Hello, I'm Tim. I'm a missionary living and serving God and the Japanese people in Japan.
I first came to Japan in 1989 with Life Ministries on a summer mission. I then returned to Japan in 1990 as a full time independent missionary. At that time I was not with a formal mission organization. But my home church and pastor agreed to be my sending organization. The church in Japan I came to work with agreed to be the receiving organization. My prayer support and financial backing came from several friends and a couple of churches.
At first I was just a consultant to the local Japanese church and pastor and assisted with evangelism efforts through teaching English conversation classes and handing out tracts. But my vision also included the building of a new church building and helping the Christians to mature spiritually. In 1991 the Japanese pastor resigned. I was then asked by the church to be their pastor. Unfortunately some members didn't stay with the church after the pastoral change. At our low we were down to 16 members. Now the church at the beginning of the year 2000 is at 35 members and growing! In 1997 the church and I were able to complete the vision of building a new church with the help of American materials and volunteers from Maine and California.
At the time I became pastor of the church the people were very spiritually immature. As pastor of the church I was finally allowed and able to teach the people. I have seen great spiritual growth in the people over the years. This spiritual growth will gain new heights as we start CLST (Christian Life School of Theology) here at the church in the year 2000. CLST is a U.S. based organization that gets college level instruction to the local church through video and live instruction courses. The local church is the campus.
The vision of evangelism is an ongoing vision as well. During my first two years here I went to every school in the city (17 elementary, 10 junior high, and 4 senior high schools) handing out tracts. From that time I developed an extensive children's ministry. The church now has a children's club that sends a monthly Christian publication for children to over 800 children each month. Many will come to the church's youth activities in the church or to outdoor meetings in their area. To have a harvest seed needs to planted and it is best to plant early in a person's life.
Distributing tracts to every home in Imari and some nearby cities and towns without churches is also an ongoing project. In the summer of 1998 Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) sent many teams to our island of Kyushu on a project called Love Kyushu. Half of one team from Hong Kong stayed in the church for two weeks as they distributed tracts to unchurched areas around Imari. Some of our church members would go out with them at times. It was a good experience for the church. The CCC members worked hard. I also enjoyed working with them. The presence of God was strong in their lives.
From the fall of 1999, with a Japanese pastor, I became involved with a wedding ministry. Many Japanese desire a western style of wedding ceremony. During the ceremony we include a short evanglistic message. I also give as a present to the couple a New Testament in which I've placed a tract with a free home Bible study sign up card, a Christian radio program card and a copy of "A Happy Marriage" based on Christian principles. Couples come from all over Japan to the theme park at which these ceremonies are performed. So, our ministry is touching all parts of Japan.
In the spring of 2000 the Myers family joined me in the work here. They took over the English Evangelism program for two years freeing me to do other things. In 2002 the Myers left to work at an international school in Kyoto.
In 2005 and 2006 Mr. Balasky came as a short term missionary to take over the English Evangelism program for six months during each of those two years.
In 2007 Mr. Woodfin arrived as a short term missionary to take over the English Evangelism program. During that time he transitioned to a full time missionary. He continued to minister here in that program until 2013 and during that time he, of course, branched out into other ministry opportunites as well. In 2013 he gave the English program to Mr. Balasky who came back as a full time missionary. Mr. Woodfin has moved on to other opportunities in Japan.
