After all these years of sending mission teams to serve Jesus in other countries, many have asked me, "Why Japan?" and "Why now?"
My answer is simple--God's call.
Between the two churches that I have served as senior pastor over the last 20 years, we have sent mission teams to various parts of the world--China, Middle East, Japan, Belarus, and India. Personally, I have served in Spain, China, the Middle East, and India.
Except for an exploratory trip with some pastors from Hawaii in 2003 to determine if a partnership could be worked out with Hawaii churches and Japan missionaries, I have never been on a mission trip to Japan.
Until this past month.
This sense of calling goes back to the summer before my ninth grade year in high school. Our family spent an entire summer in Okinawa to visit relatives and learn more about our family heritage. During that summer, I sensed God's call to one day come back and serve Jesus in Japan.
Since then, my heart had a connection with Japan and the Japanese people.
In high school and college, I studied the Japanese language and, during my summer and winter breaks, worked at a Japanese travel agency in Waikiki. This gave me the chance to speak Japanese and interact with Japanese tourists.
During my final year at the University of Hawaii, I surrendered to God's call. However, God was not calling me to Japan. He was calling me to serve Him as pastor here in Hawaii.
While attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, we were challenged with the Great Commission--Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:19-20. At that time, evangelism and missions were strongly emphasized.
Many of my friends were called to serve among unreached people groups around the world. These were places where people had limited or no access to the Gospel. Missionaries in these areas would live under dangerous, difficult and very uncomfortable circumstances. For them, spreading the Gospel was high risk, possibly life-threatening, and a true sacrifice.
As a result, I began to examine my own calling. I thought to myself, "While my friends risk their lives, I get to go home and minister." This led me to feel very guilty and caused me to spend many nights praying and asking God to send me somewhere other than Hawaii.
During mission conferences at seminary and whenever I talked to my friends who were called to serve Jesus overseas, I became excited at the thought of taking the Gospel to other nations.
Whenever I thought about what that meant, my heart would always revert to Japan. In fact, one year, I walked down the aisle after a session of a World Missions Conference and prayed, "God, if you want me to go to Japan, I am willing to go."
The more I prayed and the more I sought the Lord, the more He affirmed my calling to come back and serve Him as a pastor in Hawaii.
Shortly after returning to Hawaii from seminary, I began to suppress thoughts of missions in Japan. Much of this had to do with Japan being one of the world's most developed and economically wealthy nations. Modern comforts would guarantee that serving there would not lead us to suffer like Christians in other parts of the world. Japan also poses almost no risk of dying for the Gospel.
I wrestled with that for many years.
So instead of sending mission teams to Japan, we sent teams elsewhere--Middle East, Europe, East Asia and other parts of Asia. We went to places where we needed to be aware of security issues, where people could die for their faith, where poverty was normal, and where unsanitary conditions were rampant.
Still, God continued to bring to my heart the country and people I worked so hard to ignore.
Over the last year, as we studied Nehemiah, God caused me to look beyond what Japan looked like on the outside--wealth and prosperity. God led me to grieve over the spiritual depravity and brokenness of Japan. Depending on what statistic you look at, the number of Christians in Japan is said to be anywhere between .5 percent to less than 1 percent. That is what grabbed my attention as well as my heart.
Bottom line--Japan needs the Gospel. Jesus is Japan's greatest and only hope.
Through a series of events, our church (The Gathering) sent a team of 12 people to Japan. This was our church's first mission team to Japan.
We prayer walked, participated in worship, taught English as a bridge to share the Gospel, did community outreaches, encouraged pastors, encouraged church leaders, encouraged missionaries, shared the Gospel whenever the opportunities arose.
This trip affirmed the call God placed on my heart for Japan as a 14-year old boy. I see now how God's hand has been involved in preparing my heart for us to partner with Japan. It is so very evident that Japan fits into the God's calling for me and our church. There seems to be a natural connection with our church and Japan. I can see The Gathering being a strong, faithful partner for Gospel work in Japan. As a result, we will be partnering with Japanese pastors, churches, followers of Jesus, and missionaries to further the Gospel in Japan.
On a personal note, I am very excited that my wife, Julie, and daughter, Sadie, fell in love with Japan and have the same sense of calling. To me, their great enthusiasm and love for Japan as a result of this trip is a huge gift from God.
The Gathering will continue to send teams to different nations around the world. We pray that God will use our church to send more and more people overseas to share the hope only found through Jesus Christ.
But I am so excited that Japan is a nation our church will send mission teams to.
As exciting as it is to see more people serve Jesus overseas, we also pray for growing faithfulness to share Jesus in our community and across Hawaii.
But in the midst of all this, we can be thankful for a new partnership. We are committed to a long-term Gospel partnership with Japan.
Japan, we are in and we are with you!
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