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The Grapevine
PHOTOS BY GIFFORD CHEUNG
Faith Bible Church, Seattle, WA • MARCH 2012 — Volume 30, No. 2
HIGH SCHOOL-LED WORSHIP SERVICE —January 22nd By Nathan Fong
Worship is … ●Any form of praising God through actions without involvement of sin. ●A way to talk to God; everything you do to please Him. ●Showing God’s love and giving thanks to Him through the way you live your life. ●Submitting yourself to a master, from whom you get your value. ●Giving up things to the Lord that distract us from Him. ●All that I am and all that I have offered in a life of obedience to a Holy God. If asked you to define worship, I’m sure that it would be as varied as the above set that we, both teachers and high schoolers, came up with. If you took some time to think about all that worship is, you might find that it’s rather difficult to do. Last fall in the high school Sunday school class, we explored the topic of worship. The goal was to go through scripture and explore the biblical theology of worship. There were two parts to the curriculum. The first was establishing what it means to live a life of worship. The second was to explore what it means to worship corporately as the body of Christ. I wanted to tie everything together by having a youth led worship service as a way for the high schoolers to put into practice what they learned or at the very least to see a part of what worship is in practice. When I initially came up with the idea of a youth led worship service over the
summer, I wasn’t sure if it was something Faith Bible would let us do. But as I later found out, this was something Faith Bible used to do a long time ago. As I look back over the whole planning process now, I can definitely see God’s blessing and provision from conception to execution of the youth service. For example, the original date for the youth service was suppose to be the first week of February. This was later moved to the last Sunday of January because it was a fifth Sunday and the children would be staying in service. This was all set and agreed upon at the end of September. Then, I remembered sometime later that, that was the weekend that I have my annual AACF winter staff retreat in California. I was frustrated with myself for creating a schedule conflict. Since I had already committed to the youth service, I knew I would have to skip the retreat. A couple of months later, in November, Pastor Mike remembers that the end of
January was when the “40 Days In The Word” was suppose to start and we would have to move the youth service up a Sunday. I thank God for working out the scheduling despite me having created the situation in the first place. Continued on page 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS The Shepherd’s Pen Annual Meeting Report Ministries HS-Led Worship Service Elder Commissioning Valentine Fellowship Hour CSL Volleyball Japanese New Year’s Homeless Feeding, “Part II” Community Groups Regular Features Family News Reaching...Calendar In Memory Bill’s Book Blurbs
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Front 3 4 4 5 6 7 7 8 6 10
Faith Story— Jeremy Ong
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Around Our World Shinoda, Charleen Kiyabu Reaching Japanese for Christ Hey, Faith Kids! HS-Led Children’s Message
10,11 Back 11
(Continued on page 2)
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Pastor’s Page
Faith Bible Church for the sermon) from the greeters to the children’s sermon. Praise God for the work that He has done, is doing and will continue to do.
(Continued from page 1)
The youth service itself was such a blessing. The high schoolers did an amazing job. I think God was able to use them to bless the rest of the congregation. The topic of the youth service was worship. I thought it was an appropriate topic given that we had been talking about worship for the last few months. The high schoolers got to serve in all areas of the service (except
In the words of N.T. Wright from his book For All God’s Worth,
“Worship is humble and glad; worship forgets itself in remembering God; worship celebrates the truth as God’s truth, not its own. True worship doesn’t put on a show or make a fuss; true worship isn’t forced, isn’t half -hearted, doesn’t keep looking at its watch, doesn’t worry what the person in the next pew may be doing. True worship is open to God, adoring God, waiting for God, trusting God even in the dark.”
