Please share how you came to follow Christ.

I remember first hearing the gospel when I was six years old. I remember it like it was yesterday. As my mother was putting me to bed, she told me that I was sinner, but that Jesus could forgive me of my sin if I called out to him as Lord. And in doing so, I could be restored to God because of what Christ had done on the cross, dying for the sins of his people as a substitute. Thank God for my mother who evangelized me! Though that was the first time I remember hearing the gospel, I didn't repent of my sins and follow Jesus as Lord and Savior until I was around 15 years old. Thank God, that now almost 30 years later, I am more amazed at God's kindness, love and mercy in Christ, than when I first turned to him as Lord.  Praise God for his saving and sustaining grace. 

How did you meet your wife? Please introduce the rest of your family.

My first memory of Melanie is when she was 6 years old (I was 9)! We grew up together at a Chinese Baptist Church in Orange County, CA, and her older brother was one of my best friends. When I was in my mid 20's, our paths crossed where we actually got to know each other as friends (up until then, she was always "my friend's younger sister"). During that summer, I concluded that if everything I thought I knew about her was true (that she lived for Christ, was joyful, sweet, and loving, and she was interested in missions, and other things), I would be blessed to have her as my wife. So one day, I called her and asked her out on a lunch date. We've been married now for almost two decades. :) We have four children—two in high school and two in grade school. 

Please share your prior experience as a pastor. 

- Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Hacienda Heights

- Associate Pastor at United Christian Church of Dubai, United Arab Emirates

- Lay Elder and Pastoral Assistant, Third Avenue Baptist Church, Louisville Kentucky

- Pastoral Assistant, Capitol HIll Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.

How did you come to Evergreen? How has your time at the church been so far?

I met Rocky sometime in 2019 and we developed a friendship given our like-mindedness in Christ. Eventually, I went through some health issues and decided I'd be better off in a support role as opposed to a lead senior pastor role. Now here I am at Evergreen, by the sovereign providence of God! 

Getting to know the church, and getting to support Rocky has been great. I've been encouraged in getting to know folks (in various settings like the ACE classes, the Young Adult settings, and in regular conversations), to hear what's on people's minds and hearts. It's awesome to see people hungry for the Lord. 

What will you be doing as a pastor at Evergreen?

My title is Pastor of Discipleship and Pastor of Young Adults. I have the opportunity of encouraging/helping EBCSGV grow in our discipleship to Christ, focusing on people and processes from a "30,000 foot view." As the Young Adult Pastor, I'll be doing the same, but from a "street-level" view, as I'll be with them weekly. I look forward to studying the Word with EBCSGV as a whole, and the Young Adults more specifically. 

What are some of your hopes for Evergreen?

So much could be said. To summarize, my hope is what Jesus desires of all his people: that the church would grow in knowing God's love in Christ according to His Word, and be transformed by His Spirit, in order to display God's glory all the more to the watching world according to his will. 

How can the church pray for you and your family?

Please pray for our transition to our new church. :) 

by Pastor Victor Chen

There is an interesting passage in the Bible that I never quite understood. It was only recently when searching for a passage that about “reopening” church that I finally discovered its significance:

And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3:11–13 ESV)

The people of Israel were allowed to return from exile to rebuild the temple of the Lord. This passage describes the dedication of the foundation of the temple being rebuilt and there was great excitement and joy as a result.

But there was also great sorrow and weeping. Why? The “old men” who had seen the original temple in all its glory wept that things had come to this point. Rejoicing over a foundation? They longed for “how things were”.

And so here in this dedication is a great mixture of emotion, literally shouting and weeping, joy and sorrow, hope and mourning.

As our church reopened many of our ministries, I saw this same mix of emotions.

For those who had grown weary of staying at home and being apart, we were just happy to be together, learning together, fellowshipping with one another and worshipping the Lord together. “Look at what the Lord is doing!”

For those who had been part of the church when it was bustling and full of life pre-COVID, it was sad to see that things had changed so dramatically. ”Can’t we go back to how things were?”

