Joe Castillo
Joe and his wife Christine have three children, Ayumi, Kazuki, and Kiyoshi. Joe was born in the Philippines and grew up in Los Angeles & Chicago. He first joined Lighthouse in 2000 and served as the Director of Student Ministries from 2002-2006. Joe returned to Lighthouse in 2013 after serving at a church in California and graduating from Fuller Theological Seminary. He transitioned into the Lead Pastor role in June, 2022. Joe’s passion after God and his family is geeking out on the Bible.
MIKE PARK
Executive Pastor
Mike has served in wide-ranging ministry contexts before joining the staff at Lighthouse in 2021, including serving as a missionary in East Asia and in various local church contexts in the US. Mike graduated from Wheaton College (B.A. in Christian Education/Bible Theology) and received his M.Div. with a focus on cross-cultural studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is ordained in the Evangelical Covenant Church. In his free time he enjoys watching movies and listening to live music. He is married to Grace and they have three daughters, Annika, Kaelyn, and Chloe.
mike@lighthousechristian.church
PAUL HWANG
PASTOR OF STUDENT &
YOUNG ADULT MINISTRIES
Paul joined the staff of Lighthouse, serving as the pastor of youth and college ministries in June of 2017. He has fulfilled one of his desires in moving out to the west coast, thankful that the Lord has placed him in the Pacific Northwest. Paul hails from the great state of New Jersey, living there for most of his life. He graduated from Rutgers University, with a major in History and a minor in Political Science. Paul went on to study at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts receiving an M.Div. Since 2010, Paul has been involved in youth ministry serving his local church in various areas and connecting with a network of youth and english ministry pastors in the northern New Jersey area. He loves to exercise, mainly to eat good food and enjoys playing sports of all kinds! He loves the Yankees and the New York football Giants, which may not bode well for him here.
paul@lighthousechristian.church
PATTI YONEMURA
DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN'S MINISTRY
Patti grew up in the Seattle area and attended the University of Washington’s, School of Nursing. She met her husband Tom while in college. They have 2 grown daughters, Naomi and Shelley. Patti started at Lighthouse with it’s “Launch Team” in 2000, as a volunteer, directing the Children’s Ministry (CM). Her position grew from part-time to full-time Director of CM in 2010. Tom and Patti enjoy challenging each other to eat healthy and exercise daily. A good date night is watching a movie and eating popcorn.
patti@lighthousechristian.church
JANET YIP
DIRECTOR OF NURSERY & PRESCHOOL
Janet was born in Hong Kong and moved to San Francisco for high school until she got married to Johnny. They have two daughters, Jasmine and Jana. Because of Johnny's work, they had traveled and lived in Singapore, Bangkok, and Hong Kong for the past twenty years. The family settled in Bellevue, Seattle in 2018. Janet's faith and her heart for children have been built by God through studying God's Word for over 10 years in the Bible Study Fellowship. God also prepared her to be trained and serve in the children's ministry through weekly leadership training at BSF for 8 years. Janet also spent her time volunteering at her daughter's school organizing events. In her free time, Janet loves to bake, cook, craft, paint, Zumba, and listen to music.
janet@lighthousechristian.church
BEN HIGASHI
DIGITAL MEDIA SPECIALIST
Having lived in Seattle his entire life, and attended Lighthouse for most of that, Ben joined Lighthouse staff in 2020 during the COVID pandemic to help the church go virtual. With 5 years of art education at Seattle Pacific University, and 10 years of ministry experience through both Lighthouse and JEMS (Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society), he now works to create Lighthouse’s virtual worship services, as well as their other digital media. In his spare time, he enjoys playing video games with the youth group kids, cooking, drawing, and playing his guitar.
ben@lighthousechristian.church
