Whether you’re a ministry leader, author, or a budding writer, we’d love to hear from you and help you get connected. See this Instagram post and our Contact page on our website!
In case you missed it, we introduced SOLA NETWORK’s inaugural Board of Trustees, re-capped our top 10 articles published last year and presented SOLA’s Top 5 Trending Articles in 2024.
Keep in touch on X and Instagram. For more, check out my Asian American Worship Leaders Facebook group and TGIF Playlist on Spotify. This newsletter is one of the many ways you can stay connected with SOLA Network. Find us on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
Aaron Lee, Editorial Curator
Enter our giveaway! Thanks to Union Publishing for providing, in partnership with @diveindigdeep, SOLA Network, and FCBC Walnut. 1 winner will receive this outstanding book!
What can women find in the Word? In Priscilla, Where Are You? Natalie Brand beckons women to joyful theology. This book challenges women to dig deep into Gospel mines because “what we believe about God is the single most important thing about us.” Read my full review.
Articles From Around The Web
1. Steven Lee: God Forms Us Through Failure
“Excellence, success, and constant progress have become the holy trinity of high achievers. But what happens when we don’t measure up? What if I flat-out fail? What if I disappoint myself and fall short of even adequate? What then?”
2. Danny Kwon: Serving Teenagers from Immigrant Families
“While today more parents are English-speakers, the bicultural nature of many immigrant families means that youth workers will need understanding to serve teenagers in immigrant families, as well as their parents or caretakers. These reflections will help us better serve our immigrant families, whether you have just a few in attendance or serve in an immigrant church.”
3. Hunter Williams: Theology Should Be the Primary Language of Your Kids
“We want it to be natural for our kids to see things as God sees them, speak as God speaks, and think God’s thoughts after him. This can only happen when parents and churches partner together to provide our kids with a consistently biblical worldview.”
SOLA Network is excited to co-host an inaugural Asian American Youth Workers Training Day with Rooted Ministry. Steve Chang, Hanley Liu, Monica Kim, Clark Fobes, and a handful of other familiar faces will lead workshops and panels with attendees throughout the day. The Conference will take place on March 15, 2025 at Living Hope Community Church in Brea, California from 9AM to 5PM. Learn more.
Books, Podcasts, Music, And More
1. 9Marks: On Pastoring in Japan
“In this episode of Missions Talk, Ryan Robertson interviews Ben Howard, a pastor at Yokohama International Baptist Church, about pastoring in Japan.”
2. Luke Simon: Gen Z, Fight ‘Brain Rot’ by Reading Books
“My phone had trained me to skim, to consume quickly, and to expect instant gratification. Books demanded something deeper: focus, patience, and the willingness to sit with ideas that don’t immediately resolve. This wasn’t easy at first. But in return for my patience, reading began offering the ability to wrestle with complexity.”
3. Aaron Lee: Related Works
Listen to our TGIF playlist on Spotify. Join my Asian American Worship Leaders Facebook group.
On Kindle Now! A Letter to the Asian American Church. The collective voices in our book argue that there is underappreciated beauty, diversity, joy, benefit, and place for the Asian American church. Asian American leaders need to joyfully embrace the call to serve the Asian American church, not only for the emerging generation but for the broader church. Find a sample, links to purchase, and a free discussion guide at sola.network/book.
Featured This Week On SOLA Network
1. Tom Sugimura: 5 Lessons from the Japanese American Internment
“Although the mass evacuation and incarceration of Japanese Americans were neither right nor wise, the experience nevertheless enriched the church’s spiritual life as nothing else could have.”
2. Eugene Park: Don’t Hope in That Next Life Transition
“When we overvalue the unknown excitement of the future, we sell short the known blessings of the present.”
3. Faith Chang: Father, Here Is My Little, My All
“To those who want to serve God with all your being, who have given of yourselves with a burning passion for his glory and yet find your Shepherd has led you down unexpected pathways— he is, and has always been, after our hearts.”
4. TGIF: Roundup for January 31, 2025
How an Old Language Haunts Us / How the Gospel Answers Shame in College Students / ‘Shrewd as Snakes’? / How Do I Become Happy in God? / On Serving as Missionaries in Japan
5. SOLA Network: TGIF Subscription
Get our TGIF installments delivered straight to your inbox for free every Friday. Join today so you never miss out.
General disclaimer: Our link roundups are not endorsements of the positions or lives of the authors. Header image by s_kye12 on Unsplash.