by Richard Shin

Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up series to the interviews that Richard Shin did in the spring of 2010.  For the original interview with Pastor John, please see here and here.

Have you found any decent Mexican joints in the Bay Area?

I actually went to a place recently that wasn’t too bad. I have come to the conclusion that there is just a NorCal thing that is different regarding Mexican food so instead of comparing and complaining, I’ll just be patient, keep trying, and when I visit San Diego, I’ll grab some if I can but it is no longer a life or death issue.

Generally speaking, how do you feel the transition went?

Overall, I can’t help but just be so thankful to God for the transition. I was expecting things to be a bit challenging, especially for my family but Angela and the girls have shown a remarkable attitude and have even commented from time to time how they are happy to be up here. They of course still miss family and friends and especially Jenna when she went off to college but overall it has been a positive transition. Having some familiar faces with the church plant team definitely helped but getting to know new people has been great and we already see how God has provided new relationships to mingle with the old.

The church planting team did quite a bit of preparing prior to the actual plant, even after you guys moved up. Do you feel the preparations were adequate?

I don’t know if they were necessarily adequate as it was kind of hard to know how we could plan for such a monumental move. But through the team meetings, going over the book “The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love,” team building trips, and meals together, I think the main thing was just the building up of the relationships that was key.

A year ago, you mentioned some concerns/fears you had with the church plant and the overall transition. Some of them were: practical concerns (e.g. having a meeting place, jobs for members, etc.), conflicts within and outside the church, and LBCSD’s reception of the transition leadership. Can you share some reflective thoughts on these concerns?

I guess there will always be concerns as things have been kind of dynamic and the unexpected has happened. Regarding facilities, we found a great situation with a community center, but by the end of the year, through some strange circumstances, we lost the place and were forced to look for a new site. At first it was a bit disappointing but realizing that things like this were going to happen, we kind of had to move along and just keep our faces looking forward. We found a local high school just down the street and it definitely was an answer to prayer. But we are still looking for a more suitable place as we have started to expand a bit.

Jobs have been an interesting thing as at one point almost the whole team had found jobs, then some lost some jobs and some are still looking for jobs since. But overall it’s been encouraging to see the attitudes of those who have been facing this challenge and I’m thankful to see that they are persevering the best they can.

Conflicts will always happen, both inside and outside the church. So we decided to go over The Peacemaker by Ken Sande for our Friday Night Bible Studies and that has been really good as many of the newer people have shared they have never heard anything like this. There have already been some conflicts that have taken place, some actually kind of discouraging but focusing on peacemaking has been helpful in dealing with them. So we are thankful that we are studying this right now. Regarding things with other churches, we have had some situations where it was actually quite sad but then other churches and other pastors have reached out to us as well and we are so thankful for their support and prayers. So overall we are very thankful for the greater community that is starting to build between other churches.

As for the transition in San Diego, I have heard encouraging things about how many have come to really support Pastor Patrick and his leadership. I know that it was a concern for him to have to follow me as we are quite different, not to mention that he is younger. But as I shared when we had our installation of Pastor Patrick, he has been such a faithful servant and minister over all the years and I can’t think of anyone better suited to take over the responsibilities of leadership at the church. He also has the support of the elders and I think it’s pretty evident that while there is always room to grow, can you imagine some total stranger coming in and try to lead the church? There is no comparison. I’ve also heard that there have been a few who have not maybe been the most encouraging in light of the transition – I just pray that God would remind them to have a gospel-centered heart toward Pastor Patrick and be gracious and even more supportive. I told Pastor Patrick before I left to expect that there would be those who would not always say the most encouraging things, but it’s not just because he is younger. I was older than most of the members and they would say discouraging things to me and about me as well so it’s not just because of the age issue. It’s just a heart issue and at the same time it is an issue of sanctification, to learn and grow even through being challenged in those ways. So overall I am thankful to see that the church in San Diego has continued to move forward and grow in different ways and for that God receives much glory!

What are some similarities and differences between what you expected versus what actually happened?

I think what I expected was that I wasn’t sure what to expect but the one thing that I could expect was the unexpected. That being said, I told the team during preparation to be ready for some members of the team to step down (to date five out of the original thirty adults stepped down) and to some degree it was bit discouraging and deflating. But one thing that we prayed for but didn’t know what to expect were the people that God was going to bring in San Jose. So while we were down to 25 from San Diego, as of May 3, we have 37 members and another 11 members ready to be welcomed. We have already seen several individuals come to know Christ and have had a number of people who were looking for a church decide to consistently attend, though they are not members yet. So it really has been the relationships that were the main issue that related to expectations and I can say that God has really been gracious to us in helping us both work through the losses as well as the new additions.

What are some ways you have been growing in the past year? (Feel free to talk about the church plant specifically or in life generally)

I think there are a few lessons that I have been learning along the way, especially in the past year as we transitioned to life in the Bay Area.

