From Higashi-Kurume (a suburb of Tokyo):
[report written by Stan De La Cour]
The GDOP meeting in Higashi Kurume went VERY WELL!
In 2007, only 4 came. Really down from 66 the year before. WELL, the Lord was Himself Sunday evening. I have not received a full count BUT it was well over 100, that is for sure. Once we look over the photos and all, we will know, but that does not matter! We had a Jerusalem experience here--just like in Acts 2!
We had Filipinos, Indonesian, Brazilian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish South American, Hula praise from Hawaii, a Japanese Jewish Fellowship, a believer from Zimbabwe, United Kingdom, Canada, US, Nigeria, Singapore---a little sort of 3,000 like in Acts 2 but you get the picture. These men and women prayed or sang or both in their native language and prayed for God's Power to visit Japan!
Got to tell you, there was crying as people rushed forward to wash other's feet as the Lord told us to as being servants to each other.
The leading of our worship time was done by one man-whose worship band sort of disappeared as the week went along but Hiro lived up to his name. He was our HERO!
And the Lord blessed us with a great sense of Fellowship. All of us came from different backgrounds and denominations. And the Lord met us! We sensed that we were there to Bring Him Glory!
A wonderful time. We are sure more will come!
From Osaka (second largest city in Japan):
[report written by Karen Ellrick]
Here in Osaka, we had about 100 people (we were hoping for a few more, as the hall had 300 seats, but it's a start) from a variety of churches. Although some aspects of the program did not go as we planned, it was apparent that God was in control. The three people who led the prayers represented three major categories of ministry workers here: a Western missionary, a Japanese pastor, and a Korean missionary. We had a multi-church, multi-nationality worship team and also had musical assistance from local professional Christian musicians, but I don't think all that mattered in the end. The people came ready to pray fervently, and they did! I was busy with A/V tasks and didn't get a chance to talk to people about their experiences, but they seemed to be blessed, and a number of people requested to be kept informed about future events. We know that God's kingdom was advanced!
From a suburb of Kochi (small city in southern Japan):
[report written by Ken Reddington]
Success in Kochi!
How do you spell success? I would spell it G-D-O-P! At 2:30 pm on May 11, our church (Tenno New Life Church) and Suzuki Gospel Christ Church gathered at their church for a combined Global Day of Prayer. It was the first time for our churches to meet together (though we as pastors have done pulpit exchanges over the past year).
Pastor Kakitani had told me there would probably only be ten from his church. But we had almost 20 people! And that not only includes more than ten from his church, but 6 from our church--a 100% attendance of those who came to the worship service that morning!
Praise be to God! He worked over and above what we asked or thought. It might sound like a small beginning, but Pastor Kakitani is now excited about moving the venue to Kochi, the largest city in our prefecture, for next year's Global Day of Prayer. And we hope to invite more churches to join us. Oh that His Name would be glorified more and more.
From Shinjuku (a suburb of Tokyo):
[report written by someone who organized it but could not attend, but heard from the other organizer]
Just 14 people attended, but it was great start. Christian Today [an English translation of the name of a Japanese Christian newspaper] reporter was there and took pictures.
From one church somewhere near Osaka, an impromptu church event:
[report written by Nancy Jordan]
The church we are attending printed up the attachments you sent us. Instead of having a usual worship schedule, we just had a time of prayer, reading scripture, singing a hymn and having conversational prayer. Instead of personal requests at the end of the service, we just prayed our requests. It was a very meaningful service. Thank you for sharing it. |