Annual Meeting Summary by Pastor Mike Kurtz After a great Valentine’s Day Fellowship Hour hosted by the men of FBC, what a challenge to follow up the time with our annual meeting! As Gary Kato alluded to, crashing blood sugar levels was sure to be a challenge for the meeting. Thank you to all of you who were able to attend the meeting, and thank you also to those who shared. It was a time of encouragement while communicating the undertakings of our church leadership over the past year and now into the future. After a time of worship led by Pastor Mike and Iris Sandbeck, Jeremy Ong shared a brief testimony on his life and the power of his praying grandmother. Jeremy shared that his upbringing was such that he was headed for a disastrous life of bad decisions with bad influences. His grandmother had other hopes for Jeremy, and committed to praying for Jeremy and his salvation. That prayer was answered, and Jeremy’s life is now a stark contrast of what might have been. As Jeremy alluded to several times: “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16b). If you didn’t get a chance to hear Jeremy’s story, perhaps we’ll have him share it again in a future Grapevine article! (Ed. Note: See Jeremy’s story on page 10.) Here is a brief summary of some of the other things that were shared at the meeting:
From Wayne Watanabe Chairman of the Elder Board: Wayne provided a brief history of the leadership structure at FBC. He described how the official and legal ruling body for FBC is the Board of Directors. The first Board of Directors went by the working title of the Executive Board. The first Executives established the practice of a "self-perpetuating" board which would select its own re-
placements to insure that new board members would adhere to the founding principles of FBC - that is, upholding the Bible as God's inerrant word and to have a strong emphasis on missions. As a lay-led leadership group, the Executives only give approval if the decision is unanimous. This is based on the belief that the Holy Spirit will provide all Executives with the mind of Christ on all matters. As FBC grew larger in the 90’s, the burden increased on the Executives, leading them to create an Elder board to handle ministry issues and leaving the Executives to handle the more "business" oriented issues such as finances and building maintenance. As the makeup of the Executive
board changed, there was a blurring and confusion of responsibilities between the Elders and the Executives. After much discussion, prayer and study in the Word, it was determined that the most biblical model was to have one Elder board which would be the highest leadership body in the church (in much the same way it was from the beginning of FBC). It was also agreed that the primary job of the Elders should be to shepherd the congregation - meaning more attention to knowing people, knowing their needs, praying and helping them. The "new" Elder board was created in late 2011 by combining the existing Elder and Executive Boards into one group. This new Elder board is legally the (Continued on page 3)
Ministries
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Continued from previous page to be done is to establish Deacons to enasame as the Board of Directors - just with ble the Elders to focus on a different working title. The Elder board their shepherding role. operates with the same rules as the former During the Q&A there was a question Executive board with self-perpetuation, regarding the role of women in these unanimous decisions, etc. The next thing leadership bodies (i.e. Elders & Dea(Continued from page 2)
cons). We believe the Bible clearly teaches that only men can be Elders. The Bible is less definitive about Deacons, but we believe the Scriptures allow for the appointment of women deacons.
From Pastor Seiya: For JLM, the highlights from last year were: Hiro and Hiromi Kuge, along with the JLM singles, started up Friday night small group meetings; the JLM Moms started to meet for Bible study biweekly; the attendance for a monthly prayer meeting has drastically increased with people of all ages. My personal goal for this year is to continue promoting a mindset that the JLM is not a “church” within the church, but rather one of the vibrant ministries at FBC. I hope to keep leading the JLM folks by example by proactively interacting with English-speaking folks in the church.
PHOTOS BY GIFFORD CHEUNG
From Pastor Craig: Craig discussed and reviewed the status of Family Ministries since the Thompson departure, highlighting Scott Sasaki’s contribution of the development of the abuse awareness and ministry safety and security policies. Those who have volunteered to fill the vacancies created were recognized, both in children’s ministries as well as those serving with our Jr. and Sr. Hi students. Some of the activities taking place in these areas of ministry were also reported. The reported concluded with a request for prayer regarding the best way to meet these ministry needs as we go forward; whether we continue to rely on volunteers or to search once again for a staff person to oversee this ministry. In addition to these reports, we heard from Gary Kato sharing some encouraging thoughts on the Missions front, particularly the number of planted churches directly and indirectly resulting from our efforts, as well as from Roney Rustia bringing us up to speed on matters of the building and property. The future always looks bright for Faith Bible, and that is because God is at the helm. We trust that He will protect and provide and move us forward to continue our mission to Reach Up, Reach Across, and Reach Out.
