[Updated 8/6/09, 4pm]
I did another search on ‘Kelly Kang’ and found something really amusing.
Here’s her “resume” posted there. Note how many times her name is referenced as “Kelly Kang” rather than just Kelly, or a simple pronoun of “she”. I think this makes it pretty evident that they are trying really hard to make the search rankings.
Kelly Kang’s relationship with God goes deeper than weekly church services. As Pastor Ed’s wife at Gracepoint Fellowship Church, Kelly Kang complements her husband by helping to lead congregation members down the narrow road. Kelly Kang assists with daily ministry efforts, including fellowship preparations, devotional sharing, and prayer meetings. Moreover, Kelly Kang cares for the people of Gracepoint Fellowship Church and strives to be a mentor, friend, and family member to all who seek God’s grace. Kelly Kang began her own understanding of faith as a pastor’s daughter. Although Kelly Kang’s experiences in a ministry-filled home brought love and spiritual fulfillment, she and her family faced challenges over the years. As a result, Kelly Kang had no interest in marrying a pastor. Upon graduation from UC San Diego with her Bachelor’s degrees in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research and Electrical Engineering, Kelly Kang met Ed, a law student who would one day specialize in the field of real estate law. Kelly Kang eventually realized God’s plan for her when her husband received his call to full-time ministry as a pastor. Today, Kelly Kang is blessed to be a pastor’s wife and mother of three. Kelly Kang began her full-time work in ministry after serving for 10 years as a Bay Area software engineer. In addition to her hands-on duties at Gracepoint Fellowship Church, Kelly Kang shares devotionals on her personal blog. There, viewers can read Kelly Kang’s prayers, songs, and reflections on her faith in Jesus and life of living out His commands. Kelly Kang also relays announcements concerning events at Gracepoint Fellowship Church. Kelly Kang’s blog posts also include an occasional joke or two because she knows that a joyful heart is good medicine.
—–
Wow.
That’s all I can say. When I initially presumed that Gracepoint was trying to flood the web, I didn’t know that the extent to which they were doing it.
I just googled “Pastor Ed Kang”.
Guess what?
He’s everywhere! Even sites most of us would not recognize!
- WordPress.com with his own blog
- wetpaint.com
- youtube.com
- amazon.com [with some "top" list]
- peoplepond.com
- biznik.com
- zoominfo.com
- bigsight.org
- brightfuse.com
- praxisgracepoint.org
- gracepointvideo.org
- koinomedia.org
- acts2fellowship.org
- wink.com
- blogoria.com
- linkedin.com
- praxisgracepoint.org
- igsmonline.org
- tumblr.com
- gracepointstories.org
- gracepointdevotions.org
- ismberkeley.org
- gracepointannouncements.org
- myplaxo.com
- flickr.com
[note how many variations of domain names that Gracepoint owns - do they really need something like gracepointdevotions.org when they have gracepointonline.org? It's probably just strategic effort to own more presence on the web. You'll find similar results when googling "Kelly Kang"]
Anyhow, this begs the question – Did Pastor Ed Kang setup all these accounts himself? Probably not.
He probably had his loyal minion of technical, web-savvy people do it for him, with a nice blurb attached.
[I did have to smirk about the fact that several social media site's account is open under his name except notably myspace.com and facebook.com, since Ed spoke out against them.]
Well, I applaud you Pastor Ed Kang. Your plan is working.
You are successfully drowning out any negative, but true information about you, so that you never have to admit the truths of what you and your wife Kelly Kang are doing, and have done.
But God is just. In the end, His judgment awaits all of us, and we’ll all be held accountable for what we’ve done in secret and in public.
Filed under: pride, truth | Tagged: Gracepoint Berkeley
So sad… but so true…
Ed Kang, Kelly Kang and the Gracepoint Foundation, Inc are amazing.
I think the Kangs would make EXCELLENT business owners. They’re smart, capable, cold & goal-oriented. A church, though? Needs a lot more than that.
