The Meet Hope Podcast
The Meet Hope Podcast
129: Meet HOPE Staff! Pastor James Lee
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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Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope. Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online. We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Hope our world for the sake of others. Welcome to Hope. Hey, hello everyone. Welcome to the Meet Hope Podcast. I'm Rick and I'm really happy to be here. I'm laughing because I'm here with Ashley, who is producing, and I'm here with James Lee, James. Welcome Pastor James Lee, the newly appointed lead pastor at Hope Church. Hello, James, Hello, hello. Hey, Rick. Yeah, so it's good to have you. I hope it's been exciting to go through the process and have you here, and I hope it's been exciting for you and your family.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we've been welcomed. It's been a warm welcome. We're very, very excited to be a part of the Hope family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so, as you know, we have done these staff interviews with everyone on staff and we wanted to make sure we did one with you as well. So you know, we have some basic questions that we're going to ask about you, kind of get to know you, and then we have some fun lightning round at the end. So let's just start out right at the front. Why don't you give us a quick synopsis, your bio, where you're from? Quick life story yeah.
Speaker 3:I was born in Madison, new Jersey. My dad came from South Korea to study theology and.
Speaker 3:I was born here while he was getting his PhD, and we actually moved back to Korea when I was in the second grade when he finished his PhD, and so I lived in Korea for a couple years and then I came back from middle school, high school I've been here ever PhD, and so I lived in Korea for a couple of years and then I came back from middle school, high school I've been here ever since and so I am bilingual. I do speak both languages. Do not ask me to preach in Korean, because I cannot have a solid like seventh grade level Korean. I am married to my wife, julie, since 2012,. We have three young children Amy, adam and Renee. And where do you live? We live in.
Speaker 2:Marlton Right and that's where the new parsonage is in Marlton. That is correct. Yeah, and you know how did you and Julie meet?
Speaker 3:We met in college. We attended Rutgers University. Go Rutgers, my daughter goes there. Yeah, yeah, scarlet Knights. It was sophomore year in college. I was in a small group Bible study, hosted in our basement apartment, and it was all guys and one girl, and the girl, I guess, felt left out and so she brought her friend. No really.
Speaker 3:Her friend was Julie, and so Julie's first impression of me was in my pajamas in our smelly apartment. The thing that our small group did all the time was we went through crave cases, white Castle crave cases. I was probably on my 30th slider at that point, building up castles proudly with the paper cartons.
Speaker 1:That's when she walked in awe and she fell in love with me at first sight.
Speaker 3:No, that did not happen. We were friends all through college. I was friend-zoned, that is until senior year, when I finally convinced her to give me a shot.
Speaker 2: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 have told this story, but how did you um, how'd you come to hope? Uh, well, we, I know that that's a loaded question, that's a loaded question.
Speaker 3:So we first moved to Marlton in June of 2024, and we've been in part of the community ever since and there were some conversations of what if I would become the pastor at Hope.
Speaker 3:But nothing was set and we did not know. You've already heard the whole thing about the United Methodist process. But we said you know what, regardless of what happens, we know we want to be a part of a church 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 handling cameras, so I began serving with the media team. Julie has helped out with the food pantry. Our kids joined the kids' choir and we just integrated very quickly. We got to know people, we made friends. I feel like this is our church family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome, that's cool. So one of the questions we've been asking everyone and I'm looking forward to hear your response to this. So, what's a funny life moment? Maybe something that you know? It's one of those. Oh boy, this is an embarrassing moment for me. You're not going to believe what happened to me and I you know. It's a story you tell at a party.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:You got one of those kinds of stories.
Speaker 3:So from a scale of like haha, this is fun to like deeply embarrassing Like where, where are?
Speaker 2:we landing Wherever you're comfortable going.
Speaker 3:Well, what comes to mind is when I was my first ever sermon so I was a Sunday school pastor at Calvary Korean United Methodist Church in East Brunswick there were about, I want to say, 50 kids from first through sixth grade, and typically what happens in the Korean church is all the adults are in the main sanctuary having worship in Korean, and then the youth group, the kids, the college. They all have their separate little churches at the same time and it's in English. And so I had about 40, uh, 50 kids or so in front of me and I just started. I didn't, I wasn't even in seminary. I got, I got accepted to seminary. I was set to start in September and I'm here in August and they're like all right, go preach, right.
