One Life

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@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.

Been working on my dissertation mainly in the comfortable seats in the King of Prussia mall outside of Borders. While walking through the magazine aisle I noticed a magazine cover with a title, “The diet to end all diets” with a picture of a waif-like young woman whose mother and grandmother probably weigh 180 pounds combined. Then there are the muscle magazines with ads for power drinks that will make you as muscular as the grotesquely pictured man whose father was probably Lou Ferrigno (for those of you who aren’t familiar Lou was the muscular actor who played the muscular character the Hulk).

Sometimes Christians can fall into the same deceptions. We can look at naturally gifted preacher or speaker and give 100% spiritual attribution for their talents. We can look at a sickeningly “good” Christian who never does ANYTHING wrong - always speaks so kindly and never gets mad while driving and wonder why their faith is so much better than ours.

The truth of the matter is that some preachers and teachers can run entirely on natural gifting coming across very impressively but masking a bankrupt and faulty spirituality. And you can have a Mr. Roger’s (especially for those of you who aren’t Americans Mr. Rogers was a children’s television personality who was always extremely kind and perfect. He actually was a Presbyterian minister as well) Christian who thinks he or she is doing just fine spiritually (or much much better than fine - better than everyone around them) who is simply operating from a natural wiring that lulls them into spiritual complacency and Pharisaism.

The wonderful truth and hope of Christianity is that we are not ultimately limited to our natural wiring - unlike the large boned woman who wants to be stick-skinny or the wiring small boned man who wants to be Arnold Schwartzeneggar big. God can both further empower and God-glorifyingly use natural gifting and also spiritually gift and grace areas of character and gifting that are largely absent or corrupted in natural gifting and wiring.

So, a piece of advice. Recognize your natural gifting and give thanks to the Lord for it. BUT don’t be lazy or don’t be deceived into thinking that the easy exercise of natural talents in the flesh is enough or even good. These areas will be particularly difficult for you to learn how to exercise with total dependence upon God and wholly for God’s glory. These are talents that you could perform in your sleep - or in spiritual terms - totally without prayer or reliance upon God. AND people will heap boat-loads of prayer on you - perhaps with a twist of spiritual language. Learning to exercise talents in naturally gifted areas with humility, full reliance upon God and with spiritual empowerment of those natural gifts is the difference between your getting the glory or God and the difference between a ministry that is good just on the outside or is really God’s.

Secondly for areas where you lack natural gifting - either in character/personality or skill - learn to recognize these as well. Recognize these as particularly challenging areas that will require (as much as the true spiritual exercise of your naturally gifted areas) faith and God’s empowerment. Don’t be discouraged or hopeless as you see the seemingly perfect exercise of such gifts and life in Christians around you. Know that if they exercise such talents with natural ease apart from a reliance and glorifying of God they should not be envied. Know also that if they exercise such talents by the grace of God in faith and for the glory of God they do so with the same power and grace of God that is available to you as well - if you would approach the Lord with humility, from secure identity in Christ, and for His and not your glory.

For you Mr. Rogers perfect Christians, don’t be deceived into thinking that your naturally wired goodness makes you better or less sinful than those around you. Don’t be deceived into thinking that you don’t have to work very hard and deliberately and humbly for your spiritual development. May your good works be from Biblical conviction and divine power and your righteousness Christ’s not your own.

For you bad-boy and bad-girl Christians, don’t envy nor despise your Mr. Rogers brothers and sisters. You have blessings of audacity and spunk that can bring the Lord much glory - if they will be exercised and harnessed and sanctified by the Spirit. Your goodness will never be in the exercise of sickly sweet, walk-all-over-me always doing the right thing. Your goodness is the credited righteousness and goodness of Jesus Christ alone. Allow God to sanctify areas of your gifting and fallenness for His glory.

God has as many plans for sanctification as there are Christians in this world. Each one unique and perfect for us. Lord have your way in each of our lives.