Editor’s note: The following article is adapted from the Greater Houston Church’s weekly bulletin. Have new ministers you’d like to introduce? Email us at [email protected].

We want to welcome our new ministry couples to the Greater Houston Church. Today begins a new era in the ministry of the church. Just as the Corinthian church was encouraged to open wide their hearts to the Apostle Paul, we to must open wide our hearts to each ministry couple as we seek to share the gospel with the city of Houston and indeed with all the world. Below are some brief biographies to help you get to know them better.

Khai and Victoria Le

Khai was born in the Philippines, as a child of a single mom in a first-generation immigrant household. Once they got to the United States his family moved to the West Coast, and later to Hampton Roads, Virginia. The difficulties of growing up in a family where everyone was straining just to survive bred a self-reliant spirit and he worked to excel in everything he did. Yet at age 15 (with no religious upbringing) he was invited by a fellow teen to come to a midweek church service and was then asked to study the Bible. Khai was overwhelmed by the love he witnessed among the believers and was impressed by the racial diversity he saw in the church. He did not know what Christians believed but he knew he wanted to be part of it. Two months later he was baptized into Christ.

Victoria was born in Charleston, West Virginia and grew up there and in upstate New York. Unlike Khai, Victoria was raised by parents who fostered the importance of faith, attending church, and serving the community. After high school, she moved to New York City to attend Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. After moving in she soon started church-shopping. Within a couple of weeks, she found the New York City Church. She began studying the Bible and was amazed by the love of Jesus and his willingness to sacrifice his life for us, and she became a disciple. Having Jesus as her best friend, having a Father in heaven who is her “Abba,” then having the Holy Spirit as a guide and counselor has made her Christian walk the joy of her life.

Khai and Victoria both had busy college careers. Khai earned a BA in Criminology at Christopher Newport University and acquired two Masters, one in Sociology and one in Demography at Penn State University. Victoria earned a BS in Physics, with a minor in Chemistry. She also completed a Certificate in Christ-Centered Enneagrams from the Mosaic Formation Society in Houston. Both were active in the campus ministry helping lead Bible Talks and bringing students to faith in Christ.

While Khai was working on his master’s at Penn State he was a member of the Nittany Valley Church. At the same time, Victoria was working fulltime in the campus ministry in New Jersey. They met on a blind date while they were both visiting Philadelphia and the rest is history. They have been married for 11 years and have three children: Connor, Elizabeth, and Henry.

Together, the Les have more than two decades of ministry experience. Khai initially served as a campus minister. He was appointed as an evangelist and Victoria as a women’s ministry leader when they led a church planting to the Jersey Shore in 2015. Six years later, they moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia to lead a region of the Potomac Valley Church.

Khai and Victoria are excited about being in Houston. Victoria looks forward to the opportunity to partner with brothers and sisters in the church and show God’s power to heal all aspects of our lives and demonstrate that same power to people in the world. God has given his people so many gifts and she is excited to help people use those blessings to serve each other and our community. Khai also dreams of helping people overcome trauma, hurts, and to repent of bitterness, so that they can be used by God to powerfully impact the world. He especially wants to help married couples enjoy their spiritual lives and train them to reach people in our community who desperately need a relationship with God.

Alex and Giovanna Hernandez

With Alex and Giovanna, we have another couple with international roots. Alex was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in the suburb of Arlington, Virginia. His dad is from El Salvador and his mom is from Nicaragua. Giovanna was born in Cali, Colombia but she moved to Miami when she was five years old. Later, she moved back to Colombia and finished high school in the capital city of Bogotá. After graduating, she again moved to the United States to work and attend college.

Both Alex and Giovanna were met from the outreach of the Northern Virginia Church. When Alex was a junior in high school, he was invited to a singles Bible Talk and then began attending church. He joined the teen ministry and was baptized in June of 1995. Several years later, around September of 2001, Giovanna was working a full-time job and going to community college at night. She was reached out to at night school and began to earnestly study the Bible. Not long after 9/11, she was baptized into Christ. Both she and Alex credit the strong example of love they saw in disciples that helped them overcome obstacles in their pursuit of a relationship with God.

Upon graduation, Alex entered George Mason University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Even now, Giovanna is working on a degree in business from Liberty University. It is easy to see that Alex and Giovanna are avid learners. Giovanna loves to read Christian books that help her grow in her knowledge of God and that foster a closer walk with him so she can help Christian women to grow in their relationship with Jesus and have greater impact on a world in need of the Savior.

After college, Alex and Giovanna were both in the singles ministry. They met at a annual single’s Christmas party. They initially connected over their mutual love for Jesus and for salsa music. They have now been happily married for over 20 years and have three children: Adriana, Miguel, and Leilani.

Their first job in ministry was leading the youth ministry in Virginia Beach, Virginia. In 2007, they were asked to organize and lead their first summer teen camp in Fiji. They went back in 2008, to help lead the camp again. They built a close relationship with the disciples in the church, and in 2009, the Fiji church offered them the responsibility of leading the church there. They served the church in Fiji for eight years before returning to Virginia Beach to lead a region with the Hampton Roads Church.

They have high hopes and great dreams for the ministry of the Greater Houston Church. Their prayer is that God will use every disciple to save souls and help each other mature in the faith. They are also praying that they can help encourage the Spanish ministry to take it higher in their faith and make a great impact on the Spanish-speaking population in Houston as well as across all the cities in Texas.