Keep writing….
the list does not include all the twittering that is happening from many staff/core members
they’re on twitter now??
Yep, many of them are on Twitter. IM, blogging, and Facebook are apparently wrong, but not Twitter. (Not until a mandate comes from above, that is.)
it’s no shock to anyone that knows them that this strategy mobilized so quickly. GFC is a fast-acting efficiency machine.
I could easily imagine that they must have had some sort of special staff meeting for this to be done with all the techy people involved, instructed, then deployed.
Dictatorial rule is definitely efficient.
I am POSTIVE of it. I used to be in those meetings… This actually really upsets me, because it is straight out depeption!
Twitter was used during the demonstrations protesting the recent Iranian elections. It’s a great tool for mobilizing large groups.
So I suppose their rule of thumb must be, if it makes you more efficient, then it’s okay. But if it brings you into contact with non-GFC friends too much (like facebook), it’s not, since that would not be ‘ministry’.
Who knows, maybe the next step is for them to post their Weekly Reports on Twitter. That would be amusing. Just have your leader subscribe to you, while you confess each sin real-time.
Looks like some GFC staff are now on Facebook. And a New Student Welcome Night page. They were maybe deputized to promote NSWN on Facebook?
Well, your site comes up third on the list and they can’t do a whole lot about that, I wouldn’t think.
they can and they are doing it. one of the reasons of having so many blogs is to have all the blogs linked to each other. if a page is linked to many other webpages, that increases the page ranks in a search, thus making it a popular search item. When someone searches on google, the results are based on which pages have the highest page ranks. Essentially, that is the intention for these blogs.
I recall that once Pastor Ed Kang preached on the extreme things that we go out of our way to do in order to not repent.
It sounds like he’s doing the same thing.
Maybe we should fight fire with fire. Somebody start a twitter account and start publishing content with #gracepoint or #gfc or something. :)
Usually fighting a fire with fire is not very effective. You have to fight the fire with water and still trying to figure out how this can be done.
It’s okay, folks. People who want to deliberately find this blog will find it, and that is good enough.
I’ve linked your site to mine. Maybe others will do the same.
Provender… don’t forget the other BBC/GFC blogs out there!
Sigh…it’s just so sad the drama we choose to involve ourselves in. Please just love God, and love people. We would all benefit from asking ourselves if we do things (especially when wounded), out of a heart of love or a heart of vengeance.
thanks for your comment. I’ve actually done quite a bit of thinking about this whole effort already, took time off, and then came back to it . I can honestly say that I do not do this from a heart of vengeance, but as an effort to reveal truth, and protect people from potentially being hurt.
If you think one should simply walk away after the BBC/GFC experience and “move on”, I think we should deliberate on the story of the good samaritan or David/Nathan, or even question why Jesus bothered correcting the pharisees and the chief priests.
Naivete, and accompanying arrogance, produces such perfunctory dispensations of insight that are perhaps better left alone.
Honestly… I do love God.
I love people, but I have been deeply hurt, wounded and scarred from my experience with Ed Kang and Kelly Kang.
I don’t know whether you’re a current Gracepoint member, someone who already left, or an outsider, but as a current Gracepoint member with doubts, I can say that this blog is very useful to me. It might be one thing if it were a lone, isolated incident between the writer of this blog and Gracepoint’s leadership, but the fact is, many people both within and without Gracepoint have had similar experiences. This blog gives those who have left an outlet to discuss their experiences and those who are questioning a chance to reflect on some of the issues they may have with the leadership.
This is exactly why I keep my blog up and participate on the other blogs. When I left BBC/GFC I had no one to turn or talk to.
note also that ed kang’s LinkedIn account has ABSOLUTELY NO connections — it’s pretty apparent that ed kang isn’t all that interested in connecting with other people through all these internet networks. they are just being used drown out any other information about gracepoint church in berkeley that ed or kelly kang don’t authorize, namely the true stories of abuse.
check his account now — there are ZERO network connections and a barebones profile. sadly, ed kang will commission the gracepoint church web dev team to quickly get his LinkedIn profile (and all the others) to look more authentic.
