Ignite 08

Speakers | 설교자

: Main Speaker
Dr. Min J. Chung

Senior Pastor of
Covenant Fellowship Church
Dr. Min J. Chung is the founding and senior pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church, an interdenominational, multi-ethnic ministry located on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He planted Covenant Fellowship Church in 1991 with a vision to produce kingdom workers. Along with his pastoral duties, Dr. Chung is a board member of Serving in Mission (SIM), Global Partners (GP), KIMNET, and Biblical Theological Seminary. He is also an adjunct professor at Urbana Theological Seminary. He received his Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, and Doctorate of Ministry degrees from Biblical Theological Seminary. He currently resides in Urbana, IL with his wife, Gee, and five children, Joshua, Daniel, Ruth, Hannah, and Sarah.
Dr. Min J. Chung은 다교단, 다국적이고 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 내에 위치하고 있는 Covenant Fellowship Church의 창립 및 담임목사이다. 1991년도에 그는 하나님 나라를 위한 일꾼들을 양륙하는 비젼을 갖고 Covenant Fellowship Church를 시작했다. Dr. Chung은 목회 외에 Serving in Mission (SIM), Global Partners (GP), KIMNET과 Biblical Theological Seminary에서 위원으로 섬기고 있다. 또한 그는 Urbana Theological Seminary의 부속 교수로 활동하고 있다. 그는 신학 석사, 석사 및 박사 학위를 Biblical Theological Seminary에서 받았다. 그는 현재 그의 아내 Gee와 5 자녀 Joshua, Daniel, Ruth, Hannah, Sarah와 Urbana에 거주하고 있다.
INTERVIEW WITH PASTOR MIN

Who did you look up to growing up?

I’m not sure if I had a particular role model, but my school teachers were important to me. I remember all of their names, what they said, how they acted, and especially the things they had spoken to me. Some of the pastors that I’ve had, like revival speakers, meant a lot to me because I never had a personal discipler. I barely had youth groups I attended, so what I observed from afar was important to me. Some of the people I read from books. For some reason, I read biographies when I was younger. Famous people, presidents, rulers, and the different kinds of people that I read about in biographies were important to me, but I never had a close personal discipler that I looked up to. 
Was there any particular biography that stood out more than the others?
I remember reading about Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Gandhi. 

How did you become a Christian?

When I was in first grade, someone asked me to go to church. I didn’t know what church was so I asked my mom, who was a believer in her high school years but who married a non-Christian, my father, and fell away. But she had a Christian background, so when I asked her if I could go to church because my friend asked me, my mom said it would be good for me to go to church. That’s when my brother, my mom, and I started to go to different churches. I walked into the sanctuary of a big Sunday school, maybe 300 people or so, singing, “Jesus Loves Me This I Know” in Korea. When they were singing that, something hit me. I never knew who Jesus was, but I felt that some kind of being was present at that place. It left a memory in my heart. I think that’s when I started to believe in the existence of God. From there on, I always went to Sunday school, even on my own. I always went every Sunday until I came to America when I was twelve years old. I remember the youth group I went to; a Reverend Hong, who at the time was a deacon, taught a small Bible study with less than ten people. He challenged people whether they would accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord. And that’s the day I raised my hand’ January 5, 1977, at about 3 in the afternoon. That’s when I raised my hand to trust in Christ. I think I already believed. That’s when I had the assurance of salvation because he explained it to me.
I didn’t really live a Christian life because nobody taught me the Bible, the Scripture. Nobody taught me to live a Christian life until I came to college. Between twelve and eighteen years of age, I had almost zero spiritual feeding. There was a time when I was in New York, between ninth and tenth grade, when I received tremendous blessings because that’s when Korean adults had revival meetings all over the place all the time. I went to those revival meetings, where I was tremendously challenged and blessed. But I really didn’t have any consistent discipleship or teachings of the Scripture. I don’t think I ever heard an expository sermon until I went to seminary. Up until that time, nobody had really taught me to make Scripture a part of life.

When did you have your first crush?

I think I was maybe five or six (laughs), just a neighborhood girl in Korea. She had a runny nose. That’s all I really remember.
What is your biggest regret during your college years?
I think I could have studied more. Nobody taught me that as a student, studying was my obligation. I thought it was something that I needed to sacrifice because I was a Christian and I had to do ministry. I realized all those things were a part of ministry. The knowledge I would have gained through my studies would help me even now. But I did not study more and develop the study habits or character that I needed in seminary and in ministry.
Another regret is just not reading the Bible more. I did a lot of ministry, studied to teach, but not enough reading and meditating on my own, which would have tremendously helped me. I think college days are the days when we can really make time for ourselves. It just gets busier. I wish I just read the Bible more, maybe a hundred times more, which would help me have a better grasp at what I’m teaching.

