On the Road in October and November

Riku (center front) is a new brother-in-Christ brought to faith and
discipled through his friend, Yusako. Also pictured
are Yushua, Yusako’s wife and Yuki, the pastor’s wife.

11/16/2017
God’s pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor is his delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. Psalm 147:10-11 (NIV)
Suzanne and I had a marvelous 4-week trip to Japan, South Korea and (me) Central Asia. Let me share some highlights:

• We met Riku – our new brother-in- Christ. We wrote about him last time, how he was a new believer and had a serious work-place injury. It was a thrill to meet him and hear his story of how he had placed his “hope in God’s unfailing love.” Pray for him and his witness to fellow workers.
  
• You possibly heard about my fall into a
  ditch on our second evening in Japan. I praise God for having people with me to help me out of the 41⁄2 deep concrete ditch and that there were no serious injuries. Suzanne has her own story of the event that includes her belief that 2 angels sat me down in the perfect spot. After returning to the house church to clean up, a nurse who was still there (Yushua, pictured above) cleaned the wounds. We appreciate your prayers – no infection developed!
  
• The Train and Multiply training with other pastors and wives on Shikoku Island went very well – better than I had dreamed. Thank you again for praying. We’re working on a follow-up training, probably next June. Pray for their use of this dynamic material to win souls and disciple them into ministry.
  
• Our work in Korea is always interesting. The believers have great passion for Christ, prayer and missions. Dr. David Jun and FAN celebrated the remodeled training center in Yesan. We spoke at 2 retreats: The first, with the OMS-Korea team, was meaningful and helped the group (with new missionaries Jay & Christina Santos) bond. The retreat for our CMSC training team on the east coast of Korea went well. It was nice to have some time with them in a different setting. We had some great team-building conversations where we were able to cast vision for the future.
  
• Central Asia is, as always, a challenge. The culture is very different and the reception to the gospel has cooled over the years. HOWEVER, God is not limited, and He is moving among the Muslims and among the non-religious. There is a prayer meeting every day at the Central Asia School of Prayer and Intercession (CASPI) lifting the people, leaders and the entire region to the One who can work all things according to His will. Pray for His faithful followers to be encouraged, empowered and to have fruit for their labor. 
• Suzanne and I are serving at Renton Park Chapel as interim pastor until Jan 7th, when their new pastor arrives. We have discovered another fine group of God’s people. We’re living at our home in Vancouver, WA and spend weekends in Renton. Pray for this congregation as they prepare for this new transition. 

Please pray with us for: 

• Scheduling our work for missions and Renton Park Chapel into January.
  
• Scheduling our upcoming ministry trips. We are supposed to be on Kikai Island, Japan in
  February and then on to Shikoku Island, on to South Korea and back to Japan before returning to the US in March. We’re also planning in May & June to be in Korea, then to Okinawa and back to Shikoku. June might also include an extended visit in Tokyo.
  
• The funding of our ministry. A number of our supporters from years past have gone to heaven

I spoke at a South Korean Army Chapel service in the DMZ north of Seoul.

and others’ circumstances have
changed. We’re 20% toward our goal for full-funding. Would you pray that God will put us in touch with those people He would like to have as our partners to minister in Japan and Korea?


Note: I’ve discovered that I’ve not done an adequate job of communicating our role in missions or our need for funding.


Let me take a moment to explain our
role. We’ve not “retired” as some have
thought. We have redirected our focus
to ministry in Japan and South Korea
while living in Vancouver, WA. We will
make 3-4 training and coaching trips per year, each of which will be 3-6 weeks in length. While in the States we will sharpen our own skills and abilities through ongoing training. We will also maintain contact via Skype and email with our international partners. This plan requires us to rebuild our financial support team. Support includes travel (regional and international), office expenses, and others, as well as salary.

These are exciting days! God is moving in significant ways around the world. Of course, He does that all the time even when we don’t notice it.

