The Power of Images

This article by Steve Mathewson is a good, short piece on preaching and the power of images.

Link: The Power of Images

Two Articles by Dave Hall

Every Team Needs One: The essential role of the worship-arts leader in church-planting

The Centrality of Worship: Foundational points for a theology for worship and missions

About Dave Hall: A missionary with Pioneers Dave Hall directs a ministry called Worship For the Nations. He enjoys living in Budapest, Hungary with his wife, Sarah. Four of their five children still live under the same roof.

About WFN: Our mission is to glorify God by partnering with church planting teams to equip their worship leaders and empower the church to grow and multiply.

More info & worship resources: Worship For the Nations Home Page

Report on Passion in Tokyo from Loui Giglio's Blog

An early Sunday flight took us to Tokyo where we worshipped with over 1200 people in a church in Chiba, one of the largest gatherings for worship in the city. The church we met in was, once again, on the third floor of a building that was home to a casino (Pachinko Parlor) on floor one and a bowling alley above. What a great place for a church! It was a really amazing night followed by a few days to chill in the city. From our 32nd floor hotel rooms Tokyo spread out to the horizon in every direction, an incredibly efficient and inviting urban mass where only 1% of the people walk with the Savior. That’s a bit hard to swallow when you can’t see the end of “city” in any direction, yet there are many Jesus followers there planting churches for the next generation and making the Gospel accessible to the young people of Tokyo. Something powerful is stirring, the wave is growing, and in time the tide of His great mercy and rescue is coming in. Source: http://www.268blog.blogspot.com/
The official web site of Passion Conferences

Matt Redman & Louis Giglio in Tokyo by Nancy Nethercott

Last night I (Nancy) traveled across Tokyo to a Passion Night of Worship and Teaching with Matt Redman (and his band from England) leading a time of worship through music and prayer (he even sang a chorus in Japanese!). Then Louis Giglio (from Atlanta, GA) gave a great message followed by more singing in response to the message. It was so moving to see 1,000 young Japanese (plus a number of foreigners) praising God with all their strength, soul, and heart. It is our prayer and belief that this event is one part of a new thing God is doing in Japan. They led us in worship with a biblical rhythm of "revelation and response" [hearing what God has to say and responding to it]. Louis' message echoed Henri Nouwen's "Life of the Beloved" theme of the need to be "taken, blessed, broken and given". By the way, this is one of my favorite books and one I HIGHLY recommend!

Please pray that God would use those 1,000 people as instruments of His grace, love, and salvation in this land where only ½ of 1% of the population of 127 million + profess Christ as Lord.

On the way home there was a suicide on our train line (sadly, a common occurrence...I got stopped on Thursday for the same reason!). A heartbreaking ending to a wonderful evening; it brought home the reality of the need for Christ in this land.

NOTE: Louis Giglio announced at this event that he plans to hold a Passion Conference in Tokyo. A reliable source says that Passion Tokyo may take place in Oct. of 2008.



Photo of Matt Redman with our friend and CAN staff Faith Amano (in black hat)

Mujo No Kaze Trailer

LINK to New High Quality Trailer

I am one of the producers for this short film, which was shot on location in Tokyo during the first week of January, 2007. Mujo no Kaze is now in post production, it will be completed sometime in the summer of 07. This is a joint project with CAN and Biola University's Film Department

JAPAN - A MISSED OPPORTUNITY

One of the 'major modern mission misses' (can we call these '4Ms'?) of our time is the huge disparity between the highly-wired, tech-loving Japanese population, and the searing lack of online evangelism in the Japanese language.

For instance, YouTube popularity is exploding in Japan, comments 'Pacific Rim Media' blog:
"YouTube's user base is growing more quickly in Japan than any of the other major websites, including Yahoo Japan, Amazon.co.jp or Wikipedia.org, according to the latest report by Internet research firm NetRatings Japan. Even though it does not have a separate Japanese-language version, last month YouTube notched up its 10 millionth Japanese visitor after just 14 months - ­one-fifth of the nation's entire home Internet users.

"IMPLICATION: If more and more Japanese are going to YouTube and viewing videos, how could we use this low cost medium to reach Japanese?"

BLOGOSPHERE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MUSINGS - 70 million of them...
Three new blogs start, every second! Of course, similar numbers probably fade away too. The remarkable thing is that of the total of 70 million, the largest language grouping is Japanese, with 37%. English is in second place, with Chinese third:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1620557.ece

This highlights to us yet again, the strategic significance of the Web for Japan. It's a highly-wired, technically-minded, prosperous country. Many Japanese cannot read English sufficiently well to use English-medium websites. And church growth has been depressingly minimal. Most Japanese have a benign indifference to the Christian message, and statistically are unlikely to know a Christian personally, or see Christianity modelled within the community of a local fellowship.

The Web, therefore, could be uniquely strategic in starting millions of Japanese on a spiritual journey, using 'bridge strategy' topics within websites, blogs and video clips.

© Web Evangelism Guide web-evangelism.com, used with permission

Alleluia! Seminars Logo

Alleluia! Seminars is a project of Japan CAN (Christians in the Arts Network). This logo by Stephe Halker represents the biblical rhythm of revelation and response -- an integral part of Alleluia! Seminars teaching.