Kidneys, Bicycles, and Sheepskins (...and Grasshoppers and Neighbors too!)

How's that for a blog title! Strange, huh? So here's the thing: Kidneys, Bicycles, and Sheepskins (...and Grasshoppers and Neighbors too!)—each word connects to a story about outreach that took place earlier this week here in Japan.

But that's not all. The individual stories also link together to illustrate powerful lessons on witnessing and on taking credit when someone becomes a Christian.

First, kidneys—On Monday, Jodi Davis, a longtime staff member of SYME (our Dean of English), received a phone call from a friend in Karuizawa. The friend owns a beauty shop and cuts hair for several on our staff. Sometime ago she became a Christian, which makes our friendship with her doubly blessed. She phoned to let Jodi know that her husband would be having surgery on Tuesday afternoon and that the doctors had warned against the possibility of him dying. Jodi shared this with me, so the two of us went to the hospital Tuesday morning, along with one of the young Japanese men also on staff here. When we arrived, we met up with our friend and another lady who is the mother of one of our other staff members and a capable translator. Eventually we were able to visit with the husband in his hospital room. Keep in mind, even though our friend had become a Christian a few years ago, her husband was still not a believer. He often studied the Bible and many people have been praying for him, but he still hadn't made a profession of faith. Now, a few hours before surgery, one of the factors aggravating his condition was kidney failure. He had to go on dialysis a long time ago. Jodi talked with him for a few minutes at the side of his hospital bed, then they motioned for me to take her place to pray. I explained through the translator that I understood about kidney problems, since I had one removed when I was a boy. I also explained how the Lord used that to bring me to himself. Then I prayed and asked the Lord to be with him through the surgery. After praying, I shared how I also understood that he had been studying the Bible and knew very well who Jesus Christ is. I said I thought it was time for his knowledge of Jesus to go from his head down into his heart, that it was time for him to become a believer in Jesus. Well, to everyone's surprise, the man agreed. So I led in prayer, the mother of our staff member translated, and the man repeated after her to confess his new heart-deep faith in Christ. Once Jodi, the young Japanese man from our staff, and I arrived back at SYME, it sunk in how the Lord used my experience with losing a kidney many years ago to connect me with this man, now a dear brother in Christ. Praise the Lord!

Next, bicycles—On Wednesday, a local chapter of the Gideons invited SYME to help distribute Japanese New Testaments at a nearby Junior High school. Most of us set our alarms for 5 am (that's still not early enough to beat the sunrise; the sun comes up early here!) to be ready to leave the building by 5:45 am for the drive to the school. We arrived, organized ourselves into smaller groups, took up positions near the entrances, and waited for the students to pass by. From 7:30 am until 8:15 am, a steady stream of students, all of them wearing blue, sailor-looking school uniforms, paraded past us as we greeted them with smiles, with a steady chorus of "Good morning" (in English), and with copies of the New Testament extended from our hands to theirs. Many of them were on bicycles. Most slowed down long enough to say "Good morning" in reply, while taking a New Testament, and then stowing it in their bicycle's front basket before pedaling on. Someone told us almost 750 students attend that particular school. Nearly all of them took a New Testament. Some didn't at first, but then came back to get one when they saw all their friends with theirs. I saw one student return several times, some of his friends in tow, to make sure they got a copy of the New Testament too. By the time we finished, we had distributed more than 700 Japanese New Testaments. It was thrilling to be part of this outreach. Often I had to hold back tears as I thought about how physically close these young people now are to hearing truth about Jesus. For many, if not most, it will be their first exposure to the Gospel. As we returned to our cars for the drive back to SYME, I found myself singing the last part of Psalm 19 as a kind of prayer for their salvation: "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul...."

Now, sheepskins (and grasshoppers)—On Thursday, we packed up SYME and took it to a nearby university for a special "English conversation" event. For a good reason, which you might be able to imagine, I can't go into a lot of detail in the blog about how well the day went and how fruitful our contacts were. Suffice it to say, we think our contacts with the students and business people who attended will yield many long-term friendships. And we are excited about that! Oh, yes...sheepskins. One of my new friends from this day is in the sheepskin business. He and I are about the same age, so we enjoyed some common ground as we talked. The grasshoppers are a story by themselves. The person who organized the event had us divide into teams for an activity. Each team had to choose a native speaker to be their captain. My team chose me. What a great privilege! As it turns out, each captain was required to demonstrate their leadership by example. How so, you ask?  By consuming a dried grasshopper! Fun fact—dried grasshoppers do NOT taste like chicken!