Yes he will now that you good people of the Blog-o-shere have exposed him! He is quick to cover his tracks. But it’s too late on this one, good catch! People need, NEED to know the truth on these things!
How can he call himself a man of God? KNOWING he is doing these things!
Sigh – yes, he can deceive man, but not God.
It somehow reminds me of King David – how he tried to cover up his tracks after his sin with Bathsheba.
I tried giving Pastor Ed and Kelly-SMN the benefit of the doubt, but at this point, I think it’s pretty clear what they’re trying to do. I can see no logical reason for Kelly-SMN to post a resume, especially one with such egregious name-dropping, except in an effort to perform a Google bomb.
I find it kind of sad, really. In the time the staff took to set up all these accounts, they could have posted on these blogs and had a dialogue with the people here. Legitimate or not, I feel Gracepoint should be addressing these concerns instead of just trying to drown them out. It’s just like how Pastor Ed encouraged us not to read these blogs during the meeting about them. Rather than reflecting on these issues and becoming a better church through it, it feels like we’re just trying to make them go away by ignoring them.
and I ask that Pastor Ed abide by his own words in my post.
http://twistedgracepoint.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/in-pastor-ed-kangs-own-words/
hmm…seems like if you feel this way, you should probably approach P. Ed and Kelly directly? Perhaps they will address the concerns in a face to face manner. Of maybe approach your leaders? As for the attempts online to protect their reputations, etc. this happens all the time. Obviously there are differing opinions on what is being discussed here and P. Ed and Kelly do not agree. Corporations, Hollywood stars, bloggers of all types, etc employ many strategies to protect themselves online and to limit the affect of things/people that they do not agree with. It’s the nature of this beast called the internet. Just because Pastor Ed and Kelly are Christian or pastors doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t do the same thing everyone else is doing, in my opinion.
Anyhow, if you want answers to questions or issues and you are still at Gracepoint (and even if you aren’t) it seems logical to just approach Pastor Ed and Kelly. If you’re satisfied with their answers, then stay and get on with your Christian growth. If not, then go somewhere where you can focus on your relationship with God and grow. I know that may not be easy because of relationships you have formed, but it is what you must do if you have issues that may hinder your relationship with God. Taking to blogs and such to find the answers to your questions may have pretty limited effect, it seems.
Christians are told to leave their offering at altar and be reconciled with their brother first, not deny any problems ever happened and pin all the responsibility on the other party. To add insult to injury, instead reconciling or even ignoring, they try to drown out the cries for redress. Pastors are not suppose to be Hollywood stars, bloggers, or corporations. Or is the latter what has become of the GFC’s culture, the corporate culture?
Wow…there was like no effort in that post to disguise the fact that you’re totally trained to give that reply.
Wow, this is as impersonal, uncaring, and reflective of the lack of compassion in favor of giving the standard protectionist reply as it gets. I don’t think it is “training” as much as it is indoctrination though.
Anonymous, believe me, many of us here have given the same kind of responses of generations of ex-BBC/GFC when we were members ourselves.
Hi,
I just wanted to ask you directly if you are a staff member. If so, I encourage you to state as such. I hope you return, and I hope we can engage in good dialogue based on truth.
This one made me really sick… More of the same but on yet another site! Kelly Kang this, Kelly Kang that… how many times do you have to put in your full name?
http://www.naymz.com/search/kelly/kang/2684619
The web team needs a rebuking! They are getting lazy… just cutting and pasting now. http://biznik.com/members/kelly-kang
It’s the same chuck of text from the top of this posting.
When one party is feeling hurt and the other party is being accused of doing the harm, does it makes more sense for the alleged perpetrator to approach the victim first? Why would the victim approach the alleged perpetrator first at the risk of being harmed again?
Have you ever had a rebuke by a person, whom you have shared your inner most thoughts and feeling to, screamed and yelled at the top of her voice? Told you to go to GGBTS to pray and send her a reflection after? Have your ministry duties threaten and the students taken away from you?
