Elaine and I were honored to participate in the Second Quad Cities Missions Conference on Sunday August 12th. This very unique network includes six local churches in Illinois and Iowa and extends into two Converge regions. These churches are locking arms and aligning their budgets with the vision to send more local people out as missionaries to the nations. The six pastors had a pulpit exchange all preaching from Psalm 67, a mission Psalm. At…
Recently a pastor (with a doctorate) asked me a research question on marriage patterns in Japan. They quoted from Stephanie Coontz (Marriage, a History). She asserts Japan is culturally promoting sex among it young population: “Japanese pundits lament the drop in business in Japan’s rent-by-the-hour ‘love hotels’ and some are calling for the youth to not hate sex.” Is this idiosyncratic or is she truly reflecting the culture? So I researched it a bit (the Dr. John in me).…
Because of my role with Japan Church Planting Institute, my UTube videos, my website, and other ways people contact me when they are interested in planting churches in Japan. These are all people I have never met, nor are their part of our Converge Worldwide network. God is calling people to work in Japan; it is amazing considering all the ways he does this. For the past two weeks I have been receiving an unusual…
Japan is quiet and exotic and unusual place for foreigners. For the last several weeks we have been looking at some examples of things that surprise foreigners. The first week’s list at: http://www.gospelrest.com/japan-surprises-foreigners/ Japanese people really like Yahoo! GPS is automatically included in rental cars You can leave a bag to save your seat and no one will steal it A small-size drink is actually quite small There are power lines all over the place…
In the United States, Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades, they have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,304,286, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity. About 800,000 are first generations Japanese (in contrast, about 90,000 American live in Japan but only about 1,000 are missionaries). In the 2000 census, the largest Japanese American communities were found in California with 394,896, Hawaii with 296,674, Washington…
Japan is quiet and exotic and unusual place for foreigners. Here are some examples of things that surprise foreigners. Last week’s list at: http://www.gospelrest.com/japan-surprises-foreigners/ There are smoking sections in restaurants There are free samples at the supermarket There are tolls on the highways You can find absolute masterpieces of pastry at cake shops The confusing, complex layout of Tokyo There are buttons to summon a waiter at family-style restaurants Touch-screen menus at bars and restaurants…