So who’s right? What do we do with these two contrasting attitudes and perspectives?

I don’t think we can completely dismiss the experiences of those who enjoyed our church in previous times. We are always encouraged to look back and remember God’s goodness towards us.

However, I don’t think we can stay in the past and be overly critical of how things are now. Things may never be the same again and dwelling on “how things were” will not help us in moving on.

I found the words of the Lord in Haggai particularly insightful in how to proceed as a church. These words come shortly after the aforementioned passage in Ezra in the biblical timeline of rebuilding the temple. Note, the physical temple never reached its former glory. In fact, it was later destroyed and remains absent today.

The Lord here is pointing to something (or someone!) greater, and that is where I believe the Lord wants us to focus on.

 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt.

My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts.

The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.’” (Haggai 2:3–9 ESV)

by Pastor Victor Chen

As we enter the new year, it is always helpful to look back and reflect on the significant moments of this past year. For our church reopening this past year, there were many significant milestones to reflect upon.

Reopening Indoors 5/2/21
“Actually, it was my first time worshipping inside with the church family. It was a great blessing to finally worship together in the sanctuary. I saw the importance of corporate worship and Colossians 3:16 lived out. Corporate worship is special. I was so excited that I recorded us praising the Lord together!” -Pastor Mako Seto

“Finally. Thank you Jesus. This was a beginning and a return to a new normal. I prayed this would be an acceptance of a new normal way of life.” -Pastor Kenny Wada

Reopening In-person Youth Group April 2021

“There was an excitement of students and staff seeing each other face to face. Singing corporately was a joy. It brought a lot of hope for future youth meetings.” -Pastor Paul Moy

Relaunching In-person Adult Church School (ACE)

"It was a joy to see members of our church pursuing growth in the Lord through ACE. My hope was that all who came would find encouragement in their relationship with God and in their life of faith.” -Pastor Terry Gee

While the Zoom class last year afforded opportunities for some to attend who otherwise would not have been able to, there is definitely a sense of connection and excitement to be back in-person again with a room full of people desiring to learn and grow together. I most appreciate and enjoy seeing multiple little conversations, laughter, or prayer happening between various class members before and after the ACE class (which cannot happen as easily with the limitations of Zoom). -Pastor Dan Christian

Relaunching In-person Church School

"What a blessing it has been to see the students return to Church School in-person. The past three months have been filled with excitement, eagerness and encouragement. Sunday mornings have been filled with excitement as students are so happy to see their friends, while the CS teachers get to greet the students in-person after over a year of Zoom classes! The students and teachers are so eager to learn and teach God’s Word, as well as pray for one another. It has also been a time of mutual encouragement as we worship the Lord together in the MPR and share in small groups in the classroom. We have experienced God’s faithfulness and goodness together, as He cares for Church School at Evergreen." -Terri Wong, Church School Superintendent

"As I reflect back on our reopening, I feel so humbled by His goodness. It is such a joy to interact with the children, watch them play, and hear their sweet voices laughing and singing again! It has been wonderful to reconnect with families and welcome new friends as well! I'm so grateful for our entire Church School team, and for our supportive CS families! As we prepared for reopening, we were excited and hopeful. But many of us also had concerns as we navigated uncharted waters in an ongoing pandemic. Through it all, God has shown so much mercy, and continues to prove Himself loving and faithful beyond measure! It is all truly by His grace!" -Debra Ton, Children’s Ministry Associate

I hope these brief reflections remind us of God’s goodness to our church and help bolster our hope in the Lord as we enter the new year. To God be the Glory!

by Pastor Victor Chen

When talking with children about Christmas, we can face a theological dilemma.

We can liken Christmas to Jesus’ birthday in our efforts to explain the significance of Christmas to children. And though it is true that Jesus was born into this world on Christmas (the exact day likely unknown), we see in John 1 that Jesus was there from the beginning with God because He was God.

