It has been a year and a half since we felt God say “Move and I will Prove!” referring to us moving to Japan as missionaries. Since then we have worked tirelessly on everything imaginable in preparing for the move. One of the main things on the list was selling our house. We spent the last year remodeling and updating the house and made it ready for sale. We have lived here for 6 years and absolutely love it. Now that we did all of the things that we wanted to do for the past 6 years we fell in love with our house again, right before we sell the house! Isn’t that the way it goes?
We are now at the point where we literally have done everything that is in our power to do in regards to moving to Japan. We are taking the biggest step of faith in our lives–as a friend of mine put it, “going bare foot.” There are 2 main things that we are still waiting on, but they are, for the most part, out of our control now:
1. Selling of our house
2. Receiving our Visa to enter Japan
3. Finances for relocating and monthly support in Japan
OK, 3 things:)
We are now in the “waiting for God to come through” stage. Please join us in praying for God to specifically answer our prayers and provide for our needs. Pastor Frank spoke an incredible message at City Bible Church called the Providence of God last Sunday (May 20). We were so encouraged by a timely message! God has been so faithful and there is no reason why He is going to change now. We can’t wait to see how God is going to “part the ways” this time!! GO GOD!!
I finally got an iPod several months ago. The main reason is simple—I wanted to be “connected and informed” when I am in Japan via podcasts. Since getting the iPod I have listened to hundreds of podcasts. I LOVE IT!! It’s one of those “how did I survive without it” things. I listen to most of my podcasts during my 13 min commute to City Christian Publishing. It has become one of the most stretching and thought provoking times in my daily routine–talk about redeeming the time!
One of my hobbies now is to find and listen to podcasts by pastors and church leaders, particulary those that are good preachers/communicaters, and various ministry topics such as church planting, philosophy and methods, etc.
One of the podcasts that I have enjoyed is the new one that Rick Warren just started last month. Rick Warren’s focus this year is “Less Conferences and More Conversations”. This is his first year that he is not doing any Purpose-Driven Conferences. Instead a part of his focus is his podcast. He deals with specific topics about ministry that is on his heart. He normally has other pastors join him in a discussion format. I highly recommend listening to it! Here are the titles of the ones that he has done so far:
- How to Use Special Days (focused on Easter)
- Maintaining God’s Blessing on Your Life and Your Church
- Ministering During Tragedy
- Moral Failure of a Staff Member (he recently had one of his leaders fall morally so it was fresh on his mind——He offers VERY GOOD ADVICE!!)
- How to Minister in an Urban Context (focusing on one of his church plants in New York City. This was relevent to me as I will be planting a church in an urban contex as well.)
- How to Overcome Loniness in Ministry
I will continue to keep you posted about some of my other favorite podcasts. What are some of your favorite podcasts?
Joel
City Bible Church just had their annual City Bible Conference last week. As some of you know, I work at City Christian Publishing, which a publishing company/ministry of City Bible Church. I had the privilege of managing the product table again for the conference. One of the main reasons our conferences are successful is because of the hundreds of volunteers that donate hundreds of hours to help host the conference. Just for the product table we had 50 volunteers rotating shifts from 8am to 11pm for 3 days. All I can say is WOW! I was so blessed to have such dedicated volunteers. I was able to make new friends & strengthen existing relationships. It was physically exhausting, but emotionally and spiritually energizing.
The speaker line up was incredible: Israel Houghton, Wendell & Gini Smith, Benny Perez, Tommy Barnett, Dr. Richard & Lindsay Roberts and our very own Frank Damazio. Because of my duties at the product table I was not able to be in all of the services, but I did manage to get a few bits and pieces. Here are some of my highlights and soon as I listen to all of the CDs I am sure I will have tons of other highlights:
- Tommy Barnett:
This guy is amazing. He is 69 years old and has been in the ministry for about 50 years. Gets up every morning at 4am to pray (I thought 5:30 was early!). His schedule last week went something like this:
Sunday—preached 3 times in Phoenix
Monday—Spoke in New York
Tuesday—Spoke in Phoenix
Wednesday—Speaks at the Dream Center (Los Angeles)
Thursday—Speaks somewhere, don’t remember.
Friday & Saturday—Spoke twice at our conference
Sunday—back to Phoenix to preach 3 times
Monday—flies to New Zealand for another conference.
One word: WHAT IN THE WORLD! (ok, four words)
Here are a few pointers from his sermon on Friday night:
- He prayed for a double portion of his anointing to come on us. That may sound like he is proud, but just the opposite. He so exemplifies the spirit of Christ.
- “Some of you will build churches to be 30,000”—Wow, are you serious? Wonder if I will be a part of building a church for 30,000 in Japan. Bring it on!
- “Tonight Jesus is multiplying your vision and taking the limit off of your vision.” –I thought my vision was big, but oh no, God, once again enlarged my vision and spoke to me about some specific things regarding my future during the altar call.
By the way, his book Reaching Your Dreams is a must read!
- Gini Smith
I wasn’t able to listen to her session, but supposedly she spoke about her journey of leaving City Bible Church after serving there for 20 some years to go with her husband and a small team to plant The City Church in Seattle, WA. I heard that she talked about her struggles in leaving, steps of faith, God’s provision and how God has led them to where they are now. I can’t wait to listen to this CD. It will be perfect as I prepare to go to Japan.
- Dr. Richard Roberts
I have to be honest. I didn’t know what to expect from him. Actually, I didn’t have a good impression of him at all, until I heard him speak that is. My only exposure to him until last week was watching him on TV occasionally and what I did see didn’t impress me at all. I thought he was just another TV evangelist that is very shallow, copying his dad and trying to build off of his dad’s “success”. I WAS TOTALLY WRONG! I MEAN, ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY WRONG! I WAS JUDGEMENTAL! I HAD NEVER MET OR KNEW THE MAN, BUT REGARDLESS, I CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT I DIDN’T LIKE HIM. HOW PRIDEFUL OF ME! Listening and watching him minister I realized how judgemental I was of him. I do not want this to effect my ministry. I actually found out during the conference that one my good friends, Mark Daniels, who is an Elder at City Bible Church was saved at one of Richard Roberts’ meetings. If I ever have the privilege of meeting Dr. Roberts I want to ask for his forgiveness, but until then I submit this to him:
“Dr. Roberts, please forgive me for judging you for who you are not! It is obvious that God has specifically called you, anointed you and is mightily using you. It was evident that you have a very close relationship with God and I was deeply touched by your ministry of healing and teaching on the gifts of the Holy Spirit at the CBC conference in May, 2007. I want to be able to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit as you described them. Thank you for carrying on your father’s legacy. Thank you for you dedication, integrity and commitment to the call on your life and thank you for your impartation!”
Normally, I will try to keep my blogs short, but I felt like I needed to post this one.
(Joshua, Kelly, Elisa & Joel Kaylor)
The purpose of our blog is to have another way of staying in touch with you.
Simply put—we want you to join us on our journey in Japan.
We are looking forward to sharing with you:
- Many things about our family.
- Life and ministry in Japan.
- The culture of Japan.
- Thoughts and experiences that we will have along the way.
- And some good ole random stuff that we feel like sharing
I (Joel) will be the main writer, but I will have Kelly and the kids join in on the fun too!
We invite you to post your comments as we would love to hear from you.