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stepping
stones a prayer letter of Iwa
Transforming Ministry and Leadership in our Community
June 1997
S
- e - r - e - n - d - i - p - i - t - y
After
almost 24 years of planting roots on the East Coast, I am
pulling up stakes, moving back to my old hometown of Gardena,
CA, and taking on a new position as Executive Director of
Iwa. It isn’t easy for me to leave JASSI (Japanese American
Social Services, Inc.), an agency I co-founded and directed
for over 15 years, and to give up my perfectly fulfilling
career of helping Japanese people in need in New York. Perhaps
you might be wondering what would prompt such a drastic change
at this time, the mid-point of my life.
It
has something to do with serendipity, a word which
I’ve been using a lot in the past several years. It’s
the eye-widening, chin-dropping experience I get when the
unexpected happens and the only reasonable explanation for
it is that it must have been God because I could not have
controlled the way it all came out in the end. Experiences
of serendipity are what led me to Iwa. I can truly say with
the psalmist, “The Lord lives, and blessed be my Rock”
(Psalm 18:46) because unlike inanimate rocks, the Living Rock,
the Real “Iwa”, enters into my daily life and takes
action in unmistakable ways. Being in an intimate relationship
with an all-powerful but infinitely loving Being with a Mind
of His own, I find life to be unpredictable but exciting,
especially when I follow Him to places like Iwa and L.A. and
everything seems to fall neatly into place.
Having
asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart several times as
a child growing up in a Christian family, having been baptized
at Gardena Valley Baptist Church by my father when I was 10
years old, and having awakened to the Lordship of Christ and
being Bible-trained under Youth Pastor Ron Matsuda in high
school, I was as “Christian” as any college student
comes. But with an identity being developed during the Asian
American movement of the early ‘70s, in college I grew
a heart for grassroots community service to Japanese and Asian
Americans. Armed with a B.A. in Psychology and a strong background
in East Asian studies from Yale, following a summer of ping-ponging
between law school waiting lists and theological seminary
acceptances, I serendipitously, at the eleventh hour, found
my way into the law school I most wanted to go to in the city
where I most wanted to live -- Columbia Law School in New
York. Thus began a 20-year adventure which, in retrospect,
seems to have been just the preparation phase for the new
adventure I’m now about to embark on with Iwa.
I
first got to know Iwa in 1983, and supported it financially
just because, in concept, I liked the idea of finding the
cultural touching points that would enable the good news of
Jesus Christ just to get past the front door of the hearts
of Japanese- and Asian Americans. But it wasn’t until
1992, that I actually got involved with Iwa. If my roommate,
Todd Nakata, hadn’t visited L.A. at Christmas 1991, if
we hadn’t visited Evergreen Baptist that one Sunday,
if Ken Fong hadn’t unexpectedly been free for lunch after
the service, and if we had not talked about Iwa’s “Coloring
Beyond the Lines” conference and its significance for
the next generation of Christian leaders in our community,
I would have thrown out the invitation to it upon receiving
it due to distance, would have missed a life-changing conference,
would not have met Stan Inouye there, would not have spent
a weekend with him 3 months later in New York, would not have
been invited to be on the Iwa Board or served as its Chair,
and would not be joining the Iwa staff as Executive Director.
Serendipity.
It
was the Coloring Conference that caused me to think that God
was stirring up something on the West Coast that I might someday
be involved in. More prompting came in 1994, when my father
squeezed my hand miraculously after coming out of an 11-day
coma 4 days before his death, and I felt his mission of reaching
the people of Japanese ancestry in the U.S. with Christ pass
to me. So as I got more and more involved in Iwa, I kept getting
the feeling that Iwa may be the full-time Christian ministry
that I’d one day be doing, that I’d had a heart
for from the start. But with all that I was already involved
in in New York, it didn’t seem possible for me to leave.
In December 1995, I said a prayer: “Lord, if you really
want me to move back West, I need something more concrete
than just a feeling. I need something like a job offer.”
And then I forgot about it.
