Wednesday night, my wife and I were craving some ice cream, so I went to the store to buy Haagen Daz Vanilla for her because that is what she wanted. I got Ben & Jerry’s Cookies & Cream Cheesecake Core, which contains half cookies & cream and half chocolate ice cream with cheesecake flavor in the middle. We were able to enjoy our ice cream in peace as Andrew was sleeping. Poor boy, doesn’t know the joy of ice cream yet.
Thursday night, I get home after our young adults Bible study and my wife tells me that she really wants some chocolate ice cream (AKA half my ice cream)! I told her to just enjoy her vanilla Haagen Daz, and that she should have chosen chocolate instead of vanilla yesterday. After several minutes of dialogue, I reluctantly went to the freezer and took out my Ben & Jerry’s ice cream along with two spoons. We sat there eating MY ice cream together. I was holding onto it for dear life. I was literally hugging it. She had to reach over my arms for every bite. It was so painful watching her take spoonful after spoonful of MY ice cream, while hers was nicely tucked away in the freezer.
When I had first bought the ice cream, I was thinking how nice it was going to be to savor every bite and just really fully enjoy it all to myself. She had her vanilla, so surely, she wouldn’t bother to eat any of mine. I think it was the shock at how wrong my thinking was, that made it so hard for me to share my ice cream with her. To be fair, my wife is not some evil ice cream stealer. She is a very kind and sweet person. We are both just very passionate when it comes to ice cream.
About half way through, I was able to let go of my death grip and actually place the ice cream in the middle of us. We were able to finish the rest of it in peace. I realized that it was only ice cream. I could always buy more. As much as we both love ice cream, there is no need to be so serious about it.
I think love has a way of putting things in perspective. Whatever your “ice cream” might be, we realize that it’s not greater than the ones you love. You wouldn’t want your “ice cream” to come between you and the people you love. To take it one step further, you wouldn’t want your “ice cream” to come between you and God. Having been in a relationship with God for some time now, there are many things that I had to let go because it was interfering with our relationship.
Looking back at each of them, I do not view them as a loss at all. I do not regret giving them up for God. I have definitely gained more than what I gave up for my relationship with Him. Moving forward, I know that there will be more things that I will have to let go, and I will gladly do so because my relationship with God is far greater than whatever that might be.
Do we have “ice cream” that is coming between you and your loved ones? You and God? I hope that we can realize that in the end, those things are not greater than the relationships that we have. As people of God, we should be putting way more value in people and relationships rather than things. That is the example we see from Jesus. He had love for God the Father and the lost. He never had a love for things. Everything He did was for God and for people. Let’s take the time to invest in relationships rather than things.

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart

February 28, 2016

No, I’m not talking about the New York Football Giants. They’re not going anywhere (sorry P. David! I feel you though as a Cowboys fan). I’m talking about the Timothy group. This past week we had our Timothy winter retreat and the theme was “Giants Are Birthed From The Intimate Places.” On the last night, Pastor Chris really challenged all of us to rise up as giants for the Lord. He shared with us his vision and dream that he had 11 years ago. In this dream, he saw a lion roaring and behind the lion were 10,000 youth marching into battle in the DMV area.
It’s no secret that the DMV, along with the rest of America, needs revival. We, as a country, have strayed too far from God. This was a Christian nation, but I don’t think that can be said any more. We are in need of revival and it will come from the next generation. We have a hungry generation who are waiting to rise up for the Lord. They are not just little kids who are up to no good. These are young men and women. They are capable of doing so many things. In fact, I don’t like it when people call the Timothy students kids. They are not kids. If we call them kids and think of them as kids, then that’s what they’ll amount to be.
Let’s think of them as young men and women, and challenge them. We have no idea what they’re capable of when we encourage them and look at them as young men and women. Did you know the youngest person to sail around the world solo was a 16 year old girl named Lauren Dekker in 2012? A sophomore in high school invented a pancreatic cancer detection tool. An 18 year old girl invented a gadget that can fully charge your phone in 20 to 30 seconds. (How many of us would really like one of those?)
The point I’m trying to make is that these teenagers are capable of doing great things and we need to help them discover their potential. If we were to turn to the Bible, David was believed to only be 12 to 14 years old when he killed Goliath. Daniel was 16 when he was taken captive and thrown into the lion’s den. Joseph was also a young man who God used to save His people. We see that God uses young people to do His work.
As we end 2015 and enter 2016, my hope and prayer is that our Timothy students will become giants for their generation. That they will be willing to stand up and fight for their faith. That they would give their lives to the advancement of the gospel. That they would allow God to use them in whatever way He pleases. Our Timothy group is hungry for God. I was so blessed and encouraged by the response on the last day to become giants. I believe almost everyone came forward to give their lives to God.
So the next time you see a Timothy student doing something stupid (we know this happens fairly often), instead of dismissing it as them being kids, please take the time to teach them. Take the time and invest into the lives of these young people. Take the time to challenge them and show them what it means to follow Christ. It’s great that we have so many college and young adults who invest into these teenagers, but older adults (40+) they need you too. You’re not “too old” for these students. You have a ton of wisdom and experience to offer to these young people. Let’s be a church that’s dedicated to turning our young people into giants. Giants who will love the Lord and live for Him. Keep watch. Here come the giants! Amen!

