After graduating from high school, the Rev. Kim attended the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Seoul, Korea which was founded in 1901. He met his wife, Soo In Kim, while attending the church his brother pastored in Korea. The couple married in 1979 and eventually moved to the United States where Reverend Kim earned a doctorate in ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.
“My brother moved here first,” said the Rev. Kim, who has two sons’, Young Jin “Peter” Kim, who attended the University of California Irvine and currently manages a company in Anaheim, Calif., and Young Soo “John” Kim, who attends the University of Pennsylvania Dental School and is married to Cynthia Kim, a medical doctor in residency. “First, I went to New York City and then I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah.”
In 2004, the Kims moved to Centerville, where the Rev. Kim became pastor of Immanuel Korean Presbyterian Church. Prior to purchasing the former Heritage Presbyterian Church located on Dayton Lebanon Pike in Centerville, the Rev. Kim and his Korean Presbyterian community shared a church building with the Rev. Eric Pasanchin and his parish at Southminster Presbyterian Church on Far Hills Avenue in Centerville.
“We bought the church Feb. 15, 2009, and with God’s help, we’ve paid it off,” said the Rev. Kim, who draws from an international community located south of Dayton.
“The community is not big. We’re international and every Sunday we provide summary sheets and PowerPoint translations in Korean and English.”
In 1884, the first Korean Christian was baptized in China by a Scottish missionary and the New Testament of the Bible was translated at that time. In 2004, the 120th anniversary of a Protestant Christian Mission in Korea was celebrated. With 799 missionaries working in 77 countries, the Korean Presbyterian Church is second only to the United States in total number of missionaries. The Rev. Kim and members of the Immanuel Korean Presbyterian Church currently support two children from Asia and Africa and are planning a mission trip in the future.
Contact this columnist at (937) 432-9054 or jjbaer@aol.com.
About the Author