Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY018098A
|
00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:10 Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Today 01:12 program! I'm Jason Bradley, and I'm excited 01:15 about today's program, because my guest today 01:18 is a young person that's on fire for the Lord. 01:22 Wait until you find out exactly where he is 01:26 practicing evangelism! My guest today is 01:30 Daniel Fukuda, and he is with the Japan Union 01:34 Conference with the Youth Rush Japan 01:37 project. Welcome. - Oh, thank you. - Good to have 01:40 you here. - It's good to be here. - Before 01:42 we get into your journey and your testimony, 01:45 we're going to be blessed in song by John Stoddart 01:48 singing "I Am Yours." 02:08 I live to praise and give you glory, all that I have to give 02:16 You take my life and make it holy; Jesus, my heart is yours 02:24 It is yours I am Yours, I am Yours 02:31 I live to praise and give you glory, all that I have to give 02:39 You take my life and make it holy; Jesus, my heart is yours 02:47 It is yours I am Yours, I am Yours 02:53 I just want to thank You, Lord Thank You, Lord 03:01 I just want to thank You, Lord Jesus, I just wanna thank You 03:09 Release Your grace Release Your power 03:15 And let it begin in me Come fill this place 03:20 With Your anointing Jesus, my heart is Yours 03:26 It is Yours I am Yours, I am Yours 03:32 And I just want to thank You, Lord; You've been so good to me 03:37 I thank You, Lord Oh, I thank You, Lord 03:43 Jesus, I just want to thank You 03:48 'Cause You have come through and You've kept every promise 03:55 Oh, You have come through, Lord And You've kept every promise 04:03 You have come through, Lord, and You've kept every promise 04:11 You have come through, Lord, and You've kept every promise 04:17 Oh, and I just want to thank You, Lord; thank You, Lord 04:26 Oh, I thank You, Lord Jesus, I just wanna thank You 04:34 'Cause You have come through and You've kept every promise 04:41 You have come through, Lord, and You've kept every promise 04:48 You have come through, and You've kept every promise 04:55 You have come through, Lord, and You've kept every promise 05:01 Oh, and I just want to thank You, thank You, Lord 05:06 I thank You, Lord I thank You, Lord 05:13 Jesus, I just wanna thank You Oh, I thank You, Lord 05:20 Jesus, thank You, Lord You've been so good to me 05:25 I thank You, Lord Jesus, I just wanna thank You 05:31 You've been so good to me I thank You, Lord 05:36 I thank You, Lord Oh, I, I thank You, Lord 05:43 Jesus, I just wanna thank You 05:47 I just wanna thank You 05:51 I just wanna thank You 05:54 I just wanna thank You 06:04 - Wow. What a beautiful song. "I Am Yours." And 06:09 most of the lyrics is, "Jesus, I just wanna thank You." 06:13 We have so much that we should be thankful for. 06:16 The Lord spared no expense in saving us, 06:18 and so we need to give Him all the thanks that 06:21 we can give Him. Daniel, I'm so excited to have 06:25 you here, because I think what you're doing 06:26 in Japan is amazing. But for our viewers 06:30 that don't know, what is the Youth Rush Japan 06:32 project? - Ah, Youth Rush Japan is basically, 06:36 simply put, it's youth rushing. - Okay! - That's 06:40 what it is! Why do youth have to rush? Well, it's 06:43 because we believe Jesus is coming soon, so we 06:47 rush and share the gospel, the good news, to everybody. 06:51 - Now, why is this so crucial in Japan? - Well, 06:54 in Japan, it's different. It's not the United States 06:59 of America. In Japan, less than 1% are 07:01 Christians. - Wow. - It's not a small country; it's 07:06 a big country, about half the population of 07:08 US, literally under, in the state of 07:11 California. - Wow! - So, that's Japan. - So 07:15 you were telling me that Tokyo is like the 07:18 biggest metropolis in the world. Is that... 07:20 - Yes, yes! Tokyo... There's roughly, in 07:23 the Tokyo area, about 40 million people living 07:25 in Tokyo area. That's the biggest metropolitan 07:28 area in the world. - Wow. - I live there. - That 07:32 is huge. Now, you said 1% or less than 1%? 07:37 - Less than 1% are Christian. - How many 07:40 would you say are Adventist? - Statistically, 07:44 Adventists are less than 1% of the 1%. So, 07:48 .001%. - Wow. Wow. So, before we even go 07:54 any further into the Youth Rush and why the 07:56 youth are rushing and all that stuff, tell me 07:58 about you and your background. Where did 08:00 you grow up? - Oh, ok. I am a third generation 08:03 Japanese-American. I grew up in Loma Linda, 08:06 California. I'm the youngest of four siblings. 08:11 But, you know, my parents were not 08:14 Seventh-Day Adventist. They are now, but my 08:16 mom comes from a very strong Catholic home, 08:19 Catholic family. My dad comes from, basically, 08:24 a Sunday church. His father's a Sunday church 08:27 minister/pastor. So, both of them, Sunday 08:31 church pastor Protestant, Catholic... But through 08:35 a series of things, my dad was going to medical 08:38 school, and his medical school closed down in 08:40 Oklahoma. It closed down, and he transferred to 08:44 Loma Linda. They accepted him, and 08:46 that's how he got to know Adventism. We 08:48 went through the Adventist education system. As 08:52 all my siblings went through this school 08:54 system, they decided to get baptized. Eventually, 08:57 my parents decided to get baptized. - Wow. 08:59 So, your dad embraced Adventism, then your 09:04 mom followed after he...? - Yes. - Okay, nice. 09:08 - Well, the interesting thing is, my dad- later, 09:10 I found out. It took both my parents- it 09:13 took them about 15-16 years to make a decision 09:17 to get baptized after they went to Loma Linda, 09:19 but my dad said he accepted the Seventh-Day 09:23 Adventist Church, like, in a month, but he was 09:25 waiting for my mom to make a decision. They 09:28 got baptized on the same day. - Wow. Wow, okay. 09:31 Now, let's transition, because you got involved 09:37 with Youth Rush, right?