Kim, Gavin, and Hide in Japan: Raising, Equipping, and Sending

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]“Jesus said, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest’”(Lk. 10:2). This verse is probably found on every prayer letter for every missionary, but unfortunately, Jesus’ words still ring true today as it did over 2,000 years ago. We […]

Kim, Gavin, and Hide in Japan: Living a Life of Faith

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Palos Verdes Starbucks overlooking the Pacific is thought by many to offer the best view of any of the chain’s shops. Well, we found a contender on the 15th floor of the newly built JR Gate Tower in Nagoya. Overlooking the downtown area, we met with Brett Rayl and Gary Watanabe over coffee to talk […]

Kim, Gavin, and Hide in Japan: Nagoya Bashing and Nagoya Loving

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We are now in Nagoya, the third largest metropolitan area of Japan, home of 9.1 million people. We found out that Nagoya gets bashed by others in Japan as the most boring city in the country. Fortunately, we’re not here for sightseeing. On the other hand, Nagoya is known for their miso katsu and that cannot […]

Kim, Gavin, and Hide in Japan: Off and Running

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]After an 11 hour and 15 minute flight and crossing the International date line, Pastor Kim, pastoral intern Hide Kawai, and I landed in Tokyo on the afternoon of Friday, April 21. Kim and I have both visited Japan five or more times, but this trip marks Hide’s first ever visit to Japan (t’s not […]

Maundy Thursday Family Worship: Footwashing

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It has been said that the final days of Jesus’s life were the most important days of the most important person who ever lived. In fact, the final week of the earthly life of Christ is often referred to as “Passion Week,” after the Greek verb pascho, meaning “to suffer.” It began with His triumphal […]

God-Centered Parenting – Part Two

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]This is the second part of a three-part series on parenting by Pastor Wayne Hu. Click here for Part One. Join us next week for the conclusion of this series! “Can we FaceTime with Jesus? Where is God’s house? How do we get to heaven…in a plane? in a car? on a spaceship?” These are […]

God-Centered Parenting – Part One

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This is the first part of a three-part series on parenting by Pastor Wayne Hu. Join us next week for the next addition! If someone were to ask you what it means to be a successful parent, what would you say? If you were to reflect on the hopes and aspirations that you have (or […]

Meet the Staff: Elder Gavin Kajikawa

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The first Wednesday of every month we will be having a “Meet the Staff” segment! It is our hope that getting to know the church staff would be an encouragement to you. This week is our very own elder Gavin Kajikawa! Clarence: Hey! Gavin: Hey! Clarence: So why don’t you tell us about yourself? Gavin: So, I grew up in the city of San Gabriel. There is not much there… except […]

Tim and Mat in Myanmar: Final Moments

In a few hours we will be getting on a plane to return to California. It’s hard to comprehend the riches of God’s grace that he allowed us to see and experience on this trip. Yesterday (Friday), after we finished our final session of teaching for the conference, we prayed for the pastors and then […]

Tim and Mat in Myanmar: Mingalaba

“Mingalaba”(Burmese for Hello), I can’t believe another day has come and gone and tomorrow is the last day of our conference. Today we started off by giving out fifty copies of the book, The Pastor and Counseling by Deepak Reju and Jeremy Pierre. The pastors were very thankful for this resources because ministry books are […]