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Background Info:

Stan first came to Japan on a one-year ministry term following service on staff with Youth for Christ, four years as a youth minister, and work on a masters degree in Communication. After two short-term stints, he decided to return to Japan with Asian Access as a career missionary. He married Faith in 1983, and the two of them came to Japan the following year. They have served in the Tokorozawa area for all but their first two years in Japan.

Ministry Assignment:

Stan is the Pastor of the International Community Chapel of Saitama, a fellowship of expatriates and Japanese that meet in the Asian Access Headquarters office in Japan. Both Stan and Faith are involved in the teaching ministries of the church, and also serve formally and informally in the area of Member Care for missionaries both within and outside of Asian Access. They have been with Asian Access since 1979.

Words of wisdom...

Be involved in ministry in your home church--if you have a home church. If not, find a home church that is supportive of missions, and get involved in their program for missionary development. Nurture your soul in the Word of God. Get involved with outreach ministries with internationals in your community--foreign students, refugees, etc. Do everything possible to live debt free so you don't have to carry that obligation with you to the mission field.

When you're in Japan, be sure to...

Be careful when you tour temples and shrines! DO NOT participate in the worship routines, no matter what your guides and fellow foreign tourists are doing!

Hoping for "ultimate contributions"...

We would like to look back on our ministry, and see that we have encouraged other believers to grow in their faith, be involved in their churches, and to actively be reaching out to lead others to Jesus.

We would like our children to walk faithfully with the Lord, recognizing that their multicultural lifestyle is a gift from God that He will use for His glory.

We have been used by God to participate in the startup of several ministries, including Japan's first Christian radio station, Friendship Radio and Promise Keepers (Stan) and Precept Japan (Faith).

We want to network with these people!

We are always interested in international church ministries in other parts of the globe...as well as in Japan. We also want to be in touch with churches and pastors reaching various nationalities in Japan (e.g., Filipino, Chinese, Portuguese/Brazilian, etc.)

Faith is available to speak at women's retreats for the English-speaking community. Faith serves as a resource for those interested in Precept Bible studies in Japan.

What we've learned here...

People are always watching to see how we choose to respond when difficulties come into our lives. Perhaps the way we have lived our lives in front of our neighbors and our church friends when we have faced the loss of prematurely born children, the challenges of international adoption and of caring from afar for elderly parents has spoken more than our words. We live very public lives in Japan, even when we seek to be private. We will never blend in, so every time we step out our door we step onto the stage. As missionaries, we are those whom Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 2:14 where it says "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests to us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place." In God's triumphal procession, we, His captives, are being made a public spectacle to demonstrate the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ in our place of service. It is an awesome responsibility, and one that we must choose to make, to bring the glory to Him.

Don't neglect the Word of God! We need to nourish our own souls before we can give to others. We also have come to respect the Word as the source of life to those under our ministries, and we strongly believe we are to teach it, and teach others to know how to read it and obey it for themselves.

How is God blessing your life and ministry?

We have been in Japan long enough now so that we are enjoying the fruit of extended service--seeing people come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ who were first exposed to the Gospel early in our ministry. It often happens that when we see a Japanese make a profession of faith, it is the culmination of MANY people sharing the Gospel and their lives with these individuals. We have seen people come to faith, grow towards maturity, and reproduce themselves in the lives of their family and friends. If we had left Japan before this term, we would have had a very different view of ministry in the country! This past term (our 3rd) was the most delightful as we, in some ways, were able to step back and see God bringing the work of the previous terms to fruition.

The congregation of the International Community Chapel of Saitama has a number of Japanese who have begun attending for either the opportunity to worship in English, or because their international friends have brought them.

We have for a long time felt a need to have a Japanese language service, and we are now seeing God provide the people within the congregation who are eager to help meet that need.

Contact information is in the left sidebar.

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