July 7, 2025 • 17 mins
This week on the podcast, Pastor James joins us for a Staff Interview episode and answers all our fun "rapid fire" questions. Hear about his life, background, passions, what he's reading and what he loves about HOPE.
Thanks for being a part of the HOPE community as we continue conversations about faith and hope! You can learn more at meethope.org or find us on socials @meethopechurch. Join in for worship on Sundays at meethope.online.church! Have a question? Contact us at podcast@meethope.org.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have
conversations about faith andhope.
Hope is one church made ofpeople living out their faith
through two expressions inperson and online.
We believe a hybrid faithexperience can lead to a growing
influence in our community andour world for the sake of others
.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to Hope our world for the sake of others.
Welcome to Hope.
Hey, hello everyone.
Welcome to the Meet HopePodcast.
I'm Rick and I'm really happyto be here.
I'm laughing because I'm herewith Ashley, who is producing,
and I'm here with James Lee,James.
Welcome Pastor James Lee, thenewly appointed lead pastor at
(00:43):
Hope Church.
Hello, James, Hello, hello.
Hey, Rick.
Yeah, so it's good to have you.
I hope it's been exciting to gothrough the process and have
you here, and I hope it's beenexciting for you and your family
.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, we've been welcomed.
It's been a warm welcome.
We're very, very excited to bea part of the Hope family.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, and so, as you know, we have done these staff
interviews with everyone onstaff and we wanted to make sure
we did one with you as well.
So you know, we have some basicquestions that we're going to
ask about you, kind of get toknow you, and then we have some
fun lightning round at the end.
So let's just start out rightat the front.
Why don't you give us a quicksynopsis, your bio, where you're
(01:23):
from?
Quick life story yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I was born in Madison , new Jersey.
My dad came from South Korea tostudy theology and.
I was born here while he wasgetting his PhD, and we actually
moved back to Korea when I wasin the second grade when he
finished his PhD, and so I livedin Korea for a couple years and
then I came back from middleschool, high school I've been
here ever PhD, and so I lived inKorea for a couple of years and
then I came back from middleschool, high school I've been
here ever since and so I ambilingual.
(01:49):
I do speak both languages.
Do not ask me to preach inKorean, because I cannot have a
solid like seventh grade levelKorean.
I am married to my wife, julie,since 2012,.
We have three young childrenAmy, adam and Renee.
And where do you live?
We live in.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Marlton Right and that's where the new parsonage
is in Marlton.
That is correct.
Yeah, and you know how did youand Julie meet?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
We met in college.
We attended Rutgers University.
Go Rutgers, my daughter goesthere.
Yeah, yeah, scarlet Knights.
It was sophomore year incollege.
I was in a small group Biblestudy, hosted in our basement
apartment, and it was all guysand one girl, and the girl, I
guess, felt left out and so shebrought her friend.
(02:33):
No really.
Her friend was Julie, and soJulie's first impression of me
was in my pajamas in our smellyapartment.
The thing that our small groupdid all the time was we went
through crave cases, whiteCastle crave cases.
I was probably on my 30thslider at that point, building
up castles proudly with thepaper cartons.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
That's when she walked in awe and she fell in
love with me at first sight.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
No, that did not happen.
We were friends all throughcollege.
I was friend-zoned, that isuntil senior year, when I
finally convinced her to give mea shot.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So wow, wow, that's cool, wow, that's great.
So, uh, how did you guys um?
So I'm sure you've, you'll havetold this story, but how did
you um, how'd you come to hope?
Uh, well, we, I know thatthat's a loaded question, that's
a loaded question.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So we first moved to Marlton in June of 2024, and
we've been in part of thecommunity ever since and there
were some conversations of whatif I would become the pastor at
Hope.
But nothing was set and we didnot know.
You've already heard the wholething about the United Methodist
(03:44):
process.
But we said you know what,regardless of what happens, we
know we want to be a part of achurch community and there's no
church community like Hope.
