Fr. Joshua Wong

Father Joshua Wong is the Rector of St. Michael the Archangel, the Episcopal Church in El Segundo, California. When Father Joshua Wong was in elementary school, there was a boy in his class who took his crayons because he thought they possessed “special artistic abilities.” This was the beginning of his life as an artistic creator. Not knowing that many years later, after two successful careers in advertising and fashion, God has called him to bring the message of love to others in a relevant way that will change lives.

At age four, when Father Joshua was drawing cars and women’s stilettos, he discovered that products have the ability to stimulate an emotional response in others. He was always intrigued with looking deeper into a problem in order to find solutions that spoke to people, creatively and effectively. Whether it was designing an advertising campaign for United Airlines, deciding why a woman would choose to buy a pair of stilettos he created, or relating how a message in the Gospel still speaks to us today—everything we communicate needs to make sense to the audience.

Father Joshua was born in Hong Kong and, after immigrating to California when he was four, his family settled in Santa Barbara where his father was an evangelical pastor. After high school in Los Angeles, Joshua graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, majoring in Fashion Illustration and Advertising Design.

In the advertising industry, Father Joshua was an award winning Art Director in both New York City and Los Angeles, designing successful campaigns for I.B.M, Warner Bros., The Disney Channel, United Airlines, Hilton Hotels, and numerous others.

After fourteen years in the Advertising world, he moved to New York City to become a footwear designer for Charles Jourdan Paris in New York City and quickly thereafter was hired by Ralph Lauren to be the head footwear designer for his premiere Collection label and for all runway shows.

While leading a global design team for multiple annual collections, he traveled to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, and London, also working closely with factories throughout Italy. From the halls of Ralph Lauren, Joshua was hired as Vice President of Men’s and Women’s shoes in New York City for Banana Republic, where he led global design and production teams in Europe and China.

Fluent in Cantonese and with conversational Mandarin, Joshua is a true global citizen. His philosophy as a designer has always been, “listen to the consumer and make them want it! If it doesn’t speak to them emotionally, than it’s either not the right time or you have not done a good enough job.”

After his successful corporate career, Father Joshua sensed a strong calling to bring truth and love to our world. He obtained a Masters of Divinity degree at Claremont School of Theology, followed by his priestly ordination in the Los Angeles diocese of the Episcopal Church.

With gratitude for God’s guidance, Father Joshua is grateful to be Rector of St. Michael the Archangel Episcopal Church in El Segundo, CA. A loving, compassionate community, he looks forward to working together to build a church where God’s inclusive love shines to everyone in El Segundo and the South Bay. On his days off, Father Joshua likes to draw, play his cello, and bake.

His heart is excited for three areas of ministry. He launched POSE, serving the LGBTQia community at St. Edmund’s Church in San Marino. Also, he launched and led The Artist Group, an inspiration ministry to the creatives at Thad’s Episcopal Church in Culver City. Father Joshua serves on the planning committee for The Gathering, the Asian Pacific American ministry in the Los Angeles Diocese.

He resides in Pasadena with his husband and beloved standard poodle YoYo who is ready to lick everyone she sees. St. Michael is excited to welcome you to worship with us. Father Joshua Wong looks forward to having coffee with you and hearing your stories. You may visit his websites at: https://www.joshuawongdesign.com; http://sidewalkrunway-joshuawong.squarespace.com