Category — Uncategorized

Thank you to many of you have have been patient and allowed me to recover from my accident. I will post our latest update before the end of the year. Merry Christmas.

Let me give you the latest update on what God has been doing through our effort in the last week. Since so many exciting things have been happening just in that short amount of time, I will try to go back to the beginning of last week.

- Photo Report can be seen by following this link.

As we have started to raise donations and clothing from our church website, we were contacted from many churches and individuals all over Japan. What originally started out as a small community effort ended up as a multi-church project, involving over sixteen churches in Tokyo. Not to mention, several secular companies and hospitals that aided us and many people who live locally who read or saw what we were doing.

Before we knew it, our entire church was filled with nursing items which were requested from the churches and care facility in Miyagi and the US NAVY. However, under these circumstances, it is easy to gather items, but very difficult to transport them, especially when there is a nationwide gas shortage.

Our original plan to transport them to the Yokosuka Naval Base was frustrated because of the government recommendation for the immediate evacuation of all US military personnel. While the initial panic didn’t last that long, it made our communication with them very difficult as people were not answering phone calls and emails. There were days when we did not hear anything from them, and we were concerned because those were the days when people’s lives were at the highest risk, and also our church building was already packed and we did not know whether they could be taken to the right place before Sunday.

But God is good all the time and He was orchestrating a better plan for us without us knowing. Finally, on Tuesday, I was able to get hold of a gentleman named Mark from the NAVY who was in charge of transporting goods to the Naval base. It was God’s goodness at work because he is also a believer in Christ and once he knew what we were doing, he recommended us to another Christian ministry, called Every Nation, which was specifically focusing on transporting food items to places where our government would not aid.

Although I never heard of this ministry before, I called them up and shared about our project to assist an elderly care facility in Miyagi. We quickly agreed that our facility qualified as one of those places where they wanted to help, and we recognized that we had the same passion to be used by God to provide both physical and spiritual reliefs. We were both excited in the Lord about this opportunity. We quickly arranged the pickup date, and thanked God for His sovereign goodness.

However, back in our church, we were facing another great issue that we did not anticipate. Originally, we planned to collect 3,600 cans of nutritious food and about 1,200 boxes of drinks. However, the food shortage in Tokyo ended up being more severe than we expected and by Wednesday, we only had 400 cans of food and 200 boxes of drinks. The truck was supposed to pick up the supplies on Friday and these people in Miyagi were counting on us for food to survive. We did everything we could do at that time, and all we could do was to pray and ask God to provide for those people with or without us.

That evening a representative from Every Nation ministry called me and said they had one of their trucks about one hour away from the care facility in Miyagi. He wanted to see if they could send the driver to the facility after his delivery to make sure that the roads were decent enough to make the delivery on Friday. I quickly contacted the pastor who was in the area and made the arrangement. However, I still did not know how God was going to come through this time, as we were only able to collect 15% of what we promised. I kept pacing around the house feeling restless not knowing what to do about the food items.

Then, about an hour later, I received a phone call from the driver, Mr. Hosoi, who was on his way to the facility. When I talked to him, he somewhat apologetically asked me, “By the way, the last facility I was planning on dropping off the items received a supply from somewhere else. I have about 1,000 kg of food left in my truck. Can your people use that food for something?” When I heard those words, it literally sent shivers up my spines. Without any hesitation, I told him yes, and called the pastor back. Although it was already late that night, the truck arrived and the pastor’s wife and a few others from the facility came to receive the food. It was one of those George-Muller-moments that only God could have orchestrated.

The next day, Mark from the Navy called and he said he would make sure that his trucks would arrive on Saturday and everything would be gone before Sunday. Also, Every Nation said due to their inability to acquire another truck, they had to postpone the pick up until Saturday morning. Now, that those people in Miyagi had some food, having another day to collect more items was a blessing to us.

On Friday, I called the pastor in Miyagi and told him of the situation. He proceeded to tell me that they had just received special permission from the government for their church vehicle to be used as an emergency supply transportation vehicle. He was then able to get some gas to check other churches and facilities in the area. He said that as he drove to other care facilities, he discovered that there were others that were in worse conditions than his without having any running water or electricity. They had decided to share the food they had with them which meant all the food they received a few days ago was gone by that evening. I told him that the food was going to be on it’s way the next day and to do their best to keep people safe.