Elder Commissioning, Feb 5 of Yoshi Aoyagi and Jeremy Ong Church Staff
E-mail Addresses
Craig Swanson, Senior Pastor Mike Kurtz, Associate Pastor Seiya Asanuma, Associate Pastor Lois Swanson, Office Manager Mina Chen, Secretary Kerry Watanabe, Newsletter/Reimbursements
craig@fbcseattle.org mike@fbcseattle.org seiya@fbcseattle.org lois@fbcseattle.org nichigo@fbcseattle.org kerry@fbcseattle.org
The Grape Vine is published monthly. This year, the Annual Report took the place of the February issue for the congregation. The deadline for news is the 15th of each month. To save on expense, please notify change of address or to be taken off the mailing list. Email copies of the newsletter are available. “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Jn.15:5
PHOTO BY LOIS SWANSON
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Ministries Valentine’s Fellowship Hour 2012 By Howard Kimura
Faith Bible Church “Buddy’s Punch”
“Tropical Fruit” This year, the men of Faith Bible Church were challenged to create their favorite dessert, savory side dish or main dish for the women of FBC to show our appreciation for them during the Valentine’s Day Fellowship hour. This has become an annual event and we have grown to enjoy this time to show off our culinary skills and see the expression (or lack there-of) on the women’s faces as they enjoy our favorite treats. Our church, I’d have to say, is more advanced than some others when it comes to the level of sophistication of their dishes. While other places of worship may enjoy casseroles with hamburger helper, frozen tater tots and canned soda, we men at FBC take pride to handmake our sweet and savory treats and present dishes such as slow –roasted beef, various styles of sushi rice, spicy peanut satay chicken, Hawaiian mochi, oreo swirl cheesecake, strawberry & hand-melted chocolate nachos, eggplant with miso, Chinese chicken salad and savory ice cream flavored punch with authentic ginger ale. Each year, we receive numerous compliments and a high level of encouragement from the ladies that it inspires us more and more. So, thanks to the ladies for all of your encouragement over the years as this is the result of your
thoughtful and sensitive encouragement! We had several categories of awards. There was an award for the best “sweet ” dessert, “savory” main dish, most creative, aesthetic presentation and one for emerging culinarists. This year we had various prizes that were voted on by the church.
The winners were: Sweet Award—Tied for first place: 1) Buddy’s Punch (Paul Nishimura and Kenji Kumai (where is Buddy?) 2) Oreo Swirl Cheesecake (Ryan Tsuji)
Savory Award—Main Dish:
PHOTOS BY JEREMY UNE
Other awards:
Most Creative Aesthetic Presentation: Tropical Fruit (Craig Swanson)
Emerging Culinarist: Hawaiian Mochi (Drew Fukuda)
We want to thank all of the guys for your extraordinary efforts to make this fellowship hour a fun and creative event. Col.3:17 “ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father thru Him.”
Chicken Satay with spicy peanut sauce (Roney Rustia)
FAITH BIBLE has two teams playing on the CHRISTIAN SPORTS LEAGUE this winter. All games are played at Jefferson Community Center on Beacon Hill. The schedule can be found at www.mchang.com. Cheering fans are welcome! TEAM “Teach Me How To Diggy”: Ryan Hjelm (captain), Brian Watanabe (asst. captain), Grace Yee, David Zhu, Jessica Tsukamoto, Ken Huang, Jennifer Tsuji and Ariana Garcia. TEAM “Lowrider”: Mike Hansen (captain), Alan (asst. captain) and Tomoko Dull, Sherwin Chen, Raj and Annika Velji, Randal Tiara, Maryann Moore and Elizabeth Enneking.