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
January 3, 2016

The month of November is here and it marks exactly one year since I started at NCFC. Not only that but this past Monday, my wife and I, celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary. We also celebrated Andrew’s first birthday yesterday. So November will always be a special month for me. How appropriate that Thanksgiving is also in November. So the three things I love most (God, family, food) are all in this month.
I shared this at the Back to School night for VA Timothy in September, but I really felt like a redshirt freshman this past year. In college football, usually the freshmen take the first season to learn instead of play. They study the play book and watch how the other players execute. Then they start to play in their second year. I could relate to them because I was busy trying to learn the NCFC way of doing things and getting to know the people this past year. This is not to say that there was nothing going on. I believe there has been progress for Timothy. We’re moving in the right direction and I’m looking forward to this next year.
I’m also thankful to have such great pastors to learn from. Seeing how they do ministry and handle different situations that come up has really stretched me as a leader. It made me widen my focus so that I can see how the different ministries work together to better the church and give God the glory. God showed me how important it is to see the big picture and take a step back to see the direction that God is leading rather than being so focused at the task at hand.
As a second year husband, I have to admit that there’s room for improvement. I do have a little bit better understanding of what it means to be a godly husband compared to year one. God has been showing me what it means to be the spiritual leader of the household. He’s been showing me what it means to love my wife as Christ loves the church. I thank God every day for giving me a wife who loves and supports me despite my weaknesses and shortcomings.
As a first year father, I can say that I truly love my son; no matter how many surprises he has left for me in his diaper or the countless sleepless nights. It brings me great joy to see him grow and do new things as his brain is developing. Right now he knows to wave good bye when I leave the house. He should be walking soon as he’s been getting good at standing and balancing himself. The time that I cherish most with him is when I’m trying to put him to sleep. There’s something really intimate about being in a quiet dark room as I pace back and forth with him in my arms. He rests his head on my shoulder and drifts off to sleep while I pray for him. Then I lay him down and put the blanket over him. Just seeing how peaceful he looks puts a smile on my face.
As I reflect upon this past year, I am thankful for God’s faithfulness. What an awesome God we serve! I’m reminded of what it says in Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” Getting to this point in my life hasn’t been an easy road. There have been many bumps along the way, but God has been faithful. Each and every bump was used to stretch me and shape me. What a great ride it’s been so far. I look towards year two with great anticipation. I look towards His faithfulness.