So we plugged in right away and, sure enough, we were welcomed
by everyone we met.
I said, hey, I like handlingcameras, so I began serving with
(04:04):
the media team.
Julie has helped out with thefood pantry.
Our kids joined the kids' choirand we just integrated very
quickly.
We got to know people, we madefriends.
I feel like this is our churchfamily.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, that's awesome, that's cool.
So one of the questions we'vebeen asking everyone and I'm
looking forward to hear yourresponse to this.
So, what's a funny life moment?
Maybe something that you know?
It's one of those.
Oh boy, this is an embarrassingmoment for me.
You're not going to believewhat happened to me and I you
know.
It's a story you tell at aparty.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You got one of those kinds of stories.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
So from a scale of like haha, this is fun to like
deeply embarrassing Like where,where are?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
we landing Wherever you're comfortable going.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Well, what comes to mind is when I was my first ever
sermon so I was a Sunday schoolpastor at Calvary Korean United
Methodist Church in EastBrunswick there were about, I
want to say, 50 kids from firstthrough sixth grade, and
typically what happens in theKorean church is all the adults
(05:08):
are in the main sanctuary havingworship in Korean, and then the
youth group, the kids, thecollege.
They all have their separatelittle churches at the same time
and it's in English.
And so I had about 40, uh, 50kids or so in front of me and I
just started.
I didn't, I wasn't even inseminary.
I got, I got accepted toseminary.
(05:30):
I was set to start in Septemberand I'm here in August and
they're like all right, gopreach, right.
So I've never done this everbefore, right?
I said, but I've seen it enough, I think I could do this, and
so I will go up to this stageand, uh, beforehand asked how
long should a sermon be?
They said, oh, you know,they're typically 15 to 20
minutes.
That's what they're used to.
(05:50):
I said, okay, great, so I go upthere and I preach this
heartfelt sermon about grace,about love, about forgiveness
and how much Jesus loves you.
I thought I did great and Ilooked at my watch when I was
done.
Four minutes had passed them.
My watch when I was done, fourminutes had passed and I looked
at the Sunday school director,the volunteer director, who was
(06:19):
sort of my helper, my partner incrime, and she was just like,
shaking her head left and right,like, oh my goodness, just like
had her hand on her foreheadand the sixth graders who always
sat in the far back all gave mea standing ovation and it was
because it was the shortestsermon they ever heard.
This is great Pastor James.
We love this sermon and I wasso embarrassed.
Over time I learned to, Iincreased, I think, by a minute
(06:40):
per week on average andeventually I was preaching
15-minute sermons.
But I'll never forget thatfirst sermon I got a standing
ovation from the sixth graders,that's great, because you were
short, because it was short.
Oh yeah, let's be clear, it wasnot the quality but the
quantity.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I had a similar experience.
Same thing happened to me.
First time I ever preached asermon I was invited to, and I
said, yes, I had never done it.
I was invited to go to a localUnited Methodist Church and the
pastor was going to be away, andso I said, sure, I'll fill in,
it'll be fun.
I've never done this before,but why not?
That's just what you're doingin your 20s, why not?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Sure, why not?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And so I showed up.
I didn't ask any importantquestions like how long was I
supposed to be or anything aboutthe context of the church.
Well, when I got there, it wasNow this was in the 80s, and
they had a TV ministry and theyalso had someone who spoke sign
language, and so I didn't knoweither of those things.
So I didn't know there'd becameras on me and I didn't know
(07:37):
that they would be.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Translating.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Translating into sign language.
Yeah, I totally panicked and somy 20 minute sermon was five
minutes long because I spoke asfast as I humanly could and my
(08:00):
wife said that the personinterpreting was moving their
hands so quickly and at somepoint just went and put her
shoulders up like I don't knowwhat he said and put her
shoulders up like I don't knowwhat he said.
