Maine Report #3 (or next stop Tokyo)

We are finally back in New York after a month of intensive traveling throughout the state of Maine. After visiting seven churches and more small groups, we are filled with gratitude as God continually demonstrated His faithfulness throughout the time we were there.

Let me pick up where we left off since the last update. Originally, after the final meeting we had in June, we were planning on returning to New York. However, some of the locals convinced us that we needed to stay for their July 4th celebration. They mentioned that there would be a lot of food and the world’s fastest lobster fishing boat race, and, shameless to say, we were sold.

On June 28th, we visited the Head of the River Baptist Church in Cutler, Maine. It was our joy to share our passion with the people who were attending this small church. Among the attendees was Dr. Greg Beale from Wheaton Graduate School, who used to be the president of the Evangelical Theological Society a few years ago. It was refreshing to talk to him since I miss being around people who are active in the field of theological education. Amy and I enjoyed getting to know Head of the River’s Pastor Scott and his family. We would love to continue to keep in touch with their church.

That evening, we visited Beals Christian Advent Church on Beals Island, Maine. We spoke to the congregation there, and some of them made pledges to support us through regular giving. It was our joy to get to know their pastor, Josh, and his family, who were very excited about our ministry. We will be praying for their ministry as well.

After that Sunday, we were done with our planned meetings but wanted to meet more people and inform them of the spiritual need in Tokyo. On Thursday, I arranged a meeting with one of the members of Maine Coast Baptist Church, Dr. Allen Gregory, who has started his own unique ministry with a local investor to specifically aim to reach the lost in his local community with the Gospel. Over an outstanding lobster lunch, we discussed how Amy and I can increase our ministry effectiveness. Right before I left, he suggested that I should call Pastor Jerry Mick, senior pastor of Bangor Baptist Church, in Bangor, Maine.

Although I didn’t know anything about this church prior to our meeting, right after I left Dr. Gregory’s office I quickly prayed and called Pastor Jerry’s number, not knowing what to expect. We only had two days left in Maine, and once we left the state we knew that we could not return for a long time due to its distance from where we would be.

After talking to Pastor Jerry on the phone for three minutes or so, he invited me to share our ministry to him on Friday morning. I was so grateful to the Lord, as I was not expecting to be able to meet him in person. In spite of his church office being closed that day due to the weekend and, as I later found out, being the pastor of one of the biggest churches in Maine, he was willing to meet with me.

When I arrived at the church, I did not know what to expect since our conversation was somewhat brief the day before. I was anticipating anything from a 15-minute meeting where he would just tell me to leave our information with him, to a meaningful 45-minute meeting where I could share who we are more in-depth. After we started to share, our meeting ended up being close to two hours, where I was able to share about our ministry and our strategy pretty thoroughly.

To make the long story short, he invited us back to his church for their month-long missions conference, with all of our traveling expense being covered by the church. Again, this would not have happened if we did not decide to stay one week longer and actively pursue new and exciting places to share our commitment to serve the Lord in Tokyo.

We thank God once again for orchestrating these events to allow us to experience something far greater than what we could have hoped for. Praise the Lord for going before us to pave the way so that His truth can triumph in Tokyo through our ministry.

We miss everyone back in Maine, and we would stay there longer if we could. But we want to continue to move forward with our calling so that their prayers and support can bear fruits in Tokyo, where we need to be for the sake of the Gospel.

We stayed in Maine until July 5th. Due to bad weather, the lobster boat race which was our original reason to stay was canceled. But it didn’t matter because we were able to meet new people that we would not have been able to if we didn’t stay longer, and we got to spend the weekend with our friends that we came to love.

Please continue to pray for us, that God will continue to stir the hearts of those who were exposed to the spiritual needs of those who live in Tokyo, and that they will do something about it through us.

Also pray for us during the next forty days as Amy and I will be separated for that duration to accomplish the different aspects of our ministry. I am flying back to Japan today (7/10) to “admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone” (1 Thess. 5:14) in our church community in Tokyo. It will be challenging as I would be laying down the foundation for the changes that we will bring about in the near future. It is human nature to react in one way or another whenever new and sizable changes are introduced. It is a process that requires utmost carefulness, wisdom, and moreover, unwavering God-given conviction to do what is right in His sight with excellence. I will be speaking over ten times during this time. We also covet your prayers for Amy as she drives down to Alabama to be with her family for the duration. She will update our sending church with our progress. Anyway, it is a very long time for us to be apart, and we would appreciate your encouragement during this time.

We will continue to update you with what we will be doing during this period so that you can pray for us effectively. Please continue to pray for us but also consider financially partnering with us as God leads through regular giving. We cannot leave the country until God raises enough people to pledge 100% of our support. We still need $4,000 monthly pledges. Every dollar counts. Please ask God to make you into one of those men or women who will give generously so that through your giving more Japanese souls will be saved.

Again, it is not too late to bless us with financial assistance as I fly to Tokyo by clicking the “donate” button to the left. A roundtrip flight to Japan costs somewhere around $1,000. You giving can make a big difference.

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Thanks so much for visiting our website again. We cannot wait to tell you what God is doing in our next update.