Seminary professor uses vast cultural background from Korea to Spain to train Christian leaders

Through his work with the Liberty University Theological Seminary and Thomas Road Baptist Church, Pastoral Counseling Assistant Professor Dr. Sung Hoon Kim aims to impart his passion for the Gospel to the next generations.

Growing up as the child of Korean missionaries serving in Spain, Kim was taught strong Christian values from a young age. After graduating from a public university there, he moved back to Korea and served as a high school pastor while earning a master’s degree.

Kim was able to minister to numerous students going through tough situations, but he said he didn’t feel properly equipped to fully meet their needs or answer their questions, so he enrolled in Liberty’s pastoral care and counseling doctoral program, something he now considers to be the “one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.”

“I’ve learned how to engage with people, how to relate and connect and use that connection walk with them when they are in distress,” he said.

Kim came to Lynchburg in 2008 for his studies. Through interactions with a neighbor, a pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church, Kim quickly got involved with the church as a volunteer associate pastor. In 2015, he accepted a full-time position at the church, and he now serves as a pastor with the church’s Hispanic and pastoral counseling ministries.

While earning his doctorate at Liberty, Kim also began serving as an adjunct professor in the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity. He has been serving as an associate professor since 2019.

Using his time in ministry as a guide, Kim equips his students to effectively live out their faith in a culture that is increasingly opposed to Christianity.

“My call has been making my students think critically and biblically, not within a model or in a specific denomination, to find the answer in the Bible,” he said. “I love when I have that interaction in the class. Sometimes I play devil’s advocate by challenging them with ideas and heresies, so they can find the answers, explanations, and biblical justifications. That is incredibly satisfying. Seeing how they are growing and how their brain is working is an amazing gratification God gives me every day I am with my students.”

Through implementing spiritual truths with practical application, Kim trains his students to competently lead their own churches and ministries once they graduate from Liberty.

“I have decided with this final feeling and conviction that teaching and preparing for the next generation is what God has for me until I die, or He calls me into His presence,” Kim said. “I am very honored to be teaching at the seminary, and I don’t take that for granted. It’s a privilege. I love being here, and I love every aspect of the life God has given me. I can see how God has prepared my life for the things I am doing now.”

Kim credits his unique upbringing and extensive time spent in Korea, Europe, and the United States with allowing him the ability to effectively share the Gospel in various cultural contexts. While completing an assessment at the Southern Baptist Convention of Virgina, he was able to build relationships and connections with American, Hispanic, and Korean pastors.

“The advantage of being a ‘culture mutt’ or ‘hybrid,’ as I sometimes call myself, is God gave me the capacity to be in any place,” he said. “Since I am a man without a land, I can live in any place and adapt to any situation. If I can speak their language, I can be with them. That gives me a unique perspective.”

“It is a blessing God has given me,” he added, “to be able to communicate and adapt to any circumstance in order to share the Gospel and do ministry through the church.”