David Park is the founder of Project Prodigal, a gospel-centered ministry committed to reaching the broken, making disciples, training missionaries, and equipping believers to share the gospel wherever God sends them.

David’s passion for those who feel forgotten or far from God comes from his own experience.

Before entering ministry, David was involved in gang life and once faced the possibility of a life sentence in prison. His journey also included addiction, homelessness, and manic depression. Those experiences brought him face-to-face with both human brokenness and the extraordinary faithfulness of God.

Through seasons of failure, loss, uncertainty, and restoration, David came to know the grace of God not merely as a theological concept, but as the defining reality of his life.

After receiving repeated confirmation through prayer, David founded Project Prodigal on July 10, 2021. Its mission grew from a simple conviction: no one is beyond the reach of the gospel, and those who have experienced the grace of Christ are called to carry that same hope to others.

On November 1, 2023, David began training to eventually assume leadership of an international non-governmental organization operating in Afghanistan. His role gave him the opportunity to travel to Afghanistan and participate more deeply in humanitarian work.

As his responsibilities increased, David placed Project Prodigal on hold and prepared to devote himself to the NGO’s future.

Yet during that season, God continued to clarify David’s calling.

David became increasingly convinced that although humanitarian work could meet urgent physical needs, the central calling God had entrusted to him was different: to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, make disciples, train missionaries, and equip believers to take the gospel to the nations.

After much prayer and repeated confirmation, David stepped away from the NGO on August 28, 2026 (8/28/2026).

Just days later, on September 1, 2026, he concluded five years of service at Hillside LA, where he had served as executive pastor.

September 1 carried unusual significance.

It was the date David had been expected to fully assume leadership of the NGO. It was also the anniversary of September 1, 2020—the first day that David would spend in jail.

For David, that convergence became a powerful reminder: his life belongs to God.

The God who was sovereign over the darkest chapters of his past is the same God who remains sovereign over his future.

Walking away from the NGO and the church was costly. It meant releasing positions, relationships, security, and opportunities into which David had invested years of his life. Yet he believed obedience to God required surrendering even good opportunities in order to pursue the specific calling God had placed before him.

David has participated in missionary work in Iraq, Israel, Mexico, Thailand, Cambodia, and Turkey, as well as among the Navajo people. His ministry has also included outreach closer to home in communities such as Nickerson Gardens Projects in Watts and Ramona Gardens Projects in East Los Angeles.

These experiences have strengthened his conviction that the Great Commission belongs to every follower of Jesus.

Project Prodigal therefore exists not only to reach people with the gospel, but also to develop disciples who will become disciple-makers.

Today, David is devoting himself to rebuilding and expanding Project Prodigal around that mission.

His desire is to see broken lives restored through Jesus Christ, ordinary believers equipped to confidently share their faith, disciples raised up to make other disciples, and missionaries prepared and sent to proclaim the gospel across cultures and nations.

David’s life is a continuing testimony that God can redeem what appears ruined, redirect what appears successful, and use surrendered lives for purposes far greater than anything they could have planned for themselves.

“For God works all things together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).