Associate Staff

Megumi Kurata Michigan		Born as the youngest of three children in Akashi, Hyogo to a Christian family, Megumi came the the United States as an international high school student. Megumi attended college and entered the workforce in Michigan, but her faith was very mediocre for a few years. After meeting JCFN at Central Conference (held in the Midwest region) and also attending Equipper Conference, she renewed her relationship with Jesus Christ. She married in 2007, and has been serving for the Midwest region since 2011. Currently, she lives in the heart of Michigan while raising three children.
Hiromi Kakehashi Small Group		Hiromi was born and raised in Tokyo in a typical non-religious family. She quit her job after entering the workforce, and spent five years living abroad: two and a half in Australia, and two and a half in New Zealand. She became a Christian in New Zealand, received a calling for ministry, and returned to Japan. She didn’t know anything about JCFN when she first returned, but came to know them and decided to serve after struggling to find a church for herself. She became a staff member of Tokyo Baptist Church in 2005. She mainly serves in ministry that involves small groups. In 2006, she became a leader for JCFN. She is mainly involved in small groups held throughout the Kanto region. She strives to be the loving bridge between returnees and Japan.
Roberta Peabody Kanto		Roberta Peabody was raised in a small town in Massachusetts, the youngest of four children. She has served since 1991 with The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM), in Tokyo Japan. She was raised attending church and made a clear decision to follow Jesus Christ at age 15. She first visited Japan as a summer missionary, with no idea of becoming a fulltime missionary. Yet, God had bigger plans! After college, she worked briefly as a social worker, and then attended Columbia International University in South Carolina. For many years she worked as missionary staff at Word of Life Press ministries until 2010. In 2010 she completed a Master's degree at Tokyo Christian University. During her time in Japan she has served in both Japanese churches and international churches. Returnee ministry is a new ministry in TEAM, and she started serving as a JCFN associate staff member since 2014.
Kristen Reddington Utah		Kristine was born and raised in Kochi, Japan. She grew up in a Christian home but when she became serious about Jesus wasn’t until she moved to Utah for high school. Although there was growth in her faith after having a significant encounter with Jesus, InterVarsity during her college years (a college ministry on campus) was the place where she really grew in her faith. In 2012, she went to the Urbana missions conference and there, she discovered JCFN. As she watched JCFN minister to the people at Urbana, she was in awe of what God was doing among the Japanese people. After that, she started going to conferences hosted by JCFN and at ec14, God gave her a desire to be more involved with JCFN. Currently, she helps out with ec and WIT while being on staff with InterVarsity (in Utah).
Chisato Tateyama UK		Born in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture. Currently living in London, UK. She grew up in a mixed environment of beliefs and cultures, which is unique to Japan, where there is no religion and many religions. Due to her upbringing and the daily news of cults on TV in her youth, she became a stubborn atheist without realizing it. In her late teens, she went to England to study, where she was reluctantly surrounded by Christians and evangelized, but betrayed everyone's expectations and returned home without becoming a Christian. After returning to Japan, she struggled with God for several years, and in the middle of a marital quarrel, she met God and came to faith. In 2003, she began studying Applied Theology at Bangor University and Chester University while her husband was studying in the UK. It was during this time that she first encountered JCFN, and was greatly impacted by its ministry and felt a deep connection with it. After her husband's graduation from university, she moved to London in 2008 and began full-time overseas Japanese evangelism and church planting. She continues to pastor ECCJ London Japanese Church with her husband, Aogu Tateyama.
Makiko Nakao C-WIT		Born in Chiba Prefecture. While growing up in a rural area with its unique festival culture and ancestor worship, She attended Sunday school at a small church with less than 10 members and was saved at a Hi-ba camp when she was a freshman in high school. After studying abroad in Oregon, U.S.A., she was deeply touched by the hurt and darkness of students from Japan, which later gave her a vision for the ministry of Japanese churches overseas. At Tokyo Biblical seminary she met and married Pastor Yoshinosuke Nakao. After pastoring in Fukuoka, she worked as a missionary for CJM in Canada, church planting for Japanese church, and then immigrated to the U.S., where she ministered at West Covina Church of the Holiness Church of North America while busy raising her family and ministering to foreign students. She was impressed with the work of JCFN through the young people and directors she met at EC and CC when she served there with her husband, and is currently serving with EC and C-WIT as an associate director. She is the mother of three daughters born in Japan, Canada, and the United States. Her hobbies are observing her husband and redecorating the interior of her home. Housewife blogger ++Violette ++ https://violetteivory.wordpress.com/
Etsuko Hotta Chushikoku		Born in Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture. She was raised in a family that valued ancestral worship, but her life changed dramatically when she encountered Jesus through her sister's faith. She changed her career from acting to studying abroad, and became involved in accepting international students and sending Japanese students abroad. During this time, she was given the vision of "study abroad evangelism," which is evangelism through study abroad. Feeling the need to care for students who had returned to their home country, she joined JCFN's GRC18, which was her first encounter with JCFN. She has served on the BBWIT Executive Committee, EC19, EC20, and GRC21, and is currently in charge of returnee gatherings in the Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu areas. She has a family of three: husband and daughter. She enjoys visiting cafes and antique stores.
Manami Seki Youth		Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan to a father who is a 4th generation Japanese American and a mother who is Japanese. From an early age, Manami was raised in a church that had both a Japanese and an English department, and she believed and accepted Jesus as her Savior. During her junior high and high school years, she prioritized club activities and did not go to church, but even during those times, she was never completely separated from God through the prayers and love of her older brothers and sisters in Christ. Before graduating from high school, Manami was led to baptism and entered the University of Hawaii, where her father had graduated. There, she developed a personal relationship with God through the people she met. Manami was led to dedicate her life to God, and was given a heart for youths during her sophomore year of college. Then, after graduating from college, she entered the Tokyo Biblical Seminary of the Japan Holiness Conference. After graduating, she got married and moved to California where South Bay Holiness Church is located, where her husband was sent to and is currently the pastor of the Japanese congregation. She is excited about the blessings of meeting with the Lord daily and growing in her walk with the Lord together with the youths here.