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Prayer
- To be attentive to the leading of the Holy Spirit’s voice and to be obedient in making the most of every opportunity to glorify Christ.
- For Paul and Melissa Ewing and Shan Reed as they help Komyo Christian Church to officially organize as a church with a new Japanese pastor.
Praises
- For a wonderful time worshipping Christ’s birth and being able to spend precious time with family and friends over the holiday season.
- Good start of the year focusing on spiritual renewal.
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
colossians 4:2-6
God started my 2020 year with the theme of prayer. It started with being asked to give a message on the topic of corporate prayer at the first worship service of the year at Edmonton Christian Community Church. I also audited a course on Pastoral Care at Taylor Seminary for a January intersession course. The importance of prayer was reinforced there too and I was challenged and deeply moved by the Holy Spirit to make my prayer life much more of a priority than I recently have been doing as of late. As I enter the last phase of my home assignment and prepare to go back to Japan at the beginning of April, God is urging me to live out what the apostle Paul urged the believers in the Colossian church: devote myself to prayer, being watchful and thankful while living out my faith, and making the most of every opportunity. I am thankful for this time to take in several seminars and courses to refresh and renew and to humbly learn from God’s Word. I look forward to the next segment of the Blue Ocean course I am going to take very soon that will involve some time in the spiritual disciplines of solitude and silence. I anticipate going back to Japan ready and refreshed to serve Him and to make the most of every opportunity in my next term.
Exciting things are happening in Japan with the Komyo Christian Church as they voted to call Pastor Saijo to be their pastor and as they seek to formally organize as a church and no longer be called a church “plant” anymore! This is a huge answer to prayer! Continue to pray as they make this transition with a new senior pastor.
Thank you for journeying with me and for partnering with me through your prayers and support. God is indeed hearing our prayers and answering!
Here is my tentative schedule for the upcoming months.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
February 9: Edmonton Japanese Christian Church
February 16: West Meadows Baptist Church
February 21-22: Missions Fest Alberta
February 23-26: Blue Ocean training in Sacramento, CA
February 28-March 1: Detroit Missions Conference
March 5-7: attend Soul Care seminar
March 14: attend Urban Sanctuary seminar
April 2: Leave for Japan