The Center for Asian American Christianity

The 2026 mental health conference "Our Flourishing, Our Faith: Navigating Rupture and Repair in Asian American Christian Communities" is coming up this Friday and Saturday!

In-person registration is sold out, but you can still register for FREE to join us virtually. You can access the session recordings on Airmeet indefinitely, so don't hesitate to register even if you can't attend the whole conference live.

Link in bio to learn more and register!

Don't forget to register for the 2026 mental health conference! In-person registration is sold out, but it's not too late to register to join for FREE online on April 10-11!

Saturday's closing panel session will be a conversation on spiritual formation, psychiatric and psychological care, and the future of healing practices in Asian American Christian communities, moderated by David Chao, director of the CAAC at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Here are our panelists:

📌 Ciin Kham is a Licensed Minister and LMFTA (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate) serving the southside community of Indianapolis. With a deep passion for supporting the Burmese diaspora facing mental health challenges, Ciin offers holistic care that integrates clinical expertise with faith-based counseling. Their work fosters emotional healing and spiritual growth through culturally sensitive support, practical teaching, and accessible resources.

📌 Thomas H. Okamoto, M.D. is a Board Certified Adult Psychiatrist with a specialty in Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Okamoto is currently an Adjunct Professor of Talbot Seminary’s Spiritual Formation/MFT School and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. He is a Distinguished Lifetime Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He currently practices psychiatry in Santa Ana, California.

📌 David C. Wang, Th.M., Ph.D. is the Cliff and Joyce Penner Chair for the Formation of Emotionally Healthy Leaders and Professor of Psychology and Spiritual Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is also pastor of spiritual formation at One Life City Church and a licensed psychologist. His academic and applied work focuses on the holistic formation of Christian leaders, inclusive of the formation of emotional health and resilience alongside the leader’s intellectual and spiritual formation.

Learn more and register at https://ourflourishing.org/!

In-person registration is sold out, but it's not too late to register to join online for the 2026 mental health conference on April 10-11!

📌 Go to ourflourishing.org to learn more and register.

The Friday panel session will be a conversation with ministry leaders and clinicians on the challenges and possibilities of cultivating emotionally healthy Asian American faith communities, moderated by Carissa Dwiwardani of Rosemead School of Psycholoy at Biola University.

Here are our panelists:

Sandhya is a Ministry Leader, Trauma-Informed Certified Story Coach, and Spiritual Director. Sandhya currently walks closely with ministry staff in Athletes in Action, South Asian leaders, and Adult Adoptees. She holds multiple Certifications in Narrative Focused Trauma Care from the Allender Center, and her expertise is found at the intersection of Grief Care, Adoption, Identity, and Soul Care. In her free time, she loves surfing, gathering around the table, and creating good cups of Chai.

Dr. Ben C. Shin has served in the ministry as a pastor, parachurch leader and professor for more than 30 years. He enjoys reading, music, sports (especially the UCLA Bruins) and spending time with people. His vision and passion includes mentoring leaders, rebuilding churches and teaching the Word of God. He currently serves as Associate Professor of Christian Ministry & Leadership and Director of the Asian-American Ministry track for the Doctor of Ministry at Talbot School of Theology.

Dr. Stan Sonu is an Associate Professor of internal medicine and pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Sonu is also the Medical Director for Child Advocacy at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. He is deeply committed to teaching professional and public audiences on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), relational health and resilience in primary care, trauma-informed care, medical-legal partnerships, and health equity. In his free time, you can find him drinking good coffee, reading a book, enjoying engaging conversations, and cherishing quality time with his family and friends.

The 2026 mental health conference will feature workshops on intergenerational rupture, church culture and mental health, and healing when repair is impossible, led by Rev. Alex Chang, Tansy Kadoe, LMFT, and Eunhyey Lok, LMFT.

📌 Rev. Alex Chang is Lead Pastor of Princeton Alliance Church, a multi-ethnic church with over eighty-five ethnicities represented. Although he grew up as a pastor’s kid in a Korean immigrant church, ministry was never part of his original vocational plans. He worked as a banker for several financial institutions in New York City before moving to Princeton to earn his MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is an ordained minister in the Christian & Missionary Alliance and also serves as Vice-Chairman on the Metropolitan District Executive Committee of the C&MA. He is currently pursuing a DMin at Fuller Theological Seminary.

📌 Tansy Kadoe, LAMFT was born and raised in Burma and immigrated to the United States in 1993, following the pro-democracy uprisings of 1988 that disrupted education and intensified civil conflict. She belongs to the Karen ethnic group, one of the largest minority communities in Burma, and remains deeply connected to her people through church, counseling, and storytelling ministries. She earned her Master of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2016 and has practiced as a licensed therapist in Phoenix since then. She is now pursuing a Doctor of Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller, focusing on developing models of lay counseling and peer counseling within ethnic churches.

📌 Eunhyey Lok is a licensed marriage and family therapist, ordained pastor and spiritual director. She has worked in both therapy and spiritual direction with couples and individuals, particularly leaders in Christian ministry as well as cross-cultural and international NGO workers for 15 years. She provides a space to heal, recover and breathe for those experiencing burnout as they care for others.

Read their full bios here: https://ourflourishing.org/ -speakers.

Apply by March 9 for the $250 Common Table grant for your group attending the 2026 Mental Health Conference together, either virtually or in person.

You can learn more and apply at https://ourflourishing.org/rupture-and-repair-2026/common-table/.

Common Table is a pilot initiative connected to the April 2026 Mental Health Conference, inviting pre-existing ministry teams to participate in the conference through shared, communal viewing. Rather than engaging the conference as isolated individuals, teams gather around a common table in trusted relationships to listen together, surface shared questions, and discern concrete implications for their ministry contexts.

Funding may be used to cover hospitality costs (food and beverages) that support sustained, meaningful engagement, compensation for staff or participants’ time, local travel or meeting-related expenses, and other modest costs that help your team gather and participate well.

The annual mental health conference is coming up! Register now to join us in person at Biola University or online on Airmeet.

The CAAC at and the Asian American Mental Health Initiative at the Rosemead School of Psychology at invite you to join a two-day hybrid conference dedicated to strengthening the mental, spiritual, and communal health of Asian American faith communities.

📍Date: April 10–11, 2026
📍Modality: Hybrid (online on Airmeet)
📍Location: Tabot East, Biola University, La Mirada, CA

Learn more at ourflourishing.org.

Our conviction is simple yet urgent: flourishing in Asian American churches and households depends upon the integration of psychological science, biblical–theological wisdom, and honest attention to the migration and racialization experiences that shape our lives.

Our conference theme names both the ruptures that wound us—conflicts avoided, anger suppressed, forgiveness demanded without lament—and the hope of repair through God’s reconciling love. Together, we will explore how rupture can become the doorway to deeper communion with God and neighbor.