I
visited L.A. for the holidays as usual at the end of 1995,
and I had just one meeting with Iwa people. After that 15th
Anniversary planning meeting, Stan and I found ourselves alone
in the parking lot, and the first question he asked me was,
“Do you get any sense that God may be leading you to
come back to the West Coast?” And then he launched into
how Iwa needed an Executive Director. Remembering my prayer,
I asked him “Are you offering me a job?” And he
replied, “Well, yes.” So I told him about my prayer
and explained that the offer was confirmation that I would
take seriously, and that in any case, it would take a year
to a year-and-a-half to orchestrate a move.
The
hand of God. Wild. Unpredictable. Serendipitous. I get this
sense that God is calling me back to the West Coast because
He’s going to do something unprecedented and powerful
among Asian Americans - like a spiritual awakening - and He
has some role for me to play in it. I don’t know what
to expect at Iwa. All I know is that God wants me there right
now and He’ll walk me through it a step at a time. That’s
what I’ve been learning about a relationship with the
Living Rock. And that’s what’s exciting about Iwa.
He-e-e-re’s
Cyril!
Just as the Lord moved Iwa’s office, He has moved Cyril
Nishimoto back to the West Coast. He has turned a page in
Iwa’s history to reveal something brand new. However,
Cyril is not brand new to Iwa. He has served as Board chairperson
for the past three years, and has been a financial supporter
for many years.
Graduating
Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude from Yale University, and
a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar from Columbia Law School, Cyril
has made New York home for the past 20 years. And he has been
quite busy. In a “special tribute issue” of Avenue
Asia, he was included as one of “The 500 Most Influential
Asian Americans.” He served on Governor Cuomo’s
Asian American Advisory Committee from 1990 to 1993, and on
the Board of Directors of the Asian American Legal Defense
and Education Fund from 1980 to 1990, two years as Board President.
Currently the Chair of the U.S. Census Advisory Committee
on Asian Pacific Islander Populations, he has served on the
Board of Directors of the New York Chapter of Japanese American
Citizen’s League, and helped start the Asian American
Mental Health Services and the Asian American Federation of
New York.
Cyril
was very active at the Japanese American United Church in
New York and was their Board chairperson and Youth Fellowship
advisor. It was no surprise that he was honored by the New
York Japanese American Community for his dedication and contributions
at the annual Day of Remembrance in New York in 1994.
Looking
at Cyril’s employment experience and church leadership,
he is uniquely qualified to become Iwa’s Executive Director.
He is well-networked among Japanese American Christians and
churches. He has a deep relationship with Christ and a fruitful
ministry of personal evangelism and discipleship. He not only
has a burden and vision to reach non-Christians, he has rubbed
elbows with the unreached on a daily basis and effectively
shared his faith with them. He was the founding director of
a small, ethnic non-profit organization, JASSI (Japanese American
Social Services, Inc.), similar to Iwa, and has worked with
volunteers, fundraising, administration and program development.
A perfect fit with Iwa’s needs. And, he is someone we
know and trust, and likewise, someone who knows who we are
and where God is leading us. Cyril and Iwa...a-h-h-h...a match
made in heaven!
Annual
Campaign
“For
I am about to do a brand new thing. See I have already begun!
Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness
for my people to come home.”
This
year the Lord has high-lighted Isaiah 43:19, as our theme.
And what we see is God giving Iwa new staff and a new office
to learn, serve and produce more. To do this, He is calling
a larger support team. The Lord has provided a matching grant
from the Stewardship Foundation. Donors will have an opportunity
to receive a colorful T-shirt, designed by Stan Sakai of Usagi
Yojimbo comic book fame. Could God be nudging you to partner
with us? Please watch for our 3rd Annual Support Campaign
letter, and prayerfully consider how the Lord might want you
to respond. Thank you!
Who
Moved the Office?
And then came Cyril. “Sorry, no room
in the inn.” The Monrovia office was bursting with people,
more and more computers, office equipment, file cabinets and
bookshelves. We had to do something.
