by Sam | Feb 19, 2015 | Frontier
I am so excited to announce that in 2015, we are growing our team! This year we have 2 interns joining Pursuit NYC for this exciting season. In this special FRONTIER feature, we are highlighting Koob Vang and Samuel Cho. They are both hungry for God, and I am honored to call them friends. — 1) Tell us about yourself. SC: Hello, I am Samuel Cho. As you saw me on Pursuit’s social media I joined Pursuit NYC and I am so pumped about it! I am from Korea (Born and Raised) and I came here to the US in the Fall of 2012. I am studying to get M.Div in ATS, and now I only have two semesters left (WOOT WOOT) And after school I will be going back to Korea and will a start ministry there. And who knows? I will be starting Pursuit Korea! (Haha) KV: Hey everyone! My name is Koob Vang. East coast folks usually mistake me first as Korean then Chinese afterwards. My ethnicity is Hmong… (Yes, from Grand Torino) and I grew up mostly in the Mid-West (On Wisconsin!)… and a little in Lancaster, PA. I did my undergrad at Crown College, which is right outside of Minneapolis and after college, I lived in Omaha, NE for a couple of years interning at a church. Afterwards God led me out here to NY to pursue my M.Div degree at ATS. 2) What made you want to intern with Pursuit NYC? SC: I decided to work with Pursuit because first, I liked the name (haha). Pursuit NYC, this name can’t get any cooler. And...
by Sam | Feb 5, 2015 | Reflection
“The most humbling thing one can do is to look upon how Jesus responded to suffering and mistreatment. His whole life was ordered around the attribute of meekness. It was his greatest pursuit. From the moment He was born the Father was contemplating His own humility in the person of His Son. Love would be openly displayed as Jesus went lower and lower. Anyone who truly looks upon the man Christ Jesus and His meekness will be left staring at the great mystery. How can One so strong be so tender as He stoops so low? Looking upon Jesus is the great sanctifier to areas of pride and anger in the human heart.” – Allen Hood, the Associate Director of IHOPKC “Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness”. I remembering first seeing this phrase several years ago. I think I saw it on Xanga (wow…)! Anyways, there’s something about this phrase that resonates with me though and has stuck ever since. Maybe it’s because I am allergic to weakness, or rather being seen or thought of as weak. The last thing I want is for someone to think I am weak. Isn’t that why we hide so well? Hide behind our accomplishments or by bragging about who we know or even by emotionally checking out… Isn’t that why when someone hurts us, we hurt them back? We cut them deeper. Hurt them where they’re most vulnerable. Because even if I am weak, at least I am not as weak as you. I may bleed, but the wound I left you is a fatal blow. All because we just don’t want anything to do...
by Sam | Jan 29, 2015 | Events, Reflection, Testimony
In the last few years, God had given me promises about raising up a generation of sons and daughters. Men and women who understood that they were the children of the Most High. At the time I had no idea how such a vast promise could ever come to pass. Yet our first conference ever, “Living as the Beloved Son”, was a glimpse into exactly that. Words can’t describe how privileged and humbled I am to see His words unfolding and being fulfilled right before my eyes… Wow! I am in complete awe of what God is doing through a ministry like this. I was even wrecked that even one person would come! I‘ve been to packed out conferences as well as decked out conferences, this wasn’t one of them. Yet God came and did what He does best, which was fathering and loving His sons. How sweet it was to see Him show up and be Father – encountering lives, filling broken places, and ultimately bringing life change. It was surely a weekend to remember, celebrate, and build upon. Check out this video that captured a look at our Young Men’s Conference. — Here are also some testimonies from both those who ministered and attended… “It was a privilege to partner with Sam and Jesus to invest in the next generation of Christian men. From the time of worship, talks, seminar, and to the Blessing Ceremony, God moved powerfully. I truly believe greater things are yet to come through Pursuit NYC!” – Danny Cheong “I was invited to the Pursuit NYC conference to be part of the ministry team, but I ended up...
