Pastor Kangse (pronounced “Kong-say”) Lee was born in South Korea and grew up in a Methodist-tradition family. He has a sister who is serving as a missionary in Yucatan, Mexico, and a brother who is serving as a pastor in Korea. 

His faith journey can be called "ecumenical" because of his learning experiences from a Baptist college, McCormick Presbyterian Seminary, and Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. Through these journeys he learned that the beliefs of Methodists and others are not drastically different. There is a slight difference of theology between denominations, but he thinks the more important thing is pastoral leadership of the church, not the denomination of the theology.

He came to the United States in January of 1990 and was in Texas at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor for 15 months. He then got an admission to McCormick Presbyterian Seminary where he earned his Master of Theology.  He later earned a Master of Divinity at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, which is an institute of the United Methodist Church.

He served at Dakota-Rock Grove UMC from 1999 to 2007. During that time, he had the great privilege to experience fruitful ministries of the church, including a new building project from start to completion. 

From 2007 to 2009, he served at Epworth United Methodist Church of Ottawa, Illinois. He has experience "…building a strong leadership with leaders of the church" so they were able to initiate necessary changes that the congregation of Epworth were facing.