PD Blog | October 2025
In my 38 years of ministry, I find myself at the pinnacle of serving God because everything seems to be lining up wonderfully. As I launch the Taking the Next Step sermon series for the next few months, I am getting more excited about what God is already doing in our ministry and what He is about to show us in the near future.
College Campus Visits
Some of you may know the history of why I began visiting college students at their schools but let me take this time to share it with those that may not know.
When I first came to our church back in 2000, I was hired as a youth pastor. Our youth ministry had a vibrant senior class that pretty much ran the youth program with so much energy and enthusiasm. Seeing that senior class leave for college was bittersweet. Among the senior class was Tom Yun that you see in this picture.
This class impacted our ministry so much that when they left, a gaping hole was felt during the Fall semester. That was when I reached out to them just to see how they were doing and that paved the way for most of them to return back to our church to serve when they were on break or just to worship with us on Sunday.
Full Circle
On Thursday September 25, I visited students at the University of Michigan and took some of them out for lunch at Tomukun restaurant. This restaurant and the Noodle Bar next door are owned by Tom Yun and seeing him after so many years made this college visit complete.
This year I will be visiting seven new colleges starting with Columbia University, Ohio State University, Wayne State University, University of Detroit Mercy, Michigan Tech, University of California Riverside and Irvine.
In 2025 we had twenty one who graduated from high school. Visiting them at their schools never gets old and this year I had the privilege of meeting many locally. The names in BOLD are our freshmen students.
Left to right: Oakland University (Joshua Manalisay, Donna Larson, David Kim)
Georgetown University (Paul Kang)
Left to right: Columbia University (Jeffrey Kim)
Pratt Institute (Sophia Chon)
Ohio State University (Cassidy Ha)
Michigan State University (Mina Nam, Abby Putsey, Rachel Kwon, Junee Kim and Andrew Park)
Michigan State University (Nathan Kim, Alex Choi, Chris Lee, Owen Lee, Tommy Kim)
Oakland University (Juhyeon Han) & University of Detroit Mercy (JiHoon Park)
University of Michigan (Jinny Kim, Sam Kim, Daniel Lee, Daniel Choi, Sean Park, Noah Yim, Yeriel Kim, Rachel Kim)
University of Michigan (Maddie Lee, Leah Jeon, Hyuno Kim, Haeun Kim, Joshua Kim, Haechan Chung, Jayden Choi)
University of Michigan (Katie You, Junha Park, Brian Kim)
College Campus Donations
I want to take this time to thank the following people who donated funds and gift cards to support all the campus visits: Mrs. Hae-Jung Chang, Mr. Young Jae Kim, Mrs. Soon-Bok Jo, Mrs. Young Kim, Joe and Hyun Ok Brocht, Steve and JJ Chang, Sue and John Lim. Special thanks to the KMCD kitchen staff who donated $1000.
