the other pastors made me wear this womens floral headpiece. But I guess Pastor Ha thought it was funny. Several times Pastor Ha spoke to me in English. Some people commented how strange it was that he would speak to me in English, because he didn't speak English to anyone. I feel so blessed to have served under the leadership of Pastor Ha.

Philippines Mission Trip

2011-06-28T10:43:00.002-04:00

i returned recently from a two week mission trip in the philippines. this year was even more intense & sobering than last year's trip. we visited two villages that are only accessible by foot. one of the villages had no electricity. it was totally isolated from modern life. i was amazed by the breadth & depth of the mission work of pastor paul lim and holy grace christian church.
more pics at: www.flickr.com/photos/pilgrimnj/sets/72157627037751110/

yucatan-mexico mission trip

2011-05-04T10:25:00.003-04:00

i recently returned from a church mission trip in the yucatan peninsula of mexico. we have been leading youth retreats there for four years in a row. it is amazing how we get to see the teenagers grow into college students & young adults. & our intimacy & trust has grown with them as well. this year we had the privilege of visiting a group of three cenotes (underground natural swimming pools). i couldn't believe how beautiful they were. the water was clean & cool & deep enough for cliff-diving. & it wasn't overly crowded. we took horse-driven carts up a small mountain to get there. it was one of the most naturally beautiful places i have ever seen.
more pics at: www.flickr.com/photos/pilgrimnj/sets/72157626641965752/

pastors worship team

2011-03-24T13:40:00.002-04:00

a handful of our pastoral staff came together to lead worship a few weeks ago. it was an awesome experience. i was inspired by the group casting crowns, as i heard that they serve the same church as youth pastors.

mayor of paramus

2011-03-09T15:17:00.002-05:00

yesterday was an interesting day. in the morning i preached at a homeless ministry in harlem. then in the evening i attended the paramus council meeting where the mayor recognized our church. because our senior pastor wasn't available, i went in place of him.

haddon robinson

2011-03-02T14:50:00.003-05:00

haddon robinson just led a preaching seminar at our church. he also preached at our sunday services. he is known as the great professor of preaching. it was so strange to see him preaching to our em congregation. we had so much fun hosting him & spending time w/him. he has a great sense of humor & he has a way of speaking words that made people feel so personally encouraged & blessed.

he is turning 80 soon. when we drove by the george washington bridge, he said that the bridge opened the year he was born. he really inspired me to want to live a faithful & meaningful life. he has personally taught many great preachers (chuck swindoll, erwin lutzer, joe stowell, tony evans, etc). he served as a chaplain to the dallas cowboys in the 70s back when tom landry was the coach. he lived such an exciting life of serving the Lord.

he grew up in harlem. as a teenager, he & his cousin went to church in order to play in a church basketball league. they both became christians. his cousin went on to become the pastor of riverside church in ny. & he went on to become haddon robinson.

article in the korean newspaper

2011-02-16T14:59:00.002-05:00

www.koreadaily.com/news/read.asp?page=1&branch=NY&source=NY&category=&art_id=1155804

the korean daily has an article covering the pulse opening worship service. they gave a brief summary of my sermon. but they got some of my personal bio information wrong. they called me "jundosa" & said that i was the leader of the youth ministry at pilgrim church.

the pulse opening celebration service

2011-02-15T14:43:00.001-05:00

our church (pilgrim) has partnered w/siloam church to start a new english ministry in queens, ny. this new ministry is called "the pulse". we are hoping & praying that God will do an awesome work through this ministry.

baptism (2011.2.6)

2011-02-09T14:40:00.001-05:00

we were blessed to have two baptisms last sunday.
more pics at: www.flickr.com/photos/pilgrimnj/sets/72157626012912614/

University in Pyeongyang, North Korea

2011-02-01T17:11:00.002-05:00

last weekend i had the privilege of sitting in a small breakfast meeting w/dr. james kim, the president of yanbian university of science and technology & pyeoungyang university of science and technology. i previously knew a couple that has been teaching at yanbian university for many years. and they speak very highly about the school & everyone involved w/the school's leadership. dr. james kim is a fascinating person. he is a korean-american who raised money & started these two universities. though there are some controversial opinions about him and his latest project, he is an amazing person w/an amazing story.

dave's wedding

2010-12-16T10:29:00.002-05:00

my brother got married on dec 4. everything went well. it was a blessing to see our extended family come together to support him. gideon had a chance to be one of the ring boys in the ceremony.

me & barack

2010-11-27T22:19:00.003-05:00

apparently president barack obama got a few stitches on his lip after taking an elbow in a basketball game. in my own humble life, someone almost gouged my eye out playing basketball today. luckily my cornea wasn't damaged. i was praying so hard, because my eye went completely blind for about a minute.

home cookin

2010-10-13T17:14:00.002-04:00

preparations for the "missionary paul kim dinner"

Missionary Paul Kim & Family

2010-10-13T17:03:00.002-04:00

these past few days i had a chance to host pastor paul kim & his family at our home. paul is a missionary in thailand. yesterday was a lot of fun as we did our new york city tour. it was also an awesome eating day. for breakfast we had bagels from one of my favorite places. for lunch it was shake shack. after lunch i finally got to try culture espresso in midtown (amazing). for dinner it was filet mignon, jumbo shrimp & jambalaya at home. the pic at bryant park is a self-portrait i took while i was waiting for them to finish the king tut exhibit.

pittsburgh roadtrip

2010-10-11T12:10:00.002-04:00

i went on a roadtrip to pittsburgh w/some of our church guys. i didn't know that it was such a beautiful city. we went to fallingwater (the house designed by frank lloyd wright), & we tried the sandwiches at the original primanti brothers.

funny football pics

2010-10-11T12:01:00.002-04:00

i took pictures of our church football game last sunday. in these two pics the facial expressions of the fans from the other church are so funny. it was a great catch by kevin.

