Category: Lives

Impressed. Inspired. Awed. Those are a few of the words to describe what I felt the first time I visited Paz in Brazil. They were not yet 30 years old, yet they had planted hundreds of churches across Brazil and were raising up new leaders and pastors left and right. Some of their churches were huge, including the Paz Church I would eventually call my home church in Santarém and have the privilege of serving as the leader of their worship ministry. It’s a church of 60,000 members in a town of about 200,000 people!

My initial connection to Paz was two-fold: first I was interested in Ruth Hrubik, the daughter of the directors of Paz. Interested, as in marriage interested. But before visiting Brazil for the first time, I had only heard stories about her family. Fantastic stories of jungles and boats, missionaries and danger, stadiums and alter calls, as well as plane wrecks and heartbreak. I knew that Ruth loved the work and the ministry, and that she wanted to serve with Paz in the future. I also knew that she had a call of missions on her life. I was open to missions, but had never dreamed of being a missionary. At that point, I knew that God had called me to the music ministry. I had completed an associates of engineering and a bachelors in music and had just started serving full-time for a church 3 hours outside of Chicago. Ministry was front and center in my life, however missions was the furthest thing from my mind.

The second connection I had to Paz was my parents, who had just left their comfortable lives and jobs in Central Illinois to become missionaries in the Amazon Basin with Paz. The very first Christmas on the mission field they decided to fly all of us kids down to Brazil to be together for the holidays. At the same time, Ruth and I had become good friends and I was almost sure I would marry her, however there was one little hiccup: she didn’t like me! (At least romantically.)

So with my brother and sister, we boarded a plane in Peoria IL and continued to Saint Louis, Atlanta, Miami, Sao Paulo, Recife, Fortaleza, Sao Luis, Belem and finally Santarém. When we finally got to Santarém we were so ready to be off that little jet plane! Little did I know that God was setting the stage to unveil the curtain on the next act of the play he had already written for my life.

In one masterful swoop, in a way that couldn’t have even been imagined by the best and brightest of Hollywood script-writers, God unveiled a game-changer. For as I walked into my very first service at Paz Church in Santarém on a hot Sunday morning, the praise music began to play, people began to celebrate and dance, and I began to weep as God spoke to me, saying so clearly to my heart “This is what I have for you.” At the same time God flipped a switch in Ruth’s heart and she fell head-over-heals for me. Not joking! I had been invited into more than just a life of missions, but I was chosen by God to join a great two-fold legacy: a family legacy in church planting going back three generations and an apostolic legacy going back to the very beginning of the book of Acts!

Years passed and God opened the way for Ruth and I to become missionaries with Paz. We said some difficult good-byes to friends and loved ones (cue the song Friends by Michael W Smith), we sold our house sight-unseen to the new buyers, and off we went to Santarém to serve. It didn’t take me long to realize that although we had moved there to serve, we were also there to learn. And so I learned all I could from a plethora of leaders, missionaries and pastors. I was incredibly blessed to be able to put into practice what we were learning in our missions outreaches on the rivers, into our cell groups and our discipleships. Eventually I had the immense honor of leading the huge worship team (nearly 300 members) at Paz Church in Santarém as we produced CDs and led worship in the 60 odd-some services across nearly 30 campuses in Santarém. It took me nearly a year just to visit all the different campuses and see our teams in action!

Ministering at conferences across Brazil came with the huge benefit of personally meeting influential pastors from around the world. I was continually inspired by their examples and continued to grow in respect and admiration for our own Paz leadership.

So it was a bittersweet time when we left Brazil for Japan. Our ministry had flourished in Brazil, but we left it all to go help the fledgling Paz Church here in Japan take off. We knew it would be a huge transition, and even still we weren’t completely prepared for all that we would pass through as we sought to see the dream become a reality in Japan. They say the first phase of any business or church plant is “difficult beginnings,” and we certainly got in on that phase! But we had a conviction in our hearts that Japan would experience a spiritual awakening like never before, and we felt God’s invitation to be a part of it.

Over the years God has been faithful to answer our prayers, pleas and cries for a fresh move of God here in Japan, and by God’s grace we’ve seen the ministry begin to grow and blossom. Neighbors have come to Christ and been baptized, we’ve been able to work with some amazing people along the way, and we’ve recently seen new leaders being raised up. The same thing that happened in Brazil is happening here in Japan, and this time we’re a part of the pioneering team.

So you can imagine our joy to have recently hosted here in Japan the leadership summit for the very same pastors, leaders and missionaries who have inspired us so much and have literally changed Brazil for eternity. Our joy overflowed as this same group of pastors and leaders laid their hands on us and prayed over us, ordaining us as pastors of Paz Church. It was a moment I’ll never forget. We were passed a great legacy from those who came before us.

