Leadership Journal

David Gibbons had an unlikely education for someone who would pastor a multi-ethnic church. Growing up in a fundamentalist church, he attended one of fundamentalism's flagship schools, a university with a policy at that time against inter-racial dating. "There were many great things about the school," he says. "The speech and arts programs were phenomenal, the academic standards were high, and they had a lot of women! I thought my chances were pretty good." But David was quickly informed of the school's policy against inter-racial dating. "I complicated things for them," said David, "because my dad was white; my mom was Korean. I'm inter-racial!" The school told him he had to choose between Caucasian or Asian. He couldn't date both. Eventually David met the woman there who would become his wife. She is Caucasian and American Indian. Today David is pastor of NewSong Church, which he planted in Irvine, California, in 1994, with multi-site locations in Los Angeles, North Orange County, Dallas, Mexico City, London, India, and Bangkok. Andy Crouch and Marshall Shelley interviewed David about how his understanding of the gospel has grown and developed.

What part did your carefully segregated college experience play in your calling and ministry?

Looking back on that whole experience, I always ask, "Why did God take me through that?" I think he was preparing me, actually, for the way we do church around the world.

That's a surprising twist on the story.

Ethnic churches have their own forms of prejudice. It's not talked about much. It's okay for people of other ethnicities to come to the church and sit there. But when it comes to marrying my son or dating my daughter, there's hostility.

The Asian church was unfamiliar to me—I had grown up in a white, majority culture church. But some mentors encouraged me to explore the Asian part of my heritage. So I attended a Korean church that was known as the premier church on the East Coast at the time, and I saw the children bored during the service. I had never before experienced that.

I'd been raised in a fundamentalist church that kept it lively and fun. And I thought, Hey, things should be a little more engaging than this. I realized that if the leading Korean church is having trouble retaining their second generation, this must be going on all across America. So I joined the staff of a Korean church in Dallas. I fell in love with the people, but also experienced the heartaches of second-generation issues—the so-called "silent exodus." All these experiences caused me to examine my life and who I was, my biracial background, my heart for the globe and not just one culture.

Where did that examination lead?

When I visited California in 1993, I sensed God saying something. In a hotel room, I heard two words: "Psalm 40." I heard it twice, and I looked it up: "I waited patiently for the Lord; he … heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit … out of the miry clay. He set my feet upon a rock, making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear, and will trust in the Lord."

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