carsitting

2010-10-06T11:02:00.003-04:00

i got to babysit/carsit my friend's porsche 911s for a few days. it was awesome. nothing i have ever driven even comes close to it. in many ways it's the perfect sports car for everyday driving. i guess it's easier to overcome materialism since i'm not able to afford the things that i want.

finally got a macro lens (for close-up shots)

2010-07-15T15:00:00.000-04:00

ihop

2010-07-14T14:42:00.003-04:00

a few weeks ago i had the privilege of visiting ihop (international house of prayer) in kansas city. we visited the youth conference & had a chance to see mike bickle (founder of ihop) preach & lead the prayer session. all of the music teams were amazing. ironically we bumped into quite a few korean people that we knew from new jersey. i really enjoyed the rural lifestyle. driving on the big, open & uncongested highways. visiting the gigantic bass pro shop. & trying the best bbq places in kansas city. jack stack & oklahoma joe's were amazing.

food pics from the Philippines

2010-06-22T18:09:00.003-04:00

that first dish is "tapsilog" which costed 40pesos (less than $1). jenny is holding a mangosteen, which is my favorite fruit. mangos were literally falling off the trees at one of the retreat centers we stayed at. kenny & dennis ate balut (duck embryo). i was actually relieved that no one offered me balut.

Philippines Mission Trip

2010-06-22T18:02:00.002-04:00

we had an awesome mission trip in the philippines. we learned so much from missionary/pastor paul lim and his family. they are leading holy grace church in tangos (the third poorest slum in manila). over 50% of the people in manila live in the slums.

weekend w/george verwer

2010-06-01T16:04:00.002-04:00

we were so blessed to have george verwer (founder of operation mobilization) deliver four messages at our church last weekend. i have been listening to his preaching since i was a teenager. it was so fun and energizing to spend time w/him, as he has such a passion for life & ministry. the man is truly on fire for God. & it is so ironic that he grew up in wyckoff, right near our church.

mexico mission trip

2010-04-13T17:34:00.002-04:00

more pics at: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbtWrNu5bsmLIfA
we returned safely from an awesome mission trip in the yucatan peninsula of mexico. this is the third year that we led youth retreats in that region. it's amazing to see the jovenes (young people) grow up. & we are getting to meet their younger siblings too. in mexico, many people spend time outside late at night when the weather cools down. and they are so open to conversing & hearing the gospel.

inter-church good friday service

2010-04-03T16:30:00.001-04:00

more pics at: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbtWrNu5bsmLIXg&emid=sharview&linkid=link5&cid=EMsharview

living above our means

2010-03-11T11:26:00.003-05:00

forbes magazine announced that the world's richest man is carlos slim from mexico. he immigrated to mexico from lebanon, and he grew up very poor. i heard him say in an interview that he raises his 6 children in a two bedroom apartment w/one bathroom. he said that it would make his children better people. what a great example he has set, in a world where so many of us live way above our means.

hosanna youth rally

2010-03-02T16:43:00.001-05:00

an estimated 1,200 students gathered for hosanna youth rally. it was a good opportunity to put my 10-20mm wide-angle lens to use.

birth of our daughter

2010-01-22T14:47:00.002-05:00

Gabrielle Victory Ha-jin Chu was born on January 21, 2010 at 9:48am. 6lbs 4.7oz & 19.5". More pics can be found at gabriellechu.shutterfly.com

we are so grateful to God for such a precious gift & blessing. unlike gideon, she is very low maintenance. she sleeps w/o crying. even when she's awake, she just looks around w/o crying or asking for anything. she has a lot more hair than gideon ever had & it's very light, almost blond. similar to gideon, her ears are not symmetrical. i guess it's a new family trait.

winter retreat

2010-01-13T15:25:00.002-05:00

we had our college & young adult retreat last weekend. our guest speaker (lee king) shared w/us his amazing life story. he is currently the senior pastor of hillside church in armonk, ny. when he was five-years-old, he was found living on the streets of pusan, korea. he lived at an orphanage in pusan from ages five to seven. during that time a couple from pennsylvania supported him $10/month through world vision. when he was eight, the couple from pennsylvania adopted him as their son. he shared many other stories of God's hand intervening in his life.

suicide rates rise among koreans in new york

2010-01-07T10:28:00.004-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/nyregion/31suicides.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=korean%20suicides&st=cse

this is a very sad article about the rise of koreans in new york committing suicide. it also mentions how the rate of suicide is increasing in korea as well, even amongst some well-known political leaders & celebrities.

weekly radio program

2010-01-06T10:36:00.002-05:00

my weekly radio program got moved from tuesdays to sundays. it airs every sunday, 3:10-3:40pm on radio station 740am & digital tv station 63.7 (new york city area). includes guest interviews, live music, biblical teaching, etc.

praying for healing

2009-12-10T11:01:00.002-05:00

last tuesday our church sent volunteers to serve food at a soup kitchen in harlem. we also prepared christmas gifts & led a brief worship. i gave a sermon on the parable of the sower. after the sermon i invited people to come forward to receive prayer. i prayed for a man named larry, who stood at the very front. after i finished praying, he took off his dark sunglasses to show me that he was missing his right eye. all that was left was a skin-covered scab. after he showed me his eye, he said "pray for me! pray for me!". so i prayed for God's healing upon his eye. then i asked people to come forward to receive prayer specifically for physical healing. a few more people came forward. & some who were already standing, raised their hands to receive prayer specifically for physical healing. as our church members were praying with them individually, i had the opportunity to pray for one more person. carol asked me to pray for her diabetes which was causing her pain in her legs and feet.

i am not a charismatic & i don't have the gift of healing. & i normally don't ask people to come forward to receive prayer for physical healing. but i learned something last tuesday. i learned that people are desperate & they need prayer. & for many people (whether rich or poor), a physical sickness is their number one prayer concern.