And I looked in the back andthe director who was producing
was stretching their hands outtrying to tell me to elongate
because I finished and theystill had time that they had to
fill for the broadcast.
Wow, and I just stood there andfinally the person leading
(08:23):
worship took over and kind ofpushed me off to the side.
They never invited me back.
I'm kind of surprised.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Sad to hear that.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah, but yeah.
So I think every pastor hasthat first sermon story.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So what I'm hearing is, if we dig into the archives
far enough, there is a videorecording of your first ever
sermon.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yes, it's in the 80s and it's on VHS.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I'm thankful my first sermon was not recorded.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
That's funny, hey, james.
So years have gone by sincethat first sermon, and so what
do you love most about ministrylife?
Oh gosh.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
So the whole thing about ministry is to make
disciples and I think Whenever Iget asked that question, I
think there's nothing betterthan when someone just gets it
right.
When you disciple someone, youshare the gospel, you teach them
all there is to know aboutJesus and witnessing it land.
(09:29):
When someone actually says oh,I do believe in Jesus, or that
doesn't make sense.
When the truth of the gospeltruly becomes a part of
someone's life, like there'snothing like that.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
That is the greatest most exciting thing in ministry.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
It just brings yeah that's why I get up in the
morning.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
That's exactly it, that's it.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And so what are you excited about?
You know?
So we're in this new era hereat Hope and you being here as
our new lead pastor.
You know what are you excitedabout?
What's most challenging?
Maybe you know what are youexcited about for the future?
Whatever you want to talk abouthere, just tell us.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yeah, I keep getting asked this question a lot and I
think it's a very good questionand I'm also somewhat hesitant
to give like a very explicitanswer.
I believe that this is a seasonfor me to listen and it's a
season for me to learn and toget to know the culture and DNA
of hope, so I don't want to jumpto any conclusions say this is
(10:26):
what we're going to do.
That's what we're going to do.
This is a season for me to tolearn about hope, but I am
really excited to get to knowpeople.
I'm really excited to get toknow the culture more, and I
think that goes hand in handwith the greatest challenge that
I recognize is there is still alot that I don't know, that I
don't know.
And so but I think that's allthe more reason why I will be in
(10:49):
a posture of listening anddiscernment.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, so that leads us right into the rapid fire
section here.
So, uh, so I'm gonna ask somequestions and I always say it's
rapid fire, but Ashley knowsthat I always stop and talk
about each one, but that's okay.
Uh, so it's not going to be.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I do have some time to think about it.
It's not going to be as rapidfire as we'd like it to be, but
let's say rapid fire.
So ready your favorite pizzatopping Pepperoni Pepperoni.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And mushroom.
Pepperoni and mushroomPepperoni okay and I don't mind
them together.
All right, my family's sausageand mushroom, that's it.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
We mix that together, sausage was like my number one
topping all through high schooland for some reason, these days
I'm just pepperoni.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
All right.
Are you a morning person or anevening person?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
I'm an X extreme night owl, now an extreme
morning person.
Okay, like what time extreme?
Uh, well, extreme not extreme,but like 5.00 AM, Um before, and
it all changed when I got kidsyeah and it started when I got
married, because julie was amorning person, I was a night
(11:58):
owl and we fought over that foryears, and then I said okay,
maybe I'll start waking up alittle earlier.
I was a creative so, and thecreative juices would hit at 11
pm and then that's when I hadthe best video edits.
But once you have kids,everything changes.
I'm becoming like my dad I wakeup very early now.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
That's funny.
All right, so that means youdrink coffee.
That's my guess I do not drinkcoffee anymore, I quit coffee
last year.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Wow, and it wasn't really something I was planning
to do, it just kind of happened.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So what's your morning drink then?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Tea.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Oh, you drink tea, okay.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Um, yeah, I.
I love Earl gray, I love greentea.
Uh, London fog is sort of mytreat.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Okay, yeah, all right , tea All right.