Saturday came and we received a phone call from Every Nation saying that there was a truck problem and they would be a few hours late. While we kept sorting through items, Mark and his crew from the NAVY arrived. Before we knew it, we had completely packed two of their trucks and we still had 70 % of the items left inside of the church. While we were discussing what we should do, Every Nation showed up with a huge moving truck to pick up the food items for the elderly care facility. There was still the issue of the 70% still needing to get to the base. God is so good and we figured out that the Every Nation truck was heading to Yokosuka to pick up more items. The location was only 15 minutes away from the Naval base so they would be able to take most of what was left and drop it off at the base before going to pick up more food. We once again rejoiced in God’s orchestration. If the truck had arrived as originally planned, it would have left for Yokosuka before the Navy arrived. Once we decided what we were going to do, the Navy sailors also helped us load up the truck from Every Nation. We packed up the entire truck and we still had one small room full of items left so Mark and his wife decided to come back later that evening.

By Saturday night, everything we had was gone. The food we collected was on its way to Miyagi, six tons of clothing, blankets, and other supplies were being sent to the affected areas by the Navy. Then I talked to the care facility president on Monday, and he told me that finally some of the stores are opening up in the area so everything we did really helped them to survive through that week. Again, I reminded him that it was not us. It was God who took care of them, and He used many churches together to make it happen. We were both excited to see how God orchestrated all the events and people to unite various churches in Tokyo to make a lasting impact in the lives of those in Miyagi.

While we are genuinely excited that everything worked out in the end, we need to also understand that this is only the beginning of the long restoration process. While the attention of many in the world has already shifted from those who were affected by the Tsunami to the war on Libya or the radiation scare, we want to remind people that Japan is experiencing a once in a century opportunity for Christians to leave a positive impact if we work together. We need all the support we can get to make that happen.

Currently, while we will continue to gather specific donations from people to assist those in Miyagi, we believe that we are coming out of emergency mode. So, we are no longer making short-term relief decisions at the expense of long-term development. We will start strategizing to foster progress at the infrastructural level of a community, and this is where we need to invest most of our time and our resources.

We are also carefully listening to local pastors and their churches to see what they really need, instead of assuming what those things ought to be from Tokyo. We are making realistic and effective plans by conversing and building relationships with them.

We also believe that it would be most effective for the overall progress of the Gospel movement in those areas if we lead from behind. What I mean by this is that while we continue to be involved in providing spiritual and physical reliefs, the local churches must be the heroes. So, instead of us taking a week off to go up there to distribute evangelistic tracks and free food, we believe that it would be best if we empower like-minded pastors and churches who went through the same afflictions, so that they can show Christ-like compassion and earn the right to share the good news of God’s love. In other words, we don’t want to go up there to solve their problems, but to serve them so that people can see the authenticity of our message through the empowered actions of the local leaders.

Additionally, we are providing spiritual counseling at our church in Tokyo to those who need comfort and wisdom from God’s Word. Also, God has been opening up doors for me to share His Word to various audiences in Tokyo area to encourage faith in Christ. As one example, God has presented me with an opportunity to address the believers from Fukushima First Baptist Church, a local congregation located only three miles away from the famous nuclear plants in Fukushima, who have evacuated to a Christian retreat center in Okutama, Tokyo. Please pray that God’s Word will run swiftly among those who need to be reminded of the living hope which we possess in Christ Jesus (Psalm 147:15).

Please continue to pray for our work because while we are in mission for the glory of God and the good of the Japanese people, we are still rooted in Tokyo, and we must maintain our stability and our regular work in the city. Please pray for wisdom so that we will continue to see our situation from God’s perspective. Also, please pray for additional workers who are competent and passionate about serving in Tokyo with us. There is so much we need to be doing but without partners, what we can do is so limited. And, finally, if you believe that our strategy to strengthen God’s work in Japan is valid and effective, please prayerfully support our ministry. While we are excited and grateful for the many onetime gifts to assist our relief efforts, the real battle is long term. We are in need of generous supporters who find joy in regularly partnering with realistic and effective ministries that strive to make known the glorious Gospel to those who have not heard it before. Please continue to spread awareness of what is happening, and please don’t let media distract you and make you forget about real people who are facing real challenges in Japan. Please help us to help them so that we can share the joy of people discovering the greatest treasure in the person of Jesus Christ.

Kazu & Amy

＊Special Thanks to our friend Julie for taking photographs to show you what it was like to be there.

You can see us on the news (click the following link). Joscelyn Moes (YFMZ-TV) did an excellent job reporting our work in Japan. Please spread the news so that more people can be exposed to the needs of Japanese people today.

