by Pastor Victor Chen

At a pastors conference in 2020 weeks before the stay-at-home order, we all received various books as conference gifts.

Little did I know that one book would help carry me through that tumultuous year at home. 

“Gentle and Lowly” by Dane Ortlund is a profound and powerful book centered on Matthew 11:28-30:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (ESV)

I found myself coming back to these words of Jesus as I tried to grapple with the events swirling in the world, in my home and in my soul. This book would bring me back to this invitation by Jesus time and time again. 

Here are three reasons why I recommend this book:

It feeds you the Word

As Christians, we know we’re supposed to go to the Lord first and feed on His Word rather than social media. However in times of crises, it’s easy to fall down that online rabbit hole of trying to figure out what is going on, whether things are getting better and when it will all end. I needed to have a guide to lead me back to God’s Word. This book was that guide for me.

The book is not meant to be read in one sitting. It provides profound meditations in short chapters on the heart of Jesus through the Word that force you to pause, ponder and reflect. This is exactly what I needed.

It explores the heart of Jesus

Many Christian books may claim to bring you to Jesus. This book is one of the few that seriously explores the heart of our gentle Savior. Ortlund revisits the Puritan meditations on the heart of Christ and in a time when trust is lost among leaders, this couldn’t be more timely. Many times I found myself captured by the heart of Jesus and marveled, “Wow. What a Savior.”

It invites you to come to Jesus

This book is not trying to promote the author or push a certain agenda. This book is trying to invite us to come to Jesus and find rest for our souls from the One who is gentle and lowly in heart. 

That’s it.

That’s just what we need right now.

Due to the generous donation of Crossway publishers, our church received 208 free copies of the book, “Gentle and Lowly”. Please contact me at vchen@evergreensgv.org to arrange a time to pick up your free copy!

by Darren Inouye

2020 was a year in which normality was interrupted and challenged. Our normal experience of church changed, and in that change I believe God was refining me.

One area of refining was my view of “church worship”. I felt this refinement begin at the first outdoor service my family attended. Daniel Gee was leading worship acapella, and we could barely hear his voice as the sound setup was limited. We had to rely on the voices of our brothers and sisters singing beside us to follow along in worship. There was no fancy trickery to pull me out of our reality during that Sunday worship time. You could hear the shaky, amateur, beautiful and real voices of people praising God. You could hear the muffling of their voices as they struggled to sing while wearing masks, contextualizing the times we were in. In past “normal” seasons, I may have considered these very things a distraction, but in that time and on that Sunday, these were the instruments and people who led me into worship. 

When Pastor Victor initially let me know that we would have summer worship nights, I was overjoyed to be outside again worshipping with brothers and sisters. I remembered how we exalted the Lord above our pains, struggles, differences, and successes.

During those summer nights we joined together in the singing of prayers, truths and scripture within and despite the contexts of our individual lives. Once again, God showed me beauty through the simple, real and messy worship of people who love Him and lift their voices to exalt Him. 

The outdoor services of 2020 and the summer worship nights of 2021 were a great reminder to me that worship is so much more than excellence of sound. They challenged me to appreciate worship contextualized by real people undergoing real struggles and exalting the name of our Lord Jesus through it all.

by James Chow

Greetings brothers and sisters of Evergreen Church.  I want to thank the pastoral staff for permitting me to share about my road of discipleship as it pertains to the persecuted church.  This blog spot is a return to five years ago, when I was searching for clarity on my next steps towards retirement.  God gave me a strong conviction where His prompting was strong.  It arose from a time of meditation on Gal 6:9-10, which states,

 “9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”

