In Community: March 2016 Newsletter
Making the Most of Our Time
By Pastor Craig
When Lois and I made reservations in early 2015 for a condo on the Big Island, we had no idea that a year later it would be in the very center of a dengue fever outbreak. In addition to packing an abundance of mosquito repellent, we did a little research on dengue fever before boarding the plane in SeaTac last month. What we discovered was both encouraging and troubling.
The encouraging news was that the condition is rarely fatal and recovery usually takes place in a few days. The troubling part is that it is extremely painful, there is no cure and symptoms do not appear until 2-15 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. We did adjust our plans and activities, spending more time indoors, and at the time of writing this we are both feeling great although we are keeping an eye on a mosquito bite we each received a few days ago.
Dengue fever has also caused me to think about some similarities to our spiritual lives as well. The fact that the onset or effects of the disease are never immediate reminds me of the principle of reaping and sowing. Sin, as well as obedience, rarely produce instant results. This can sometimes cause discouragement since we don’t see blessings following directly from a choice to follow the Lord and do what He instructs. The delayed onset can also lull us into a false sense of well-being if we don’t experience immediate discipline for taking spiritual shortcuts or ignoring Scripture’s clear commands. 2 Corinthians 9 and Galatians 6 make it very clear that time will ultimately prove what has been sowed.
Dengue fever has also caused Lois and me to be more intentional about maximizing each day. We wake up feeling healthy and think “tomorrow may not be like this so let’s make the most of today”. We savor each moment of health realizing that it may not be like this every day. This is an attitude I want to bring back from vacation with me. We are not given guarantees of unlimited time, health or strength. That’s why Ephesians 5 tells us to “make the most of our time”. The possibility of dengue fever has helped us do this even on vacation.
We have five days until we return home and several more after that until we know whether we’ve been infected, but either way, an intentionality about the present and an eye to the future are special souvenirs we’ll be bringing back with us from vacation.
Urbana 2015
URBANA is InterVarsity’s student missions conference held every three years. (https://urbana.org/past-urbanas/urbana-15). Last year, there were eight students that attended from Faith Bible Church: Danny Cohen, Kelyn Kitashima, Hanna Kumasaka, Lauren Oda, Josh Okamura, Kara Peck, Jennifer Tsuji, and Victor You. These are their stories:
Danny Cohen
Urbana 15 was full of surprises and it was such a great way to start this new year with an empowering conference. Other than the fact that I was surprised by how empty and desolate St. Louis seemed, it was so surprising to actually see more than 16,000 passionate students all gathered in one city to learn and get a taste of the global church. Just being in the midst of that many students from so many different places helped me realize how big God was and how amazing and powerful He is to be moving so greatly all across this nation and internationally too.
The next thing that I was surprised about was the ways that God had truly shattered my expectations for what I was going to walk away and learn from this conference. I knew that it was a global missions conference and so I prepared my heart. I hoped to find whether God was truly cultivating a heart inside of me for global missions and more specifically hoped to find out if the next step in my life after college would be revealed to me at Urbana. After the conference, I was still uncertain about global missions and I was still wondering what God has in store for me after college. However, Urbana had revealed the much needed attention to a something that was more important. One of the speakers, David Platt, had challenged us with a statement that convicted me for the rest of the conference. He more-or-less said, “At Urbana you should avoid manufacturing a heart for missions, but more importantly we should be growing a heart for Christ.” Basically he called out my desire to seek out WHAT I should be doing and WHERE I should be going, and I realized I needed to focus on WHO truly sets things into motion and HOW to be a disciple of Him.
Jennifer Tsuji
For me, Urbana was something that I knew nothing about until I came to college and joined Asian American InterVarsity. I was a freshman in 2012, which also happened to be an Urbana year (since it is a triennial conference). Very few of us freshmen went to Urbana that year, since most of us weren’t quite sure what it entailed, and we knew that we were one of the rare classes that would be able to go during our senior year. After hearing testimonies from people that went to Urbana ’12, I decided that going to Urbana my senior year in 2015 was something that really appealed to me. I started making arrangements for it at the end of my junior year and was still apprehensive if this missions conference was truly something that I was willing to spend so much money on and give up half of my winter break for. However, I still felt a pull to go so I ended up signing up and buying plane tickets and then there was really no looking back. God really answered my prayers by providing me with generous financial support from FBC and others that confirmed to me that this was where He wanted me to be spending my winter break.