If you feel led to donate to to our cause, please visit the following link, and reference the “Japan Emergency Aid Project” in your gift. 100% of your donation will directly be sent to us so that we can use them to purchase more food and essential items to those who have lost everything. We also need people who can support our on going effort by becoming regular givers. If you have been thinking about supporting foreign Christ-centered mission workers, please visit this link and follow the instruction. Our work in Tokyo is totally depended on God’s provision through generous partners like you. Please pray about it and let’s partner together so that we can bring lasting hope to those in Japan.

You can watch a live feed of what we are doing as a Christ honoring community. We have already raised over three tons of emergency goods and medical supplies. We are receiving more than 20 large shipments daily from different individuals around the country. We have many walk-ins who found us via our church website. There was an elderly woman who traveled two hours with her cane to just give us a small bag of things she wanted to donate. Currently, we need more funds to get these things to where they are needed the most. Please continue to help us so that we can generously help those who cannot repay. All the glory goes to God who is using us and donors like you to bring about this sort of change in the city of Tokyo.

Endangered people. Pray for those that are stranded or stuck somewhere. Pray that search and rescue teams would reach them so that they may be given a chance to hear the Gospel in the future, if God wills .

Relief workers. Pray for more workers. Pray for skilled workers. Pray for their strength and safety. Some are working in areas where there are still aftershocks and nuclear danger. Pray for their mental and emotional health. Pray for Christian workers so that their faith in action can shine as bright light of hope in Christ.

Assessment teams are needed to successfully gather information regarding the status of churches and communities hit on the coast. This information will be the starting point for many organizations, including our own work.

Japanese leaders. Pray for wisdom and discernment as they coordinate the country’s efforts and connect needy churches with ministries and churches that are able to assist.

Resources. Pray for food, water, blankets, gasoline, and other supplies to reach those in need. In Tokyo, we have been out of bread, milk, eggs, meat, instant foods, and rice for days.

Energy rationing. The greater Tokyo area has begun energy rationing via rolling blackouts. This may be due to the shutting down of the two Fukushima nuclear plants. This is going to bring hardship on many people and obstruct communication.

Wisdom and discernment. Pray for guidance for all the aid organizations and churches as they consider how they can best serve people.

Faith. Pray that believers everywhere would trust in the Lord, especially during these times. Pray for Japanese Christians so that they would turn to God for comfort and peace, instead of fear and worries. Pray that they will turn to God’s Word for guidance and direction, so that their faith in God’s promises and character will allow them to be stable.

Road restoration. Pray for roads to be fixed so that those who have been stranded without food and fuels can be brought to safer refugee sites. We are preparing to have 15~20 people at our church from Fukushima who have been affected by the potential nuclear meltdown. We are also seeking for ways to transport food for 70 elderly Christians and 50 social workers who are stranded in a Christian elderly care facility in Miyagi. They only have 9 days worth of food left, and we if don’t make the trip, they are not sure how they would survive. But unless God uses people to fix those roads, we cannot help them and they cannot be helped.

Donations. Pray that people around the world would be generous and not abandon those who have both physical and spiritual needs in Japan. Once out of emergency mode, we need to start making decisions based on long-term development and restoration of damaged Christian communities. Without needing to say, feeding, transporting, and caring for potentially 20 people daily for a month or more becomes very taxing financially for small churches like ours. Don’t let your love for earthly wealth and comfort rob you the opportunity to be used by God to accomplish His will on this planet. We have been kept on this planet to love one another. One of the most selfless acts of Christ-driven love is to give financial gifts to enrich the lives of those who cannot repay. We are already here to do the work, but without donations, our work will be significantly limited.

Excerpted from a blog post by Tom Kim of Churches Helping Churches, revised and updated and personalized by Kazuaki Kato

Special Request.I never though it would come down to this but for precautionary measure, we would appreciate it if some of you can start sending us iodine pills for us and our church. If we accept the refugees, we would have 70 members that we would need to protect from potential radiation exposure.  Obviously, we are not suicidal and we believe that we can serve the country of Japan better being alive than dead, so we would evacuate from Tokyo before it is too late. But as long as we are being careful and wise, we want to keep helping people in the city in whatever way possible.

It’s already March, and we’re asking ourselves where the month of February went. When Amy and I used to work for the Word of Life Bible Institute (WOLBI), we felt like each year passed very quickly. Time in Tokyo, however, is passing us even quicker, it seems.

We are thanking God that in spite of its quickness, He has worked through us to reshape the church culture in Tokyo and to make visible contributions to the community of believers in the city.

