Hear from Our Pastors
As the pastor for the English worship, my wife Barbara and I would like to encourage and welcome you to our church. Our worship style is authentically participatory, constructed with interactive discussion respecting Bible teaching as our focus. This interactive and participatory style provides healthy, engaged discussion of Biblical passages - especially valuable to the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) student population. We concentrate on applying Biblical principles throughout the culture we live and operate. I personally welcome and encourage your questions and divergence as I earnestly desire to learn from you and others at Glory Church. One of the greatest founding fathers of the USA, Benjamin Franklin said,
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”
“Involve me and I learn” - we are actively involved and we learn from each other every Sunday. Our inclusive caring group focuses on what the Apostle Paul taught to the interactive and participatory church of Philippi thousands of years ago (Philippians 1:9-11):
9 And this I pray, that your (1) love may abound still more and more (2) in real knowledge and all (3) discernment, 10 so that you may (4) approve the things that are excellent, in order to (5) be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; 11 having been filled with the (6) fruit of righteousness which comes (7) through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God (NASB, numbers inserted mine).
Together we thrive to (1) love more through (2) learning thereby acquiring (3) discernment as we together (4) discover/distinguish between the things of life so as to be (5) sincere people who yearn to be (6) fruitful in our lives lived (7) amidst Jesus Christ’s guidance.
Visit our engaged and active Bible Life Lived Study at 2:00 pm Sunday.
BTW: Did I mention we like to laugh - a lot!
History of the Glory Baptist Church
The Lord sent the family of Pastor Joseph Kim to Seattle, WA, in February 1992 to get a seminary education and to start a college ministry in the Seattle and Tacoma areas. At that time, Pastor Kim was a staff member of Korea’s Campus Crusade; in February 1993 he joined Disciples For Christ (DFC), a smaller college student mission organization in Korea. In the same year Pastor Kim was made the national director of the American DFC, commissioned by its HQ in Seoul, Korea. He initiated and developed DFC in Seattle and Tacoma areas to help the Great Commission of the Lord (Matt 28:18-20) until July 1999. Pastor Kim moved to Dallas for seminary at The Dallas Theological Seminary in August 1999. He finished his doctoral study at DTS with a Ph.D. in Old Testament studies (May 2008); at that time he desired to serve DFC by creating an institute to teach Bible for DFC staff members in Seoul Korea but Pastor Kim ended up staying in the DFW area instead. In Fall 2008, Pastor Kim started to plant a college student ministry in Richland college and then in UTD. A family of DFC staff members arrived at DFW to help the UTD ministry in Spring 2010 and they began to work together. A few years later, they found many international students, mostly from non-Christian countries such as China, Taiwan, India, and Vietnam. Then they felt that they needed a church to shepherd these students, having compassion for them (Matt 9:36-38). After long prayers of a few years, they knocked the door of the Heights Baptist Church in Richardson in July 2014. In God’s grace the Heights accepted Glory Church as a partnership church in January 2015. We had GBC’s first worship in February 15, 2015 and our commencement worship in September 20, 2015.
Preparatory Meeting of GBC on February 13, 2014: Pastor Yoo Jong Yoon, Pastor Joseph Kim and others got together to discuss for planting a new church; they assumed Pastor Yoon initially led this group as an experienced minister until establishing a new church. Pastor Yoon suggested to have a regular meeting to prepare for the church once a week at Gaston Oak Church at Royal Lane and Abrams Rd. This meeting ended to set a place to meet at an American church near UTD (tentatively the Heights Baptist Church if they received us) and commissioned Pastor Joseph Kim as senior pastor, naming Glory Baptist Church (GBC), at the end of June 2014. During the preparatory meetings, they had meeting twice with the staffs of BGCT (Roy Cotton and Patty Lane).
Contacting the Heights in July 2014: Pastor Kim wrote a requesting letter to give a worship place within the precinct of the Heights Baptist Church. Pastor John Wills as executive pastor replied to GBC. They had the first meeting with the Heights during September 2014. Senior Pastor Gary Singleton suggested to have a merged ministry, educating our next generation together with the Heights, considering a full-merge after a trial period a year or so.
First Worship Service on September 7, 2014: GBC initiated its worship service at the house of Pastor Yoon in Dallas, with 7 adults and two children. Pastor Yoon preached by the title, “Being United into One” from Matthew 18:19.
First Worship Service and Bible Study on October 5, 2014 at the Heights: At the meeting with the Heights in September 2014, they tentatively decided to consider to accept us and suggested to attend weekly worship service of the Height on Sunday, allowing us to have Bible study at the conference room from October 2014. GBC accepted it and stopped its weekly worship service on Sunday at the end of September and attended the service of the Heights from October. They had lunch fellowship at the house of Pastor Kim after attending worship service at the Heights on Sunday. Then Pastor Kim suggested to have Friday prayer meeting in the evening and initiated it on October 3, 2014.
