I returned to Alabama to serve as a campus minister at The University of Alabama (1991-1993) and then at the University of South Alabama (1993-1999). In 1998 God led me into a year of prayer and fasting for the nations of the world, with a focus on Asia.

In May 1999 I went to Japan as a co-leader of the first Chi Alpha mission team. Our team was originally supposed to go to China to teach English that summer. However, two weeks before our departure, because of a travel advisory due to political protests, we were unable to enter China. After two weeks of watching the situation, we were re-directed to Japan. During that one-month mission trip, our team of 7 students and 3 Chi Alpha campus ministers served with missionaries and JAG pastors at campuses and churches.

I began to see the need for long-term ministry. Joyce Kitano introduced me to Pastors Yoshimasa and Sachiko Niida. They were looking for someone to teach English classes full-time. I agreed and returned to Japan that fall ready to serve as a short-term missionary with the U.S. Assemblies of God. For the next three years, I taught English classes five days a week to all ages ranging from children to retirees. I helped Mizonokuchi Christ Church start a gospel choir called Windy Road. When my schedule permitted, I assisted Joyce Kitano, US AG missionary, and Jackie Brock, UK AG missionary, with Chi Alpha campus ministry in Tokyo.

During that time there were training seminars and prayerwalks. Those seminars inspired others to start weekly Bible studies at Waseda University, Rikkyo University, Gaigodai, and Keio University (those are the ones I remember). In December 2001, a group of Japanese students, volunteers, and missionaries attended World SALT, the first international Chi Alpha conference, held in Los Angeles, California. After returning to Japan with greater vision, we witnessed God’s opening more campuses to reach more students.

Through life and ministry experiences God showed me the value of long-term commitment. Therefore, in 2002 I returned to the U.S. to become ordained and to raise support as a career missionary. In 2004 I returned to Japan.

I resumed my previous ministries and added more responsibilities. I finally began studying at a Japanese language school. At the same time, I taught English part-time, performed with Windy Road gospel choir at Mizonokuchi Christ Church for various outreach concerts, and led Bible studies at various universities in Tokyo. In addition, I was asked to assist with pulpit ministry at Tsukuba International Christian Assembly and to serve as the director for the Global University office with Nishi Sensei. I look back at that time in wonder of God’s sustaining grace.

Upon returning to Japan after a year of itineration, I began serving at Tokyo Urban Church (formerly Ojima Christ Church) with Pastors Tomoaki and Akiko Sakai. (During my 1999 summer mission trip I met Akiko Sensei when she was a CBC student. In 2006 I met Sakai Sensei soon after they moved to Tokyo to pastor.) Sakai Sensei helped with Chi Alpha ministry at Rikkyo University and Showa Women’s College. During the week I went to three, sometimes four, campuses around Tokyo to meet students for outreach, prayer, and Bible study. I also continued to serve as the director for Global University until 2013 and filled in for Sally Snider in the field business office as interim business manager from 2010-2011.

Our Chi Alpha ministry team held national Chi Alpha Training Seminars for pastors, church workers, and volunteers. As a result, the number of campus ministries expanded to 25 campuses. In Tokyo we needed space for bringing students together for fellowship and ministry. In 2007 the Japan Assemblies of God presented us with the Kamitakada Christ Church building in Nakano-ku, Tokyo. After interior renovations, the building was dedicated as the Chi Alpha Student Center in the fall of 2008. In the summer of 2009, we were able to host five U.S. teams in the building. The teams went on campuses with us to meet students and invite them to outreach events at the student center. Since then, we have hosted many teams that have contributed much to campus and church ministries in Japan.

Now that we had short-term workers coming from the US, I stepped into a training role. In 2014 we began a short-term campus ministry internship program. Still focused on campus ministry, once again I stepped into the role of interim business manager in 2016. I narrowed my focus to two campuses per week at most. That fall I learned that Sally and Brian Snider were going to retire, and in 2017 AGWM appointed me as business manager. Also, in 2017 I finally completed a master’s degree in ministerial arts through Global University in the U.S. My capstone paper detailed a five-year plan for developing Chi Alpha campus ministry among university students in Japan.

During this time, we met Yasuko, a graduate student at Rikkyo University. She grew up in a family in Nagasaki that practiced Buddhism but heard the gospel as a student. After joining our weekly Bible studies, she finally decided to follow Jesus. Soon, she was also baptized in the Holy Spirit. However, she hesitated to be baptized in water because she wanted her family’s blessing. We encouraged her to pray and wait for the right timing to tell her parents, and we joined her in praying for her family.

In the meantime, her younger sister Yukino came to Tokyo from Nagasaki to study at Sofia University. Yasuko introduced us, and soon Yukino helped us start a Bible study at her campus. For over a year, she and her friends read the Bible together with our ministry team. In the summer of 2017, Ryota Yogo brought a Chi Alpha team from the US to work with our ministry team. (He had become a believer as a student in the US and was now a Chi Alpha campus missionary in the US.) While speaking one night at the Chi Alpha Student Center, he gave an appeal to the students to respond to Jesus. The first to respond was Yukino. She surrendered her life to Jesus that night!

These two sisters are the first ever Christian believers in their family. In time these two sisters each received their parents’ blessing and followed Jesus in being baptized in water. It has been exciting to see how God answered our prayers. We prayed according to Acts 16:31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” I have been personally encouraged to believe God for whole families in Japan to experience salvation through Jesus Christ. It may take time, but with God nothing is impossible.

In May 2020 I was supposed to return to Japan, but due to COVID I was unable to return until September. Chi Alpha Japan did online ministry until 2022. That summer we did prayer walks at 29 universities in Tokyo, but we could only enter three of those campuses. We wondered how we could get back on campus to meet students, so we continued to pray.

God answered our prayers. In the fall God connected us with Ai, a Chi Alpha alumna, who began working at the University of Tokyo. Another former student who had become a pastor in Tokyo, Pastor Yibo Meng, introduced us to our new student leader, Ernie from Taiwan. Ai and Ernie assisted us in getting back on campus as an officially recognized student organization. Thanks to a Christian professor at Waseda University, we were able to restart there in 2023.

When Japan’s borders reopened in 2023, a record number of 11 teams came to serve. In 2024 we hosted 5 teams. All these teams joined us to meet students on campus and introduce them to Jesus through fellowship and outreach events. Our ministry team began to intentionally seek out students for one-on-one discipleship. We are teaching Christian students how to grow spiritually and how to lead simple Bible studies on campuses. They are doing a great job!

It is exciting to see this new generation of students being raised up! According to an unofficial church survey, Japanese youth between the ages of 20 to 24 are the most receptive to the Christian message; they make up 51% of the Japanese Christian population. This has truly been our experience. At least 13 of our Chi Alpha alumni have gone on to Central Bible College and have become pastors or full-time church leaders.