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stepping
stones a prayer letter of Iwa
Transforming Ministry and Leadership in our Community
December 1995, Number 95-3
Dear
friends,
Jesus gave us the best Christmas present ever. So, what is
the best Christmas present we could ever give to Jesus in
return? I think Jesus gives us a clue in his prayer for his
followers in John 17:20-21:
My
prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who
will believe in me through their message, that all of them
may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
May they also be in us so that the world may believe that
you have sent me.
If
Jesus is expressing his deepest desire in this prayer, I believe
our best present would be to fulfill his prayer by becoming
one; one with him and one with each other, so that the world
would believe that Jesus was sent from God.
Iwa's
purpose is to be an instrument in God’s hands to enable
Christians and churches to be an answer to Jesus’ prayer.
Our mission is to help unite those of us who are His by focusing
our efforts, consolidating our resources, learning from one
another and coordinating our efforts so more people in our
community and world may experience Him and the true meaning
of Christmas.
This
year, we are seeing the mission of Iwa being fulfilled like
never before. The Lord is bringing together a growing team
of extremely capable and committed staff, board members, associates,
volunteers and supporters to help catalyze a spiritual movement
of Christians and churches working strategically together
for a breakthrough to the 97% of Japanese, Japanese Americans
and Asian Americans who so desperately need Jesus Christ.
This
Stepping stones will give you a peak into how the Lord
is directing and growing us so we can provide some of what
is needed for such a breakthrough to happen. As you read,
please thank God along with us for his blessings. And, as
you do, realize how much we are thankful for you who make
it possible by your prayers and faithful support. We are so
grateful for you.
For
those of you who are becoming acquainted with us but have
never become a part of this movement committed to spiritual
breakthrough, please prayerfully consider how the Lord might
have you become involved. Our ability to serve you is directly
proportional to the resources we have to fulfill our mission.
Please pray if the Lord would have you give a special gift
this Christmas or become a member of our growing support team.
Let’s
join hands so we can share the greatest Christmas gift ever
given.
Yours
for a breakthrough,
Stanley
K. Inouye
President
Get
Ready for the 15th
We just celebrated Iwa’s fourteenth anniversary at the
end of September. Praise God! That means next year is our
fifteenth. Can you believe it?
As
we reflect over the past fifteen years and look ahead another
fifteen, we realized what a pivotal moment this is, not just
for Iwa, but for the Japanese, Japanese American and Asian
American community as a whole. Tremendous changes have taken
place, and new needs and opportunities have emerged which
challenge us who share the burden to reach our community for
Christ. We believe God has been preparing Iwa for just such
a time as this, to help enable Christians and churches to
meet the incredible challenges facing them.
We
have learned so much over the past fourteen years. We have
also enjoyed the privilege of working in partnership with
various Christians and churches to develop new models of leadership
and ministry for the Asian American community. God has been
so gracious in supplying all our needs “according to
his riches in glory.”
As
a consequence, the Iwa board has decided to hold some form
of fifteenth anniversary celebration this coming year as close
to our actual founding date of September 28, as possible.
Exactly when and what it will look like remains to be seen.
Just get ready for it. And, please pray that it will truly
be a time of worship, thanksgiving and celebration!
Leadership
Training Series
While offering our first two basic workshops, we were asked
to meet with several church boards and leadership groups to
talk about how we might help them develop more effective leaders
and help their churches grow. Leadership development is a
great need in Asian American churches.
In
response, Stan Inouye dedicated a major portion of his time
and attention this past summer to the conceptualization of
a leadership training series. We have made major progress
toward completing one unit in this leadership training series
of seven units. This series will cover such topics as “How
to Identify Those God Wants You to Reach and Serve,”
and “How to Design More Effective Ministries for Asian
Americans.”
We
will seek to develop the leadership series at the same time
as the basic workshop series. After we complete one leadership
training unit and it is being edited and formatted for publication,
we will then turn our attention back toward developing the
next workshop in our basic series.
Pivotal
Possibilities
Our board is prayerfully considering the sponsorship of a
number of consecutive events that could play a pivotal role
in catalyzing a movement of God’s people to reach the
97% of unchurched in our community. One event would call together
a broad range of Christian leaders in our community to assess
the progress of the church in its mission to reach the unchurched
and determine crucial ministry needs and strategic opportunities.
Another would explore how we as a community of believers could
consolidate our resources, focus our attention and channel
our energies to meet those needs and go through those doors
the Lord has opened before us. We might then gather Christians
and churches from throughout the community to pray together
for the needs, opportunities, strategies, and needed resources
for vast numbers in our community to be reached for Christ.
All these events may then culminate in a major equipping conference
offering training specific to the ministry needs and opportunities
of our community.
Obviously,
this undertaking would be a major commitment. Broad support
and participation of the Christians in our community would
be needed. Please pray that the Lord would affirm such
an endeavor if it is His will for both Iwa and the community.
