Church planting with JEMS in Miyako, Japan
God did many amazing things in the last year. Please download our photo filled annual review and join us in praising God for the work He’s done so far, while also looking ahead to what He has in store next for the Miyako Megumi Christian Church Plant
We’ve got a lot of ideas. For instance we’d like to start a dinner fellowship where Christian topics can be discussed in a casual setting. We’d also like to expand our children’s Sunday school ministry. We want to start some sort of a mid-week Bible Study for both believers and seekers. We could easily expand our Children’s English Program to a fourth class. Our new church building has a little storefront that we could open up to serve Coffee and Desserts. We think it would be wonderful if we could start a monthly bi-lingual international worship.
However the reality is that we are already close to our capacity for ministry. Because of this we continue to pray and trust that if it is God’s will for us to branch into these new areas that He will either send or raise up workers to help us. Until then we’ll plan and pray while continuing to serve in the areas He’s called us to.
Please join us in prayer for Miyako. Pray that God would use our church to lead people to Salvation in Christ, that we would be able to disciple them to serve and honor their Creator, and that He would establish this church permanently in Miyako. Pray that He will provide all the workers necessary to accomplish His work. Pray that we will remain faithful to continue serving for as long as He has us here.
After spending two years meeting out of our home for private worship, building relationships and prayerfully laying the ground-work for the Miyako Megumi (“Grace”) Church plant, last year we began renting a building in the heart of Miyako and hosting weekly public worship services. Because Miyako is such a small town, and because our church building is located on one of the main roads, everyone in town has noticed our presence! By God’s grace we’ve seen an encouraging number of visitors over the last six months and we’re excited to enter into this new phase of church-planting.
Dave preaches three times a month in Japanese, while Tomo manages the church finances, Administration and Sunday School. Once a month we host an evangelistic worship service where we invite friends and people from the community to come hear a message from the Bible that’s both relevant to their daily lives and connected to the gospel.
In addition to the weekly worship service we also host regular outreaches teaching English to children and adults, and community events for elderly people. Our weekly children’s English program has also grown to three classes with 25 kids participating. Each month we host an “English Hour” where adults can come practice English Conversation while their kids watch a movie in another room. Additionally we’re working in three neighborhoods in Miyako to help put on monthly community events to support elderly residents. These involve tea-time chats, arts and crafts, and even a little bit of English lessons.
Through these events God has allowed us to get to know dozens of families in our city, and earn a good reputation for His church in the midst of a place where Christianity has historically been looked at with much suspicion.
In 2022 we look to continue these ministries while at the same time developing deeper relationships with families we’ve met in connection with teaching English and through our children’s school. We’ve already seen a few of our friends show some interest in learning about our faith, and our hope is that in 2022 God will work in their hearts to draw them to Himself.
In 2022 we anticipate needing an additional $575/mo. to fully cover our budget for the new year. To meet our full budget we need $6,200/mo. To meet our full budget we need $6,200/mo.
In 2021 we were on average about $250/mo. under supported. To cover this deficit we used up $2,970 from our reserve fund, which currently contains $36,034.
If you feel led to help meet these needs, please click here.
Our ability to minister in Japan is dependent upon the generous support of churches and individuals who support us through financial giving. In a very tangible sense, those who give financially to this ministry are partners with us in the work of church planting here in Japan. Through both monthly financial giving, and special gifts given in 2021, along with gifts that were given in previous years (which make up our reserve fund), God abundantly provided for our family in 2021.
Our 2022 Budget has increased by about $380/mo from 2021. This is mostly due to a raise of $350/mo to our salary. With the birth of Evangeline, and increased expenses as our children grow we felt the need to ask JEMS for this raise, and they agreed that it was warranted.
2021 Financial Summary
2021 Support Received: $67,480
2021 Funds used: $70,450
Reserve fund
Used in 2021: $ 2,970
Current Balance $36,034
In order to remain serving in Japan uninterrupted we are required to maintain at least $15,630 in reserve at all times.
2022 Budget
Salary/Retirement $5,210/mo
Travel Fund $ 250/mo
Ministry Expenses $ 200/mo
JEMS Admin. $ 540/mo
Total $6,200/mo
2022 Anticipated Needs
2022 Budget: $6,200/mo ($74,400 total)
Est. Additional Needed Support: $575 /mo ($6,900 total )
This Wednesday! Can anyone name one of the rights defined in the Declaration of Independence? How many representatives are in the House? When was the constitution written? Tomo’s been dilligently studying up on US government and history to take the civics test as part of her US citizenship interview that she will finally have this coming Wednesday! Please pray that she passes and that there are no further obstacles to her receiving her citizenship.
