Please keep praying:

• Ask God to save the Japanese non-Christians who attended the candlelight service held at a church that meets at CAJ on December 23 (see photo).
• Praise God that Caitlin arrived safely—thanks for praying! She'll be with us until January 3.
• Ask God to provide staff for next year. CAJ needs secondary teachers (social studies/English, science/math, and resource room).

Merry Christmas! And thanks for being involved in God's work in Japan.

—Michael & Kim

Before Caitlin arrives, Kim's students are doing presentations, Anneke has exams, and I'm working on the Bible curriculum.

Thanks for praying:

• Ask God to draw Japanese non-Christians to Himself through the special Christmas events CAJ parents are doing.
• Ask God to provide staff for next year. CAJ needs teachers (middle school science/math and high school social studies/English).
• Ask God to provide Caitlin with travel safety to Japan on Dec. 18.

How can we pray for you? Please feel free to send us your requests.

—Michael

As a leadership developer, I want leaders to grow. And a good sign that leaders are growing is when leaders help others grow. Here are 4 leaders I work with who are helping others grow!

Anda, CAJ’s high school principal, is planning to have each student complete a profile to help him understand the type of learner he is. This information will be shared with high school teachers, who can then adjust instructional strategies to help students who learn better when seeing something, hearing something, or moving around. My role? I arranged the workshop Anda attended on how students learn.
 
Scott, a curriculum coordinator in Thailand, is helping teachers learn about integrating faith and learning. He’s excited that teachers are discussing questions like “How does God’s Word connect to the part of God’s world your students study?” He’s also excited that teachers are seeing “real, natural, thoughtful changes in their classrooms.” My role? The training materials he’s using are ones I developed for CAJ.
 
Joel, our mission’s international director, wants to support leadership development. He knows that good resources can help missionaries develop leaders. And he is planning to discuss a set of leadership development resources at his next International Program Team meeting. My role? I compiled the set of leadership development resources, using contributions from missionaries in our mission.
 
Steve, a house church coordinator, wants to help missionaries more effectively disciple Japanese Christians. He is preparing to share some of his ideas, including “Training is about taking action, not taking notes.” My role? I asked Steve questions to help him identify his ideas and think about how to communicate them.


Thanks for praying

• Praise God that CAJ teachers are applying what they learned in a Nov. 3 workshop on teaching strategies.
• Praise God for providing Judith Alexander with the energy she needs to teach Bible 7 and English 7.
• Ask God to help Anda, Scott, Joel, and Steve to keep growing and to keep helping others grow.

What’s happening?

• Nov. 17: Kim and Michael work with teachers on developing CAJ’s curriculum.
• Nov. 22-24: Kim talks with parents at parent/teacher conferences.
• Dec. 7-10: Michael participates in mission meetings on leadership development.

—Michael

In Bible 10, how can we help our students develop and live out a Christ-centered worldview? That's the question I helped high school Bible teachers think about this past Wednesday. 

We started our discussion by celebrating student learning, for example, 9th graders effectively applying creation-fall-redemption-restoration and 11th graders applying what they learned in Bible 10 during an 11th grade English class on good and evil.

Then we considered 3 things regarding Bible 10:

• What we want to avoid (student hubris), preserve (focus on Bible), and achieve (build on Bible study skills).
• The Bible standards this course should address.
• Key questions we want CAJ students to grapple with (Who is God? What's the problem? What's the solution?).

Please keep praying:

• Praise God for the good discussion at the Oct. 27 Bible teacher meeting.
• Ask God to use Bible class to work in the hearts of non-Christian Japanese CAJ students.
• Ask God to help teachers use what they learn in the Nov. 3 workshop on teaching methods to enhance their teaching.

—Michael
P.S. Want to see some photos of downtown Tokyo?
P.P. S. Want to see some worldview teacher training materials I've developed?

I'm sitting on the grass with my group of 10th graders. We're doing our final debriefing for our Oct. 4-7 unit. (In the unit, the 10th graders learned about  God's world and about collaboration.)

Here's what my students are saying they learned:

• I didn't know God said so much about complaining, and I do it a lot. I want to stop complaining.
• I found out that leadership is easy for me, but being a servant is hard. I want to really work on serving others this year.
• I often have a negative attitude. I want to have a more positive attitude, and I want my friends to help me focus on that.

Thanks for asking God to help my students learn about His world and about collaboration.

—Kim
P.S. Be sure to check out these photos of the Oct. 4-7 unit at Lake Yamanaka, located near Mt. Fuji.

Praise God that CAJ English teachers and Bible teachers made progress on the curriculum on Sept. 20. Kim worked with English teachers to align course objectives and assignments. I worked with Bible teachers to identify key themes.

Ask God to help CAJ 10th graders learn to care for God’s creation and to collaborate effectively with each other while participating in an interdisciplinary unit Oct. 4-7. Kim is responsible for the unit.

Thanks being involved in God's work in Japan.

—Michael
P.S. Want to ride the train to our train station? If so, watch this short video.

Ride the train from Hibarigaoka to Higashi Kurume (where we live).

Here’s what happened:

1. Sunday, the youth group Anneke helps lead had its first meeting—went well.
2. Monday, Kim graded her English 10 tests. Her students used a Biblical perspective.
3. Wednesday, I helped a bilingual Christian school pursue its initial accreditation.
4. Thursday, Kim's students used Micah 6:8 to assess the behavior of story characters.
5. Friday, I went jogging before school.

