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Thriving Congregations Initiative
Asian American Church Leaders Program
Thriving Together: Dr. Rev. Young Lee Hertig | Thriving Congregations Initiative
Goals of TCI
EMPOWER
ENGAGE
EQUIP
faith leaders to shape participating church’s values and missions
faith leaders in modeling and practicing facilitative leadership and design adaptive congregational cultures
faith leaders with tangible skill sets in both personal and organizational leadership
ISAAC and Grace Mission University are partnering to offer the “Thriving Congregations Initiative” (TCI), a one-year educational program designed to strengthen Asian American church leaders by facilitating change within their congregations. With these goals in mind, Thriving Congregation Initiative (TCI) hopes to see AAPI faith leaders navigate change and experience thriving congregational ministry. Program participants will engage in a variety of activities including online reading material, zoom sessions, and an in-person retreat.
Our Team
Young Lee Hertig
Project Director / Instructor
Rev. Dr. Young Lee Hertig is the Co-founder and Executive Director of ISAAC. Since 1992, she has taught courses on Spirituality, Sustainability, and Diversity at Azusa Pacific University, United Theological Seminary, and Fuller Theological Seminary. Extensive experience advocating for gender equity in the pulpit, Dr. Hertig has been a leader in organizing, writing, and developing programs to support AAPI women in ministry. She is the author of Asian American Belonging: A Yinist Spirituality, Orbis Books, 2019, Co-editor of Mirrored Reflections: Reframing Biblical Characters, 2010, Wipf & Stock, and Biblical Study Guide for Equal Pulpits, Cascade Books, 2022, and creator of PastoraLab for Asian American Women Ministers, a two-year mentorship and empowerment program designed to address the unique challenges faced by Asian American women faith leaders from historically marginalized backgrounds. She also created a podcast, When Women Preach, aimed at empowering AAPI & Latina women faith leaders. Dr. Hertig holds three M.A. degrees in Counseling Psychology, Theology, and Anthropology, as well as a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies.
Diana Shing
Project Manager
Diana supports ISAAC through donor management, event planning, and any other ways to build ISAAC’s mission. She was as a Pastoralab participant in the LA Cohort where she found the space of belonging and empowerment truly meaningful. Diana graduated from Fuller Seminary with a Master of Divinity in 2011, and since then has served in various ministry settings including Pepperdine University, Azusa Pacific University, Lake Avenue Church and recently was the Minister of Family Life at First Evangelical Church of Glendale.
Shauw Chin Capps
Instructor
President of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Foundation and the chief development officer for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF). Shauw has 29 years of nonprofit experience. Prior to joining CBF, she was the CEO of a nonprofit organization in Beaufort, South Carolina, that serves the needs of victims of child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault for over 15 years. She took a dying organization with a budget of $200,000 and four staff members and grew it to become a vibrant and reputable $3M+ organization with 50 staff members serving some of the poorest counties in South Carolina. A graduate of Baylor University and the Carver School of Church Social Work at Southern Seminary and lives in Decatur, Georgia with her spouse Paul, an ordained Baptist minister.
Alex Choi
Panelist
Alex Choi is a church planter preparing to start a ministry in Pasadena, CA. This church plant comes on the heels of serving as the Executive Pastor at Imago Dei Community in Portland, OR. Before moving to Portland Alex was the Lead Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church which he and his wife planted in downtown Los Angeles in 2006. Alex has served in both Korean and multiethnic communities as a pastor and consultant specializing on helping churches navigating leadership transition(s). Alex is a graduate of the University of Southern California where he completed undergraduate degree and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary where he received his MDiv and ThM.
Jonathan Tran, Ph.D.
Instructor
Dr. Jonathan (Cat) Tran is the Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School. He is a Christian theologian focused on the philosophical, political and ethical implications of the human life in language. His specific areas of research and teaching are Christian theology and ethics, ordinary language philosophy, Asian American studies, political theory, social and critical theory and bioethics. At Duke, he serves on the Theology faculty of the Divinity School and as Core Faculty for Asian American and Diaspora Studies. Before coming to Duke, he held the George W. Baines Chair of Religion at Baylor University where he served as Associate Dean for Faculty at the Honors College. He is author most recently of Asian Americans and the Spirit of Racial Capitalism (OUP, 2022). Currently he is co-authoring with Vincent Lloyd Race and Christianity (CUP, 2027) and with Stanley Hauerwas Christianity and the Promise of Politics (CUP, 2027). He co-edits with Alda Balthrop-Lewis the book series "Reflection and Theory in the Study of Religion" for Oxford University Press/American Academy of Religion.
Collaborative Partnership
