Story by Dawn Lemons
Program Assistant and Resource Coordinator
Congregational and Community Vitality, Mountain Sky Conference
Joining Rev. Angie Kotzmoyer as a representative of the Mountain Sky Conference on Capitol Hill will be Rev. Peter Jisung Lee and Pastor Cory Young.
The three are part of the 50 young clergy hosted by
Church and Society for the 2020 Young Clergy Leadership Forum Jan. 26 - 29.
The goals for the forum include connecting young clergy with the ministry of Church and Society, providing a space to share knowledge and experience, and creating bridges for future ministry collaboration.
Rev. Kotzmoyer
Rev. Kotzmoyer is a Provisional Elder in the Mountain Sky Conference and serves the diverse and reconciling community of Park Hill United Church in Denver, Colorado as the Associate Pastor of Discipleship and Outreach. She is also the Co-Convener for the Mountain Sky Conference Queer Clergy Caucus with her good friend and colleague, Rev. Sharon Langfeldt.
"I am looking forward to connecting with young clergy to share knowledge and experience. I hope that we are able to create bridges between our local congregations for collaboration in future ministry. It is so important in our United Methodist world to have vast connections. I also hope that it is a time of empowerment and a time of cultivating our calls that have been individually placed on all of our hearts by God."
Rev. Peter Jisung Lee
Following his call to become a pastor, Rev. Peter Jisung Lee attended Methodist Theological University in Korea, where he sought both “personal piety” and “social holiness based on the belief that faith always includes a social dimension.”
Upon Lee's graduation from university in Korea, God guided his way to the United States as he enrolled and completed his Master of Divinity degree at Drew University, in Madison, New Jersey. Rev. Lee’s time at Drew University taught him to think about the “importance of inclusiveness and diversity based on the belief that God’s grace reaches everyone.”
Lee's experience as a chaplain at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey put his Clinical Pastoral Education (CEP) to work, and it is there he realized his “spiritual presence could demonstrate something of great value to others.”
Lee is thankful that in July of 2017, Bishop Karen Oliveto appointed him to Korean American UMC in Colorado Springs, CO where he currently serves in the English Service, Education Department, Young Adult Ministry, and Church Administration.
“My hope, through the forum, is to make connections and share thoughts, talents, and ideas about how to make a beloved community and to apply what we share to my church and community.”
Pastor Cory Young
Also attending the leadership forum is Pastor Cory Young, who serves three small, rural churches in northern Montana: Shelby UMC, Sunburst UMC, and Valier UMC.
Pastor Young is a Provisional Member seeking full ordination as an Elder this year at Annual Conference and is very humbled by the conference sending him and his fellow pastors to Washington, D.C.
Ministry is a second career for him; he spent seven years in the audiobook industry and decided that it was time to fulfill the call God gave him.
Young left his job, went to Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Chicago, and obtained his Master of Divinity before serving in Montana.
“What I am hoping for most at this conference is to see what the younger generation of clergy are excited about doing. We are the future of the church and often feel our voices are not heard. When we come together as younger clergy we can dream, we can empower, and we can encourage one another to be a positive change for The United Methodist Church.”
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