www.dyingchicken.com

2009-11-24T14:50:00.002-05:00

www.dyingchicken.com

it's peter chung's very own blog, describing his mission work in yucatan, mexico.
we're so proud to have peter representing pilgrim church.

hawaii

2009-10-29T10:41:00.002-04:00

we returned safely from hawaii. we got to spend time on the ywam (youth with a mission) base in kona. we were blessed to see three "daves" at ywam. rev david & ellen ross were there to lead the korean dts. pastor dave gibbons was there for one week as a guest speaker. & pastor david sung & his family were there attending the crossroads dts. after kona, we spent a few days on the island of kauai.

need thought-provoking questions

2009-10-01T15:43:00.000-04:00

by the end of next week i need to record 3 radio programs for kcbn.us. my vision for these programs was to create sermons in response to questions from the general public. but i don't have the questions yet. please send questions my way. please...

the city

2009-09-23T10:43:00.002-04:00

my mother-in-law & sister-in-law flew in on monday. after picking them up from the airport, we spent the day in the city. walked the brooklyn bridge, kimbop-picnic-lunch in brooklyn heights, hung around central park, cafe break off madison ave, dinner at hopkee. hopkee is still as awesome as i remembered. the snails, pan-fried flounder, the crab, & the salted pork was amazing.

it's a girl

2009-09-15T16:08:00.002-04:00

suhee got her 20-week ultrasound yesterday, & we found out that we're having a girl. i feel good in that i feel like my life & my family will be complete w/a daughter. but i'm fearful because i know that raising a girl will require me to be a lot more gentle & considerate & understanding. ultimately i believe that this is God's plan for us, & that He knows best.

i also thought that having one boy & one girl would lessen the sibling rivalry, in that they can be supporters of each other rather than rivals.

i also thought that guys w/o sisters tend to be a bit awkward w/women. (no offense to my friends w/o sisters). so having a sister will make gideon a better man.

i also thought that 1 boy & 1 girl = good balance/feng shui.

peter chung

2009-09-09T11:33:00.003-04:00

peter chung is one of our hard core members at pilgrim church. a few months ago he got laid off from his job w/ibm. he considered that a blessing, as it freed him up to do what he really wanted to do. so now he will be doing about one year of mission work in yucatan, mexico. i actually went on two mission trips w/peter to yucatan, & he thrived in that environment. he will be assisting the ministry of pastor steve won (full-time missionary), and serving the jovenes (young adults) from several churches that we have worked with. peter bought a $500 volvo, which he will drive to yucatan. one man, on a mission, w/his dog, in a $500 volvo. i am so proud of peter, and a little envious of his ability to just pick up & go.

soong-chan rah's book, "the next evangelicalism"

2009-09-02T10:04:00.002-04:00

http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/currenttrendscolumns/bookreviews/rockingthewhitecitadel.html

today i was opening one of my mass emails for christian leaders & i noticed a review for a book written by professor/pastor soong-chan rah. soong-chan was my youth leader when i was growing up in a church in new york. so the title of this book review was great, "rocking the white citadel". soong-chan challenges the evangelical church to change it's racist & homogeneous ways. go soong-chan!!!

5-year anniversary

2009-08-19T14:17:00.002-04:00

suhee & i were married 5 years ago on august 14. in some ways it feels like yesterday. we celebrated by taking a trip down to cape may.

getting older

2009-08-14T15:17:00.002-04:00

yesterday i called my car insurance to add roadside assistance. the agent was confused to see that liberty mutual owed me $80.00. she asked me if it was my birthday recently. we then realized that when i turned 36 a few months ago, my rate went down. i guess i'm now in the old-man age bracket. soon i'll be getting discounts at the diner.

attn: jonathan

2009-08-11T14:43:00.003-04:00

hey jonathan. i wanted to show you that i'm getting into wide-angle photography. i love how you can change the perspective & get funky shots. last week i got the sigma 10-20/3.5. in the past my philosophy was that i wasn't going to get any dx lenses (because i thought fx bodies would be affordable in ~5 years). but then i realized that i'll probably never get an fx body, & an fx wide-angle-zoom costs a small fortune.

i saw an article in nikonrumors.com which convinced me that dx is here to stay. in the past people argued that 35mm film would be replaced by medium format film. but people appreciated the smaller size & cost of 35mm, which obviously kept it alive. & the quality was good enough. i think the same thing will happen w/dx. it's smaller/lighter/cheaper than fx & the quality is good enough.

i always respected the golfers who used old/cheap equipment, but played really well. as opposed to the guys who had the best equipment but got no game, "all show and no go". i envision myself growing into an old man w/old & outdated photo equipment, but still getting decent shots.

day in the city

2009-07-28T11:30:00.004-04:00

we went into the city yesterday. went to adorama photo shop to rent a lens (nikon 85/1.4); ate lunch at union square; took the subway to central park (sheep's meadow); ate a second lunch at the shake shack in madison square park. gideon loved riding the subway. he kept referring to the train as one of the characters from thomas train. and he cried when we had to leave the subway station.

church staff retreat

2009-07-22T10:52:00.002-04:00

we recently had our church staff retreat (sunday night to monday afternoon). about 20 of us went. we do this twice a year. it's exciting to be part of a rapidly growing church; & it's exciting to witness all the challenges & changes. on the way home some of us got dinner at the rutgers grease trucks. it was my first time there. i got the fat darrell, which maxim magazine rated as the #1 sandwich in america. it includes chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks & french fries.

chilling w/master k

2009-07-21T11:10:00.003-04:00

last weekend i visited my old muay thai school to support the grand opening of their new location & to watch some amateur fights. master k (well-respected muay thai fighter & trainer) was there to coach some of his fighters. master k gave gideon some free pointers on the heavy bag.

it's in his blood

2009-07-17T10:53:00.001-04:00

lately my dad has been yelling at me to get rid of my motorcycle. he said that he doesn't want gideon climbing the bike, and he doesn't want gideon to ride when he gets older. i assured my dad that gideon doesn't climb the bike.

this morning after our morning jog, gideon got out of his jogging stroller and started climbing my bike. i'm pretty sure that when he gets older, he'll be riding with or without my permission. he already loves cars.

korean bible?

