About James
The Lineage
Hi, and thanks for stopping by and checking us out. My name is James and I’m a second-generation missionary to Japan. To properly tell my story, you have to go back a few decades before I was born.
After World War II, there was a missionary to Japan named Ivan Lee. Ivan Lee and his wife worked in various parts of Japan, but in 1982, they were church planters working in Sagamihara Japan. As part of their church planting work, Ivan Lee would go out and knock on doors to invite people to the church. Through this, he met my father. The year was 1982.
Although my father had been exposed to the Bible through a correspondence Bible study about ten years earlier, he now heard the Gospel and trusted Christ and eventually entered the ministry.
My mother originally went to Japan as a single missionary. During her time in Japan, she went to work with Ivan Lee and his wife. There at that church she met my father, and they were married two years later.
The youngest of three, I was born and raised on the mission field. When people ask me what language I began speaking first, I honestly don’t know! I am grateful for the unique opportunity to grow up in Japan.
However, growing up in a Christian environment does not automatically make you a follower of Christ. At 5, I had “prayed the prayer,” but that was it. My hope and trust was in that prayer, not in the person of Jesus Christ.
In my teenage years, I started working a part-time job in Japan. ¥As I tried to tell them what I thought I believed, I realized that I didn’t know what I believed. Knowledge of the Bible including stories and verses was there, but it had never become a reality in my life. Through a season of searching, I came to a personal faith in Christ. I am grateful to be able to now say that I am saved by the grace of God through Faith in Jesus Christ and Christ alone. Sola Fide! (Ephesians 2:8-9)
As a freshman in college, my plan was to study computer science, make video games, and maybe help out in a church somewhere. But God had different plans.
That first semester, missionary John Allen spoke in the chapel service at Pensacola Christian College. It was through that, the Lord showed me that I needed to be a missionary. From there, I moved to the Atlanta area to continue to prepare for the mission field. It was during this time that I met my wife, Rosie.
We got married in April 2017, and moved to Japan in January 2019. After two years serving in Niigata Japan with Will Hill. In 2021, we moved to Nagoya, Japan to plant Owari Baptist Church.
Presently, I am the lead church planter/pastor of the church as well as initiatives at Reaching Japan such as Recon and Internships.
We are in a season of preparing to help others that God is sending our way. Be sure to check out our YouTube Channel for some helpful videos and subscribe to our updates if you want to know how to pray for us.
About Rosalie
My Testimony
My name is Rosalie, but most people just call me Rosie. I had the privilege to be raised in a Christian home with godly parents who not only took me to church but also kept Christ the focus of their home. By the time I was six years old, I was impressed with my own personal need for a relationship with Jesus Christ. My dad took me through the scriptures and showed me the truth that I was a sinner deserving of an eternity in hell, but that through Jesus’ death on the cross I could be forgiven of my sins and enter into a personal relationship with God. I knelt by his bed that afternoon and asked Jesus to be my Savior.
Me and Missions
I am thankful for a church and parents who kept missionary stories in front of me throughout my childhood. From a young age I took interest in the missionary biographies but did not consider the fact that God might call me personally to missions. After graduating high school I chose to pursue a degree in nursing. Over the two years following graduation, God gradually worked in my heart to grow a desire to be involved in taking the Gospel around the world. I was very slow to respond, but thankfully God was patient with me and used a godly friend to challenge my pride and selfish career aspirations. In January of 2016, I finally surrendered to full time missions and submitted an application to the Our Generation Training Center in Alpharetta, GA.
Our Love
James and I met the first week that I visited the Training Center at Vision Baptist Church. Come to find out later, James thought I was a weird home-schooled girl (maybe he was right 🙂). I noticed that James sang nicely in church but thought nothing more of it. After I started the training program a few months later, we kept ending up on ministry teams together. We spent time canvassing neighborhoods for Vacation Bible Schools and planned several outreach events together. Over the next months we grew more intentional about spending time together and being involved in various ministries. We had heard so many times that true love happens when you run hard towards Christ and look left and right to see who is keeping up…little did we realize that reality would play out in our own lives! We are so very excited about the opportunity to join our lives in marriage and continue to serve Christ together as we prepare to take the Gospel to Japan.