If all goes smoothly at the interview and test, the next step is for Tomo to be sworn in as a citizen. This takes place at an oath ceremony that we think will be sometime in mid September. Tomo then needs to get a US passport before we can leave. All that said, Lord willing our family of five will be flying back to Japan in early October.
If you are able to help give to help us with the cost of airfare and train tickets, a special gift can be given using the button below. As always we are incredibly grateful for your support!
Click to give towards return travel costs.
While US law permits a person to hold dual citizenship, Japanese law does not, so unfortunately this means that Tomo will have to surrender her Japanese citizenship. Many have asked why we’re doing it this way given that we live in Japan. Immigration laws are tricky, particularly in the US, and our current home assignment schedule has us returning to the US every 2 – 3 years for a six month period. This makes it very difficult to keep a green card active (as you are required to be living in the US), and in fact Tomo has already lost her green card once, requiring us to go through a very lengthy and expensive process to return to the US for this home service.
On the other hand Japanese immigration laws are a little more relaxed, particularly if you are of Japanese descent. It should be pretty easy for Tomo to secure permanent residency in Japan after giving up her citizenship. My current visa is Souse of a Japanese citizen, so I’ll be required to change to spouse of a permanent resident, but for there aren’t really any significant differences for us between the two statuses.
Still, even after going through getting US citizenship we’ll still have some work to do in Japan once we get back to get our new immigration status sorted out, so please be praying for that process as well.
As we’ve mentioned before, we’ll begin a working in a new city to help with a church plant that is being started by our receiving church, Morioka Bible Baptist Church. But immediately upon getting back, things are going to be pretty chaotic. As mentioned above there is a lot of immigration issues on the Japan side we’ll have to deal with. Additionally, all of our stuff is in storage in Morioka. Lord willing our house in Miyako will be ready by the time we get back, and we can get movers to take everything down to it. We’ll probably have to spend a week or two in Morioka to take care of these things, and then we’ll have a lot to do getting our house in Miyako set up, and getting Titus enrolled in Japanese school.
In the midst of all that we’ll be meeting with our partners to see how we can start getting involved in ministry, and try to help set a vision and direction for the church plant, which is still in the planning phases. We’ve really been enjoying the slower pace of things here the last month as we’ve been delayed in our return, but things will be pretty hectic when we finally return and it’ll be awhile before they calm down. Please be praying for the whole process of returning to Japan, moving into a new home in a new city and beginning a new ministry.
God has been working in so many ways this Summer it’s hard to wrap our minds around all of it! Our church has done more outreach in this last month than any other that I can remember since we’ve been attending. We have ten people who are preparing to becoming members of our church, two people preparing to be baptized, one of whom just became a Christian last month. Our church is also considering overseeing a Church plant in the coastal city of Miyako and has encouraged us to join the church planting team. We’re teaching English to about a dozen adults and half dozen kids, and at the end of the month we hosted a Summer Festival which had our biggest turn out yet in terms of people from outside the church attending. And English Cafe has been welcoming more and more people each month. It’s been an exhausting period of ministry, but at the same time the most exciting one since we’ve been here, and we’re praising God for all the new people He’s brought us into contact with, and praying for opportunities and wisdom in how to follow up with all of them.
In June we welcomed two interns, Addison and Keifer, both from Texas who came to teach a seven week English course for kids and adults. Together with Pastor Kondo’s wife Chiori and a new Korean missionary at the church, Lucia, we have been hosting group lessons for kids, and one on one lessons for adults. We scheduled Addison and Keifer to each have four adult students, however we had more people sign up and had to add more classes. It got so full that I had to step in and teach one class to meet demand! This has been a lost of fun as I participated in a very similar ministry on my very first trip to Japan when I was in college. The adult program is using a curriculum based around the JESUS Film which has opened the door for many interesting conversations about faith and spiritual issues.
I previously wrote about Jun, who I’ve been meeting with to study the Bible on a regular basis. He will be sharing his testimony at our next church meeting and will be baptized this Summer. Jun became a Christian watching a Japanese pastor on YouTube, and shortly after sought out a local church to join. In addition to Jun we now have a young woman at church who recently accepted Christ and hopes to be baptized in the fall. She was brought to church by her boyfriend who was himself a new believer. Please keep them in prayer as they take this next step in their walk with God, and pray for God’s word to bear similar fruit in the hearts of those who have been able to meet with this Summer!