2009-07-16T09:36:00.002-04:00

so our church will soon encourage all our members to start using the new-er version of the korean bible. apparently the language in the new-er version is less archaic & easier to understand. the new-er version also comes w/a new hymnal. which means we all need to re-learn the numbering system for our favorite hymns. when i ask people if the new-er version is a more-accurate translation based on better scholarship, i don't get a clear answer.

someone (trusted-source) recently told me that this whole thing is about money. apparently the copyrights on the old-er version expired, and they stopped printing it in korea. so whoever owns the copyrights on the new-er version is going to make a lot of money. this person also said that the new-er version still uses archaic language.

so the hymnal in the new-er version does not come w/the english verses yet; but it will be available in the future. which means many people will buy the new bible now; then they will buy it again when the english-version of the hymns are included.

one of my seminary professors (murray j. harris) was part of the translation team for the niv bible. he said that all the scholars/translators were against the red-letter edition of the niv. it was just a way for the bible-publishing companies to make more money. because masses of people felt like they needed to buy the red-letter edition. & it misled people into thinking that the words in red-letter were more-inspired & more-important than the rest of the bible.

"it's all about the benjamins"

gideon's new haircut

2009-06-30T15:01:00.000-04:00

it was actually suhee who wanted me to give him a mohawk.

noodle house

2009-06-24T16:25:00.001-04:00

this will be my last blog about thailand. in a rural part of chonburi province stands a well-known noodle restaurant. a chinese couple has been running this restaurant for over 50 years. all the ingredients are fresh & local. it was really good & really cheap & the place had so much character.

muay thai

2009-06-24T16:18:00.001-04:00

as part of my cultural & anthropological studies of thailand, i got ringside seats to a night of muay thai. muay thai is the national sport of thailand. after the championship fight, we got to take pics w/the champ. there was so much energy (& gambling) in the building as people passionately cheered for their fighters.

more on thailand (the food)

2009-06-24T16:04:00.002-04:00

after being away from the internet for so long, i'm going through a blogging-binge. in thailand we were surrounded by many varieties of fresh tropical fruit. i learned that mangosteen is my favorite fruit. the hut is a typical outdoor coffee stand in the countryside, where 5 large ice-coffees are under $2. the pic of the flying waiter on rollerblades was taken at the world's largest restaurant. those monkeys are known to hang out beside the road by a small mountain in ratchaburi province. unfortunately i didn't get to try/taste monkey.

thailand experience

2009-06-24T15:05:00.004-04:00

in thailand we worked with missionary/pastor paul kim (paulmkim.com). paul's parents have been faithfully serving as missionaries in thailand for over 30 years. they have been leading chonburi mission center for many years. chonburi mission center includes a church, a seminary & an orphanage. here is a pic of some of the orphans having a water fight. the last pic is w/pastor jaroen & his wife. pastor jaroen is a great leader of the karen people. the karen (pronounced currinn) are a people group that came from burma/myanmar into thailand as refugees. they were literally being killed off by the burmese. (actually the karen people were featured in the movie rambo IV.) pastor jaroen has planted many churches in many karen villages.

chicago road trip

2009-06-23T14:12:00.002-04:00

after returning from thailand, i went on a road trip to chicago w/our nj guy's small group. we left on thursday night; drove there in 12.5 hours; arrived friday morning; ate at jim's original polish sausage for breakfast; ate at gino's east pizzeria; walked around the city (millenium park, michigan ave, navy pier); went up to the john hancock building lounge; ate kampung-chicken at great seas; then drove home the next day. it was an awesome trip. as expected the highlight of the trip was the time we spent driving.

elementary school teacher

2009-06-23T14:05:00.002-04:00

i recently returned from a two-week mission trip in thailand. i worked as an elementary school teacher at bahnsohm elementary school in chonburi province. the public school canceled all their classes for a few days so that our team could teach english.

george verwer's sister, barbara

2009-06-01T07:01:00.002-04:00

last night our church hosted a yearly multicultural-ecumenical worship service. during the refreshments afterward, i met george verwer's sister (barbara). george verwer is the founder of a mission organization, "operation mobilization". when i was in high school, i used to listen to his sermons on audio cassette.

memorial day picnic

2009-05-27T16:36:00.002-04:00

on memorial day we had a picnic w/our church crowd. we went to shepherd lake in ringwood state park. some of our guys went early at 7:30am to reserve tables & grills. at around 11am they stopped letting people in because the parking lot was full. our group really stepped up in bringing good food. we had kalbi, kimchi, sangchu, & we even had high-quality naeng-myun (pre-packaged & individually wrapped by john yum).

how the other half lives...

