When Ins Choi was a kid, much of his time was spent in two places: the Korean immigrant church in downtown Toronto where his father was a pastor, and his uncle's store, Kim's Grocer.

The Canadian actor and playwright drew on those experiences to write his acclaimed 2011 play Kim's Convenience, which later became the hit sitcom of the same name. But before he built a career in the arts, Choi seriously considered becoming a pastor like his dad. In an interview with Q's Tom Power, he says his love of storytelling was actually born in the church.

"I grew up in the church … so I kind of grew up hearing stories," he says. "I didn't realize this until later in life, but [I was] being affected by the spoken word, as you would, in a church, and the effect that words can have on people. Like inspiring or challenging or creating a community out of words and stories, a sense of belonging."

Choi holds a master's degree in theology and he worked at a church as a children's pastor for several years. He says every day when he was growing up, his parents would recount the miraculous story of his birth, which seemingly proved he was destined to become a pastor.

The story was that back in Korea, Choi's grandfather stopped his father from getting a vasectomy before Choi was born. Choi's mother had lost a lot of blood while giving birth to his two older sisters, but his grandfather insisted that they keep trying until they had a son.

After failing to get pregnant, Choi's mother turned to the biblical figure Hannah for strength and inspiration. (In the story, the childless Hannah petitions God for a son, promising that if her prayers are answered she'll dedicate him to God's service. God hears her, she gets pregnant and her son becomes the prophet Samuel.)

"My mom does the same thing," Choi tells Power. "She prays to God: 'God, give me a son and I'll give him back to you.' And then, voila! I'm born. I'm like, 'What? I'm not a prophet. I'm nobody. I'm not-for-profit.'"

For years, Choi vacillated between his two callings, which both held a lot of importance to him.

"I wanted to do what my dad did," he says. "But then inside I had this growing desire to create things, whether it was songs or poems or short stories…. And so it was that tug of war of, well, do I enter this field that's kind of known, like, becoming a preacher or becoming a pastor? Or do I venture out into this kind of unknown territory?"

Luckily, Jesus came to Choi in a dream to answer his questions and confirm his decision to follow his heart.

"Jesus came to me and he flicked me on my forehead," Choi says. "I'm like, 'Jesus, what do you want me to do with my life? … What do I do?' And then Jesus said, 'Well, what are you good at? What do you like doing?' I was like, 'Oh, I kind of like acting. I think I'm kind of good at it. I like writing stuff.' And then Jesus was like, 'Then go and do that!' Boink. And then he flicked me again and I woke up."

Kim's Convenience is back on stage at Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company now until March 2. In this production, Choi steps into the role of Appa, the family patriarch. Listen to Power's full interview with Choi on our podcast, Q with Tom Power to hear more about that.