In the midst of all of this God has also been giving us further direction on where He wants us to serve next term. We’re planning on returning to the US in about two months time, but before then we’ll a summer team from California to put a VBS, and I’ll preach one last time at our church. It’s been an amazing four years serving at Morioka Bible Baptist Church, and working alongside the church leadership and members. We’re so excited to continue this partnership in the future as they look to take a leap into Church planting. Please pray for God’s direction as these plans come together, and especially that he will bring the right people together to form a team to accomplish this new work in Miyako city!
This past week we shipped all our stuff over to Japan ahead of us, purchased plane tickets, bullet train tickets and made hotel reservations, and submitted my certificate of eligibility application for a spousal visa to the Japanese consulate, and applied for Titus’ Japanese passport. All that to say, we’re leaving for Japan in less than 3 weeks!
God continues to provide new supporters, and as of now we’re down to $785/month in needed financial support. However as God has already opened so many doors in providing my visa, a church to partner with in Japan, a language school to attend, a large amount of funding upfront already in our account, and so many needs in Japan for us to be a part of meeting, we feel that it’s God’s will for us to trust him with the remaining finances, and proceed to Japan. Over the remaining three weeks we’ll continue to seek out new supporters even as we finalize all our preparations for departure.
On Saturday, March 9th at 2PM, we’ll be having our final support raising event,as we reflect back on the progress that has been made since the 3/11 Tsunami 2 years ago. Please be praying that this event will be well attended, and that God will bring many new partners to us through it. If you are in the area, please consider attending, and inviting people from your church, Bible Study, or others you may know that would be interested in learning about the incredible things God has been doing in Japan since the Tsunami, and the ongoing needs for churches to be planted. The event will be held at Lutheran Church of the Cross:
Lutheran Church of the Cross
24231 El Toro Road
Laguna Woods, CA 92637
We will also be sharing at two more of our supporting churches before we depart, so please be praying that God will help us to establish even better relationships with their congregations, and that He might even lead some of the individuals at these churches to partner with us as well.
We’re extremely excited to be finally moving over to Japan. During the first term we will be partnering with Morioka Bible Baptist Church, working with Pastor Kondo. Our primary focus will be language acquisition for me, learning the local culture and seeking to discern where and how God might use us to help establish new churches in the coastal areas that have no church. Through partnering with Morioka Bible Baptist Church we’ll have frequent opportunities to participate in coastal outreaches and begin to build relationships with missionaries and pastors in the Iwate 3.11 network who may become potential ministry partners in the future.
One of our big prayer requests right now is for a place to live in Japan. As we’ll be arriving in Morioka just a week and a half before language school starts, it would be wonderful if we had a place already picked out before we arrived. Tomo is checking with a number of realtors online, and also working with Pastor Kondo and his wife who are helping us to find a place.
Our departure date is less than four weeks away! It’s hard to believe that it’s coming up so quickly, and even as we race through this final period of support raising prior to departure, God continues to provide, opening doors, strengthening relationships with supporters and sending churches, and introducing us to new partners. It has truly been a blessed, though somewhat frantic time!
Over the last month we’ve shared at five different churches, and one Bible Study, and we’re scheduled to share at three more churches before our departure in just four weeks time. This month alone we’ve had 25 new people become prayer partners, which brings our total up to 180! They have all been a tremendous blessing and encouragement and we cannot thank them enough. If you would like to become a prayer partner and recieve our weekly email updates, click here. We’re excited that in a few short weeks we’ll start sending you prayer updates from Japan to let you know what God is doing there, and to ask you to pray for Him to work in the prefecture of Iwate.
On Saturday, March 9th we’ll have our final support raising event before we leave, click here for the details on Facebook. Everyone is invited! If you haven’t gotten a chance to hear in person what God is doing in Japan, and what part we’ll be playing, you’ll definitely want to come. If you haven’t heard an update from us in person in awhile, this is a great opportunity to see what God’s been doing in Iwate over the last two years, and what we pray He will be doing in the coming years. If you know someone who is interested in missions, or interested in Japan, please consider inviting them to come with you. And please keep the event in prayer. We are praying that God will provide a good portion of our remaining needed support through this event.
Praises
I’m sure that many of you heard about the earthquake in Japan Thursday night. This was a huge aftershock (7.3) from last years 9.0 earthquake in the same area. Thankfully there was little damage reported and no casualties, however Tsunami warnings forced many to evacuate, out of fear of a repeat of last years catastrophic Tsunami.
