After living in our apartment in Tokyo for 10 years we moved out in Dec 2022. We took some stuff to our vacation house in northern Japan, which we made our official Japanese legal residence. And we shipped about 22 boxes to our house in Maine, which is now our primary residence. The rest we discarded.

Starting Jan 2023 we carry out our ministries remotely from Maine for 8-9 mos/yr and in-person in Japan and Asia for 3-4 mos/yr from our house in northern Japan.

The memories… Read More…

Dec 2022 Christmas events at TMC included a children’s event, advent candle lightings, and worship services. No potlucks yet…that’ll need to wait until the new year when Tokyo eases off on covid restrictions for gatherings.

More pictures…
Read More…

Dale began teaching his Contemporary Theology class in Japanese at Japan Bible Seminary in 2001. He completed his 20th year in Nov 2022. Due to several home assignments along the way he did not teach the course every year. Class sizes have ranged from 3-4 students (as in the 2022 pic above) up to a dozen. He’ll be continuing to teach for a few more years.

Always enjoyable!…but much more challenging to grade theology papers in Japanese for 12 students than 3.

We finally held our first-ever ServeBeyond retreat in Asia!

After postponing for two years due to covid, we were able to gather Oct. 10-14 in Pattaya Thailand at the Pinnacle Grand Jomtien Resort for networking, encouragement, and relaxation. The majority of the eleven missionaries and mission leaders from Canada, Japan and Thailand who were able to attend (about half our number) had rarely if ever met in-person.

We connected with God by learning about Jesus’ post-resurrection Great Commission teachings. We also shared with one another about our lives and ministries, and prayed for each other. Read More…

Looking toward our future retirement, we plan to transition from in-person church planting leadership at Tokyo Multicultural Church to “coaching from a distance” at the end of 2022. This means moving our primary residence from our apartment in Tokyo to our house in Cape Elizabeth, Maine US (Ann’s hometown), while retaining a secondary residence at our vacation house in northern Japan.

We will continue full-time ministry with ServeBeyond (EFC of Canada) for 2-4 years by (1) overseeing TMC; (2) coordinating ServeBeyond projects in Asia; and (3) continuing to teach theology in Tokyo (Dale). We will also visit our supporting churches in Canada and the US. So we will continue to carry a full-time missionary budget.

However, the way we do these ministries will change. Lord willing, we plan to take 2-3 annual trips of 1-2 months each to Japan and Asia. This will make it possible for us to be at TMC 6-8 Sundays a year and for Dale to teach modular seminary classes twice a year. By keeping a secondary residence in Japan we will be able to reduce our flight costs within Asia for visiting ServeBeyond projects and personnel because our itineraries can originate in Tokyo rather than the US. Read More…

Our back and forth across the Pacific Puddle lifestyle can be tiring, but it is always great to get back to in-person church planting ministry at TMC. It’s wonderful to have some babies at TMC and to see some visitors deciding to become regulars!

This fall will be our final months of keeping our Tokyo apartment so we’ll be busy with sorting, throwing stuff, packing and moving in addition to ministry. Starting Jan 2023 we plan to transition to a hybrid remote/in-person ministry at TMC and in Asia, based primarily in Maine USA but also at our vacation house in northern Japan.

On July 28 Matthew & Kristy welcomed their first baby, a girl they named Kaylee Hiroko. Kristy gave birth at 41 weeks. Kaylee’s middle name, Hiroko, was Matthew’s mother’s middle name.
So we now have one granddaughter along with two grandsons.

As of summer 2022 Dale needs no further prescription medicine for polymyalgia rheumatica that he was diagnosed with in Feb 2020. PTL! He will have annual check-ups in case it recurs or perhaps morphs into something else like rheumatoid arthritis.

TMC invites inquiries from a missionary single or couple who…

• will contribute to overall church leadership and vision alongside TMC’s Japanese, English, and Chinese ministries pastors.
• speaks English fluently and has some Japanese language ability.
• holds a Master’s degree or equivalent from an evangelical seminary.
• can unreservedly sign the Evangelical Free Church of Canada “Gospel Truths” statement of faith.
• can supply own financial package as a fully supported or bi-vocational missionary, with the possibility of receiving a small stipend from TMC in the future.

(See here for more details.)
Interested? ...or know of someone who might be interested? If so, contact Dale.

We praise the Lord for leading David & Lina to TMC through Singapore!

David & Lina are missionary appointees with SIM Singapore. David has worked in Tokyo and speaks Japanese quite well. After that he earned both a Masters and a professional Doctoral degree from a US evangelical seminary’s Chinese language program. His doctoral project was on discipleship. He has been both a pastor and a church planter. Lina has worked for a number of multinational companies with responsibilities in several North Asia countries and speaks excellent English. She does marriage counseling and serves in women’s and children’s ministries at their church.


A TMC Chinese Fellowship gathering, Nov 2021 Read More…

October 2022 in Pattaya Thailand
Pinnacle Grand Jomtien Resort

A time of networking, encouragement, and refreshment for ServeBeyond Asia personnel.

For more information, contact Dale, Asia region coordinator for ServeBeyond, or login here at servebeyond.asia.

The EFCCM (Evangelical Free Church of Canada Mission) has rebranded as ServeBeyond. The Evangelical Free Church of Canada denominational name remains the same and its url is efcc.ca. So ServeBeyond is now the international mission arm of the EFCC. And the national mission arm of the EFCC has been rebranded as ServeCanada.

Therefore Dale & Ann are now missionaries with ServeBeyond. And the url for the Asia region of ServeBeyond, which Dale & Ann coordinate, is now servebeyond.asia.

On March 19 Bryan and Jessica welcomed their second baby boy into their lives. Baby Owen joins big brother Kasen (2 1/2 yrs).
So we now have two grandsons, with a granddaughter on the way.

…will launch Chinese worship services (currently a monthly Chinese fellowship).
…will contribute to overall church leadership and vision alongside TMC’s Japanese and English ministries pastors.
...has a heart for reaching people in greater Tokyo for Christ, both Japanese and expatriates.
...is inter-culturally sensitive and can lead with humility, gentleness, patience, and love (Ephesians 4:2).
...speaks Mandarin and/or Cantonese fluently, English well, and has some Japanese ability.

(See here for more details.)

Interested?...or know of someone who might be interested? If so, contact Dale.

Read More…

(Updated May 11, 2022 )

Dale & Ann had been planning to transition from their in-person TMC leadership role in mid-2022 and make Cape Elizabeth, Maine (Ann’s hometown) their home base from where they would continue remote/virtual leadership. But for two reasons they have postponed this transition until late 2022. (1) Covid has negatively affected TMC achieving financial stability, with offerings taking a hit in 2020 and 2021. And (2) TMC needs more pastors/missionaries on staff. In addition to Dale & Ann’s planned transition, two other senior missionary households are retiring or stepping down from most leadership roles at TMC in 2022. Although TMC has a Japanese ministries pastor, it needs pastors/missionaries for both English and Chinese ministries because those two ministries are currently led by part-time personnel.

But after they do make this transition they will continue full-time ministry with ServeBeyond (EFCC) for a few years and so continue to carry a full-time missionary budget. Read More…