Orange County, California (May 2026)

In May, I started a long journey with the first stop being in Orange County, California. The primary purpose was to attend the in-person SfK Life board meeting. With the members flying in from Georgia and Colorado, we held the meeting at Sam Kim's office. It is joyful enough to just meet them in person.

I took the time to visit Huntington Beach, one of the many beaches in Southern California. The vast scale opened my heart to breathe in and breathe out. 

I also met up with a few people dear to me. I had a meal with Alyse Kwon, CEO of SfK ITAM USA, a marketing agency. It is a blessing to be able to work with her on the Kingdom works. Also, I met up with Kwang Gu Won, the second brother of Kristin. He looked healthy.

I had a meeting with Donghoon Choi, CEO of Cconma USA and another platform, Kingdom Plan.it. SHINE Alliance is using this platform to develop its mobile app. 

 After a short stop in Orange County, I headed out to Chiang Mai, Thailand. - Jeffrey

SHINE Alliance, Global (April 2026)

 

After we launched SHINE Alliance in January 2026, we have been making progress under the new governance structure - the five networks under the alliance. We keep holding meetings online and providing necessary services. Whenever possible, however, we also hold offline meetings or hybrid meetings. The examples include the EDT (Entrepreneurship Discipleship Training) program's project presentation and graduation, which was held in a hybrid format. The participants who were in Korea attended in person, and those overseas attended online. 12 people out of 14 registrants graduated. Praise the Lord for the successful completion of this first EDT program under the new leadership of HDT Network!

The NUR Network also held a couple of in-person gatherings in Korea, usually in line with the visiting schedule of overseas members. This gathering had 15 participants. I am sure it was bliss.

May the good and faithful Lord continue to empower all new leadership under the new networks of the SHINE Alliance! - Jeffrey

Family Matters, USA (April 2026)

 

While I was staying home, a few family matters took place at different places. March 27 was Gabe's 4th birthday. He looks a lot more mature than when I saw him in December last year. Happy birthday, Gabe!

In April, Joyce's family took a vacation to Oahu, Hawaii. It was their first trip after she gave birth to Avery in November last year. His hair looks like a pineapple, Amadna said. Myles looks like a big brother already.

April 25 was our 43rd wedding anniversary. We had dinner at Ray's On the River in Sandy Springs. It was a time of joy with gratitude to God who has been faithfully keeping us together for the past 43 years. This dinner was part of our celebration, which included camping in May and a theater showing at the Gas South Theater about C.S. Lewis beyond The Wardrobe. These two events will be documented in a later blog post.  

I am grateful that our family remains in touch digitally online every two months and through the sharing of photos. - Jeffrey

Golf Outing with Former Colleagues, Atlanta, Georgia (April 2026)

 

I am still staying in touch with a few former banking colleagues. They include Koomin Chung and Yeonhee Han. They are still working in banking, and once in a while, we play golf for a few days. This year, we had a golf outing in Georgia. Yeonhee took a few days off and flew in from New Jersey. Since one of the regular members could not make it due to his trip to Korea, we had other colleagues attend.

The first day, we played at the Lanier Islands Legacy Golf Course. Inseon Song joined us. It was on an island in Lake Lanier, a man-made lake created by a dam. The scenery was panoramic, but the clubhouse was under renovation. But we enjoyed our time together. We dined at a barbecue place, called CowWow, celebrating the 60th birthday of two ladies.

The following day, we played at Chicopee Woods Golf Course in Gainesville, GA. This course was cheaper than Lanier Islands Legacy Golf Course, but I liked it better. It looked a lot more mature and stable. For this game, Karen Kim joined us. She used to be a branch manager when I was working at Shinhan Bank America, and she is now the Branch Manager of New Millennial Bank. 

We dined at an Italian restaurant afterwards. 

I am so blessed with these former colleagues who still stay in touch with me, although I am no longer in banking. - Jeffrey

BAM Global Leaders Forum - People, Manila, Philippines (March 2026)

 This forum had a lot of participants. As a result, we did not have the intimacy of knowing each other well. Nonetheless, I met many people one-on-one. Here are some that are noteworthy.

Dwight Nordstrom, Chairman of PRI

John Ng, Mario, from Singapore

He is the CEO of BAM Philippines

BAM in a Box Group

He is the only Rwandan

She is a Kyrgyz, a disciple of Almaz

He is a Norwegian who married to a Korean wife. 

All Koreans and Korean-related people

Julien from Indonesia, the leader of KBC

Brent, a businessman, pastor, and mission agency leader

On a separate note, I met up with Jae Jung Jang, who has been living in the Philippines for more than 40 years. He and I worked together in a BAM program in Korea. He is now deeply involved in the finance business, including a bank and a digital payment network. I was glad to hear that he received a complete healing verdict for cancer. Praise the Lord!

I am not sure what the Lord has in store in all the meetings I had. May Your will be done in Your way and in Your time, Lord! I will obey Your will! - Jeffrey