Tomo’s family is safe and unharmed, so praise God for that. Her parents are currently serving as indigenous missionaries in Kamaishi, one of the cities that was hit hard by last year’s Tsunami. Her mother was at their home and heard Tsunami waning sirens going off, but since they live a safe distance from the coast she did not have to evacuate, however Tomo’s Dad was out with some volunteers ministering at a temporary housing complex in a neighboring town, and along with all the people living in the temporary housing (who were victims of last years Tsunami) had to evacuate to higher ground. Although ultimately there was no Tsunami this time, it was an incredibly stressful event for many of the people living there, particularly those in temporary housing who lost their homes a year an a half ago. Please be praying for God’s Peace to be brought into the hearts of these people, that through the work of Tomo’s parents and other Christians in the area that many would find a solid hope in Christ and an assurance of an eternal inheritance. And pray that God would send more Christian workers to this area!
Support update
Once a month we get a report from JEMS showing the gifts that have been given towards our ministry. November was the first full month with JEMS, so we were a little nervous to open the email and see if we still had any supporters now that we were with a new organization. (I’m joking a bit there, so many of you have already told us in person and over email of your continued commitment to partner with us, but still, this whole support raising thing puts weird thoughts into your mind.). We were blown away to see that through your generosity, God had provided an additional $4,845 of funds to help send us to Japan!
This was made up of a combination of special gifts, and monthly support sent in by supporters that were quick about filling out the paperwork and transitioning with us to JEMS. To all of you who gave in November, thank you so much. We’re praising God that 16 out of our 60 monthly supporters have already transitioned to JEMS with us, and that God has provided a number of new supporters this month as well. Also we have one new church committing to support us beginning in January, and another church has informed us of their plan to increase their support. Praise God!
If you were supporting us monthly while we were with SEND, and haven’t yet mailed in a new support form, please click here to download and print the form. If you intend to start supporting upon departure, please email us and let us know so that we can better plan our departure date, and also let you know how to begin supporting when the time comes.
Our greatest need is still for additional individuals and churches to commit to giving on a monthly basis during our first two year term in Japan which will begin in March. Please pray this week for God to provide the support we need to minister well in Japan. Pray for me to have courage in contacting new people, and that God will connect us with believers that are interested in partnering with us in prayer and/or financial giving. Pray for a deeper relationship and partnership with our sending churches, that we will be able to appropriately engage and invite them to participate in our ministry, and in so doing allow them to share in the blessings of being a part of the work that God is doing in this world.
After a lot of prayer, research, and number crunching, we’ve finally set a budget of $6,500 a month for serving through JEMS in Japan. We are currently at about $4,000 a month in promised support, meaning that we still have $2,500 a month to raise before March. If you are interested in seeing how this money will be allocated, click here. Please be praying that God will prompt His people here in the US to join us in participating in His work of spreading salvation to the Japanese. Pray that God will give potential supporters the faith to trust Him in this difficult financial time to provide for all their needs so that they can have the freedom to serve Him by partnering with us.
This is a step of faith for us as well. There are many unknowns, and it is possible that the budget that we have set may result in us also being under financial stress once we get to Japan, as it is almost $4,000 a month lower than the budget SEND set for us when we were with them. Also, because JEMS does not use a pool system like JEMS, we will be much more dependent upon the faithfulness and generosity of our supporters while in Japan. Our hope and prayer is that this will cultivate a greater dependency upon Christ to meet our daily needs, and that same dependency will grow in the hearts of our financial partners, and that all of us will find freedom in truly believing Christ’s promise to meet the needs of those who seek His Kingdom first and foremost in their lives.
We are praising God every day for providing the opportunity for us to engage in full time support raising. Please pray that God will give us the wisdom to know how to best use the time, and for fruitful results as we seek to call Christians and Churches to rise up and partner with us to obey Christ’s command to make disciples in all nations. Pray that people will make time to meet with us during the busy holiday seasons.
Pray for the churches of the Iwate 3.11 Network in Japan, that God will continue to supply them with resources and laborers in order to minister to the needs of the victims of last years Tsunami and earthquake. Pray Tomo’s parents, Yoshie and Kazuyoshi, as they seek to provide children’s programs among the temporary housing camps and seek to build relationships with the residents. Pray that God’s love, poured out by the example and actions of His people, both national believers and international missionaries, will soften hearts and spark an interest in the God who these ministers worship. Pray that the lost would come to know, love and serve their creator, that established churches would be revived and that new churches would be planted in the cities of the Iwate coast.