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JLM New Year’s Gathering (Shinnen-kai) By Ichiro Otsu “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 We had our annual JLM (Japanese Language Ministry) New Year’s Gathering at the fellowship hall on Monday January 2nd. It was a holiday, and many people attended. In addition to FBC members, some were from Eikou church, some invited their guests, and some were our out-of-state friends. It was conducted bilingually, so everyone understood. After singing songs related to New Year, Pastor Seiya shared a message from Romans 5:8. It was especially geared for non-Christians. Food was fabulous and plentiful. It was basically a potluck party. Many dishes were traditional Japanese food. In addition, JLM members prepared in the kitchen ‘Ozoni’ (rice cakes called “mochi” in clear soup) and dessert called ‘Oshiruko’ (mochi in sweetened bean paste) for everyone. We also had fun games. The 1st game was competing picture puzzles. The 2nd one was a gesture guessing game. People were divided into several teams, and both adults and children had fun. There were some repeat visitors from last year. Some were new to this gathering. Everyone enjoyed food, conversation and fellowship. Our prayer is that God continues to use this ministry for our Christian fellowship as well as reaching out to nonChristians who enjoy the Japanese New Year’s tradition. PHOTOS BY ICHIRO OTSU
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Ministries Serving Food & Love… The Lord’s Table As space constraints in the Annual Report limited a fuller accounting of The Lord’s Table for 2010-2011, additional information is included here.
Faith Bible Church
On a different note, the Lord’s Table report included an evaluation where we looked at three key areas consisting of P-GA (Position -- Goal -- Action):
Outdoor meal site closure?
In early Jan. 2012, we received alarming news that the city’s Director of Human POSITION: in reviewing the ministry’s history, we understand how/why we at Services announced the closing thof the Faith Bible in the Lord’s Table team Outdoor Meals Site (OMS) at 6 & Monthly events of the 4th Weds. in Columbia by 2/29/12. On 2/3/2012 there come to do things the way we do in retrospect reveal God’s amazing was a open meeting of about 40 attendees. this ministry; handiwork. Present was the Director of Human GOAL: in looking at the current situation, Services and staff, the Operation Sacklunch Director, OMS volunteers, and ● First and foremost, the volunteers we see opportunities for change in community participants. The main (approx. 35) come faithfully. As Kay areas which encourage growth in discussion focused on reasons for the says, ‘You are appointed!’ So as God participants by embracing outdoor site’s closure and the challenge of takes care of the crew, we show up responsibilities/creativity; locating another acceptable site. After and go thru the paces of prepping the menu’s items. ACTION: we exercise initiatives in plans continued conversation and much prayer, to achieve these goals, to step outside miraculously, the city has allowed the site to continue while a task force addresses ● Secondly, in May 2010, Kay handed our comfort zones, trusting the over to our team the responsibility for Spirit’s leading and putting faith into the outdoor site issue in the coming months to July.* menu planning, purchasing, prepping works. the meat, and bringing items to the The meeting, attended by Kay Abe and kitchen. In June 2010, with Daniel The Evaluation then leads to questions: son Norman, highlighted the care and Patty Mayeda’s helps, a DVD documented the steps of making - As a church funded ministry, how should expressed by Seattle’s citizens responding to those in hunger and critical need. The Chicken/Vegie Stew (as we realized our group seek ways to promote Lord is opening doors of ministry before we needed step by step instructions discipleship? us. Let’s pray for wisdom and show our and help to even know how to thicken - How would we become good, faithful love to those in need as Christ Himself – the stew!). God provided rescue thru stewards of Jesus Christ? Larry Lee from Japanese - How does our understanding of the poor ‘You did it to Me.’ Congregational Church whose help us in ministry? cooking background gave us the - How would we learn that knowledge and -- Submitted by Jo Valberg in behalf of The Lord’s Table Team perfect instructor! skills to address these areas? - How might our experiences and answers ● A special blessing was seeing several to these questions strengthen our faith and *By the meeting’s end, it was decided that families with younger children join in team, and lead outside the church, to our contact be made with WA Dept. of Transportation whose site is leased by Operation Sacklunch, to thru the summer; children, parents and neighbors and city? better understand WADOT’s position on its grandparents serving side by side… - To whom would we be accountable leasing of the site in light of the Dir. Of Human mentoring in action. within the church’s leadership? Services concerns. A task force committee is being formed to address the outdoor site issue.