Good, I didn't know that.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
So that's something I just.
How about a show or a movie youwatched recently?
Just rewatched Eternal Sunshineof the Spotless.
Mind.
Oh, okay, and it aged well,it's still a great movie.
Yeah, okay, it was on the topof my list and it came up on
Netflix or whatever.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You're like, oh, that's a good one.
I watched it and yeah.
Good, great movie, all right.
How about a book you've readrecently?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Read Circle of Hope by Eliza Griswold.
Failure of Nerve by EdwinFriedman.
What's that about?
It's all about leadership.
The basic premise is that whatmakes an effective leader is not
knowing all the information.
A lot of the assumptions ofwhat makes a good leader is not
(13:36):
necessarily true.
What makes a great leader ishaving a strong sense of
self-differentiation and havinga strong nerve and being able to
make decisions.
Yeah, it's a great book.
It's a great leadership book byRabbi Edwin Friedman.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
It's a great book.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
It's a great leadership book by Rabbi Edwin
Friedman and just startedreading Anti-Fragile by Nicholas
Taleb, which has been.
I recommend that that's aninteresting book too.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
All right, Tell me a little bit about that one.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
So the understanding is that many organizations or
things that we put together orcreate are often fragile and we
always try to think what is theopposite of fragile is, we think
, resilience.
But actually he says what doesit mean to create a product, to
create an organization that isanti-fragile?
So, rather than being resistantto change or resistant to
difficult situations, thatactually, when there are
(14:33):
difficult situations thatactually thrives and multiplies.
So it's this idea of what doesanti-fragility mean?
So the opposite of fragile isnot resistant, but it's
anti-fragile.
So it's a great.
It's not a Christian book, butit's a great organizational
leadership book.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
So we're going to talk more on this one, I'm sure.
So local place to eat, favoriteplace to eat, favorite local
place.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I've been blown away by Sagami Japanese in
Collingswood.
It's hands down the best sushiI've ever had in my life, Wow,
and so we had a little.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
The reason I wanted to talk about this is because we
had a little pre-productionmeeting and I saw that in your
notes and I love, love, lovesushi.
I think I could eat it everyday and I've never been in this
place, but it's that good.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, Years ago when I was up in uh, north Jersey my
primary care doctor at the timehe's Japanese and I just asked
him what's the best sushi you'veever had and he named this
place and I thought that's soweird.
Not a place, I would thinkthere's good sushi and I just
tried it a few months ago.
Finally, ever since I moveddown here and wow, blown away.
The atmosphere is perfect.
(15:38):
The sushi is just second tonone, yeah, and it's.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
It's an unassuming buildings.
I looked at, I looked up onGoogle and it's just this little
white building on the side of afancy spot.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I've?
I've had like fancy Omakase,but I'm curious, if they offer
omakase, I might try it out nexttime.
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
All right, so we're going to wrap this up.
You've got 30 seconds.
How would you describe yourself, your life and what you do?
This will be interesting.
Myself, my life, so it's likewe call this your elevator pitch
.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
All right.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
So this is James Lee and you got 30 seconds on the
elevator.
Oh, so it's kind of like toIntroduce yourself to somebody,
Present myself, to promotemyself in a way.
Yeah, promote yourself yeah,Elevator pitch.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I am a Korean-American pastor who loves
to see people's lives changedfor Jesus.
My calling in life is tocultivate the divine spark in
the people around me.
Man that's really good.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
It's like wow, you didn't have that written down,
you just came up with that Forsome reason I didn't read that
question before.
That was really good.
No, that's great and so yeah,so again, we're really excited
you're here, we're excited thatyou're going to be leading this
congregation and, on behalf ofthe staff, we're just excited.
(16:56):
We're looking forward to what'sahead.
And so, james, thanks so much.
It's been fun.
And listeners, thank you aswell, and I look forward to
connecting with you again atfuture episodes.