- as a student doing 09:41 literature evangelism. How old were you then? 09:44 - I first got involved with the Youth Rush 09:47 program in California when I was 16. - Wow, 09:51 16 years old. Okay. And what was the 09:53 typical age range? - The minimum age was 09:56 16. - Wow, so you got in at the ground level. 09:59 - Yes. - Okay. Great, great great, great. And this 10:02 was in Southeastern California Conference. 10:06 Your life was changed. What took place? - So 10:11 that year, my older three siblings... Dave 10:15 first said, "Youth Rush," and their life 10:17 changed. They began to read their Bible in the 10:21 morning. I was like, "Why are they reading 10:22 the Bible in the morning? Why are they singing 10:24 songs? Like, they look happy! Okay, what's 10:27 going on here?" I decided to go to Youth 10:29 Rush the following year, and my life 10:32 changed. I learned the joy of service, 10:35 the joy of serving God. It's fun to serve the 10:38 Lord! - Amen. Yes, it is. And what a typical 10:41 day look like for you at Youth Rush? - During 10:43 Youth Rush, we all, about 20 young people, 10:47 stay in churches in sleeping bags for 10 10:50 weeks. We have morning worship together, we 10:52 do training-we train- we get trained by young 10:55 leaders how to knock on doors, how to talk 10:58 about the books, we eat breakfast, we go out 11:00 for 8 hours or so, knock on doors, come back, 11:03 sleep...and the next day, same thing. Sunday 11:07 through Thursday. And Friday, we do laundry 11:09 and clean the church and something like that. 11:12 - And how have you seen lives transform? 11:14 Back then when you were 16. What stories 11:17 do you have of lives being transformed, or 11:19 any miracle stories that you have. - Well, 11:24 especially this literature evangelism work- I'll 11:28 be honest. It's not easy work, knocking 11:31 on strangers' houses and telling them about 11:34 Jesus. You meet friendly people, but you meet 11:38 not-so-friendly people. You meet all kinds of 11:41 people, so it really kind of challenges your 11:44 character, challenges your attitude towards- 11:47 "Am I sure about this gospel? Am I sure about 11:50 this Jesus Christ, following Him?" It 11:52 challenges me and it challenges everybody, 11:55 so... By the end of the summer, our faith, 11:58 it's personalized. We have all kinds of 12:01 experiences of answer to prayer. I've had people- 12:06 I go to the door and right at that moment, 12:08 they're like, "Oh, I was just praying that 12:10 someone would come!" They were JUST praying 12:13 for God to help them. I met this one lady. 12:16 She was thinking about suicide. She was crying 12:20 out to God. Right as she was crying out to 12:24 God, I knocked on her door and I stuck 12:26 the book called Peace Above the Storm, and 12:28 she was like, "This is an answer to prayer." 12:30 So, those kinds of experiences happen all 12:33 the time. - Yeah, which is absolutely 12:35 amazing. I can see how that could strengthen 12:37 your faith. For those of our viewers that 12:39 don't know what literature evangelism is, 'cause 12:42 I know you said that you knock on doors 12:44 and all that stuff, but what is literature 12:47 evangelism? - Literature evangelism, simply 12:50 put, is using literature to do evangelism. 12:54 Basically, using literature to share about the 12:57 gospel, share about Jesus Christ, share about the 13:00 Bible. - So, do you hand these books out 13:02 or are you selling these books, or how does 13:04 that... - Yes, for literature evangelism, 13:07 of course, you can pass out free distribution, 13:10 free literature, but colporteuring the 13:12 Youth Rush, we go door to door and we 13:14 sell these books. The reason we sell these 13:17 books is, when people pay for the books, 13:20 they tend to cherish the books more; they 13:22 tend to actually read the books, because they're 13:25 actually paying for it, like, "Okay, I better read." 13:27 - Yes. So, they see the values. Yes, absolutely. 13:31 And so, your role as project leader in the 13:36 Japan Youth Rush... What does that look 13:39 like? What's your day look like? - [laughs] 13:44 Every day's an adventure. Basically, Youth Rush 13:49 did not exist in Japan when I went there. We 13:53 started from 0, from scratch. I was there, 13:58 and I prayed, "How can we recruit young 14:01 people? How can we start this program?" So, a 14:03 lot of communication, a lot of recruiting, and 14:05 figuring out how to knock on doors in Japan- 14:09 in the secular country of Japan. - How DID 14:12 you recruit the young people? - Over in Japan, 14:16 as mentioned, very few Christians... In 14:19 fact, the average church in Japan, last time I 14:22 checked, was 69 years old. So, you don't 14:27 have many young people in Japan. - Whoa, wait 14:29 a minute, wait a minute. - The average age... 14:31 was 69 years old? - Yeah. Not many are 14:34 so- but we have a lot of faithful 90-year-olds 14:36 and 80-year-olds still active in the church. 