In this update:

•Korea-Japan Business conference with Rich Marshall
•A Financial Miracle – Seoul, Korea
•Incredible story of healing in the marketplace – Japan
•Explaining revival in Japan – The “new” Japanese
•Prayer Vision
•Schedule

Business Conference with Rich Marshall:
Greetings! I write this as I am leaving Korea where we just finished a very successful conference with Rich Marshall on Marketplace Ministry and Transfer of Wealth. Actually, it was a two-part conference. Rich ministered in Tokyo and Sano on July 14-15 before heading to Korea.

Rich Marshall (author of God@Work, God@Work2) did a great job. He spoke on the following topics: 1. Your business is your ministry. 2. How to redeem your business. 3. How the Holy Spirit will help you turn your business into a place of God’s presence. 4. Transfer of wealth. 5. How to partner with God for great fruitfulness and success.

These overall topics reflect what the Holy Spirit has really been emphasizing recently. Business people are hungry to know how to see their businesses used for the glory of God. They really get excited when they begin to catch the revelation that they can actually partner with God, and that He wants to give them great success for the expansion of the kingdom of God. One message we keep repeating is that “…you are the head and not the tail” (Deut. 28:13).

I can’t emphasize enough just how much this topic is on the heart of God, and how much interest there is. It reminds me of the hunger people had when we first began to teach about prophetic activation. Many new people (I mean people who until now have not been affiliated with Apostolic-Prophetic circles) came. We made contact with one large group of evangelical Christian Businessmen. This teaching is exactly what they are looking for, so we look forward to future connections

Where do we go from here? Because the hunger is so great, and because this is the “Now Time” of God, we are opening an evening-class business school in Seoul, starting in September.

Thanks for praying for us. I should also report that the conference went really well. In fact, it was the easiest conference we have done there until now. I am so glad for the team of three men from Japan that assisted us: Mark Gulland, Micah Lawrence, and Gaius Lawrence. Micah led in breakthrough praise, Mark and Gaius did the morning sessions, and the three of them did most of the personal prophetic ministry
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Financial Miracle in Seoul:
On Tuesday night of the conference, we took a pledge offering. One woman heard from Holy Spirit to make a pledge of $10,000. She obeyed, and went home and told her husband. (They told me this later.) They were a bit cash-squeezed, but felt they should pay it immediately, and transferred the money the next day. Now, here comes the miracle. A large company owed him a huge sum of money, but just would not release it to him. They kept delaying; would speak of “renegotiating,” and so on. Well, the very next day, the husband received notice that everything was clear and the money had been released. Amazing.
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Healing in the Marketplace:
I want to relate to you the testimony of a Japanese man that I know well. In the fall of 2006 he was diagnosed with cancer (tumors in the brain, and in the stomach). At our New Year’s conference (Jan 2007) with Ian Andrews, he received a word of knowledge during healing activation time. Hands were laid on him and he fell on the floor for 30 minutes. Subsequent check-ups showed all the cancer in the brain was gone and only a small bit remained in the stomach. The doctors were astounded at how the tumors around the brain had disappeared. However, the small stomach tumor remained, and then began to grow and even spread to his lungs. People kept praying for him, and God healed him again. Again it was almost completely, but a small amount remained and began to regrow. He even had to be hospitalized for ten days. I couldn’t understand it then, but I do now.

During the hospitalization time the nurses got to know him very well. So, on a later trip for a check-up when he decided to do prayer walking, they didn’t obstruct him. When other patients found out, they wanted to go along. The nurses went too (to “protect” the other patients). However, the results were so powerful and positive; the atmosphere began to change to peace, joy and optimism. Even the doctors recognized it. The nurses began to change their shifts to be sure to be able to go with him. Please remember, these were all non-Christians, but they wanted to “pray.” When I asked him how they prayed, he said, “I taught them to pray to God who is our Heavenly Father and to ask in the name of His Son Jesus, Christ.”

The news gets better. A few days ago, a woman with stage-3 cancer (the most difficult stage) received prayer and was healed. She had been coming to this same cancer center for some time, but the cancer kept spreading. Our young man prayed for her and she was healed, thoroughly and completely. All the staff was amazed. One result is that he was then asked to speak to a large group of cancer patients and their families. He told them, “I am not a pastor, just an ordinary person like you.” Right in the middle of his testimony, people began to ask him to pray for them. He prayed for each cancer patient and most of them immediately started saying, “it feels hot, it feels hot” (usually a sign of divine healing).
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Revival in Japan – People are changing.

I continue to declare that Revival is happening in Japan. I feel the manifestation of it is still largely underground and is definitely different than what many imagine when they think of revival. However, the following three signs are definitely occurring:

It seems to me that a fundamental change has happened in Japan. Whereas before, becoming a Christian had the sense of leaving one’s “Japanese-ness” behind and almost becoming a foreigner, the new generation of Christians is passionate for God, full of faith, and completely “Japanese.” They are solidly inside their culture, but are able to use it for evangelism. The following story illustrates this:

MINISTERING AT SANO SUMMER FESTIVAL – Every summer, a festival takes place in Sano (the city where we’re located). Most years, the program consists of folk dances (to star gods) and the traditional “Omikoshi” (carrying of the altars from the shrines).

But this year the town wanted something different, and asked a group of younger people to organize it. One of them is a new member of our church. He thought it would be great if our church musicians would do a concert. So, they were asked to perform at this festival. They did a variety of songs; some popular songs along with some church songs. One of our worship leaders knew it would be a “power encounter” with principalities and powers, so he asked for prayer covering. As if to confirm this, a nearby group of Shinto priests appeared agitated once the worship songs began. Undeterred, the worship team sang two powerful worship songs extolling the greatness of our God.

Old Covenant with the Sun God is gone? – I have been pondering how to explain this shift. Why are young people today able to make the shift into Christianity so simply? I was reminded of some national prayer strategies that God gave us to do a few years ago. We held consecutive national days of repentance for the sin of covenant with the sun god (2002, 2003). In essence, through Shintoism, every Japanese person (in Japan) is “covenanted” to the sun god (goddess). This openness and ease that I now see in young people I believe is because that covenant was broken thru the strategic prayer initiatives God gave us.
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Prayer Vision:

Summer Schedule:
August 5 Osaka 10:30 am; 2 pm
August 12 Sano 10:30 am; 2 pm
August 19 Sendai 3 pm
Sept 2-8 With Ian Andrews at CI Korea, Seoul
Sept 9-16 Ian Andrews in Japan
Sept 17 Ron Sawka in Niigata, Japan
Sept 20-24 Okinawa, Japan
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