Once in St. Louis, I was overwhelmed and awed by the hugeness of the conference (16,000 students/leaders) but it was an amazing opportunity to be exposed to God’s global, multi-cultural church, and that includes the persecuted church around the world that I had not previously been that aware of. We got to hear amazing speakers that are involved in all types of ministries, as well as attend a variety of seminars that we were interested in. I learned an immense amount about God and His work through this conference and am so glad I went!
Josh Okamura
Urbana to me was an amazing experience one that I surely won’t forget. I went into Urbana very unsure of what to expect. I had a vague idea that it was a conference about missions but even then I didn’t really understand what that meant. But i really felt God pushing me to go to Urbana and he provided in many ways that showed me why he wanted me there through the funding of that trip. I received scholarships from both FBC and AAIV which helped cover half the cost of the trip and allowed me to have enough to go. Another thing God revealed to me while being there was the purpose for me going. While being at Urbana and seeing exactly why it’s called a missions conference prompted me to start looking at all these organizations to possible send me off to missions yet none of them seemed to pop out at me. I was disheartened but then during a talk given by David Platt, God revealed to me why I was having a hard time choosing a mission to go on. Platt started talking about Christians choosing to go on missions just in the sense to experience God himself; which to me sounded normal but then he said, ‘We try to manufacture a heart for missions before we have a heart for God.’ This totally blew me away and revealed to me why I didn’t feel called to missions. I was trying so hard to want to go on missions that I was missing the true point of why we go on missions in the first place. Experiencing God isn’t a bad thing but going on missions is to go and do kingdom work first. God’s heart is breaking for those that are in the world unreached and who don’t have the opportunity to hear about the good news of Jesus Christ. Platt ended with a call to action for us and that is to go out and just love God. Having a heart for God will therefore turn into having a heart for those that are unreached or oppressed that don’t have the opportunity to know Jesus. This is why God called me to Urbana. He sent me there to reorient my life not instead to fill my life with leading bible study or going on missions, but to love Him first and the rest will then follow.
Lauren Oda
Urbana was beyond my expectations. Thank you so much for sup-porting me, FBC family, as I ventured out to St. Louis with my (other) home church in Southern California- Victory Fellowship. I do not see the people I traveled with a lot, so it was great to delve into God’s word with these sisters in Christ. If anything, I am most thankful for actually being at Urbana in person because of all the mission booths. During certain hours, multiple organizations had the space to share and recruit future staff. Originally, I planned to look around for about an hour- but the sheer number of booths amazed me and I ended up staying for over three hours. I started off at the OMF, Overseas Missionary Fellowship, spot because I received a scholarship from them (The Urbana speaker Patrick Fung is actually the first Asian director of this organization – I got to meet his wife and attend a special Q&A with the Fungs). In the past, I have volunteered in mostly Los Angeles and Japan, but my time at Urbana got me thinking about looking into China and other places with teaching programs. I am trying to become a (math) teacher, so I am staying in contact with different people to see if I can one day help teach abroad with a Christian organization. This is not nearly everything great that happened, so please feel free to ask me more about my time! Thanks again, and I hope to meet you all throughout my time at Faith Bible.
Victor You
Urbana was such an amazing and eye-opening experience for me. It was crazy just being able to get a glimpse of vastness and diversity of God’s kingdom among the thousands of people in the stadium each day when we had our sessions. Going to Urbana was more of a last minute decision for me but after a lot of prayer and talking with my friends who have gone before I decided to go and I haven’t regretted it one bit. Heading into Urbana, I was just hoping this conference would help grant me some discernment with my future vocation and what God’s plans for me were in that area of my life but during my four days there in St. Louis, it was clear that God had so much more that he wanted for me to learn. In the best way possible, I felt overwhelmed with all of the information I was taking in. Not only did I receive knowledge on how to discern and follow God’s will but also a lot about the importance of missions in general.
One of my main takeaways was that missions are an overflow of life in love for Christ—that you cannot manufacture a heart for missions without a heart for Christ. This really stood out to me because a lot of times in my life I find myself wanting to do something because it “feels” right or I make myself do something for God because I know that’s what I should be doing…but this is not the way I should have been going about it at all. If I focus on my relationship with Christ first, then through my heart for Christ, I will develop a heart towards whatever God has planned for me and not the other way around.
