A2 Community

Asian Access is on Facebook!

There are three A2 pages on the social networking site.

ASIAN ACCESS COMPANY PAGE 

• Become a fan.
• Tell us what you like about Asian Access.
• Watch video clips about the ministry.
  
• Stay in touch with A2--get updates on your feed.

A2/LIFE ALUMNI GROUP

• Join the A2 Alumni group.
• Tell us when you served with Asian Access / LIFE Ministries and your most memorable moment.
• Reconnect with old teammates.
• A2 Missionary Kid?  Post your name on the MK Wall of Honor.

>> Go to the A2 Alumni page by clicking here.

• Give to Asian Access' cause -- the work of developing leaders & multiplying churches.
• Invite your friends to join our cause.
• Track your own impact on our cause.

Watch Asian Access on YouTube!

• Experience Asia without the airfare.
• Learn more about the Asian Access mission to develop leaders & multiply churches.
• Find out more about our vision and ways to be involved.
• Discover ways to creatively pray for Asian countries.

Check out the A2 channel at YouTube here...

Follow Asian Access now on Twitter!

Stay abreast of what's happening with the A2 community.  It doesn't take long to read our "tweets" at all.  Follow our updates, by clicking here...

What is Twitter? (source: Wikipedia)

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them.

Asian Access is carefully monitoring the recent outbreak of A/H1N1 influenza and is paying particular attention to how it might affect our Asia personnel. Thus far, there have been no reported cases that would directly impact our staff. They are reminded to take necessary hygiene precautions.

We also want to reassure our short-term workers heading to Japan this summer that there are no impending fears that Japan will see an outbreak.  Right now, we believe that Japan is safer than the U.S.; therefore traveling to Japan is not a safety issue for any of our j-Teams or EnVision participants. That said, Japan may continue to ratchet up its travel screening for people arriving from North America. Travelers should expect delays. Asian Access recommends that no short-term participant should travel if they are sick.

For up-to-date and complete information, please reference this International SOS web page.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...” Ecclesiastes 3:1

My friend and colleague, Bruce Johnson, Asian Access Vice President for Leadership Development is well along in the process of becoming the next U.S. Director for SIM "Serving in Mission." The Lord has masterfully orchestrated this surprise to Bruce, SIM and us here at Asian Access. My sense is that what Bruce describes as a kairos moment has truly come to pass. Asian Access, SIM and Bruce have all been well prepared for this Kingdom change.  However, we simply didn’t anticipate it; it was a complete surprise.

Bruce is a remarkable leader who has served faithfully and fruitfully with our ministry for the last seven years. He brought focus to our work across Asia and has capably led our field ministry in both Japan and the eight countries we currently serve. Fortunately, the Lord gave Asian Access the perfect window for Bruce to invest in my life as the new president and help me transition into this role before calling him to a new ministry vineyard. I couldn’t have asked for a better friend and partner as I’ve entered this assignment.

Bruce also served as the interim-president for our ministry and did so during a very challenging economic season. He is a seasoned leader who will be greatly missed. Losing Bruce is a huge loss but I also concur with him that God has a kairos moment for our ministry, for him and for SIM. For some reason, when Bruce shared with me this news, I wasn’t worried. I was deeply saddened to be losing Bruce but not worried at all. My sense is that the Lord will provide for Asian Access just as He has faithfully done for many years.

I admire and respect Bruce for following the Lord's call and I encourage and commission him in this new assignment. Bruce will do a terrific job for SIM as he is uniquely gifted to help them during this season of their life. Would you join me in giving thanks to God for Bruce's terrific service with Asian Access and in blessing him in this new ministry calling?

Bruce & Mary Johnson, with Silk and me, and Elliott & Lori Snuggs at my installation celebration.

A2 Leadership Team, September 2008

The Handleys with Bruce Johnson

When the alarm rang at 4:42am this past Sunday we were both dreaming about time. Wakako was dreaming it was 3:30 and she had just one more hour to sleep. In my dream it was 2:30 so I had two more.

But we'd run out of time to sleep and were up early to leave in time for the 7:00am service at Sapporo Bible Church.  It took 55 minutes to slide across town, avoiding the many plows working hard to clear snow that had just fallen.

I gave the message at Bible Church at the 7:00 and 10:30 services.  A highlight of the morning was hearing Watanabe-san tell her story in the second service... [More...]

"Bill for the Prohibition of Forcible Conversions" up for a vote in Sri Lanka

I'm quite concerned after reading the article entited, "Sri Lankan Churches May Think Twice Before Helping Poor" on ChristianPost.com.

The article says that if the anti-conversion bill is passed by the Sri Lanka Parliament, "any act to convert or attempt to convert a person from one religion to another by the use of force, fraud or allurement will result in serious punishments. Those found guilty of breaking the law can be imprisoned for up to seven years and/or fined up to 500,000 rupees (U.S. $4,425) – the equivalent of about three years’ wages for the average person in Sri Lanka."

Unfortunately, under this law, helping the less fortunate people in their communities would be considered allurement. If anyone who has been helped by a church decides to become a Christian, it could bring punishment on the individuals involved.

I visited storm-ravaged areas of Sri Lanka about six months after the Tsunami hit its coastline. By then, much was cleaned up; but it was still devastated. It was an emotionally-draining trip for me and my creative team. Throughout the interviews, we were all touched deeply by both the needs and how the church was helping.

