Hana Church

There are currently 2 KM services in the morning and an EM service in the early afternoon that begins at 1:30 and goes until 3 – 3:30ish.
Honestly, time does not matter for me — I come to church to receive God’s Word and whether the sermon is short or long, I’m fulfilled. I enjoy Pastor Joshua’s messages alot. He is clear, concise, articulate, real and great. Pastor Jason and Steve are informative, educational and each provide a different style in delivering sermons but I like it nonetheless.
The Friday Bible studies have been awesome since last year. There have been some nights where it gets real deep but its so nourishing, and definitely interesting, Every Friday night when I go home, I ease myself into the weekend with a spiritual recharge and spend my restful weekend tuning up for Sunday to start a new week of more of God’s word to get me going for the following work week.
Pastor Joshua and Chris were the first two people to welcome me right when I came into the church building and with their smiles and greeting, I was instantly taken in by them.
I actually had looked at their website and also their youtube page where there are many videos to view.
During my time looking for a church, Hana was always one of the top churches to check out due to the sermons and how I received it – There was something right that I felt when I while watching the sermons and the emphasis on the scriptures that rooted with the message had me wanting to see the church in person.
It’s been a year since I first came to Hana and I am blessed by the unification of the people, I’m blessed by seeing the ‘family feeling’ this church has… from the pastor to the staff to the members to the kids. There is a very significant family connection that’s felt here — from what I seen.
I wanted to come to a church where I can receive God’s word with the deliverance of a pastor who I can relate to and be comfortable listening to. I also wanted to be provided with a more-​than-​usual learning of God’s word. going a little deeper in the Bible then just learning of a story. I also wanted to serve in the church in some way to honor and glorify Jesus. So far, I’m on that route and I’m happy with it.
If I were to let you know what’s good about Hana church… I couldn’t say anything, I would think that God brought you to this page for a reason and if this review makes you curious at all, maybe you should check it out for yourself.
Bless

A great church for the whole family. Both Korean and English services. Hana also has Korean language school, meetings for the young and old, women’s service to name just a few. Very inviting to the newcomer with special meeting group for them specifically.

I used to attend Hana church way back in the days before I moved to the mean streets of LA and I must say HANA will always have a fond place in my heart.
HANA church is like the Burger King of the church world, you really can «Have it your way» here. The church structure is set up über … entrepreneurial … (I don’t know if that’s the right word — I wanna say ‘loose’ but that makes HANA sound low class).
Anyway, this church allows you a wide berth in-​regards to… pretty much everything. If you want to start…
— A homeless ministry, go for it!
— Some kinda dance group and jump around like bats on fire, heck — why not?!
— A ministry for gang members and give them a place to feel home and loved? Bring them on in!
— Or, if you just want to hang out at church in that café area at crazy hours of the night… you’re more than welcome to come over and fellowship.
As for the sermon, Pastor Joshua is an amazingly gifted speaker. He tells a sermon in a narrative form without really using a 1−2−3 point structure, but it works cause of his speaking skills. He makes you feel like instead of hearing a sermon, you’re having a nice casual warm conversion about God.
Ya know, when I think of home, a lot of thoughts come into my head — I think of safety, warmth, comfort, a place where I receive unconditional love and understanding and also a place where I find lots of FOOD … HANA is as close to «home» as you can get for a church, in my opinion.
I honestly never seen a church structured like this, but it works — for them. This church does have a few drawbacks, its loosely organized structure is its biggest strength but also can be a big weakness, but… you’ll never know unless you visit. And, if you do visit, I say give it more than 1 twirl around the sanctuary — really get to know the people, give them a shot and I think you’ll have found something special.