♥ THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT♥ We pray for those who have lost loved ones all in January, 2012:
For the Ueno family (Hiroshi’s father)
Kunie Yamamoto and Kerry Watanabe were happily surprised to see each other at the Intl. Market, Honolulu. Kunie was vacationing with her niece, Lisa, and Lisa’s family. December 2011
For theWilliamson family (Shigeko’s brother) For the Nova family (George’s grandfather)
Church Family News
The Grapevine
Happy Birthday ! 1 1
Eiko Takano Isamu Une
2 5 9 11 12 13 15
Beulah Kawachi Peggy Shimono Jo Valberg Caleb Takano Josh Takano Takae Miyazaki Christi Swanson
16 16 17 17 19
Kenny Fujimoto Jackie Nishimura Atsuko Colson Alane Louie Takumi Bauson
20 20 25 26 27
Boon Chaya Paul Nishimura Bill Hamasaki Tim Ong Kent Colson
28 28 28 29
Judy Chinn Kathy Nishimura Yoshie Matter Sharon Rustia
Coming Soon…
29 Carol Suzuki* 30 Hamayo Sato
Happy Anniversary! 3 Paul & Patty Mayeda 17 Bob & Florence Uyeda 21 Yoshiyuki & Yasuko Aoyagi 22 Merrill & Jo Valberg 26 Fred and Jane Tanaka* 27 Lane & Karrie Sanford* * FBC Missionaries
For years we called them “home groups”. They were built on strong relationships formed for spiritual growth. They included Bible study and prayer. They included friends. Some met weekly, others monthly. As our old tag line used to say: “Home Groups are the life of Faith Bible Church midweek”. And that’s still true today. But there is still more to be had by these groups; hence, the change to “community groups”. Why the change? Look for details as we complete our 40 Days in the Word.
Contact the church office to add your special day.
----------With all of our small groups currently journeying through the 40 Days in the Word church-wide project, we are excited by what God is doing in and through the groups already. There is a sense of God working in individuals, and as they come together in community, an encounter of God that is both inspiring and challenging. To hear more about the movement of God in this journey, join us at our 11am Worship Service on March 25.
Congratulations to Kazushi and Betty Takahashi as their daughter, Amy, and Arthur (Nao) Uchida were married in Oahu on December 22nd, 2011. ♥
Lily Keilani 7 lbs 4 oz, 19 inches joined the Sanford Family on Thursday, December 28th. Congratulations, Lane and Karrie and family!
They plan to return to Papua New Guinea on 2/28 and are praying the visa arrives in time for the flights.
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Reaching... Calendar
Faith Bible Church Japanese Language Ministry (JLM): 9:30am Worship Service *
Sunday Services 9:30am
March 2012
11:00am Sunday School *
Sunday School for all ages
11:00am Worship Service
Mon
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Tue
Wed
Thu
NO Fellowship Hour this month due to the baby showers and “40 Days in the Word” Sunday groups! 4 8:30am Prayer Meeting 11:00am JOINT WORSHIP
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2:00pm Keiro Ministry
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12
2
8
9
7
3 9am JLM Prayer Mtg 10
7:30pm Elder Meeting
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14
15
16
22
23 7:30pm Elder Meeting
Daylight Sav17 ings Time begins March 11 at 2am. Turn clock ahead one hour!
“40 Days in the Word” Small Groups during the week
Keiro Ministry 18
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8:30am Prayer Meeting 1:00pm JLM Iinkai Meeting
20 10 am Keiro Nursing Home Ministry
2:00pm Keiro Ministry 25
26
27
8:30am Prayer Meeting BABY SHOWER for SHERRY LIN 2:00pm
Sat
“40 Days in the Word” Small Groups during the week
8:30am Prayer Meeting BABY SHOWER for ALLISON OCAMPO 2:00pm
Fri
1 7:30pm Missions Committee
7PM HOUSE OF PRAYER
SERVICE
Daylight savings begins 2am.
*Except for joint worship service one Sunday per month when Sunday School is at 9:30 am and worship service at 11:00 am.
Keiro Ministry
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FIRST DAY OF SPRING! “40 Days in the Word” Small Groups during the week
(NW Ministry Conference through 3/24)
28 6pm Feeding the Homeless
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ROCK sleepover at the Lee’s/Jo’s
24 Japanese x Jesus 2pm Cooking @ FBC; 5:00 Mtg. in U-district 7pm ROCK HS
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“40 Days in the Word” Small Groups during the week
This month and beyond...