Anticipating
Cyril’s moved from New York, Ellen asked Stan if she
should start scouting around for a new location. Considering
where all the staff lived, one fairly central location was
Montrose (north of Glendale). An old friend, Mike Aldrich,
came to mind. Over the years, Mike and Stan have traveled
together for ministry. Mike has served on Iwa’s Board
of Directors, and he and his wife, Lynn, have just been good
friends to Stan and his wife, Janie. Along the way, Mike had
suggested Iwa and the ministry organization he founded, The
Fourteen Four Group, share offices. While checking real estate
ads, Ellen ran across an office for rent...and it just happened
to be right across the hall from Mike!
When
we contacted Mike, he suggested we also check out another
office building. The accounting firm, previous occupants across
the hall, had conducted a three-year search before their relocation.
And
they had done their homework well! After Ellen saw the office
space, she didn't want to hear anything more good about it.
She didn’t want to be disappointed if the Lord didn’t
allow us to lease it.
What
an office! Floor-to-ceiling windows, parquet floors, oak doors
and accents, built-in storage cabinets, and very “oriental”
looking light fixtures. Landscaped front and back. Convenient
parking. Beautiful park right next door. But too much office
space for our budget and rooms not quite workable for our
use. What to do?
Knowing
Mike was interested in possibly sharing the space with us,
Jon Honda, our treasurer and Superintendent of the Pacific
Coast Japanese Conference of the Free Methodist Church, wisely
gave us three conditions for the go ahead. First, the owner
would be willing to reconfigure the office at no extra cost
to us. Second, everything would work out to share the office
with Mike, enabling us to afford the lease. Third, the office
wouldn’t be leased to someone else in the meantime.
The
timing was perfect. Cyril was in California for the entire
month of February for team development and ministry planning
prior to his permanent move in May. He was here precisely
at the time so he could take part in selecting the office
and negotiating the lease.
Praise
God! Miraculously, all three conditions were met. And to top
it all off, all the contractors who worked to change the walls
around, reroute the air conditioning vents, and paint were
all very committed Christians. Sure signs to us that it was
the Lord, Himself, who was preparing this special place for
His own purposes.
Thanks
to Iwa board member, Dexter Yuen, providing the leadership
and recruiting the help for us to make the move; we transferred
all our stuff from Monrovia to Montrose in a matter of hours.
All we have shared is just the tip of the iceberg. The Lord
did so much to prove to us that it was He who was moving us
to where we would be far more productive and fruitful. The
whole process was proof that God is turning a page in the
history of Iwa. We agree with our Scriptural verse for the
year, Isaiah 43:19. The Lord certainly has begun to do a new
thing, and we do see it!
Hope
you can see it too by joining us at an Open House we will
be inviting you to in the future. Meanwhile, please thank
and praise God along with us, for a wonderful place to labor
for Him! -ski-
Turning
up the Heat
On
April 5, Iwa sponsored its third prayer gathering to “Fan
the Flame” of revival in the Asian American community.
Approximately 35 people gathered at Cerritos Baptist Church
to meet God and plead with Him on behalf of the community
to send His Spirit of prayer, revival and evangelism.
Several
Asian American leaders graciously shared about their budding
and growing evangelistic, interchurch ministries. Chris Fukunaga
shared about his new evangelistic youth ministry, The Way,
which sponsors interchurch youth rallies; Kim Ha and Paul
Moi shared about Just Forgiven, focused on spiritually building
up youth; and Lon Murata shared about his JEMS (Japanese Evangelical
Missionary Society) Career Young Adult Ministry. It was exciting
and faith-building to hear the positive reports of these new
ministries which gave much encouragement and concrete indications
that God is, indeed, already working to bring revival in our
community. Our hearts felt affirmed of God’s prophetic
intention stated in the verse chosen for our theme in 1997:
“For I am about to do a brand new thing. See, I have
already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through
the wilderness for my people to come home...” Isaiah
43:19.
