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! 

Collegiate Day of Prayer

Hello, friends!

First of all, we have a new episode of Story Central dropping tomorrow. If you haven't already checked it out, you should totally subscribe! This week, our episode is a panel discussion I moderated for our Corners '21 conference this past weekend. We also have a special surprise at the end of the episode!

Secondly, I'll be preaching again on Sunday. You can stream the service from our church website, Facebook, or YouTube. Hope to "see" you there! 

Speaking of preaching on Sunday. I've caught a cold. If you could be praying for healing but also clarity of mind as I prepare my sermon, it would be much appreciated. 

OK, now onto the good stuff. 

I'll admit that prayer isn't one of my strong suits. It's something that I do regularly but I can't say that I'm someone who goes to prayer first or that I'm someone who hears clearly from God on a regular basis. Still, as I've spent more and more time in this job, I've seen first hand the importance of prayer and the power of prayer. 

My absolute favorite story about prayer wasn't actually a prayer that I even prayed. When I was a Senior in college (#GoBears), I was at a Men's fellowship thing for ACF. There was a Freshman there and we got to talking. He talked about how he wasn't a Christian and I think he was actually an atheist. I challenged him to try praying and to see if God would actually answer his prayers. He jokingly said, "Oh, sure. What am I going to pray? 'God, please give me $100?'" It just so happened that I'd visited my aunt earlier in the day and she gave me $100 as some spending money. It was still in my shirt pocket. I pulled out the $100 and said, "You mean this $100?" That student didn't give his life to Jesus right then and then but he was mighty freaked out and that began a long journey towards Jesus for him. 

Why am I telling you this story? Because on Thursday is the Collegiate Day of Prayer. All over the country, people are going to be praying for college students and college campuses. This isn't an official InterVarsity thing but it is something where we're happy to partner. I've seen the power of prayer. My hope is that as we ask for more of God's goodness to go to every corner of every campus that we'll see that God is faithful and that he answers prayers. 

There's more information on the Collegiate Day of Prayer on their website. Whether you join in the events or just spend some time praying on your own on Thursday, thank you so much for praying for the campus. Here's to more miracles and more of God's goodness going to every corner of every campus. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

Preaching Beyond Colorblind

Hello, friends!

First of all, the newest episode of Story Central will be dropping tomorrow (Wednesday)! I interview Sunkist Judson, a graduate student at University of Nebraska-Lincoln who planted an ACF! It was great to hear about how God is working there. 

Second, I preached on Sunday! It was part of our church's "Beyond Colorblind" series. I felt pretty good about it. If you'd like to watch, here's the video:

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Making Lemonade (but not yellow snow...)

Hello, friends! 

First of all, a new episode of Story Central dropped yesterday. I interviewed Kathy Padilla, volunteer and IV alum living here in Omaha. It was a great interview and I hope you enjoy it! 

Second, I'll be preaching for my church, Bridge Omaha on Sunday @ 10am Central. If you'd like to see me preach, the service will be streamed live and the replay will be on demand on YouTube. Just search "Bridge Omaha" and you should find it. 

Third, HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR! 

Y'all, when we moved to Omaha 3 years ago, one of the things that was new for me was the weather. In many ways, the weather is very similar to what we left in CoMO. Temperatures have a tendency to fluctuate, and you're still dealing with snow, ice, rain, and tornados but not really concerned about wildfires or earthquakes. The biggest difference is that it's usually just about 5-7 degrees colder here than a big further south in CoMO, which means the biggest adjustment is that instead of dealing with ice, we have to deal with accumulation. 

When we were living in Missouri, if we got snow on the ground, it wouldn't last very long. A few days later it'd be a high of 37 and the snow would melt. Then, the overnight low would drop into the 20's and we'd wake up to ice everywhere. It was terrible. 

Up here, after a snow, there are more days when the the high will be 31 or 32, which is right at freezing, meaning the snow doesn't melt. On the plus side, this means no ice. On the down side, this means the snow doesn't leave until April. 

Now, if you had snow accumulating, and you knew it wasn't going anywhere for a while, what would you do? We all know the right answer. You'd build an igloo. 

These, are the igloos that are now in our yards. These first photos are from the front yard. I also build a bobsled ramp in another part of the yard, which is this video.

 In the back yard, I opted for building the bobsled ramp on the SIDE of the igloo, with hopes that eventually, I'll be able to whip the track around the playset to make a full loop. 

Megan likes to joke that she's not sure who has more fun with these, the kids or me. I absolutely know that I enjoy building these a ton, and I know the kids love playing in them, so I'm OK with the answer being a tie. At some point, the sun will stay out, the temps will stay up, and all this will go away. But for at least the next month or so, we're going to have some pretty great snow structures at our place. 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Beyond Colorblind...

Hello, friends! 

First of all, our latest episode of Story Central is live! I interview our Regional Director, Kathy Haug, about her staff experience and she shares about our upcoming conference, CORNERS21. I'd say it's not bad for a first episode! Please subscribe and share it with your friends!

I know I'm a few days late but Happy Black History month! As I've grown as a follower of Jesus, I've also become more immersed in issues of justice, equity, and racial reconciliation. Much of my learning has come through my wonderful Black friends who have called me out, educated me, walked with me, and shared their lives with me. I am truly indebted to them. 

One way that I've tried to live out the Gospel of reconciliation is through having the hard conversations. As an Asian American living in the Midwest, I've had to live in the tension of being neither Black nor White in a part of the country where most of the conversations around race, ethnicity, and justice are considered only in those terms. I had to have hard conversations with pastors, church leaders, and congregants, sometimes with really frustrating results. Still, it's something that I feel God has called me to do and it's a job I don't take lightly. 

When we first moved to Omaha and started going to our church, one of the things that was a blessing to us was the diversity of the church leadership team. This was also a church that talked about diversity as one of its strengths and a core value. It felt like this was a place where both Megan and I could thrive and engage in some of the hard conversations, while also learning. As we continued to attend Bridge and we saw our church really try to take on issues of racial justice and reconciliation, we looked for ways to help. 

A few months ago, I had the honor of leading the staff team through Beyond Colorblind, which was a 4 week small group series that explores our ethnic identity journeys. Apparently, it had a lot of impact on the staff team because they decided that the sermon series leading up to Easter is going to be based on Beyond Colorblind! I've been working really hard with the staff team to make sure that the material is relevant and accessible to the church. I'm really excited about it and even get to preach a little! 

So, friends, if you're the praying type, please be praying for us. Pray that God will move in our congregation as we explore our ethnic identities. Pray for the leadership as they lead the church through some potentially hard conversations. Pray for me as I prepare to preach (I'll be preaching February 14 and 28 but you can stream all services on the Bridge website). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam