By David Winfrey

Fullerton—Song Sik Kim did not want to be a pastor.

The son of Christian parents who immigrated to America when he was 18, Kim was happy to be a committed follower of Jesus.

But the pastorate was another story. In high school, his mother revealed to him that, as her firstborn, she had dedicated him to God, which to Kim meant becoming a pastor. He had other plans.

“I wanted to be a teacher,” he said. Teachers worked regular hours, made a decent wage and didn’t work weekends, he noted. 

“In Korean culture in the 60s and 70s, Korean pastors have to do a lot of work … and their incomes are really low,” he added. “That was too much work, so I said I didn’t want it.”

But eventually, he became burdened that God was calling him into the pastorate. 

 “When I was 25 years old, it was so clear to me that God had called me to be His servant. And so I just committed my life and went to seminary.”

A graduate of California Baptist University and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Kim started Fullerton Korean Baptist Church in 1987.

For the past 13 years, he has recruited others to fill the job he initially didn’t want. Today, he serves California Baptists as a church starting strategist, working to make their jobs a little less burdensome. “My primary job is helping church planters to start, and I bring all the resources to them.”

One resource that remains difficult to procure is meeting space. In 1987, Kim asked the only Southern Baptist church in the area three times to use their facility. He was rejected each time.

Finally, he attended Wednesday night prayer meetings at the church, asking members to pray for his congregation to meet in their facility. Eventually members agreed.

With 210 Korean Baptist churches in California, the Golden State has a quarter of the 850 Korean Baptist churches in the United States. California has an estimated 1 million Koreans, Kim said. Most California Korean Baptist congregations are in the Los Angeles, Orange County and San Jose areas, he noted.

For the last 13 years, under his leadership, the average number of Korean Baptist church starts has grown from about five per year to 10 per year, Kim said.

Korean church starts often face more challenges than Anglo starts. Kim said that while many Anglo churches expect to draw most members from a five-mile radius around the church building, Korean Baptists often drive as much as 30 minutes or more to go to church.

Because of lower incomes, Koreans congregations often take longer to become self-sufficient than their Anglo counterparts, he added. While the goal is to become independent in three years, it regularly takes five years or more, Kim said.

He requested prayer for the families of church starters. He said they often face both spiritual and financial challenges. Personally, he requested prayer for his safety because of the many miles he travels each year.

A resident of Orange County, Kim spends approximately a third of his time traveling. He also teaches for the Contextualized Leadership Development program at Golden Gate Seminary. Teaching there helps him recruit students as church starters.

Kim hopes to recruit more pastors like Tae K Shin, who started a house church in San Ramon in February.

“He keeps looking for the worship place, but it’s hard to find it,” Kim said. Undeterred by the lack of a formal meeting place, Shin began visiting a Korean Bible study at Stanford University in order to meet more Korean students.

“He just started in February, but he baptized three people in April, Easter Sunday,” Kim said. “He has a lot of potential to grow that church. … He has the heart to reach out to Stanford too. He needs prayer to find a worship place.”

Because California Southern Baptists pray for and give to the California Mission Offering Kim is helping start new Korean congregations to demonstrate “Love With Action.”

To view a short video of Song, click here. Click here to view the video in Korean.