Cheryl
Jang, from First Evangelical Church of Cerritos gave testimony
to the tremen-dous evangelistic ministry taking place in Argentina
where thousands are coming to know the Lord. It added fuel
to the fire of the vision and possibility of many of our friends
and family coming to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Cheryl also shared her heart for the raising up of more intercessory
prayer warriors. Pastor Barry Deguchi touched our hearts with
his burden for repentence and prayer on the part of Christians
so God would forgive our sins and heal our land (2 Corinthians
7:14).
The
prayer was intense and focused as we lifted up concerns impressed
upon our hearts by those who had shared. The prayers rose
as a fragrant offering to God and we enjoyed an awesome sense
of His presence as a demonstration of His pleasure to see
his people turning to Him.
Already,
we are seeing the fruit of the labor from past prayer gatherings
and there’s even more anticipation for what God will
do next. God is, certainly, turning up the spiritual temperature
in the Asian American community. Are you ready to take the
heat? -jaa-
More
New Faces on the Iwa Board
Dean Endo My wife, Marian, and I have been married
for almost 16 years. We have three children. The oldest is
Matt. He is 13 years old. Our daughter, Joanne, is 11 years
old. The youngest is David and he is 9. We live in the middle
of “Silicon Valley,” in the city of Santa Clara,
next to San Jose, California. I work as a Software Contractor,
specializing in the development of network management applications.
This is software that monitors and controls networking equipment.
Marian just started a new career as an elementary school teacher.
She is currently teaching second grade. Our children are all
active in Scouting. They are also members of a neighborhood
swim team. Our family attends the Peninsula Free Methodist
Church, in Redwood City. Marian and I both teach Sunday School
and we are also Peninsula’s newsletter editors.
Tom Steers God has called me to be a cross-cultural,
pioneering missionary. I also have complimentary gifts of
mentoring and leadership development. I am the National Coordinator
of the Asian American Ministries for the Navigators. We are
active in L.A., Seattle, Chicago, St. Louis, Flagstaff and
Orange County. I supervise five Nav staff couples. Also, we
host a group of Asian American Christians who want to be missionaries.
Because I live in San Pedro, I also steward some of my time
for regional intercession and mobilizing for prayer. Much
of my time and energy this past fall was devoted to discovering
the impact of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Shintoism, etc. in
the USA. It was heart-wrenching to discover almost 3000 places
of worship for these spiritual counterfeits.
My wife, Dana, helps me in the ministry. She received a master’s
in counseling from Loyola Marymount University and is finishing
her internship hours at the Asian American Christian Counseling
Service in Torrance. Our oldest child, Joy (18 yrs), graduated
from San Pedro High School and is attending the University
of Colorado. Chip (16 yrs) and Anna (14 yrs) both attend Palos
Verdes Peninsula High School.
Prayer in the Pacific (Northwest, that is)
Ahh! Green... fresh air... trees... beautiful mountains and
lots of water! It’s a stark contrast to the concrete
jungle that I experience living here in L.A. True -- it did
rain and it was overcast but it was refreshing, familiar,
and comfortable.
I
was excited. It was my first opportunity to do ministry in
Seattle since I left seven years ago. Carolyn Shimabukuro,
JEMS (Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society) Pacific Northwest
Regional Coordinator, invited Cyril and me to the Career Young
Adult retreat to do a prayer gathering and seminars.
When
I attempted to expand the prayer ministry to the Northwest
last year, my plans didn’t seem to fall into place and
I interpreted it as God ‘closing the door’, at least,
for that time. Carolyn’s invitation was a signal that
God was opening the door again.
I
must say the Lord’s ways are perfect. It seemed everything
was intricately orchestrated by His hand. The retreat provided
a great place to network with many people from different churches
in the Seattle and Portland areas; the theme of the retreat
“Be Still And Know That I Am God” fit perfectly
with the topic of prayer; the timing couldn’t have been
better -- after a revival rally at the University of Washington
(1000 - 2000 people attended) which created interest and excitement
about prayer and revival. And because the prayer gathering
provided a good opportunity to experience God’s presence
as people humbled themselves in intercession for the churches
and the unreached in our community, we were able to connect
with others who were willing to help us plan for another prayer
gathering in Seattle area in the future in a meeting the day
after the retreat.
