September 19, 2020

We got married in a tiny, covid-safe ceremony at a friend’s house in upstate New York. Neither of us envisioned getting married without many of the important people in our lives, but we’re grateful that we can share our story with everyone here.

Hope Chang

Hope was born in Chicago and raised in Korea, where her parents pastored an English speaking congregation, homeschooled with her brother by her diligent mom. She came to New York in 2014 to attend Columbia University where she majored in Sociology and Philosophy. She works as the Pastoral Care Assistant at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights providing administrative support to the clergy. She calls the Hope Church NYC family of churches her spiritual home and has served at Hope Midtown and Hope West Side, and she and Kyle are now part of the launch team of Hope NoMad, a new church plant. She is a photographer, graphic designer, and a lover of jazz, rap, and dance.

Kyle Lee

Kyle was born in Boston and remains a steadfast Boston sports fan. He grew up in Michigan and Virginia and went to high school in Kenya, where his parents were missionaries. He attended the University of Virginia, graduating in 2018 with a B.A. in English. After college, he moved to New York to work with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship as their NY/NJ Media Coordinator, hosting and producing podcasts for the region. He church-hopped a bit before he and Hope decided to commit to the launch team of Hope NoMad. Kyle co-leads Hope NoMad’s writers’ and poets’ workshops and participates in their improv group.

December 14, 2018 // the Book Signing

We met at a book signing for Jonathan Walton’s 12 Lies that Hold America Captive. I had heard Kyle’s voice on an InterVarsity podcast in the Fall and recognized his voice as he was talking to some guests at the signing. I was surprised because I had thought he was white just from listening to him moderate IV’s podcasts. Jonathan is a mentor to us both and boss to Kyle, and he will be officiating our wedding!

– hope

February 2019 // the Workshop

We didn’t see each other at all until February when Jonathan was piloting his Emotionally Healthy Activist course during a spring break program for college students. I was working as tech director, and Hope was there to provide feedback on the course. By the time the 8 week course was over, we had maybe three five-minute conversations in a group of three or more, but I knew I wanted to get to know her better. But on the last day she left before I could get her number or ask her to coffee!

– kyle

April 26, 2019 // the Hotpot

Neither of us knew that a mutual friend had actually invited us over for a hotpot that night! So we ended up seeing each other later that evening after the last workshop. We sat next to each other and talked about cinematography, missionary culture, and so many other things. After we left, I texted her asking if she’d be down to see a movie we had talked about the following Wednesday and also offered to help her move on Monday. She agreed, and it was a date!

– kyle

May 1, 2019 // the First Date

I had no idea it was a date. So on Tuesday when I realized that he had less than platonic intentions I informed Kyle that I was not looking to get into a relationship and that I was emotionally unavailable. He said, “Great! We can talk about that!” So it was a date. We ended up not seeing the movie, and we talked for six hours in Koreatown. At the end, Kyle asked if we could debrief before we parted ways. And I was so taken aback that I agreed. He told me that it was the best date he had ever been on and that he would love to see where this would take us. I had just recently gotten out of a relationship, and I asked him if he was worried that he would be a rebound. He shook his head and said, “No, I trust you.” Later, I would find out that he knew on that first date that he would marry me; I still had no idea.

– hope

Thanksgiving 2019 & January 2020 // the Parents

Before we even spent Thanksgiving with the Lees’, we bought tickets for a January trip to Korea in July, not even two months after we were official. We spent the fall holiday in Pittsburgh with Kyle’s parents, and I embarrassingly misread our departing bus time and we missed the bus back to New York. No such embarrassing things happened on our trip to Korea to visit my parents. Kyle had never been to Korea before, so we spent a lot of time eating real Korean food (none of that sub-par stuff we find stateside). Leading up to the trip to Korea, both of us had felt very dissociated from our ethnic culture, disillusioned by our third culture kid experience, and we had wondered if it was true that God had made us Korean for a meaningful reason. It was incredibly healing to be there with Kyle and rediscover a shared heritage of creativity and spirituality.

– hope

February 15, 2020 // the Proposal

I started looking for a ring in September, purchased it in November over Thanksgiving. I gathered a group of 50 or 60 of her friends to surprise her outside of her work in February with a flash mob. I had set my spoken word poem to music and included a dance break. Little did she know, I had been secretly learning ballroom (her sport of choice) for the last 5 months so that I could dance with her at the proposal. She said yes!

– kyle

Spring 2020 // the Pandemic

We had grand plans for a large wedding at a Brooklyn warehouse with lots of food and dancing. We had a venue booking tour scheduled for March 16th, the day lockdown began in New York City. We retreated upstate with our pastor’s family and a few of our launch team members, where we began dreaming together of starting a church and cultivating a community. Hope NoMad was birthed out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are so grateful to be family with the members of this new church.

– hope & kyle