One Life

Dear Friends,

It seems that 2008 has been full of good news to share with you all - surely one of the most blessed years of this ministry and my life. But for every rose there are certainly thorns and this seems to be one of those. We’ve also learned that we need to learn to thank the Lord for the thorns and not only the petals.

To be honest I was surprised that the Korean real estate developer met with me two weeks ago in Korea and then more surprised that he said he would visit Nagoya on the 19th and 20th. I was fully prepared for him to let us know that he would not be able to help us (considering that two years have passed since our first contact with him and he still hasn’t visited Japan), but it seemed like the Lord kept the door open during my positive meeting with him in Korea (in addition to the good meeting we had last November).

Almost two years ago to the day I wrote to you all:

“I have amazing news to share. It seems (we’re still waiting on confirmation) that the Lord may have provided a donor in response to our biggest prayer item over the past months. We’ve been praying for land/campus for CBS as well as for future ministry expansion. We really need dormitories as well. This would be a multi-ministry site with church planting efforts, lay training, CBS, and other future ministries. A Christian real estate developer in Korea has said that he is willing to pay for everything – both land and buildings. He would own the land and we would own our buildings.”

A few months earlier the Lord started to put on our hearts a vision for the future ministry of CBI (plans which for now we’re keeping confidential). The vision, we knew, was humanly impossible and would require land and a campus for multi-ministries. Rather than giving up, we turned to the Lord with prayer and fasting. The fact that CBS even existed was evidence enough that God can do miracles. And then 3 months after starting to fast and pray each Wednesday I heard about Mr. Kim and his proposal. Apparently around the time we started to fast and pray his wife was praying one morning and she believed that the Lord was speaking to her, “This year you must help Japan.” She didn’t know anything about Japan, but she told her husband. He also didn’t know anything, but he told his pastor friend in Chicago. He then told Mr. Kim about Pastor Joshua of Lakeview Church who told them about our vision for a campus and our future ministry hopes. Mr. Kim just “happened” to be a real estate developer.

But sometimes perfect storylines don’t have perfect endings. But we continue to trust in the Lord who works all things perfectly for His glory and His people through imperfect circumstances.

Over the last two weeks we have been scrambling to set up appointments and gather documents about the Yakusa land we were hoping to buy ($2.2 million - 1.8 acres across from two train stations). But we found out that part of the land was withdrawn from the market. We still set up an appointment for Mr. Kim to meet their representative for Sunday to see if we could still buy the whole lot. We also scrambled to find other options in case the land was not purchasable. It was a very difficult and stressful search. The person who has been helping us with much of this all (Hasegawa san - a non-Christian Japanese CEO - the man who has been renting us his home) set up another appointment as well with an investment advisor. Hasegawa san has done all this help for us mainly as a personal favor to me. He’s worked hard to get us various documents and set up appointments (and has been so patiently waiting for Mr. Kim to come to Japan over these past 2 years as well!)

We kept waiting to get information from Mr. Kim about his visit. We spoke with him a few times and even by Friday night (he was to arrive Saturday) he didn’t have a ticket. He told us he would probably come Saturday at 3 pm or 5 pm. Then after that he never contacted us and never came. He didn’t answer any telephone calls or text messages. His assistant also answered his phone only once and then not again.

On Saturday as it seemed clear Mr. Kim would not come I had to go to Hasegawa san’s company and apologize to him face to face. We were very concerned that he would be angry and not help us ever again. This would have been a huge blow to us because he is probably one of the most influential men in our city. But God was so gracious as I was able to talk first with his wife and then to him and they were very understanding. Still the whole situation was a bad witness to a CEO that I’ve been trying to build up a relationship with over the past few years. It also was a poor witness for CBI as well. A very dangerous situation. It was like canceling a meeting that you urgently requested people to fit into their schedules last minute on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend (it was a special 3 day weekend here).

As I said before, our trust was never in Mr. Kim - it was always in God alone. We have today human disappointments but divine hope. We hope to learn more in the next weeks what exactly happened with Mr. Kim, but we’re ready to move forward with seeking the Lord’s grace in showing us what plan B is. We continue to believe that the Lord will allow our vision for the future of CBI to move forward.

