Who Are They:
Pastor Richard and Jen Hong planted Risen Church in Hayward, California in September 2019. Richard was born and raised in the Bay Area but moved to Southern California to attend UC Irvine for college and worked as a Civil Engineer. Over time, Rich sensed more and more, a call and conviction from God to return to the Bay Area to advance the Gospel in the hearts of his home area. He received his MDiv from Westminster Seminary California and served at New LIfe Mission Church in Fullerton prior to eventually planting Risen Hayward.

The Bay Area is home to 8 million people, but only 5 percent of the population are churches. Risen Church’s vision is to share Christ and to see a community transformed by His love and selfless grace.

From P. Rich:
”My hope and desire is to continually be a part of evangelism and church planting in the Bay Area, and also train men and women for the work of ministry in the Bay Area. God has put a specific calling upon my heart–to be used as a vessel towards establishing healthy, thriving, biblically-grounded, gospel-centered, missional Christians, churches, and spiritual leaders–not as rare, but as normative–courageously loving and humbly testifying to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Bay Area. Though God has called me to this ministry and is delighted to use me, God has revealed to me how He is the one who will do this supernatural work, and every single day, I am learning to lean on Him and not trust in my own efforts. “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).”

Prayer Requests:
1. For conversion, baptism, and discipleship in the church.
2. To train men and women for the work of ministry.
3. To be a healthy, thriving, biblically-grounded, gospel-centered, missional church.