Jan 2008
Our Worlds Combine
January/22/08 Filed in: Leadership Coaching/Mentoring
Our Worlds Combine; a story of an international wedding
Over the past few years, we’ve shared with you about our dear Chinese friend Joy, a doctor, who came to know the Lord in Japan through Setsu, one of our church members. You may also recall that Joy led several of her family members (living in China) to Christ, and last year, baptized her mother and sister!
For a season, Sean and I (and our church family) had the awesome privilege of walking with Joy and helping her to discover the rich life that God intends for all of his children. God has blessed and encouraged us greatly through Joy’s love for Him and her passion to reach the lost.
Our Worlds Combine…
When we were first getting to know Joy, one of her desires was to meet other doctors who shared her passion for Jesus. She had never worked with any Christians, and naturally, she wanted to talk about her faith with someone who could understand the unique issues she deals with in her profession.
Immediately, we thought of one of our close friends, Kris King, a chiropractor from Alice’s hometown. Not only was Kris a doctor, but he also had been actively involved in outreach to Chinese students for over 10 years and was prayerfully considering going to China as a missionary.
Soon afterwards, Joy and Kris became good friends and eventually decided to get married! Their wedding ceremony was held last month in Mississippi.
The Grand Entourage
God worked it out so that we could attend the wedding after CRM’s worldwide mission conference in California. Four Japanese women from our church in Japan joined us, including our pastor’s wife, and Setsu (who led Joy to the Lord). Also in attendance were Joy’s mom and brother (who flew in from China), and her bridesmaid, Yumi, a woman she worked with in Japan. Talk about an international wedding… Three languages were being spoken throughout the whole wedding weekend!
In Christ, We Speak The Same Heart Language
For a season, Sean and I (and our church family) had the awesome privilege of walking with Joy and helping her to discover the rich life that God intends for all of his children. God has blessed and encouraged us greatly through Joy’s love for Him and her passion to reach the lost.
Our Worlds Combine…
When we were first getting to know Joy, one of her desires was to meet other doctors who shared her passion for Jesus. She had never worked with any Christians, and naturally, she wanted to talk about her faith with someone who could understand the unique issues she deals with in her profession.
Immediately, we thought of one of our close friends, Kris King, a chiropractor from Alice’s hometown. Not only was Kris a doctor, but he also had been actively involved in outreach to Chinese students for over 10 years and was prayerfully considering going to China as a missionary.
Soon afterwards, Joy and Kris became good friends and eventually decided to get married! Their wedding ceremony was held last month in Mississippi.
The Grand Entourage
In Christ, We Speak The Same Heart Language
One of the highlights came on the morning of the wedding. My mom and I hosted a “brunch” for Joy and the women in her wedding party. I guess a brunch the morning of the wedding is a truly southern thing to do. We have done many, but this one was by far, the most special.
Our pastor in Japan had prepared a DVD for Joy, with photos that spanned the time of her baptism in Japan until the time that she left Tokyo for the USA a year ago. Joy wept tears of joy (most of us did!) as she watched the video of her spiritual “home” in Japan and listened to congratulatory messages from her first church family.
We rejoice with Joy and Kris as they celebrate their new life together! Isn’t it exciting that we can be a part of God’s wonderful plans and divine purposes? Thank You, Jesus!
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Pregnant With a Promise
January/19/08 Filed in: Intercession
Pregnant with a Promise
While many of us may never experience pregnancy in the natural, we all know what it’s like to wait longingly on the Lord for a promise to be fulfilled. As a mother must endure a long pregnancy and the intense pains of childbirth before she finally can hold her baby, we too need patience and perseverance in order to receive the Lord’s promise.
About a year ago, I (Alice) felt called to join our church’s intercession team. Ironically, around the same time, I found out I was pregnant. As our intercession team began praying together, we sensed God’s call on our little church, and ultimately, on the church in Japan. While I was pregnant in the natural, I also felt pregnant in the spirit with a longing to see God’s plan of salvation fulfilled in Japan.
Besides our regular prayer times, some of us felt such a burden to pray that we would go to the church early in the morning to pray, as well as prayer walk in our neighborhoods.
These times of “laboring” in prayer could get intense! Words cannot express the yearning we felt to see God pour out His Spirit afresh on our body. We longed for God to prepare our church for the harvest!
As my pregnancy progressed, I rejoiced when I began feeling our little girl move inside me. In the same way, as our team sought the Lord in prayer, we began to see things happen that confirmed God was moving in our midst.
One day during our prayer time, the Lord touched us with a deep sense of His presence, bringing us to our knees in worship. (I had never felt God’s presence like this in Japan!) The Lord also began to do a deep work in our church and in our worship services. The church truly seemed to be “pregnant” with a move of God!
Enduring the Wait
Of course, the Lord doesn’t always move quickly. Sometimes the waiting can be quite painful, and we can lose hope.
In my case, after our little girl’s due date had come and gone, I grew weary of waiting. I was tired of being pregnant! When the labor pains finally started, we rushed to the hospital, only to wait 48 more hours before Rylee was finally born.
