Elgin, IL
David Lee
I grew up in the Bay Area born to immigrant parents who worked hard to support the family and stressed the importance of the 2 G’s: Grades and God. Between school and church, my life revolved around maximizing fun through video games and sports which could never quite quench the deep longing of my soul. It wasn’t until middle school when a youth mentor taught me how to apply the bible to my life and demonstrated what faith concretely looked like through his concrete acts of care for our small group. During that period I came to realize how much I didn’t know about basic gospel principles such as the definition of sin, repentance, Lordship, evangelism, and God’s plan of salvation through the church. I made a decision to follow Christ in 9th grade and found like-minded Christian friends throughout high school which proved to be quite anchoring during those formative years when the pressure to fit in was strong. Those relationships continued into college at Cal where I got my first taste of ministry as an upperclassman, and for the first time developed a heart for others outside my own family.
Six months after getting married and furnishing our highly coveted apartment at Central Ave, Joyce and I volunteered to leave the comforts of California to be part of the church planting team at UT Austin where our 2 daughters were born as Texans. Nine years later we had the privilege of being part of the 2017 East Coast church planting effort where we got to take homegrown Texas team members to start a ministry at the University of Maryland. I often joke with others how my life turned out as it reminds me of the scene in Fellowship of the Rings where Samwise Gamgee is caught by Gandalf eavesdropping on the conversation and whose life is suddenly flipped to a new adventure of supporting Frodo on his mission. Such has God ennobled my otherwise ordinary life and given me fulfilling work of making the gospel known!
Myer’s-Briggs: ISFP
Enneagram: 4 Like being unique and going against the grain. I now see where my oldest gets her genes from.
Other things I love: pickup bball, fishing, and Golden State Warriors
Joyce Lee
I grew up as a PK, and went to church all my life. But I felt restricted, and felt like there was fun and excitement on the other side of the fence that I was missing out on. I tried to straddle the fence, with one foot at church and one foot in the world. However, during freshman year in college, I genuinely encountered the gospel message - as if for the very first time. I experienced that pursuing the world left me empty, hollow, unfulfilled, and I was able to see the consequences of my sin on others. I experienced God's personal love and forgiveness for me through Jeremiah 31 in my freshmen dorm, and that love has transformed me completely. I moved back into the dorms (the same dorm/floor that I lived in) during my senior year with my friends, in order to reach out to freshmen just like myself. That experience was pivotal in shaping my identity as a minister of the gospel, and I knew that I wanted to live on this trajectory for the rest of my life. Through various steps of faith, I have been able to experience the joy, excitement, and thrill of following Christ wholeheartedly.
I would have lived a very predictable and comfortable life, as I didn't have much ambitions for my life. But following God has led me to live an adventurous life, and has made my life rich and full of relationships with many people. I have been able to be part of the pioneering work of starting our Austin church plant in 2008, as well as in DMV in 2017, and moved last year to our headquarters in Elgin to be part of our one year Bible Leadership Institute program.
Myers Briggs: INFJ
Enneagram: 6w7
Fun fact: I like sports (tennis, badminton, volleyball), board games, and going out to cafes/dessert spots