Before I share some of the things that we have accomplished or planned, I want to share some praises.

First of all, Amy applied to get a spousal visa in order to stay in Japan longer than three months, which is the period allotted to visitors with tourist visa status. We have known many missionaries who have raised full support yet could not serve in their country of calling due to not being able to attain a visa. Amy and I went to the Immigration Bureau of Japan on Tuesday, and we were told that we would receive a response within the next three months indicating whether she can attain this status or not. However, two days later, we received a letter from them with her new visa. We were thrilled to see God work in a way that was unheard of, and we’re encouraged to see God pave the way for us to stay in the country and continue the work of the Gospel.

We are also grateful that through the ministry God has given us, He is motivating different people to move to the center city area of Tokyo so that they can work with us closely to spread the word of the Gospel and establish growing Christian communities around the city. One of these people is Nohara Tomizawa, who attended WOLBI when I used to teach there. She lives in Gunma Prefecture, but she is moving to Tokyo this month so that she can assist our ministry and meet the spiritual needs of our community. Please pray for her as she looks for a new part-time job and a place to live since we cannot afford to pay her with our financial situation. We also have few more members and friends who are contemplating moving closer to our church so that they can help us build community. Some of them commute two hours each way to attend our church weekly. They are truly committed to the values and vision of our ministry, and we would like to see them find a job closer to us.

We are also thankful to God for providing Adam Yoder and Paul Mackey as interns for us during this summer. They are both currently studying at WOLBI and interested in working with us in the future in one capacity or another. It would be a blessing to be reconnected to them and to serve together for the spiritual growth of God’s kingdom in Japan. If you are interested in supporting them, please let us know.

Now, let me share some of the things that we have been doing over the last month and a half.

So far, we have:

1. Started publishing daily mobile devotionals in Japanese for people in the city. Currently we have over 50 subscribers, and we are planning on promoting it more publicly in the near future. The purpose of this project is to introduce a foundational biblical worldview from the Scriptures, so that the subscribers can reflect on God’s reality and live according to that reality by faith. We are receiving a lot of positive feedback from various Japanese-speaking people around the world, so we are excited about how it is being used by God. Our goal is to keep editing it so that by 2012 we can publish it in a printed edition.

2. Reorganized the entire ministry structure and leadership of our church. We did this to make the organization more structured but also to create a better environment to train the next generation of leaders and mentors. Now, as we are moving forward with our new structure, people are held more accountable to others. This structure also allows me to delegate more responsibilities to other trustworthy men and women. Starting next month, we will be training all the leaders with our values and vision so that people can understand how their ministry to going to influence the body of Christ in order to bring greater glory to God.

3. Moved our church to start a new nursery and a kids program in order to attract new families. Our church is very unique in a sense that we don’t have a lot of older people. Most of the people are in the 20s-30s without kids. So, naturally, the church never invested money or people to start programs for children. Since Amy and I have started to work with our current community, we knew from the beginning that we need to change this so that we can become a place where families can come and grow in God’s grace. We are currently recruiting new workers who would be willing to be in charge of these programs, and I am trying to introduce a new budget plan to meet the needs of the children.

4. Started working on our church Web site. We still don’t have all the money to complete the entire project, but we cannot wait too long, so we decided to divide the project into several phases and at least work on the main page. My brother, Shin Kato, who used to work for Yahoo in Japan, is setting aside his regular job for two months in order to help us with this major project (check the previous post for details). He and his wife just had a baby last year so his willingness to rely on God’s provision through people’s support was a huge spiritual decision for them. If you can financially contribute to assist our project, please get in touch with us. I know it will bless my brother and his wife (and their baby), and bring more seekers and believers to our community. Having a fund-raising event for our ministry might also be a great way to revitalize missions in your church or your family.

5. Amy started to attend a short-term Japanese class three times a week. She has made many friends so far and even ended up becoming a paid English tutor to one of the fellow students, who is from is Pakistan.

6. We are starting a new Bible study for seekers next month. We need to be more intelligent in how we explain the truth with love to those who commonly reject the idea of a personal and moral God. So by all means, we are going to engage with a person’s intellectual questions (what we might call rational apologetics). But we equally recognize the need for relational apologetics. We need to show people that it’s good to live under God’s reign who is personal and moral (Deuteronomy 4:5-8). As Blaise Pascal put it, we need to make people want to believe our message before we can persuade them that our message is true.

7. Accomplished many other obligatory behind-the-scene type things that were time consuming but too tedious to mention here.

