Day 20 – Youngtaek Kim

1. What do you do for a living? (occupation/field of study)

I pastor for the beautiful and wonderful children of Grace Church! I also work as an event coordinator and facilitator for weekly social events in narrative generation and creative performance. Some people may refer to this office as “Dungeon Master”...

2. How do you like to spend your free time?

I love to play games and watch documentaries. I enjoy traveling the entire world through Youtube.com so I tune into documentaries of popular POI’s outside of NY.

3. Share one interesting fact about you that most people don’t know!

I love quantum physics and my dream job was to become a marine biologist or a NASA astronaut. God however has called me to be a pastor. Oh, and I also studied architecture and interior design for 4 years.

4. Do you have a favorite book in the Bible? If you do, which one is it and why?

My favorite book in the Bible is Leviticus because it helped me make sense of most of the Old Testament and how it points to Jesus Christ. I always wondered what all the laws meant and why the sacrifices were done the way they were. Reading Leviticus was like finding the treasure chest of answers that I’ve been looking for since I became a Christian.

5. Is there a verse/passage in the Bible that has significantly impacted your life? If so, which is it and why?

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” This verse single handedly defended my faith against many of the questions I had concerning other religions and gave me assurance that I am the son of a powerful and wonderful God.

6. Is there a prayer request that has been on your heart recently? If so, please share with us.

My first prayer request is for my marriage to glorify God more and more every day. My second prayer request is for my general health; for God to give me supernatural strength to do what He has called me to do as a husband, a pastor, and a child of God.

7. Tell us about how you met Christ? (feel free to share a brief testimony)

Although I’ve been attending church for as long as I can remember, I met Christ sometime during my early college years. I knew a lot about the Bible and claimed to have faith but neither knowledge nor boastful declaration would truly change my heart. When I was 19, I ran away from my parents, stopped going to church, and lived on the streets of NY for a few years. During that time of struggle, God made everything that I knew about Him a reality. He guided and protected me during that time and showered me with His love through the people around me. He revealed Himself to me in countless miraculous ways and gave me a clear path back to Him. Coming back to church, I found true faith and love in Christ whom I haven’t turned away from ever since.