Yabuki Breeze Blog

One of the more interesting parts of my job in the international students ministry is the meetings that I have the privilege of being a part of. The last two weeks I took part in several very important meetings. Among the things we met about were:

• Charting the course of a new ministry initiative for ISI in developing a new discipleship and outreach ministry strategy
• Meeting to help look at sites for our ISI national conference in June of 2012 in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
• taking students furniture
• Sharing at a national conference of South Asian (Indians, Pakistanis, etc.) Christians about the possibilities for them doing ministry with international students
• Picnic meeting with our family and our friendship partner students and their friends and families from China
• Meeting with students to share the Bridge illustration.
• Meeting to share at a seminary class about helping with ministry with international students
• Meeting with our friends from Central Asia to discover what the Bible says
• Meeting with a staff friend in New York over the phone to encourage each other in ministry
• Meeting with a church friend about the possibility of working together on a special project
• Meeting with some seminary students who have decided to focus on serving Indians at UTA and doing some pioneer work there
• Meeting to prayer walk with a couple of people
• Meeting with a man who wants to volunteer and share about our ministry for a mobilization effort called Perspectives
• Meeting to talk and plan for Friday nights with several individuals
• Meeting with another couple to talk about how to help with international students
• Meeting with a national speaker, who wrote the book Death of a Guru on Hindu ministry

Okay, I think you get the message. Honestly, each of these things were energizing and invigorating… It reminds me that God is at work right now. Continue to pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise up more people for the harvest. Also pray that he will take these that He has risen up already that He will empower them to share with the 18,000he 18,000
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja! Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se za?ne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!

WP-Bible plugin international students in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area the love and message of Christ.

The original purpose of the Friday group going to two different locations was to alleviate pressure in the homes that we meet in. There were just too many people for our homes. We are praising the Lord because while the late group is growing and developing a regular following and a level of stability, the early group is still bursting at the seams with as many as 50 people still coming. God is working in different ways in each group and he is able to touch different types of people in different ways because of the different natures of the groups. Praise the Lord. Pray that the Lord of the Harvest will raise up more workers (and maybe more and bigger houses to host) Pray also that the students will still feel like while we meet at different locations, we are still “one group” following one Lord.

Tags: Bible, China, church, Conference, Dallas, Family, Fort Worth, Friday Night, Friendship Partner, Hindu, India, Ministry, Mobilization, pray, Seminary, Strategy, UTA

What a week last week was! In one week I learned new ideas on ministering to Hindu’s, heard from a Nobel Peace Prize winner, met international students advisors from around the world, shared about the importance of getting involved with Web 2.0 for ministry to international students, communed with international student ministers from all over the world. Wow!  All these things happened within the beautiful setting of Southern California!

NAFSA Conference and Muhammad Yunus

Right after I got off the airplane from Texas, I go into a car and drove to the Los Angeles Convention Convention Center to join a conference  for university international student advisors from around the country put on by NAFSA the trade organization. It was an incredible opportunity to network and learn about trends related to interntional students in America. The keynote speaker was 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus. It was truly and honor to hear him speak about his experience with Grameen Bank, a microbanking concept that has swept the less developed world. His vision was huge and it was an inspiring talk from a former international student who is making a different back in his home country and around the world (including in the US now). In addition, I was able to share a great day with longtime ministry partner Debra Basler who is the assistant director of the ELI (English Language Institute) at UTA.

Learning About our Hindu Friends

After spending a delightful evening with my parents and observing them as they hosted a Church planter leadership training meeting at their house using video curriculum from the International School of Ministry, I went to another part of LA for a three day conference on a novel way to encourage Hindu’s to become followers of Jesus as their Deva, thus becoming Yeshu Bhakta (Jesus Devotees). This allows them to stay within their culture while remaining followers of Jesus. It helped to rekindle my love for Indian people. We heard some wonderful Bhajan music(with one of the leaders of Aradhna (Listen Here), a band we will host in the DFW area in September, leading us), sat on the floor (I felt at home with that with my Japanese background), learned more about the Hindu worldview, etc. It was a lot of fun and challenging and I hope it will help us to minister to the needs of our hindu friends better. Right after, 4 of 9 staff from Texas who came to the conference as a Baptist Student Ministry ministers went to India to experience the culture first hand.

ACMI Conference

After that intense time, we moved on to Azusa, CA for the ACMI conference for people who minister to international students around the US, this year hosted by our colleague, Andy Pearce and the other ministries in Los Angeles to international students. This was the first time that I had the privilege of going to this special conference. Walking around, it was so special to see the many legends of ISM (International Student Ministry). It was really fun. I had the special opportunity to bring the first plenary session. I spoke to attendees about how important it is for them to use Web 2.0 tools for what they do in reaching students of today. I focused on Facebook as my primary example. I think it was effective because throughout the conference people were coming up to me telling me that they have not been involved with Web 2.0 up to this point but felt compelled to learn more. Later in the conference three of us led 5 workshops on getting started with Web 2.0 and it was fun watching people getting to a point where they were getting it… The networking was incredible too as was the opportunity to hear research from several of our colleagues about the latest trends in international student ministry. One of the special things about this type of conference is seeing old friends including our original mentors in ISM, the Gonzagas and our former UTA team member Frank Ho who now lives in CA.

Spending time with the Family
It seems this year that I have been in California almost as much as I have been in Texas. I don’t know what it is. The last couple of years I had only been there less than once a year but this year it’s been four times so far. I am so thankful that God has allowed me this opportunity to be involved with the ministries I have been a part of there but also time with my family was good. After the conference, I had the chance to catch up with my parents and even paint my sister’s new house. It was a real blessing.

Tags: ACMI, Aradhna, California, Hindu, India, Ministry, speaking, Technology

Roy met with around 60 new Indian students as he was invited to share about the Big Howdy with the Fine Arts Society of India. It was truly and honor to be able to share with the largest “ethnic” or any club on campus at UTA. In addition, another church was invited to share about a picnic the following day and over 60 students showed up. We are beginning to sense some new openness with Indian on multiple campuses.

Tags: Fine Arts Society, India, Indians, UTA