Since you write P. Ed, I know you are staff. Students don’t write the shorthand like this. Think about what you just wrote. Would kind of view of us former staff does your post suggest? That we are bitter, spineless, confused, hidden-agenda, people who just “can’t get over it”?
Thanks for your advice. Pastor Ed and Kelly have, in fact, given a public response to many of the criticisms on these blogs, as I posted: http://twistedgracepoint.wordpress.com/your-stories/#comment-467 These answers do little to ease my concerns. I am a college student who has only been a member of Gracepoint for two years, and a “core” member for one semester. I have never heard Pastor Ed and Kelly publicly apologize for any of the actions these blogs point out, and I have even seen them use rather flimsy justifications for some of the more extreme ones. I hope you can understand why it would be difficult for someone in my position to confront them and expect them to be forthcoming about their flaws. It was some of my leader’s actions that compelled me to start reading these blogs in the first place, so I don’t know what kind of answer I can expect from him. I do, in fact, discuss the problems I have with Gracepoint with my peers. Nonetheless, the culture at Gracepoint makes it very difficult to challenge the system, as many posts here have indicated.
You say that Hollywood celebrities and corporations use similar tactics to what Gracepoint is doing. However, Gracepoint is neither of these things, and nor should it be striving to be them. A business concerns itself with only its own profit, and a celebrity with their own fame. Gracepoint is a church, a place for the broken led by the broken. One of the fundamentals of Christianity is the recognition and confession of one’s own sins. Gracepoint’s leadership should be aware of their own flaws and weaknesses, instead of just trying to do away with all dissenting voices to protect their image.
Gracepoint is a very strong and effective community. However, I see many problems with this church, and these blogs help me to reason them out. They act as a kind counterbalance to the constant positive messages I hear about GFC as a part of that community. Furthermore, even if I do disagree with some of Gracepoint’s policies, or I am unsatisfied by their answers, leaving a community that I have been a part of and grown in for two years is a very extreme action. I have made many close friends here, and it would be difficult to leave them, especially since my issues with Gracepoint are quite minor compared to what has apparently happened to many others. Gracepoint’s culture certainly does not make leaving any easier. My personal relationship with God is not mediated solely through the church. Even if I disagree with my church on many issues, my relationship with God can still grow. If God has called me to Gracepoint, then regardless of its flaws, I should stay. However, that does not mean that I have to be completely ignorant of the problems around me.
Forgot to mention this in the last post: if you really are current Gracepoint staff, then thanks for posting here, instead of just trying to ignore these blogs.
Nyoron,
As someone who has a bit more perspective and years to see how life is and can be, there is life after GFC. Yes, the relationships that you have made are true, and it is hard to decide to leave, but you have to do what you think is right and in your heart. 2 years is a big chunk in the perspective of college, but in life it is small. I have friends who left in the middle of college, and I have friends who left after several years(+). Let me tell you that life inded goes and it can indeed become better and richer and more satisfying because you are being true to yourself, not living in fear. I think you already know what you want to do. The issue is whether you have the courage to do it. I pray that you find that courage.
Nyoron,
No church is perfect. You are right when you said, it’s broken people leading broken people. I currently go to an active church that me and my wife believe God has led us to. We met many people with whom we can fellowship and comfort us after we left Berkland. I personally believe there are alternatives.
At the same time, the relationships you develop at GFC is strong. You invest your life completely in the relationships and the church, after all. And as the years go by, it is harder to leave.
I understand that it’s scary to think about leaving the relationships you have, and what the process might even be like. I’m not encouraging you to leave. You have to decide for yourself, based on your convictions. If it is your conviction that you stay at GFC, please do so. If there is a voice in you that questions, and wants to leave – and you are sure that it’s not because you just want to live a worldly life – then don’t ignore that conviction either. Since you’ve been there at least 2 years, you are approximately 20 years old. I think you are old enough to make decisions for yourself.