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
November 8, 2015

I had the privilege of attending the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, GA last Wednesday to Friday. This is a conference for all Christian leaders so you can imagine how many pastors were there along with small group leaders, Sunday school teachers, Elders, Deacons, and etc. The last time I went to this conference was back in 2009 when I was living in Raleigh, NC. I chose not to fly but rather drive 10 hours down. Unlike a lot of people, I enjoy long road trips. I love being in a car and on the road (unless there’s traffic) and just take in the sights along the way. Since I chose to drive down, I had the chance to visit the church I served at in Raleigh and meet up with some of my former youth who are now in college. It was really nice to see how much they’ve grown spiritually. I also had the chance to visit my parent’s house and have dinner with them. I think it’s been around 5 years (?) since I’ve been “home.” I have to say that my mom’s mandoo is still the best in the world.
When I finally arrived at the conference, I was deeply challenged and inspired by the opening session. The speaker was Andy Stanley, who is one of my favorite pastors. In fact, when I was there in 2009, I actually got a chance to talk with him as he signed the book that I bought. It was one of the coolest moments of my life. In the opening session, he was talking about how we as leaders need to stir and disturb the imaginations of the people we lead and awaken the wonder within them.
How many ideas have been shot down not just at church but anywhere because it was “new” and unfamiliar? At times, it’s easy for leaders to say no to an idea because we don’t understand it, but sticking with only what’s familiar is how we become stagnant. If you think about it, stirring up and disturbing the imaginations of the people is exactly what Jesus did. Isn’t that why the Pharisees hated him so much? He did not fit into their religious box. Isn’t that why so many people were following him? No one had met someone like Jesus, who taught the way Jesus did. They were amazed at his teaching. He awakened the wonder of the people.
 Maybe a reason why we try to stay clear from new ideas, is that wonder can be as threatening and disruptive as it can be inspiring. New ideas mean disrupting the norm or the tradition of doing things. We use phrases like “it’s always been this way.” New ideas can be scary because it pulls us away from our comfort zone and puts us in unfamiliar territory. As leaders, we should embrace the unknown. We should encourage new ideas. New ideas have the potential to inspire people and to awaken the wonder within us. Think of all the innovation that is around us. I just read the other day that Japan has now invented a train that goes 1 mile in 10 seconds! It floats on magnets so it has frictionless motion. This allows the train to go really fast reaching speeds up to 374 mph. To put things into perspective, it can go from NY to DC in about 35 minutes.
Ideas like this came to fruition because of thinking outside the box; by thinking outside of “how it’s always been done.” Imagine what can be done if we think outside the box and step into the unknown at church. Let’s not get stuck on doing things the same way just because that’s how it’s always been done. Let’s open ourselves to new ideas and see how God leads us. As a church, let’s start to be a people of wonder.

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
October 18, 2015

In September, we have three people getting baptized from the EC side in VA campus. I am truly so excited and happy about their baptisms. I don’t think there is a greater joy than seeing someone come to Christ and being baptized. There is no greater joy in heaven as well. We are told in the Bible that many angels rejoice when one person comes to Christ. How awesome it is that we can be a child of God!
We had our baptism class last Sunday, and their conversion stories reminded me of mine. They had all grown up in the church like me. They had come to God while going to church and they had been waiting for the right time to be baptized. I came to know Christ because of Pastor Roger. I don’t know if many of you remember him, and if you do, I know I just took you way back into NCFC history. I remember he shared the gospel during his message on Sunday and that’s when I came to know Christ. That was when I was in seventh grade. Hearing their testimonies during the class just brought back all those memories.
It reminded me of all that NCFC had done for me in my spiritual walk. I came to know Christ because of NCFC. I grew in my faith through all the different discipleship classes I took while in Timothy (does anyone still remember XD?). I believe that NCFC played a big part in me becoming a pastor. God used this church to groom me in preparation for the day I went to seminary and started doing youth ministry. I had the privilege of having great pastors like Roger Kim, Tom Youn, Young Kim, and Alvin Chun, who are still doing great things for God’s kingdom today. My hope is that I can have a similar impact on our current Timothy students like these pastors had on me back in my days as a Timothy student.
It’s great to see that NCFC is still being used to bring people to Christ. It lets me know that our church is alive and well. There have been a lot of hard times in the recent past, but we are still bringing people to Christ and baptizing them. In the end, isn’t that what really matters? The ultimate purpose of the church is to be salt and light for its community, and that’s what NCFC has become for MD and VA. God is using our church to accomplish His purpose and His plan. What a privilege it is that we get to participate in that. I know that God has even greater things in store for this church. Things that we cannot even imagine. May we continue to spread the good news of the gospel and bring people to Christ. May we continue to raise up men and women who are so in love with God.
So, as we baptize these three believers this month, may you be as joyful as I am! Every time we have baptism, it is a time for celebration. There truly is no greater joy! With the NFL season starting next week, I can honestly say that when the Cowboys win the Super Bowl this year, it won’t bring me greater joy than the baptism we have this month. The day that my wife has her paintings exhibited in the National Art Gallery in D.C., it won’t bring me greater joy. The day that Andrew gets a full ride to Harvard, it won’t bring me greater joy. The day that I finally bowl a perfect 300, it won’t bring me greater joy. When we look at things in the eternal perspective, the good things in this physical world pales in comparison. What is greater than a lost soul coming to know the love of the Father? Truly nothing.