2009-05-07T10:00:00.004-04:00

last night kenny's boss gave him some of his season tickets to the mets game. so instead of going to small group, we went to the game. the new stadium is very nice. & i got to see chan-ho park pitch against the mets. our vip tickets were 15 rows behind home plate. i never had such nice & expensive seats at a sporting event. the tickets were $175 each. here's what i learned about the vip section. the seats are bigger, softer & more comfortable than regular seating. the fans & stadium staff are more polite. the vip section bathrooms & concession stands are much nicer & less crowded (no lines). & even though kenny forgot to get the vip parking pass, the parking attendants let us park in the vip parking for free after kenny showed them our vip tickets. nice.

house of jon bon jovi

2009-05-05T09:48:00.004-04:00

every sunday morning our youth group has their worship in the main sanctuary at 9:30am. during that time i lead a bible study for some of the parents of our youth group students. last week one of our bible study group members invited us over for lunch. what made it so special is that she lives in a house that jon bon jovi used to live in. when i was in eight grade, bon jovi was huge. & i've been a "closet" fan ever since. favorite song being, "wanted dead or alive". so the house is huge & beautiful. jon bon jovi bought it for his parents, & before he got married he lived there w/his parents. he gave his parents the master bedroom & he took one of the smaller bedrooms. i thought it was interesting that a millionaire rockstar lived in w/his parents. the kims (who live there now) are known in the neighborhood as the asian family who moved into the house of bon jovi. they said that they keep hearing stories of how jon bon jovi is a really good person. one example being that he never got divorced.

a friend of mine used to produce music for jamie fox, before jamie fox became such a big celebrity. they used to record their music in the former home of marvin gaye, in order to soak in his "mojo". when my son was playing in the former bedroom of jon bon jovi, i kept thinking that maybe he could soak in some of that "mojo" & become a rockstar too.

honoring the life of Tak Kim

2009-04-29T09:54:00.002-04:00

jeong kim is a good friend, faithful church member, & leader in our ministry. last sunday his father passed away due to a heart attack. he was only 65 years old. i was at the hospital with the family on sunday night. though it was a tragedy, i remember thinking that mr. kim was blessed to be surrounded by family members who loved him so dearly. he was blessed to have raised and left behind three grown children, who will carry on his memories and legacy.

the funeral service is tonight at 8pm & tomorrow at 10am (central funeral home, 809 broad ave. ridgefield). i will be giving the sermon at the morning service. i am encouraged to know that many of our church members will be there to support jeong.

mission trip: yucatan, mexico

2009-04-22T12:16:00.004-04:00

last week, six of our church members went on a mission trip in yucatan, mexico. we spent the first three days leading a retreat for jovenes (young adults) at mesias church. we expected 20 jovenes, but over 50 showed up. we spent the next three days assisting the leadership of a youth conference for over 100 students. the highlight of the trip was doing evangelism in the parks late at night.
more pics at: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbtWrNu5bsmLG2A

mouse

2009-04-07T10:01:00.000-04:00

i woke up this morning at around 5am in order to go to the early morning prayer service. i heard a repeating scratching sound in the house. i thought i might be a thief trying to pick the lock. but i found a mouse in our kitchen sink. it was swimming in our green salad bowl. i would have taken a picture, but i was in a rush to get to church. so i just set him free outside.

retreat last weekend

2009-04-03T11:31:00.000-04:00

we had our retreat last weekend. the guys look so funny in this picture all holding their marshmallows.

bottled-water-taste-test

2009-03-24T11:02:00.003-04:00

some of the guys from our small group were really passionate about holding a blind taste-test for bottled-water. so they ran it last week at our meeting. 8 of us were tested. kate & i got the highest score. we guessed 4/6 of the water brands correctly. i would have gotten a perfect score if i didn't mix up voss & poland spring. i rated fiji as the best one. on my comment card i wrote for fiji, "tastes the most fresh & the best". everyone agreed that evian tastes heinous.

david wilkerson's prophecy

2009-03-13T09:43:00.002-04:00

so i was on facebook the other day & i noticed a link to a blog/article written by john piper. on his blog for march 9(desiringgod.org/blog/) he talk's about david wilkerson's lastest prophecy. back in high school, i watched the movie (cross and the switchblade) which was basically a biography of david wilkerson. btw eric estrada was one of the actors in that movie. throughout high school & college, i would visit david wilkerson's church (time square church). so i guess i was always a fan of david wilkerson & his ministry.

but i was disappointed to hear about his latest prophecy. he believes that a major catastrophe will hit the new york city metropolitan area soon. and he claims that God told him to store up a 30-day supply of food & other essentials for survival. it's interesting to see how john piper handled this awkward "prophecy".

david wilkerson is a leader of hundreds & thousands of people. i'm curious as to where he receives his accountability or any sort of "checks and balances" in what he teaches.

danny oertli concert

2009-03-10T16:50:00.003-04:00

danny oertli was here to give a concert last weekend. it was great to see him. danny plays a james olson custom guitar. sweetness.

more snow...

2009-03-03T14:11:00.000-05:00

ash wednesday & lent

2009-02-25T10:36:00.003-05:00

today is ash wednesday, which marks the beginning of lent (the forty-day liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter). last year on ash wednesday we had to meet friends in the city for dinner. we had dinner in the east village, where a lot of young & trendy people hang out. i remember wondering why so many of those young & trendy people on the streets had black marks on their foreheads. until i realized that they were catholics observing ash wednesday, with the cross marked on their foreheads with ash. i was impressed with how they were totally unashamed of their religious practice. today i'm meeting someone for dinner in midtown. i'm interested to see how many people in midtown will have the ash on their foreheads tonight.

for lent, i usually encourage my church members to fast from something worldly & feast on something godly. it think it's a great tradition which helps you to see how dependent you are on certain worldly things. this year, i will be fasting from a website called pbase & i will be feasting on the bible. pbase is a website that lets you see thousands of pictures taken by any particular lens or camera that you search. i spend way too much time researching different lenses on this website. for all that time that i would have been looking at pbase, i hope to be in the bible. maybe i will even get ahead on my one-year bible reading plan.

clover coffee machine

2009-02-19T11:45:00.002-05:00

i recently went to ridgewood coffee company & had an amazing cup of coffee. they have a clover coffee machine, which is very rare & expensive. it brews one cup at a time, & they charge about $3.50 for a cup. they even give out copies of articles about this new coffee machine, which is expected to revolutionize brewed coffee. here's what i learned from the articles & the guy working at the coffee shop. the clover was created by stanford engineers. it costs $11,000 & only about 250 of them exist. & starbucks recently bought out the whole company.