It is truly astonishing how much work is required to run a growing church community by ourselves. Every week, I am investing somewhere around 20 hours to write my sermons, starting with translating the texts directly from the original languages to Japanese, and another 20 hours on the content of the mobile devotionals. Once you start adding other meetings with different group leaders, administrative staffs, editors and spiritual seekers and more, it is somewhat understandable how the time flew by so quickly.

Please pray for us as we are stretched thin physically and mentally for the ministry of the Gospel, so that the life that Christ gives may be displayed clearly to those we serve. We love what we are doing because as we spread the knowledge of God, His grace is being experienced by more Japanese people, causing thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Spiritually, we are encouraged and far from being burnt out. But physically and mentally it feels overwhelming at times.

Currently I am preaching through the book of 2 Corinthians. And as I prepare my sermons, I am totally blown away by how committed Paul was to the glory of God. Paul was not interested in promoting himself or his ministry (3:1, 4; 4:5). He was often misunderstood and attacked by those whom he loved (2:4-11). Yet he willingly became like their slave (4:5). As result, he was constantly in danger of physically dying like Christ (4:10). He was pressed on every side by troubles; he was persecuted and knocked down at times (4:8-9). One might wonder what kept this man going? He endured all of those things for their sake, so that they may experience the grace and life that God provides through their faith in the Gospel. He endured all things for their sake, so that the grace that was including more and more people might cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God (4:15). What we experience as missionaries is nothing close to what Paul endured for the sake of the Corinthians. Yet we resonate with his ministry because we are willing to endure hardship and stress so that the life of Jesus may be visible in our body for the sake of Japanese believers. That is what keeps us going.

Please pray for the following requests as we continue to work with you to bring more people from Tokyo into the Body of Christ.

1. I personally need a secretary who can take care of editing, printing, communicating, and scheduling for me. Currently I am doing most of the work that anyone (who can natively read and speak Japanese) can do. It really prevents me from corresponding with key partners more frequently and taking care of other important tasks.

2. Pray that God will provide other like-minded full-time workers who are culturally relevant and professionally competent.

3. Please keep Amy in prayer as she will start working twice a week at a local Japanese nursery next month in order to build up her credentials and also to make more contacts with non-Christian people. Amy will be playing a huge role in one of the new ministries we are planning, which involves teaching English to unchurched pre-schoolers and their mothers. She will continue her language training during this time.

4. Please continue to pray for our financial needs. The value of our support from the U.S. still remains low. God is using this time of financial stress to grow our dependence on Him, but it would be nice to be able to solely focus on our ministry and not be forced to make difficult financial choices due to a lack of funding. If you are not yet a regular giver and would like to join the team, please fill in the regular giving form and become our quality ministry partner!

5. Please pray for workers with media/graphic designing skills. As we are starting to publish more resources, we need to package them professionally to make them appealing to those living in Tokyo. We need creative people who can design and promote our resources professionally in order to increase the effectiveness of our work. We are also looking for someone who can host a mirror site of our website in the US. That will definitely speed up the loading time of this site for those who live in the US.

Thanks for reading our rather lengthy update. I will try to update more frequently in the future, as originally planned.

One of my favorite authors from my childhood, Robert Louis Stevenson, once said, “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” With this mentality that echoes the spirit of the Bible, and through your prayers and support, we will continue to strive to spread the knowledge of God effectively in Tokyo as God wills. Thank you so much for your involvement. We wish all of you could come and see what God is doing through your generosity and prayer support. If you ever get a chance to visit Tokyo, please come and visit us. God bless.

P.S. We are still raising funds for the special projects mentioned on the last post. If you can help us out with any of them, please let us know by email.

I cannot believe my time in Tokyo is almost over. It was one of the shortest summers that I have spent (being busy with setting up our ministry and spending time with key people) and simultaneously one of the longest ones (being away from my wife, Amy). Let me give you a final update before I leave Tokyo this coming Sunday.

Two Sundays ago, I spoke from Romans 12, addressing how God builds His Body. The first verse encourages believers to present their bodies (plural) as a living sacrifice (singular), holy and acceptable to God, which is our most reasonable and spiritual response to God’s saving grace. Paul’s emphasis is not “doing” something for God but rather “being” something for God. According to Paul, what God considers to be holy and acceptable is not individuals independently dedicating their lives to God. While our personal dedication to God is good, this passage does not teach that concept. Rather, it teaches that we are to be a collective offering – believers coming together and being built up as one sacrifice offered to God.