In
reflecting on all that happened, I believe our time in Seattle
was very spiritually profitable. As I prayed in thankfulness
to God, I pictured the movement of concentric circles radiating
outward after a pebble has been thrown in the still water
of a pond. I think He was affirming to me that He planted
a seed of desire for Himself and prayer, revival and evangelism
in the hearts of the people; and like the first ripple in
the pond, the influence of what happened would grow and expand
throughout the Asian American community. Praise God for His
wonderful works!
Less
than 3 weeks on the job, I was already flying up to Seattle
to do my first speaking engagement for Iwa. The seminar which
I led on “Life-Transforming Personal Prayer" gave
me a chance to share new insights I've gained on prayer which
personally apply Iwa's teachings on corporate prayer and visioning.
Using The Lord's Prayer as the guide for structuring daily
personal prayer, I explained that the point of prayer is not
petition but praise. It is not getting God to revolve around
us by asking Him to grant items on our divine wish lists,
but it’s getting our hearts in orbit around their true
center--our God, who is both a good, loving, forgiving Father
who wishes the best for us, and a sovereign and holy King
who has the power to give us what truly is best. It is only
when we see ourselves as children who can trust a perfect
Daddy who would allow His own Son to die the death we deserved
to enable us to enter into His family, and can reverently
lift up His character (Thy name), passionately desire His
work and rule to spread (Thy kingdom), and joyfully submit
to His purposes and plans (Thy will), that we can then make
our requests. Prayer gives us a new vision of God and brings
us into intimacy with the Infinite. We can then unleash His
Kingdom power into our lives for the physical needs of our
bodies (Our Daily Bread), for the relational needs of our
souls (Our Debts and Debtors), and for the spiritual needs
of our spirits (Our Deliverance from Temptation [internal
evil] and Deliverance from Satan [external Evil]). I gave
each participant a chart which they could fill out to structure
their own prayers using Christ's model for prayer.
In
the seminar on "Prayer, Revival, and Evangelism,"
Jo Ann presented evidence of how God is moving His people
to pray for revival in our community, nation, and world, and
showed in Scripture God's heart for the lost. Both seminars
helped generate interest in the Iwa-led prayer gathering at
which conferees prayed in groups of threes for their pastors
and churches, and in huddles of sixes for a list of 9 items
such as unity among the churches, increased motivation for
prayer and evangelism, and ministries in the Northwest. At
the end of the gathering, participants were given fish-shaped
colored construction paper on which they could write names
of family and friends whom they wanted to see come to know
the Lord. During the closing song, they prayed for the people
and put the fish in a net in the center of the room. Iwa will
now follow up by praying for the people whose names are on
the fish. -cnn-
Prayer
Requests
1.
For Iwa Prayer Gatherings in Southern California in August
and in Seattle in October
2. For Stan to be able to devote quality time to develop leadership
training and basic renewal and evangelism workshop materials
3. For how we should respond to new requests for partnership
and consultation
4. That our Third Annual Support Campaign would be used of
the Lord to greatly broaden our base of financial support,
especially from the community we serve
5. That we might be able to meet the matching grant offered
to us by the Stewardship Foundation of $18,000 to meet our
budget to launch Cyril’s ministry
6. That we would be able to develop our Iwa Board into an
effective leadership network
7. For the continued growth of Iwa staff team relations
8. That Cyril would continue to become settled both in the
office and at home
9. That we might follow through with the smaller details of
the Iwa office move before we get too caught up in trying
to keep up with ministry
10. For the reaching of the 97% without Christ in our community
and the 3% in Christ to play a vital role in reaching them
11. For Anaheim Japanese Free Methodist Church as they seek
God’s vision for their future and the facility they will
need to fulfill it
Wish List
Perhaps the Lord wants you to be an answer to prayer for some
very practical needs we have. You may be led to make a special
contribution for all or any portion of the following:
1.
Multiple line telephones - 5 phones @ $150 each
2. File cabinets - 3 cabinets @ $100 each
3. Work station for Stan - $1,000
4. Chair for Cyril - $150
5. New lap-top for Stan - $2,000
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