Shepherd's Corner (December 24th, 2025)

(No Audio. Please read.)

Merry Christmas!

On this Christmas Eve, I wish you and your family the happiest and most meaningful Christmas ever! May Heaven's riches abound in you and everyone in your life.

Soon, I will be the only ordained pastor serving at Riverside Community Church. I did not imagine this situation when I accepted the call. I had hoped and prayed that at least the first year would be as stable as possible and as non-eventful as possible. Boy, was I in for a surprise!

I am grateful for the past 8 months, during which I got to know a little bit about Pastor Grace, Danny, and Shawn. I wish I had more time to get to know them, but I wish them well in their new call. May the Kingdom of God, our Father, be blessed by them, wherever their ministry leads them. Perhaps, one day, they will be called back. I hear it's rare but not unheard of. Godspeed, my friends!

Ever since I heard the news of the possible pastoral changes, which became a reality, I've been reaching out to the pastors, seminary alumni, professors, and friends to see if there would be new pastors who would embrace our vision of being a community church, a house of prayer church, and a house of prayer for all nations church. From Boston to Los Angeles, I was able to reconnect with my old contacts. Even in Bergen County, I reconnected with many pastors who have been building up the Kingdom of God. I learned a lot about the current landscape of churches in America, especially those with roots in Korean-American heritage. The bottom line: there are many more churches than seminarians and pastors available to serve. I was shocked to hear that Trinity Divinity School in Chicago, which I consider to be one of the excellent training institutions for pastors, is merging with Trinity Western University in Canada. This move was necessitated by the lack of students.

Shortage of good pastors is not new to the churches. Churches in England, Scotland, Europe, and even in America often faced a shortage of good pastors. Frequently, a pastor would serve several churches in the region. Not the most ideal or healthy situation, but pastors and the churches worked together to nurture Christians and to press on to honor Christ by continuing to make disciples of all nations.

I have met with several potential candidates, and so far, nothing concrete to share with you. I ask for your prayers. Let's continue to ask our Heavenly Father to send the "workers" for the harvest in plenty.

We, at Riverside, are facing real challenges—no doubt about it. Beginning Monday, December 29th, I will be the only ordained minister to serve the church. As the Elders and I continue our search to call new pastors to join us, for the foreseeable future, I will be carrying the load, and the priorities will be as follows: Sunday Worship, Small Group Ministry (a.k.a. Community Groups), Youth Group, College and Young Adults, and Families.

I have reached out to some of you already to help carry the burdens in the areas of administration and planning. Thank you for accepting the call to serve. It's not impossible for a sole pastor to serve a church of our size, but it is only possible if I can quickly equip and activate more servant-leaders. I hope that some of our young men and women might even hear the call to become a future pastor for our church and churches like ours.

Someone once asked me what my "management style" is. I am not sure, but I am definitely more collaborative than I have ever been in my pastoral life. In planning the Christmas Day worship service, New Year's Eve service, the Lord's Day worship services, and Saturday AM Prayer Chapel, I will be asking many of you to collaborate with me in both planning and execution. In making assessments and coming up with the best ways to nurture our young saints (from Kingdom Totz, Kingdom Kids, CLAY, CREW, Young Adults, and beyond), I want to recognize your servant-leadership thus far, encourage people to share their ideas, and provide support for the new ideas to be implemented.

I see the importance of cultivating age-relevant cultures--such as distinct Youth Culture, College Group Culture, and Young Adults Culture. Nurturing the saints should be age-appropriate, and this is best done through small groups. Worship should start from our homes, and our corporate worship should clearly remind us that we are a family of God. Furthermore, I also believe that Jesus is calling us to cross-cultural missions and intergenerational discipleship.

This is a lot to digest in one sitting, I know. And, I want to thank you for reading this long Shepherd's Corner. I will try to reiterate all of the particulars as much as possible. I am a firm advocate of transparency, and for me, true transparency is not just informing you only after the final decision is made, but also being transparent in the process. It's not the same as 100% disclosure at every stage (sometimes, too much information is too confusing). Through this Corner as well as from the pulpit, I will do my best to communicate my hopes, heart, and even my hurts, for I consider you my co-laborer in the Lord. Let's pray with and for one another.

Riverside, a House of Prayer for All Nations, is celebrating our 30th anniversary. I am the 7th senior pastor at this milestone. This is highly unusual. We did not have a senior pastor for many years (which makes the pastors and the leadership role that much more remarkable).

I "sense" our God leading us. It's not a "bed of roses" road, but a straight and narrow path. I can almost see how remarkable things could be by the same time next year. My confidence is not in my experience or abilities. Instead, as the Bible says, I am

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6, NIV)

Eight months ago, someone wrote a question to me, "What is your favorite verse?" My answer then and now is:

I can do all this through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13, NIV)

May God who created the Heaven and Earth out of nothing show his glory now and forevermore. Once again, Merry Christmas! And, if you are able, I'd love to see you on Christmas Day for worship at Riverside, a House of Prayer for All Nations!

In His Grace Alone,

Pastor Brian Lee