The prevailing theme over Urbana today was this idea of unity across diversity, love across division. I was already experiencing stirrings of this on Wednesday, but like any good teacher, the Holy Spirit is patiently using repetition to drive the point home.
Tonight at Urbana, when introducing Bishop Claude Alexander, Anna "ah-yee" Lee-Winans prefaced with this question: What is your one next step? Bishop Alexander then walked us through the story of Stephan in Acts, expounding a little further upon how we can discern the next step. That next step is often "accepting God's call to what is known."
As we reflect on 2022 and prepare for 2023, several highlights come to mind:
The feeling started to come over me even as I was browsing the bookstore at the back of the Connection Hall. Exhibitors had yesterday and today to get set up, and yesterday SIM finished in four hours. I got the chance to meander among the other exhibitors and the bookstore in the calm before the storm of thousands of students thundering through the conference halls.
We have made it to Urbana! Boy, what a trip it has been so far. And we're only getting started...
This was the most encouraging Japan National Pastors’ Conference I remember in my 14 years with Asian Access.
The theme as set by Pastor Yoshiya Hari, Asian Access/Japan National Director, was “From 2020 to 2030” and Pastor Shinji Takita’s words captured it best:
Dear Family and Friends,
Joy to the World… This season is one giving us pause to reflect on the most important gift the world has ever seen: the Lord has come!
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth… — Psalm 98:4a
It didn’t take long for me to start feeling my age. I moved to Japan just two years removed from university, and from there most of my learning “to adult” happened abroad. During my first term as an SIM/Asian Access missionary, I spent the summer mentoring short-term missionaries who came to serve through our internship program.
In 2015, I made the transition from English teacher in Japan to missionary in Japan. Coming from a non-Christian background, I had quite a few conversations with family members who were trying to understand my decision. As an English teacher, I was doing good work and getting paid well for it, right? Why couldn’t I just keep doing that?
Video used by permission from Prayercast [https://prayercast.com/] a service of OneWay Ministries
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