Items for Prayer for Japan and our ministry.
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…
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…
John and Elaine will be presenting a seminar and John sharing at one church this weekend at the Quad Cities Mission Conference. Tim got a new job and begins work on Monday. Also pray for Beth’s husband, Dustin, who got a new job and also begins on Monday. Our support need has dropped from $500 per month to $397. Pray that we continue to make progress.
Thank you for praying for our Japan Disaster Relief teams. They have all had very productive times restoring homes and effective ministry with community events. John and Elaine will be off to the Quad Cities Mission Conference August 12th. John will be sharing his missionary calling to one congregation. Then John and Elaine will lead two seminars on “How Does God Lead You?” Pray for our preparation and effectiveness and for God to really use…
We have both been very encouraged with the progress of raising more funding for our church planting, training lay people, mentoring, and disaster response ministries in Japan. We arrived in the US with a significant support deficit, many churches and individuals have stepped up to strengthen our support base. After discussions with our Home Office staff we determined that we would have to delay, for the first time, our return to Japan. We still need…
Yes, we are still on touring our ministry partners and we are still in the US and for an extended period. Recently we have extended our tour in the US to raise more ministry funding. We hope to return to Japan probably before the end of October. In addition to touring our ministry partners, this will allow us to be in the US for the birth of our grandson in late September, John to do…
When you think about London now due to the Olympics think too about Tokyo. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics and is currently a Candidate City for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Along with my hometown Chicago, Tokyo lost out in the 2016 bid for the Olympics. In 2012 Tokyo was named the most expensive city for expatriates. In 2009 named the third Most Liveable City and the World’s Most Livable Megalopolis. If you like to eat (and can afford) gourmet food, The…
In late June at the Converge Worldwide (BGC) biennial meeting at First Baptist Church of Glen Arden, John was asked to share a personal God story from Japan disaster response. John shared about one family living in Ishinomaki who our teams have been able to help practically, emotionally, and spiritually after the terrible earthquake and tsunami. Continue to pray for many people like this family still struggling for “normalcy.” https://vimeo.com/45578420 John Mehn from Converge Worldwide…