Young C. Kim - Lead Pastor

Pastor Young Kim is the Senior Pastor of Grace Covenant Church in Philadelphia.

After receiving his initial calling into ministry as a Bio-Engineer at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, he finished his Master of Divinity at Biblical Theological Seminary (1989-1992). He also finished his Masters in Urban Missions at Westminster Theological Seminary (1995-1996).

In 1996, he planted Grace Covenant Church with a vision to be a multi-ethnic church that will raise kingdom workers for the harvest of the world to the glory of God.

God has blessed Pastor Young and his wife Annette with His precious gifts in Sarah, Daniel, and Isaiah.

"My prayer is that the Holy Spirit may empower me to love Jesus with all my heart, mind, strength and soul and to love others with the love of God."

Birthplace/hometown: Chicago, IL
Degrees: B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois

David Alas - Pastor

From left to right: Hannah, Emmett, Pastor Dave, Mikyung, and Hudson

Pastor David graduated as a Computer Science Engineer at the University of Pennsylvania. It was during his senior year that he committed his life to Jesus. After working as a consultant for a few years, he received his calling into ministry. He received his Master of Divinity at Biblical Theological Seminary (1993-1997).

In 1997, he served as a bi-vocational pastor at Grace Covenant Church while working as a programmer. In 2000, he joined the GCC staff full-time. In 2002, he moved to State College to pastor a campus church at Pennsylvania State University. In the summer of 2008, God called him back to GCC to serve as the site pastor for Mainline.

Pastor David now lives in Warminster, PA with his wife, Mikyung, and his three kids, Hannah, Hudson and Emmett.

Kirt Thallman - Pastor

Pastor Kirt received his Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary and graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in electronics.

Originally from Ohio, he became the pastor of House of Praise Bilingual Church in Taipei, Taiwan from 2000-2007. There he met his wife, Mei Lan. Before coming to GCC, he was a pastor of the English Ministry at the Chinese Christian Church of Columbia, South Carolina from 2008-2011.

He loves worshipping the "True King Jesus" and being a husband to his wife and dad to his two children, Nathan and Naomi. In his free time you will find him playing basketball and fixing unwanted things - "making the old new again."

Some themes that reflect his heart are: "love God, love others", "give & receive grace", "be real & be healed", "be interdependent not independent" and "my identity is in Christ".

Shan Gian - Pastor

Shan Gian - pastorshan@gracecovenant.net

Birthplace/hometown: Harrisburg, PA

Shan grew up in Pennsylvania and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 with a B.A. in psychology. He is currently working toward a seminary degree.

Shan came to Christ in his college years and considers himself very blessed to be a part of what God is continuing to do on the campuses of Philadelphia.

Eating is one of Shan's favorite hobbies, and he highly recommends Beijing, a local Chinese restaurant.