Looking back I can clearly see how God has paved the way for the next generation to continue the legacy that was started even before Paz had begun. A legacy that had been handed down from generation to generation, from nation to nation, until the whole world knows of the saving knowledge of God in Jesus Christ.

Here in Japan we have just entered “Golden Week,” a spring-time holiday stretch typically 5 days long. However this year is different than all others. This “Golden Week” is a 10-day holiday stretch celebrating the ascension of the new emperor to the Chrysanthemum throne. It is a big deal. For the first time in two hundred years, the current emperor is abdicating his throne for his son to take over (it usually only happens upon the death of the emperor). And with each transition to a new emperor, a new era name comes along with it. Here in Japan they date their years according to the year of the emperor’s reign. For example, I was born in Showa 53 (the 53rd year of the Showa reign). Through a complicated process, they carefully pick the name of the new era that will correspond with the new emperor’s rule. And each name has a meaning. Past eras include “Meiji” (enlightened rule) from 1868 to 1912, “Showa” (enlightened harmony) from 1926. 

So, how important is this name? Well, Japan’s emperor is a figure-head ruler not unlike the queen of England, but the importance of the era name cannot be overlooked. Names set a tone and an expectation. Names carry weight. A good name is worth gold — but a bad name?

Before I tell you the meaning of the new Japanese era, I must share something else that God put on my heart earlier this year. In February at Paz Church I shared a message “Flowers in the Desert.”  Flowers only bloom in the desert in special circumstances — after a rare long-awaited rain.  But they are especially spectacular and can be compared to nothing else in the world. People flock to the desert to see them in bloom!   The harsh conditions of the desert create an environment where this is possible. Without those conditions, this rare event would not be so special and unique. A great example is the Atacama Desert in South America.

In our own life story, flowers have a very special significance. They serve as bookmarks of our own desert experience. A flower bloomed on the day we lost our firstborn daughter — and from one stem it bloomed into two separate flowers.  It was a symbol of hope for us in what would be the darkest time in our lives. We called it our “hope flower” and it was a sign of things to come.  By a miracle, when the doctors said Ruth would not be able to conceive again, she conceived, and with twins! But the miracle did not stop there, for on the day that Ruth was to have the twins, another flower bloomed in our yard — a double flower of incredible significance.  A sign that we had passed through the desert, we had weathered the winter and now would enjoy the spring. You see, God speaks through nature, and in this case flowers.

Just as those flowers were hope for us in the desert, so Japan has its own flowers of hope, the plum blossoms. They are not as famous as Japan’s cherry-blossoms, but a month before the cherry-blossoms even open, the plum blossoms bloom. They bloom in the midst of winter, flowers in the desert of winter, with the promise that spring is near.  

I shared that the Church in Japan is like plum blossoms that blossom in the midst of a winter of fear, depression, exhaustion, hopelessness and apathy.  When the world around us is dark and wintery, filled with fear, God’s people blossom with joy, faith, love and purpose.  This will trigger a blossoming of the Japanese people in God’s love, and His plans and purposes will work out beautifully for the good. Beauty from ashes. Love from fear. Faith from doubt. God will take all the years tough years and turn them into something so beautiful that the whole world takes note. Just as God said to His exiled people, He says to his people in Japan today:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

Little did I know that this message was about to be broadcast throughout the whole country in a very different way.

All of Japan was tuned in to see the announcement of the new era name. And when it was revealed early in April, it was not the expected choice. It was out of left field. Truly God’s Spirit was speaking. Japan’s new era beginning May 1st was revealed as 令和 “Reiwa” and was taken from some of the earliest Japanese literature.  It refers to the plum blossoms, which are the first to bloom after a long winter. Look at what Japan’s very own Prime Minister said about the choice. 

“Like the flowers of the plum tree blooming proudly in spring after the cold winter, we wish the Japanese people to bloom like individual flowers with the (promise of the) future. With such a wish for Japan, we decided upon ‘Reiwa.'”

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

In my amazement I listened to the meaning of the Reiwa Era. Each character has it’s own meaning, which when put together mean “harmony” and “peace.”  Do you know how you can translate the new era into Portuguese?  Paz. Yes, as in Paz Church or Paz Coffee Shop. I get goose bumps just thinking about it. This is the era of Paz in Japan.  It’s the era of the Church in Japan.  It’s the era of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, to reign in the hearts of the Japanese people.  And as the Church blossoms in Japan, so will the Japanese people. The very leaders of Japan have declared it.

