Meet Our New Ambassadors!
By KALI Staff
Much like our parent organization, Mission to North America (MNA), 2025 was a year of transition for us, the Korean American Leadership Initiative (KALI). At our last General Assembly in Chattanooga, we officially said goodbye to one of our co-founders, Dr. Alexander Jun, and later welcomed Hansoo Jin to our staff and Tim Sin as an ambassador.
We are also overjoyed to announce that we have added three new ambassadors to our team in 2026—Tim Chang (Executive Pastor, Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in New York City), Tony Lee (Chaplain and Assistant Pastor of Community Life, Solus Presbyterian Church in Norcross, GA), and Paul Han (Youth and Young Adults Pastor, The Town Church in Middletown, DE). KALI Ambassadors have the privilege of representing KALI’s ministry in their respective regions and mobilizing area Korean American teaching elders for bi-annual regional retreats.
We asked each of our new ambassadors a few questions with the hopes that our community would get a sense of their heart for our ministry and in doing so, may we all catch a glimpse of God’s faithfulness to KALI in the aftermath of a challenging season of transition.
Paul Han, in your opinion, what makes KALI special?
Having been in ministry for 15 years, including my time interning in seminary, I have found that it is incredibly difficult to form deep friendships in pastoral ministry. I’ve had friends who were also pastors, but I was rarely able to maintain those relationships. But, as I have continued in ministry, I’ve grown to see just how vital it is to have other friends who are going through the same unique calling. The Korean American Leadership Initiative (KALI) has been crucial in helping me realize this. Over the past couple of years, connecting with fellow ministers in the PCA through KALI has deeply encouraged me, especially during the times we shared together at the Northeast regional retreat two years ago, and at the National Gathering last year.
What makes KALI so special is our shared experience. Most of us grew up in immigrant families and attended immigrant congregations, mostly within the Korean American Church. This shared background allows us to immediately understand one another and be that much more vulnerable. I am deeply thankful that the culture of KALI is one of honesty, openness, and vulnerability. It is a place where we can share our burdens and cries while staying rooted in the truth of the gospel.
It is within this unique context in KALI that we are able to share and confess our sins and struggles without any sense of judgment. We come together to repent and rejoice in God's love and grace. Ultimately, KALI is special because this ministry deeply supports those of us living this unique experience as Korean Americans. It encourages us to persevere, and to continue faithfully loving and serving our churches, our families, and our denomination.
Tony Lee, what made you decide to become a KALI Ambassador?
KALI is special to me because it allows me to network and share experiences with other Korean American pastors through the joys and struggles of ministry. I became a KALI Ambassador because I wish to meet with and journey alongside other like-minded Korean American second-and-third generation pastors here in the South. I hope and pray that KALI would continue to encourage, support, and show compassion to the next generation of Korean Americans in ministry.
Tim Chang, what are your hopes for KALI in the future?
Finding other people who have multiple shared and common experiences doesn’t happen often. At KALI, I’ve found a convergence of experiences with every single person I’ve met that I do not think exists elsewhere. People who are Korean American and living in the US, serving as pastors, and part of the PCA. That makeup is rare, which is why KALI has been a tremendous gift to me.
With this reality comes the freedom to not have to explain yourself. We all get each other. At every KALI gathering I’ve been to, the speed at which we’re able to be vulnerable with one another is uncanny. And there’s no fear of judgment because as we’re sharing our burdens, our joys, our fears the people next to you are all nodding their heads and acknowledging they know what it’s like too. To have a sense of immediate belonging with people you’ve just met for the first time is a taste of heaven.
I see KALI offering this kind of healing and restoration to all Korean American pastors. Ministry is hard. But KALI is a place where we know we’re not alone and there are people who are genuinely for us. After each KALI gathering, I’m rejuvenated to worship and follow Jesus. We all need this regular work of renewal in our lives.
Doing the “regular work of renewal” is vital to the specific brand of nourishment that we have been providing for our community; one that embodies lived experience relationships and places redemptive value to our culture and heritage in ways unavailable to us outside of our affinity group. We cannot imagine this ministry surviving, let alone thriving, without the humble service and wise counsel that our ambassadors selflessly provide. They wholeheartedly embrace our vision and ministry, Nourishing Korean American Pastors for the Flourishing of the PCA, and we are grateful for their sacrifices. Although 2025 was not the ideal year we envisioned at the very beginning of the year, we hold fast to the Providence of God, confident that 2026 and beyond will be filled with renewal and hope thanks to our ambassadors, both new and old.
Tim is a native of New York City. He was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Staten Island through high school. After college at Cornell University, he attended Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He then served in pastoral ministry at a local church in Boston for almost 15 years. Since 2023, Tim serves as the Executive Pastor at Emmanuel. He loves being in this role because he enjoys knowing and serving people, as well as getting things done efficiently. His greatest joy is witnessing others love Jesus more and more. Tim also enjoys good food (quantity over quality), a hearty laugh, and spending time with his family: his wife, son, and daughter.
Tony Lee is a board-certified hospital chaplain that serves at the Joseph Maxwell Cleland Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Decatur, GA where he currently works in the ICU and Palliative Care. He is endorsed by the Presbyterian and Reformed Commission on Chaplains and Military Personnel. He is a graduate of NC State University, received his MDiv from RTS Charlotte, and is currently pursuing a DMin at Vanderbilt Divinity School. He has been a member of the Korean Southeastern Presbytery since 2014 and currently serves at Solus Presbyterian Church in Peachtree Corners, GA. Tony lives in Chamblee, GA with his wife, Angela.
Paul Han is a Teaching Elder in Heritage Presbytery and received his MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is serving as the Youth and Young Adults Pastor at The Town Church (PCA) in Middletown, Delaware. He loves serving in youth ministry and has been volunteering or ministering to teenagers for all of his adult life. He met his wife, Yina, in college and they have two sons together.
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