Andy & Amy Tung
Amy
I grew up a sheltered "goody two-shoes" who believed that hard work and rule keeping would gain me success, comfort and a happy family. With little exposure to Christianity, I came to college at UC Berkeley where I quickly felt dissatisfied and empty and decided to check out church. Through 4 years of struggle, I not only became intellectually convinced of Christianity but saw how desperately I needed salvation & experienced the miracle of forgiveness and grace that was available through the cross, and I committed my life to God.
After graduation, I served as a co-vocational minister while getting my masters degree, then worked as a project manager. After a few years, my husband and I had the privilege of going into full-time ministry, in order to lead our church in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and then Seattle, Washington for a couple of years. We are currently helping to oversee our ministries on the UC Santa Cruz campus, as well as our Taiwan Church. One of the greatest joys is working directly with some of the staff we ministered to over 15 years ago. Seeing them go from non-Christian college students like me, to leading our churches at Santa Cruz and Taiwan. And in the past 5 years see our Hsinchu church led completely by our home-grown Taiwanese staff and even planting their first new ministry last year in Taoyuan at National Central University!
While this is far from the safe, predictable, and comfortable life that I had envisioned growing up, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Andy
I went from a rebellious thrill-seeking high schooler to someone who loves reading, playing sports and preaching the gospel. I grew up in the church though I didn't become a Christian until my freshman year at UC Berkeley when I understood for the first time that Jesus dying on the cross meant all my sins were forgiven. In addition to experiencing the power of living my faith in community as a college student, God formed my vision to serve him through multiple short-term mission trips to Japan, Korea, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and China. The passion I experienced during these awesome trips and the day-to-day mentoring of college students caused me not only to surrender my life to Christ but my future to building up his church.
Over the past few years, I've had the privilege of helping to plant our Seattle church, the pain of going through burnout, the experience of God's grace and healing in the midst of depression, and the joy of mentoring at both our Taiwan and Santa Cruz churches. I've learned that God's grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Nowadays, you can find me listening to a good audio book while out on a walk, on the college campus in Hsinchu, Taiwan, having a meal with our staff members in Santa Cruz, or coaching the boy's basketball team at Lincoln Middle School in Alameda, CA. I also have 2 great boys, a high schooler and middle schooler, who find ways to make me laugh, cry, and pray.