Currently I am church hopper having just moved back from Texas where I was attending one of the best churches worldwide Austin Stone. So I am in a constant search to find a church that meets a three criteria grading system before I settle. I live 5 minutes from Hana Church so I had to check it out before I keep expanding the distance in which I travel. I have already attended Southland Church also a close local church that I have reviewed so I am in no way your kind and nice sort of review/​critic. The three criteria I grade churches; 1. Worship/​Music, 2. Sermon/​Message, 3. Fellowship/​People. So here is your grades for Hana Church…
1. Worship/​Music– It is extremely important that a worship band understands the elements of good music and atmosphere. When you go to a concert there is certain things such as sound and lighting. I thought Hana worship band was updated with there sound and lighting scheme. There female vocalist also had exceptional talent, kudos to her.
Worship/​Music: A-​, I feel there male vocalist needs some work but this is nitpicking. I thought they were great and I know they will get better, they look very young. You can always improve in music!
2. Sermon/​Message– A pastor/​speaker has to understand that he is working a crowd, no different then a motivational speaker etc. There is certain charisma that a pastor has to HAVE in order to move the audience. I have found in my experience alot of pastors do not have that charisma, its very hard to find. TO MY SURPRISE, Not only was the pastor WHITE in a Korean/​Asian dominated church. But this pastor was not only charismatic but his message was simple but had so much depth. I left the place thinking I have to seriously consider making this a church I go regularly due to this one mans ability to speak. PERIOD.
Sermon/​Message: A+, this White guy was phenomenol. He is a must hear!
3. Fellowship/​People– For a church hopper such as myself. It is extremely important that I be identified as a newcomer and assisted. With Hana Church that was the case and I was greeted by friendly faces and escorted to the worship scene. After the service there was some great appetizers ready for the people to mingle etc.
Fellowship/​People: A
I highly recommend this church for somebody looking for a home to go to!

Hana Church is pretty darn awesome, I must say.
I was going through an (extremely long) anti-​religious period in my life, and my first foray back into the world of Christianity was when I was 22 years old. I lost a bet, you see. My «punishment» was to go to church.
Oh, how I didn’t want to go! I dragged my feet, made excuses, feigned random illnesses — my friend would not be deterred. Somehow, he managed to drag me off to church, and Hana Church was where I ended up.
I sat in the congregation, surly and bored. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to listen.
But try as I might, I couldn’t completely tune out the pastor as he gave his riveting and entertaining sermon. I don’t recall what it was about (as it was many years ago), but I do remember suddenly being unable to act disinterested. I listened eagerly to the latter half of the sermon, and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I wanted to come back for more.
It didn’t happen overnight, but gradually, I got more into church. I’m still not a stellar Christian by any means (nor am I a particularly good example of a Christian), but after my first few experiences at Hana, I was more willing to TRY.
Pastor Joshua is awesome. His English is fluent (which is a necessity. I’m more than fluent in Korean, but Korean Biblical jargon is hard for me to decipher without much concentration), so much so that his jokes are not lost in translation. He makes me laugh, he makes me think, he makes me feel optimistic about the future, and more importantly, about the present. His sermons are relevant to modern-​day life, as opposed to the scary Bible-​banging that goes on at a lot of Korean churches. You know the ones… where they scream and yell about how everyone is going to hell unless they give up the clothes on their backs and spend 10 weeks fasting on a remote mountaintop. Something like that.
The environment at Hana is also extremely welcoming and not too pushy. I’ve been to many a church that makes you sign some «welcome form,» only to use that to point you out and make you stand up in front of a room full of strangers, and to use the phone number you so automatically jotted down to spam-​call you like crazed telemarketers. You know what I’m talking about. Hana wasn’t like that in the least. It was pleasant. The volunteer staff DO make an effort to get to know your name, but in very non-​invasive ways. And what’s cool is that they REMEMBER your name. I especially loved the Pastor’s wife. I had no clue that she was the Pastor’s wife until much later, but she is one beautiful, warm lady.
If I had to rate myself as a Christian, I’d probably give myself 2.5 stars. Somewhere right down the middle. I WANT to get more involved and dedicated, but I just haven’t found the requisite motivation yet. I’m trying, though, I’m trying!
As a church, I’d say that Hana is one of my favorite. The only reason I stopped going is because the service time for the English ministry is so late in the day (I think around 1pm), and I prefer to go to church early so that I have the rest of the day to run errands and whatnot.
If Hana had an English ministry that started earlier, then I’d so be there every week. For now, though, I am a visiting member, and a happy, satisfied visiting member at that.
Kudos to Pastor Joshua and his team!