friends from high school

2009-02-18T16:03:00.004-05:00

i went to a funeral this morning for the mother-in-law of one of our church elders. i went to high school with the daughter (grace kim) of this elder. i haven't seen grace since high school. though it wasn't a cheerful occasion today, it was really good to catch up w/grace & to meet her husband.

last month i connected w/gene lee over facebook. i haven't seen him since high school too. it was really weird to hang out w/him & to see him play w/my son. i can't believe that i graduated from high school way back in 1991. & it's really strange to reconnect w/high school friends who are now in their mid 30s. my memories of them will always be as teenagers.

celebrating my dad's 70th birthday

2009-01-28T16:50:00.002-05:00

my dad will be turning 70 in march. we celebrated his birthday last week w/a trip to orlando. my parents, me, my brother, my sister, & our respective families. it was the first time we all took a vacation together. my parents were really happy to see the whole family come together like that. my mom already started talking about how we will celebrate her 70th birthday in a few years.

the first pic is of shamu, the killer whale at sea world. the next two pics are from the holy land experience theme park. the passion play was really good, very high quality.

too much snow

2009-01-20T19:37:00.003-05:00

it's been snowing way too much here in nj. seems like i've been shoveling the driveway every-other day. living in california has made me soft.

80s keyboard music

2009-01-17T13:24:00.003-05:00

human by the killers. i am being totally haunted by this song. i can't get it out of my mind. it reminds me of the cheesy 80s keyboard music that i grew up with. we used to call it "new wave" & "techno pop". perhaps keyboard-based pop music is making a comeback? coldplay is somewhat keyboard-based too.

children learning mma (mixed martial arts)

2009-01-06T10:55:00.006-05:00

many people think that it's wrong to teach children mma (mixed martial arts). i pasted an article below which shows how a boy saved a friend & her dog from a pitbull, using his mma training/knowledge. i think it's interesting that most adults don't mind if children learn martial arts. but then they think it's wrong if the the martial arts is realistic (as in mma, brazilian jiu-jitsu & muay thai). i want gideon to learn realistic martial arts, because pretty soon he's going to be my bodyguard.

Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:57 am EST
Pit bull taps out from a nine-year-old's rear naked choke
By Maggie Hendricks
A Bakersfield, Calif. boy saved a friend and her dog after a pitbull tried to attack them. Did he do it by calmly coaxing the dog with a sweet voice, and then singing to it? Nope. He did it using a choke he learned in a jiu-jitsu class, which he held for 20 minutes until the police showed up.
Isn't it better that he was in this class instead of sitting on a couch, playing video games and eating Twinkies? The next time I hear MMA described with the words "human cockfighting," I will find this wonderful young man, who talks about the ordeal here, and have him choke out the idiot who said it.

gideon in nyc

2009-01-06T09:54:00.002-05:00

on jan 1 we took gideon into the city. (street parking is free & easy to find on holidays). we took him to see the tree at rockefeller center & the fao schwartz toy store. he got to play the giant piano there.

winter retreat season is over

2009-01-02T11:51:00.003-05:00

i recently got back from three retreats (florida, pilgrim college in the poconos, & pilgrim youth in upstate new york). each retreat was special & unique. God is good.

suffering for the gospel in sunny florida

2008-12-26T11:49:00.003-05:00

suhee, gideon & i spent a few days in tampa in order to speak for a youth & college retreat. new light church (tampa) hosted the retreat for a handful of churches from all over florida & one church from new orleans. we had an awesome time. everyone was so warm & welcoming. the retreat center was nice. the food was good. & it even hit 85 degrees. gideon was happy to have so much family time together & he got a lot of attention from all the students too. it's rare for our family of three to share all our meal together like that. apparently the senior pastor's wife (bang un-mi) used to be a pop singer in korea. so a lot of older korean people know who she is. a bunch of the guys from the tampa church train bjj (brazilian jiu-jitsu) together. actually most of the guys in the worship team train together. that's like a personal dream of mine to have a group of close friends that trains together. that last picture is jacob (the bass player). he got cauliflower ear (a hardened mixture of blood & pus) from training bjj. it's kind of like a badge of honor that gives you instant street cred.

hdtv antenna: it really works!!!

2008-12-19T19:24:00.002-05:00

so we were about to pay our fios/cable/tv company more money to get 24-hour korean channels. but we took james hong's advice & got an indoor hdtv antenna instead. & i was surprised to find out that it really works. through the antenna we get a few hd channels. & we get a few digital reception channels, including two 24-hour korean channels. our guests have told us that our korean channels come out better than they do on cable. if/when they begin to offer more hd & digital channels through these antennas, i think many cable companies will go out of business. it's outrageous how much we pay for cable tv.

leaders retreat

2008-12-16T16:32:00.003-05:00

two weekends ago we had our church leaders retreat. we stayed at a nice & brand-new condo at hunter mountain for a very good price (pre-season prices). it was strange to stay at a ski mountain w/o skiing; we could see the slopes from our front window. it was a great time of fellowship & bonding. i've been convicted that our leaders meetings should not turn into "business" meetings. & i've been reminded that relationship is more important than being task-driven.

people w/hidden talents

2008-12-09T10:25:00.002-05:00

last september i went to orlando for a conference w/about 200 korean pastors from our denomination. i met one pastor from new york (i wish i remembered his name) who was really friendly. he told me that he saw me at jfk airport just a few days earlier. i told him how i was dropping off my wife & son. he told me how he was dropping off his in-laws, & he said that he was behind me on the asiana check-in line. though he looked nice & friendly, i kind of got a stalker-vibe from him.

anyways, last sunday our church hosted a music concert. & that pastor led the opening worship. his band was really good. he sang really well. & he led worship really well. i found out that he was a ccm (christian contemporary music) singer in korea & that he won a gospel singing competition in korea.

it's funny how you meet people in life, and yet you know nothing about who they really are. their histories, talents & capabilities. it's like that tv show "heroes", where you meet normal people who turn out to have hidden supernatural abilities.