So have a great day.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we
continue our conversationsabout faith and hope.
If you don't already, pleasejoin us for worship on Sundays
or on demand.
You can learn more atmeethopeorg or find us on
socials at meethopechurch.
Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have
conversations about faith andhope.
Hope is one church made ofpeople living out their faith
through two expressions inperson and online.
We believe a hybrid faithexperience can lead to a growing
influence in our community andour world for the sake of others
.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to Hope our world for the sake of others.
Welcome to Hope.
Hey, hello everyone.
Welcome to the Meet HopePodcast.
I'm Rick and I'm really happyto be here.
I'm laughing because I'm herewith Ashley, who is producing,
and I'm here with James Lee,James.
Welcome Pastor James Lee, thenewly appointed lead pastor at
(00:43):
Hope Church.
Hello, James, Hello, hello.
Hey, Rick.
Yeah, so it's good to have you.
I hope it's been exciting to gothrough the process and have
you here, and I hope it's beenexciting for you and your family
.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, we've been welcomed.
It's been a warm welcome.
We're very, very excited to bea part of the Hope family.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, and so, as you know, we have done these staff
interviews with everyone onstaff and we wanted to make sure
we did one with you as well.
So you know, we have some basicquestions that we're going to
ask about you, kind of get toknow you, and then we have some
fun lightning round at the end.
So let's just start out rightat the front.
Why don't you give us a quicksynopsis, your bio, where you're
(01:23):
from?
Quick life story yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I was born in Madison , new Jersey.
My dad came from South Korea tostudy theology and.
I was born here while he wasgetting his PhD, and we actually
moved back to Korea when I wasin the second grade when he
finished his PhD, and so I livedin Korea for a couple years and
then I came back from middleschool, high school I've been
here ever PhD, and so I lived inKorea for a couple of years and
then I came back from middleschool, high school I've been
here ever since and so I ambilingual.
(01:49):
I do speak both languages.
Do not ask me to preach inKorean, because I cannot have a
solid like seventh grade levelKorean.
I am married to my wife, julie,since 2012,.
We have three young childrenAmy, adam and Renee.
And where do you live?
We live in.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Marlton Right and that's where the new parsonage
is in Marlton.
That is correct.
Yeah, and you know how did youand Julie meet?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
We met in college.
We attended Rutgers University.
Go Rutgers, my daughter goesthere.
Yeah, yeah, scarlet Knights.
It was sophomore year incollege.
I was in a small group Biblestudy, hosted in our basement
apartment, and it was all guysand one girl, and the girl, I
guess, felt left out and so shebrought her friend.
(02:33):
No really.
Her friend was Julie, and soJulie's first impression of me
was in my pajamas in our smellyapartment.
The thing that our small groupdid all the time was we went
through crave cases, whiteCastle crave cases.
I was probably on my 30thslider at that point, building
up castles proudly with thepaper cartons.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
That's when she walked in awe and she fell in
love with me at first sight.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
No, that did not happen.
We were friends all throughcollege.
I was friend-zoned, that isuntil senior year, when I
finally convinced her to give mea shot.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So wow, wow, that's cool, wow, that's great.
So, uh, how did you guys um?
So I'm sure you've, you'll havetold this story, but how did
you um, how'd you come to hope?
Uh, well, we, I know thatthat's a loaded question, that's
a loaded question.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So we first moved to Marlton in June of 2024, and
we've been in part of thecommunity ever since and there
were some conversations of whatif I would become the pastor at
Hope.
But nothing was set and we didnot know.
You've already heard the wholething about the United Methodist
(03:44):
process.
But we said you know what,regardless of what happens, we
know we want to be a part of achurch community and there's no
church community like Hope.
So we plugged in right away and, sure enough, we were welcomed
by everyone we met.
I said, hey, I like handlingcameras, so I began serving with
(04:04):
the media team.
