• WelcomeBig

    Welcome!

    Thanks for stopping by! I’m a Christian author and occasional journalist who writes about Christian parenting, missional living, and the intersection of faith and ethnicity. I’m also a homeschooling mom of three boys, so you can learn about that ongoing journey as well. And follow me on Facebook or Twitter so we can get connected! –Helen Lee

    (Photo credit: www.istockphoto.com/creativeye99)

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    Triennial 2013!

    I am thrilled to be a workshop speaker at the upcoming Triennial Conference, sponsored by the Evangelical Covenant Church’s Women Ministries department. I’ll speak on missional motherhood and the writing life–check it out and join us!

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    Urbana 2012 Audio!

    I was so honored to be a part of Urbana after 20+ years away! The video of my talk at the Pan-Asian American Lounge is available here, and I loved being a panelist on the Pastors and Church Leader track, with David Platt, James Choung, and Leroy Barber. Click here for an audio file of our panel!

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    Free Resources!

    Have you visited the Resources section of the site? You’ll find a free chapter from The Missional Mom to download, a free discussion guide to help you get the most out of the book, and the presentation “God Cares for Bangladesh” mentioned in the book. Plus you’ll find other recommended books, websites, and organizations to help you live missionally. Check them out!

    Check it Out »

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    Help End Global Poverty!

    A portion of the proceeds of The Missional Mom goes directly to One Day’s Wages, an organization committed to the eradication of extreme global poverty. Buy the book at Amazon.comBarnes & NobleCBD.com, and many other e-bookstores and retail Christian bookstores, and help end poverty at the same time!

    Check it out! »

Apr
23

Author:

What’s Wrong With Gifted Education For Our Kids?

While having dinner with a family who lives in Manhattan, the parents told me about their daughter’s saga of testing for kindergarten admission into New York’s notoriously selective Hunter Elementary School. The parents are two of the brightest people I know, and their four-year-old daughter is fluent in at least three languages so far (Mandarin, French, and English). Her test results placed her in the impressive 98th percentile. And yet, she hadn’t made it past the first round; only kids who scored in the 99th percentile and above advanced. My friends took it in good stride, shrugging off the results. “I look on the bright side,” said Jennifer. “At least she scored in the 98th percentile! I just wasn’t willing…

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Feb
14

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Success for Our Kids…At What Cost?

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We recently hosted friends from New York City for dinner, who came with their two young daughters in tow. The elder, a precocious four-year-old who can easily speak three different languages (Mandarin, French, and in last place, English), had taken an entrance exam to attend kindergarten at one of the city’s notoriously sought-after schools. She’d done well, scoring higher than 98 percent of all applicants. But apparently, being in the top 2 percent wasn’t good enough; she had to score well above 99 percent of all applicants in order to have a chance of admission. “Well, at least we know she scored pretty well on the test,” my friend Jennifer said with a shrug. These are the times in which…

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Oct
29

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Think Before You Comment?

Urbana Women

As I was browsing through Facebook last week, I noticed that my friend DJ Chuang had posted a photo on Facebook about the upcoming Urbana Student Missions Conference, as he was running a contest to encourage pastors to win a free pass to the conference. (DJ is on the “Social Media Squad” for Urbana to help cover and promote the event.) Interestingly, though, it wasn’t the contest that seemed to generate any attention, but the photo that DJ posted (which you can see on his website); he had created a montage of the current lineup of speakers for the “Pastors and Church Leaders” track, and although the 12 people portrayed reflected ethnic and racial diversity, the glaring reality that only…

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Sep
21

Author:

“Gangnam Style”: The Downside to the Hype

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Perhaps you’ve been wondering what all the fuss is about “Gangnam Style,” the latest YouTube video-gone-viral with more than 220 million views to date. If you are one of the few remaining inhabitants of the planet who haven’t seen the video, then let me bring you up to speed: • The rap/song features South Korean pop star Park Jae-Sang, who goes by the name “Psy” (short for “Psycho”), accompanied by a cast of South Korean celebrities who most of us will not recognize, all dancing to a driving, ear-catching techno beat. • Unless you are fluent in Korean, you can expect to understand none of the words in the video except “sexy lady” (and of course, “Gangnam style”. By the way, “Gangnam”…

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