Moving to Okinawa!

On an observation tower overlooking Uruma City, Okinawa.

Hello there!  Just a super quick post to announce that after waiting on the Lord's calling, we are moving to Okinawa in January.  To be honest, we questioned His calling this summer and actually asked to move to California, initially.  But neither Laura nor I had any true peace about that direction.  Yet the Lord was faithful to gently bend our will into His and we are so excited about the opportunity to serve Him from Okinawa.  More to come, of course, so stay tuned and God bless!

Intensive Care Ministries

I am so very blessed to report that Intensive Care Ministries can now add Japan to its list of reached countries!

I have prayed and waited on the Lord for this project since before I moved to Japan; in fact, since while I lived in Monterey.  Now that the first step has been taken, I am praying even harder for the Lord to reveal how the ministry will continue in Japan.  I humbly ask you to join me in prayer as the Lord leads.


It was a privilege to host Pastor Dan Finfrock in Tokyo as he lead the Inductive Bible Seminar and also had many other teaching opportunities, as the following photo highlights show:

Pastor Dan in Ishinomaki on Wednesday, November 2, when he traveled there with Pastor Chizuo.

The Bible Study group Pastor Dan taught in Ishinomaki.  None of these lovely people are believers yet, but praise the Lord that He continues to bring them!

Dan had opportunities to meet with many families the church has been ministering to since the tsunami.

Back in Tokyo Thursday, 3 November Dan and Chizuo lead the students through the two full-day seminar.

The flyer that was made to advertise the IBS seminar.

The seminar attendees were mostly Japanese with some Americans, as well.  There were church members, leaders, and several pastors in the group, coming from areas including Tokyo, Hiroshima, even Okinawa!

Friday was a day in between seminar sessions, so I had the chance to take Dan on a quick tour of Tokyo.  I am taking the picture here at the Shibuya Station crossroads intersection; in the picture is Dan, our dear friends the Toma family, Chizuo-San's two daughters, and my daughter Elise.

We also got to walk through Meiji Shrine park.

Dan got to see many aspects of Japanese culture on our tour, including these lovely girls in there festival clothes.

Dan is a real golf enthusiast, so we were able to hit some balls at this driving range which is on the 9th story roof of the Yodabashi Camera electronics super store in the Akihabara district.

After the sightseeing, Friday evening at Jesus Community, Dan gave the teaching and prayed for many members during a wonderful worship service.

Day two of the seminar on Saturday, for lunch near the seminar site, Dan and I tackled enormous bowls of ramen (I did the ordering, but had never gotten that menu item before, and did not know how huge they were!).  Dan was a bit shocked at the size, but we gave them our best shot, terrific soup.

Sunday, Dan taught the worship service at Jesus Community, and also led a study during the vision time after the service, seen here.

We were super blessed to host Pastor Dan at our house for a couple of nights, before seeing him off from the airport Monday, November 8.

So, I continue to pray that this wonderful first experience for Japanese Christians with Intensive Care Ministries will not be the last!  Please visit the ministry's website to find out more about it, and I will keep you informed as the Lord reveals His will to us here.  Thanks for reading!


Intensive Care Ministries:
http://www.icmbible.org

Inductive Bible Study seminar to Japan

It has been a while since I have posted to this blog, but the Lord continues to work on me here in Japan!  He showed me clearly over the last few months that I am to focus very strongly on my family, which remains my primary ministry.  So documenting that ministry belongs on our family blog, which is a private one that requires an invitation; if I have not invited you and you would like to join, please forgive me and email me at maxx.godsey@gmail.com and I'll get you on!

But there is one ministry to highlight here, especially because prayer is so much needed for it.  Pastor Dan Finfrock of Intensive Care Ministries is planning on coming to Tokyo the first week of November to conduct the first ever Inductive Bible Study seminar here.  It is a very exciting time for me personally, as I have been praying for three years now about how I might assist his ministry in being introduced to the church in Japan.  As in America, there is clearly a desperate need for Christians here to fall in love with the Bible and to read and study it systematically.  The Living Word of God changes lives, and the gift I was given of approaching the Bible inductively is one I pray to see given to Japan in abundance.  


The Lord has been so good to us, and has given my pastor here, Chizuo Sakurai, the vision to host the first seminar and to assemble the team needed to translate ICM's IBS handbook into Japanese for the first time.  I am assisting in that effort, and we are in the last big push of the project.  I seek your prayers for this endeavor:


-Please pray for the translation team, for diligence and perseverance in a difficult task.  
-Pray for the Holy Spirit to touch many Japanese Christians and bring them to the 2-day seminar.  
-Pray for Pastor Chizuo's interpretation during the seminar, and for his leadership and the members of Jesus Community church to come together with the logistics of the seminar.  
-Pray for Pastor Dan as he will be coming to Tokyo directly from another seminar in Hungary, pray for his health and strength and anointing.  


You can learn more about Jesus Community and Intensive Care Ministries through their websites, and of course feel free to contact me if you would like to learn more about it.  


Jesus Community- Calvary Chapel Kokubunji
http://www.calvarykb.org/

Intensive Care Ministries
http://www.icmbible.org/index.html/

God bless you!