Pastoral Staff

Pastor Victor Kim

In 1982, Pastor Victor Kim visited New York for the first time. "I was told that this was the greatest city in the world and when I saw Manhattan, I wanted to believe it.... I prayed to God that New York City would be where I would ultimately end up doing my ministry..." Two decades later, his vision for the city continues today at the Remnant Church.

Pastor Victor was not necessarily raised in the traditional Christian home. Growing up, he had known of the church, God, and even his sin, yet these were distanced in his heart through his own intellectualized understanding of the Gospel. Then in his sophomore year at a campus revival meeting, he became aware and realized how "insignificant [he] felt before this holy God." Soon, his thoughts, goals, and purpose had changed towards a Christ centered life witnessed by his own friends and family.

Soon after his graduation from U. of I. in 1982, he attended Trinity Seminary, where he started a youth ministry aimed at teens in the suburban Chicago area. Upon his graduation from Trinity in 1986 and armed with the experience from this ministry, he was ready to fulfill his promise and return to New York City. His first assignment, however, was not in New York, but 100 miles north in Hartford, CT where he served as senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Greater Hartford.

While he was in CT, New York still lingered in the back of his mind. He had already been invited by a presbytery to start a church plant, yet declined saying, "...my personal conviction was that a church should begin with people, I felt somewhat uneasy about this missing element." Praying that God would send "a group of people who had a heart for the young adults of New York City and who saw the need for a new church", he waited patiently. Finally, holding firm to his faith, Pastor Victor decided to go to New York with his family praying that God will provide. After six months of preparations in August of 1995, the Remnant Church held its first service.

Even after all these years, Pastor Victor's vision for the church and city has remained steady. He sees many people, "busily going about their work, making money, spending money and totally neglecting God." He wants to understand the "spiritual temperature" of the city, and appropriately offer God's alternative to the temporal and material of the city. Striving to know His will, Pastor Victor's vision is to make people aware of God. He's hopeful that within the contexts of worship and praise, God will manifest among His people to encourage a radical transformation that goes beyond the doors of the Remnant and into the city.