Urbana 2000 Convention

Urbana 2000 Speakers:
Ken Uyeda Fong

Born and raised in Sacramento, Ken is a native Californian, a third generation American of Chinese ancestry. He graduated from U.C. Berkeley (biological science) in '76. Those around him had always assumed that he would one day become a doctor. However, the summer after graduating, for the first time in his life, he had no apparent direction, and started working with the youth of a Chinese American church.

Ken had made a decision to follow Christ while still in junior high school. Two powerful forces overshadowed any fleeting thoughts he had about someday becoming a pastor: his desire for material security, and his belief that he was too "Americanized" and too cool to be a Chinese pastor. However, he had to admit that God's path for his future led exactly in the direction he had always avoided.

He enrolled at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, and completed his M. Div. in December 1980. In Los Angeles he met his future wife, his future church and his special mission. In January 1981, Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles appointed Ken as its first associate pastor. This English-speaking Japanese-American ministry was beginning to answer God's call to include Chinese Americans. That same year, Ken married Sharon Uyeda, who was originally from Hawai Kai, Hawaii.

Ken's passion burns for ministry approaches that are culturally attuned to reaching Americanized Asian Americans, especially the unchurched. Ken has recently been called as the new senior pastor of Evergreen-LA. His vision is to develop a fresh model of a church for the next century, one that will be both multi-Asian and multi-ethnic, one that loves God and loves people.

His wife Sharon (also known as "Snoopy") is a private banker at Union Bank of California. Their daughter Janessa was born on April 3, 1999. Together they share their home in Sierra Madre with their two Golden Retrievers. He enjoys tennis, mountain and road biking. She enjoys running, hiking, and creating uniquely Asian American clothing with antique Japanese fabrics.

Ken says that he has a youthful heart, and that he connects with the good parts of Postmodernism. He has quick wits and a sharp tongue that can get him into trouble.

His favorite Urbana memory was simply being an Asian American and hearing everyone cheer when Jeanette Yep was introduced as MC. He remembers worshipping during Urbana 96 and getting a sense that God was going to put him on the platform at the next Urbana as a speaker.

Past Urbanas have taught Ken that it's not enough to shine God's light within the church; but that Jesus' church has been called to shine that light amongst the poorest and the neediest.

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