Megan and Me Both on Stage!

Hello, friends! 

First of all, there's a new episode of Story Central up right now! I interviewed my friend Phereak, who is the General Secretary of the IFES movement in Cambodia, SONOKO. It was so great to see him again and hear about all the great things taht God is doing in Cambodia. Check it out! 

This Sunday, we finished up our Beyond Colorblind series. These past weeks have been really good but a little bit exhausting. I had the pleasure(?) of sharing the final message of the series, focusing on restoration. 

BUT, even better, was the Megan was part of a panel of women leaders in the church, sharing about what they've learned about being a bridge in the world, in light of their ethnic identities. It was definitely a good one. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

It's been a tough week...

Hello, friends! 

A few months back, at the beginning of the pandemic, I wrote a post about how rhetoric around COVID increases the chance that my kids would be put in danger and how everyone needed to knock it off. Apparently, not enough people read this blog...

In the past year, reported assaults against the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community has gone up 150% in the United States. While a majority of those assaults have been verbal in nature, you also have had acts of physical violence, like the Thai man who was pushed to his death in February. The murder of 8 people, mostly Asian women, in Atlanta earlier this week is the latest example.

Honestly, right now there are so many layers and complexities when it comes to this latest crime. We could talk about toxic masculinity. We could talk about White Supremacy or stereotypes of Asian women. We could talk about unhealthy purity culture or White evangelicalism. We could talk about bias in policing or how White Supremacy shapes our reactions to these things. We could talk about how easy it is to get a firearm in the United States. There's plenty there.

But I don't want to talk about any of that. Not because those things aren't important (they are) but because those issues are the most important thing right now.

What is the most important thing right now? The most important thing right now is that these past few days, in the midst of a really bad week, I've seen God use community to help get me through. I've received messages from folk living all over the country, checking in to see how I'm doing. I've been able to process with the other Asian Americans in my staff team. I've had more than one person send me money so I could get something tasty to eat (since apparently, food is my love language). My heart is heavy but my heart is full.

Friends, if you have AAPI folk in your life, please reach out to them. If they're like me, they probably aren't done processing. They may not want to talk but they'll appreciate the check-in. To all my AAPI brothers and sisters out there, I see you. Take the time you need to process. You can message me if you want. Eat something delicious. We can get through this, together.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Preaching on Ethnic Brokenness

Hello, friends!

Like I say every week now, we have a new episode of Story Central! This week, I interviewed Rachel Moreno, who is a student at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. It was a really fun interview, learning about her studies and how she's seeing Jesus at work at UMKC. Go Roos! =0). 

I preached again on Sunday. This week, my sermon was on the brokenness we see in our ethnic identities. This was a much harder sermon to write than the one I preached a few weeks ago. There was a combination of a hard topic, sickness in the house, and definitely some spiritual warfare. Still, thankfully, things came together pretty well. My hope is that it blesses you to hear it. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

NOTE: If the video starts from the beginning, you can move ahead to the 1:07 mark to see the opening video or the 1:17 mark to hear me start to preach. I also think the end may have been cut off. Sorry about that!