by Sam | Jan 13, 2015 | Frontier
Even before I met Janet and Jay, I was always blessed by their worship and ministry. I finally had the opportunity to meet them just over a year ago at a youth retreat. They were invited to lead worship and I was invited to preach. So finally we got the chance to formerly meet as well as minister together. Immediately, we were in sync. Ever since then, a friendship and Kingdom partnership were born. I’m privileged to have work with multiple times, but what blesses me the most is that I get to call them my friends. Check out this recent interview with this anointed couple! — Share with us who you are and what you do. Janet and I have been married two and a half years. We currently serve as worship leaders for our church and are vocalists/songwriters for our band, “Currency Red.” Four months ago, we came to Seoul, Korea to lead worship, serve a church plant and a music label that focuses on reaching the 1040 Window. We didn’t plan on a permanent move just yet. We desired a better understanding of the needs of this ministry as well as verify our ability and conviction to effectively minister to this church. After carefully surveying and through much prayer, we were convicted to stay and do God’s work here. We often long for home and our church in NJ that has become our family but as with any mission given by the Lord, we are ready to serve whole-heartedly and lay down our life for this ministry until God gives us a sure conviction that our mission is complete. What are...
by Sam | Jan 5, 2015 | Guest Blogger, Inspiration, Reflection
This year is looking full already… more speaking engagements and seminars… lots more personal as well as professional challenges and areas of growth that already stretch into December. It’s exciting for sure, but I can also feel myself almost (almost) going to that place of feeling overwhelmed, mostly because I don’t want to fall into the “busy” trap. Been there. Done that. And it was really. Ugly. In fact, the word actually causes me to have a visceral, physical reaction that makes me cringe and grit my teeth. And I’ve resolved that when someone asks me how I’ve been, to not answer “busy.” Let me explain… “Busy” took a toll on me physically, emotionally, spiritually & mentally. It took the last half of 2014 to just BEGIN to undo the gordian knot of at least 6 years worth of just being “busy” all the time. 6 years ago was when I had begun my MA in Marriage and Family Therapy. We were also two years into developing our church plant and I had given birth to our second daughter somewhere in the midst of all that. (Ironically, these years were also one of the most self-reflective and life changing years of my life) BUT… Busy became my “thing” and I had happily embraced it in the beginning because if I’m honest, it made me feel important. I wore it like a badge and it was how I derived a big sense of my identity: Busy with school, busy with work, busy being a wife, a mom to two young children, a church planter’s wife, a therapist… busy meeting with...
by Sam | Dec 24, 2014 | Reflection
Can you believe that 2014 is already coming to an end? Time flies when you’re having fun! This was our first year in existence, and what a year it was. It was truly a year to remember filled with dreams, risks, lessons learned, and excitement for what’s ahead. Without further ado, here’s a recap of some of the highlights from the last 12 months… Worship Gatherings Throughout the year, we had multiple worship gatherings throughout NYC and NJ. We also partnered with various ministries and churches to come together for one purpose, and that was to seek God. Every time we came together, God showed up in powerful ways. It was a tremendous blessing to connect with so many like-minded brothers and sisters through these gatherings. Take a look to see what our gatherings were like here. Blog In 2014 we started a blog to share what God has been doing in our ministry and our lives. We also started a new feature called “FRONTIER”, which highlighted men and women who were taking the Kingdom of God into new frontiers. You can read all of our blog posts here. Podcast This year we started our very own podcast called PURSUITCAST. It started as a way to encourage people and stir their hearts for revival. We have sermon clips as well as interviews with leaders from all over the country. It was a tremendous privilege to sit down with such anointed men and women of God. You can catch all of our podcasts here. Pursuit Apparel One of our passions at Pursuit is to take the Kingdom to all realms and spheres, including fashion. This...
