July/August 2017 Feature: Better Together
Story by Pat Humphrey | Photo by James Ferry
Tip: Never underestimate how God can wrestle beauty from what seems like chaos when it comes to people’s lives.—David Kim
In ninth grade, after reading Mindy, June Strong’s classic story of a young woman who has to choose between her love for God and her husband, Miya Kim, a sixth-grade teacher at Chesapeake Conference’s Atholton Adventist Academy in Columbia, Md., became certain that she only wanted to marry someone who was “spiritually growing and actively committed to furthering his walk with God within [the] marriage,” she says.
It took her future husband, David Kim, associate pastor of Chesapeake Conference’s Washington-Spencerville Korean church in Silver Spring, Md., a little longer to realize marriage was for him.
During college David contemplated devoting his life to ministry as a single person. “As a well-intentioned and idealistic young person who wanted sincerely to devote his best to God, I was very drawn to being single, without the ‘encumbrances’ of dependents who might detract my focus from serving God,” he says.
But his perception changed after two difficult mission trips to Dominica and Northeastern China. “I learned that mission tasks—whether hauling tons of gravel by buckets or witnessing to a North Korean refugee—were made much more effective when working with partners. God impressed upon me that my life’s service would have a greater effect if I had a ministry partner. That is precisely when my friendship with Miya became more serious,” he adds.
The Kims have now been married for 25 years and have two daughters.
“Partnership in ministry means that we understand and work under the same calling from God. This allows us to unconditionally support and sharpen each other to accomplish what God directs in our lives,” says David. “Today I cannot imagine life without my ministry partner and companion, through whom my service to God and abundance of life continues to be fulfilled.”
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