Recently one of our partnering churches asked us to send some comments on the theme for their mission meetings. That theme was The Heart of Missions. We thought many of you would be helped by this. We shared that there are several ways to approach this topic: 1. A Big God has a Big Heart for Missions – God knows the fallen nature and the mess people and the world is. Even though we did…
One of the most influential books for John is Born to Reproduce by Dawson Trotman. Trotman, or Daws as he was known, was the founder of the Navigators, instrumental in helping Billy Graham with their evangelistic follow up materials. In printed form Born to Reproduce is a short booklet about being a spiritual reproducer by sharing your faith in Christ with others. For years John listened to the cassette tape often as it was always…
Several month ago a very bright 11 year-old wrote us some interesting questions about missionaries. Here are our answers. 1. Overall- What do you do? What is your typical day to day routine or schedule? Does it vary or are you doing one or many specific tasks right now? Our overall thrust and vision is: Advancing church planting and gospel renewal movements. We are working to help Japanese start, develop, and multiply churches which are…
Just returned from Tohoku yesterday. Several memorable items stand out Telling two homeowners that we have some funds for materials to rebuild their homes. Reviewing 2 years of God’s faithfulness to my ministry partners Dean and Mr. Abe. Meeting a man who described how he saw his mother die right in front of him. Praying for peace and blessing with so many disaster victims. Tomorrow we are participating in a 24-hour prayer day for the…
PARTNERSHIP March 2013 – Ministry Updates and Prayer JOHN John departs for Tohoku tomorrow. The Church Planting Institute (CPI) is endorsing a seminar March 4-5 in Sendai. This could be the largest seminar on Rural Church Planting with 24 workers gathering! There are still 1,500 towns and villages and 36 cities in Japan still without churches. Please pray that more churches will be started in these towns and villages! At the seminar, John will be…
People of Hope February 2013 – Updates for Prayer At the Ishinomaki church one woman came up me after the sermon and said, “Sensei, I suffer from depression.” I was a bit shocked by her directness but said in at least six unique ways that “Jesus loves you.” She began to smile and tears ran down her cheek. There is much power in the Name of Jesus and in His Gospel! DISASTER AREA IN JANUARY…