Peter & Hope Choi
Hope
I grew up with hardly any religious background. And being a good student until my college years, I took in everything I was taught at school without question. I placed Jesus in a similar category as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and other holiday figures, largely because they all appeared at the same time on seasonal TV movies.
However, in middle school our family started attending church. At first I couldn’t believe that people actually believed the stuff I would hear but through genuine Christian adults who actually lived out what I was learning on Sundays, I came to believe in the existence of God and Jesus his Son. In college, I gained a fuller understanding of the gospel and made my salvation decision my junior year. It’s been an amazing journey ever since. I went from an internally dead survivalist to really experiencing life a hundredfold in Christ.
My husband, Peter, and I serve our church in Davis, CA and oversee our international ministries at UCLA, USC, UC Irvine and UC San Diego. Our two sons are now all grown. The older is recently married and part of our Purdue church plant. Our younger one is a college student here on the UC Davis campus. We’re excited to see how God will lead our church as we try to say yes to wherever he leads.
Likes: Listening to the three men of our family sing together, and sharing good stories with whoever is around
Dislikes: Lavender flavored anything
Peter
One of my earliest childhood memories is singing in front of lots of people during Christmas at church. My parents tell me I was about four years old, and they have a picture of me in mismatched socks and traditional Korean clothing, standing in front of a bunch of people with my mouth wide open. It’s characteristic of my experience growing up in a Christian home: an odd combination of performance, seasonal obligation, and duty, underscored by a sneaking suspicion that none of it really mattered much.
That sneaking suspicion eventually helped me realize that I needed to be fully committed to Jesus, and I surrendered my whole life to Christ during my sophomore year at UC Berkeley. Since then, life has been rich with purpose and meaning. I’ve served in many different ministries at our church since 1991, and it’s been an incredible blessing to help folks find purpose and meaning in a fully-committed relationship with Christ.
My wife Hope and I serve at our church in Davis, CA and also oversee our international ministries at our churches in Southern California.
Fun Facts: I lived in Colombia for three years as a child, making me more fluent in Spanish than Korean, though I am pretty rusty in both now
Hobby: I rescue/repurpose prematurely abandoned electronic equipment