14:39 - That's a blessing. Man, so there's not 14:43 a lot of young people... But there are a lot 14:45 of young people in Japan, but just not in 14:48 the church. - Yes. Not in the church, yeah. 14:50 - Okay. And that's where we want them, 14:51 to be in the church. - Yes! That's what we 14:52 need. - So, it must've been an uphill battle, 14:54 a challenge, to get these young people 14:57 involved. I'm sure there was a lot of 14:59 prayer involved. - Yes, a lot of prayer. In fact, 15:02 our first Youth Rush program, we had 7 young 15:05 people... Just 7, kind of like the 7 samurais; 15:09 the 7 young people. Through their testimonies, 15:13 through their experiences, they brought their 15:15 friends, and they brought their friends, 15:16 so through that, it's been expanding. In the 15:18 last two years we've been doing [Youth Rush], 15:20 we had over 100 young people go through this 15:22 program. - Wow! 100 young people! - Over 100, 15:25 yeah. - That is amazing. - God is good. - Yes He is, 15:29 and I can only imagine how lives have been 15:31 transformed, because they answered the call 15:34 that God has placed on their lives. We have- 15:37 well, we have a couple video rolls, two videos, 15:40 but I want to show this first one (it's a 15:43 shorter one). We're going to go to that right now. - Okay. 16:22 Translation: "Signs" 16:43 - That looks intense. - Yeah, it's a little 16:47 bit intense. - Yeah. There's a sense of 16:49 urgency! - Oh, yeah. - Absolutely. So going 16:52 out and knocking on the doors, distributing 16:54 the literature and all that stuff. Now, 16:58 in the States, in the US, you went to school 17:02 for theology, correct? - Yeah. I studied 17:03 theology for a year at Southern University. 17:09 But while I was there- I love reading. I was 17:12 reading the books called The Publishing 17:14 Ministry, Colporteur Ministry, Book Education... 17:18 As I was reading, I was like, "Hold on, hold 17:19 on, hold on, I better get involved in publishing 17:22 work and literature work!" and I decided 17:25 to quit theology and go to a Bible college 17:30 called SOULS West. It's a Bible college emphasizing 17:34 literature evangelism. - Wow. And what are 17:37 some of the other things that they teach there? 17:39 - They also teach you how to be a Bible 17:41 worker, leadership... The SOULS West, S-O-U-L-S 17:46 West, Seventh-Day Adventist Outreach 17:48 Leadership School... So it emphasizes 17:51 leadership. It's a college where they try to 17:54 train young leaders. So, we have classes on 17:57 leadership, literature evangelism, working 17:59 in Bible work... - Nice. And so, upon completion 18:02 of that program, you received a call from 18:05 Japan Union? - After that, I Bible-worked 18:11 for one year over here in California, and as I was 18:16 doing Bible work there, I got a call from Japan 18:19 Union, asking, "Hey, can you implement 18:22 the things you learned at SOULS West? Can you 18:25 start Youth Rush? Can you help with the 18:27 youth church here and discipleship program?" 18:29 - Wow. - I was like, "Oh, hold on, okay, 18:31 okay!" and I prayed and went. - Man, so 18:34 they gave you a big project right out of 18:37 the gate! But I'm sure God clearly equipped 18:40 you to take that on. - Yeah. I mean, one 18:44 thing I learned from those experiences, God 18:46 can use anybody. I mean, He used me! I was 18:49 only 22 years old when I received the call. 18:53 - See, now that's inspiring, because 18:56 you are a young man. How old are you now? 18:58 - I'm 25 right now. - 25 right now. And 19:01 you're the project leader over there. 19:04 - Yes. - It's inspiring, because no matter how 19:06 young a person is, they can get involved in 19:09 ministry and SHOULD get involved in ministry. 19:12 God has a calling on each one of our lives. 19:14 I'm glad that you answered yours, man. 19:17 I'm glad that you answered yours. We 19:19 have some pictures. I'd like to take a look at 19:22 the first picture. Why don't you tell us a 19:25 little bit about that picture? - Okay. This 19:30 picture is actually from Kagoshima. It's the 19:33 southernmost part of Japan. I mean, the 19:36 most southern part is Okinawa islands, 19:38 but Kagoshima. We had about 25 young 19:43 people for this program. These are high school 19:46 and college students. It was hot! We had 19:51 volcanoes there, so it's hot! - Oh, wow! 19:54 - Yeah. It was intense. The volcanoes were 19:58 right there, so sometimes, the air wasn't the best. 20:01 - Yeah. - But these guys ran door to door, shared 20:05 the gospel... We had some good experiences. 20:09 In fact, we sold a lot of Great Controversies. 20:12 A lot of Great Controversy- for whatever reason, 20:15 these young people, they're like, "I want 20:17 to sell the Great Controversy! I want 20:19 to sell them!" We gave worships on Great 20:21 Controversy theme and, "Agh, I want to sell 20:24 this book!" And this one girl... It was her 20:28 first time doing Youth Rush, and her goal 20:30 that day was like, "I'm going to sell 20:32 Great Controversy! I've been doing this 20:34 for two weeks already; I haven't sold The 20:35 Great Controversy! I'm going to sell the 20:37 Great Controversy!" - Uh-huh! - I mean, 20:39 she was, fooogh! She was determined! Well, 20:43 that day, she met a grandpa who went to 20:46 an English school a long time ago run by 20:49 an Adventist church a long time ago, and he 20:52 was like, "Oh, Adventist! Ok!" And then they 20:54 began to converse. She showed The Great Controversy, 20:57 but he showed no interest. Like, "Ah, 21:00 Christianity. It doesn't make sense. 