During that time, the Lord taught me about waiting on His promises. In the midst of pain and frustration, I struggled not to lose hope. “God, did you forget about me? I don’t even feel your presence right now…” I prayed.
Then, I had a revelation… enduring the pain and waiting for Rylee’s arrival was like laboring in prayer and waiting for a breakthrough. Through the process of waiting, God refines our character, which in turn brings glory to God. Then, when God does fulfill His promise, we can rejoice knowing that it was God who made it happen.
Now, when I look at Rylee, the fruit of His promise, I think, “She was worth the wait and the pain! And the Lord reminds me of His promise for a breakthrough in Japan.
Our prayer in 2008: that we might run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, believing in His promises, and remembering that He is faithful! Our times are in His hands (Psalm 31:15).
While many of us may never experience pregnancy in the natural, we all know what it’s like to wait longingly on the Lord for a promise to be fulfilled. As a mother must endure a long pregnancy and the intense pains of childbirth before she finally can hold her baby, we too need patience and perseverance in order to receive the Lord’s promise.
About a year ago, I (Alice) felt called to join our church’s intercession team. Ironically, around the same time, I found out I was pregnant. As our intercession team began praying together, we sensed God’s call on our little church, and ultimately, on the church in Japan. While I was pregnant in the natural, I also felt pregnant in the spirit with a longing to see God’s plan of salvation fulfilled in Japan.
Besides our regular prayer times, some of us felt such a burden to pray that we would go to the church early in the morning to pray, as well as prayer walk in our neighborhoods.
These times of “laboring” in prayer could get intense! Words cannot express the yearning we felt to see God pour out His Spirit afresh on our body. We longed for God to prepare our church for the harvest!
As my pregnancy progressed, I rejoiced when I began feeling our little girl move inside me. In the same way, as our team sought the Lord in prayer, we began to see things happen that confirmed God was moving in our midst.
One day during our prayer time, the Lord touched us with a deep sense of His presence, bringing us to our knees in worship. (I had never felt God’s presence like this in Japan!) The Lord also began to do a deep work in our church and in our worship services. The church truly seemed to be “pregnant” with a move of God!
Enduring the Wait
Of course, the Lord doesn’t always move quickly. Sometimes the waiting can be quite painful, and we can lose hope.
In my case, after our little girl’s due date had come and gone, I grew weary of waiting. I was tired of being pregnant! When the labor pains finally started, we rushed to the hospital, only to wait 48 more hours before Rylee was finally born.
During that time, the Lord taught me about waiting on His promises. In the midst of pain and frustration, I struggled not to lose hope. “God, did you forget about me? I don’t even feel your presence right now…” I prayed.
Then, I had a revelation… enduring the pain and waiting for Rylee’s arrival was like laboring in prayer and waiting for a breakthrough. Through the process of waiting, God refines our character, which in turn brings glory to God. Then, when God does fulfill His promise, we can rejoice knowing that it was God who made it happen.
Now, when I look at Rylee, the fruit of His promise, I think, “She was worth the wait and the pain! And the Lord reminds me of His promise for a breakthrough in Japan.
Our prayer in 2008: that we might run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, believing in His promises, and remembering that He is faithful! Our times are in His hands (Psalm 31:15).
Looking Back
January/02/08 Filed in: Relationship Evangelism | Local Church Ministry | Soccer | Intercession | Video-editing | Leadership Coaching/Mentoring
Happy New Year! We are excitedly looking ahead at what the Lord has in store for us this new year! And, we are also reminiscing about what the Lord did for us in 2007. The last twelve months went by in a whirlwind, full of many exciting developments and changes. We look back at 2007 with much gratitude to the Lord. Take a walk with us through memory lane…
We celebrated the birth of our second child on November 9th. It’s hard to believe that in 24 months we’ve gone from childless to a full house. Joy, joy, joy!
Growing pains seems to be an appropriate theme for our lives and ministry. Growing is never painless and requires a mix of faith and perseverance. In the natural, our family has grown. And in the spirit, we are pregnant with expectation as God is giving new depth to relationships we’ve been sowing into over the past four years here in Japan.
Something about having children on the mission field… far from taking away from ministry, has added depth to existing relationships and provided opportunities for new ones. It’s as if people suddenly think, “They must be serious about their love for Japan if they’re willing to have kids here!”
Kadin at 3 months with Meg at 20 days. Growing up together... Meg and Kadin today
Some things we celebrate…
*Our church is growing and hopes to purchase land in order to build a multi-purpose center where we can minister to the community in a variety of ways.
*God is using Alice’s passion for prayer through her involvement in CRM’s global intercession team and through mentoring intercessors in our church.
*Sean coached CAJ’s soccer team to their 2nd Far East Championship in three years.
*Alice obtained her professional certification as a video editor and produced her first professional video for the Japan Cell Church Mission Network.
*Sean completed a professional coach-training program that has helped him to more effectively empower, equip, encourage, and support leaders.
*New relationships with families as opposed to relationships only with moms and their children.
We celebrate all of this and much more. We praise God for you and thank Him for the part each of you have played in sowing into God’s harvest in Japan. May the Lord bless you richly!!!