Keep Preaching the Gospel

The primacy of the gospel and the centrality of the gospel in ministry continues to become more and more of a conviction in how we need to relate what we do, both to unbelievers and believers. We have seen several people already get saved as we have been preaching the gospel on Sundays, Fridays, and even with our new College Fellowship at San Jose State. We also have been encouraging those who are believers to preach the gospel continually to themselves so that they live in light of the cross and remember to relate to each other because of the grace we have experienced through Christ.

Trellis and the Vine

Remembering that people are more important than programs, we have had to challenge everyone to make ministry centered on gospel growth instead of program growth. We are all learning, myself included, what it means to prayerfully proclaim God’s truth and to share the reality of how we are taking what we learn and passing it on to others through the sanctifying process of dealing with sin and pursuing Christ. We have been challenged to be humble, transparent, vulnerable, yet at the same time hopeful, encouraging, and taking initiative to build relationships without having to wait for some kind of formal role or structure. It is inevitable that we will have some kind of structures to help provide some basic order and organization. But it has been tremendously encouraging to see that through the messy process of building relationships, we have already seen people come to know Christ, get baptized, and show such an enthusiasm to grow and participate in the life of the church that we can’t help but thank God for His faithfulness in these ways.

Peacemaker

As mentioned earlier, we have been going through “The Peacemaker” by Ken Sande on Friday nights and it has been a wonderful and amazing time learning to resolve conflicts in a God-glorifying way. As our membership commitment includes the Peacemaker Pledge, we are building on that by seeking to build a culture of peacemaking that would be modeled by the leadership and practiced by everyone. While some of us have heard these principles multiple times, I don’t think we could ever hear it enough. The love of Christ is going to be manifested particularly in how we learn to forgive one another and resolve our conflicts so I think it is imperative, especially at the beginning stages of the church to really emphasize this foundational priority. It has been neat to hear people share how they are already passing it on to their family members, friends, and other fellow believers. It is even challenging some to practice peacemaking in their secular environments, whether in school or at work. The emphasis on the gospel in the revised and updated edition especially makes it a more powerful tool for each member of the church to utilize in their own personal spiritual growth as well as in helping edify and build up the congregation. There is an anticipating of tests and challenges that we know will come our way, but God-willing we will continue to build a deep foundation of peacemaking that will help us not only weather the storms but to grow stronger in our trust in God as well

Love them like Jesus

The last message I left with the church in San Diego was the series from John 13:34-35, to love one another. I picked up from there when we first moved to San Jose and it has been a foundational principle for our ministry. God has already opened up opportunities for counseling, encouraging, supporting those who are unbelievers, those who are in difficult situations, and those who have had bad church experiences. The love of Christ truly is a fragrant aroma when practiced by a church congregation. While we are not perfect of course, it has been a blessing to see many of the church members minister to each other, pray for each other, get to know one another, and serve in various ways. Angela and I recently shared with each other how much we just love being with our church family as it has been great to get to know them better and better each week. Since we host the Friday night bible study at our home, many stick around afterward for quite some time, eating refreshments, talking about the message, playing Monopoly Deal and other games. After church on Sundays, we have to vacate the meeting room right at 12pm but we see so many congregate outside and welcome newcomers and just interact with one another. We have a single mom attending who shared that this was the first time she felt welcomed at a church. We have had a bunch of collegians from San Jose State and a few local community colleges come and they have been so excited to be a part of the church that they come pretty much to everything they can come to, no matter how many days a week. We have a few new families coming too and we are expecting two more babies so the family is really growing! It really does feel like a family and while we know the initial stages of a churchplant can be kind of a honeymoon feeling, we continue to see the love for Christ and one another expand and we are thankful.

Anything you want to share with your extended church family in San Diego?

Thank you for your prayers and support! More and more we realize how incredible it is to have a church family that supports us and stands behind us. So many of you have come to visit since we moved up here that it is like a regular occurrence. There were over 50 that came to the inaugural service back in January and others commented that they had never seen such a thing before, that people would be willing to travel so far to support a church plant. Each time we do visit San Diego, we are reminded that the love of Christ truly has been shown in such amazing ways and we look forward to seeing what God will continue to do in San Diego as well as how we can partner together in the future. I can say that we truly love you and thank God for every remembrance of you (Philippians 1:3).

How can we be praying for you?

Please pray for us to be faithful to the MVP, to the Peacemaker Pledge, to welcome all who come, to boldly proclaim the gospel, to build Christ-honoring relationships with other churches, to reach out to the college campuses in our area, to minister to the families that are coming and to provide a place where parents can entrust their children to be shown gospel truth. Pray for a sensitivity to the needs of our single adults, to promote healthy God-honoring relationships that nurture true fellowship and edification. Pray for leadership to develop so that we would have a committed elder board that would shepherd the church and pastors that will faithfully preach the Word and lead the congregation to Christ. Pray for our joint mission trip with LBC San Diego to the Czech Republic and the future development of international missions work. Pray that we would encourage other pastors and churches in our area who are discouraged and downcast and be a loving partner in the gospel ministry. Pray that we would really make disciples in a way that truly represents Christ and to instill a passion to love God and people that would lead to God allowing us one day to plant a church in the near future.