How did people see you in high school?

I was in a dilemma because I was in the high academic classes, so in some sense I was a geek. But I was also a soccer player so some people saw me as a jock. I also couldn’t speak English that well (laughs). There was nobody really to give me information. I had a lot of American friends, but when I spoke too much they would laugh, so I kind of became an introvert. So I was in school, studying, playing soccer but not speaking too much. So I wasn’t really myself. In the yearbook, I was nominated as being the “spaciest.” I kind of acted like that to be funny, because that was the stereotype of Asians at that time.

So how did you see yourself at this time?

I think I always wanted to be approved by people. I wanted to be popular. I wanted to be known, to be affirmed, and to be acknowledged. But I didn’t really receive much of that because I didn’t really even know who I was. So I always felt dissatisfied. I always did my best to be liked and respected by people, but I wasn’t attaining that so I was always dissatisfied, it seems.

What colleges did you apply to?

I think I had three choices. Knox College because I was thinking pre-med, and they were offering a soccer scholarship. I didn’t apply for it but their coach wanted to recruit me there. Another choice was General Motors Institution, an engineering school. They also called me because they needed more Asians.
The third was U of I. I think the biggest influencing factor that made me come to U of I was my laziness; the application was the easiest thing (laughs). So when I look back, I didn’t have many reasons to come to U of I. It was my last choice. I didn’t even know anything about the school. I just came. I see the sovereign hand of God leading me to be here. If I didn’t come here, there would have been no “Alpha Omega” band. I don’t know what I would have become or done in my life.

What did you major in?

Bio/pre-med. I really liked and enjoyed biology in high school. So I thought maybe I’d serve God through being a doctor.
Did you ever have any rebellious years?
I’m not sure if I was ever rebellious in terms of my Christian life, but in my high school years when I was growing up, I wanted to go out so much and my father told me that my curfew was at five. I guess I kind of rebelled and came back later than I should have. There were a lot of arguments, power struggles, during my junior year in high school.
In my Christian life, my freshman year in college I went to a lot of parties and things like that. Nobody told me it was wrong. I guess I never had any terrible times of rebellion except in those times.
What kind of friends did you have in high school?
All the guys in my calculus class. A bunch of guys on the math team. They were my friends, as well as some of the guys on the sports teams. I was close with them too. Then there were other guys— total geeks, nerds, outcasts— I was close with them too. I went to Conant High School in Hoffman Estates. The Cougars! Most of my friends were Caucasians, believe it or not (laughs).

Favorite verses?

Lamentations 3:22-23. How his steadfast love, which is not the mushy kind of feeling, but the power that comes from the Lord, is fresh and new every morning. This is the principle that I go by, because apart from Him I can do nothing. John 15 :5.
John 12:24. If the seed dies, which is the picture of Christ on the cross, many people receive life. The principle that we should apply in our lives is that we should sacrifice’ not to be the cause of the fruit, but that we can be the means of illustrating what Christ has already done on the cross, which is the true cause of the fruitfulness in people’s lives. The reason we live in this world is to be the image of God, to picture Him so that He can be honored and glorified through us. So that He will preach the message through our lives as we sacrifice ourselves. This is the closest and the best way to preach the Gospel, beyond our lips, to those who are dying without Christ.
These things are related because apart from Him we can do nothing. We need to receive the strength from the Lord in the morning so that every day we can live the life of Christ.

Favorite Bible character?

