About Pastor Jun (2)
Thank you for all the welcome notes and feedback about this 3-week blog series introducing our family to Raleigh Court United Methodist Church.
These were some questions I received, and I will continue to answer them.
Meaning of our Names
Korean names usually use a Chinese character to add meaning to our names. (This doesn¡¯t mean that we can speak or read Chinese though.)
Seungsoo (承秀): Seung means ‘continuing’, and Soo means ‘Great.’ Therefore, my name means ‘continue the great things.’ The best thing that happened in my life was receiving God as my savior. Sharing the Gospel with the next generation, and helping it continue has become my ministry identity. Recently, I found out that Seung also means connecting, and I realized that God is using me to connect great things with great people.
Woori: My wife doesn’t use any Chinese characters in her name. Her name means ‘we’ or ‘fence.’ Like her name, she becomes a gel in relationships as we form communities. Also, she provides a fence of love both to our children and our church community.
Woojin (佑眞): Woo means ‘help,’ and jin mean ‘authentic.’ We made a decision of his name a week before he was born, and guess when his birthday is. He was born on 9/11, 2006. Our prayer is that he will be able to offer authentic help (hope) to this world, which experienced such tragedy on that same date five years prior.
Woohyun (佑鉉): Woohyun shares one character with his brother. This is very common in Korean siblings. My sister has a ‘soo’ in her name as well. Hyun means ‘officer,’ so Peter¡¯s Korean name means ‘helping officer.’
Jun (田): Jun is our family name. Please remember ‘Jun is pronounced like Sun, with a J.’ The original family name means ‘field’ or ‘cultivating.’ However, our great-aunt, who was the director of the first Korean prayer mountain, interpreted the family name differently. She said our family is to plant a cross (十) to the country (囯). Maybe it was her prayer that led my father and 12 of his cousins to become pastors. I also have around 10 cousins and second cousins who are ordained or entered ministry.
When did you first receive Christ?
I have been a Christian all my life. My great-great-grandmother received Christ through the early Methodist missionaries. Her son, my great-grandfather, become one of the early Korean Methodist Pastors. However, my grandparents strayed away from God. God still had a plan for our family and used our great-aunt to turn the family back to Christ.
This family background made me a Christian before I was born. Like many children born of a Christian family, I rebelled and thought it wasn¡¯t fair that I hadn¡¯t had a chance to choose my own faith.
In 8th grade, I met Christ, and my life was turned upside down. Of course, I experienced some ups and downs in my faith journey, but ever since that encounter with God, I am more than thankful that God placed me in this family of faith.
What do you do for fun?
My wife and I normally watch movies or Korean dramas together. We also enjoy walking and talking together.
Also, I love sports. I may not be good at every sport, but I do think I am decent enough to have a good time. I enjoy playing basketball, skiing, biking, bowling, and I do play some golf.
Next week, I will continue with my ministry experience, and any other questions I receive through email or text messages. Thank you.
Rev. Seungsoo Jun
(540) 556-1188, Cell
Facebook and Twitter @junssoo
Psoo's Blog 