Pray for Chinese Evangel Mission Church of Queens in Queens, New York

Chinese Evangel Mission Church of Queens (CEMCQ) organized in 1989, under God’s direction, with 12 American Born Chinese families (all married with several kids) who were called out of Chinese Evangel Mission Church, Manhattan to plant a branch in Queens, NY. In 1990, CEMCQ raised the money to purchase their present building in Bayside, NY, incurring no debt. The church began as an English-Speaking Chinese congregation and then started a Chinese language congregation about 20 years later. Michael Herbert and Lennon Yu serve as the lead pastors of the two existing congregations.

Pastor Mike, originally from London, is a citizen of three countries (Barbados, England, and the United States). He holds degrees from Texas A&M (BBA, 1990) and from Bethel Seminary of the East (MDiv, 2007). Mike became the lead English pastor of CEMCQ in March 2018 after serving for 10 years as pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Cambria Heights and 7 years prior as a pastoral intern with First Baptist Church of Flushing. Mike also has experience in education, having served as a Dean and a Center Director for Schools based in New York and in Pennsylvania respectively. He is married to Mirna Sambula-Herbert (2016) and has three grown children. Pastor Mike and Mirna recently celebrated the birth of their first child together, Zuriel Cecelia Herbert on November 18, 2022. Mike also loves cooking, cycling, and weight training.

Pastor Lennon Yu was born and raised in Hong Kong and immigrated to New York in 2001. He holds a BA (Psychology) and an MDiv from Reformed Theological Seminary (in connection with Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York) and a Master of Art Biblical Studies. Pastor Yu joined CEMCQ in September 2021 as the pastor of the Chinese congregation. He married Jay Liu in 2018 and they now have a baby girl, Abigail. In his spare time, Lennon likes to read and watch movies. 

CEMCQ is one of only three churches in Queens that has a special needs ministry to families of those living with down syndrome, autism, etc. Most of them are nonverbal. It is led by Pastor Mike’s wife and two other ladies. Pray for this ministry and for both pastors as they each have a baby girl at home.

Join us as we pray specifically for:

• CEMCQ as it transitions to become a multicultural, multiethnic congregation, seeking to reach our immediate unchurched neighbors for Christ. 

• CEMCQ will remain faithful to their new mission, vision, and values regardless of the cost. 

• Their special needs ministry, led by Mirna and two other ladies of the church.

• The Lord’s guidance and favor to attract the Millennial and Gen-X generations to their church.

• The Lord to connect CMECQ with the right person for their vacant ministry position, Assistant Pastor of Youth and Young Adults.  

• The continued growth of their existing youth ministry and equipping them to be faithful ministers to their peers, not just consumers of ministry activities.