East Tokyo Presbytery Worship & Picnic

We had a gathering of the 14 churches in our East Tokyo Presbytery at Honda Chapel.
You can see the Oyumino Gospel Choir singing, while the more traidional Choir in on deck in the front. We also had a message from a Japanese pastor encourageing us in evangelism and church-planting in our region.
We also had fun playing volleyball ... or just playing with balls in Calvin's case. :)

We wrapped up the evening with a BIG Japanese style barbecue for ~100 people.

Can you spot Calvin and I in the back, behind the smoke?
We had fun hanging out with our friends working the BBQ.

Many lingered, both inside and out, and it was a great fellowship time for our Presbytery.
Please pray that our Presbytery would continue to grow and be an influence in the East Tokyo area - for His Glory!

Oyumino Christ Church - Joint Worship

Our Church, Oyumino Christ Church (おゆみ野キリスト教会) currently meets in 3 different locations on Sunday mornings. Quarterly, we all meet together for worship (200+ people). This time we all squished together to take a photo for the church Christmas card.


Does this church seem small to you? Well, the average congregation in Japan has only 32 people, so this church is actually "quite huge" in Japan!

This photo primarily includes Japanese Christians, plus some missionaries and a number of not-yet-believing Japanese who regularly attend.

Please join us in praying for our Church.
- Pray for each location (Oyumnio, Honda, Toke) to continue to grow through conversions in each area.
- Pray for the depth and number of cell groups in the church to grow.
- Pray for more men to be raised up as Elders in the Church.
- Pray for the many members whose spouses do not yet believe.
- Pray that young families would be able to raise their children to follow the Lord, when it is so 'against the grain' of the culture.
- Pray for the one missionary and 2 Japanese pastors who are leading these 3 congregations.

Family Pictures

So our family was due for a photoshoot, trying to get a good one for our new MTW Prayer Card. Enjoy!








Olivia's pained expression here is priceless ... after an afternoon full of so many poses and smiles.

Yukata day at Oyumino Alive

Yukata are a lighter version of the traditional japanese kimono. On this particular Sunday, a whole group of us came to Sunday morning worship in our yukata! Even the kids wore theirs :)