Julie has helped out with thefood pantry.
Our kids joined the kids' choirand we just integrated very
quickly.
We got to know people, we madefriends.
I feel like this is our churchfamily.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, that's awesome, that's cool.
So one of the questions we'vebeen asking everyone and I'm
looking forward to hear yourresponse to this.
So, what's a funny life moment?
Maybe something that you know?
It's one of those.
Oh boy, this is an embarrassingmoment for me.
You're not going to believewhat happened to me and I you
know.
It's a story you tell at aparty.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You got one of those kinds of stories.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
So from a scale of like haha, this is fun to like
deeply embarrassing Like where,where are?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
we landing Wherever you're comfortable going.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Well, what comes to mind is when I was my first ever
sermon so I was a Sunday schoolpastor at Calvary Korean United
Methodist Church in EastBrunswick there were about, I
want to say, 50 kids from firstthrough sixth grade, and
typically what happens in theKorean church is all the adults
(05:08):
are in the main sanctuary havingworship in Korean, and then the
youth group, the kids, thecollege.
They all have their separatelittle churches at the same time
and it's in English.
And so I had about 40, uh, 50kids or so in front of me and I
just started.
I didn't, I wasn't even inseminary.
I got, I got accepted toseminary.
(05:30):
I was set to start in Septemberand I'm here in August and
they're like all right, gopreach, right.
So I've never done this everbefore, right?
I said, but I've seen it enough, I think I could do this, and
so I will go up to this stageand, uh, beforehand asked how
long should a sermon be?
They said, oh, you know,they're typically 15 to 20
minutes.
That's what they're used to.
(05:50):
I said, okay, great, so I go upthere and I preach this
heartfelt sermon about grace,about love, about forgiveness
and how much Jesus loves you.
I thought I did great and Ilooked at my watch when I was
done.
Four minutes had passed them.
My watch when I was done, fourminutes had passed and I looked
at the Sunday school director,the volunteer director, who was
(06:19):
sort of my helper, my partner incrime, and she was just like,
shaking her head left and right,like, oh my goodness, just like
had her hand on her foreheadand the sixth graders who always
sat in the far back all gave mea standing ovation and it was
because it was the shortestsermon they ever heard.
This is great Pastor James.
We love this sermon and I wasso embarrassed.
Over time I learned to, Iincreased, I think, by a minute
(06:40):
per week on average andeventually I was preaching
15-minute sermons.
But I'll never forget thatfirst sermon I got a standing
ovation from the sixth graders,that's great, because you were
short, because it was short.
Oh yeah, let's be clear, it wasnot the quality but the
quantity.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I had a similar experience.
Same thing happened to me.
First time I ever preached asermon I was invited to, and I
said, yes, I had never done it.
I was invited to go to a localUnited Methodist Church and the
pastor was going to be away, andso I said, sure, I'll fill in,
it'll be fun.
I've never done this before,but why not?
That's just what you're doingin your 20s, why not?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Sure, why not?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And so I showed up.
I didn't ask any importantquestions like how long was I
supposed to be or anything aboutthe context of the church.
Well, when I got there, it wasNow this was in the 80s, and
they had a TV ministry and theyalso had someone who spoke sign
language, and so I didn't knoweither of those things.
So I didn't know there'd becameras on me and I didn't know
(07:37):
that they would be.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Translating.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Translating into sign language.
Yeah, I totally panicked and somy 20 minute sermon was five
minutes long because I spoke asfast as I humanly could and my
(08:00):
wife said that the personinterpreting was moving their
hands so quickly and at somepoint just went and put her
shoulders up like I don't knowwhat he said and put her
shoulders up like I don't knowwhat he said.
And I looked in the back andthe director who was producing
was stretching their hands outtrying to tell me to elongate
because I finished and theystill had time that they had to
fill for the broadcast.
Wow, and I just stood there andfinally the person leading
(08:23):
worship took over and kind ofpushed me off to the side.
