Pastor With Rich Cross-cultural Background Joins Adventist Mission

Adventist Mission is welcoming a new Global Mission Centers director who was born into a Buddhist family, holds a graduate degree in Islamic studies, and served as a Seventh-day Adventist missionary for 12 years.

The diverse religious background promises to give ChanMin Chung a unique perspective as he manages the work of six centers that help start new groups of believers among non-Christian people groups.

“My foremost prayer is for people around the world who have yet to experience the love and care of our redemptive God,” Chung said.

Chung, a pastor with a missiology-focused doctorate, was approved by a vote of the General Conference’s administrative committee on February 11. He joins Adventist Mission from Hope Channel International, where he has worked for the past two years, most recently as vice president for global media and engagement. He fills a post previously held by Kleyton Feitosa, who tragically succumbed to liposarcoma, a rare cancer, on November 20, 2024.

Adventist Mission director Gary Krause praised Chung’s appointment while paying tribute to Feitosa for his leadership.

“I’m delighted that ChanMin will be joining Adventist Mission,” Krause said. “He brings a rich experience in cross-cultural mission, media, pastoring, church planting, administration, and missiological studies. ChanMin will bring his unique gifts and talents to build on the legacy of our previous centers director, Kleyton Feitosa, who was a greatly loved leader and mentor to our centers directors.”

Chung will oversee six Global Mission Centers that are helping to reach non-Christian people groups that comprise 63 percent of the world’s population, or 5 billion people. The six centers include the Global Mission Center for Adventist-Buddhist Relations, the Global Mission Center for Adventist-Jewish Relations, the Global Mission Center for Adventist-Muslim Relations, the Global Mission Center for South Asian Religions, the Global Mission Center for Secular and Post-Christian Mission, and the Global Mission Center for Urban Mission. Several of the centers were renamed under Feitosa to better reflect their purpose.

The non-Christian people groups are at the heart of a world church initiative called Mission Refocus, which prioritizes resources for frontline mission work with people in the 10/40 window, city dwellers, and secular and post-Christian people.

“I also lift up in prayer the leaders of our Global Mission Centers, who work closely with Global Mission pioneers, church planters, missionaries, members, and pastors to establish new communities of believers worldwide,” Chung said. “Additionally, I seek God’s guidance and wisdom as I embark on a new assignment, trusting in His leading on this journey.”

Chung’s journey has come a long way since he was born in South Korea. When he was a boy, his mother sent him to an Adventist school, and he joined the Adventist Church. After graduating with a degree in theology from South Korea’s Sahmyook University, he served simultaneously as a youth pastor and producer for Hope Channel South Korea. In 2008 he was ordained to the gospel ministry.

Then in 2010 he moved to Lebanon and to work as a missionary in what is now the Middle East and North Africa Union. He held various roles, sometimes at the same time, during the next 12 years, including as the union’s communication director, field secretary, and managing director of Trans Media Group MENA, which oversees the union’s media operations. During that time he received an M.A. in Islamic Studies from Middle East University in Lebanon and a doctorate in global leadership from the U.S.-based Fuller Theological Seminary. His research focus for the doctorate was on the missiological implications of society, culture, and technology for Adventist mission.

In 2022 he joined Hope Channel International at its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. His wife, SuKyoung Back, works at the General Conference’s International Personnel Resources and Services, supporting foreign missionaries, and they have two sons, JunYong, 17, and JunSu, 10.

Among its programming, Hope Channel International airs the Adventist Mission show Mission 360. Krause, the show’s host, said he was looking forward to even closer ties with Hope Channel.

“Having worked most recently as a vice president for Hope Channel International (HCI), ChanMin will help build even stronger links and partnerships between HCI and Adventist Mission,” he said by email.

The original version of this story was posted by Adventist Mission.