Recently, pastors in New York and New Jersey will be receiving prominent awards that were previously received by renowned leaders. Reverend Samuel Chang Ghil Kim from Protestant Abbey Mission is to be awarded the Norman Vincent Peale Award on Positive Thinking, and Reverend Seung Hee Kim from New York Cho Dae Church will receive an Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
The Norman Vincent Peale Award was established by Norman Vincent Peale, who was the co-founder of the Blanton-Peale Institute and Counseling Center, and the renowned author of 'The Power of Positive Thinking.' Some previous recipients of the award include former President Ronald Reagan in 1990, John Templeton in 1999, General Collin Powell in 1991, and Elizabeth Dole in 1993.
The Ellis Island Medal of Honor was established by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO), which began in 1986, and honors those who immigrated into the U.S. or are from immigrant families, and made a significant contribution to the advancement of American society. Former President Ronald Reagan, former President Bill Clinton, and former President George H. W. Bush, are among the renowned leaders and community organizers who have received the award in the past.
Reverend Samuel Kim will be honored with the Norman Vincent Peale Award for persevering under the difficult circumstances surrounding the immigrant church, and continuously maintaining an actively positive attitude while building up the church. He has also been recognized for the exemplary ways that he found a successor to his ministry, and continued in serving the community even after his retirement.
Reverend Samuel Chang Ghil Kim, the founder of the Protestant Abbey Mission.
Reverend Samuel Kim founded the Presbyterian Church of New Jersey as a small church plant with 31 congregants, but by the time he decided to retire, the church had grown to some 1,000 members. After his retirement from his pastoral position, he established the Protestant Abbey Mission, and led various prayer meetings throughout New Jersey and New York.
Reverend Seung Hee Kim, who is the first Korean pastor to receive the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, was acknowledged for the various ways he served the community through New York Cho Dae Church. He is known for founding the church and helping build the church to become one of the central churches in the Korean church community of New York. Kim was also known to have served laborers early in the morning each day by serving them breakfast.
The Ellis Island Medal of Honor will be awarded at Ellis Island on May 9, at 6:30 PM, while the Norman Vincent Peale Award on Positive Thinking will be awarded on May 12, at 6 PM at the Yale Club of New York City.
