In Part 4 of this series, the work intensifies as half the team breaks off and travels to Kagoshima whilst the rest of the team remains in Fukuoka. In the remaining days of the trip, our team would have traversed the entire length of Kyushu Island.
Day 6 (Wednesday 11 December) saw our team split. Apparently, Ps Benny on realising that we were a worship team on missions, was keen that we conduct some worship seminars.
Ps Matsumoto, of Kagoshima Hope Church, had been identified early on as a “man of peace” in Kagoshima, and was pivotal in bringing the fragmented churches together to regularly pray and hold conferences and seminars.
Allan, Charis and I accompanied Kevin back to Kagoshima to stay at the second of our mission houses in Japan. Pastor Matsumoto, his wife and Kevin stayed there.
The car ride took us about five and a half hours (with rest stops). For the Kagoshima team, we had to pack for two days in Kagoshima, plus an extra day in Minami Aso.
It was already late afternoon by the time we arrived – just enough time for us to have a quick tea with Pastor Matsumoto and his wife before Kevin went to the laundromat.
We then arrived at the Church where everyone had a quick dinner before the formal program.
Three churches had gathered for a worship seminar over two evenings.
On this first evening, the worship leaders of the three churches would each lead a 20-minute worship set. The expectation was that our team would then evaluate them and give them feedback. I was then due to speak on “Creating Flow in Worship”.
As soon as the first team began the worship time, there was such a strong sense of God’s presence. Whereas our impression of the church in Fukuoka was that it was quite conservative, here the gathering was Spirit-filled, conjuring memories of my experience of the Charismatic revival in the church in which I was first saved. When free worship happened, everyone sang at the top of their voices. Ex tempore prophetic words and prayers were given by congregation members from the floor. The presence of God was tangible.
In the midst of worship, I was suddenly convicted that it would be inappropriate to teach on a technical subject. I wrestled with God for some time. I reasoned that Pastor Matsumoto had to translate and he had already been given my script; that people had come with an expectation of what I was going to teach and they were going to be disappointed. But three scriptures came to mind (all the while as I was noting critiques of the worship teams) and I knew that I had to depart from my script. I quickly jotted the three scriptures down and I re-read them to refresh myself on their content.
When I got up to the pulpit, I made some comments about how I really sensed the presence of God and how it reminded me of when I was first saved. I still had my script in front of me, and as I looked down at them, I couldn’t resist any further. In full view of everyone, I blurted out to Ps Matsumoto if it was okay for me to speak on something completely different. He looked at me with a big smile (almost as if he were expecting it) and turned my script over. At that moment, I knew that the Lord was doing something – I just had to trust the working of the Holy Spirit.
I ended up preaching about the need to return to our first love. Ps Matsumoto’s translation seemed easy and on point. When I gave the opportunity to respond, at least 3 hands went up and I prayed for the worship leaders and pastors in the room.
Pastor Matsumoto told me that the message really hit at the heart and he was glad that I had taken the step of faith.
This was the first I had ever preached a message without notes, let alone “off the cuff”. Thankfully, adding in the translating time, it needn’t have been a long sermon, but nonetheless, there was an exhilaration in being led by the Spirit.
Meanwhile, earlier that day, the team in Fukuoka held a picnic in the park with some students before adjourning to nearby cafes for further chats.
Amongst the group was a young man named S, who was searching for meaning from a highly intellectual angle. He had sat down with Ling and Chisai Lester to discuss matters of apologetics like creation versus evolution and the existence of God. More on this thread later. I am told that after this meeting, Chisai Lester and Joe continued to engage with S by playing online chess with him.
Prayers from Sakurajima
The next day (Thursday 12 December), Pastor Matsumoto was due to take us to Sakurajima for sightseeing – a live volcanic island off the coast of Kagoshima. Kevin volunteered to take us instead in his car. We sensed Ps Matsumoto needed the rest from entertaining visitors!
We were able to bring the car on the ferry and then drive around the island.
We drove to a look-out point where we could see a full view of Kagoshima.
