PASTOR Hakki Min, his wife Esther, and their son Evan.
—photo submitted
The Willow River Parish is excited to welcome Hakki Min to the parish. He is the minister for a three-part charge in the United Methodist Church of Clear Lake, Deer Park, and Faith Family.
His wife, Esther, and he were born and grew up in Korean Methodist families in South Korea. He came to California, U.S. in January 2018 to study theology at the Claremont School of Theology, which is the one of thirteen United Methodist Seminaries. They have a baby, Evan, and he was born in California on March 19th, 2020.
While studying at the seminary, Pastor Hakki became a certified candidate of the United Methodist Church in the California-Pacific Conference and earned the local pastor license. He had also served Anglo Congregations: First United Methodist Church of Upland & Ontario as an intern pastor in Cal-Pac Conference. Until just before he came to the United States, he had served Chungdong First Methodist Church English Ministry in South Korea, founded by missionary Henry G. Appenzeller, for more than three and a half years as a pastoral assistant. Now, he is a Licensed Local Pastor in the United Methodist Church.
Pastor Hakki studied the philosophy of religion in college. When he was a sophomore, he had an opportunity to visit New Jersey, U.S. and met Korean pastors who serve cross-cultural ministries in the United Methodist Church. Although it was a short experience, he realized that the love and grace of God transcends races, languages, and cultures through meeting with them and worship services in their churches.
Every healthy South Korean male must go to the army for about two years. He took time off from the school to serve in the Korean Military as a Korean man. During his service, he was a military skills trainer and saw many trainees’ negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, loneliness, and isolation from society. The more he counseled and prayed for the trainees, the stronger he felt God’s call as a spiritual leader. He was captured by the Holy Spirit and returned to the college after completing service and got a B.A. degree in 2016 and went to a Methodist Seminary in South Korea.
However, while attending his first semester in the seminary, he decided to study abroad when he found the calling God gave him about cross-cultural ministry through the experiences in New Jersey and the experiences in the English Ministry he served. Through the grace of God, he received a full tuition scholarship and earned a Master of Divinity degree from the Claremont School of Theology in May 2020. His wife received a B.A. degree in interior design and is a calligraphy artist. She loves taking photographs.
Pastor Hakki believes in the presence and love of the living Christ and that there is nothing in life as important as walking each day humbly and gratefully with God. He also believes that the grace of God transcends languages, cultures, and races. He dreams of a faith community that “rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who weep” (Romans 12:15, NRSV) like a family in Christ. In his spare time, you may find him walking with his family around the neighborhood.
Come on out to greet Pastor Hakki Min into our community by attending worship on Sunday:
We are currently meeting virtually via Zoom for worship at 11 a.m. on Sundays and for Bible study at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. We would love for you to join us. Please email us at [email protected] for an invite. When we return to in-person worship, our schedule is as follows:
• Deer Park United Methodist Church at 8:30 a.m. with fellowship and coffee
• Clear Lake United Methodist Church at 9:45 a.m. with fellowship and coffee
• Faith Family United Methodist Church at 11 a.m. with fellowship