21:04 Buddhism makes more sense." That's what he 21:06 said. It turned her on. She said, "Hold 21:10 on, hold on, Grandpa!" and she began to talk 21:12 about the origin of sin, creation, everything! 21:15 Boom boom boom boom boom boom, and the 21:17 grandpa's like, "Okay, okay, okay! Got it; 21:18 I'll buy this book, and I'll read it." And 21:21 that was the story. - Praise the Lord that 21:23 she was persistent and didn't give up on 21:25 the grandpa! That is amazing. What are 21:29 some other stories that you have? - There are 21:31 other experiences, not in Kagoshima. 21:35 We'll go down south more. How about Okinawa? 21:38 In Okinawa, we had... There, it's an island, 21:44 and this one girl... I went door to door with 21:48 this one student, 'cause I go door to 21:52 door with different students; make sure 21:53 they're okay knocking on doors, make sure 21:56 they're handing the books right... We met 21:59 this grandma. She wasn't Christian, of 22:04 course. At the end of the conversation, she 22:07 was really touched, especially when we 22:09 prayed for her. She was really touched. It 22:12 was her first Christian prayer ever. When we 22:15 offered to pray, she was like, "Is it okay 22:17 here?" It was like, "Yeah, right here, 22:18 right now!" She was touched and she said, 22:21 "Hold on." She went to her kitchen and she 22:24 got three mochi (these are rice cakes). Three 22:27 mochi and three drinks- plum juice drinks. I 22:32 was like, "Oh, it's fine! Two's fine! Just 22:34 us two." She's like, "No, no, no. This is 22:36 for your God! Serve it to your God." I was 22:39 like, "Oh!" It's a Japanese custom where 22:41 you serve food to the gods, so it's like, 22:43 "Serve it to your God." But bottom line, she 22:46 was thankful for the prayer and the interactions. 22:49 I'm sure something touched her. - Well, 22:52 praise the Lord. I'm glad she was touched by 22:54 you sharing. You know, we have some more 22:56 pictures. I want to go through those, too. 22:58 Let's take a look at this next picture, and 23:01 tell us what's going on there. - Ahh, this 23:05 one, actually, they're holding a little 23:07 certificate. That's actually a certificate - 23:09 one year in mission. It's an initiative by 23:13 General Conference Division right now 23:16 where young people dedicate one year doing 23:20 ministry or serving God. For Japan, Youth 23:25 Rush is part of one year ministry. What 23:28 that means is, Youth Rush program itself 23:30 is only three weeks. We have three-week 23:32 blitzes, three-week literature door-to-door 23:35 programs February, March, July, August, 23:38 and September - 5 times a year. Some people 23:41 join all five times. Some people just join 23:44 one or two (it depends on their school schedule). 23:47 Our goal is, after they do Youth Rush, we 23:51 encourage them to be part of the local church. 23:55 We encourage them, wherever they go, to 23:58 serve the Lord. They don't need to knock 24:00 on doors; they have all the doors they can 24:03 knock on - doors of their friends' hearts! 24:06 They can knock on their hearts. So, we 24:08 encourage them. We equip them how to give 24:10 Bible studies, how to start small groups in 24:12 that sense. So, we try to make this Youth 24:15 Rush a beginning, a starting point for 24:18 them. - Yeah. So, it's not the ending; it's 24:20 just the beginning where they come and 24:22 get equipped, then they go out to all 24:25 of their communities and share the gospel. 24:28 Let's look at our next picture and see what 24:31 we've got here. - Ah, this is Kobe. Kobe 24:37 Adventist Church. Here, they look very relaxed, 24:42 happy... This program, oh man. They got along 24:47 very well. They had a really good time. I've 24:52 heard from the leaders there, they really had 24:57 a really good prayer life. They took time 25:00 praying together morning and evening. 25:03 The group prayed together. They really 25:05 valued the importance of prayer. And these 25:08 participants that went through this program, 25:10 they're like, "It's the first time I've 25:11 ever prayed like this." It's like, wow. Prayer 25:14 is powerful. - Yeah! And so how did they 25:17 see prayers answered? Do you have any stories 25:19 of how they saw the prayers answered? - Yes. 25:21 The area there- I'll be honest. It wasn't 25:24 the easiest area. Very difficult. We had all 25:28 kinds of religions; you name it. All kinds 25:31 of religions, knocking on doors of that 25:35 region. So, the moment we knock, they're not 25:38 very open. No, not very receptive, so it was 25:43 difficult. Without prayer, you can not 25:46 knock on those areas. It's not a small 25:49 village; it's a major town, Kobe. So, they 25:52 really prayed. They had some powerful, 25:54 divine appointments. Powerful, divine 25:56 appointments, for they meet people that 25:59 are not Christians that ask for Christian 26:03 literature, that ask for Bible studies, 26:05 that ask for that literature. So, it 26:07 was amazing. - Nice. Nice, man. And have you 26:10 seen the church grow as a re- let's say you 26:16 go to Okinawa or you go to some of these 26:19 other areas. Have you seen growth within the 26:22 church as a result of reaching out to these 26:24 communities? - Yeah, very good question. 26:28 There are several purposes for this 26:30 literature evangelism program-especially the 26:33 student literature evangelism program. 