As you read this we are winding up our short working vacation back in Illinois. We return to Japan on 1/5. It has been frenzied being back but extremely good family times. Also on the work side have been possibilities for CPI in another Asian country, recruiting career workers, and recruiting ministry teams from a partnering church. We both hit the ground running when we return to Japan and there are various things in the…
Japan is relatively open to religious work by missionaries and the growth of the church. The doors are open for more ministry due to openness. From a recent research into global restrictions on religion, Japan was found to be one of the lowest countries with restriction on religion according to research conducted by the Pew Research Center. (http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1443/global-restrictions-on-religion) . In fact, Japan was lower in government restrictions and social hostilities than even the US and…
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11 Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of a baby but not just any baby. This was the Son of God being born in a lowly stable. Because He was willing to humble Himself, He lived a perfect life and became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Christmas in Japan is a mixture of…
Thank you so much for praying for last month’s CPI National Conference. A participant said, “The CPI National Conference at Fuji Hakone last week was truly a big blessing. It brought spiritual renewal, vision, fellowship, ministry training, among other things, to the participants” In spite of the economy and other factors about 300 adults and 85 children gathered this year to enlarge their Kingdom Vision for church multiplication and experience Gospel Renewal.
There are always several highlights at the CPI Conference. This time I was able to work it out to train in two sessions for missionaries in their first stages of church planting. Normally running the conference I have no energy or time for this. But God opened some opportunities and I love equipping and training church planters. I had two sessions with 12-15 people each time. They were from nearly everywhere in Japan from Sendai…
This appeared in our mailbox this week. It is a flyer promoting the release o the movie “The Rebirth of Buddha.” On this page the girl says, “I want to know the truth.” to which the man responds “I will tell you the truth, and you will repent …” There is a clear appeal to children by using animation (anime). This film which started its run on 10/17 was produced with the help of the…