April was born and raised in NJ until she moved to Seoul at the age of ten. She returned to the U.S. to attend Smith College where she studied economics. After working in capital markets research, April pursued her MPP at Harvard Kennedy School. After graduation, she attended a YWAM Compassion Discipleship Training School and supported HIV/AIDS ministries in Africa. This opened her heart and eyes to the work of justice, which called her into a career in international criminal justice reform. She eventually taught leadership at Yonsei University where she fell in love with teaching and decided to pursue her Ed.M. and Ed.D. in adult learning and leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. She now works in philanthropy and is involved with Generous Giving ministry. April loves learning new things, building community, helping people grow, going for long walks and bike rides, hiking, good coffee, meaningful conversations, and art.

Myung was born in Seoul but grew up in the Bay Area, where he completed his undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He felt a call to local church ministry in 2015 and left the beautiful, humidity-free state of California to complete his M. Div. at Gordon-Conwell. In 2018, he moved to NYC, got married to his college sweetheart, Judy, and has been learning to love the City more with each passing year. Currently, Myung has the great privilege of leading worship at Joy Manhattan! In addition to musical worship, Myung loves hanging out with people, eating good food, and watching NBA games.

Francis grew up in Washington State near Seattle. He graduated from Washington State University with a degree in economics. He joined Cru to work with college students right after graduating. He worked in campus ministry at Oregon State University, Seattle, San Diego and in northern California. He married Jennifer while on staff at OSU and they now have two wonderful children. After 20 years in campus ministry, he and his family moved to New York City in 2019 to work with young professionals in the city. He has a passion for discipleship, evangelism and helping people grow in their faith. He loves coffee, Seattle sports, the Pacific NW, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.

Jennifer was born and raised on a farm in Oregon. She attended Oregon State University and completed honors Bachelor's degrees in Biology and Botany. Jennifer first received her call for ministry while studying abroad in England as an undergraduate. After graduation she interned with Cru and married Francis. She joined Cru staff full time in 2005. Jennifer has served on college campuses as a campus missionary in Oregon, Seattle, San Diego, and northern California. She moved with her husband Francis and two kids to New York City in 2019 and currently works with artists and creatives in the city as a photographer, writer and mixed media artist. She has a passion for seeing the gospel transform the artistic community and for teaching spiritual realities. She loves coffee, creating, globe trekking, tropical places, and reading good books.

Born and raised in Queens, NY. Sam serves behind the scenes as our A/V Chief. With technology becoming ever-present in the modern church, Sam strives to make technology as transparent as possible so that the focus during the worship service is on one thing: Jesus. He has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and is currently working as an IT professional.

Michael Kim has been going to Joy Manhattan since it was planted 13 years ago. He’s served on the Joy Manhattan worship team, primarily as a drummer, for just as long and loves bringing loud and unashamed worship to the Lord. He’s a bit of a nerd, who enjoys playing games of all kinds, debating very strong food opinions, and geeking out over technology. He has been married to his wife Annie Kim for 5 years.

Daniel was born in Korea where he lived the first nine years of his life. Then came a big turning point where he moved to the U.S., specifically Michigan. After having lived there for a few years, he moved to Illinois and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He fell in love with campus ministry there and stayed in Champaign for 11 years until he moved to NYC in 2022. Daniel is also currently in seminary pursuing a M. Div. He loves eating out with friends, watching movies and tv shows, and reading.

Mark grew up outside of Chicago, and after graduating from the University of Illinois, he moved to New York City in 2005 to begin his career in financial services. After several years in the industry and serving bi-vocationally on staff at Remnant Westside Church, he completed a M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School while serving at Harvest Community Church. Mark returned to NYC in 2016 to join Redeemer Presbyterian Church, where he most recently served as an Assistant Pastor, before joining Joy in 2021. Mark is married to Holly, who hails from Sydney, Australia, and they have three rambunctious boys, Joshua (9), Justin (7), and Jesse (5). When he's not running after his boys, he loves exploring new cities, watching and playing sports (especially basketball and golf), and reading.

Dan grew up in Connecticut, where he studied Business Administration at the University of Connecticut. Soon after beginning his career in public accounting, Dan sensed a call to ministry and pursued his M.Div. at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Since then, God has led him into local church ministry in CT, Seoul, the Bay Area, and the D.C. area. Dan is gifted administratively and has a passion for intentional execution and alignment between vision & praxis. Dan is married to Crystal, who is from Los Angeles, and they have a two-year-old son named, Micah, who has reignited the family's collective passion for music, laughter, and ice cream. Dan enjoys any chance to travel, play sports, and watch movies.