Rev. Dr. Sunny Ahn
Pastor Sunny is a Korean American who is a fourth generation Christian, descended from ancestors who were converted under the ministry of the first Methodist missionary to Korea, R.A. Hardie. She was born in Incheon, Korea and immigrated to the United Sates when she was 15. Since then, she was raised in Southern California (Northridge, CA) that made her a “Valley Girl.” After marrying her husband, Sung, she moved to Chicago, San Francisco, and now she is at Kona United Methodist Church in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.
She has a B.A. in Christian Education from International Christian University. She has a Master of Divinity Degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Biblical Preaching and Church Leadership as a Beeson Scholar with full scholarship at Asbury Theological Seminary. Her dissertation thesis is “Clergywomen with Spiritual Authority.” She has a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from Capella University (MBA in Nonprofit Management). Currently, she is a PhD candidate in Business Administration, specialized Organizational Leadership at Northcentral University.
According to the Myers-Briggs, her personality type is INTJ (Introversion, Intuition, Thinking, and Judgment). According to the Gallup Strengths Center, her top 5 strengths are Positive, Activator, Arranger, Intellection, and Achiever. According to the Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory assessment, she responds to conflict cooperatively in both calm & stormy conflict situations. According to the Enneagram Personality test, she is Type 1, Reformer who is rational, idealistic, principled, purposeful, self-controlled, and perfectionistic.
She loves traveling, music, art and sports. Whenever she and her husband are able, they are up and go somewhere to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation. One of the plans they have in life is to travel all over the places to enjoy the beauty of God’s diverse world before they go to heavenly home. She is a fan of Celtics and Broncos with her husband. She loves Kumdo (Japanese Fencing) and kick-boxing to play. She loves water paintings and the visual art. She loves live theater, musical, opera and play. More than anything else, she loves the Triune God in her who is her greatest strength.
She has served a number of churches in the California-Pacific Annual Conference (Cal-Pac) and outside of the Cal-Pac since she was ordained as a Deacon in 2000 and as an Elder in 2002 of the United Methodist Church. She has a deep interest and love for scripture and theology and seeks to connect it to everyday life. She has excellent administrative skills and a passion for small groups and outreach ministries. Her personal mission statement is “to restore the joy of salvation in the hearts of people.” She desires to have her tombstone say “Sunny HOPS (Helps Other People Smile).” She loves FROGs that remind her of how dependent she is on God (FROG: Fully Rely On God). She applies “Play Theory” from Social Science in life/ministry. She believes that there is no life/ministry without playing together.