The part of the verse that shouted out to me was “…. especially to those of the household of the faith.”  God brought to my heart and mind the numerous brethren around the world who are suffering persecution.  Persecution takes on various forms.  Here in America for the faithful, we are dismissed, derided, or ignored.  Our brethren who reside in Middle East countries like Iran and Syria, African countries like Egypt and Nigeria, Asian countries like India and China, and Latin American countries like Colombia, all have a target on their back because of their faith.  Humiliation, theft of livelihood, imprisonment, torture, and death are all instruments of the Enemy and have been deployed against our “household of the faith”.  These household ties continue to tug at my heart, prompting me to share with them as if I was with them (Heb 13:3).  In God’s timing, I was introduced to an organization called Voice of the Martyrs (VOM, www.persecution.com).  Through their monthly newsletters, local conferences, and livestream interviews, VOM puts a face, and, at times, a name to these, our brethren.  As Julie (my wife) and I continued to support VOM efforts, God has opened other opportunities to be an open hand and heart to our persecuted household. VOM gave me the opportunity to tangibly support our persecuted brethren. 

One support campaign I would like to highlight with you is giving the gift of a digital Bible.By donating new, unused, or used SD or micro-SD cards (greater than 10 MB), VOM will prepare the cards with the Bible and Bible helps and distribute them to the persecuted.This campaign is so important in places where the distribution of Bibles is forbidden and punishable by prison.Such digital media can be moved and distributed more effectively through such restrictions!The urgency of such a campaign is even more clear with the realization that the communist Chinese government is producing a modified Bible to make Bible-based faith subservient to communist teaching.The John 8:7-11 story of Jesus with the adulterous but forgiven woman has the following modified Bible excerpt in a recent Chinese student textbook[i]:

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John 8:7-11, Chinese communist Bible

Jesus once said to the angry crowd who was trying to stone a woman who had sinned.  “He who is without sin among you, let him cast a stone at her.”  When his words came to their ears, they stopped moving forward.  When everyone went out, Jesus stoned the woman himself, and said, I am also a sinner.”

John 8:7-11, ESV Bible

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”  And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.  But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.  Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman where are they?  Has no one condemned you?”  She said “No one, Lord.”  And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you, go, and from now on sin no more.”

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From this August through the first week in September, donation box will be available Sunday mornings near the front entrance before worship and near the back exit after worship.  Join us in donating such digital media or checks made out to Voice of the Martyrs (memo: Digital Bible).  In addition, for 2 weeks beginning September 12th, please pray for a group of families (Chans, Chows, Lums, and Quons) who will be at VOM headquarters supporting their communication distribution ministry as well as developing the vision how to harness our resources and efforts to support our persecuted household.  Let us share in their suffering:  become aware by subscribing to the VOM newsletter; pray for their support and faithfulness to the gospel; and give our resources freely to meet their immediate and long-term needs.  Thank you and Blessings!

[i] Voice of the Martyrs Newsletter, May 2021, pg. 11

by Pastor Hugo Torres

When the early church in Jerusalem began to grow in number of disciples, a problem arose in the daily distribution of food between Greek-speaking Jewish widows and Aramaic-speaking Jewish widows. The apostles wisely proposed to the community of disciples to choose seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and wisdom to entrust them with the responsibility of serving the tables and thus, the twelve devoted themselves fully to prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:1-7).

While these activities continue and will remain paramount in the lives of pastors for the sake of their ministry, they are also paramount in the lives of believers for their growth and service. We find right here in the book of Acts, the apostles and all the believers who had received his word, constantly studying the Scriptures, having fellowship, observing the sacraments and praying together (Acts 2:42).

Based on the evangelistic scope of the apostles (Acts 1:8) and the new life of believers in Jerusalem, a Bible study in Spanish began in our church in March every Monday at 7:00 pm at the Café focusing on two activities: the teaching of the Word of God and prayer. I believe that these two activities are vital for the Christian, just as the two wings of a bird are vital for it to fly. But if the bird is missing one of the two wings, it will be impossible for him to fly.

