One recent Sunday, we had 4 first-time visitors. Despite our attendance being down 10 people that day (6 regular attendees and 4 occasional attendees), we still had a total of 18 people. Had everyone shown up, we would have almost run out of chairs and been overcrowded in our space. We will probably need to buy more folding chairs since the 32 that we have soon will not be enough!
Thank you for continuing to pray with us about the new warehouse location. We received an initial estimate for basic renovations and are working through the details right now. While the move is going to cost somewhere around twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars for renovations as well as realtor fees, we are excited about the possibility of a place that will suit our needs and allow for more growth.
As we plan and strategize for our first location, we are looking for a second location to use in conjunction with our summer internship program. The Lord has blessed us with two interns who have committed to the summer, and we have offered the last position to a third. We are positive that the Lord has something really great planned but are waiting on His timing as we look for a place.
Lord willing, we will be introducing small groups to our church plant in March. While we have people coming from different parts of the city, we believe this is our next step in helping people be built up in the Word and strengthened to reach others with the Gospel. There are too many “one another” verses to ignore!
In addition to the above items, please also pray for these. We are working to get a youth group off the ground at our first location. For starters, we are doing it once a month. Additionally, we are going to be doing a weekday Bible Study (April to June) both online and offline targeting those who are off on weekdays instead of the weekends. Please also continue to pray that 5 people will get saved and baptized this year!
Yours for Japan,
James Miyashita