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
September 6, 2015

I’ve been thinking about heaven a lot lately. Maybe it’s because that was one of the Bible lessons during VBS which VA campus just finished up last week. It’s always been fun to think about what heaven would be like. We do get a glimpse of what it looks like in Revelation, but a lot is left to the imagination. Jesus said that he would be preparing a room for us in heaven. I wonder sometimes what my room would look like. What would be in it? Would all our favorite things be there? I shared this with the VBS kids, but I hope I have a bowling alley in my room. Since we’ll be perfect in heaven, I would be averaging 300. I think that would be great!
Maybe I’ve been thinking about heaven lately because of the recently discovered earth 2.0 AKA Kepler-452b. It is apparently very similar to earth. It orbits around a G-2 star like our sun. Its orbit is a little longer than ours though at 385 days. Its distance from the sun is similar to earth. It is bigger than earth and it has more land than it does water. It is also older than the earth. When I read about this, immediately I said to my wife “What if this is the ‘new’ earth that God had in mind when he told us that there would be a new heaven and a new earth?” And my wife looked at me and sarcastically said “Yeah, and we were able to discover it.” She found it hard to believe that we could discover something like that since God is God and we’re only human. But I said to her “Yes, we discovered it but its 1,400 light years away so it’s impossible for us to reach it anyways.” This is just my thought of course. There is no validity to what I said. However, how funny would it be IF it was true? God works outside of time so he could have already created this “new” earth while he created everything else, and it would still be “new” to us.
We had a pastoral staff retreat this past Monday and Tuesday and we were going through the book of Acts together. In Acts 14:22, we see Paul and Barnabas encouraging and strengthening the disciples. They say this “We must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” I asked myself why do we have to go through hardships? And I was reminded that it’s because this land here is not our home. We are only immigrants while we’re living here on earth. Our citizenship is in heaven. Many of us come from immigrant families and know what a challenge that is compared to friends of ours whose parents were born here in the USA. We go through hard times here because our parents are citizens of South Korea. It’s always difficult to live in a land that is not your own.
Maybe that’s really why I think of heaven. While here on earth, we will endure lots of hardships, but we all know that heaven is a perfect place. It has no disease. No tears. No pain. What an awesome place! As I read that verse in Acts, it really comforted me and reminded me that this is not my home. I should expect lots of hardship living in a foreign land. No one knows exactly what heaven will be like and we will have to wait to find out, but we do know it’s going to be a wonderful place.
Whenever you are going through hardship here on earth, just think about heaven. Think about spending all of eternity in a perfect place just worshiping God all day long. Remember that we are only immigrants here on earth while we wait for our time to go back home.