Speaker 3:So I've never done this ever before, right? I said, but I've seen it enough, I think I could do this, and so I will go up to this stage and, 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. I said, okay, great, so I go up there and I preach this heartfelt sermon about grace, about love, about forgiveness and how much Jesus loves you. I thought I did great and I looked at my watch when I was done. Four minutes had passed them. My watch when I was done, four minutes had passed and I looked at the Sunday school director, the volunteer director, who was sort of my helper, my partner in crime, and she was just like, shaking her head left and right, like, oh my goodness, just like had her hand on her forehead and the sixth graders who always sat in the far back all gave me a standing ovation and it was because it was the shortest sermon they ever heard.
Speaker 3:This is great Pastor James. We love this sermon and I was so embarrassed. Over time I learned to, I increased, I think, by a minute per week on average and eventually I was preaching 15-minute sermons. But I'll never forget that first 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 was not the quality but the quantity.
Speaker 2:I had a similar experience. Same thing happened to me. First time I ever preached a sermon I was invited to, and I said, yes, I had never done it. I was invited to go to a local United Methodist Church and the pastor was going to be away, and so 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 doing in your 20s, why not?
Speaker 3:Sure, why not?
Speaker 2:And so I showed up. I didn't ask any important questions like how long was I supposed to be or anything about the context of the church. Well, when I got there, it was Now this was in the 80s, and they had a TV ministry and they also had someone who spoke sign language, and so I didn't know either of those things. So I didn't know there'd be cameras on me and I didn't know that they would be.
Speaker 3:Translating.
Speaker 2:Translating into sign language. Yeah, I totally panicked and so my 20 minute sermon was five minutes long because I spoke as fast as I humanly could and my wife said that the person interpreting was moving their hands so quickly and at some point just went and put her shoulders up like I don't know what he said and put her shoulders up like I don't know what he said. And I looked in the back and the director who was producing was stretching their hands out trying to tell me to elongate because I finished and they still had time that they had to fill for the broadcast. Wow, and I just stood there and finally the person leading worship took over and kind of pushed me off to the side. They never invited me back. I'm kind of surprised.
Speaker 3:Sad to hear that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but yeah. So I think every pastor has that first sermon story.
Speaker 3:So what I'm hearing is, if we dig into the archives far enough, there is a video recording of your first ever sermon.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's in the 80s and it's on VHS.
Speaker 3:I'm thankful my first sermon was not recorded.
Speaker 2:That's funny, hey, james. So years have gone by since that first sermon, and so what do you love most about ministry life? Oh gosh.
Speaker 3:So the whole thing about ministry is to make disciples and I think Whenever I get asked that question, I think there's nothing better than when someone just gets it right. When you disciple someone, you share the gospel, you teach them all there is to know about Jesus and witnessing it land. When someone actually says oh, I do believe in Jesus, or that doesn't make sense. When the truth of the gospel truly becomes a part of someone's life, like there's nothing like that.
Speaker 1:That is the greatest most exciting thing in ministry.
Speaker 2:It just brings yeah that's why I get up in the morning.
Speaker 1:That's exactly it, that's it.
Speaker 2:And so what are you excited about? You know? So we're in this new era here at Hope and you being here as our new lead pastor. You know what are you excited about? What's most challenging? Maybe you know what are you excited about for the future? Whatever you want to talk about here, just tell us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I keep getting asked this question a lot and I think it's a very good question and I'm also somewhat hesitant to give like a very explicit answer. I believe that this is a season for me to listen and it's a season for me to learn and to get to know the culture and DNA of hope, so I don't want to jump to any conclusions say this is what we're going to do.
Speaker 3:That's what we're going to do. This is a season for me to to learn about hope, but I am really excited to get to know people. I'm really excited to get to know the culture more, and I think that goes hand in hand with the greatest challenge that I recognize is there is still a lot that I don't know, that I don't know. And so but I think that's all the more reason why I will be in a posture of listening and discernment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that leads us right into the rapid fire section here. So, uh, so I'm gonna ask some questions and I always say it's rapid fire, but Ashley knows that I always stop and talk about each one, but that's okay. Uh, so it's not going to be.
Speaker 3:I do have some time to think about it. It's not going to be as rapid fire as we'd like it to be, but let's say rapid fire. So ready your favorite pizza topping Pepperoni Pepperoni.
Speaker 2:And mushroom. Pepperoni and mushroom Pepperoni okay and I don't mind them together. All right, my family's sausage and mushroom, that's it.
