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It began as a search for Chinese food and ended with one of the country's largest Christian publishers revising a book and issuing a public apology to Asian Americans.

On a recent Friday evening, the Rev. Soong-Chan Rah was searching online to find a Chinese restaurant in his neighborhood. The 39-year-old assistant professor of church growth and evangelism at North Park University in Chicago typed in "Chinese delivery Mee Maw" (the restaurant name). Up popped a link to Zondervan, which publishes everything from Bibles to The Purpose-Driven Life.

"I was a little confused," Rah said. He followed the link to a sample page from Skits That Teach, where he read the following script.

"Herro, Dis is Wok's Up Restaurant calling to confirm your order. … I think that, yes, you total is 14 dollar 95 cent."

"Herro? This is Wok's Up Restaurant again. We have drive and drive, and we can't find you house. We don't find you house soon, you pu pu get cold. Pu pu good when it hot."

(Hostile) "Okay, we drive for long time looking for you house. I tell you, you go outside and I look for you. I am driving a red Rincon (Lincoln) Continental. You pu pu still getting cold. Bye!"

"Okay, I drive for long time and I still not find you house. So I am eating you pu pu! Ruckiry it still warm. I was hungry, so I eat it. Mmmmm … this pu pu is good. (Smacks lips a few times) You on my bad rist. You don't call us anymore. Bye!"

Rah found the material offensive and initiated a conversation with Youth Specialties, the arm of Zondervan that created the product, and authors Tommy Woodard and Eddie James, known as the Skit Guys. Eventually, both Mark Oestreicher, president of Youth Specialties, and the Skit Guys issued public apologies. Oestreicher called the character in the skit a "horribly, inexcusably, and unquestionably racist" portrayal of Asian Americans, pointing to an underlying "systemic racism" within the organization for okaying the skit's publication.

Rev. Soong-Chan Rah

Zondervan also took the extraordinary steps of destroying every copy of Skits That Teach left in stock, revising and republishing the book without the Chinese delivery man skit, and offering to replace purchased copies with the re-released version.

Journalist Alice C. Chen recently sat down with Rah. The professor shared his concerns about the book and the encouragement he found in the authors' and publishers' willingness to admit and correct their mistake, regardless of the cost. This, Rah suggests, is what true racial and ethnic reconciliation will require.

What was your first reaction to the skit?

I didn't believe it was real. I thought it was some kind of mistake. It doesn't seem like anything that would appear in a Christian book. I had a flashback to several years ago, when I stumbled upon the Rickshaw Rally Vacation Bible School material, published by the Southern Baptist's publishing company, LifeWay, which was also offensive to the Asian American community. I was kind of stunned.

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