Apparently, Sakurajima is known to erupt periodically and cover Kagoshima in fine ash. As I looked over the city, I was prompted to pray that there would be a spiritual eruption and awakening over Kagoshima.
That evening, we returned to the church for the second part of the worship seminar.
Our team (predominantly Allan and Charis) led worship. Even as we started with the song “Praise”, there was such a sense of exuberance as the congregation worshipped with all their might. There was dancing and the sound of tambourines. I then taught on “Creating Flow in Worship” as promised and this was followed by a lengthy Q&A.
One person asked about the need for humility and even as I was answering the question, the Holy Spirit convicted me of making way for younger people to succeed me in the ministry, rather than holding onto a position for the sake of a title. Even as I was ministering to the crowd, I realised that the Holy Spirit was ministering to me!
We then provided feedback to the previous evening’s teams and practical points on how to improve in terms of flow.
At the end of the meeting, we continued to talk to the worship leaders who were there. There was such a hunger to learn!
In Fukuoka, our team did a prayer walk and chatted with elderly folk in the park.
Later that evening, the team took to Canal City again for another round of busking. Kaylee was in full attractional force, and Sam took the opportunity to have conversations with more passers-by.
Even though we had only been apart for two days, I was already starting to miss the rest of the team.
Reunited in Minami Aso
The next morning, Friday 13 December, we got up early to make tracks for Minami Aso, a town about two hours away near Mt Aso (the largest live volcano in Japan) where we were due to rejoin the rest of our team. Here, I recalled a vision Sam had shared early on during our preparation time of Mt Aso and a spiritual eruption over all of Japan!
We arrived just before lunch time to settle into the Mission House before being whisked to Choyo Park Golf Club, which was the site of our ministry for the next 24 hours. Here, we were to play café style music in the Club café (known as Café Loggia) whilst patrons were resting or having lunch. Members of our team were also on hand to mingle with the patrons and share our testimonies.
The manager, Ban-san, was a deeply devoted marketplace Christian and he permitted us (and in fact encouraged us) to sing worship songs.
Here again we saw Sam in her element as she casually sat with some older golfers and started conversing with them.
The next day, we got to the café in the morning and started with some chill vibes and worship songs. As more people came, some of us had the chance to talk to some patrons and vendors (local sellers were able to sell their products at the back of the café).
One of our team along with Sam got to share the gospel with a patron who said that it was her first time hearing about Jesus.
Even though I found talking to people quite intimidating, I ended us sitting next to three of the vendors whilst they were eating their lunch.
I asked one of them what their hobby was and she said that she enjoyed listening to music.
I then shared an Instagram post of our church worship team leading the song “You are Good”. I told her that we were all part of the church band and that this was the style of music we played. We shared with her FCC’s Youtube channel and encouraged her to subscribe to it (which she did), in the hope that she would be able to be exposed to worship and preaching. (All three ladies are now following me on Instagram which has given me opportunities to continue interacting with them).
To Kumamoto
We finished up at the café and packed up our gear to head to Kumamoto, a town that was about 2 hours away, to minister at Kumamoto Harvest Church at their young adults’ Christmas party/service.
The church building was built on top of a hill overlooking the city with an integrated café. The building had been completed some weeks ago. Walking into the church auditorium, I felt a sense of hope for Japan and that a time would come when young people would turn to Jesus in environments such as this.
About 40 people attended the meeting.
Joe led a time of Christmas carols and worship; then Jackie shared her testimony before Chisai Lester shared a Christmas gospel message. I ended up manning the sound desk (which was unexpected)!
After the formal part of the service, our team put on Australian snacks as we talked with the people.
I initially chatted with Chuck, who was an older American who had worked as a teacher in Japan for over 26 years. It was clear that he had a heart for the Japanese people, but he also acknowledged how hard the ground was. He told me about his regrets of things he had done and what he hadn’t done to advance the gospel. I encouraged him that all of it was in God’s timing; that his good work was not in vain; and that ultimately, the ground was softening.