nikonrumors.com

2008-12-03T16:05:00.002-05:00

funny website, yet very informative.
but way tmi (too much information) on all things nikon.

mountaineers

2008-12-02T15:37:00.003-05:00

some of our pastoral staff has been going hiking on mondays. seven lakes drive is about 30 minutes from our church, but it feels like a different world up there. being one of the younger guys, i'm always carrying the heavy water & food.

these pictures were taken w/my nikon d50 (cheapest dslr in 2006) & the 18-55 kit lens (one of the cheapest lenses). when the lighting is good, you don't need good equipment to capture good pictures. i love it when you get unique lighting situations when shooting outdoors.

chu family korea trip

2008-11-25T15:34:00.006-05:00

last weekend we returned from our trip to korea. our main reason for the trip was to attend suyeon's (suhee's sister) wedding. suhee & gideon went to korea before me in order to spend more quality time w/family, but we all returned on the same flight. the senior pastor of kwanglim church officiates all the weddings at kwanglim; on that day he had three weddings in a row. kwanglim is one of the largest & most affluent churches in korea. i haven't been back to korea since i lived there five years ago. in that short time i felt that korea changed so much & i changed so much too. it was very nostalgic & strange to be in korea again. it truly is a different world.

starfield concert

2008-11-04T12:16:00.004-05:00

i went to the starfield concert on sunday night. a korean church (cornerstone) hosted the event at dwight morrow high school (that's where i took my s.a.t). i think the band wasn't used to being surrounded by so many korean people. the concert was good. they did mostly worship songs, rather than performance songs. if you look carefully at this pic, you can see me trying to blend in w/all the teenagers. i actually wore earplugs, in order to save my hearing. *thanks to john yum for the pic

the power of "living life" & the internet

2008-10-22T10:13:00.002-04:00

"living life" is a an english devotional/qt guide that is affiliated w/onnuri church in korea. in addition to a standard booklet (& online text) they also provide an online video (webisode) for each day. yesterday a church in florida called me & asked me to come speak for a retreat that they are hosting. apparently one of the leaders of that church saw me on a "living life" webisode a few months ago. on the basis of that webisode they invited me to be their retreat speaker.

i'm amazed at how the internet is such a powerful tool for communicating & connecting w/people all over the world.

chicken and rice

2008-10-14T08:59:00.002-04:00

i finally got to experience the famous "chicken and rice" cart on 53rd st & 6th ave. we got there on sunday night at around 10pm. there were about 50 people waiting on line & about 50 people sitting/standing around on the street eating their chicken & rice. very interesting new york cultural experience. the price was right, $6. but i thought the food was just okay, way overrated. i think the middle-eastern kabob carts in queens are much better, though they're not as famous.

leica s2

2008-10-03T19:18:00.004-04:00

leica released a new digital camera (s2) which is expected to sell for $45,000 (body only). outrageous camera for an outrageous price. but i love the understated minimalist design.

born with a destiny

2008-09-23T15:06:00.005-04:00

lyoto machida is currently one of the best fighters in mma (mixed martial arts). he competes at 205lbs & he is undefeated. he is of japanese descent, but he grew up in brazil. his father was a shotokan karate master/instructor. he recently defeated tito ortiz. in the pre-fight interview he said this, "my father always told me: lyoto you have samurai blood, you must fight".

one of our youth pastors (eugene kim) comes from a family where all the firstborn men are pastors. he is the firstborn son, just like his father & grandfather. soon after he was born, his father held him up & committed him to the Lord for the ministry.

it's amazing how many people are born with a sense of destiny. like their future is already all mapped out before them. i suppose that's better than having no sense of destiny. i'm excited to watch gideon grow up & discover his path.

breakfast w/dave gibbons

2008-09-18T10:11:00.002-04:00

i just got back from a 3-day pastors' conference in orlando. although we flew to florida, all we saw was the hotel & a few restaurants. we had close to zero free time. five pastors from our church went to join a larger group of about 200. it was a good bonding-trip for the five of us.

last weekend dave gibbons (pastor of new song church) was in town (nj) to speak at a conference. on saturday morning he made time to have breakfast w/local pastors. i was planning to sit far away from him so that i could just listen quietly. but the group was kind of small & i ended up sitting next to him.

i was really impressed by him. he had so much wisdom to share w/us. he gave us really good insights into church & ministry. i asked him if he had any advice on how to raise leaders & keep them accountable. he said that they have to "live at your house". in other words they have to be so close to you that they are always w/you & always at your house. some of his leaders even literally lived at his house. actually i've been thinking a lot of about all the things he shared w/us during that brief time.

two retreats

2008-09-04T10:16:00.003-04:00

we had our church retreat last weekend. we had an awesome time w/our church members. then two days after that we went to a pastors retreat. both retreats were in the poconos. gideon went fishing for the first time. he used a "barbie" fishing pole. suhee caught a pretty big trout using a "mickey mouse" fishing pole.

bill hybels & reveal

2008-08-27T10:01:00.002-04:00

a few weeks ago willow creek church hosted their yearly leadership summit conference. i wasn't able to go, but i visited one of their satellite locations & watched about 10 minutes of one of the messages. actually before the message they showed a very long advertisement promoting their latest book/dvd/conference/program/etc called reveal. reveal is a study (survey-based) that tries to figure out what does & what does not help people to grow spiritually. what are churches doing or not doing right in helping people to grow spiritually. after the advertisement bill hybels introdocued the speaker, chuck colson. chuck colson spent the first few minutes praising bill hybels, especially in how he has been handling all the criticism about himself & the results of "reveal". apparently a lot of hybels-haters have been blogging nasty stuff about him & "reveal".

i think willow creek church did a great thing in openly sharing the weakenesses of their ministry model. i think it's ridiculous that all the haters are coming out & using this to criticize them even more.

although there is some funny/witty criticism out there. for example...
willow creek is admitting that their program-based ministry is not working; & they are admitting it by introducing another program (reveal).

how about this one...
"give us bibles, not hybels"

i have been a hybels fan for many years. i've read his books, listened to his sermons, even got to meet him when he was in korea. but i don't think that everyone should try to carbon-copy him & his church. and i think it's fair to say that he is past his prime & his ideas aren't exactly "cutting edge" anymore. but he is an awesome person & God used him mightily.

anyways... i wanted to share what he said about reveal...

