Saku, Nagoya, Osaka, Oh My

It's been a crazy day. We woke up in the Saku area, again a place up in the mountains. We then jumped on the bullet train back to Tokyo. From there we went to Nagoya, the third largest city in Japan. It is the business hub of the nation, but it's also the home of Christ Bible Institute, a great, gospel-centered seminary in Japan. We were greeted in Nagoya by Rob Boyle, who is a part of the CBI team. While there, Jeremy and I had the opportunity to meet with Michael Oh, the former president of the ministry, who has recently stepped into a different role there to focus on his new position with the Lausanne Movement. Michael shared with us the vision for CBI, as well as the great need for church planting in Japan. Speaking of God's promise that every tribe, tongue, and nation would one day worship Christ, he shared that he thinks Japan's time is coming - that the church should "put all her chips on Japan." It was a privilege to meet with a man God is using globally to encourage believers to engage in world mission.

We then left and toured, albeit quickly, Nagoya Castle. Check out some of the pics below:

Now we're on another bullet train back from a visit to Osaka - that is, Jeremy, Megumi, Josh and Laura and I are. Dan, Lori, and Drew are visiting a friend in a place I can't quite recall. Sarah is hanging with a friend in Nagoya. Have you realized yet how easy it is to travel all across this country? Look at my day in the map below!

In Osaka, we visited with Joseph Kim who is starting Genesis International College. Josh is praying about going there to teach history. Joe was fun to hang out with. He could teach lessons on vision-casting, for sure. I'm excited about the possibility of the Rices working with him.

Tonight, some of us are staying in a Tokyo hotel. Others are staying at CBI. Tomorrow, we are going to get up and eat some breakfast at a Japanese Denny's. Looking forward to that. Good night. I mean, good morning.