Churches

Chinese Independent Baptist Church of Oakland
My family’s home church. In 1966 my parents and their peers built a brand new sanctuary in Oakland’s Chinatown, which was an amazing gift to my generation. (The men of the church, including my dad, were at the construction site every evening for months doing the finish work.) I eventually served on staff there as choir director (1984-85), pastoral intern (Summer ’88), and pastoral associate (Summer ’89).

Chinese Bible Church (Oakland)
The church where Lisa came to faith and was baptized. In the minds of our Chinese American peer group growing up, CBC and CIBC were friendly rivals. Thus it was quite a coup when, in junior high school, Lisa decided to move to CIBC.

Peninsula Bible Church
Where Lisa mostly went while in college, back in the Pastor Ray Stedman days.

Davis Covenant Church
Where Lisa mostly went while in grad school, back in the Pastor Ron Lagerstrom days.

South Hills Community Church (1988-89)
Where I was an intern in the college-age ministry, under Pastor Mark Coffin, down in the Almaden Valley of San Jose. At that time, Peter Wilkes was the Senior Pastor. Mark was a former lumberjack from Maine, so he and I made quite the pair.

Dallas Chinese Fellowship Church (1989-90)
Where Lisa and I sponsored a Friday night youth group the year we were in Dallas. The families there were mostly from Taiwan, unlike the mostly Cantonese-background families we grew up with in Oakland.

New Life Christian Fellowship (1991-2001)
I was NLCF’s first pastor (though not its founder) and led its incorporation, American Baptist affiliation, move into its first property, and development of multiple staff.

New Hope Covenant Church (2003 – 2021)
A church that wrestles mightily and tangibly with issues of social justice, class & race, cultural contextualization, crime & safety, and homelessness. I tell people: after all my years there I don’t have better answers but I think I have better questions.

Resurrection Oakland Church (2021 – )
Downtown Oakland, in the former First Church of Christ, Scientists building. Planted in 2018, it’s become a church home to many new/er arrivals in Oakland–we are among the very few Oakland natives there.