Thank you for your prayers this past weekend. We ask for your continued prayers. Our team found comfort this week in 1 Peter:

1Pet. 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
1Pet. 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Michael

Friends,

Thank you for your prayers! Our time in Korea went very very well. We could see evidence of the Lord’s hand at work and the fruit of your prayers!

We were extremely busy up until the moment that Mr. Kim arrived making last minute adjustments (reducing our presentation from 40 minutes to 30 minutes with English/Korean translation), changing various phrases, and printing out materials. Craig Chapin put together a WONDERFUL presentation, a friend of mine from the Lausanne younger leaders gathering who has a translation business in Seoul did our translations for our materials, and Joe Kim’s friend John Jung (future CBI tent-maker in Japan Lord willing) provided on the spot translation. Rev. Yu arranged everything and helped our relationship building with Mr. Kim. Joe even joined us via ichat for the whole meeting! It was truly a team effort!

Before he arrived Rev. Yu (who was vice president of sales for Kia Motors in Korea before going into ministry) said to us that there was no guarantee that we would even have an opportunity to give our presentation. He said that businessmen in Korea might leave after 10 minutes or stay longer if they are really interested. Mr. Kim came in, told us to take all the time we needed, and spent almost 2 hours with us!

Everything went extremely smoothly. Mr. Kim’s associate even goes to Joe Kim’s uncle’s church in Seoul which was reassuring! Mr. Kim has also helped out with missions in Myanmar and elsewhere.

He told us that HE was the one who sought us and that he was thankful for this opportunity to contribute towards Japan missions.

Basically where things stand is that we have lots of details to research (legal issues, business options for part of the land, financial requirements in Japan, etc.) They are hoping they can find a suitable business to develop on part of the land (which we will not be using – the East side). The hope is to help fund our portion of the land and our buildings (which could amount to one to two million dollars) eventually over time through their business. Also he said they hope to eventually gift not only the buildings they will build for us but also in the future our portion of the land and possibly even the whole land if things go well.

He is in the Philippines right now supervising an apartment complex they are building. After that is done on the 15th of December he will come to Nagoya (between the 16th and the 24th) to see the land personally.

The meeting went as well as I could have imagined reasonably. I think we’ve probably moved from a 20% likelihood of this becoming reality to 80% now. The last pieces of the legal and business pieces now need to fall into place. Please do continue to pray!

The night before our meeting I had an interesting experience seeing a person’s face while I was dreaming. I remember thinking at the time that it couldn’t be Mr. Kim because the man had fairly short hair and I thought that a president of a company in Korea wouldn’t have such short hair. As I walked Mr. Kim to the elevator I realized then that I had seen Mr. Kim’s face in my dream. God works in mysterious ways.

Thank you again for joining us in faith and prayer. We continue to trust the Lord in whatever circumstance we might find ourselves. We continue to hold to the vision that He’s given us and trust that He will provide all that is needed for it’s realization. Thanks for your partnership with us as we seek the Lord’s glory here in Japan!

Michael

Friends,

For 1.5 years I’ve been asking you to pray about the opportunity of having a Korean real estate developer purchase land and buildings for a CBS campus. After a long wait and much prayer and fasting I’ll be meeting this man face to face in Korea next Friday over lunch!

As I understand it his wife was praying early one morning and the Lord spoke to her heart, “This year you are to help Japan.” She told her husband who contacted his pastor friend in Chicago. The real estate developer had given a large sum of his own money towards that pastor’s project of sharing the Gospel with the deaf in China.

That Chicago pastor didn’t know anyone in Japan, but after asking another Chicago pastor friend learned about our ministry.

Then the real estate developer suggested the possibility of buying land via his investors group; they would own the land and lease us the land for free indefinitely; they would build all needed buildings for us; we would own the buildings; they would pay for everything.

We’ve had about 5-6 phone conversations with this man and every time seemed very positive. But we kept waiting for a visit from this extremely busy man.

Finally we will meet him next Friday. Craig Chapin, Rev. Yu and I will be going and will give a presentation.

The land we LOVE and are hoping to buy is 1.8 acres (which is an unbelievably huge piece of land in Japan). The land price is $2.2 million (an incredibly cheap price for Japan - 40 times cheaper than other land we looked at). Buildings could be an additional $1 million for dorms, offices, classrooms, and worship hall.