"spiritual growth doesn't happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage"

“We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed
the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started
telling people and teaching people that they have to take
responsibility to become “self feeders.” We should have gotten
people, taught people, how to read their bible between service,
how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their
own.”

miss korea & wanderlei silva

2008-08-15T10:46:00.003-04:00

suhee keeps me updated w/korean news & pop-culture. so a new miss korea was recently crowned & people are in an uproar. they are saying that the most recent miss korea is proof that the contest is so obviously & blantantly fixed. in fact people are saying that the new miss korea looks like wanderlei silva (the great mma fighter from brazil). that's a mean thing to say, but it's pretty hilarious. & i'm impressed that mma is so popular in korea that people know who wanderlei silva is.

matching hoodies

2008-08-12T09:48:00.002-04:00

the worship team from the jama conference got together for dinner. i was pretty excited to distribute the embroidered-hoodies that we got made. it says, "Jama 2008 New Awakening Band".

gideon pics

2008-08-05T16:38:00.003-04:00

i told suhee that in a few month gideon won't be cute anymore. soon he won't be considered a baby, but just a little boy.

mexican mosquito bites

2008-07-30T15:35:00.003-04:00

several weeks ago i was on a mission trip in mexico. during that trip the mosquitos feasted on my legs. i counted over 30 bites on my left leg alone. unlike american mosquito bites, they remained small. but many of them bled & formed scabs. i never experienced that before, strange mosquitos.

on the sunday morning i got back from the trip, one of our church elders asked me about the trip. he said that it didn't look like i suffered. so i pulled up my pants & showed him my fresh bites. he gave me a look of approval & said something like, "Oh, you did a great job Pastor Chu!"

last night i was fulfilling my fatherly duties by taking gideon to his gymboree session. i noticed that some of the parents kept staring at my legs. then i realized that my numerous mosquito bites turned into dark purple scab marks. those poor parents were probably worried that i would spread some kind of strange skin disease to their little children. social stigma...

lindsay lohan & paparazzi

2008-07-29T11:11:00.003-04:00

yesterday my mom watched gideon so that suhee & i could have some alone time together. i guess you can call it a date. so we spent the day in the city. we got to see lindsay lohan & her girlfriend in soho. they closed down the chanel store so that lindsay lohan could have a private shopping session. so a bunch of spectators & paparazzi gathered to watch lindsay go shopping.

i was more interested in watching the paparazzi. i noticed that they all knew each other; they all drove pretty nice cars; they all wore lowepro backpacks; & they all used flash brackets. i saw one of them get into his car & upload pictures onto his labtop. he was editing & sending the pictures on the spot.

suhee's family visit

2008-07-22T14:59:00.002-04:00

suhee's whole immediate family visited w/us last week. we had a chance to go up to newport, rhode island.

el toro (a restaurant in mexico)

2008-07-19T16:58:00.002-04:00

at the end of our mission trip we spent a night in progreso, a city on the beach. our missions pastor (andres yi) told me that i must eat at el toro in progreso. he said that the fish there was the best meal of his life. all the touristy restaurants were on the beach & were very clean & "touristy". but el toro was in a back-alley road and had that "local vibe". no english menus & no english-speaking waiters. their specialty was fresh grouper ($10 per kilogram). you get to pick your fish out of a bucket & they fry it up for you. they converted some old steel garbage cans to be their makeshift frying machines. i did wonder how often they changed the frying-oil, but i tried not to think about it. the fish was so tasty & so good.

mission trip: yucatan peninsula, mexico

2008-07-16T16:51:00.004-04:00

last sunday we returned from our mission trip. our church supports a missionary (Pastor Won) in the Yucatan peninsula in mexico. he has a strong relationship & network w/the local churches. our main focus was to lead an english camp for the jovenes (15-18 year olds) from the local churches. 19 jovenes stayed w/us at the mission center. we basically ran the camp like a retreat. every single one of the jovenes was so precious and awesome. many of them had strong leadership gifts. among them were future pastors, missionaries & church leaders.
more pics at: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbtWrNu5bsmLCug

jama conference

2008-07-03T18:08:00.008-04:00

i spent the past few days at the jama conference. over 7,000 people (mostly korean) gathered in philadelphia. great speakers like john piper & francis chan. great musicians like delirious & dave crowder band. but my favorite band was the main worship band led by danny oertli. he was gracious enough to work w/musicians & singers from local korean churches. my official title was "point leader" for this worship team. so i did all the logistics & ran all the errands for the team. three of the singers were from my church. the whole team stepped up bigtime. none of them ever played an event this big, but they pulled it all together last-minute & did an awesome job.

when i was running an errand backstage in the "green room", francis chan was hanging out back there. i didn't want to act like a "groupie" so i didn't go up to him. but then someone introduced me to him & asked me to give him a summary of john piper's sermon. it was such a cool opportunity to talk to francis chan.

john piper said something interesting in his seminar. this is a paraphrase, "your faces (korean) are more welcome around the world than my face (caucasian). your faces will not cause the same negative reactions/emotions that my face will cause." he went on to say that korea has been blessed w/the gospel more than other asian countries (for example, japan). & there is a reason for this blessing. he believes strongly that koreans & korean-americans have a special calling to world missions.

more pics of the worship team can be found at... share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbtWrNu5bsmLCmA