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart 
August 23, 2015

Two weeks ago, I had the honor and privilege of being ordained at NCFC VA campus. It was such a special moment to be ordained at the church I grew up in from 6th grade to a college graduate. It was special because my father was also ordained at NCFC back when we were worshiping at Watkins Mill. What made it really meaningful was my father’s message to me during the ordination service.
The first words he said to me was “Be a nobody.” My first thought was “thanks?” But then he began to explain that the world always tells us to go be somebody. Go and make a name for yourself. Live the American dream. That’s why we study hard and get into a good school and find a good major. By good major we mean one where there’s money to be made. Not something like sociology (my major). The world is preoccupied with trying to be somebody.
In high school, I had a Chinese friend who was so obsessed with his grades. Depending on his grades, he would be either “building up the Zhou dynasty” or “destroying the Zhou dynasty.” Zhou was his last name. I remember I would crack jokes about how ridiculous he was acting, but I think we all do that. We may not say his exact words, but in the back of our minds we want to make sure we’re building our name. We want to build up our “dynasty.”
That’s the opposite of what the Bible tells us. Jesus said things like “the last will be first, and the first will be last” and “whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant.” John the Baptist said “He must become greater; I must become less.” As Christians, it’s easy for us to follow the mindset of the world. It’s inevitable because we live in this world. So we want our kids to be the best. We want them to be successful. That’s why we don’t see bumper stickers that say “My kid is a so-so student at (insert school name here).” Also as parents, we want to leave behind some kind of legacy to our kids.
Perhaps, the best “legacy” that we can leave for our children is teaching them how to be a nobody. Being an example by reading God’s word and following it and teaching them that it’s not about what you become but who you are in Christ. As we lower ourselves and humble ourselves, that’s when God can be glorified through us. If you think about it, all the characters we find in the Bible were nobodies. God used people who were too old or too young or uneducated or Christ-haters or had speech impediments to do His work.
We’re in the book of Judges according to the M’Cheyne reading, and we find the story of Gideon. God calls him a “mighty warrior” before he’s done anything. If you look at Gideon, there’s nothing “mighty” or “warrior” about him. In fact, he needed multiple signs before obeying God’s command. It’s safe to say that Gideon wasn’t called a “mighty warrior” because of anything he had done. God calls him a mighty warrior because of what He planned to do through Gideon.
It’s great being a nobody. When we become a nobody that’s when God can be a somebody in us. As a Christian, it’s not about making our name known, but it’s about making God’s name known to everyone around us. As a pastor, my hope is to be a nobody. I’m fine with not being remembered and not being known as long as God is being known through me. I hope that NCFC would be full of nobodies. When newcomers visit, they won’t really remember the people they met, but they would remember how they met God through us during worship that day.

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
July 26, 2015

Back when my wife was 8 months pregnant with our son, Andrew, we were living in Sacramento, California. I had come home from the church office on a Thursday late afternoon. We had an appointment to take a tour of the hospital that we were planning to go to have our baby. This was before we even knew we would be moving to VA and having Andrew here. We were running a little late, so my wife made a makeshift dinner. We sat down to eat, and there in the middle of the table was a plate of what I thought was sautéed red onions. So I started eating it along with rice and the rest of the side dishes of meat and kimchi. As I was eating the red onions, something just did not seem right. It seemed raw and uncooked. Rather than questioning her cooking, I said “This tastes good!” and kept on eating it. I just thought maybe this is how people eat red onions in Korea nowadays. I don’t know if some of you have ever had raw red onions, but the taste and smell is so strong. Some of the pieces brought tears to my eyes from the spiciness, but I kept on chomping away and ended up finishing the whole plate.
After we quickly ate, we rushed out the door and started driving to the hospital. The smell of onions was beginning to take over the car. I tried everything. Driving with the windows down. Blasting the AC. Closing my mouth. But nothing worked. Just as it was getting unbearable, we arrived at the hospital. We signed in for the tour and waited in the lobby. Slowly, the lobby was getting filled with other people who were taking the tour. The onion smell reeked. There was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it. What made it worse was for parts of the tour we had to pack into the elevator. It was a short trip up and down, but if felt like an eternity for us and the people packed in that confined space with the stench of onions as our only source of air. I don’t think I have ever smelled so bad in my life. I don’t think I will ever smell so bad in my life.
Towards the end of the tour, we were walking behind the rest of the group (it was the least I could do to help them deal with my stink), and my wife turns to me and says “You really smell bad!” I replied “Yea, I know, it’s from those red onions.” To which she said “I didn’t want to tell you that I had forgotten to cook them and that you were eating raw onions because you seemed to be enjoying them so much!” We both just bust out laughing. We were laughing because I stunk so much. We were laughing because all these people were suffering because of me. We were laughing because they knew I was the source of the smell. We were laughing the whole car ride home. Needless to say, I was so happy to rinse my mouth and brush my teeth when I got home. I’ve also become more careful with my onion consumption after this had happened.
That day, I literally experienced what Jesus meant when he said “Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It’s what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean.” in Mark 7:15. Although, we may not be able to “smell” things like cursing, blasphemy, pride, judgement, condescension, envy, lewdness, and other things that can come out of our mouths, I’m sure that it probably smells worse than the smell of red onions coming from my mouth. Let’s not take lightly what comes out of our mouths. Instead, let’s watch our stank!

