My name is Steve Hong (Stephen Hong). My wife's name is Lenae Hong (formerly Lenae Pettyjohn). We have two children: Lindsey Grace (b. 12-13-97) and Jaden Michael (b. 2-7-00). I have been working in Baguio City, Philippines since July 16, 1990. Lenae spent nine years as a missionary kid in the Philippines while her parents were working in Manila-1968 to 1975 and 1984 to 1986, when she graduated from Faith Academy. She returned in 1993 to work as a missionary. We came separately as single missionaries and were married on June 15, 1996.

My work has changed over the years. In 1990 I graduated from Pacific Christian College (now Hope International University) and came to the Philippines as an intern, working in various church planting projects and preaching at various camps, seminars, graduations, etc. From 1992 to 1995 I was a campus minister, working with the college students in the dormitories and boarding houses near one of the universities in Baguio. In 1992 God established a Bible college through our team of missionaries and Filipino pastors: Philippine College of Ministry. I have been a professor at PCM since 1992. Lenae also taught English at PCM for two years. In 2003, the Filipino president of Philippine College of Ministry resigned and I was asked to be the Interim President. I served as PCM President for a year and a half.

During all of my time as a campus minister and Bible college professor, I have been involved with the church planting ministry. Our team has established five churches in the Baguio area since 1989 and several in the province of Abra. Currently, I am the only missionary overseeing the church planting projects. We have several new church planting projects in progress at this time.

In 1993, Lenae arrived from the States to teach at Christian Academy of Baguio. She was the only teacher at CAB during her first year, when she taught eleven children in grades 1-4. She taught at CAB for five years, until the birth of our daughter when she took a break to stay at home with our children.

In 1995, God established the Camp 7 Church of Christ in that barrio of Baguio City. I was the main church planter and the Senior Pastor of the church for four years. During that time, I worked closely with two Filipino Associate Pastors who took care of the pastoral ministries of our mainly Filipino congregation while I preached and administrated.

From January of 2000 until January of 2002, I was also the "Missionary to Abra." In December of 1999, my long-time co-worker and fellow missionary, Dennis McKinney, died. His full-time work was distributed as well as possible among the remaining team members. One of the responsibilities that I "inherited" was the oversight and administration of the churches in Abra. My main responsibility in Abra was to deliver the money that is still given each month by two U.S. churches. Along with that responsibility, I also did my best to provide oversight, accountability, encouragement, and discipline to the 21 churches and 17 pastors.

I graduated with my Master of Divinity degree in 2005, completing ten years of part-time study at Asia Pacific Theological Seminary.