They never invited me back.
I'm kind of surprised.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Sad to hear that.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah, but yeah.
So I think every pastor hasthat first sermon story.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So what I'm hearing is, if we dig into the archives
far enough, there is a videorecording of your first ever
sermon.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yes, it's in the 80s and it's on VHS.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
I'm thankful my first sermon was not recorded.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
That's funny, hey, james.
So years have gone by sincethat first sermon, and so what
do you love most about ministrylife?
Oh gosh.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
So the whole thing about ministry is to make
disciples and I think Whenever Iget asked that question, I
think there's nothing betterthan when someone just gets it
right.
When you disciple someone, youshare the gospel, you teach them
all there is to know aboutJesus and witnessing it land.
(09:29):
When someone actually says oh,I do believe in Jesus, or that
doesn't make sense.
When the truth of the gospeltruly becomes a part of
someone's life, like there'snothing like that.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
That is the greatest most exciting thing in ministry.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
It just brings yeah that's why I get up in the
morning.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
That's exactly it, that's it.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
And so what are you excited about?
You know?
So we're in this new era hereat Hope and you being here as
our new lead pastor.
You know what are you excitedabout?
What's most challenging?
Maybe you know what are youexcited about for the future?
Whatever you want to talk abouthere, just tell us.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yeah, I keep getting asked this question a lot and I
think it's a very good questionand I'm also somewhat hesitant
to give like a very explicitanswer.
I believe that this is a seasonfor me to listen and it's a
season for me to learn and toget to know the culture and DNA
of hope, so I don't want to jumpto any conclusions say this is
(10:26):
what we're going to do.
That's what we're going to do.
This is a season for me to tolearn about hope, but I am
really excited to get to knowpeople.
I'm really excited to get toknow the culture more, and I
think that goes hand in handwith the greatest challenge that
I recognize is there is still alot that I don't know, that I
don't know.
And so but I think that's allthe more reason why I will be in
(10:49):
a posture of listening anddiscernment.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, so that leads us right into the rapid fire
section here.
So, uh, so I'm gonna ask somequestions and I always say it's
rapid fire, but Ashley knowsthat I always stop and talk
about each one, but that's okay.
Uh, so it's not going to be.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I do have some time to think about it.
It's not going to be as rapidfire as we'd like it to be, but
let's say rapid fire.
So ready your favorite pizzatopping Pepperoni Pepperoni.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And mushroom.
Pepperoni and mushroomPepperoni okay and I don't mind
them together.
All right, my family's sausageand mushroom, that's it.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
We mix that together, sausage was like my number one
topping all through high schooland for some reason, these days
I'm just pepperoni.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
All right.
Are you a morning person or anevening person?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
I'm an X extreme night owl, now an extreme
morning person.
Okay, like what time extreme?
Uh, well, extreme not extreme,but like 5.00 AM, Um before, and
it all changed when I got kidsyeah and it started when I got
married, because julie was amorning person, I was a night
(11:58):
owl and we fought over that foryears, and then I said okay,
maybe I'll start waking up alittle earlier.
I was a creative so, and thecreative juices would hit at 11
pm and then that's when I hadthe best video edits.
But once you have kids,everything changes.
I'm becoming like my dad I wakeup very early now.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
That's funny.
All right, so that means youdrink coffee.
That's my guess I do not drinkcoffee anymore, I quit coffee
last year.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Wow, and it wasn't really something I was planning
to do, it just kind of happened.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So what's your morning drink then?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Tea.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Oh, you drink tea, okay.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Um, yeah, I.
I love Earl gray, I love greentea.
Uh, London fog is sort of mytreat.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Okay, yeah, all right , tea All right.
Good, I didn't know that.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
So that's something I just.
How about a show or a movie youwatched recently?
Just rewatched Eternal Sunshineof the Spotless.
Mind.
Oh, okay, and it aged well,it's still a great movie.
