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Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Jon Petersen - CityForce - June 2104


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Dear Ken,
Greetings my friends!  Your prayers and encouragement on my last trip paved the way for the amazing events that are opening up for my upcoming trip, June 6-23.  Your prayers and our going in obedience last February, have opened up opportunities that we have been waiting to witness for three years.  Our approach during those years was to lay low, not promote 24-7 Prayer, just pray, serve and look for key relationships.  That's how the Kingdom works!  It is safe to say, the lid is off and we have been invited by our numerous friends to bring influence to the life of the Church.
This time I'm blessed to be accompanied by a team of ten, mostly from the 24-7 Prayer Vision Course and the Kansas City Boiler Room out of Kansas City.  As you read concerning the open doors below, pray that we will be as faithful in "notoriety" as we were in "obscurity." 

Phase 1 - Tokyo, June 8-15 

This past year, our dear friend Andy Game (7-Media) has been mobilizing churches in Tokyo to participate in the Global Day of Prayer and the Global Outreach Day - days that will see Japanese believers in prayer for Japan and participating in outreach for those in their cities.  We (24-7 Prayer) have been invited to take an active role in the prayer training, prayer walks, prayer rooms and to participate in various outreaches through the week of June 8.
June 8 - We will commence with a gathering of believers from ten nations, joining together to pray for an awakening in the church and an explosion of the Gospel in the hearts of the Japanese.  We'll meet in the Tokyo Union Church, a church my father spoke in numerous times in his day.    

This will be my first speaking engagement of the week, followed by 7 more in 6 days.  I'll be speaking to pastors, mission leaders and outreach participants both Japanese and foreign.  After three years of staying low, the Lord is graciously inviting my team and me into a place of public influence. Pray that I'll have the Word of the Lord for Japan and these eager disciples of Jesus.
June 9 - In February, I was introduced to the leader of OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship), a mission with roots to Hudson Taylor and the Chinese Inland Mission.  OMF has been planting churches in Japan since after the war.  The leader asked me for some input into returning their movement to a culture of prayer as it had been at its founding.  This has materialized into an invite to spend a day focusing on "Prayer and Personal renewal" with their church planters from across the nation Pray that I'll encourage them find a deeper intimacy with God and with each other in prayer.  
June 10-13 - During the outreach, all the participants will meet each morning at 10:00 for prayer and training, then disperse to various population centers in Tokyo for Prayer Walks, Prayer Outreach and Flash Mobs in the afternoons. 

I'll be teaching a training session each morning on issues related to prayer, unity and evangelism.  Pray that the things I share will be "take-home-able" for the many foreign participants as well as our Japanese hosts. 
June 14 - The final day will begin with a Flash Mob in Shinjuku and Harajuku in the morning followed by a Joy Festival in Hibiya Park.  It is fairly unusual for Japanese believers to take such a public stance of faith. Pray that they will be overcome with the courage ("I am not ashamed of the Gospel...") that comes from knowing you are loved by God.

June 16 - With the week of Prayer and Outreach over, I will move on to spend some time with the leaders of JEMA on this Monday.  These are the leaders I addressed in February on the topic of new church structures, prayer and evangelism.  I'm blessed by this invite as it represents a continuation of the legacy passed on through my dad and all his years serving JEMA.    


Phase 2 - Hitachi, June 17-18  

The Lord has led us to a beautiful couple, Mike and Tomoko, in the electronics city of Hitachi, north of Tokyo.  Our whole team will come together to come alongside this church planting couple for prayer, team building and outreach.  They are focused on building a community near the Ibaraki "Christian" University, founded by the Church of Christ after WW II.  I have been asked to speak to the faculty and student body for their chapel service.  I had to ask permission to speak about Jesus!  Ha!! 
Our team will be witnessing on the campus the day before and inviting them to the chapel service.  Pray that I will have a word for the hungry heart and for an educational foundation that needs to be reset on Christ. 
We'll also be meeting with the local church plant to encourage them and seek to strengthen relational ties with them.  As a church planter, my eyes are always tuned into relational connections for encouragement and possible partnership. Lord give us wisdom. 


Phase 3- Iwaki, June 19-22   

From Hitachi, the team travels north to our favorite haunt, Iwaki.  This is the home of my dear friend, Akira Mori and his ministry, Global Mission Center.  Normally we run a Father Heart of God gathering together, but have felt the Lord leading us to make it a Prayer Gathering.  There will be listening prayer, map stomping prayer (my favorite), prayer walking, reflections on prayer, prayer warfare, unity prayer - a veritable cornocopia of talking and listening to our Father. 
In my last debrief I shared the story of our invite into the local Junior High to talk about "what makes us successful."  That dear headmaster, Sawaii Sensei, has invited us back for two visits with his "kids." 
Pray that these Prayer Gathering will go viral in the nation, that Sawaii Sensei will come to Christ and that these students will recognize the love of God and hunger for it. 


If you would like to invest in Japan with me...  
The Lord wonderfully provided for my last trip to Japan.  He challenged me years ago not to base my travel on trying to raise funds, but to go with or without the necessary funds as a way of obedience to his prompting.  He always provides somehow and never in the same way. 
I do however, want to give you the opportunity to partner with me if you would like to and be blessed by the Lord in your obedience. 
Any overage I receive I give directly to those faithful believers who are seeking to plant new forms of Church in the nations I invest in. 


How to Partner With Us:

Simply send a check made out to CityForce and mail it to 920 Plum Creek Pkwy #305, Castle Rock, CO. 80104.  If you would like to donate using Paypal simply press the button below!  You will receive a tax exempt receipt and a year-end statement. 
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