Moses, because he was an incredible leader. God uses him to accomplish great things and God prepares him for 40 years with the best education of his time, a king’s education, yet he also endures 40 years in the desert tending sheep as God breaks him and molds him. I just like that progression. And then for 40 years, he leads 2 million people. I am having problems just taking care of my three kids, while Moses had to take care of 2 million rebellious children. It’s incredible how he sacrifices himself and gives to his people. One time he risks his life to save them. He fasts for forty days, incredible determination. But nevertheless, he had flaws, he made mistakes, and he couldn’t enter into the Promised Land. I like how, after so many accomplishments, after he has seen so much of God and His miracles, he talks to God as a man talks to his friend. As you look into Exodus, Moses asks God to show him His glory, meaning he wanted to see the core of God. He was still hungry for the Lord even after so many encounters with Him. In the process of sanctification of being more like Christ, he is someone way up there between God and me. I want to attain at least that much hunger, godliness, and humility in my process of becoming more like Christ.
I also have a lot of respect for Joshua who follows afterwards. I think God gave me the middle name Joshua because my job is to conquer not the land of Canaan but the hearts of people. My job is to break the Jericho walls around the people’s hearts. God used me that way. In college, the way I was most blessed was when my heart melted by the message of the Gospel. I prayed, “God, whoever I preach to, whomever I hold onto with my hands and pray with, through my prayers and what I say, God, use me to melt the hearts of people.” I really remember praying that specific prayer. That’s exactly what Joshua did: he conquered for the glory of God. I think God conquers the hearts of people even through unworthy people like me. I have a lot of respect for Joshua because he had to follow right the after the greatest leader of all time, and he fit right in. He didn’t want to be Moses— he was Joshua with his own distinct identity. He took over the leadership and leads them to the next phase of life. I pray we will be like Joshua’s generation, conquering this world for the Gospel of Christ.
I also have great respect for Daniel, who was a highly esteemed person of God from a young age, with such determination and conviction. He gives me hope for the youth of America, and without any compromise, he lives for the Lord. He was alone with only a few friends, no hundreds of people to sing praises with, but he still keeps his conviction in just being faithful in his daily life. He lived like a kingdom citizen because his heart was in the kingdom even though he was living in the worldly kingdom.
When you look into political society, it seems as though the world is ruled by the political rulers, but when you look at the book of Daniel, God rules this world through the people of God, even though there were Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Belshazzar. These kings were not ruling the world; God was ruling the world through Daniel at the time. Daniel is the one who interprets and gives instructions as to what to do and how to do it, just like Joseph did for the pharaoh when he interprets the dream and saves Egypt from the seven years of drought. Daniel was faithful to God; he obeyed the Word of the Lord for 80-some years (Daniel 6). I have tremendous respect for him. That’s why he was able to see all those visions and able to pray for us now as he is looking toward the incredible times ahead. He prays and prepares for people.
I also have tremendous respect for Paul. (I have a lot of favorites in the Scriptures.) Just as one of the books said about him, he was an apostle with his heart set free. He was always in prison but always ministering. Faithful to all the little things he can do, like writing letters. Chained to the guards, he does the greatest thing that a man can do to transform this world: writing half the New Testament. At the time, he probably didn’t know what he was doing, but when he was faithful just wanting to spread the Gospel any chance he got, God used him to change this world. I just see the remarkable freedom that he had in his heart because he was in the Lord. In Acts 6, when he’s in prison with Silas, singing praises and worship, God uses him to reach people in prison. Even though he was captured, he was always free. He was captured by the people, but his heart was captured by the Lord. That’s why he constantly says that he’s a prisoner of the Lord. The love of the Lord compelled him to reach out to the world, and he would put his life on the line for the people. In Romans 9, a man of perseverance, persecution, sickness— he prayed three times for the thorn in his flesh to be removed. In spite of all the beatings and persecutions as written in 1 Corinthians 11, he continues on. He reminds me of a runningback in a football game whose goal is to continue to go forth toward the goal, but he is always resisted by 300 pounders, left and right. It’s a picture of a spiritual battle where half the people on the field wants you to move, helping you, while the other half on the field wants to stop you.
What’s the hardest thing about being a pastor?
I think it’s just thinking about the Judgment Day: that I’m responsible for what I’m doing, that I’m responsible for people’s lives, that my advice can alter people’s lives, and I’m going to be judged for that. I guess I receive enough affirmation from people, but being approved by God’ to be told, You are my good and faithful servant. Just thinking about that fact brings a shiver down my spine and really makes me look at everything.
Another thing that is difficult about full time ministry is just the nature of the service. Pride can always creep in; it happens slowly but surely. I always have to examine myself. I have no doubt that God can change this world, but I always have to fight with myself even getting up in the morning to pray. That’s a fight with myself: do I want to sleep or do I want to pray and keep going? Every moment, every day, it’s a fight with the flesh. It’s tough. The goal of ministry is to create Jesus. If we have 500-600 people, the goal is to create 500-600 Jesus’s. When I look in the mirror, I don’t even see one. There’s the difficulty of ministry. I have to fight against this flesh that is lusting after this world, lusting after the comfort of my own. That’s John 12:24— do I want to remain a seed that remains as one seed, or do I want to die to produce much seeds?
There’s also the discouragement of the lack of visible fruit. When I look from the eyes of the Scripture, I just don’t see much fruit with my eyes as in Christ-likeness in the change in people. I would consider that as having the right standard of the Scripture, but in one sense it is the lust of the eye. As in 1 John, I want to see what I want to see so that I can be satisfied, rather than trusting in the Lord who is doing the ministry so that He can be glorified and honored. That’s again my pride where I have to fight against myself.
People criticize, especially some of our graduates who go out and blame the church for the weakness in their spiritual lives. When I hear things like this, from all different kinds of people criticizing our ministry, it is really painful. We can always say to ourselves that it’s a part of the spiritual battle, yes, but nevertheless as a human being, it’s a matter of do I want to please God or myself. I know a major part of our hearts wants to please God, but still there is the desire to be approved by people, to be popular’ there is still that high school kid in me.

