May activities, Rise & Shine and Central Conference

Over the Memorial Weekend, there were two conferences in the USA.  Rise & Shine (R&S) was held in Seattle and Central Conference (CC) in Chicago.  R&S gathered students mainly where CC, ex-students meaning young adults.  CC had a very good children program since young family gathered as well.

Not like ec targeting the entire North America, these regional conferences can meet more specific situations and needs of people from each area.  It is such an encouragement to see so many leaders and fellow workers who are willing to take initiative and sacrificially serve to host these conferences.  These become their preparation for the future returning to Japan.  We as staff are involved in these conferences in a very limited way (finance, logistics, and public relations).  Most of the preparation from theme to planning the entire program is done by these leaders of regions.  We have so much we can learn from them!

Thank you and good bye to Yoko Funatsu

As we have been making some announcements over the past few months, Yoko Funatsu had completed four years of service with JCFN as a Japan office staff.  She is going to be resigning at the end of June.  We are grateful to the Lord for guiding and sending her to JCFN as a friend and co-worker.  Office staff’s job is a very important and foundational part of JCFN ministries.  Finance is one of the major works along with many other administrative responsibilities which allow other staff to function well.  We thank God for such a capable and passionate staff to us.

It has been one of the urgent prayer requests as how to care for the Japan office.  Then, God had sent us Hijiri Martin as our office worker.  She will be working part-time, mainly doing finance.  Please pray for her as she is learning a lot about her new job.  Pray also that God will send us an Office Staff for Japan and for Machiko Miki who is preparing and raising funds to come to the US as an office staff near future.

ec 10 Executive Committee meeting, Joint Staff Meeting, Moving, Board meeting…..

Thank you so much for your ongoing prayers!  The events in June started with ec10 executive committee meeting.  (ec stands for equipper conference which will be held at the end of this year.  www.equipper.org for more info.)  For the first time, the committee members flew in from around the states to LA, sacrificing their time, energy, financial resources to serve at ec.  We have been meeting on SKYPE, but it was the best experience for us to get together, face to face to share, pray, discuss and expect the Lord to put ec together.  It was full of laughers and with much serious and meaningful discussion time.  Yoshiki Saeki, our JCFN associate staff who serves as ec10 director, had led the meeting beautifully and brilliantly.  (photo on the right.  It says “I am NOT tired!”)  He just turned thirty and is going to be a brand new father at the end of July.  Please pray for him as he serves as a director for ec10, but also for him to be the husband and the father God wants him to be.  We are expecting the amount of e-mails to be doubled and tripled as the time gets closer to ec. Until we have another (and last) face to face meeting in November, we will communicate via SKYPE and e-mails. It is a fact that these servant leaders who serve on the committee are receiving much blessings from the Lord, but it is certainly a joy to see them being blessings themselves to many others.

Annual JCFN Joint Staff Meeting was held.  Maki Goto flew in from Japan.  For the first time in a while, this was a very small joint staff meeting and we missed many people, but this was an intense and very fruitful time of discussion.  ←This is how we looked at the end of three days!

As we are celebrating JCFN’s 20^th Anniversary, we revisited our Vision, Mission, and Core Values, and we reconfirmed our foundation. We are expecting much changes and transformation this coming year, but we look forward to all of them!  We will have more details on the next newsletter, but we really want to do better with our follow up.  In order to do that, we will have a guide book like resource to show an overall picture of follow up which can be understood by individuals, small group leaders, regional meeting members, local churches and returnees themselves.  It is our deepest desire as we celebrate our 20^th year that we will be able to recruit more follow up partners, utilize all these events and meetings, share resources, and to follow up returnees most effectively.  In order for people to get involved with JCFN ministries more easily, we will simplify our membership system and create a Premium Membership, a new membership category.  It will be a busy and good year.

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”  (Hebrews 11:3)  We have stepped out in faith as Abraham, did and we found our new location!  We are planning on moving on 7/17.  Please pray for the new location and moving itself.

First thing in July, we will have our Board Meeting.  We will have 8 board members all together from Japan and throughout the states.  Based on our Staff meeting, we will have our plan, budget, and finance reports approved.  We need your prayers so that the board members come with wisdom, expectations, and vision for upcoming year.  We need more people and finance resources!

As for rest of July, we will have our 5^th WIT Leadership camp.  The leaders who are leading this camp were last year’s participants.  We will have about 25 leaders from around the states, and with the theme, “Equipping leaders who has God’s word as a foundation, obey Him no matter what, and love and support others.”  Latter part of July, Chihiro and I will attend Europe Japanese Christian Fellowship in Madrid, Spain.  I will serve in the youth track as a messenger and Chihiro in networking and small groups.  On the way back, we will stop in London.  We look forward to reporting this to you next month.

Lastly, I would like to make a personal announcement.  I was engaged on June 22^nd to Masaomi Shimizu (Mao).  He was a student from Denver where I began my missionary work.  I’ve known him since he was a brand new believer and a student!  So, we have been friends over 14 years. Last fall, we began to pray for God’s guidance for our future and this spring, we stepped out in faith. Our wedding will be held in Hawaii next year, February 5^th.  Please pray for our preparation for wedding and married life.

We are so grateful for your prayers and support!  May God bless you richly!

Setsu Kuroda JCFN International Director