Ministry Updates and News from the Mehns
HIGHLIGHTS FOR PRAYER Our daughter Beth and our two grandchildren will be visiting us in Japan this month. The kids have never been on an airplane or been to Japan. Pray for a wonderful family visit and sightseeing. Beth will be revisiting Japan after 10 years. Pray for new memories. John’s church planting book in Japanese will be published! The final draft was submitted to the publisher. Unfortunately it will not be ready by Vision…
Last month our Converge Japan Team met for our mission’s Annual Meeting/Reunion called Field Council. We met to dream, plan, and strategize for our future. Continue to pray for the Japan Mission that our new Initiative Leader, Brian Lusky, that innovative and aggressive ministry plans would inspire a new generation of workers for multiplying churches in Japan. Japan is now in an historic transition. The current emperor resigned yesterday (April 30th) and the new Reiwa…
PRAY FOR THE FIRST JAPANESE GRACE WEEK Keep praying for our very first Japanese Grace Week May 27-30. We have ideal numbers for this event. This is the last phase of a 4-phase plan to bring these intensive spiritual renewal events to Japan. John is the scaffolding for building it in Japanese and it is really stretching his abilities. Pray for the participants, 12 mentors, 4 presenters, and staff as they prepare for this first-time…
Our Converge Mission is developing some new aggressive strategies to multiply churches among unreached people groups. Brian Lusky, from Erie Pennsylvania, is the newly appointed Japanese Initiative Leader. Brian has been working in Japan with a church partnership for about 5 years. Over the next few years he will develop new strategies and projects and will recruit new missionaries to work at fulfilling the mission task in Japan. Last month Brian was in Japan meeting…
WHAT HAS GOD DONE? We heard from a Japanese publisher, Word of Life Press, that they are interested in publishing my book on church multiplication! PTL! The translation first draft is just completed and is now being reviewed by a content editor. The publisher plans to have it done in time for the Vision Festa in July and for the CPI Conference this fall! Pray for the next steps and for a smooth schedule. We…
We work with a lot of different groups of people. Here are some connections we have made over the last month. After all …. Missions is Relationships
1. Pray for the preparations for our very first Japanese Grace Week May 27-30. Ask God to grant wisdom, energy, and unity in preparing the presenters and mentors. Pray for registrations. 2. We are very heavy with several writing projects right now. Elaine is trying to get out her bilingual bible study and John is working on the Japanese version of his church planting book and a new book on Japanese beliefs and the gospel. …
WE CAN ALWAYS USE MORE AMAZING GRACE Thank you so much for your prayers for CPI Grace Week, February 4-8. There were 26 attending including a surprise visit from a leader from India. At this intensive spiritual renewal experience, we heard truth from the Word of God and many stories how the Gospel is working in people’s lives. The Holy Spirit was very evident working in our hearts and the entire group. Some of us…
WHAT CAN WE PRAY FOR? John will be meetings 2/13-14 with the Vision Festa planning team in Kobe. We will be doing long-range planning into 2023. Ask God for bold faith, vision, and clarity of direction. Elaine continues her classes, Bible studies, and project work. Pray for openness to the gospel. John will be meeting at the Rengo Pastors’ Seminar 2/25-27 where he will also be meeting with the Rengo Mission team. After the end…
John started the new year by going with Dan Iverson, Pastor Makoto Fukuda, and Shohei Ueki to Hiroshima for the CPI church planting Next Steps seminar. About 30 gathered from that region to consider the how-to’s of church planting. John shared about vision in Japan, contextualizing for the Japan soil, conflict in ministry, and finishing well. He also was on the two panels on leadership development and nuts and bolts of church planting. This seminar…