When did you receive your calling?

Probably my freshman year in college. I went to this retreat on the east coast and remember this Baptist preacher who came and spoke. The Holy Spirit was really working in my heart— something was stirring in me so much. My heart was doing an aerobic exercise just moving. I just wanted to commit to something at that time. I think so many people committed themselves to Christ and to full time ministry by visibly walking up and raising hands. I raised my hand. I was just sitting down with my eyes closed, thinking to myself should I go up. When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t believe it. I was already walking up. I never really had thought about it. I didn’t know what it really meant until a couple years later when I came back to U of I, until I was traveling all over the states with the Alpha Omega band and seeing the state of the second generation. Youth group ministries in the mid-1980s were primitive. Everybody was singing hymns in Korean, they couldn’t even understand what they were singing, the speakers were speaking in Korean, Korean jokes; God moved my heart that this was what I really wanted to do.
I believe in objective and subjective calling. Objective calling is when someone affirms you, like elders and pastors stating this is what you should go into’ a visible fruit. But I also believe in subjective confirmation, where internally you have a conviction, a desire, just that sense of rightness and joy when you’re doing ministry. At that time, I think I was confirmed subjectively. When I told everybody, no one doubted, everyone said they knew that before me. Subjectively was my strongest confirmation. I was so strong that if God was going to say no, I was going to go into it anyway, it was almost my fleshly longing. That was my second semester sophomore year. That’s also when I changed from bio to psychology. Everybody who wanted to go into ministry was a psych major’ it was the “in” thing to do. I think for those thinking about seminary, history is an excellent major because you can have a broad knowledge of everything. I probably would have majored in that if I knew that then. I probably would have been bad at it because I am pretty bad at details, but it would have been helpful for me.

Typical day in the life of Pastor Min.
There is no typical day; every day is different.

Monday
Morning prayer from 6:30-7:30
Come home and send the kids to school
Meet someone for breakfast @ 8:00 usually at International House of Pancakes (IHOP)
Come back to the office around 9:30 to study and prepare till quiet time at about 12 or 1:00
Meet someone for lunch
Meet another person in the afternoon, and if there is time I play basketball
Come home and put the kids to sleep
Dinner appointment, especially for those guys who are working or simply don’t have time to meet during the day
Marketplace Bible Study at night until about midnight

Tuesday
Very similar to Monday without Marketplace at night

Wednesday/ Thursday
Fasting day—mainly stay at home

Friday
Meet people for breakfast and lunch
Spend a lot of time at the office preparing for Friday night’s message

Saturday
Servants’ meeting in the morning
Meet someone for lunch
Take the kids out to dinner
Put the kids to sleep
At the office from Saturday evening till Sunday

Sunday
Spend the day at church
Basketball with the guys at IMPE
Officers’ meeting at night

Greatest dream or vision?