26:35 One is, of course, evangelism. We share 26:40 the gospel. It's like planting seeds, but 26:43 it's very, very rare for someone to accept 26:47 the gospel immediately. It's very rare. For 26:50 example, I knock on their door and they 26:52 immediately say, "Oh, I accept this! Let me 26:54 get baptized!" It's very rare for that 26:55 to happen. It happens, once in a while. The 27:00 reason for this work is to train the young 27:03 people to have them get to know Jesus 27:06 Christ on a personal level by working for 27:08 the Lord. But to answer your question, 27:11 yes, we have had Bible study interests. Also, 27:15 we have had church members that haven't 27:19 been going to church for a long time. We 27:21 visit the neighborhood, and they start coming. 27:24 - Nice. - They started coming. So, these 27:26 long-time absent church members started coming. 27:31 Just recently, at this one church, we had 8 27:36 people throughout the course of the program, 27:38 but 8 Bible study interests. These 27:41 are all non-Christian people signing up for 27:44 personal Bible study. The pastor of the church 27:47 decided to follow up on all those studies, 27:50 but what I appreciate about the pastor... 27:54 He didn't follow up alone. He asked the 27:59 church members. He brought 4 church 28:01 members and said, "Okay, you're giving 28:03 Bible studies to this person, this person, 28:05 that..." and he trained the church members. By 28:08 God's grace, out of the 8, 5 are them are 28:10 still studying the Bible. Like, they are studying 28:14 the Bible. These are interests we gain from 28:17 knocking on doors. - Praise the Lord. So, 28:20 the seed was planted, the Holy Spirit watered 28:22 that seed and drew people into the church... 28:27 I'm happy that the pastor followed up. I mean, 28:30 that's so important, because you can go into 28:32 the community, but there has to be that 28:34 follow-up. That is important. We have 28:37 another picture. Let's look at this picture 28:39 and see what's going on in this particular 28:43 setting. - Oh, actually, this is a picture of 28:47 Okinawa. - Oh, this is Okinawa? - Yeah, let 28:49 me share one more story of Okinawa. One of the 28:52 guys there actually... He was a theology 28:56 major. He knocked on this door, and he met 29:01 this young person. They conversed, and he 29:06 decided to invite the young person to church. 29:09 That very Saturday, the young person came 29:13 to church! To this day, that young person keeps 29:17 coming to church every weekend. He's connected 29:20 to the local church, so those things happen, 29:22 too! - Praise the Lord. - It's quite interesting. 29:24 Okinawa, actually... In the last couple of 29:27 years, we've been there twice-same area. What's 29:32 interesting is, repetition deepens impression. 29:35 It really does. We had these people like, 29:39 "Hey, you guys came last time," or like, 29:42 "Oh, you came again. Last time, I didn't 29:45 buy anything, but, hey, since you came, I'm 29:48 going to buy." Or this one family... This lady, 29:54 she bought a vegetarian cookbook, a little 29:59 health book from this guy. She really enjoyed 30:03 those books. A year passed, and this guy 30:07 came again!- knocked on the same door and 30:09 she was like, "I recognize you!" "Oh, I recognize 30:11 you!" And they conversed, and she decided to 30:14 buy The Great Controversy and The Desire of Ages. 30:17 - Wow. So she got those two books. Those are 30:20 powerful books, too. We have a video roll 30:27 with testimonies that's in Japanese, but there's 30:30 English subtitles. Powerful video. Let's 30:34 check that out. 31:12 Translation: "'Whoa, seriously?' I think that 31:14 prayer became an amazing thing to me." 33:09 Translation: "They told me, 'You're amazing! Do 33:12 your best!" and bought a book from me. 33:50 - Wow. So, I saw in that video where there 33:54 were several testimonies about people buying 33:57 books, the love of Christ being shared 34:00 with them, and prayers that took place and all 34:04 of that stuff. Shows, again, why literature 34:07 evangelism is so important. Did you 34:10 grow up speaking Japanese? - No. My 34:14 mom made a rule in our homes that we 34:20 speak Japanese at home. So, conversationally, 34:23 like, "Hey, it's breakfast time!" or 34:24 "Hey, it's time to eat!" or "Time to 34:26 clean up." Those conversational Japanese... 34:29 I grew up learning, but reading and writing 34:33 is a whole different thing. I mean, I grew 34:36 up in California, so outside of my home, 34:38 it's English or Spanish. - And so, yeah, that's 34:43 why I was asking that question, because now, 34:44 you're in Japan and where you have to be 34:48 fluent in the language, I would imagine, reading 34:51 and writing, especially when you're going out 34:52 to do literature evangelism. So, how 34:54 did you learn that and how long did it 34:58 take you to learn? - You know, I think 35:00 that's part of God's miracle or God's 35:02 leading. When I went there, I was like, "Okay, 35:05 if I'm going to work here, especially if I'm 35:07 going to deal with books, I better know 35:08 how to read and write." So, I prayed. All I 35:13 did was- I memorized a LOT of Bible verses 35:16 in English and Japanese. So the same verses, I 35:18 memorized, memorized, memorized. I learned 35:20 the writing system, I'd practice, practice, 35:22 morning to evening, all I did was practice, 35:25 practice, practice, practice. After a month, I was 35:27 able to read and write. After these 35:32 couple of years, now I translate different 35:34 materials from Japanese to English or English 35:36 to Japanese, vice versa. We just published one 35:41 of the books I translated, so God is good! - Wow, 35:44 that is amazing! After a month, and you were 35:47 using the Word of God? Like, you were reading 35:50 the Bible in English and then reading it 35:52 in Japanese? - Yes, same places, yeah. 35:55 - Wow, and you learned how to read and write... 