PLAN FOR THESE DATES: June 30-July 7: FBC Summer Mission Trip with Sacred Road Ministries, working with the Yakama Nation July 16-20: Vacation Bible School 2012 September 28-30: Family Conference at Black Lake (NEW DATES AND LOCATION)
See calendar above for more events this month.
Sun, Mar 4 Wed, Mar 7 Sun, Mar 11 Sun, Mar 25
Joint Worship Service House of Prayer with OHANA partners Baby shower for Allison Ocampo Baby shower for Sherry Lin
Sun, April 1 Fri, April 6 Sun, April 8 Sat, April 14
Joint Worship Service/Fellowship Hour Good Friday Easter Sunday Seniors Luncheon
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Faith Story
The Grapevine
PHOTO BY GIFFORD CHEUNG
Jeremy Ong Life has been so busy for me for the past several years that I had not taken much time to do some reflection of my life journey. It was not until the winter of 2009 when I had to take a couple of long trips back to the Philippines that I had the opportunity to reflect. I had to visit my ailing grandmother (who suffered from pancreatic cancer) and had to attend her subsequent funeral service when she passed away shortly after my first visit. My grandmother was a godly woman who had a profound impact on my life and if it were not for her daily and persistent prayers to the Lord on my behalf, I don't believe I would be here today. Growing up as a somewhat troubled and mischievous child, I gave her plenty of reasons to be concerned for my well being and with the kind of background I had, I needed a LOT of prayers. If I were to give you a mental picture of what my life was like before I became a follower of Christ , it is best illustrated by a fast car zooming down on the highway to hell and the ongoing battle to gain control of the steering wheel to turn it around before it is too late. That battle was fierce and for a while , it looked like the car was getting close to reaching its destination sooner given the kind of background I had. On the surface, it may appear that I came from a very christian "pedigree". I grew up attending a very strict private chinese christian school in the Philippines from age 4 to 17 years . I also attended a bible-believing church and was even baptized there at age 12. However, this background does not paint an accurate picture of who I was back then. In fact, it did not reflect what was truly the real attitude of my heart towards God. My baptism was a complete lie as I did it as a family obligation rather than a personal choice. I
grew up being taught about Jesus but He was not real to me back then. My background certainly had something to do with that. I was raised in an unstable home environment where my father lived a life of gambling, marital infidelities, drinking, and smoking. In his latter years, he abandoned our family. This unhealthy background impacted my performance as a student at the private christian school I attended. Consequently , I was demoted to a classroom that is commonly viewed in my school as the dumping ground of rejects, misfits, troublemakers, and academically challenged students. Needless to say, that social experiment of segregating all the "bad " students from the "good" students was a complete and utter failure . The classroom that I was part of wreaked havoc on the school and raised the bar to another level in terms of what bad students are capable of doing. It also further compounded the negative influences I received. In addition, the punitive culture of the christian school I attended greatly distorted my view and understanding of God's love and His grace. The school engaged in a highly disciplinary practice of physically punishing its students with a metal ruler or a stick if one cannot recite bible verses completely and correctly. It was not exactly an ideal atmosphere to learn about who God really is and I walked away with this tainted and wrong understanding that God is some cosmic being who hates me and is out to get me every time I make a mistake. A dysfunctional family background paired with a dysfunctional school environment certainly is NOT a recipe for a successful conversion and transformation of a believer. I had hit rock bottom and reached that point in my life where I had given up. As a student, I went from failing my classes, then resorted to cheating and eventually, I lost the will to cheat and started turning in blank sheets of paper on my exams. I was convinced that the best way to remedy this is put this loser (me) out of his misery. Suicide became a very appealing option and I recall there were a
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couple of instances where I came very close to "finishing the job". However, something held me back. I heard a voice calling out to me inside my head pleading with me to stop and not go through what I was doing. As I wrestled with the choices I had to make, I finally made one of the most important decisions of my life , I listened to God. Eventually, when I was 17, my grandmother arranged to have my parents, my siblings and me move to the US to pursue a better future for ourselves . It was not until I started attending some biblebelieving churches in California during that 10 year period where my faith in God started to become genuine. It was a long journey but at age 27, in obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I requested (at the