But how can we become a collective living sacrifice when that is not natural to our regular way to thinking? Paul says God never intended us to do it with our own effort. If we rely on our own effort, the best we can do is to allow the world to change us. The biblical answer is to let God do the job of transforming us by renewing our collective mind. If we try to accomplish God’s supernatural work with our own effort, we cease to be holy, or set apart, from the world. But God’s transforming grace allows the body of Christ to be able to discern and approve God’s will. This chapter teaches that God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will is for us to live a connected life to the Body of Christ, using our gifts to increase its effectiveness, and to demonstrate our unity by practicing unconditional love and acceptance toward all men, being committed to one another for the long haul. Again, in this passage, the idea of “being” the church is emphasized, not simply “doing” it.

Last week I spoke from Colossians 3. In this chapter, Paul teaches about what it looks like to have a Heaven-focused community life based on Christ’s accomplishments. Skipping to v. 12 and the following, Paul encourages his readers to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and Christ-like forgiveness. Some might notice that these virtues do not need to be shown to God but only to other people who are imperfect. Paul caps this by saying, “And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful” (vv. 14-15). Paul does not teach that our goal is to be one body. He says we were called in one body in order to experience the ruling peace of Christ within the Body. In order to achieve this peace and unity in spite of our diversity, we must recognize that our ultimate motivation must be love, which is the only virtue mentioned in this section that can be shown both to God and men.

But how can we demonstrate these virtues and allow Christ’s peace to rule in our hearts? Once again, it can happen by allowing God to do it for us. Paul previously prayed for the Colossians to “be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might,” so that they may have “all endurance and patience with joy” in spite of the mess that people may cause within the Body (Col 1:11).

I have been very thrilled and satisfied as many of the members at our church are positively responding to these truths, wanting to be changed to make a difference collectively in Tokyo.

Besides preaching, I have been spending at least three days a week meeting with key people in the church and outside of the church to solidify our commitment to be a value-driven church that can effectively and attractively reach the people in the city. I have also been sharing the Gospel with three different unsaved individuals. While each case started out with casual conversations, we ended up spending hours talking about the cross and the worldview that the Bible teaches. One of them, Mr. Sato, asked me to spend another evening with him to share more about the Gospel.

They are being stirred by the truths they heard from the Bible, and I promised to continue our conversations when Amy and I return to Tokyo (hopefully very soon). The more I share the Gospel with Japanese people, the more I understand how to do it more effectively. Maybe I will share some of my thoughts on how do it in one of my future posts, but for now it is encouraging to know that I am speaking their “language,” which is something many missionaries and pastors have not been able to figure out yet.

I have also attended different cultural centers and events, trying to see how to be the church to those who live in Tokyo. For example, I attended a huge block party in the Shibuya district last week, where I enjoyed meeting new unsaved people (most of them being somewhere between the age of 18-40) and thinking how to reach them effectively with the Gospel of Christ. I have also spent a lot of time with internationally accomplished artists that are committed believers, asking them to partner with us in our future ministries. Instead of waiting for people to come to church, I am going out to where the lost people are and actively seeking forms that would be relevant. I’ll share more about these ideas later.

Additionally, I have been prayerfully approaching several members in the church asking them to consider being discipled by me for the next 7 years. I am committed to impart everything that I was entrusted with by those who discipled me to these capable young men. I would also train them to be able to take spiritual leadership within the church so that eventually we can start multiple sister churches in the city as God permits.

Please continue to pray for us. We are very passionate about sharing the Gospel with the lost in Tokyo and providing them with excellently made resources to help them grow in the city. Also, we covet your prayers for my mother, who is moving to the final stage of her battle with cancer. Now her pain prevents her from walking to the closest grocery store. It causes us great pain as we see her health deteriorate rapidly before our eyes, especially because we remember her as someone who tirelessly served the Lord over the years. She is still spiritually focused and constantly looking for new ways for us to raise our full support. We thank God for His work in her life, and we would like to be back in Tokyo with full support before she passes away.

After spending this summer here, I can finally visualize how Amy and I may be able to realistically impact the city with the Gospel of Christ. It has given us a clear understanding on what needs to be done in order to keep the movement of Jesus alive for the next 20 years (reminder: the average age of pastors in Japan today is 70).