35:58 You know, that's amazing. - It's 36:00 amazing. It's a different story. Like, 36:02 "Oh, it's breakfast time!" or "It's time 36:04 to clean up!" Those are easy Japanese, 36:06 but it's a different story when you preach 36:08 the Word. You have to use different words, so 36:10 like, "How am I going to preach in Japanese? 36:13 I better memorize the Bible." So, that's what happened. 36:17 By God's grace, I can preach in Japanese, 36:20 as well. - Yes, that is amazing. What other 36:23 stories do you have from your time in 36:25 Japan? - There's a lot of stories, experiences- 36:32 I mean, just the fact that we have this Youth 36:35 Rush program in Japan is a story itself. But 36:41 this one thing we do... So, what am I doing 36:46 outside of Youth Rush? February, March, July, 36:49 August, [September], we have the Youth Rush programs. 36:52 During those times, I'm with the young 36:55 people. But outside of those times, we 36:58 plan for the next event or we recruit, 37:02 or we make materials; we decide, choose, and 37:07 vote, and help publish the books that we use 37:10 at doors. We also- I'm involved with Youth 37:14 Church in Tokyo - Setagaya Youth Church. 37:18 It's in Tokyo. It was actually part of the 37:20 13 Sabbath school offerings last quarter. 37:24 - Okay, okay! - It's a church plant. We had 37:28 less than 10 people there a couple years ago. 37:31 In fact, about five active church members. 37:33 The church was ready to close down. They 37:37 just did not have enough manpower to 37:39 keep the church going. Every week, they had 37:43 a TV screen, and they watched different 37:45 preachers preach on the TV screen. That was 37:47 their worship service. They were ready 37:49 to close down, but that's when the Union 37:51 president said, "Hold on. We're going to 37:53 turn this into a youth church." - Nice. - So, 37:57 myself and another pastor and his family 37:59 came, and we went there. God worked; God 38:03 worked, and we have over 30 people every 38:05 week going to that church. We have a 38:08 lot of young people. What I like about this 38:12 church... About half of the people that come 38:17 to church are not Adventist. Some of 38:21 them are not Christians! - Wow. - So, every 38:23 week, it's like an outreach. It's like an 38:26 evangelistic series. - Yeah, so they're 38:28 hearing this precious message for the first 38:31 time in their lives, some of them. That's 38:33 amazing. - It's a small church - a very small 38:36 church. 30 people or so; sometimes 40, 38:40 sometimes 50 - very small church, but we 38:42 have a lot of young people, kids coming 38:44 in. It's a nice opportunity right 38:48 there in Tokyo. - Absolutely. What's 38:51 your vision for Youth Rush Japan? - The 38:53 vision for Youth Rush Japan... Of course. I've 38:59 been there three years now. The vision is 39:03 for this ministry to keep going, continuing, 39:06 until Jesus comes - until probation closes, 39:09 keep knocking on doors. In order for that to 39:12 happen, we need to train young people 39:15 to become leaders. So, right now, we're mentoring 39:19 young leaders, college students, even high 39:22 school students, to let them know, "Hey, you 39:24 guys are called to be leaders." So we teach 39:28 them what it means to be a leader. What the 39:30 expectations are, and we give them opportunities 39:33 during the program. "Hey, you help me 39:35 lead this program. You help me train the young 39:37 people." Those kinds of things. The vision is 39:40 to have Youth Rush programs all over 39:44 Japan - not just in Japan, but where I 39:48 am at - it's North Asia Pacific Division. 39:51 We have China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, 39:54 and Japan and Mongolia and all those countries! 39:57 We want Youth Rush Mongolia, Youth Rush 39:59 Korea, Youth Rush China, Youth Rush Taiwan... 40:01 That's the vision. - Yes. - We need young 40:03 people to be on fire. So, what we need is, 40:06 we need young people to learn Chinese, learn 40:10 Korean. Maybe some of you who are watching 40:13 who have experience in Youth Rush or who have 40:14 experience in literature work, learn Korean! 40:17 Learn Chinese! Learn Taiwanese! Learn 40:19 Mongolian! You know? Learn those languages. 40:22 Maybe God is calling you to start Youth 40:26 Rush there. - Amen, amen. Yes, because 40:28 this gospel is to go into all the world. 40:31 Absolutely. So, what are some leadership 40:34 principles that you share with these kids? 40:38 What are some leadership principles 40:40 that you could share with our viewers? 40:42 - Of course, leadership principles are very 40:47 different things that we cover. A lot of the 40:51 things, I actually base it on the things I 40:53 learned at SOULS West. I made a little manual 40:56 in Japanese and pass it out. But as Christian 41:00 leaders, I think the most important thing 41:03 that I encourage, I really emphasize 41:06 this, get to know the Bible. Get to know the 41:08 Bible. Learn how to study the Bible, give 41:11 Bible studies, really... I even encourage them, 41:14 "Hey, memorize Bible verses. That will 41:15 help you." So, their personal walk with God... 41:19 You can't lead someone if you don't have a 41:21 personal walk with God, so start walking with 41:24 God, encourage others, "Hey, let's walk 41:26 together!" That's leadership. You start 41:29 walking and encourage others to start walking. 