The new name sets the tone of things to come. The leadership of Japan may not have been aware of it, but it opens the doors for the Church to be bold in the love of Jesus and to see families blossom and grow. It’s time for the Church in Japan to get off the sidelines of society and make a difference in day-to-day life. Welcome 令和 Reiwa! Welcome Peace. Welcome to the Prince of Peace, Jesus!

It sounds cliché, but I’m going to say it anyway: we are living in historic times.  Just look at what is happening in the world.  Never has there been such rampant evil in the world.  We condemn previous generations for the atrocity of slavery, and rightly so,  but prejudices and human trafficking have never been stronger than they are now.  We gasp in horror at the unthinkable actions of the holocaust in which millions of Jews were executed, and yet we turn our eyes away from the even greater modern horror of the hundreds of millions of children being executed in barbaric ways by their own parents through abortion.   We see news about horrible explosions at mosques that take the lives of a handful of people but see nothing about the thousands and even millions who are dying for their faith in Christ.  To me, the hypocrisy of the day in which we live has reached an all-time high.  

Then this week the world watched the one-and-only Notre Dame Cathedral burn, and it was like a scene out of an apocalyptic movie.  A sign of the times.  Dark times.  Times when the beautiful things of this world are going up in flames.   Notre Dame is arguably the heart of Paris, at the very center of identity for the French people.  And on the very same Monday before Easter that Notre Dame went up in smoke, Jesus, the Son of God, entered the Jewish Temple over 2000 years ago, cleared it out, declaring “Destroy this temple, and I will rebuilt it in three days!”  To the Jews, this statement was as horrific as the watching Notre Dame burn was for the French.

But Jesus wasn’t referring to the physical temple being destroyed.  Jesus had come to make the temple what it was always meant to be.  Jesus was the first of a kind — Jesus, being fully God and fully man, living a perfect life, had the very Spirit of God in Him.  He himself was the temple of God.  And He came with an even bigger picture in mind.  That the old would give way to the new and that man himself would become God’s temple through Jesus Christ.  

As Notre Dame burned out of control this past Monday, people couldn’t help but to look on with horror and disbelief, myself included.  But I can only imagine what it must have been like to see Christ crucified.  The horror. The disbelief. The beautiful Son of God hanging, bleeding, dying on a cross.  And those who most loved him could only stand and watch.    

The cross is where the worst of man meets the best of God — it’s the place where God traded places with man and took on our horrors.  The most vivid example of this is the image of the aftermath from inside Notre Dame.  For after everything in the Cathedral had passed through the fire, one thing remained intact: the cross of Christ.    

The cross of Christ is the very reason for such a beautiful place like Notre Dame to be erected.  It is the very reason we can be accepted before God and worship Him.  Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross, no longer does God live in temples built by man, but in us. No matter what trials, fires and shakings we pass through, the eternal Kingdom of God will be the ONLY thing that remains in the end.  And the Eternal Kingdom of God was solidified here on earth through the Unshakeable Cross of Christ.

Yes, these days are dark, but in the darkness the light of the cross and those who live by it is shining stronger than ever.  Never before in history have so many people been turning to Christ — within the recent years there are documented events where over a million people turned to Christ at once!  Never before in history are people being raised up to fight the injustices in the world.  Never before are so many laws going into effect that protect the lives of the innocent before they even have a chance to breathe the air.  And there are more miracles happening today all over the world in Jesus’ name than can be documented.  In such a dark world where the devil has overplayed his hand, the children of light shine even brighter.  And the children of light are hasting the return of the Lord.  His return will bring the final judgment, when absolutely everything will pass through fire.  So the question is: what will remain of our lives when everything we worked for passes through the final fire?  If it isn’t done through the Cross of Christ, then it won’t last.  

Do you hear God’s voice today, saying “Pick up your cross and follow me?”  The invitation to Christ is through a cross.  The cross before the crown.  God is giving us a chance today to lay down the things we call important and offer ourselves as living sacrifices, the kind that God deems acceptable.  He’s offering us the chance to do something significant with our lives, not by some force of our own strength or intelligence, but by becoming submitted vessels, temples of his Holy Spirit.  

Yes, the children of light are making a bigger difference than ever before and preparing for a Kingdom that won’t pass away, where the beautiful things won’t be destroyed in fire and where each and every person is special and precious in God’s sight.  And after this world goes up in flames, in the rubble of it all will be the Unshakeable Cross of Christ, the place where the worst of man met the best of God.  The symbol of the world’s chaos turned upside-down.  Thank God for the unshakeable cross.