If you feel so moved we invite you to take a 24 hour period of time between now and then for fasting and prayer. I encourage study of the book of Daniel as well as a reminder of the absolute sovereignty of God over kings and kingdoms and every circumstance.

Potentially the biggest meeting in the history of our ministry. I don’t anticipate any concrete decisions until they actually see the land, but this is a huge step forward potentially. Such a provision could provide adequate space for the next 50+ years!

May the Lord who can move the hearts of kings work a miraculous work of provision for His great glory!

* Please also share this prayer request with your church and network of friends!

With thanksgiving,

Michael

We leave on Friday back to Nagoya (7/13) and our lives and ministry there.

There is a sense of both excitement and dread – we’re ready to return “home” and do the work the Lord has called us to. There are many in Japan eagerly awaiting our return. At the same time we’re really not looking forward to the plane-ride with our four girls. Elliot especially will likely be a handful for the 15 hours of flying time. Please pray for the travel and also jet-lag. The goodbyes will be very painful. It’s been a wonderful furlough these past 9 months. The girls have so enjoyed school and family. I never believed in the whole concept of being “in love” - but seeing my father with Elliot I think I believe.

This is a reminder of the sacrifices we have chosen to make in this calling. Not so much just the language, food, nature, and all the comforts of life in America (there is no nation on earth like America – but unless you’ve lived elsewhere you probably don’t know it) - but much more so the very great blessings that the Lord gives to us – family and friends. That’s why I’ve always thought of missions as a fasting of many of the blessings of life. When we normally fast – we abstain from food – something so seemingly essential to life – to remind us of what is even more essential – our relationship with Christ. We fast because there is urgency of some other matter – more urgent than eating. In missions, we fast the blessings of family, friends, and all the blessings and opportunities of life in the US – because there is something even more essential to life – our relationship to Christ whom we follow and seek to make known. And we fast these blessings – because there is something more urgent than even our family and friends – the Gospel going to the perishing among the 2.5 billion who have little or no chance to hear the Gospel.

Here’s my talk given at Westminster Seminary a few months ago. Pearl was very interested in hearing this talk but after hearing the title decided to sit near the exit! Jerry McFarland the Dean of Students said before my talk that they’d love for me to come regularly. I told him, “Why don’t you wait until after you hear my talk!” You should know, however, that Westminster has been very supportive of our ministry - even donating hundreds of dollars worth of theological books! We appreciate their ministry and pray for God to use them for even greater impact ALL around the world! After the talk Jerry asked me if I could come every year to speak at Westminster : )

CH0607MO01.mp3

The 900 pound gorilla that was my PhD is finally free from my shoulders! It’s not that the degree itself was impossibly hard, but much more so it was trying to complete my dissertation at the same time as establishing our ministry in Japan and Christ Bible Seminary that was so challenging. At times I felt like I was walking around with a gun to my head (my dissertation) - that I desperately wanted to knock away from my head - but couldn’t. I’d go weeks and sometimes months without hardly having time to touch my dissertation. When I finally got the time and emotional energy to tackle it, I would sit down at my desk with piles of books and articles and have to struggle to even remember what it was that I was even researching! Then more weeks would go by fighting through the spiritual warfare of the Japanese mission field. I’d find myself brushing my teeth looking at the mirror - and seeing that gun to my head! There were times when I started to doubt whether I could finish my dissertation while being on the mission field - and those were good times of desperation - times when I could and had to lean upon my precious Lord Jesus.

“Surviving your dissertation” books can teach you the mechanics of managing your time and research, but they can’t minister to the depths of your soul through times of weakness, doubt, and frustration. God is good!

People used to ask me what my dissertation was about. Each question was a reminder of that gun to my head! I got to the point where I decided that only those who really pray for me and my dissertation get to ask me questions about the dissertation.

By the way my dissertation (focused on anthropological linguistics) was a Bakhtinian dialogical analysis of oral histories of Korean Christians who grew up during the Japanese occupation of Korea.