41:33 Other than that, we also teach them the 41:37 value of the health message. A lot of 41:41 the young people, they don't understand the 41:43 importance of health. "Oh, really? Pork? Oh, 41:46 really? Oh, those are unclean? Oh, okay. 41:49 Oh, alcohol is not good? Okay, okay!" 41:51 So, those health messages are also 41:53 important. So, we teach different principles 41:57 like that and encourage them. - So, just to 42:00 recap a little bit of what you're saying... 42:01 Basically, lead by example. How can you 42:06 lead people to Christ if you don't know 42:07 Him for yourself? You gotta study your Word 42:10 before you can teach the Word, study God's 42:13 Word before you can teach His Word, and 42:15 you have to take care of yourself, your health; 42:20 otherwise, you won't be healthy enough to 42:23 be a leader for other people. I have an uncle. 42:27 My uncle Arthur. Uncle Arthur, he would always 42:33 say, "You don't lead where you don't go, 42:35 and you don't teach what you don't know." 42:37 - Ohh. - And that stuck with me over the years. 42:40 You know? How can you teach somebody something 42:41 that you don't know and that you don't 42:43 really put in the practice? And you don't lead 42:45 where you don't go, you know? You don't tell 42:47 somebody to do something that you wouldn't 42:48 even do yourself. So, that really stuck with me. 42:53 Over the years, my mom teaching me about 42:56 having integrity and all these other things 43:00 that I'm sure that you guys are teaching 43:02 over there... People have to operate with 43:04 integrity and stuff like that. Yeah, absolutely. 43:07 - I forgot to mention, the most important 43:11 leadership principle, in my opinion, is... 43:14 It can be summarized in a few words. Trust 43:17 God, and dream big! That's it! Trust God 43:22 and dream big. Proverbs 3:5-7, the famous passage 43:26 says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine 43:29 heart; lean not unto thine own understanding. 43:31 In all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and 43:33 He shall direct thy path. Be not wise 43:36 in thine own eyes; fear the Lord and 43:38 depart from evil." - Amen. - That's it! 43:42 That's the principle right there. Trust 43:44 God and dream big. - And clearly, you 43:49 trusted God, 'cause you moved to Japan 43:51 and you're actively involved in the Youth 43:56 Rush, and now you're the project leader of 43:59 the Youth Rush! How did you discover God's 44:02 will, His plan, and His purpose for your life? 44:05 - You know...this explanation is still 44:11 stuck in my mind to this day. God leads 44:16 us a step at a time. The famous verse, 44:18 Psalms 119:105, "Thy Word is a lamp unto 44:21 my feet, light unto my path." It's a 44:24 lamp! Lamps don't brighten the whole 44:27 room up; it's steps at a time. Step at a 44:31 time. So, I just, step at a time, read the 44:35 Bible, study the Bible, and I ask God, "Hey, 44:38 where do you need me? Where is the work at? 44:41 Where's the harvest at?" I said, "All 44:43 right, there? I'm going there." Step 44:45 at a time. So I ask God, "Where can You 44:47 use me the most? Where are You happy the most?" 44:51 I just go where the need is. - Amen. - And 44:54 clearly, in Japan, less than 1% is Christian, so 44:57 there's a huge need. Harvest is great but 45:00 the laborers are few. - You're absolutely- 45:02 now, do your parents live in Japan? - My 45:04 parents actually live in California. - Oh, 45:07 they live in California. Okay. How often do 45:09 you get to see them? - Well, I see them once 45:14 a year or so. - Okay. I'm sure they're proud 45:18 of you and what you're doing over there in 45:20 Japan. - They seem to be happy. - Absolutely. 45:24 So, what's next for you with Youth Rush? 45:26 - With Youth Rush, right now, we started 45:33 out with just one program, but we're 45:35 increasing it to two simultaneous, three 45:38 simultaneous programs. We're training the 45:41 leaders, so our next step for Youth Rush 45:43 Japan is to keep increasing those 45:46 programs, and also to work together with 45:50 the local church. We actually have an 45:52 initiative project called, "All Rush 45:54 Japan." Not "Old Rush," but "All Rush." A-L-L. 45:58 Because after we have Youth Rush programs, 46:01 these church members and other people 46:03 are like, "How can I get involved? I want 46:06 to get involved." It's like, yes! We all need 46:08 to get involved. All Rush Japan is basically 46:13 an evangelism team at the local church 46:15 level that follows up on the interests that 46:18 we find during Youth Rush. They don't 46:21 necessarily knock on doors. Some of 46:23 them will write letters to their friends or 46:25 family. They will pray, they will cook, 46:26 whatever! Whatever they can, they all rush 46:29 together and share the gospel. - So in 46:32 other words, this is an all-inclusive rush. 46:36 - Yes. - No matter the age... All-inclusive 46:41 rush. - Yeah. - Nice, nice. So, what does 46:46 that look like- so, they're writing letters, 46:48 they don't knock on doors... - They knock 46:50 on doors. - Oh, they DO knock on doors? 