Amy Nguyen's Story

“I tried twice to escape my country and consequently spent three months in jail.” Very few of us could include that statement in our things-I-did-my-junior-year-in-high-school list. Amy Nguyen can, though.

Natives of Viet Nam, Amy and her family attempted their two escapes as the Communist North Vietnamese took over their South Vietnam homeland in 1975. They remained there, under Communist control, for ten more years. Though their country retreated into difficult cultural conditions (Amy’s family had no car or phone and cooked by charcoal, with limited access to electricity), it was still home. Thus, when she and her family immigrated to San Diego, CA, Amy’s emotions were more about homesickness and sadness than excitement about a new life and culture.

Her years in Southern California were spent working hard and learning. While attending community college, Amy participated in its work study program and held down two other jobs. After two years of college, then six years of marriage, she and her husband Tanh relocated to Denver, CO. Amy completed her bachelor’s degree in finance and continued working in the financial industry.

Amy grew up in a Christian home, but not until she became a young woman did she make a serious faith commitment. This seriousness has manifested itself in Amy’s faithful ministry in her local churches, both in Vietnam and the United States. Currently, she ministers at Vietnamese Grace Evangelical Baptist Church in Lakewood, CO. There Amy works with children and ministers through music, and Tanh is the pastor.

She also has a gift for writing and uses that gift creating short stories and faith articles for an evangelistic newsletter published worldwide for Vietnamese people. Her interest in writing and desire to be a better minister motivated her to attend Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary’s Rocky Mountain Campus. Upon graduation with her undergraduate degree, Amy was given the opportunity to pursue a fully funded MBA, but she chose instead to prepare for further ministry via a seminary education.

Only God knows the future for Amy, but it probably includes outreach to both believing and non-believing, national and expat, Vietnamese people. She and her husband are bi-vocational ministers and look forward to the day they retire. At that point, they hope to live off their savings and follow God wherever He may lead. Such is the passion Amy Nguyen has for ministry.