Our Staff
Steve Lee
Lead Pastor As a former missionary doctor in Kenya, Steve directed a hospital, helped open an HIV/AIDS clinic and nursing school, and used medical outreach teams to pioneer work among unreached people. Yet none of that compares to what he experiences as a pastor now. “There’s something so unique about the life-sharing experience of the local church that other organizations can’t replicate.” After five years serving as a missionary, Steve joined the Immanuel staff in 2009. As the lead pastor his greatest joy is to see lives that are transformed by the power of the gospel. As the primary teaching pastor, his goal is to let the Bible speak for itself and to find the gospel message in every passage: “How does this passage help us to put greater trust in God?” Through his executive role, Steve's primary goal is to nurture a healthy church by mentoring leaders and fostering a healthy organizational culture. Steve was born in Korea and came to the U.S. when he was four. He and his wife Betty live in the North Suburbs with their five children—Joy (21), Noelle (19), Luke (16), Bethany (14), and Judah (12). Steve is an avid reader. Dallas Willard and Eugene Peterson have been his major influences. When he gets a chance he also enjoys reading novels by authors such as Ian McEwan and Kazuo Ishiguro. Steve also enjoys listening to the podcasts This American Life, Freakonomics, and The Moth. He is an avid fan of cinema, enjoying a wide range of movies from current Hollywood blockbusters to classic works by Hitchcock and Fellini. Steve completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois in Urbana- Champaign with a dual degree in psychology and anthropology, and his medical studies at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria. After completing his residency in 1998, he worked as a primary care doctor while pursuing his Master of Divinity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, IL). He also served as a pastor at Faith Alliance Bible Church (Des Plaines, IL) for six years until he left for the mission field in 2004. |
Peter Cho
Executive Pastor After spending nearly 20 years working in the corporate world and serving the local church in various capacities as a layman, Peter recently answered a call into vocational ministry. His journey of faith through his own life struggles has inspired him to serve others. In his executive role, Peter is charged with overseeing the various ministries and executing the vision and mission of the church. Despite his experience with numbers and in the financial world, Peter also loves using the other side of his brain. One of his greatest passions is finding creative ways to share the gospel, whether it is through the arts and his writing or in his teaching and preaching. He loves telling his story (life’s ups and downs) within God’s greater story (the gospel) and shares very openly about his faith journey both on his blog (seeingjesusineverything.blogspot.com) and on social media. Peter was born and raised in St. Louis and is a lifelong fan of Cardinal baseball. He and his wife Kimberly are blessed with three children - Caleb (15), Timothy (12), Selah (9) and their dog, Autumn. He enjoys reading, writing, playing guitar and piano, going on hikes with his wife, coaching his son’s baseball teams and playing pretty much any sport which includes a ball. Some of his favorite authors include Oswald Chambers, C.S. Lewis, Ravi Zacharias, and Brennan Manning and he enjoys any movie with slapstick humor (e.g. Nacho Libre, Dumb & Dumber) or a strong redemptive theme (e.g. Glory, Braveheart, etc). Peter completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with a bachelors in accounting and has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Evanston as well as a Masters in Biblical Studies from Moody Theological Seminary. |
Eujin Ahn
Assistant Pastor Eujin wants to be just as approachable as Jesus was when he walked the earth. Although he always wears a smile on his face, he doesn’t want to be known as merely a “nice guy.” “I want to represent Christ in a way that anyone I meet or speak to would know there is something different about me, not just he’s ‘very friendly,’ but to be able to show that this is the product of Jesus in my life.” In shepherding the teenagers of Immanuel’s youth group, Eujin leads their fellowship activities, preaches messages during the youth service every Sunday, and provides opportunities for them to exercise their faith through outreach. The community outreach has included working with Pacific Garden Mission shelter in Chicago, serving with Feed My Starving Children, and volunteering in Thrive’s Doorway ESL program. Eujin also leads the Children’s Church worship on Sundays and preaches quarterly to the adult congregation. Eujin lives in Buffalo Grove with his wife Cynthia and four boys, Josiah (7), Timothy (5), and Matthias (3) and Benjamin (1), all who are getting into sports. They love doing everything together. “We don’t really get babysitting, we just pack the kids everywhere we go.” He loves playing basketball, and is a die-hard Bulls fan who practically came to tears at Derrick Rose’s injury woes. He enjoys TV series more than movies and can watch Food Network all day. He likes deep dish pizza, food from Portillos and from Chicago’s Greek Town and “anything deep fried.” Eujin is bi-vocational, working full-time as a chemist at a pharmaceutical company. He grew up in Buffalo Grove and went to college at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he gave his life to Christ and then served as a small-group leader. He served as a youth pastor at Christ Church of Albany Park from 1999 to 2009. |
Kimberly Cho
Children's Ministry Director At the age of 9, Kim was dropped off at a nearby neighborhood church and it was through the children’s ministry that she was taught the gospel and came to faith. Her personal testimony has given her a strong conviction of the importance of ministering to children of all ages. She is passionate about developing a ministry that not only teaches the gospel but demonstrates it by meeting children exactly where they are. This includes holding to a philosophy of ministry and using a curriculum that refrains from preaching moralism or pushing behavior modification. Her hope is that when the children are old enough to truly understand what it means to make a faith decision for Christ, it will be a completely natural desire for them because of the beauty of the gospel they have already heard and seen. Kim served as the children’s ministry director at her previous church from 1998 to 2008. Through the power of social media, she is blessed to see how many of her earliest pre-school students are now in college and still walking in their faith. Though she thought she had retired from children’s ministry, God had other plans and she returned in 2015 to serve as the children’s ministry director at ICC. She is the wife of 16 years to Peter Cho and additionally serves as a Bible teacher for the Classical Consortium Academy in Barrington, a home-school co-op that their three children participate in. She is in her seventh year of homeschooling and is thankful for the extra time with her children that it has afforded her. Kim completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelors in Speech and Hearing Science and has previously worked as a Speech-Language Therapist for children with special needs. She enjoys the outdoors and many sports including tennis, yoga and exercising. Most of all, she treasures the simple joys of living life with Jesus and sharing His love with others. |