46:52 - But not 8 hours a day. - Okay. - They 46:53 knock on doors a couple hours here and there, 46:55 but they don't run. They take it easy. 47:00 - A slower pace, a little bit especially 47:02 with the average age being 69 and up. Okay. Well, we 47:07 still have 2 pictures left. Wanna take a 47:10 look at one of these pictures, and then of 47:12 course, you can talk about what's going on 47:14 in this picture, then we'll go to the next 47:16 one. - Okay. - So, what's taking place 47:19 here? - Oh, this one is actually a picture 47:21 of... We just saw the video, but this one is actually 47:26 high school students. It was a program we 47:30 had over in a prefecture called Saitama (next 47:34 to Tokyo). But here, yeah. We had a lot of 47:38 energy. Lots of energy. - That's called Saitama? 47:41 - Yeah, Saitama. - Nice. So they were very energetic? 47:45 Very enthusiastic, too, spreading the 47:48 gospel? - Yes. - Nice. Nice. Let's take a 47:51 look at our next picture and see what's 47:53 going on. - Oh, this is actually a picture 47:55 of the leader candidates. These are young people 48:00 that we selected out of the 100+ young 48:02 people that went through these programs. We sat 48:06 down, prayed, and said, "Hey, these guys, 48:07 let's train them and encourage them to be 48:09 leaders!" Now, not all of them will be 48:11 leaders, but we give them opportunities to 48:14 become leaders. - Nice. And to prove themselves. 48:17 That's great. That is great. - And they're 48:19 holding out- the books that they were holding 48:21 out, that's the book that I translated 48:23 together with a fellow friend. - Wow. That's 48:27 amazing. You know, it's great that you're 48:29 providing them with leadership opportunities, 48:33 so it's a chance for them to prove themselves, 48:35 to grow, and all of those things. So, what 48:39 qualities do you look for when you guys are 48:42 selecting leaders? - Of course, one of the 48:47 qualities or experiences, they have to experience 48:50 Youth Rush Japan; that's a given. Another one 48:54 is, we're not necessarily looking for the highest 48:58 seller, you know? Who can sell the most number... 49:01 Not necessarily that, but hard work ethic. 49:04 Do they work hard even if they sell or don't 49:07 sell? Do they have positive attitudes? 49:10 That's important. We really look. Do they 49:12 have a positive attitude, and are they trusting 49:15 God? That's important. Trust God and dream big. 49:19 So, those two, basically, really hone in on 49:22 that. - Gotcha. Those are crucial. What are 49:24 some of your needs for Youth Rush Japan? 49:27 What are some of your needs? Is it finances, 49:29 is it volunteers, is it... I mean, what is 49:33 it? - You know, the biggest need- thankfully, 49:37 financially, things are moving forward. 49:40 The Union is on board and we're moving forward. 49:44 But the biggest need is we desperately 49:47 need more young people. The recruiting pool 49:51 is small, so we need a miracle. We need a 49:55 miracle where there's hundreds and thousands 49:57 of young people that join the church, or 49:59 perhaps, maybe people that are not Japanese. 50:03 Young people that are not Japanese, consider 50:06 going to Japan and attend the universities 50:09 and colleges there, and during breaks, 50:12 you can do Youth Rush Japan. That's an option, 50:15 too. - Or you can just have missionaries come 50:18 from the United States, or wherever around the 50:20 world, to go to Japan and participate in 50:24 Youth Rush. - That would be good, too. 50:25 - Nice. - Just be ready to learn the language. 50:29 - Yes, yes. And are there people there 50:32 to help them? Like, if someone wants to go 50:36 to Youth Rush, is there somebody that can help 50:39 them learn the language? - You know, at this 50:42 point, we don't have a solid system or structure. 50:45 That's something we definitely want to 50:47 create in the future. So, right at this 50:51 time, you just gotta study hard yourself 50:54 and memorize those words. - Well, the 50:56 good thing is is, 1) they can either do it how you 51:00 did it with a Japanese Bible and a Bible that's 51:03 in English and they can take a look at 51:05 the scriptures, or they can go online. 51:08 Nowadays, we have access to so much 51:09 information at our fingertips that they 51:12 can learn online, as well, if they want to 51:14 participate. Are there housing opportunities 51:16 over there? Is there somebody they can stay 51:18 with if they were to go? - I think there 51:22 are different churches. I think the best way 51:26 is to enroll in one of the public universities 51:29 or colleges. You can do campus ministry and Youth 51:32 Rush together. [laughter] - Well, look-our time 51:36 is almost up. This is crazy how fast it 51:39 went by. We're going to go to your address 51:41 roll and tell people how they can get in 51:43 contact with you. - The Lord is blessing 51:46 the efforts of young people in Japan who are 51:49 doing literature evangelism, searching 51:51 for souls who are open and eager to find Jesus 51:54 Christ. Their most pressing need is for 51:57 more young people to join him in this effort. 51:59 So if you would like to come to Japan, 52:01 prepared to learn the language and witness for 52:03 Christ at the same time, then Youth Rush 52:06 Japan would like to hear from you. Daniel's 52:09 email is YouthRushJapan@adventist.jp 52:14 That's YouthRushJapan@adventist.jp |
Revised 2019-01-10