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
June 14, 2015

The NFL draft is coming up this Thursday, and it is definitely one of the things that I look forward to each year. Not only because I am curious as to who the Cowboys will be drafting, but maybe more importantly, it means we’re just that much closer to the start of the NFL season. It’s a part of my personal countdown to September that starts with free agency and the draft followed by OTAs, rookie minicamp, training camp, and the preseason. This year’s draft is particularly more exciting for me because the Cowboys have a huge hole to fill at running back. I’m still hoping that AP will get traded to the Cowboys, but in the event that that doesn’t happen, I want to know who they will be drafting.
Every year before the draft, all the NFL teams go through a process of evaluating the college players. They come up with a board that ranks all the players at each position. They even have an overall board, where they rank who they think the best players are regardless of position. I believe this year, the best player overall is supposed to be quarterback Jameis Winston from Florida State. In order for each team to come up with these boards, they go watch players at the NFL combine and even invite certain players for something called a Pro Day. They watch the players run through drills which vary depending on the position that they play. They interview the players, and they watch their college game films. You can just imagine how much work they put in to evaluate hundreds and hundreds of players, and I’m sure each board will have similarities and differences among the different teams. Then on draft day, they use that board to decide who to pick based on what players are taken and what players are remaining. I can imagine it’s a lot of headache and pressure trying to pick players who they think will be successful in the NFL. If they miss on a pick that means time and money is wasted, and they’ll have to deal with a lot of angry fans.
Which really got me thinking, why would these coaches and scouts put in all this effort to make sure that they picked the “right” players? I conclude that it’s because we are imperfect human beings. Since we are imperfect, we need to find the best in order to succeed. For NFL teams to win the Super Bowl, they need a team filled with as many good players as possible. I don’t think there ever was a team that won the Super Bowl with a bunch of no-name scrubs. There was never a team that won with a lot of “Mr. Irrelevants” on their team. Mr. Irrelevant is the nick name given to the last player chosen in the draft.
On the flip side, we see in the Bible that God didn’t have to put in a lot of effort and research to find the best servants for Him to use. He didn’t have a servant board that ranked everyone from best to worst. He was able to use anyone even the most unqualified. God doesn’t have to stress because He is perfect. He can take a team of imperfect people and make them successful. Jesus had the first football team, the 11 disciples (Judas doesn’t count). They were a bunch of no-name scrubs. They all ran away when Jesus died on the cross, and yet God used them to build the church. God used them to spread the good news. God used them to really change the world!
When it comes to serving, it’s not about our worth. It’s not about our skills or talents. It’s about God’s perfection. It’s about Him. God can use Mr. Irrelevants like you and me to do great things.