Therefore, partner with us through regular giving today and be part of this great ministry that is changing people’s lives daily. Please pray to God and ask Him to give you a renewed passion for the lost. If you are personally incapable to partner with us financially, let’s be creative and share about us to your friends or small group that might be able to assist us. We need additional $4,000 monthly commitment before we can return to Japan. Our target date is sometime during the second week of November, which is also the time my visa runs out to be in the US. Over 600 people visit our website weekly. If each person can contribute $7 per month towards this cause starting this month, we can be in Tokyo before November. One person cannot do everything. But everybody can do something, and that small something can change the world we live in. Our next update will most likely be from the state of Ohio. If you are in the area, please let us know. Thanks again for reading.

How can giving up one cup of coffee a week change Japan?

Well, lasting change does not happen overnight. What Japanese people need today is not money, but committed people who can effectively minister to them with God’s Word and encourage their faith. This begins with time and a commitment to build Christ-centered relationships within a community – a job that continues through one’s lifetime.  By financially partnering with Kazu and Amy through regular giving, you can make this happen. With your partnership, you can enable us to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those living in Tokyo, teaching them how to embrace God’s transforming grace in their hearts.

This is where the coffee comes in.  Many of us drink coffee regularly to keep us going, and something as simple as giving up one of those cups once a week will help keep our ministry in Japan going. Regular giving means donating to Fellowship International Mission on an ongoing basis – bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly – to ensure that we can continually do God’s work effectively in one of the most spiritually deprived cities in the world.

Regular giving is so important because it’s an income we can depend on. If we know that the money is coming in, we can minister to people with confidence, knowing that we do not have to fear leaving the field prematurely, or reduce the effectiveness of our service by not being able to produce quality resources, due to lack of funds.

Setting yourself up for regular giving is simple. In fact, it’s as easy as giving up one cup of coffee a week (or more if your budget allows and you really love your caffeine!). We are looking for friends and family who are willing to give up an amount that equals one cup of coffee per week to make an eternal difference in the lives of those who live in Tokyo. Obviously, you can participate in regular giving even if you don’t drink coffee, don’t want to give up your coffee, or think you can regularly give without thinking of coffee. In the tradition of a famous coffeehouse company from Seattle, WA, we want to provide options for our generous sponsors based on their ability to give.
We are looking for the following three different levels of sponsors:

100 “Tall” sponsors who can donate $10 per month
40 “Grande” sponsors who can donate $25 per month
20 “Venti” sponsors who can donate $50 per month

Collectively, by giving so little per month, regular givers can be used by God so much in Japan. Currently, we have 10 regular givers. We need to widen that base among the community in order to allow God’s work to bear long-term results in Japan. Our total goal is to raise $3,000 through this initiative by the first week of November. We need to have as many pledges as we can get by this summer so we can accurately estimate when we will be able to return to Japan. We boldly and prayerfully ask you to take a moment and consider partnering with us, not because we seek the gift itself, but we seek for “the profit which increases to your account” (Phil. 4:17).

Becoming a regular partner is really easy. Simply contact Fellowship International Mission’s office (888-346-9099 [toll free])and ask them how to support us regularly, or go to our donate page, or more conveniently,  you can download, complete, and submit the Regular Giving form attached to this post and have your chosen amount deducted monthly. Either way, you get a tax-deductible receipt at the end of the year to lodge with your tax return.

So just give up one cup of coffee a week to make an eternal difference in the lives of Japanese people through Kazu and Amy. It’s that simple. You’ll never miss that small amount each month and, best of all, you’ll be able to see what God is going to do through us and say, “God graciously used me to make that happen!”

If you are capable to make a pledge and follow through it, please let us know by e-mail saying, “I’m pledging to be a ‘(Tall, Grande, or Venti)’ donor” (or simply let us know that you want to financially partner with us through regular giving). Make sure you leave us your name and contact information, too, so that we can personally thank you and add you to our regular e-mail newsletter subscription list. If you have been ministered to by Kazu & Amy in the past, or God has been convicting you to support committed and capable missionaries regularly, or if you believe in God’s ability to use Kazu & Amy in a remarkable way in Tokyo, partner with us today.

By the way, if we get enough pledges to meet our goal within the next few days, we will be able to move to Japan as early as next month instead of waiting until our original target date which is not until the middle of November. Can you imagine what that would mean for those people prayerfully waiting for us in Japan? If we can enlist enough donors to get us to Tokyo next month, that would be nothing but awesome (and I try not to use that word flippantly). While it sounds challenging, let’s try it together and make it happen for His glory.

If you want to support us but don’t think you can give up your daily caffeine due to your addiction, go to this website to get some help.