Let us know your thoughts and feelings about this.
Bible
Study Series
Jo Ann Akada, our new staff member, is working together with
two Iwa Associates, Nancy Sugikawa and Arlene Inouye, to develop
small group Bible study materials that correspond to our basic
renewal and evangelism workshop series. These Bible studies
will emphasize personal application of the content. The first
small group Bible study focuses upon understanding the nature
of sin from a shame perspective by examining the relationships
between the characters in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Each part examines how our relationships should and should
not be as correlated with the relationships reflected in the
parable; our relationship with the heavenly Father, our parents,
our siblings, our neighbors, and the world.
Our
Board - New and Improved
One of the biggest decisions made at our recent semi-annual
board retreat was to greatly expand our board to truly national
proportions. Our present board of eight will grow in increments
to thirty-five.
Why?
We are believing God for a spiritual breakthrough to the Japanese
and Asian American community. We need a span of diverse leaders
on our board representing a broad range of ages and stages,
levels of acculturation, spiritual gifts and ministry experience,
denominations and geographic areas. A larger board will greatly
increase our contact with and ability to serve more Christians
and churches.
Please
pray with us, as we seek those the Lord would have serve on
Iwa’s new and improved National Board of Directors.
...and
meet our new faces...
Martin
Inouye In my senior year at Berkeley High School, I asked
Jesus Christ into my life, and began two challenging and exciting
journeys. One, an academic and career path at UC Davis; the
other, my new walk with Jesus. Following graduation from UC
Davis, I married Deborah Lew, who has been my partner, friend
and wife for the past 21 years. The Lord has blessed us with
two children, Christopher, 13 and Emily, 10. The journey has
led to our current home in Roseville, California. As one of
three owners of a transportation and civil engineering firm,
my work life is busy. Being involved in Valley Springs Presbyterian
Church, youth soccer, a school foundation, Boy Scouts, and
Iwa, keeps the balance of my life very busy.
But,
time with Jesus, Debbie, Chris, and Emily are important to
me. Without maintaining these relationships, God's perspective
can be lost. My goal in serving on the Iwa Board is to bring
God's perspective, as He reveals it, to assist Iwa in the
direction God has called this mission to serve.
Rennie
Mau We're really excited to have Rev. Rennie Mau as one
of our newest Associates. With Iwa's new direction toward
producing training and Bible study materials, his knowledge
and expertise will contribute greatly to the development of
new ministry tools.
He
holds a Bachelor's degree in sociology from the University
of Hawaii and a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological
Seminary in Pasadena. Rennie has developed many programs and
publications for multicultural and multigenerational audiences.
He has served in churches in Hawaii and California for 23
years.
Currently,
Rennie is part-time organizing pastor of New Faith Community
Church of Auburn, California, where he is producer/director
of PNEUMA, a liturgical arts company comprised of 80 children
and youth. He also serves as a Liturgical Media Missionary
with Community United Church of Christ in Sebastopol and is
editor and puglisher of NuLiturgy Electronic Magazine.
He
was born in San Jose and grew up in Kailua, Hawaii. Married
since 1976, Rennie and wife, Linda, have three daughters,
Danielle, Jennifer and Rachel. We praise God for this valuable
addition to our family!
"Momo"
- Rookie of the Year!
Momotaro
proved to be a real winner in this year's First Annual Support
Campaign. We are so thankful to God for your encouraging response.
There were eight new pledges and twenty-nine one-time gifts.
We feel affirmed in our purpose and calling by your gifts
and prayer support.
We
are also pleased that He provided everything we needed to
enable us to express our appreciation with the Momotaro t-shirts
and Iwa magnets. We were able to send out 225 t-shirts and
are looking forward to another run sometime in the future.
We praise God for Stan Sakai for the design, Dave Pyle for
printing the t-shirts at an unbelievable price, and Scott
Garland who colored the illustration. They did a great job!
We hope that you are enjoying the t-shirts as inspiration
for Iwa’s vision for the Asian American Christian community
to work together with God to bring forth a harvest. When
you see our t-shirts and magnets please be reminded to pray
that the Lord would make this vision a reality.
Prayer,
Prayer, Prayer!
As the Lord gives you the burden to pray for us, for our community
and for those you know who need Christ, please pray:
1.
That we would reach the remaining $800.00 for the Mustard
Seed Foundation matching grant by the end of this year.
2.
That God would raise up a permanent career staff person who
can serve as Executive Director and take over some of the
executive management and fundraising responsibilitiesof the
ministry.
3.
That our Lord would continue to guide and provide for us as
we produce evangelism, leadership training and Bible study
materials that will prepare and train Christians and churches
for an effective spiritual harvest among Asian Americans.
4.
That God would continue to increase the number of those who
are aware of, believe in, and support the ministry
of Iwa.
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