The Heights Church’s Endorsement of GBC: The Heights endorsed GBC to be its partnership church and allowed us to have worship service at the West Wing within the Heights on Sunday, considering that GBC would merge to the Heights after one year trial period. The Heights decided to become the mother church of GBC on January 25, 2015.
The First Worship of GBC at the Heights on February 15, 2015: With the approval of the Heights, GBC had its first worship service at 10:50 am at the West Wing and continued to have first English worship at 2:00 pm; most of English congregation was the same members of Korean congregation at that time. Pastor Richard Min was supposed to plant English worship service as English ministry pastor at that time but they as Korean congregation agreed to attend together for a while since there was no English congregation at all. Pastor Min and Pastor Kim preached alternately at 2:00 pm. They agreed to call two worship services as Korean-speaking worship, the one at 10:50, and as English-speaking worship, the other at 2:00 pm. They agreed to call this first services at the Heights as GBC’s official start.
The Commencement Worship of GBC on September 20, 2017 (창립예배): GBC had its commencement worship, according to Korean church tradition celebrating one church’s official start, on September 20, 2017. Pastor Covington preach by the title of “Authentic Mission”. We lay hands on four pastoral interns: Jaeuk Han, Dong Jin Xu, Hephzibah Y. Choe, and Jun Kang; Pastor Kim and Yeonsook Kim were also blessed by laying hands of some guest pastors, including Pastor Glenn Campbell, on them. Then four local newspaper reporters were present to have news reports, including a reporter of Korean News, one of radio station; a reporter was absent then but posted GBC news by taking information from other reporters.
First General Assembly of GBC in the evening of September 18, 2015: Anticipating the commencement worship service on September 20, GBC had a general assembly to decide such thing as these: (1) GBC’s membership; as to Pastor Yoon, they recognized him an official member of GBC, even though his existing membership remained at Park City Church for the North Korea Relief Mission; (2) Renaming its members as “founding members,” including Dong Jin Xu and Gonghee Lee who would come from Kileen, TX, to join; (3) Recommending Pastor Min to be an English Pastor; (4) GBC’s Operating Regulation (a by-law) was approved as it is, prepared by the preparatory team; as to matters not appropriate to apply the Regulation, for a while Pastor Kim was supposed to make final decisions until its full, possible operation in accordance with GBC’s growth, reapproving him as senior pastor.
Pastor Min’s Taking English-Speaking Ministry: From January 2016, Pastor Min took English service in cooperation with Pastor Kim on Sunday. Sam Kim, leading praising time alternatively on Sunday, began to lead Mokjang, a home group of young adults, at the house of Pastor Kim in the evening of Friday. From March 2016, Pastor Samuel Lee joined this meeting by taking young-adult ministry.
Pastor Samuel Lee joined GBC as pastor of young adults from March 2016. He leaved the church in August 2016, being invited from a church in Vancouver, WA. Pastor Min also stepped down the position of pastor for English-speaking congregation in September 2016 for some personal reasons. Pastor Kim replaced him in transition.
GBC was accepted to DBA in August 2016. It was also a step to join Corea Baptist Church North Association, for having fellowship with other Korean churches in DFW areas.
GBC’s First Anniversary Worship Service on September 25, 2016: GBC had a brief celebration of its first anniversary on September 25, 2016. Then, Pastor & Dr. Bouk Suk preached by the title of The Threefold Road of A Christian from Bible Text Acts 9:1-9; Luke 10:25-37; Luke 24:13-35. Pastor Richard Covington gave an encouraging word for GBC’s ministry. GBC present a plaque remembering Pastor Min’s contribution for establishing English-speaking ministry.
GBC was accepted to Corea Baptist Church North Association in November 2017 as a full member (since Pastor Kim once studied at a Baptist Seminary
Pastor Garry Goff and Mrs. Barbara joined GBC: Pastor Garry and Mrs. Barbara joined GBC as English-speaking congregation pastor family on February 26, 2017. Pastor Glenn recommended Pastor Garry to GBC.
Participating of Mokjang Pastoral Training: To prepare for Mokjang, a home group, pastoral intern Dong Jin Xu and Mrs. Gonghee Lee participated in a pastoral training at Seoul Baptist Church, Houston, held during March 2017. Pastor Kim already took it in March 2015.
Mokjang Ministry of English-Speaking Ministry: GBC appointed Peter Yoon as a Mokjang leader and started its first meeting at the apartment of Peter and Ian in the evening of Friday on June 18; Peter, Daniel, Ian, Tanner, Anuj, Nikhita were presented then.
Study of Living Life: GBC started study of Living Life, a program of Mokjang, on July 14 at C203 at a room of the Heights in the evening of Friday.
GBC’s 2nd Anniversary on September 17, 2017: Pastor Glenn Campbell will preach for the congregation of GBC.
GBC is supposed to go to Creekside Campus of the Heights from October 2017. Its address is 1105 N. Waterview Dr. Richardson, TX 75080.