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
April 26, 2015

By now everyone has heard the things that are going on with ISIS. Couple weeks ago, they beheaded 21 Christian men. They also kidnapped 100 Christians in Syria last week. Why is this happening? Why are so many Christians being persecuted in the Middle East? Is there anything that we can do to stop it?
I believe that this is a call to wake us up. We have it too easy here in the US. We don’t know what it’s like to face persecution. In fact, the most “persecuted” that we might experience is someone laughing at our faith. We have it too comfortable here. I believe this has caused us to be apathetic. We lost the passion and fervor. Coming to church has become a routine on Sunday. Being able to focus during worship has become a struggle. Showing up for Morning Prayer every day has become a struggle (myself included). My whole life, I thought that Morning Prayer was specifically a Korean thing. It makes sense because I grew up in a Korean church. I would ask my non-Korean friends if their church had Morning Prayer, and they would look at me like I was crazy. You do what? That early?
My eyes were opened when I saw that the Spanish church here at NCFC VA campus has Morning Prayer! Wow! Are they like half-Korean? No, they’re not. It was then that I realized that Morning Prayer wasn’t a cultural thing. It was a desperate thing. It was a desperately seeking God thing. The American church used to have Morning Prayer as well, but as America had become blessed, our desperation had faded. We’ve grown too comfortable. We’ve become too complacent. We’re not desperate any more.
When I read about the 21 Christian men who were beheaded, and how they were proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ with their last breath, I was so challenged.  They were so passionate. All they cared about was giving God the glory and having His name be known. They were willing to die for that. I believe that God is calling Christians in America and around the world to our knees. To be a people who are praying with desperation. We know that God is in control of the situation with ISIS and when His timing comes, ISIS will fade away. In the meantime, we need to pray. We need to wake up from our slumber. We need to be ready for the coming of Christ. We need to be alert!
We need to pray for the Christians who are being persecuted around the world. That God would use them to bring people to Him. I believe that God could use Christians to bring members of ISIS to God. If Apostle Paul met God and believed in Him, even though he went around killing Christians, then so can these guys. They need to know that what they’re doing is wicked and evil. The Bible tells us not to repay evil for evil but to overcome evil with good. We can try all we want to defeat ISIS with evil, but nothing can change their hearts except the love of Christ found in the gospel.
Everything begins and ends with the gospel. For us who have lost our passion and zeal for God, meditate on the gospel. As we do that, our relationship will be restored. We’ll be hungry and passionate for Him. Why? Because we realize that we need Jesus. For those who have yet to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, meditate on the gospel. Why? Because you will realize that you need Jesus. The gospel is simple enough for the nonbeliever to come to Christ, and it is deep enough to sanctify the believer. I believe God is using ISIS to give us a wakeup call. The question is: how will we respond?

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
March 8, 2015

Our son, Andrew, is now a little over 2 months old. He loves lots of things. He loves to eat (like daddy). He loves it when we pick him up and walk around the house. When we do that, he just stares at everything. It’s like he is trying to figure out what he is seeing. Just last week, when it snowed a lot, he stared wide-eyed out the window. He was in awe of all the falling white stuff. He also loves to babble. We think he will be quite the talker when he grows up. He and I have had long talks already, and he can babble on for hours. He loves bath time now, but that wasn’t always the case.
I remember the first bath we gave him. He was terrified. He didn’t like the floating feeling he got when he was in that mysterious stuff called water. He curled his toes as if he was trying with all his might to keep his legs from floating up. He looked for things to grasp with his hands. I offered him my finger and he grabbed onto it for dear life while my wife bathed him. As he was crying, I remember saying “It’s okay, daddy’s got you.” over and over again.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and bath time is a totally enjoyable experience for him now. He is very relaxed, and water doesn’t scare him anymore. His toes aren’t curled up and he isn’t looking for things to grasp with his hands. He even has a smile on his face.
From Andrew’s perspective, bath time was scary. Being in water, being washed, being dried, it’s all new to him. From our perspective, we knew that Andrew had nothing to be scared about. He was safe and we were watching over him to make sure that nothing happened to him. In the same way, when God calls us out of our comfort zone and into the unknown, we can be scared. We can react like Andrew and curl our toes and look for things to grasp and cry out to God. It’s all new to us so it makes us uncomfortable. But in God’s perspective, He knows that we’re safe. He is in control. He’s holding us the whole time and saying “It’s okay, daddy’s got you.”
As we keep getting placed in the unknown, we eventually learn that it’s okay. There’s no reason to be scared. It took quite a few baths before Andrew realized that bath time was okay. He actually became quite comfortable during bath time. That’s how we realized that he had grown. It will take quite a few unknown situations and circumstances for us to learn that it’s okay and there’s no reason to be scared. In fact, we need to be placed outside of our comfort zone in order to grow. We cannot expect growth if we are always comfortable and avoid the unknown.
So there may be some of you today who are going through situations that you don’t understand. You might be going through tough times at work. You might be dealing with family problems. Whatever the case may be, even though from your perspective, it is scary and doesn’t make much sense, I want to remind you that God is holding you. He is holding you and saying “It’s okay, daddy’s got you.” And when that situation comes to pass, you’ll be able to look back and realize that you’ve grown from it. As we experience many of these situations, maybe one day we’ll be able to truly understand James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
January 18, 2015

