I usually minister in Churches or at events by playing music or by leading worship but the heart behind all of this and what my wife and I are most passionate about is not so much the music but about loving God and loving others the way God has shown us how to love. Music has just been a great gift and vehicle that God has given us to love. We also love to cook, entertain, and cater events.
Before my wife and I even met, we both thought we were called to the mission field. She thought she was going to be living somewhere in the Amazon and I thought I was going to be living somewhere in the inner city of New Brunswick, NJ. We both have the same heart and passion to serve and to love others however and whatever that looks like. Right now in our lives, this looks like music and God is opening up doors for this. My wife also has her own granola business called Holy Moly Granoly and is passionate about healthy eating, cooking, and giving people information about all of that. You can see her website at: www.holymolyonline.com.
The way that I first encountered God was with His love. I was a very skeptical person and that would be the nice way of putting it. I didn't believe in God even though I grew up in a Christian home and had parents who were very active in the Church. This all changed the day I had a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ when I was 10 years old. This is a long story and testimony in itself but in a nutshell I just never had encountered God's love or God's peace before and this first experience of it changed my life forever.
This encounter changed the way I did everything too and it has influenced the way that I walk in relationship with God, worship Him, and lead others into worshiping Him. Ever since this experience I have felt the call and responsibility to help lead others into having encounters with God too. If I had to describe what this looks like most of the time I would describe it through 1 Corinthians 14:1 (NIV): "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy."
In my desire to "follow the way of love", I eagerly desire the help of the Holy Spirit to help me minister in my daily life and when I lead worship. For me, engaging God's Presence is so important! When we do, things just begin to happen because God has always wanted to be involved with everything that we do but He will never force His desires upon us. We must choose to let Him in. I believe in God healing diseases and delivering people from oppression through worship and through music. I also believe in the gift of prophecy working together with worship (prophetic worship) in speaking life over people and over places and seeing people and regions get set free. I don't usually plan on playing spontaneous or prophetic songs but many times the songs I play turn into spontaneous moments of worship and prophetic songs. You can hear this on many of the songs that I have recorded.
We are helped by the Holy Spirit (who loves to help us!) on how to love, encourage, and bless others. The emphasis isn't so much on these gifts or on these prophetic moments either but on loving God, working together with Him, and loving others. I think that the gifts of the Spirit and the supernatural just happen naturally whenever we do these things. We see His truth come alive and manifest itself through different signs and wonders as found in the Book of Acts (the 1st Century Church) and in the Word of God.
I would say that I'm more of a father than a worship musician. I desire to give away and impart whatever I have to others through teaching and worship leading. I love teaching workshops on practical musicianship, cultivating a worship life and relationship with God, songwriting, and creative expression. I also love doing question-and-answer times and whatever else that can benefit others and help them be equipped and inspired to do what God has called them to do.
I am passionate about the hearts of sons turning to fathers, fathers to sons, daughters to mothers, and mothers to daughters like God says in Malachi 4:6. In my personal life I am actively seeking the accountability and covering from my spiritual father, Pastor Daniel Ong. He is also the pastor of the local Church that my family and I belong to- International Christian Center in Renton, WA. We are also very involved with helping out and serving there.
I believe in the healing of generations and that young and old must learn how to be reconciled to one another and work together if we ever want to see and witness true revival. I believe in the culture of honor like I learned at Bethel Church in Redding, CA, and I try to exemplify this in my life in my relationship to God, my wife, my children, my friends, my parents, and to others.
It always comes back to love and love is what we are setting out to do. If we ever get busy and distracted off the course of love, God is always faithful to bring us back to it- the "most important thing"(1 Corinthians 13). My family and I are no experts but we are people who are setting out to obey God's command to love and to say "yes" to God. It is "God's power that is at work in us"(Ephesians 3:20) and "to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen"(Ephesians 3:21).
Thank you for reading this and for visiting! We hope to meet each other soon. God bless you.
Love,
The Choi Family