What can follow then is a endless discussion with a child navigating the difficult theological topics of the trinity, incarnation and the eternal nature of the Lord:

“I thought Jesus was born on Christmas. It’s His birthday, right?”

“Well, yes. Jesus was born on Christmas into this world. But Jesus was there from the beginning. He always existed because He is God.”

“Wait. I thought God sent Jesus on Christmas.”

“He did. God the Father sent Jesus, God the Son, on Christmas.”

“Wait. How come Jesus is a baby when He has been there from the beginning of time?”

And on and on the discussion can go with “why?” interspersed every other second.

To help children (and adults) avoid theological confusion and better understand the significance of Christmas, we can begin moving away from saying that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday and start saying that Christmas is when Jesus, God the Son, came.

We can then go on to share why Jesus came.

On Christmas, God the Father sent Jesus, God the Son, into the world to rescue us from our sin. Jesus did this by taking our place, the punishment for our sin, at the cross. There, Jesus endured the wrath of God the Father for our sin and died as an offering for our sin. God the Father raised Jesus, God the Son, from the grave and as a result, we have new life with God the Father in Jesus.

On Christmas, Jesus came. He came to live in this world, but ultimately to die in our place.

On Christmas, Jesus came to die.

And if Jesus came on Christmas, He will come again.

Jesus will come again to make all things right and make all things new.

We know this for sure, because on Christmas, Jesus came.

So we celebrate Christmas because we celebrate that Jesus came to rescue us.

And we celebrate Christmas to remind each other that because Jesus came, He will come again.

“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)

by Sandra

Hi, my name is Sandra.

I am a mother of two children. One is 14 years old and her name is Joanne. She is a freshman in High School who loves boba milk tea and is an awesome older sister to her brother. The other is Nathan, who is 11 years old and a 5th grader who loves connecting with people, has a great sense of humor and loves Legos. They complete our family of four and we love exploring life together.

Let me introduce ourselves. This is my husband, Johnson, myself, Joanne and Nathan.

Our youngest, Nathan, happens to have a disability. We received a prenatal diagnosis that he was going to be born with Down syndrome, a genetic condition characterized by full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21. Down syndrome is the most common genetic condition. It affects all races, religions and economic backgrounds. Trisomy 21 causes developmental and intellectual delays.

It was an unexpected revelation to us. We came to embrace it after the natural initial shock, which came because we didn’t know anything about Down syndrome and what the future would look like for our son.

We reflected on these Bible verse many times after receiving his diagnosis:

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praised you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:13-14

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

With that in our hearts, we took a leap of faith to create a vision full of possibilities for our son.

Over the years, we’ve learned that we could and should have hopes and dreams for both of our children. The support in place might look a bit different, but don’t they all look different for all of our kids?

For Nathan, what can look different is the fact that things take more time, effort and practice for him to learn, and support might be needed until he feels more confident and independent with the skills he acquires.

Our parenting is not about performance or something to brag about, but about a shift in mindset so that we can renew our expectations, find opportunities and provide Nathan risks for him to attempt with dignity. The result is a change in the perspective of what can be.

With all our hopes and dreams, we could absolutely not surpass the biggest hope and dream of all, which is to see Nathan to learn and grow in his love for God, and for him to understand the meaning of communion, the broken body of Christ and the blood Christ shed for us.

So our discipleship for Nathan is for him to learn about God’s Grace and God’s love, for Nathan to know that God loves him so much and has a special plan and purpose for his life. We have faith that one day, he too will desire to ask Jesus into his life, to be his Lord and Savior and to be baptized.

I have to humbly acknowledge that we cannot do this alone. Thank you Church School and Staff for shepherding Nathan.

One way you can help us in our discipleship of Nathan, is to feel comfortable around him, get to know him, pray for him, mentor him and see him as a part of the body of Christ.

Here is a video that captures a vision for what discipleship in our church can look like in this young man’s testimony and baptism. His name is Ryan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocIwGXf2L80