I would like to use this time and space to introduce myself and my family. I am Eugene Cha, and I am the new Timothy/EC pastor at NCFC VA campus. It really seems like life has come full circle. For those who may not know, I grew up at NCFC. I was a part of Timothy starting from the sixth grade, and then joined Impact as I studied at UMCP (Go Terps!). After that, I ended up moving to Charlotte, NC to help my father who had become a senior pastor at a Korean church. What started out as just volunteering to help the youth group became my calling into youth ministry. I still remember praying and sensing God calling me into youth ministry. My first response was “Heck to the no.” However, as I kept praying, God placed in me a passion for youth that has been growing ever since.
It was then that I started attending Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary while serving at a church in Raleigh, NC.  Upon graduation, I had the opportunity to serve the youth in Sacramento, CA. Sacramento will always have a special place in my heart because that is where I “met” my wife. Let me explain why I have met in quotations. After I had moved to Sacramento, I got a call from my aunt who wanted to introduce me to a girl (my wife Sophia) who lived in Korea. So I sent her a message via Kakaotalk (thank goodness for Kakaotalk!). We got to talking and things were looking good. We both sensed that God has brought us together at the right time. She told me that she had a long list of things that she had been praying for while searching/waiting for her husband. She told me that I was the first one that met every single item on that list. To this day, she hasn’t told me what that list was in order to keep me humble (she’s a smart lady).
I flew out to Korea for a week, and we finally got to meet in person. I still remember seeing her walking towards me for the first time at Incheon Airport, and I was just frozen by her beauty. We had exchanged pictures, but she just looked so beautiful in person. On our second date in Korea, I proposed to her at Hae Woon Dae Beach in Busan. We got married in Korea almost one year after we first “met.” The first Kakaotalk message I sent her was on 11-11-12 and we got married on 11-02-13.
After I got my calling into youth ministry, I had always wanted to go back to serve at NCFC at some point because it was my home church. Not only that, but I was impacted by the youth pastors that I had there, and I wanted the opportunity to do the same for the next generation of Timothy students. Little did I know that it would happen so soon and so suddenly. My wife was 37 weeks pregnant with our son Andrew, and so we had no intentions of moving anywhere. In fact, we were busy setting everything up for the baby in Sacramento, but God had different plans for us. My wife ended up flying to VA ahead of me and waited while I finished closing up everything in Sacramento. It was truly the work of God that allowed us to move to VA. He took care of our apartment lease in Sacramento, insurance for the baby, and so many other things. One by one, He took care of them as we lifted them up in prayer.
Our son was born on Friday 11-07-14 at 6 lbs. 6 oz. at Fairfax Hospital. I think it’s so cool that he and I were born in the same hospital. We’re thankful that he is healthy and that he eats and sleeps like champ (gets that from his dad). We’re looking forward to getting to know everyone at NCFC and serving God faithfully here back at home. Home sweet home.

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
November 16, 2014