Relief Work: Clean-Up in Ishinomaki

We spent a lot of time and energy helping clean out homes in the Ishinomaki city area.  This was a hard hit coastal city just north east of Sendai.  People didn't even know about how bad it was for a number of days - since it was isolated and hard to get to after the tsunami ...

Here is Brett shoveling dried "tsunami sea sludge" from Sasaki-san's home.

Here is a ~4min video showing a part of Ishinomaki city ~1 mile from the coastline, and some of the families that we helped:

Relief Work: Ishinomaki Christ Church

We arrived in the hard-hit town if Ishinomaki and we were soon working together with Japanese believers who had come to help from all over the country.

The church was still being cleaned out (after being under ~ 4ft of standing water of 5 days) even as we started organizing donated food and supplies for their first "free store" for the community (with many more to come!)

Check out this 4min video I made of our work with Ishinomaki Christ Church:

Relief Work: Sendai

We left early in the morning an extended cab diesel mini-van (diesel fuel is easier to come by.) Rev. Fukuda of Grace City Church Tokyo was our "guide". He needed bodies for loading & labor and an extra driver (me!) for the ~8 hr drive. We were happy to oblige. :)

I respect Rev. Fukuda (above) very much and really enjoyed getting to know him better over the course of our trip.  We headed through Tokyo, and then took the Tohoku expressway north all the way to the city of Sendai

Our first stop was to deliver our van-full of books, toys, and games collected as donations in Tokyo for children at Miyagi Children's Hospital.  This hospital was protected from the tsunami by the surrounding mountains, but has been hanging on with only basic supplies.  

The hospital staff was very grateful for the "non-essential",  yet still very important part of life in a Children's Hospital.  This hopefully will be the beginning of an ongoing support relationship with this hospital.

After spending several hours at the hospital (they gave us an in depth tour as a sign of their appreciation) we headed through Sendai city as we headed for Ishinomaki.   

Before arriving in Japan, we had the impression from American news that all of Sendai was wiped out ... well the main part of the city on the western side of the Tohoku Expressway looked pretty good.

The video below show rice fields on the east side (closer to the coastline) where you can see lots of debris and various cars strewn across the fields.  Our first real sense of major destruction that we would soon face ...

Leaving for Ishinomaki (Sendai area)

We leave Wed morning at 6am for Ishinomaki city, just north of Sendai.  Will be there 3 days together with Grace City Church pastor Rev Fukuda.

(Click photo to enlarge MAP)

See Scott Dean's Blog for more details.

Off to bed for early start!

Setting the Tone for the Trip

Our first morning together in Japan, we got up quite early due to jet lag (~ 4am) and had a long uninterrupted time of sharing from scripture as well what was on our hearts as we anticipated the week ahead. It was great team building time and it set a great tone for the big unknown of what lay ahead.



Scott Dean asked if he could catch on film some of my thoughts from that morning, based on a quote from Bart Garrett, a friend of mine who planted and now is lead pastor of Christ Church in Berkeley, CA:

"The story is not about us, but about HIM,

and our part is not a bill of rights but a call to service."

We Just Arrived in Japan

I'm up at 4am (due to jet-lag) and wanted to post a quick update saying that we are safely in Chiba city and looking forward to what God has for us.

Today will sit down and discuss what our upcoming week will look like.  Lots of needs, just trying to figure out how we fit into this dynamic, rapidly changing relief effort.

Jon, Brett, Scott, Chris - on our 747 to Tokyo!

Please check out this update from Seima Aoyagi (the Japanese pastor we will be partnering with in Tokyo):

Particularly scroll down and read the section  "City on a Hill", which speaks of how God is using Grace City Church Tokyo to be a light in the city.  Very encouraging!

Olivia's heart for JAPAN

Olivia wrote this note for Sarah the other day as she was playing with Annabella & Calvin:

"Dear Mother, we are on a airplan(e). We are going to Japan! To see the damage[d].  

We will help the people in Japan.  Love, your sweet Olivia"

There has been a lot of talk about Japan in our home, especially now that Daddy will be leaving on Saturday for a 2-week trip.

Please be praying for Jon's preparations and for the kids as they try to understand all that is going on in Japan.

3min Slideshow of Photos from our MTW Team

"Over the years I have often described

our mission in Japan as

praying and preparing for

the day of opportunity of Japan."

MTW Missionary Dr. Michael Oh

President - Christ Bible Institute - Nagoya, Japan

(All photos taken by fellow MTW Missionary Roger Lowther.)

Please give generously through MTW: Help JAPAN to equip the Japanese Church to meet the physical & spiritual needs of Japan.

Photo Overview of 1st Week of MTW Disaster Relief

It is hard to believe that it has only been a week since the tragic Earthquake & Tsunami that hit Japan on March 11. Our communication so far has primarily been through e-mail updates (March 11th & March 14th) and on Facebook.

Here is an overview of what is going on in Japan, through photos taken by fellow MTW missionaries and our Japanese partners:

First the 9.0 earthquake hit - Damage shown above in Tokyo was significant, but not disastrous.  (The little boy is an MTW missionary kids friend of Olivia & Annabella living ~6 miles from our future home in Tokyo)

The earthquake lead to a terrible fire at the Ichihara Oil Refinery in Chiba prefecture (seen on US news stations). The photo above of the raging fire was taking from the front of our Oyumino Christ Church (~ 5miles away).

The major devestation of Northern Japan, though, came because of the following tsunami.  (Photo taken near Sendai by fellow MTW missionary Roger Lowther)

Water, food, and gas shortages have hit much of the country.  Gas shortages in particular have hamstring the relief effort up north.

Our MTW Team together with Japanese Churches have been sending up 3 trucks full of supplies every night to the hard hit city of Iwaki (see map below). Our Japanese pastor in the photo has been one of the drivers.

This is a Google Satellite map - showing the relative distances.  Chiba to Iwaki City is ~120 miles.  From Iwaki to the Fukushima Power Plant is about 30 miles.  From Iwaki to Sendai is ~ 95 miles

When the community found out that the church was getting supplies up north, donation started pouring in. Great bridges for the gospel are being built through this relief effort.  Praise God!

Distribution of water (seen above) as well as fuel and other supplies to the Iwaki (and also Sendai) area.  Our team has been able to work though local Japanese churches in those areas to reach shelters that are not yet receiving government relief  aid.

PLEASE click on image above or visit mtw.org to DONATE through the local Japanese Church, which is delivering these desperately need supplies "in the name of Jesus".

In the US: More About Reaching city-center Tokyo

We have shared in our recent prayer letters about the call that God has given us to join the new Tokyo city center church planting project.  Grace City Church Tokyo has a mission "to establish at least 3 churches, each with its own characteristics and style of worship, and 1000 worshipers" in this strategic yet very spiritually needy city.  Central Tokyo has a population of 8 million with only 5 evangelical churches. 

We will join with this work for several years as we begin to look ahead to helping plant the second church under the leadership of Japanese pastor and friend Seima Aoyagi. We will bring our natural focus towards college students and young families to this work.

This church is being planted in partnership with MTW Japan and Redeemer NYC - City to City.  Here is Redeemer's Tim Keller answering the question, "Why is reaching Tokyo with the gospel so important to reaching the world with the gospel?"



Grace City Church Tokyo began worship back in 2010 near Tokyo Station in the Ginza area.  They are particularly seeking to reach young professionals in the center of Tokyo.  Here is a short video of Pastor Fukuda sharing a little more about the vision of the church.