On the day God called us to Japan, we remember the missionary who recruited us saying, as he preached through the Great Commission, “In this passage God has opened the door for you to go into all the world. You need not pray, ‘God, I’ll go if you open the door.’ You need to pray, ‘God, if you don’t want me to go, please close the door.’” We have prayed that very prayer many times since the day God called us to Japan and we believe He has answered. Over the last few months it has become quite clear to us that God has closed the door for us to return to Japan. While we love the people of that nation, and sense a tremendous need for the gospel to go forth there, we no longer believe God is calling us to the front lines of that ministry at this time.
While we are very sad to see this door close we are very excited about the new door God is opening to our family. To explain this new call we must first give a little background for some of you. During the early years of our lives together, James put in long weeks working full-time to provide for his new family and to finish his Bachelor’s degree just so that he could go to seminary. He was in the process of registering for seminary when God made it clear to us that He had another form of training for us. God wanted us to go to Japan where He trained us in aspects of church planting, relationship building, team dynamics, and a plethora of outreach and ministry opportunities. He also gave us experiences that stretched our faith and built our trust in Him so that we might be prepared for His next chapter in our lives.
While we were in Japan, our home church, Christ Community Church, planted their first daughter church in Port St. John; a work we have been praying to see for more than 15 years, as it is the community we consider to be our home. Though we did not originally intend to have much to do with the church plant, God led us to worship, fellowship, and finally participate in this work. God knit our hearts to the people of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, and through them re-opened our eyes for the need of the gospel in this community. Already He has given us all sorts of opportunities to love people with the gospel. Through all of this, we believe He is calling us to stay in PSJ, to assist the church plant in these early years of development, and to finish seminary.
Our pastor has agreed to open up a fantastic opportunity. For the next two years, James will serve Redeemer Church as Assistant to the Pastor and attend seminary full-time. By June 2010 he will graduate seminary and proceed through the ordination process. During this time Joyce will serve her family by working full-time to help supplement the family budget. We are excited about the opportunities the next two years provides and we look forward to where God what God is preparing us for and where He will call us next.