by Sam | Dec 1, 2014 | Reflection
How do we know who we really are without validation? It’s normal for humans to want, to seek, and to need validation. For men we want our identity, our strength, our worth, and our masculinity validated. To know we have something to offer. That we are valuable. That we are indeed men. Yet so often what happens is that we take these questions and longings of our heart and soul to the opposite sex. Like Adam, we look to Eve to offer us validation. So we go to her with our questions in one hand and our hearts in the other. We bring our woundedness to her hoping she can be our source of healing. She might bring relief, but what we desperately long for is healing. A band-aid does not help a deep wound. When we give someone the power to validate us, we also give them the power to invalidate us as well. Tragically what ends up happening is that she is not enough, because she was never meant to be our source. So both men and women are hurt in the process… We need a new source. A bigger source. An unchanging source for our validation. Otherwise we end up going to women in weakness hoping she can validate us rather than going to her in strength with our validation already secure. Ultimately God alone is big enough and secure enough to validate us. A son looks to his father to know who he is and to answer his questions about himself and his own heart. We have a loving God that desires to father us in...
by Sam | Nov 27, 2014 | Reflection
Happy Thanksgiving! We are so extremely blessed. We are thankful for a faithful God who always keeps His promises. A God who invites us into intimacy and partnership for His glory. We are thankful for this region! We are so thankful for those who have gone before us & for those who have contended to see revival with tears & sacrifice. Those who sought God in the secret place on behalf of generations not yet born. We stand on your shoulders. We are thankful for the harvest that is to come! For neighborhoods & cities mirroring heaven on earth. Last but not least, we are thankful for all the love & encouragement from our families, friends, Kingdom partners, & supporters! Thanks for believing with us. The best is yet to come! Revival or...
by Sam | Nov 12, 2014 | Reflection
I remember the day quite clearly… It was your usual summer day in August, and I needed a caffeine pick-me-up. So I did what I normally do, and drove to my local Starbucks. Yet when I walked in I was utterly in disbelief that they had already started to sell their beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte. Now don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of PSL, but when it actually is autumn and a little cold outside, not when I am wearing shorts and flip flops. Even more recently on the first day of November, I saw that Starbucks had immediately started to push the Holidays. Red cups, holiday drinks, and trinkets galore. It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but I feel like I need to start thinking about Christmas right now or I’m missing out. That somehow I need to get a head start and reach for things out of season. And that’s what I believe is the “Starbucks Syndrome”… We want what we want now or else. It’s my right to have what I want now. Quicker the better. Rest assure, I have nothing against Starbucks or any other businesses, but I feel like it hurts us when we apply the same mentality to faith. We either try to strive and reach for something out of season or we feel bitter when something doesn’t happen because we feel entitled. Whether it’s a new job, a promotion, a relationship, or even a promise from God, we feel as though we are owed it by God, and we deserve it right now. I believe wholeheartedly that God can act...
by Sam | Oct 28, 2014 | Frontier
*** Due to the sensitivity & nature of the work, this missionary’s name, location, and other information have been left anonymous. *** Share with us who you are and what you do. I am an Asian-American New Yorker who had been living a totally normal life until I got called into missions 3 years ago. I had just started working as a Physician Assistant when God put on my heart to do a Discipleship Training School in Tanzania with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). Since then, He’s continued to bring me strategically all around the world to 6 countries and 3 continents. I’m serving with YWAM full-time in Asia, discipling local believers, working with the underground house church, and doing ministry in my city. God is currently leading me in pioneering a healthcare training school here that will equip missionaries with basic healthcare and community development principles to be released into the nations. How did you get that point, and what is it like? To be honest, when I went schlepping off to Africa for my DTS almost 3 years ago, I had no clue what I was in for – maybe I would play with some kids, hold a couple of medical clinics, do a couple of dramas that talk about Jesus, you know. I wasn’t prepared for full-on spiritual warfare, demons and witch doctors, a near breakout of civil war, being immobilized by typhoid fever and malaria – as well as encountering the daily warfare of cross-cultural adjustment (“What do you mean you don’t know how to chop your own firewood, build a fire and cook dinner for 20?!”). I...