I think that’s what I want anyone to learn from my mistake. I did not have the courage to make choices for myself and simply speak my mind when I wanted to. I know it can be scary to do that. And many times I wish I had stood my ground. Now that I’m older, I feel like the days I lived without having my own choices I lost.
Forgot to mention that my current church is nor perfect either. But it emphasizes the Word and wants to actively preach the Gospel.
Nyoron,
I personally think God has opened your eyes for a reason. For a person who’s only been there 2 years, you are astute in your observations, and I applaud that you are seeking truth, rather than blind loyalty, as many gracepointers sadly do.
I don’t know if I can recommend that you leave, or stay – I pray that God will lead you. But I will say this much. If you stay, please continue to point out the wrongs based on the Word of God and Truth. Should you leave, I hope you can find a great church where you can continue to grow.
Thanks for your comments and well wishes. I’m going to keep praying about these issues.
“My personal relationship with God is not mediated solely through the church”
Very well said. Although we need the church, the church should not dominate our personal relationship with God 100%. That’s what tends to happen at GFC. Jesus said in matt 18:20:
“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
I think as Christians, we ought to have close friends that are defined by our relationship together in Jesus first, rather than friends who are defined by what church you go to.
After I left, my “close” friends are barely in contact with me, and I don’t blame them in a way – partially I see them as victims, and I pity them. They move on with their GFC schedules with no room for anyone except GFC-designated ministry. I know a few of them aren’t even that happy there, but they are almost like the paralytic at the pool. They continue to remain there, but have constant excuses for themselves as to why they are not getting better – John 5
I’m not advising anybody to leave, but….
I spent years at gracepoint/berkland struggling wtih doubts & concerns. to deal with them, i rationalized & spiritualized — i looked around and saw seemingly happy content people (later realizing they weren’t so happy). it was an endless cycle of trying to minimize that little voice inside me that kept saying something wasn’t right (and note: kelly kang will refer to this little voice as Satan or yeast-like doubt, which isn’t true at all). but when you continue to try and accept dysfunction as healthy, it starts to wear on your spiritual, mental and physical self.
were the “friendships” at gracepoint/berkland worth that kind of constant internal battle? once i left, those “relationships” showed their true colors — no calls, no emails (not even email RESPONSES to my initiated contacts). just ask chris pak about his friendships that disintegrated before his very eyes (people that he claimed he would “bury his bones with.”)
were the Bible teachings enough to have made it worth it? that’s hard to say. the teaching and training at gracepoint/berkland are hard to find at a different church. but that said, knowing more of the Bible doesn’t exactly make you better, happier in Christ, etc. often the Bible training at gracepoint/berkland was more stressful than joyful. take for example, a core members Bible study where pastor ed kang asked us where he could find the Samaritan woman’s story. when nobody could answer, he rebuked us all. or another example, at an even called “The Bible Olympics.” when most of the people scored low on a Bible knowledge test, we were all rebuked. i had thought this was a fun, volunteer activity but, boy, was i wrong.
as i said earlier, i’m not advising anybody to leave — but i do advise examining your concerns and questions BECAUSE THEY ARE VALID. i do advise getting ANSWERS to those issues before committing your entire life.
“kelly kang will refer to this little voice as Satan or yeast-like doubt, which isn’t true at all”
This is very true. She will frame this as YOUR problem of not being able to trust, or being tempted by lies or doubts. Then she will encourage you to “trust more” or “press on” or “work harder”. You might get a prescription to go away on a personal retreat, and then write a reflection and email it to her about your “issue”.
I second the getting no response part. So much of people’s lives are wrapped up in GFC that things become GFC or not GFC. Friends are GFC people or not GFC people. I experienced the same disappointment when trying to maintain my relationships. You are going to be friends with people you are going to be friends with.
Pastor Ed even in his famous letter to Becky quipped about the famous koinonia cross relationships between the pastors. I’ll say it again, you are going to be friends with people you are going to be friends with.