last minute) to be baptized during a baptismal service at the church I was attending. This time , it was MY choice to be baptized. It was the real deal. After my real baptism, my faith in the Lord as well as my hunger for His word grew tremendously and I got involved in serving in a wide range of church ministries. Life is now an ongoing journey of a relationship with Christ and surrendering different areas of my life to Him. That speeding car headed on the highway to hell has done a complete U-Turn and now Jesus has taken the wheel of the car. I am still a sinner but the difference now is that I am a sinner that is saved by His grace. During my last moments with my dying grandmother during the winter of 2009 in the Philippines, I spent some time praying with her. My chinese language skills are very very rusty and I was not sure I would be able to articulate my prayers so that my grandmother could understand. But God gave me the right words to say and I spent that precious time with my grandmother for the last time as we prayed and cried together. It is only fitting that the troubled and mischievous child whom my grandmother had fervently prayed for all these years had now come back to pray for his grandmother during her moment of pain and suffering. (Continued on page 10)
Church Library
(Continued from page 9)
Two weeks later , my grandmother went home to be with the Lord at 92 years of age. Her work here in this world as a faithful prayer warrior is done. In James 5:16, it says , "The prayer of the righteous man is powerful and effective". Considering my unhealthy background and my eventual conversion and transformation as a follower of Christ , I can only say that my grandmother's prayers were powerful and effective as the Lord definitely heard her prayers and had mercy upon me. Praise the Lord ! Satan had lost the battle for my soul but the battle rages on for the souls of many others who desperately need our prayers. Jeremy Ong
New book for March
Nearing Home by Billy Graham One of the great challenges of the Christian life is to finish life well, especially while growing old in age into the golden years. Many start off strong but fade when trials, struggles, and
Faith Bible Church Taken from Dec 23rd email:
Hitoshi and Keiko Shinoda—Bible Broadcasting Network “Our Lord has been using us for Japanese ministry over internet at Bible Broadcasting Network, Charlotte, NC and kept working in hearts of people through our ministry. More than fifteen Japanese people decided to receive Jesus Christ as their own Savior this year and more had interest in Christianity and began reading the bible through web radio and chat ministries. Students of the Bible Institute are increasing.” (over 500 enrolled “Pray for Keiko and Junko who respond to visitors at BBN chat every weekday. Most of them desire to kill themselves. God would give Keiko and Junko his wisdom to answer them writing in proper words that might lead them to have hope in Christ. - Two Japanese may soon be added to our ministry as BBN staff. Hitoshi's work hour is too tight. He is working for overall radio production besides his original ministry... teaching in "Words of Praise" program and leading BBN Hitoshi sharing at the RCJ Japanese Bible Institute.” Conference, Kirkland, WA. temptations cause them to fall away from living a life that pleases God. For others, it is “sliding for home” in their Christian life, retiring from a career but also from ministry. As someone once said, “The Christian life is crosscountry, not a 100-yard dash.”
grow stronger inwardly in the midst of these difficulties? How can we face the future with hope instead of despair? These are some of the questions I have been forced to deal with as I have grown older; perhaps the same is true of you as well.”
In this book, “this man of faith-now in his nineties-explores the challenges of aging while gleaning foundational truths from Scripture. “ He writes, “While the Bible doesn’t gloss over the problems we face as we grow older, neither does it paint old age as a time to be despised or a burden to be endured with gritted teeth (if we still have any). Nor does it picture us in our latter days as useless and ineffective, condemned to spend our last days in endless boredom or meaningless activity until God finally takes us home.”
How can we not only learn to cope with the fears and struggles and growing limitations we face but also actually grow stronger inwardly in the midst of these difficulties?
“Instead the Bible says that God has a reason for keeping us here; if He didn’t, He would take us to Heaven far sooner. But what is His purpose for these years, and how can we align our lives with it? How can we not only learn to cope with the fears and struggles and growing limitations we face but also actually
“This book, however, isn’t written just for old people. It is written from people at every stage of life-even those who never have thought much about growing older. The reason is simple: the best way to meet the challenges of old age is to prepare for them now, before they arrive. I invite you to explore with me not only the realities of life as we grow older but also the hope and fulfillmentand even joy-that can be ours once we learn to look at these years from God’s point of view and discover His strength to sustain us every day.”
