Kevin & Emily Huang
Emily
Growing up I never thought I would become a Christian, much less now leading a collegiate church at the Northwestern campus.
I went to UC Berkeley wanting to make a name for myself somehow. So I tried to study hard and make friends. But along the way I caused a lot of hurt in my friendships. As I hit a low point in my first semester of college, a high school friend invited me to church, where I met Christians who were genuinely interested in me and cared for me. It was there I learned about the validity of the Bible, the historicity of Jesus and evidence for the existence of God. I learned that God created me, that I sinned and rebelled against him, and I saw how true that was, given the life I had led so far was just a lot of hurt that I caused other people.
I became a Christian on March 9, 2008, and my life transformed from one that swung between apathy and competitiveness, to one that is secure in Christ, a life that is on a mission to share the gospel with others and see their lives transformed as well. I marvel at how God has worked in my life and continue to be amazed at all that He wants to keep doing!
Likes: I love sports and the outdoors, so though I grew up in sunny California, I love it out here in the Midwest and Chicagoland and all the four seasons! I also love cooking and having people over for a good meal.
Myers-Briggs: ESFJ
Enneagram: Type 2
Kevin
Growing up in the church, I thought I was God’s gift to mankind. Outwardly I lived a religious life--I served on the praise band, did VBS, and competed in Bible Olympics. But inwardly I served the idols of success and ambition and self-image.
Thankfully God had different plans for me in college when I went to UC Berkeley, as God intersected my life with a bunch of thoughtful Christians from Gracepoint who actually believed in the Bible, and were crazy enough to live it out. They cooked a lot of good food and welcomed me into their homes, and I fell in love with this spiritual community. It’s here where I began to see my hypocrisy, my double life, my cutthroat envy and competitiveness as signs of rejecting God my whole life. And the message of the gospel hit me like a ton of bricks for the first time. That’s when I genuinely repented for the first time and gave my life to God. And ever since then, I’ve been in love with college ministry. It’s the pivotal time of life when I was saved, and when so many students have the chance to have a life-changing encounter with the Gospel.
I haven’t been the most brave or courageous person as I’ve followed God, but over the years I’ve really tried to say yes to God whenever I could, being willing to take small steps of obedience to follow him, and looking back I could honestly say that I’ve never regretted obeying God - whether that’s sharing the gospel with a stranger, or leading a small group at church, or going on a year-long mission trip overseas. Most recently, my wife and I decided to go into full time ministry and in 2020, we moved to lead our church in Evanston. It’s been the biggest privilege to get to be used by God in this way.
On any given night you’ll find Emily and me cooking up a storm, welcoming people into our home. Who knows — maybe there’s a lost soul like my freshman year self here at Northwestern, someone whose life could also be radically changed by the gospel.
Ideal Saturday: My perfect Saturday would be waking up at 7am, going trout fishing in a pristine alpine lake, then cooking up some ribeye steaks for lunch with friends. Afterwards, we’ll play ball for about 4 hours. At night I’ll be building a fort with my two kiddos at home (Jacob and Joshua - 6 and 3 y/o), and who knows - if they are good then we’ll watch Star Wars to wrap up the night!