Convicted of my calling, I started rap ministry as a solo artist in 2009. I began writing, creating mixtapes and an album, and performing — I knew this was where the Lord wanted me to be because the responses and feedback I had received were so encouraging.
I STILL REMEMBER the first time I voted. Our entire first grade class lined up single file to go downstairs and down the hall to the school library, where we were each handed paper ballots.
I ANXIOUSLY PREPARED the room for an after-service workshop I was leading at my Chinese immigrant church. A group of first to third generation Chinese Americans began to gather inside, bustling with conversation as they grabbed their coffee and cha siu bao. I smiled and welcomed them, but doubted they fully embraced me.
IN 1991, then United States Surgeon General C. Everett Koop asked me and my fellow graduating medical students to raise our right hands and repeat the Hippocratic Oath.
SHORTLY AFTER the 2012 presidential elections, I discussed via email the role of evangelical faith in American politics with a few older people from my church. Those of us involved in the email thread were not out to advertise our own political agendas, nor did we see eye to eye with one another.
I STOOD ON THE SIDEWALK outside of Circle K in awe. It was 11 p.m. on a Sunday. Soft streetlights cascaded down onto an uproarious crowd full of people, young and old, standing shoulder to shoulder on the vehicle-less thoroughfare. It was a rare sight to see in one of the busiest parts of Hong Kong.
THE MAJORITY OF SYNERGY Charter Academies’ students enroll as illiterate and incredibly below grade level. At age five, many don’t know their letters, numbers, colors, or shapes.
Deru kui wa utareru. “The stake that sticks out gets hammered down. At age 26, Frank Emi (1916-2010) and his family found themselves in Wyoming’s Heart Mountain Relocation Center, over 1,000 miles from their home. Worst of all, the country that had just stripped away Frank’s rights as a citizen was now forcing him to fight on their behalf.
My parents emigrated from South Korea in 1977 to Frederick, Maryland. It was a rural country town where one of my first memories was seeing older guys smoke cigars in the mall as they waited for their wives to finish shopping.
YOU CAN'T FIND GAO YAO on a map of China. But in this small town, there’s an orphanage that takes care of girls who are already in their late teens — girls with disabilities because the caretakers wanted to focus on those that were more at risk.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS were not for people like me. I had always defined gifts in terms of one’s abilities and talents. But I was not good at things like encouragement, faith, or service. It seemed that only the most faithful Christians or those specially called by God were granted such qualities. Since neither situation applied to me, I believed spiritual gifts were out of my reach.
SUNG AND WAI always share their food, even without utensils. In a restaurant, they get more variety this way. Even with Costco pizza, you can find them alternating bites.
DID YOU EVER WONDER why one of the things we do at church is take a piece of bread and eat it along with some grape juice? I’m partial to those churches that use real wine, though I suspect that those congregations opt for the cheap and overly sweet Manischewitz, which is a kosher wine that Jews today often use for their Passover celebrations.
ONE APPLE equals 72 calories. That fact, along with my growling stomach and uncomfortably bony body, was enough to cause insomnia. It’s been almost an hour since I crawled into my college dorm bed for the night. My heart is racing; I cannot stop thinking about what I ate.
MY FAMILY LOVES FOOD. When my mom visits me in Los Angeles, she has to get her fill of In-N-Out, pastrami burgers from Tops, and Korean barbecue.
Don’t let that 4’11” frame fool you — Kate Suriyatip, a self-proclaimed Thai-Texan who moved at age nine from Thailand to Texas and now lives in Southern California, can more than hold her own when it comes to food. And yes, she also happens to be my girlfriend.
THE ORIGINAL IDEA for the documentary film had just been scuttled and I returned home, dreading what my wife would say after hearing that my newly-formed project crew and I had agreed that the real movie should be about my personal journey to find a way for the church I led to love and include LGBTQ Christians more.
THE PHONE JUST KEPT RINGING and ringing. Usually, someone would pick up after just a couple of rings, but after about a dozen rings, I figured they must be busy.
A photo was taken of me with my sign, which had a message directed towards the Asian American students at UCSD. I didn’t know then how much this message would resonate with people, both in the Asian American and Black communities — until I woke up the next morning and saw this photo was being shared by thousands of people on social media.
ON NOVEMBER 6-7, 2014, The Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity (ISAAC) organized our sixth annual symposium — and Los Angeles’ first-ever symposium between Asian American and African American faith leaders.
SOCHEAT DOESN'T HAVE TO IMAGINE what it’s like to grow up in the streets.
MY INITIAL REACTION to the 2014 film “Selma” was one of disappointment. Don’t get me wrong — the casting and acting were top notch, the cinematography was beautiful, and I was definitely moved to tears in certain scenes.
LOOKING AT A PHOTO FROM 1963, you can spot Todd Endo with his mother and other Nisei, second generation Japanese Americans, around his mother’s age.
For all of the energy and effort that had gone into building sufficient trust for Gary, Marian, and me to engage in an honest dialogue about Christianity and homosexuality for one night in May 2008, I’m sure many of those who saw this as a hopeful sign of more healthy interactions on this vexing issue were disappointed with what happened next: nothing.
