(Photos courtesy of Andrea Yim)

To God Be The Glory

The story of Pastor Brent Yim as told by his wife Andrea

By Sarah Komisky

At thirty-two what would you like to accomplish? Maybe it’s graduating college, attaining an awesome career, or getting married. Perhaps it’s something like having your first child or traveling to a new country. For most of us, our goals are singular. Focusing to attain one is an accomplishment. While others focus on achieving multiple goals but leave little time for anything truly important like spending time with loved ones. Yet for others, goals aren’t that valuable at all. It’s about the here and now, where being young is all about being what we think is invincible and fearless. For Brent Yim, life was more than any of that.

Coming out of a life spent in the world, he met his future spouse Andrea at bible college who said Brent was someone she thought was “Fun to hang out with.” Developing an interest in each other, they eventually started dating, got engaged, and were married in the summer of 2003.

Jumping into a life of ministry, Brent completed bible college and interned which then transitioned into Brent becoming the pastor at the bible college.

Andrea notes, “It was always God that placed Brent in positions. God just gave him more responsibility and more responsibility.” Traveling abroad and then moving together to Hawaii to become deans at the bible college, Andrea and Brent moved back to California to serve at the Bible college again. The couple now had their first son Jaiden when a small church in Temecula was looking for a new pastor while on the brink of closing down completely. Brent then became the senior pastor at Temecula Community Church at twenty-eight years old after receiving a call from pastor, Brian Brodersen of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa to take over.

Going into this new season Andrea reflects, “When they talk about Solomon and wisdom that’s how I saw Brent. He had wisdom beyond his years. The way that he handled so many situations where we had walked into really bad situations with people. People having affairs at the church. The financial aspect that the last pastor left the church in really bad debt and it was neat to see someone who knew nothing to come in and see these relationships are restored.”

Brent served in his community and was actively involved in advocacy for pro-life. Additionally, he was also able to get the school out of debt and willingly took over a school that was considered a financial burden as a full time administrator.

Passionate about investing into the next generation, Brent desired to give the children a solid foundation in Christ. He poured his time into the lives of the children. Those who still remember Pastor Brent to this day. Andrea testifies by stating that Brent would do this by going outside and playing soccer with these kids even when he had a lot to do saying, “Brent was just that kind of guy.”

“After service He wasn’t like your typical pastor that would go in his office and just detox after a message,” shared Andrea. “He was out taking care of people, talking to everyone. Praying for people. It was incredible the energy he had so he was just a blessing to so many people.”

As the church expanded and they started to see the fruit of their ministry, Brent got sick. After going into urgent care with a sinus infection and then going back to the ER for what doctors dubbed “A really bad inner ear infection,” a cat scan was taken. It was there the doctor found a mass on his brain and it was there Andrea witnessed Brent lift up his hand and say, “To God be the glory.”

The young couple (Brent 30 and Andrea 27) with two young kids (Jaiden 4, and Micah, 1), would now enter the unknown – the world of cancer. With an aggressive tumor, Brent was put on a high dosage of steroids in order to keep the swelling down in his brain. The next three weeks were a whirlwind as Brent’s behavior began to change and he would get little sleep. It was in this time that both Brent and Andrea held on the promise given to them by God that this sickness was not unto death but to the glory of God.

Going in for his surgery, Brent faced issues with brain swelling again and had to be put into an induced coma. In this extremely difficult season, Andrea never left Brent’s side even if that meant sleeping at the hospital every day and leaving her kids for the first time. Receiving the news that the brain pressure was so high that he would have to remove part of his skull, Brent’s mom prayed to God to not let Brent have another surgery and during this time, the doctor called that they didn’t have to do the surgery. Stating, “I can’t explain it – the pressure came down, we don’t have to do the surgery – I guess it’s the medication we used.” Andrea replied, “It was God!”

After the tumor was removed, Andrea got the news she never wanted to hear on the seventh day; Brent was in a coma – the husband she deeply loved had stage four cancer with twelve months to live.

“Brent was always so gracious,” says Andrea. “He cried but he never questioned God. It wasn’t like he was angry at God or anything. He was bummed, he was sad, but he told me, ‘Andrea, if everyone died the same way at the same age, it just wouldn’t correspond to God’s Word.’”

The next fourteen months of their lives would be chemotherapy, radiation, and non-stop prayer. Remaining by Brent’s side, Andrea took care of her husband and her kids and relearned how to live in order to help her husband and give him a good quality of life. As Brent’s health worsened, Andrea grieved the loss of the man she knew but saw him through to the end when Brent passed away at thirty-two. The love they had was evident and is captured in the pages of their blog at: brentyim/adreas-blog

Looking back, God’s glory is shown in the life of a young guy who truly loved God. Today, his teaching is still reaching others on KWVE (88.9) and KLWG (88.1). Additionally, his legacy lives in on the countless people that he made an impact on. Through it all, Brent chose a different path, the road less traveled, but the road where God’s glory shown.