Thank you FBC for supporting me and allowing me to attend this life-changing conference.
Kelyne Kitashima
If I could describe my Urbana experience in one word it would be uncomfortable. Upon registering to attend this conference, I didn’t really prepare myself for all of the ways in which God would displace me. Similar to how I hadn’t fully counted the cost of what it meant to follow Jesus. Although, it was through this experience where I learned a lot about the position of dis-placement and how God used it to draw me closer to him.
As a relatively recent Christian, stepping into an arena filled with thousands of devoted Chris-tians was definitely intimidating to me. I believe that my experience in the Leadership Track had a lot to with the process of exposing the shallow areas of my faith as well as my personal insecurities. It came to a point where I became so overwhelmed with what God was doing in me both personally and spiritually that I started to question if I really deserved to be there. It was in that state of true vulnerability where God unexpectedly led me to the Prayer Ministry room and provided me with exactly what I needed in perfect timing. This quiet space was where I received God’s affirmation and stability to keep going. While this was just one specific moment, it became the theme for my Urbana experience. It showed me that even though the things God calls us into is uncomfortable or scary, he knows just what we need before we even ask.
Throughout those five days, I was displaced away from my family, friends, and community. As a result, my faith has become more real, personal, and meaningful. Ultimately, my Urbana experience has given me a glimpse of what it is like to follow Jesus outside of my comfort zone and trust that he will reveal his plans of growth and development.
Hanna Kumasaka
I had always wanted to attend Urbana, and when the possibility came up for this year, I was hesitant, but made a late decision to attend. God opened doors and made it possible for me to go and encouraged me through the testimony of other people. He also provided unexpected traveling companions who made the trip so much more fun and peaceful, even providing a ride from the airport straight to our hotel. I was also a little worried about not knowing the people I was rooming with from AAIV, but we all got along super well and I even made one of my best friends there. A big group of people I met there were also united because of our love for dance and Jesus and are still in contact months later.
The conference itself was such an amazing experience. As a whole, it was very multi-cultural and challenged me to see life from new perspectives. I love to worship in song and the worship band was amazing. They played songs in different styles and languages which was really an awesome experience. Also, just being able to worship with about 16,000 other like-minded people was very encouraging. It reminded me that I was part of something bigger, and had this huge support group working alongside me. A couple of my favorite speakers were David Platt and Michelle Higgins; David Platt because he re-centered us and asked the question why we’re doing missions and where our love comes from, and Michelle Higgins be-cause she spoke on Black Lives Matter, something that I haven’t been super involved with up to this point. All of the speakers brought great messages and there was so much to take in during that week. It was an incredible and unique experience and I strongly encourage anyone to go and see the impact it can have on their heart.
Kara Peck
As I made the decision to attend Urbana, I had hope that my life would be radically changed and that I would be motivated to go overseas and change the world! At first, I was a bit disappointed, but God definitely changed me in ways that I did not expect. I think the most powerful night for me was the third, during which the Urbana team had set up pillars representing different persecuted countries around the world. I was able to bow before God and just lay all of my fears and sins before him, and it was a very restorative time for me. I was also able to pray for Nigeria and Mexico in ways that I had never thought to pray before. Urbana definitely gave me a new passion for the persecuted Christians around the world, and strengthened my resolve to advocate for justice and continuously pray for them. Two issues that especially broke my heart were the Black Lives Matter movement and sex trafficking around the world, particularly in Uganda. I committed to getting more involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, and I feel that God wants me to continually seek out opportunities to participate in the global fight against sex trafficking. As we went through Matthew, I began to see Jesus in a completely new way: as someone who was unbelievably humble, who spent himself advocating for the poor and the persecuted, and who was all about bringing justice to the world. I began to see what following Jesus really means. It cannot be a passive journey. Rather, following Jesus is demanding, radical, risky, and costly. It is absolutely worth the cost. As I come back from Urbana, I am compelled to start being a missionary in the communities that I am already placed. For me, this means making myself available by approaching those that God puts on my heart, taking uncomfortable steps by speaking out about the things that God wants me to, and trusting God in whatever storm I face and continuing to step forward in the ways He compels me to.
