Shoes Off Please!

Welcome to Episode 3 of the Shoes Off Please podcast hosted by Lydia Shiu and Jonathan Lee. In this episode we welcome the Rev. Phyllis Myung. Phyllis is currently the lead pastor at New City Church LA, an inclusive Gospel-centered community located in the heart of Los Angeles. Phyllis is also a mother, a freelance writer, a story-telling enthusiast, and, according to her instagram profile, an avid napkin hoarder and member of the BTS army. We were able to invite Phyllis to the Shoes Off Please couch right before she and her family made the big move across the country to LA and are so grateful that she was able to join us!In today’s episode, Phyllis helps lead a conversation around our main question: can a “third way” church (i.e., one that does not define itself as “progressive” or “conservative” and seeks a ministry that holds all things together) work? Along the way of dissecting this question, the three of us also discuss the role and place of women in ministry and how we are meant to follow Jesus Christ outside of echo chambers without causing harm. Phyllis also reveals her opinion about the most pressing theological question of the modern age: why is the McRib not always on the menu at McDonalds?

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Special thanks and shoutout to Eunice Yo for helping us record and to Matt Henderson, our post production extraordinaire!

In today’s episode, Lydia and Jonathan sat down with Calvin Lee and Marisa Prince, the co-leaders and co-founders of [GOSPEL]. [GOSPEL] is an initiative to curate creative spaces for the American Christian Church to grow. Through [GOSPEL], Calvin and Marisa challenge the American Christian Church to reject fear, anxiety, and thirst for power and instead create, gather, and build a sense of oneness across all lines of division. In addition to their work with [GOSPEL], Calvin and Marisa are enrolled as Howard Thurman Fellows in the Masters of Divinity Program at Boston University School of Theology. The four of us had a great conversation as Marisa and Calvin shared how they came to work together, how they envision a church that is structured on a “something else” not in proximity to White Evangelicalism, and how they discovered whiteboarding as a spiritual practice. We hope that you enjoy listening! We also hope that you’ll join us and other PAAC members at our 2026 PAAC National Gathering from April 24th to 26th in Los Angeles as we kick off our 10-year anniversary! Tickets are still available. You can find more information and register on our website here. Links:https://wearegospel.world/https://www.paachristians.org/nationa...https://www.reservoirchurch.org/Timestamp:0:00 Welcome to Episode 2!1:26 Welcoming Calvin and Marisa on the Shoes Off Please podcast couch.3:07 Lydia, Jonathan, Calvin, and Marisa ask each other this episode’s warm up question, “What are you obsessed about, with, or over lately?”12:35 Lydia gushes over Calvin and Marisa and shares about her experience with the GOSPEL Initiative. 18:56 Calvin begins to share about his wrestling with self-identity, community, and faith on his journey for oneness.30:38 Marisa shares about how she and Calvin first met and began collaborating together.40:33 Calvin and Marisa reflect on how they have learned to work together and the ways in which they have grown while knowing together.53:09 What are the latest things Calvin and Marisa have been working on?Shoes Off Please! Podcast EP2 2026Producer: Lydia ShiuHosts: Lydia Shiu, Jonathan LeeSpecial Guests: Calvin Lee, Marisa PrinceSound Engineer: Eunice YoEditing and Post Production: Matt HendersonSpecial thanks to Reservoir Church in Cambridge, MA for recording location.

Welcome to the first episode of “Shoes Off Please”, a podcast from the Progressive Asian American Christians (PAAC) network! This is the podcast for the people who are looking for a safe and an unapologetically authentic space to talk about what it’s like to be progressive, Asian American, and Christian (or Christian adjacent) in today’s day and age. In each episode, you’ll be welcomed by the “Shoe’s Off Please” co-hosts, Lydia Shiu (she/they) and Jonathan Lee (he/him), as they talk about life, ask questions, and share stories with their guests. 

In this episode, you’ll meet and get to know the show’s co-hosts as they talk about how they met, why they decided to record a podcast together, what their hopes are for the podcast, and what’s been on their mind lately. You’ll also hear their answers to the main question that Lydia brought for this episode: “What is the story you have been telling yourself lately?” 

We hope that if you enjoyed this episode then you’ll tune in for the others that are to come. Like, subscribe, and spread the word that we exist, that this space is open and available. Stick around, take your shoes off, and make yourself comfortable as we start this journey of asking questions and sharing our stories together. 

You can find out more about Progressive Asian American Christians at https://www.paachristians.org/.

REGISTRATION is now open! to the PAAC National Gathering: Ten Years Together on April 24th - 26th, 2026 @ Los Angeles, CA.

Get Your Ticket >>HERE<<.

*Fans and followers of PAAC might know Lydia as one of the co-founders of PAAC Facebook Group and co-host of the original PAAC podcast (which since we've lost all the episodes unfortunately). We hope that you’ll give Jonathan a warm welcome!

Bios:

Lydia Shiu: 1.5 generation Korean American, raised as a PK (Pastor’s Kid), moving around from Korea, Georgia, Kansas, and then to California has done a number on her sense of identity. She studied Political Science at UCLA and even did a stint in political campaigns for a year but then soon went to San Francisco Theological Seminary to get her M.Div. She’s now a ordained minister in the PCUSA and works at a nondenominational church in the Boston area called Reservoir Church. She has a husband and two children. They’re her everything. 

Jonathan Lee: A second generation Korean American born and raised in North Carolina where his family has lived since immigrating to the United States in the 1970s. Jonathan got connected to PAAC while working on a degree in environmental studies at Davidson College. He then made his way to Yale Divinity School to study the intersections of theology and environmentalism, but somehow became a university chaplain as well as an ordained minister in the PCUSA. Jonathan likes to run along the Charles River, taking care of his houseplants, and practicing how to make southern butter biscuits.