1. Thank God for his strength, wisdom, endurance, faith, and orchestrated surprises during “non-stop” April. Again a full schedule of classes, key meetings, events, and projects. Keep praying! 2. John & Elaine are off to Yamagata prefecture on May 24-29th to spend time with Mr. and Mrs. N in her parent’s home. We have been sharing the gospel with them locally for several years. As we have built this relationship, pray for natural opportunities to…
I have suffered significant loss in the last year. One year ago, April 14th, my mother passed away. I am very grateful that she had a great life, died well, and knew Jesus and is now in heaven. She is still missed. My father died in 1991 so much of my time in Japan has been away from my mother. I used to call her every Saturday which I miss very much. She was always…
Several months ago a very curious and intelligent young woman wrote to me for her school assignment on missionaries. This was one of her questions and my answer. Besides the Bible what is your resource? Great question. The Bible is the greatest resource for spiritual development, the understanding of God, the church and how we go about missions. It is our key to the Biblical worldview which we must know well to make indigenous churches…
A new Japan missionary colleague Ian Smith recently wrote on his blog about indigenous missionaries. I liked his answer (from Dr. Ralph Winter) so I thought I would post it here too. I will add a few points to the end. Can’t the Japanese Christians evangelize other Japanese better than missionaries? I asked a question very similar to this to Ralph Winter when he taught a session of the Perspectives class in Seattle a few…
Items for Prayer April 2013 1. Ask for God’s blessing as Roger Inoye and Dan Maxton come to Japan in March and April to visit Rengo churches and pastors. Pastor Dan Maxton from LifeBridge church in San Diego will stay with us April 5-13. 2. Ask God to bless our April 3-5 Field Council with his presence love and vision. 3. Thanks for praying for John’s ministry of training small group leaders. John will launch…
The Unreached of the Unreached The Japanese are the second largest unreached people group in the world. Over 1,500 towns and villages (and 36 cities) in Japan still do not have churches. Because of this burden, a rural church planting seminar was held in early March in Sendai City attended by 25 missionaries and Japanese from all over Japan. John represented CPI by presented two seminars on the Heart of the Leader and Effective Models…