Yeah, okay, it was on the topof my list and it came up on
Netflix or whatever.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You're like, oh, that's a good one.
I watched it and yeah.
Good, great movie, all right.
How about a book you've readrecently?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Read Circle of Hope by Eliza Griswold.
Failure of Nerve by EdwinFriedman.
What's that about?
It's all about leadership.
The basic premise is that whatmakes an effective leader is not
knowing all the information.
A lot of the assumptions ofwhat makes a good leader is not
(13:36):
necessarily true.
What makes a great leader ishaving a strong sense of
self-differentiation and havinga strong nerve and being able to
make decisions.
Yeah, it's a great book.
It's a great leadership book byRabbi Edwin Friedman.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
It's a great book.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
It's a great leadership book by Rabbi Edwin
Friedman and just startedreading Anti-Fragile by Nicholas
Taleb, which has been.
I recommend that that's aninteresting book too.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
All right, Tell me a little bit about that one.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
So the understanding is that many organizations or
things that we put together orcreate are often fragile and we
always try to think what is theopposite of fragile is, we think
, resilience.
But actually he says what doesit mean to create a product, to
create an organization that isanti-fragile?
So, rather than being resistantto change or resistant to
difficult situations, thatactually, when there are
(14:33):
difficult situations thatactually thrives and multiplies.
So it's this idea of what doesanti-fragility mean?
So the opposite of fragile isnot resistant, but it's
anti-fragile.
So it's a great.
It's not a Christian book, butit's a great organizational
leadership book.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
So we're going to talk more on this one, I'm sure.
So local place to eat, favoriteplace to eat, favorite local
place.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I've been blown away by Sagami Japanese in
Collingswood.
It's hands down the best sushiI've ever had in my life, Wow,
and so we had a little.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
The reason I wanted to talk about this is because we
had a little pre-productionmeeting and I saw that in your
notes and I love, love, lovesushi.
I think I could eat it everyday and I've never been in this
place, but it's that good.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, Years ago when I was up in uh, north Jersey my
primary care doctor at the timehe's Japanese and I just asked
him what's the best sushi you'veever had and he named this
place and I thought that's soweird.
Not a place, I would thinkthere's good sushi and I just
tried it a few months ago.
Finally, ever since I moveddown here and wow, blown away.
The atmosphere is perfect.
(15:38):
The sushi is just second tonone, yeah, and it's.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
It's an unassuming buildings.
I looked at, I looked up onGoogle and it's just this little
white building on the side of afancy spot.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I've?
I've had like fancy Omakase,but I'm curious, if they offer
omakase, I might try it out nexttime.
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
All right, so we're going to wrap this up.
You've got 30 seconds.
How would you describe yourself, your life and what you do?
This will be interesting.
Myself, my life, so it's likewe call this your elevator pitch
.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
All right.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
So this is James Lee and you got 30 seconds on the
elevator.
Oh, so it's kind of like toIntroduce yourself to somebody,
Present myself, to promotemyself in a way.
Yeah, promote yourself yeah,Elevator pitch.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I am a Korean-American pastor who loves
to see people's lives changedfor Jesus.
My calling in life is tocultivate the divine spark in
the people around me.
Man that's really good.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
It's like wow, you didn't have that written down,
you just came up with that Forsome reason I didn't read that
question before.
That was really good.
No, that's great and so yeah,so again, we're really excited
you're here, we're excited thatyou're going to be leading this
congregation and, on behalf ofthe staff, we're just excited.
(16:56):
We're looking forward to what'sahead.
And so, james, thanks so much.
It's been fun.
And listeners, thank you aswell, and I look forward to
connecting with you again atfuture episodes.
So have a great day.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we
continue our conversationsabout faith and hope.
If you don't already, pleasejoin us for worship on Sundays
or on demand.
You can learn more atmeethopeorg or find us on
socials at meethopechurch.
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