Thank you for your partnership with us!
Bob and Suzanne Warren 
Church Multiplication Facilitator 
One Mission Society

Korean Folk Village in Suwon, an hour
South of Seoul.

With part of our Korean training team: Reverends Chang,
Ahn and Kim near the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics in
Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Finishing and Beginning

In two days Suzanne and I will conclude our ministry at East Vancouver Community Church. There will be our closing service, a potluck dinner and farewell time. This days are a time of reflection accompanied by some feelings of satisfaction about progress that was made, as well as some feelings of disappointment over some of the goals and plans that were incomplete or unstarted. Yet, with the perspective of one of the older generation, that's little different than most things in life.

Next week we'll begin our new focus on international ministry. Isaiah 55:4-5 says,

Listen to me, my people;

hear me, my nation:

The law will go out from me;

my justice will become a light to the nations.

My righteousness draws near speedily,

my salvation is on the way,

and my arm will bring justice to the nations.

The islands will look to me 

and wait in hope for my arm. (NIV)

Since God's challenge to us in 2011 to move to "the Islands," Suzanne and I have had a passion to see Japanese men and women, girls and boys hear the Good News of Christ and choose to follow Him. Our plan is to use our home in Vancouver, Washington as a base from which we will first, travel to Japan and South Korea training and coaching national workers to rapidly make more disciples who will repeat that process. Second, we will work domestically to improve our knowledge and skills so that we can coach our international partners to a greater harvest of souls.

Pray with us - and for us - as we move into this new phase of our walk with Christ. In 2007 our friend Darrell Willis called this "Bob and Suzanne's excellent adventure." It has been that for the last 10 years. I believe is will continue to be an "excellent adventure" in Christ.

"I Lied!"

Note: This was originally written in the fall of 2008 after our arrival in Central Asia. The first picture is a view of the mountains outside the school window. The second is a fall display in a local church.

"I Lied!" That was the statement I made many years ago to my future father-in-law after I made a statement that was in error. I was speaking about something and made a comment that I discovered was incorrect and followed that up by my stark confession. His response was, "Did you mean to lie? Or, did you just make a mistake?" Wow! That gave me something to think about. Actually, it taught me a fundamental truth about life. There are errors we make in our life that are unintentional that have an entirely different impact and import than those things we might do intentionally.

Well, "I didn't lie!" I did make some inaccurate statements about the city we live in. I had said that it was about the same elevation as Spokane - 1900 ft. I was wrong. It's about 1900 meters which makes it closer 5500 feet. Anyway we're on the edge of some majestic mountains

Closing Service at Colbert

Note: This was originally written in mid-August, 2008 following our closing service at Colbert Chapel.

The day finally came. Even though we're confident in God's call and direction, experiencing our final service as pastor and wife at Colbert Chapel wasn't something that we looked forward to. The preparation for the service was difficult. What songs to sing? What scriptures to read? What would God have said? All these were questions that had to be answered before the service. Certainly they should be asked every week we prepare for leading God's people into the presence of the Most High. This Sunday, however, would be different. There wouldn't be another Sunday or another service to say things that were unsaid. There wouldn't be another opportunity to sing that special song that set the mood for approaching the throne room.

My concern for months has been that Suzanne's and my departure wouldn't be the focus of the serivce. I told her a few days ago that if I was preparing a farewell service I would do it one way. However, I was preparing a worship service and my desire was to point to Jesus - not his servant. Well, the congregational leadership had a couple other ideas. They presented Suzanne and me with a financial gift for our ministry. The goal was $5000 and they exceeded it. PTL! I know what it took for that to happen. It wasn't easy and we are humbled by their generosity. They also gave us a digital picture frame. It will come in handy showing pictures at presentations, but also at our new home in Asia. They also gave opportunity for people to share memories. It was a thrill to hear testimonies to God's faithfulness. It was humbling to be part of that. It led to a prayer time when the congregation gathered round us to pray over us for the next years. There was a lot of sniffling. It was very special to be surrounded by so many who cared so much. PTL!