I want to see the Gospel reach the end of the world. I want everyone to hear the Gospel so that they can respond to His internal calling. We have a world to reach. I guess a sub-dream relating to that would be to see the CFC guys go out and participate in the expansion of the kingdom of God, to see the guys out there in action. When I see that, my blood gets going. I feel like I see a visible fruit and a hope that what I am doing now can help God’s kingdom to be built. That’s my vision. That’s my dream. The same thing goes for my family and my kids to participate in the expansion of the kingdom of God.
Craziest thing you ever did.
One time this guy asked me to baptize him in the middle of the night. It was January and freezing cold at Lake Michigan. In the middle of the freezing cold winter night, we went out and I baptized him in Lake Michigan. Kind of reminded me of the Ethiopian eunuch. He was a Korean guy. (laughs). I would never ever do that again. But that was his way of dedicating himself to the Lord.
Another thing I remember is from my high school days. My friend and I, we just wanted to see God visibly, just as Moses asked God to show him His glory. So what we did was receive permission from our parents, and we went to church and prayed all night because we wanted to see God physically. I remember singing hymns, praying together, rolling on the floor, bumping into walls, wanting to see God. We fell asleep somewhere in the middle. I don’t miss the stupidity, but I miss the purity, the hunger, which I believe is not without fruit. Even at this moment, even though I didn’t see Him physically, I believe I see God so clearly with my heart though not with my eyes. I believe present vision is caused by past hunger. Same thing as present hunger giving us future visions in our lives.
One thing you wished you could do better.
I wish I could rebound better. That’s one thing I just cannot do. I envy the guys on the court who can rebound. I can do most other things okay, but I just can’t seem to rebound. Years ago in my last interview, I started rebounding and the left-handed lay-up. There has been progression in my sanctification in my basketball career. This story is not without a lesson, because I just constantly wanted to improve. Now my left hand lay-up is better than my right hand lay-up. I think the rebounding thing is a physical limitation, just like I cannot dunk.
Strengths and weaknesses.
Any kind of leading; that has been a gift God has given me. I always influence, negatively or positively. Whatever I love, the people around me come to do: drinking coffee, eating Chinese food, things like that.
Whenever I lead, people follow. I think God gives me visions and ideas, and when I get excited, people around me get excited, and we go together.
My weaknesses are in matters concerning this: I have to be more sensitive to people. Sometimes the goal gets too important for me to think about the people. Sometimes I’m like a bowling ball: in order for me to get a strike, ten pins have to go down. Sometimes those pins are people. I want the Gospel to be spreading all over the world. I want something to be done. These things are not without good motives, but I just have to be more aware of people. Through the years, God has helped me to drastically improve in this area, making sure I am going together with people and all those things.
Along with my strengths, God gives me ideas to lead. God always gives me good followers, people who are practical and put things down on paper and execute the visions God has given me.

How do you see CFC changing?

Well, the obvious is the number. It’s like a balloon, just getting bigger and bigger; it’s about to pop now. I’m thinking, Should we get a bigger balloon or just stop blowing? I just don’t know. I don’t even know half the people in the church anymore. When I see people on the streets, I don’t know if I’ve seen them at a Chinese restaurant, at IMPE, or at our church. There’s always a dilemma whether or not to say hi to a female because I don’t know if they think I’m trying to pick them up or if they know that I’m Pastor Min.
The people are changing. It’s been about eight years since CFC started, and generations change. The goal and the message don’t change, but the method of how we accomplish those changes does. Praise nights are still focused on the Gospel, but now there is more dancing, more upbeat stuff. The style of praise changes, my preaching style changes because it has to fit with the people, but the message does not change. It’s still encouraging, rebuking, correcting’ all those elements are still in there, but the method alters.

How are you changing as Pastor Min?

Again, my left-handed lay-up is pretty good (laughs). The length of the sermons is a couple minutes shorter. They used to be even longer. I think because I’m growing in my knowledge of the Scripture, the content of the messages have gotten better as I have gained more insights. I guess my role as a pastor changed. When I became a pastor, I was an older brother because most of our present pastors were congregation members. Now I am more of a father figure, a spiritual father, as stated in many of the small group evaluations. Once again, what I say does not change— it’s still from the Scripture, it’s not watered down, but how I say it may be a little different from an older brother to a father.
If you could describe yourself as a car, what would you be?
I think I would be a Volvo (laughs). I’m not flashy, but like a Volvo, I’m made for accidents. I’m not really like those little Japanese cars, where when you get into an accident, everything falls apart. Even if I’m roughed up, I would still keep going. I guess that’s what I want to be, faithful through the thick and thin.

Favorite song.

“Pledge My Head to Heaven” by Keith Green.

Favorite athlete.

Michael Jordan– MJ!

Favorite sport.

Playing soccer and watching basketball.

Favorite movie.

Saving Private Ryan

Favorite dish.

Korean kalbi and chi-gae and, of course, Chinese food.

If you weren’t called to ministry, what would you currently be?

A high school teacher coaching girls’ basketball. Girls’ basketball because the degree of athleticism between men is more diverse than between females. If you are good at coaching, you will have more chance in winning. But according to Pastor Seung Han, I would be a Mafia leader.
Ignite 08

Speakers | 설교자

Main Speaker

INTERVIEW WITH PASTOR MIN

Information

Staff

Speakers

Worship