So the outah statah says to the Down-Eastah…..”There sure are a lot of funny looking people around here” And tha Mainah says….”Ayuh….but come Labah Day, they’ll awl be gawn”!

Well, that outah statah would be me. Our first destination on our fundraising trip has been the state of Maine, specifically Down East. It is a magical place where you encounter many wonderfully strange people and bad roads. It is a place where people measure distance in hours; where you know several family members who have hit a deer more than once; where you see people wearing camouflage at church events, a place where you install security lights on your house and garage then leave both unlocked.

“Maine: The Way Life Should Be,” the sign says just after you cross into the state, from down south, or allthemotherstates, as Mainers define the rest of the country, where life is not the way it is supposed to be. While the state slogan can be challenged by the non-Mainers, Amy and I have been enjoying our time in the Down East region of Maine. We are truly thankful to God for providing us with generous and hospitable friends, Eric and Jill Holmes, who have opened up their home for us so that we can visit different churches in the area that are mission-minded.

Our plan is to meet with at least a few individuals during the week and fill the rest of Sundays with church meetings. We want to seize every opportunity to share about our ministry to anyone who has ears to listen because we truly believe that God can use us to impact Japan in a way that has never been touched before. Please pray that we will be sensitive to those opportunities and have boldness from Christ to share about what God can do through us in Tokyo.

Our visit to Maine has reminded us of how great the body of Christ is. Perhaps living in Maine is not necessarily the way life should be for everybody. However, when we stop for a moment and witness how God has united a guy from Tokyo, a girl from Alabama, and a family from Maine to attempt to fulfill the Great Commission together for His glory, we see a greater force at work among us. We see how God’s grace has radically transformed all of our lives and our values regardless of our upbringing. We see how Christ’s blood has bridged the gap between these apparently disconnected people, allowing them come together and serve God with a united heart. All I can think of is, “Thank you God, that’s truly the way life should be in Christ!”

We know that many of you faithfully pray for us regularly. We want you to know that we have not ceased thanking God for all you and your interest in our ministry. Well, here’s ways you can pray for us more specifically. Please pray for us, during this month, as we meet with key church leaders in the area and others who are interested in God’s mission around the world. Getting a meeting can be fairly easy, but getting a meeting with any real possibility of gaining support from the church is much, much more difficult, especially for someone from outside the area. Please pray that God will allow us to boldly share the spiritual needs of the believers in Tokyo so that people can accurately understand the great need that the Japanese inner-city people have. Also pray that God would use this period to allow us to grow in our own faith as we continually rely on His grace for our needs. Finally, pray that my relationship with Amy would be strengthened by going through these life events together, relying on God.

As an important reminder, let me emphasize this again: if you have been thinking about supporting us, please make a pledge today, as much of the new missionary support today comes from individuals rather than churches. The Bible gives examples of churches and individuals giving to missionaries and for the cause of churches in need. As many of you can understand, raising financial support takes time and incurs travel and ministry expenses. However, unless we secure commitments for 51% of the required support determined by our mission board, we can’t withdraw money from our account to enable full-time deputation. Unfortunately, Tokyo being the second most expensive city to live in in the world, we need to raise significantly more than average missionaries. The good news is that we are very close to having 51% of our support. We are excited to see how far God has brought us so far but more still needs to be done. You can truly make a difference by partnering with us through regular giving today. Visit our “Donate” page for specific instructions on how to partner with us financially.

Let me complete this post by giving you a heads-up on what is happening with us. Before June 21st, I (Kazu) need to leave the country once to renew my immigration status. Thankfully Canada is not so far away from where we are staying right now. We are not expecting any difficulties, but please pray that whatever happens, I will be able to demonstrate Christ within me to those I encounter during that time. Also, during the month of July, I am planning on flying back to Tokyo for a month while Amy drives down to Alabama to be with her family. I need to take care of some ministry-related business with the church where we will be serving. It will also be a good opportunity for me to visit my mother, who has been fighting cancer for many years now. If you know anyone who can contribute towards the cost of the flight, please let us know by e-mail. Any contribution would be appreciated.

Finally, we want to thank everyone who helped us move out of our old house and my office (Kapusta, Parsons, Headlees, Arthurs, Petersons, Williamson, Mackey, and many others) and those who blessed us with extra donation to help us with our trip (you know who you are). Your kindness is not forgotten, and we know you will be rewarded handsomely one day by Christ on our behalf.

We will start a new fundraising initiative within the next few days, so please visit our Web site frequently. Thanks again.

Kazu & Amy