JLM New Year’s Party (新年会)
On January 2nd, the Japanese Language Ministries (JLM) had a New Year’s Party (Shin Nen Kai). Our church family as well as those who normally don’t attend church gathered and had a great time listening to the message, singing, and sharing meal together. Our guest speakers Paul and Liz Godwin shared their experience in Japan and the important message of the gospel to those who didn’t know Jesus.
Faith Story
Hello, my name is Ayako Kasai. I am from Japan and began studying in Green River College as of June 2015.
I was born and raised in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. My family consists of my grandparents, parents, an older sister and a younger sister. My family is not strongly religious but is greatly influenced by Buddhist values. However, I have never felt strongly religious be-cause I thought these were part of the Japanese culture.
Since I was a child, I enjoyed learning about different cultures, so I asked my mom for permission to learn English. Even though the English school was held once a week, I really enjoyed the time spent learning English. As I continued learning English, I felt the desire to learn more about different cultures growing stronger. When I was a junior in high school, I wanted to study abroad during my summer break. My friend encouraged me to go to the Word of Life summer camp in New York with her. I wasn’t decided on where I was going, so I decided to go to the camp.
After deciding to go to the camp, I found out that the camp was organized by a Christian school. When I arrived in New York, I received a Bible for the first time in my life. At that time, there were six Japanese students in the camp and one pastor from Japan. His name is Pastor Kato. The rest of the Japanese students were all Christian except my friend and I. Pastor Kato shared with us stories about Jesus, but I couldn’t understand what motivated to him to believe in God so strongly. My under-standing of the Christian God was vague, and I didn’t have any convictions regarding to my past. I felt confused because I couldn’t understand what Christianity was, and the feeling lasted throughout the camp.
Pastor Kato shared with us about his wife who passed away because of cancer. However, despite his wife’s passing, he told us, “I’m sad that my wife is not here, but I’m happy because she has a place to go”. When I was 14 years old, I experienced the biggest earthquake of my life. Ever since then, I was very scared about dying. After hearing Pastor Kato’s words, I wanted to learn more about God because I wanted to receive the same kind of peace. However, I didn’t know if it was okay to believe God because of the things I did in the past that made me feel like a sinner. I talked about it with my mentor which was one of the students, and she told me, “God doesn’t judge you whether you know Him or not. He wants to know you. That’s why you are here. If you believe in Him, there will have a celebration in the kingdom of God.” I wanted to please God, so I believed in Him.
After I came back to Japan, I was a little bit cautious in going to a church be-cause I have never been to one alone, so I ended up not going to church for two years. Even during that time, God continued to use Pastor Kato to bless me spiritually. I met a person who went to Faith Bible Church by the name of Kohei Yamada when I visited Pastor Kato in Tokyo. Kohei introduced Faith Bible Church to me since he knew I was going to Seattle. This was how I started coming to Faith Bible Church.
Everything that had happened was under the guidance of God since the day I joined the Bible camp in New York. I want to follow the Word of God, as I am a beloved child of His.
Bill’s Book Blurbs
By Bill Hamasaki
The Knowledge of the Holy, by A.W. Tozer
In my last Grapevine article, I wrote about the follow-up book (Delighting in God) to this book. I realized later that we did not have this book in our FBC library. It is considered a classic that is included on several must read lists for Christians. Many Christian leaders have written how this author’s books have impacted their lives and how it can impact your Christian life.
In this book, the author discusses the nature of God through many of His divine attributes and desires his readers to “recapture a real sense of God’s majesty and truly live in the spirit.” He wants to show “how we can rejuvenate our prayer life, meditate more reverently, understand God more deeply, and experience God’s presence in our daily lives.”
The first chapter is entitled “Why We Must Think Rightly About God” and the thought provoking message sets the stage for the rest of the book. In following chapters, he discusses God’s divine attributes such as: The Self-existence of God, The Eternity of God, God’s Infinitude, The Divine Omniscience, The Wisdom of God, The Divine Transcendence, The Goodness of God, The Grace of God, The Love of God, The Holiness of God, and The Sovereignty of God.
It is one of those books that are meant to be read slowly and meditatively. It is often deeply profound and convicting. I would highly recommend these two books, The Knowledge of the Holy and Delighting in God, to be read by anyone desiring to draw closer to God and to gain a greater sense of God’s majesty.