Finally, neighbors—Andrew and Janae Gonnerman, recently appointed missionaries with Baptist Mid-Missions, are participating in SYME life and evangelism training this fall. This past June, they completed a one-year internship with Joe and Noney Mita in Iwatsuki. Andrew also served on two of our Nippon Initiative summer teams prior to the internship. During their year long stint, among other ministries, Andrew and Janae taught English. One of their neighbors, an older man, began to attend. Well, we heard Thursday that this neighbor has decided to become a Christian. We know that Andrew and Janae made a big impact on this man. The person who ended up leading him to Christ is the husband of the woman who became a Christian almost two years ago through an evangelism event that Dale and I spoke for in the Iwatsuki church. Shortly after the woman came to know the Lord, her husband also became a believer. The woman herself passed away from cancer last summer. Meanwhile, her husband has grown spiritually by leaps and bounds, having been discipled by Pastor Mita. Now he has led Andrew and Janae's former neighbor to the Lord!

Links and lessons—Connections between words in the blog title and the stories they tell stand out well enough. But were you able to link the stories to a lesson or two on witnessing?

The first lesson locates all of our witnessing for Christ within a much larger network of fellow believers. No witness is an island, as John Donne might say. We belong to a vast network of other witnesses joined in sharing Christ, all of them under God's hand contributing to the tipping point of conversion. Numerous people through the years had shared with the man who professed faith in Christ prior to surgery on Tuesday. Many had prayed earnestly. Many had shown Christ's love to him. Many had shed tears for his soul. They couldn't all be present when he opened his heart to the Lord from his hospital bed, but they were there. You know what I mean.

Similarly, if any of the Junior High students believe in Christ after reading from one of the New Testaments they received on Wednesday, their conversion will represent the involvement of many people. Think of all the people connected to publishing and distributing the Bibles, including people who gave and then prayed for the students. Those of us distributing were only the tip of the witnessing iceberg. The same kinds of things could be said about any conversions that might come from the sheepskins and grasshoppers event. And as for the neighbor who became a Christian? The people in the network of Christians involved in his salvation are too numerous to map. They include the ones who first sent us to Japan under the banner of the Nippon Initiative, coupled with the Mitas in the Iwatsuki church and those who sent them as missionaries, added to the woman whose heart the Lord opened two years ago, and who influenced her husband to trust in Christ—the man who then led the Gonnerman's neighbor to the Lord. Connected just as strongly to all of these are Pastor Mita, who discipled the man who led the neighbor to Christ, joined with the Gonnermans, who invited the neighbor to their English class, coupled with those who sent the Gonnermans to Japan (first for the Nippon Initiative summer teams and then for the year-long internship). Most people in this network will never meet the neighbor who trusted Christ, still they played strategic roles up-line from the brother who led him to the Lord.

Ultimately, these kinds of networks contribute to the excitement of sharing Christ with others. I feel very blessed to be part of a staff that eagerly involves itself in networks such as these. I'm also blessed to be part of a larger network of Christians who have come before me as witnesses to the non-Christian people I encounter. I'm blessed as well to think of others who will come after. The Apostle Paul said it best: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6).

The second lesson from the stories of our outreaches this week focuses on giving and receiving credit for the conversions of people we evangelize. I almost entitled this post, "Evangelism—a Downline Outreach Experience." The key word is Downline. I've been thinking a lot this week about how similar evangelism is to networks involving downline marketing. Don't get me wrong, I know evangelism is not marketing. It's the downline part that attracted my attention. Evangelistic success and downline marketing share something in common. In both cases, the rewards for successes accrue to other people in the network who come before. One person makes a sale, but dozens of others up-line share in the reward. That's the way rewards for success works in evangelism. All of us are in each other's networks. So the credit for successes accrue in some measure to all of us. Later in 1 Corinthians 3, Paul declared: "He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor" (v. 8). 

I've also been thinking a lot this week about why people like to take all the credit unto themselves for leading someone to the Lord. If the stories of kidneys, bicycles, sheepskins (...and grasshoppers and neighbors too) highlight the involvement of so many when someone becomes a believer, then why would any one person try to take credit for the success? Once again, the Apostle Paul said it best: So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the increase...For we are God's fellow workers" (1 Corinthians 3:7,9).

A desire for individual credit and glory is a fatal attraction—so appealing at first, but in the end it damages the effectiveness of the network, since it pushes God out. And without God, we can expect no further "increase."

Kidneys, bicycles, and sheepskins (...grasshoppers and neighbors, too)—I don't think I will ever forget this week. And I hope I will also never forget the lessons they teach about witnessing and giving God the glory for our success.