Speaker 3:We mix that together, sausage was like my number one topping all through high school and for some reason, these days I'm just pepperoni.
Speaker 2:All right. Are you a morning person or an evening person?
Speaker 3: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 kids yeah and it started when I got married, because julie was a morning person, I was a night owl and we fought over that for years, and then I said okay, maybe I'll start waking up a little earlier. I was a creative so, and the creative juices would hit at 11 pm and then that's when I had the best video edits.
Speaker 3:But once you have kids, everything changes. I'm becoming like my dad I wake up very early now.
Speaker 2:That's funny. All right, so that means you drink coffee. That's my guess I do not drink coffee anymore, I quit coffee last year.
Speaker 3:Wow, and it wasn't really something I was planning to do, it just kind of happened.
Speaker 2:So what's your morning drink then?
Speaker 3:Tea.
Speaker 2:Oh, you drink tea, okay.
Speaker 3:Um, yeah, I. I love Earl gray, I love green tea. Uh, London fog is sort of my treat.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, all right, tea All right. Good, I didn't know that.
Speaker 3:So that's something I just. How about a show or a movie you watched recently? Just rewatched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless. Mind. Oh, okay, and it aged well, it's still a great movie. Yeah, okay, it was on the top of my list and it came up on Netflix or whatever.
Speaker 2: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 read recently?
Speaker 3:Read Circle of Hope by Eliza Griswold. Failure of Nerve by Edwin Friedman. What's that about? It's all about leadership. The basic premise is that what makes an effective leader is not knowing all the information. A lot of the assumptions of what makes a good leader is not necessarily true. What makes a great leader is having a strong sense of self-differentiation and having a strong nerve and being able to make decisions. Yeah, it's a great book. It's a great leadership book by Rabbi Edwin Friedman.
Speaker 1:It's a great book.
Speaker 3:It's a great leadership book by Rabbi Edwin Friedman and just started reading Anti-Fragile by Nicholas Taleb, which has been. I recommend that that's an interesting book too.
Speaker 2:All right, Tell me a little bit about that one.
Speaker 3:So the understanding is that many organizations or things that we put together or create are often fragile and we always try to think what is the opposite of fragile is, we think, resilience. But actually he says what does it mean to create a product, to create an organization that is anti-fragile? So, rather than being resistant to change or resistant to difficult situations, that actually, when there are difficult situations that actually thrives and multiplies.
Speaker 3:So it's this idea of what does anti-fragility mean? So the opposite of fragile is not resistant, but it's anti-fragile. So it's a great. It's not a Christian book, but it's a great organizational leadership book.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So we're going to talk more on this one, I'm sure. So local place to eat, favorite place to eat, favorite local place.
Speaker 3:I've been blown away by Sagami Japanese in Collingswood. It's hands down the best sushi I've ever had in my life, Wow, and so we had a little.
Speaker 2:The reason I wanted to talk about this is because we had a little pre-production meeting and I saw that in your notes and I love, love, love sushi. I think I could eat it every day and I've never been in this place, but it's that good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Years ago when I was up in uh, north Jersey my primary care doctor at the time he's Japanese and I just asked him what's the best sushi you've ever had and he named this place and I thought that's so weird. Not a place, I would think there's good sushi and I just tried it a few months ago. Finally, ever since I moved down here and wow, blown away. The atmosphere is perfect. The sushi is just second to none, yeah, and it's.
Speaker 2:It's an unassuming buildings. I looked at, I looked up on Google and it's just this little white building on the side of a fancy spot.
Speaker 3:I've? I've had like fancy Omakase, but I'm curious, if they offer omakase, I might try it out next time. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2: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 like we call this your elevator pitch.
Speaker 3:All right.
Speaker 2:So this is James Lee and you got 30 seconds on the elevator. Oh, so it's kind of like to Introduce yourself to somebody, Present myself, to promote myself in a way. Yeah, promote yourself yeah, Elevator pitch.
Speaker 3:I am a Korean-American pastor who loves to see people's lives changed for Jesus. My calling in life is to cultivate the divine spark in the people around me. Man that's really good.
Speaker 2:It's like wow, you didn't have that written down, you just came up with that For some 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 that you're going to be leading this congregation and, on behalf of the staff, we're just excited. We're looking forward to what's ahead. And so, james, thanks so much. It's been fun. And listeners, thank you as well, and I look forward to connecting with you again at future episodes. So have a great day.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope. If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand. You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at meethopechurch.