For the past few years our focus has been to recruit and onboard new young pastoral/missionary staff for TMC ministries so the church can be established and we can transition out of our overall leadership role. In 2023 the Lord faithfully sent us Bob & Keiko for part-time English ministries and David & Lina for full-time Chinese ministries. Praise the Lord!

But one development over the past few months feels as if it is moving us in the wrong direction: TMC’s Japanese ministers pastor will be moving on from TMC. Dale has always had a good relationship with this pastor who joined TMC in 2019, and that positive connection continued through Dale’s numerous discussions with him about leaving. Since 2023 TMC has only been able to pay him a stipend rather than a salary. So he needed to consider other pastoral options. However, because of the expectation in Japan (not at TMC) that both husband and wife of a Japanese pastoral couple serve the church, he felt his gifts would be better used outside a full-time pastorate. So as of April he will take secular employment and perhaps develop a part-time ministry. May God bless him and his family as he goes!…and TMC as we seek the Lord’s will for leadership in our Japanese ministries.