Please pray: Ask God to help Kim/me to provide effective leadership as we work with CAJ Bible/English teachers on curriculum development for 5 hours on Monday.

We're grateful for your prayers, gifts and friendship.

—Michael

Thanks for praying that CAJ would get the staff it needs for this year. God answered your prayer by providing 11 new staff, one of whom is Judith.

The bell rings, ending the first day back to school after the summer holiday. Students burst noisily out of classrooms, eager to catch up with friends. I climb up the stairs, against the flow of students streaming out of the building, to stop by the room of Judith Alexander, CAJ’s new 7th grade English, social studies, and Bible teacher.
 
I wait for Judith to finish talking with a student at her desk. Then I ask her how her first day was.
 
“The students are so responsive!” Judith beams. “They answer questions. They even cheer!” Judith has been teaching Japanese college students who tend to sit attentively waiting to take notes, but do less interacting.
 
I’m glad Judith is feeling good about her day. She hasn’t had a long summer break like most CAJ teachers—she finished teaching her Japanese college students on August 2, spent the next week marking final assignments and moving across Tokyo to her new apartment near CAJ, started new teacher orientation at CAJ on August 16, and began teaching her CAJ 7th graders on August 25.
 
As I leave the room, Judith is talking with Sachi (the 7th grade ESL teacher), Helen (the 7th grade math teacher), and Debbie (the 7th grade science teacher). As English Department chair, I’m happy to see Judith settling into her role in the 7th grade team.


Thanks for praying

• Praise God for helping 11 new staff transition to Japan/CAJ.
• Praise God that CAJ is off to a good start. CAJ has 449 students in K-12.
• Ask God to provide Judith with the energy she needs to minister effectively to her CAJ 7th graders.

What’s happening?

• Sept. 14-15: Michael helps Kyoto International University Academy with its accreditation.
• Sept. 17: Michael coaches a missionary.
• Sept. 20: Kim works with other English teachers on curriculum development.

—Kim

We're back in Tokyo, where the weather is hot and humid. In spite of the heat, we're enjoying walking to the store (instead of taking the car like we did while on home assignment).

We're together. Kim arrived in Japan in mid-July, and I arrived last weekend. We had safe travels—thanks for praying.

We're off to a good start. August 16-18, new staff members completed orientation —thanks for praying. New staff got set up on computers, learned about curriculum mapping, and prepared for the first week of classes. August 19-20, we had staff orientation, which included sessions on school improvement and curriculum development.

And we need your prayers:

• Ask God to help CAJ's new students make a good transition to CAJ.
• Ask God to help classes to get off to a good start. Classes begin on Wed., 8/25.

Thanks for your prayers, gifts, and friendship.

—Michael

Use examples, surveys, and indicators to measure mission achievement.

Good meetings are on TARGET in terms of team purpose, assessment, results, guidelines, effective facilitation, and types of meetings.

Reflect on your goals daily, weekly, quarterly, and annually.

If you want to help your students to better connect God's world and Word, meet these 5 needs.

Here are 5 things you can do to move forward on using questions to help your students connect God's world and Word.

Here are 5 things you can do to move forward on using assessment to help your students connect God's world and Word.

Here are 5 things you can do to move forward on helping your students connect God's world and Word.

When you facilitate, make sure your listen, inquire, focus, and encourage.

Facilitate from your heart, from beliefs you have about personal growth.

To help workshop participants learn and apply their learning, meet their needs. Give them support, concrete examples, opportunities to apply their learning, reflection time, and engaging instruction.

Kim, how’s your home assignment going?
We’re having a good time. We’ve shared with supporters in Alaska, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, and California. And we’ve attended 2 family reunions. You may remember that Michael has to be in the US for 6 months due to a US/Japan agreement on Social Security. Recently Michael received the US government documentation he needs regarding Social Security—so he’s all set to return to Japan in mid-August!

Michael, what school work have Kim and you been doing?
Kim’s been reviewing the secondary English curriculum, doing some professional reading (like An Essential Guide to Public Speaking), and preparing to lead a book discussion in the fall on Productive Group Work. I’ve been developing 4 kits designed to help teachers help students connect God’s world and Word. Each kit has 7 lessons. In each lesson, teachers share how they applied what they learned in the previous lesson, discuss an article, and identify their next action steps.
 
Kim, what will you and Michael be doing next school year at CAJ?
To equip students, I’ll continue teaching English 10. To empower CAJ staff, Michael will train teachers, assist with curriculum development, and coordinate professional development; and I’ll serve as the chair of the English Department.
 
Michael, what’s your vision for Japan?
Through equipping CAJ students and empowering CAJ staff, Kim and I want to impact Japan for Jesus. We want to see CAJ students living out a Christian worldview and to see CAJ staff more fully using their God-given gifts to serve others. Ultimately, we want to see Japanese non-Christians getting saved, Japanese Christians growing, and Japanese churches thriving.


Thanks for praying:

• Praise God for travel safety on 7/5 from MI to CA.
• Ask God for travel safety on 7/23 when Kim, Caitlin, and Anneke fly to Japan, and Michael flies to MI.
• Ask God to help the 11 new CAJ staff make a smooth transition to Japan/CAJ.

What’s happening?

• 8/16-18: New staff orientation at CAJ
• 8/19-20, 23: Staff meetings
• 8/25: First day of classes