The fact of the matter is that churches were hugely responsible for bringing relief to people during this time. . . and even now. I was impressed at the delivery system of the churches in providing food, clothing, furnishings, skills, trauma counseling, construction and hope.

If you want to see a vivid demonstration of what I am talking about, watch this Tsunami Relief Update I helped to produce for Asian Access after the Tsunami.

In addition to praying about this upcoming vote in the Sri Lanka Parliament, join me in prayer for the church in Sri Lanka, for our brothers and sisters as they try to live out the gospel in their land.

More information:

• Sri Lanka country profile (contains several more video clips)
• More A2 video clips about Sri Lanka

 [More...]

Found: A2•MK Children's Ministry Team

(A2) TOKYO, JAPAN - Asian Access is pleased to announce that God has provided the children's ministry team for the annual A2/Japan Spring Conference, March 5-9, 2009. A team of 8-11 individuals is in the process of being screened, but we are confident that a team is coming to minister to our extremely cool MKs (missionary kids).

The need for a team has been promoted in various means:

• go2japan.org
• A2 Community blog post
  
• Mission Network News broadcast (radio) and web article
• A2 missionaries sent out many requests by email with this flyer
  

We are thankful for everyone's prayers and for many folks who helped by promoting this opportunity.

The conference will be held in Karuizawa, Japan in the mountain ranges in Nagano prefecture.  Every spring the entire A2/Japan team gathers to celebrate what God has done over the past year, share ministry reports, pray together, encourage one another and rest. During this type of conference, missionaries want their children to be well-taken care of, but simply need time with fellow missionaries to make the most of the opportunity to gather together.

This is where the children's ministry team truly contributes to the Asian Access team of missionaries. A team of 6-10 people provide VBS-type children's program for the A2 missionary kids.

If you might be interested, Asian Access holds conferences in the Fall (October) and Spring (March) each year. You can check our website for more information about these opportunities or feel free to post a note in our go2japan forum.

Please be in prayer for this March's team to be able to raise financial support, prepare quality children's activities, and stay healthy.  Pray that each team member would grow in their relationship with God and in their understanding of Japan through the process.

We rejoice because God has provided again.  He is good.

From Wakako Clark this time. . .

It’s now been a year since I moved to Sapporo February 2,2008. I have enjoyed all four seasons in Hokkaido! Before I moved to Sapporo, some people warned me how cold the winter in Hokkaido is, so I was little scared. But it’s actually not so bad for me. The snow is beautiful and buildings are kept much warmer than in the Tokyo area. Of course it’s still difficult for me to walk on the snow but I’m getting better at it.

One thing I like in winter here is the scenery, such as snow on trees with red berries.

I’ve never seen such a beautiful combination in the Tokyo area (where all the berries are eaten by birds). I think this is special gift from God to people in the extreme cold of Hokkaido. Every time I see these trees, I think of how thoughtful God is.

Last week we had Alpha-Japan staff here in Sapporo.  Wakako and I worked with them and local church leaders to hold training events and a pastors' luncheon.  I was encouraged by:

1.  Once again getting to see how Alpha brings together people of vastly different traditions, united by the desire to do effective outreach in a way that reflects the love and warm welcome of Jesus.

 2. Seeing one church now preparing to start its first course send more than a third of its members to the training event on Saturday.  

3.  A story Pastor Kita of Alpha Japan shared.  Among fortune tellers common on crowded streets and busy stations throughout Japan there's now a new fad.  It's not so much fortune telling, though. Someone sits with a simple sign that says:  "I will listen to you."  Many young people stop and tell what they long to have someone listen to.  Pastor Kita shared that at Alpha we want to extend that same opportunity, to let people have their story be heard.

Thankfully at Alpha here, many Christians' commitment to listening well is resulting in guests discovering that God deeply cares about their lives.

Here Wakako and I are with the Director of Alpha Japan, Nobu Nagai.  We're at Living Hope Baptist with the Miyake family.  LIving Hope is preparing to start its third Alpha course.

Mission Network News (MNN) promoted Asian Access' urgent need for a children's ministry team in an article published on January 19, 2009 on their website.  MNN also included the story in their 4.5 minute radio broadcast for that day.

We are thankful for the publicity that MNN has provided to us recently.  Earlier this month, the news source based out of Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan featured the launch of this site, go2japan.org.

Mission Network News is a mission news service dedicated to keeping Christians informed on evangelical mission activity around the world. They strive to educate and motivate Christians to prayer, participation, and support of missionary work to help further the Great Commission. They appear on over 1,000 radio stations worldwide and post all of their missions stories on their website: http://www.mnnonline.org.

• Read the article about the need for a children's ministry team on MNN.
• Other stories about Asian Access that have appeared on MNN can be found here.

We had great plans for a December outreach.  We invited couples whose weddings I’d officiated in 2008 to our home in Sapporo to experience American Christmas.  

It was a big stretch, inviting people we didn’t know well.  But that was OK.  We had 25 couples to invite and wanted just three or four to visit our space-impaired apartment. And we thought it would encourage people to come since we, like them, were celebrating our “first married Christmas.”

But then the date of the party drew close and not even one couple had RSVP’d. We had bought turkey and all the fixings, no small investment in Japan!  We just needed a few guests.

We prayed and decided to try Plan B. . . [More...]

This is a test post after switching to a new web server.  I'm just checking to see if the DNS registry is working on our A2 Blog Centre.

If you're reading this message, it means things are working properly.  And if so, then other bloggers may now post to the A2 Blog Centre.

Cheers,

jj