PHOTO BY MINA CHEN
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The Grapevine
Around The World
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Charleen Kiyabu Charleen Kiyabu works with Campus Crusade for Christ, Intl. to give everyone everywhere an opportunity to hear about Christ in their own language. Pray for effective partnerships to encourage local church growth and church planting. Last year, Charleen’s travels included the Middle East, Paris and Central Asia. Pray for her with such a demanding schedule. Excerpts from October 2011 and January 2012 prayer letters: “...we’ve had several international staff come through our office and it’s been exciting to hear their reports of the impact the JESUS film is having in their countries. One staff from Africa mentioned how effective the film has been in planting churches in remote areas of the country. So much, so, that pastors have been asking him for training in using the film, plus wanting a copy of the film to help them evangelize and disciple others. Because of our commitment to partnerships, we desire to help provide the necessary tools to help these pastors with their ministry.
Staff from all over the world have been asking for resources that will help them reach the young generation. For the past year we’ve been working on an animé version of the crucifixion scene of the JESUS film that is titled “My Last Day.” Animé is a style of Japanese animation to which young people are attracted. After watching it, I sadly realized I wasn’t young any more as it was hard to watch the animé graphicness of the crucifixion scene, even though it is probably more realistic of what Christ suffered and endured for us. However, this resource has been successful in communicating the gospel to many college students in the United States and we are now dubbing it into other languages. The dubbing process has been “easy” because the scene has already been translated into more than 1100 languages (the approximate number of languages the JESUS film has been translated into.) And because it’s animation, the lip sync doesn’t have to match. Www.WatchThinkChat.com
Hey, Faith Kids! Highschool led Worship Service Sunday, January 22
The service included a time of congregational sharing led by Ken Kato and a Children’s Message led by Audra Fain and Kaili Sandico!
PHOTO BY GIFFORD CHEUNG
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Faith Bible Church
W E’ RE ON THE W E B! WWW. FBCSEATTLE. ORG Info@fbcseattle.org (email) 206.322.8044 (phone) 206.322.4571 (fax) 128 18th Avenue Seattle, WA 98122
Reaching Japanese for Christ Conference, February 16-18 By Rita Milligan With its challenging seminars, workshops, vision, networking, displays, resources, and scrumptious Asian food, the 11th Annual RJC Conference was the best ever. We relived Japan's tsunami and earthquake disaster through famous speaker Akira Sato's eyes. No less than 24 inspirational leaders and speakers shared with enthusiasm and practical help. Umpteen display tables captured our interest, and seminars were outstanding. This three-day conference climaxed with famous Black Gospel singer and leader Ray Akira Sato Sidney in 'Saturday Night Alive'. Nearly 200 participants gathered from the U.S., Canada, and Japan. We listened with joy at the many open doors and fruitful outreaches. Examples: ●Cornerstone Christian Church in Renton was burdened to start a church in Japan, and already 30 people are coming to the resultant Ikebukuro church. Later a group from Cornerstone went to hand out flashlights and gospel messages. Result: 15 more Japanese accepted the Lord. ●CRASH (a Christian disaster relief organization in Japan
through the local churches) is meeting many needs. ●Jesus.Net (pre-evangelism by Internet) is reaching thousands of Japanese. There are 100 million people on line every day in Japan! Wish you could have heard all the other amazing things going on. Great to see Pastor Hitoshi Shinoda representing BBN from NC and Pastor Ray Gosden from NM. Kudos to a number of FBCers who went to help cook those scrumptious meals (Betty Inouye, Patty Richard Nakamura Mayeda, Ichiro & PHOTOS BY MINA CHEN Lynne Otsu, Ayako Kobayashi, the Torihara family, the Kimura family, Kerry & Shannon Watanabe.) Funds from Conference food are being sent to Tohoku earthquake area. Eikou Christian Church reported that $3650 will be sent to Hope Miyagi, a program under Shiogama Baptist Bible Church. Plans are already beginning for next year's RJC conference at this time, so put it on your calendar!
You can listen to some of this year’s sessions, seminars at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/rjcconference