God has been working since the beginning of this bible study adding new people and maturing them in their faith. It started with only one married couple that I myself already knew from La Puente.  After a few months, the attendance at the study has grown to an average of 10 to 13 people every Monday. Only one person is not a believer, while the rest are believers with different levels of maturity and paths of life. They are mostly locals from Avocado Heights and La Puente, but there are also a few that come from Glendale.

I am teaching the book of Acts, but with a focus on prayer. This means that we are studying all the passages where we see believers praying. By doing so, the group learns in the context of each passage the different aspects (worship, thanksgiving, petition, intercession, affirmation, question) and postures (meditation, Scripture saturation, listening, watching, waiting) of prayer in the life of the Christian. We take time to pray together applying what we have learned about prayer during the study and end with a time of fellowship sharing a snack now that the pandemic restrictions have been lifted.

It is a blessing to see what the Lord is doing and how the group is being edified and unified in the word and love of Christ, as our church continues to reach out to the community with the gospel and build bridges of friendship. My prayer is that God will continue to add more people to this Spanish bible study and my vision is that one day we can start a service in Spanish simultaneously with the English service every Sunday on our campus.     

by Ian Nagata

It was one of the biggest celebrations of my first year in Japan. I might have even jumped and screamed.

My roommate and I woke up to the news: Tokyo had won the bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

What timing to move to the world’s largest metropolis! I began to imagine.

Imagine how the city will transform.

Imagine the ministry opportunities as Japan prepares to embrace the world.

Imagine the influx of Evergreeners!

Two years after the 3.11 Triple Disaster, the announcement of “Tokyo 2020” became a spring of hope. Not just for the nation, but for this struggling first-year missionary. I made it a goal to persevere seven years to be a part of it: Japan’s next moment in history.

Seven years have passed. Eight, actually.

And though the Olympics are finally here, most of Japan isn’t celebrating. The state of anticipation? It’s now a State of Emergency (Japan’s fourth since the pandemic began). With most of the country still without access to a vaccine, polls showed over 80% of the public wanting to postpone or cancel the games. Japan’s top e-commerce CEO even went as far as to say hosting the games would be a “suicide mission.”

On the opposite side, former prime minister Abe labeled newspapers and political parties wanting to cancel the Olympics this year as “anti-Japan.” Who would’ve predicted these games, a symbol of unity, could spark such division?  

Beyond politics, few are debating how deep Japan’s losses will be. Some estimate over 23 billion dollars of debt. That includes the 1.25-billion-dollar Olympic Stadium you’ll see on Friday’s Opening Ceremony – with over 50,000 empty seats.  

Yet the real tragedy isn’t financial. It’s stories of actual people, like Yasushi Moriya, Senior Japan Olympic Committee Head of Accounting, who jumped in front of a subway train last month, taking his life.

Japan’s moment to show its strength to the world is instead revealing its brokenness.

Personally, I’m also lamenting. (And not just because my tickets to the US Women’s Soccer game versus Sweden got cancelled!) As a missionary, I’m lamenting the lost ministry opportunities. Colleagues devoted years of full-time labor to organizing teams coming in, conferences, outreaches, sports clinics, and viewing parties. All of them have been cancelled.

But several mornings ago, I woke up to hopeful news. Olympic news that captured my imagination for the first time since 2013. News about the one ministry that hasn’t been hindered by the pandemic.

Prayer.

Even with borders closed, believers across Japan haven’t given up on Tokyo 2020. Their hope? As the world focuses on Japan these next 17 days, what if this became Japan’s most prayed for moment in history?

That’s the vision of the many ministries collaborating at Japan1million.com. They’re asking Christians around the world for a gift of 1 million hours of prayer. You can sign up for daily prayer points, download prayer resources, and even join live zoom prayer gatherings on their site.  

It’s a bold request – one that will require a move of the Spirit and the global church to fulfill. But whether you visit the website or not, if the Lord moves your heart as you watch these unprecedented pandemic Olympics, would You ask the Lord for an unprecedented spiritual awakening in Japan?

By God’s grace, may this indeed be Japan’s moment in history.