Our Early Ministry

After pastoring a church in Georgia for two years, we began deputation in November 1984. 17 months, 200 churches, and thousands of miles later, we were ready to leave for Japan. Our home church (at the time), Beacon Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennessee, commissioned us to carry the gospel of our Lord and Savior to Japan. By God’s grace, we arrived in Japan on April 2, 1986.

Shortly after arriving, I began preaching in Japanese (it helps to grow up on the mission field). We began working in Chiba, a city 20 miles east of Tokyo, at Makuhari Bible Baptist Church. God blessed the work there. Cindy, after studying the language, became active in the ladies’ and children’s ministry at Makuhari. By the time we left Makuhari we were averaging over 40 adults in our Sunday morning services.

In April 2003, we turned the work at Makuhari over to a national pastor, Brother Kamiyama. Pastor Kamiyama and the people of Makuhari are faithfully carrying on the work. We are so thankful to see how God is continuing to bless them and their ministry in Chiba.

While at Makuhari, God blessed with many Japanese trusting Christ as their Savior. God also blessed us with several who were called into full-time ministry. First, Brother Kitaoka was saved and called into the ministry. He started and is currently pastoring Sapporo Eastside Bible Baptist Church in Hokkaido, Japan. Next, Amy, an American studying Japanese, was saved and called to serve the Lord. After graduating from Bible School, she married Jim Smith, who was also called into full-time serve. Jim and Amy and their 3 kids are currently in Japan as missionaries.  Later, Keiko, after being saved as a child through our Sunday School, was called to serve the Lord. After graduating from Bible School, Keiko married a man who is now an associate pastor at Grace Kobe Baptist Church, in Kobe. Around the same time, Reiko (also a member of Makuhari) was called to serve the Lord. After graduating from Bible School, she married a man who is currently working as an associate pastor at Hallelujah Baptist Church, in Yamagata Prefecture. Bethany, our daughter, is married to Daniel Davidson, who pastors Hillview Baptist Church, in Springfield, OR (our sending church).  Jonathan, our son, is a missionary to Japan. He and his family are currently working with us in Nagaoka.

Our Recent Ministry

After reporting back to many of our supporting churches, we returned to Japan in May 2004. Upon our return, we went to Niigata Prefecture, a very needy area of 2.5 million Japanese, without 1 Independent Baptist church.

For the next 3 years, we teamed up with a Japanese national (Pastor Kajisa) to start the Joetsu Bible Baptist Church in Joetsu City (in Niigata Prefecture). During those 3 years, God blessed us with a good number of professions of faith and 5 who followed the Lord in believer’s baptism. After helping to get this work off to a good start, we felt the need to move on to another city in Niigata, the city of Nagaoka.

Nagaoka is a city 50 miles northwest of Joetsu, with a population of 280,000 people. Yet there was not one Baptist church in this city. We moved from Joetsu to Nagaoka in October 2007. We are currently teamed up with another missionary family (the Stanfords) to start the Agape Bible Baptist Church in this city.  Our prayer is for a Japanese couple to join our team in Nagaoka.

Our main thrust, in reaching the Japanese, is door-to-door tract distribution. This is physically exhausting work, but we have seen God bless and use His Word to open the heart of the Japanese to the gospel message. We are also using a website to introduce our church and to provide audio preaching messages (in Japanese) to those who visit. We pray that God will continue to bless and use us in this new work.

Recent Changes

In May 2017, God opened the door for us to buy land and a building. After, 2 years of working on the building, we moved into our new location in September 2019. Our new location provided us with plenty of building and lots of parking. It is located 5 minutes from the center of our city, just off a major by-pass. We pray that God will bless our work at this new location. Pray with us that many more souls will be saved. Pray for many to be called into full-time service.

In May 2019, Beacon Baptist Church (Nashville, TN), our sending church for the past 34 years, closed its doors. We were shocked and saddened by this. Thankfully, God raised up another church that stepped in as our new sending church. Now we are sent out by Hillview Baptist Church (Springfield, OR). Hillview is pastored by our son-in-law, Daniel Davidson. We are so thankful for God providing us with a new sending church that has a real heart for lost souls all around the world.

We thank the Lord for His bountiful blessings and for many wonderful churches that are so faithful to pray for and support our ministry in Japan.