DDH hosts NAPAD Convocation, lifts up connections
The North American Pacific Asian Disciples (NAPAD) will hold its 18th Biennial Convocation in Hyde Park, August 6-9. The gathering will bring 150 Disciples together for worship, fellowship, business meetings, and educational events. Sixty years ago in June 1954, David T. Kagiwada, a second generation Japanese American Disciple who suffered internment during the Second World War, graduated from DDH and the Divinity School and was ordained. Together with Soongook Choi and Harold Johnson, he became a founding force in the establishment of the American Asian Disciples (later NAPAD). A pastor and compassionate advocate for justice, he would become its first convener and the first of many DDH graduates to give leadership to NAPAD and the first of many connections between NAPAD and DDH. NAPAD moderator-elect John Roh and past moderator and historian Timothy Lee are DDH alumni, as are Disciples and NAPAD leaders April Lewton, Vy Nguyen, and Sandhya Jha. Key NAPAD figures also provide leadership at DDH: JoAnne Kagiwada, a retired attorney and nonprofit leader, is a longtime DDH trustee; April Lewton and Gaylord Yu also currently serve as DDH trustees.