The sadness in his voice began to change to a hopeful tone as he shared that indeed they had seen two baptisms in the church over the last 3 weeks. I told him that we were praying with the church in Japan and our missionary had also seen salvations recently.
He then shared with me the story of Mitsu, who was out walking one day when Chuck’s wife saw him whilst she was putting out the garbage. She took the step of faith and invited Mitsu into the house to play some boardgames. That initial connection led to Mitsu’s conversion. He was one of the young people who were baptised recently. Chuck shared with me his hope that even after he leaves Japan in 2025 that people like Mitsu will continue the work.
I then sat down with Mitsu and was able to share my testimony with him – a testimony of God’s provision for me even whilst I was serving Him as a youth leader and a worship leader in the church – in the hope that this would inspire Him to continue in fervent pursuit of the Lord.
Throughout the entire mission trip, I had struggled to engage with conversation with people due to the language barrier. Now, I suddenly felt a breakthrough in being able to encourage Mitsu in his faith, albeit through broken English.
At that moment, I felt it appropriate to give Mitsu my testimony scroll (which had the full text of my testimony in Japanese and English). I spotted Jackie holding a bag of the scrolls at the other side of the auditorium. I started mentally trying to work out how I could possibly get Jackie’s attention. I continued my conversation with Mitsu and then, moments later, looked up to find that Jackie was standing next to me offering me a copy of my scroll. It looked like she had instantly materialised! I was able to give my scroll to Mitsu for him to read and to also add him on Instagram. We have continued to keep in touch through Insta messages.
Later Charis also shared that she too was able to share her testimony with one of the visitors. Earlier during the car ride, she had said that even though she had prepared her testimony, she had not yet had the opportunity to share it with anyone. During the mingling time however, she was able to talk to a girl and asked her what she thought about the Christmas message. She told Charis that she had not heard about Jesus before. Charis then was able to share what Jesus did in her life. The girl responded by saying her situation was quite similar to Charis’. Charis was then able to pray with her. Even though that girl did not give her life to the Lord, she remains in contact with Charis.
Lastly, we have also learned that one of the girls at the Christmas party is now coming to Perth to stay for a year, and members of our team are already reaching out to her.
The Last Day
The last day of our program, Sunday 15 December, was supposed to be the easiest day.
Ps Paul from Aburuyama had invited us to a special Christmas concert. It was a joint effort of 10 different churches and he was expecting 1000 people in faith. About 500 to 600 showed up a school auditorium. Here, a vocal ensemble known as Ruah sang Christmas songs and shared their testimonies, before a preacher gave a Christmas message.
Prior to the event, Sam had prayed as to who to invite and was given 4 names. Two of those immediately responded, including S. Chisai Lester and Ling had hoped that they could continue their conversation with him and answer his questions about God and the Christian faith. After the concert, S approached his questions with deep intellectualism. It was a gruelling conversation that went for over two hours and seemed to be going nowhere. In the end, we were due to leave for dinner. Ling then shared her experiences of a previous mission trip to India where she was used by God to perform a miraculous healing.
But at dinner, it was clear that Sam, Chisai Lester and Ling felt defeated and unsure about how much they would have contributed to S’s view of the faith.
By this time, it seemed like the team were tired and had reached boiling point. For most of the trip, there had been moments where conflicts could have spilled over, but everyone had been able to keep it under wraps. This time, the mood was sombre even though we were having our final, celebratory dinner together. It had been a long day.
As a post-script, Sam shared that S had later apologised that he was being too antagonistic in personally attacking Sam’s Japanese-speaking ability and conceded that if he were to see a miracle, he would be prepared to believe in God despite his intellectual objections even to God’s existence. It was an astounding shift in his mindset and made me feel like what might have seemed a difficult conversation would ultimately bear fruit.
After we returned to the mission house, we ended the night sharing our testimonies of the trip and praying for Sam and Kevin in their ongoing work. Many of us felt used by God and personally impacted. Importantly, God had grown in many of us a heart for Japan. We did not seek the fruit, but we were assured that in due course, the gospel would indeed bear much fruit in Japan.
The Worship Revolution 