Merry Christmas!
Thank you very much for you prayer for ANRC12 (All Nations Returnees Conference). It was finished within blessings. There were about 620 attendees, and now they are walking on the journey of responding. Please continue to pray for the participants.
We're still in process of wrapping up. We will post testimonies from ANRC12 later.
You can watch plenary sessions on Ustream. Please check it out.
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This month we want to introduce an article about WIT12 Leadership Camp held in CA in this summer. Enjoy!
WIT 2012 Testimony
Naoto Ashino
For me living here in California I didn’t know about WIT. I thought that the Japanese Christian leader WIT conference was being held. I was invited to it and I thought that it was “great timing” that I was invited at this time. For me, the school I am attending has many Japanese students, and among them I’ve thought of doing evangelism and starting a Japanese Christian Club, and I had a burden for this since coming to America, I’d never done a ministry of this type, so I didn’t know what to do. With this at the same time in Northern California I thought of starting something for Japanese students, but I don’t think of myself as a Christian leader, and I needed to learn more about this, but I had no knowledge about the Christian perspective of leadership that God desires. I hoped that through WIT perhaps God would teach me something “new”. On the last day of WIT I was preparing a testimony of my impressions, and as I gathered my thoughts together, I realized my impression were the answer to my prayers. I was so amazed.
First, “answering God’s call”. I had never had a clear vision and bible verse from God before. When I went to America last August I had a strong desire to start an on-campus Japanese Christian Club to focus on evangelism. At WIT, I became impressed that I have that calling from God. I learned that God has moved in my heart and wants me to step forward. When we become sensitive to the calling of God, we can start with a small action. Whether the way is open or closed we can know God’s will. When in faith we trust God we can step forward, God will rejoice in our faith and courage. I learned we must be quiet before the Lord and seek him, then we can become more sensitive to his calling in our lives.
Second, as we do ministry we should seek God’s glory not our personal satisfaction or the praise of others. Not worrying about the reactions of non-Christians. When you entrust everything to God, Almighty God will control and direct everything. It came to my mind that in future evangelistic meetings we may be serving people instead of serving the Lord. Being anxious and fearful will cause us to react foolishly, a foolish reaction is to trust my own thoughts and knowledge instead of God’s wisdom. We don’t have to focus on the satisfaction of the people who attend the evangelistic meeting. We should focus on what will praise God, for this purpose not looking to the left or right, and not being distracted, I once again learned to give all my cares and anxieties over to the Lord.
Third, “being faithful in small things” I have known the Bible verses, Luke 16:10 and Matthew 25:21 before and especially since coming to America. I prayed about them. I could see the truth in these passages, but it was a challenge for me to act this way. When I was attending WIT one the small group members told me I was making mistakes, this member’s way was to tell with the love of God. I felt sorry for myself, I repented. I have to be a model as a leader, and I knew that I have done things as a leader that were not pleasing to God and it made me sad.
Even while having great vision for Japanese student evangelism in Northern California, it didn’t feel like God was telling me to do things point by point, yet, when I looked at the above three points I was surprised. I saw that God has already prepared many things for me to do. When I am faithful to God, He let me do so many things. While I wanted to take a risk for God to start an on-campus group for Japanese students, when I face this reality it was with some anxiety. But, all over the world people are working hard for God, and at WIT, I was able to meet some of them. Now we can mutually encourage and support each other, and even just this is a great encouragement. In the future I can look forward full of expectation to the paths God will open up. There are a lot of things God has given to me, and I want to use them all boldly and go out in the world and use them for God’s glory.
Winter Fundraiser
Both US Headquarters and Japan office is holding Winter Fundraiser right now. You will receive the announcement either snail mail or e-mail during December. Contact each office for more detailed info.
