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Urban Grace | Emeryville, CA

Kevin Hsu
Nov 1, 2012
Series: Church Profiles
Categories: Church Planting Articles, Latest News

Briefly describe your story of your call to plant a church

God, in His sovereign wisdom, called me to be the second church planter of our church.

I had planned and trained to do international church planting. I had been commissioned by my local church in Washington, D.C. to church plant overseas. But, at least for this season, God had other plans.

Through His providence, God led me to meet my wife on a short trip visiting my cousin in this area. I moved to the East Bay area to pursue this girl, and right when we got engaged a few months later, the associate pastor of my wife's church planted Urban Grace from a church split. The pastor and his family were good friends with my wife, so we went with them and helped them plant the church. For the next couple years, I focused on loving my wife, and loving those God brought to the church. We had our first child, and I focused on growing as a father as well.

As our family got more settled, my heart was still yearning to continue pursing full-time vocational ministry in church planting and pastoring. And right at that time, the first church planter of our church decided to step down and pursue something different. And so, I candidated at our church while continuing to interview elsewhere. Through the unanimous call of the church, I stepped in as their second lead pastor and church planter.

The first couple years of this transition were really hard. We had seemed to make the turn away from all the emotional baggage that stemmed from the church split. People were healing well, and some new people had also come. The church began to crawl out of its shell and start looking outward. We began training people in loving one another and loving the lost. Yet, during the first few years, our numbers stayed steady and very small, and when ministry began to stabilize a little after the transition, I went through a period of question my call to this particular area. The last several years of life were so fast and blurred that I felt I was just carried along by life, trying to love and serve the needs I saw in front of me.

But, by God's grace, at that time of questioning my call, I was exposed to Acts 29 and their great assessment process. I wanted to get others to look at my life and the ministry and see whether planting our church where we are was my specific calling and place. And by God's grace, the Acts 29 assessment process was God's gift to me to open my eyes to His sovereign hand at work. All the things in the past years that were so fast that I did not have the time to think and process through were all part of His sovereign plan for me to be the church planter at Urban Grace in this particular city at this particular time. He planted this church, and through many different providential occurrences, He called me to lead this church plant.

Proverbs 16:9 describes my call. "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." I knew God called me, and I planned to church plant internationally. But, at least for this season of my life, God established my steps to church plant cross-culturally here in the Oakland, Berkeley, Bay Area.

What advice do you have for men who are wrestling with the decision to plant?

Proverbs 15:22 says, "Without counsel, plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed." So, don't wrestle through the decision to plant alone. And, if you think you are called to plant a church, don't assume you are until you get external confirmation, support, and encouragement from godly men and a local church.

Also, since God's plan to display His glory to this world is His local church, and since churches plant churches, not individual Christians, be heavily invested in a local church, and seek the counsel, training, and confirmation of the elders, leaders, and congregation of that local church before seeking to plant a church. If you are in a Gospel-centered local church and humbly submitting to counsel from the leaders and elders, they will give you the appropriate advice.

How do you pastor your family in the midst of starting a church?

Faithfully and regularly. If you are not faithful to pastor your family, you disqualify yourself from pastoring a church. And if you are faithful to God's priorities, He will build His church, and simply use you as His instrument in His sovereign hand. Trust in God's sovereignty and faithfully and regularly pastor your family so that you can best plant and pastor the church.

Outside of the Bible, what is the most helpful book you have read for church planting?

There are way too many. Practically, 9Marks ministries and "What is a Healthy Church?" book has been really helpful for church planting because the book and ministry gives me a picture of what a healthy church looks like. If I know what a healthy church looks like from the beginning, then I can carefully think through how everything I do in church planting helps me grow to be a healthy church.

Church Profile: Urban Grace
Launch Date: July 2007
Location: Emeryville, CA

Mission, Vision, Values of Church

Mission: Delight in the Triune God and make Gospel Disciples who declare the supremacy of God for the joy of all peoples.

Vision: Disciples and Churches Transforming Cities with the Gospel

What are some examples of God's grace that you have seen in your life and/or the life of your church?

There are so many evidences of God's grace!

Personally, by God's grace, He has grown my love for Him, my identity being rooted in the Gospel, my practical growth in sanctification, and my love and care for my family. I have seen God grow me in my preaching, teaching, counseling, and shepherding. I have seen God grow me in prayer and faith. And I have seen God grow me in loving the lost around me and growing in flexibility to make time and invest in relationships with the lost.

In the life of the church, by God's grace, I have seen a growing love and care for the members for one another. I have seen God grow people's zeal for evangelism, and people being courageous and bold in sharing the Gospel with friends and neighbors, seeking to build relationships with the lost. I have seen people grow in understanding the Word, growing in hunger for the Word in their personal spiritual disciplines, and in applying the Word to their lives. I have seen people grasp the beauty of the priesthood of all believers and "every-member" ministry, with people being excited to do ministry and simply ask me to better equip and train them for the work of the ministry. And, by God's grace, in addition to people growing spiritually, God has also blessed us with steady growth as well.