It's now time to put most of our energy in moving forward to Asia. We have some things to finish here before we leave. We have to finish our sorting and storing, disposing and packing in the next five days. We drive to Portland on Saturday. We're scheduled to share in a church in Portland before we leave the States on August 25th. It is coming very soon and there is much to do.

One last thing: God has been very good in these last months. Some could possibly attribute all that has occured to chance. We prefer to attribute it to the hand of God. We were reminded today that we are also in a spiritual battle for the souls of people. The enemy won't stand idly by and allow God's servants to take his territory. We may be seeing the first salvo of his counterattack in what is occuring in our co-worker's life. She has just discovered a serious medical situation that may prevent her from joining her family in our country for a month or more. Pray for her that God will show his sovereignty and mercy in her life.

It is clear that Suzanne and I aren't alone in this. We have many people standing behind us in Colbert and Spokane. We also have others, literally around the world, standing behind (and with) us in this task. God is good - all the time.

We're Back!

It's apparent that I've not kept up with this blog! Wow - I didn't realize it had been quite this long since we had posted. Of course, we haven't encouraged people to read this blog for a long time. My intention is to get back into this and use Wandering Warrens as another communication tool about our international ministry. God is doing some great things in Japan and we owe it to Him to let those things be known.

Stay tuned for more information!

A New Year is Coming

I watched Suzanne get on her bus to the airport this afternoon. She's heading back to the US. I have two more Sundays at the church here in Tokyo (Higashi Murayama) and some days next week in South Korea for meetings and to lead some training. There's twelve more days until we get back together, but, who's counting?

It's been a great privilege to get to spend most of December with our team in Japan. We have a greater appreciation for the work that's been done here, the work that's ongoing here, and the work that remains to be done. We appreciate Japan in a new way since we've spent some more time here. These three weeks have gone incredibly fast, and hardly count as a great exposure to the country and culture, but they have proven to be a confirmation about our future role.

We anticipate returning in the Spring - hopefully before Easter. We still are looking for ministry partners who believe with us that God would like to see thousands more Japanese men and women, boys and girls know what it means to have eternal life in Christ. There is a tremendous need, which means there is a tremendous opportunity. We believe that God would like to use the multiplication strategy that One Mission Society is implementing around the world. We're confident that there is a harvest yet to come. It's a privilege to have even a small part of that task.

There is a large celebration for the new year coming very soon. I understand that the celebration will be somewhat muted in memory of the suffering that has occurred in Japan this past year through the earthquake, tsunami and the radiation exposure. Nonetheless, I hear it will still be more than I'm used to in the States. When we were in Central Asia, the new year celebration went on for two days with the most fireworks over the largest area we had ever seen. It will be interesting to see what happens here in spite of the sensitivity they're showing to their fellow citizens.

Christmas in Japan

It seems that life just keeps changing. But, why should that come as a surprise. God says in Isaiah, "Behold, I do a new thing." He's still doing new things. All we have to do is be willing to allow Him to do fresh and new things in our lives.

During training meetings in Bangkok in April, I was taken aside by Steve, the One Mission Society field leader in Japan. Steve said that the Lord had woken him at 5 am with the message to "ask Bob Warren to fulfill this ministry." The ministry is to begin a church planting ministry in Tokyo as he assumes the pastoral position at OMS Christian Mission Church. Bob was shocked.

Later that day, Bob spoke with the director over One Mission Society's work in Asia. John-Mark related that God hard done the same thing with him. Thus, the challenge for Bob & Suzanne was to discover whether this was God's plan for them. It's nice hearing from others, but it's critical to have a personal word from the Lord. The conclusion was, yes, it is God's plan.

We're going to spend most of December in Japan making preparations for our new ministry. We'll establish our residency, begin to form relationships and look for leaders who can form the nucleus of new churches. Our goal is that every man, woman, boy and girl can hear the Good News about the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.