This picture is after graduation in full regalia. The PhD hooding ceremony was beautiful. Even more beautiful are my two daughters as you can see! I’m thankful especially to my wife Pearl - without whom I could never have finished. She also made it such a celebratory weekend. I think a month or two ago I had little expectation for what graduation would have been like. I think I would have been satisfied to not participate. But Pearl made it a beautiful weekend of great thanks to God. Thank you Pearl!

This picture was taken just yards away from the University of Pennsylvania’s ice rink where Pearl and I spoke our first words to each other Freshman year after we met while skating with some Intervarsity friends!

Some of you know Zawng Dai is a student at Christ Bible Seminary in Nagoya, Japan. He is from Myanmar and is reaching out to Myanmar Buddhists in both Nagoya and Tokyo. Myanmar is one of the most persecuted churches in the world as they suffer under a military dictatorship. Zawng is leading a group of Myanmar Christians in both cities as well. Here are some pictures of his ministry called “Joy, Joy, Joy” or Triple Joy. They sometimes have 30-50 people joining every Sunday! His family (wife and two daughters) remain in Myanmar because of financial reasons. Please pray for his family to be able to join. If you are interested in supporting his ministry and family please contact us at  ohfamily at gmail.com.

Here’s a talk I gave at a Korean church - Chamsarang - that has both English and Korean translation. Please feel free to pass along this link to Korean speaking family members or friends!

Chamsarang Sermon Recording 121706.mp3

This is my talk from this past weekend at Lakeview Church near Chicago. It’s called, “Why Japan Needs the Gospel” and relates how a Modernist mentality has contributed to both a questioning of why a nation like Japan needs the Gospel and also why we as Christians would sacrifice to see the Gospel go forth to the nations. (note - volume is fairly low)

Japan Missions Talk.mov

For anyone interested my sermons from the Tenth Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia missions conference are now available in video format. Psalm 22 Individual’s Suffering and Salvation of the World - Part I and II

Enjoy! I welcome your comments or questions….

Videos -

Discipleship of the nations 1.wmv

Discipleship of the nations 2.wmv

I just wrote to the participants of the Lausanne YLG about Ted Haggard and the lessons we can learn. My prayer mentor responded with a quote from a friend of his who is in Ted Haggard’s church. I wanted to pass along one paragraph to you all from that email:

Many close to Ted are asking, “How could this happen?” Years ago I asked Jim Downing, one of the patriarchs of the Navigator work, “Why is it that so few men finish well?” His response was profound. He said, “They learn the possibility of being fruitful without being pure. God is slow to remove His hand on a man He has anointed. One day that man may sin, then experience God’s blessing. Then it happens again and again and he begins to believe that purity doesn’t matter. Eventually he becomes like a tree rotting inside that is eventually toppled by a storm.”

When I was in Thailand for the Lausanne 2004 Forum, I met the founder of Rahab Ministries which seeks to rescue women from the sex industry, share the Gospel with them, and train them in productive skills such as haircutting. She shared with me that 70% of tourists who enter Thailand are men. 70% of those men participate in the sex industry (the number one industry in Thailand). The majority of those men… are Japanese.

One night after our meetings I went to downtown Pattaya with the other Japanese Christian leaders. We ate at a sidewalk restaurant while male tourists walked the streets arm in arm with their young women/girls or even boys who they had “bought” for the night. As we spoke about mundane even stupid things, I was incensed as the group completely ignored all that was going on just a few feet away from us. The ability to just put up blinders to our eyes and feel no anger or compassion was just mind-boggling. No one suggested that we pray for the women or talk with the men. We just continued a stupid conversation.

The next morning I skipped all the meetings and spent time in Pattaya at Rahab Ministries. I spoke with them, prayed with them, and bought practically every card that the women had hand-made for support. I also made a promise - that one day I would send a CBS graduate to work at their ministry. It’s time for the Japanese Church to open her eyes to the raping of Asia that Japanese men are responsible for.

I wanted to encourage you to consider visiting their website  http://www.rahabministriesthailand.org) and buying their hand-made cards or jewelry as Christmas or birthday gifts. If we’re going to buy presents anyway, why not support a very important ministry as well? They say that shipping takes 3-6 weeks so you’ll want to order asap if you want to use these for Christmas presents. But you can always stock up for other presents throughout the year.

May God have mercy upon these women and girls who He loves.