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Candid conversations for the church. Host is Ardin Beech of Windsor District Baptist Church, Sydney, Australia. Co-hosted by Jonathan Hoffman.
Coming at you once again this week at Windsor, Arden Beach with doctor j.
Speaker 2:Great to be with you.
Speaker 1:Indeed. Indeed. We are smashing it this month.
Speaker 2:We are. Thanks for listening. May mission month. Yeah. May mission month.
Speaker 2:It's here. We're loving it. Got to yeah. I just we're just drowning in the updates, which is fantastic, but I know the thing that you're hanging out for. Yes.
Speaker 2:Missions trivia night.
Speaker 1:Because we smashed it last time.
Speaker 2:Did you
Speaker 1:win? I win every time I do it. I don't I win. One time. Only because I couldn't make the last two, but if I had made them, I would have won.
Speaker 2:You've been too scared to come back. That's really what it is.
Speaker 1:I'm the best at trivia. I'm just put it's not you know?
Speaker 2:Well, that used to It's not bragging. Has to go somewhere.
Speaker 1:It's not bragging if it's true.
Speaker 2:Well yeah. Okay. What's the does that mean you have your name on the trophy?
Speaker 1:No. I think, actually, our trophy ended up in Zoe Rogers' room and then was lost. I don't know if it was found again. It's with the grail somewhere.
Speaker 2:So now we gotta make a new trophy. Okay. If you could design a trophy for missions tribute, like, how would you design it?
Speaker 1:A used tea bag. A used tea bag? Because that's that's what missionaries drink. They use secondhand tea from people mailing it into them. That's how we grew up.
Speaker 2:Should we do we construct the trophy from used tea bags, or we just make it look
Speaker 1:like a used tea bag?
Speaker 3:Like it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Obviously, it'll still be solid gold.
Speaker 2:Okay. Of course.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's
Speaker 2:right. But
Speaker 1:it'll look like a used tea bag.
Speaker 2:There you go. Wow.
Speaker 1:When's it on?
Speaker 2:May 24. '20 fourth of May.
Speaker 1:Bam. Saturday night. How do people sign up?
Speaker 2:Go to our, websites, or if you have the Church Center app, you can find our church. Go to the events page. You can register. It's a really cheap entry. All the money goes to missions, and there's some food provided.
Speaker 2:It's gonna be great. I know there's a whole range of new categories this year. It's gonna be really good. Awesome. But, yeah, we're loving May, and it's a it's a really good reminder as we head into June because in June, we we're gonna be dealing with the financial business of the church.
Speaker 2:So we have a quarterly meeting, your favorite thing, Arden. I know.
Speaker 1:Live for it.
Speaker 2:Live for it. Quarterly meeting, quarterly meeting on the June 8. It's a Sunday after church, after the morning service. That means you have to get up before ten.
Speaker 1:I can do that.
Speaker 2:Can you? Yeah. But, yeah, June 8, we're gonna be, voting on our annual budget for the next financial year. So please, yeah, if you're part of this church, member of this church, be checking your inboxes, and you'll get some details. And we're really excited to have one of our missionaries on joining us today.
Speaker 2:Joey Millard, welcome. Great to see you.
Speaker 3:Thank you. It's nice to be here with you guys.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, tell us a bit about yeah. I mean, I know where you are, but tell us where you are, who you're with, what's your what's your mission?
Speaker 3:I live in Northern Japan in a town called Ishinomaki. Yeah. We're church planting here and working with youth and trying to see god raise up a generation of disciples. Disciples who make disciples is what we really we really wanna see. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I have five kids, and we're excited to be here and see what God does here.
Speaker 1:What where's your accent from, Joey?
Speaker 3:I grew up here, so I don't American yeah. I don't I don't know.
Speaker 1:You don't sound Californian like like Doctor. J.
Speaker 2:Well, you you did grow up in you spent a fair bit of time at Oregon. Is that correct?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Went to couple years of middle school, high school, and stuff in Oregon.
Speaker 1:How did you end up in Japan?
Speaker 3:My parents were missionaries. And, yeah, I grew up here as a missionary kid. When I was five years old, I remember getting on my knees and praying to God. I said, God, I believe you, but I I will never be a missionary and never to Japan. God has his way of getting back at us and ended up here.
Speaker 1:I've I've been to Japan several times, and I absolutely love it. I I would go back in an instant because I still haven't seen everything I'd I'd like to see there. It's such an incredible place and also a very black and white place, a place of stark contrast in terms of history and technology and culture and being cut off from the world. In my very limited experiences of Japan, it also seems to be a very dark place spiritually. Is it a hard is it a hard place to kind of get a little bit of light in?
Speaker 3:Yeah. You're right. I think there is a hesitancy or resistance from people spiritually that they will be nice to you. They will talk to you. They'll give you gifts.
Speaker 3:But as soon as you try to go a little deeper, a lot of people pull up their walls and oh, that's yeah. So we do definitely see that, and there is a, yeah, spiritual darkness here that we hope to shine Jesus' light in.
Speaker 2:So tell us a bit about that that journey. I mean, you what people most people don't know is that you and I go back a long a long way. So I actually knew you before you had, decided to go back and become a missionary. Like, at one point, we were both gonna be in politics. Look how that turned out.
Speaker 2:Although some might say some might say ministry and politics are too far off. But but, but, yeah, yeah, here we are in ministry. Tell us bit about that journey, like, from your, you know, five year old self, God, I believe you, but I'm not gonna do I'm not gonna do this to to here you are. You're raising your family there. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And and you're you're trying to bring that light.
Speaker 3:I'm I still probably am very stubborn, and I stubbornly decided that I would not be a missionary. And I held firmly to that belief. I always believed in Jesus in my head, you know, did the actions. We had to go to church. You know, that kind of thing I did.
Speaker 3:But I was always the hypocrite in the back row. You know? When I was in America as a high schooler, I knew the bible better than the, you know, youth pastor, and I'd sit in the back and condemn everybody. And me and Jesus were okay, that's all I really cared about. And it's actually Jonathan and a few of my other friends at college or uni, as you guys say, that really transformed my life.
Speaker 3:People who are intellectually smart, but also really love Jesus in community. That that's really when God started working in my heart and life. It got me to question, what gifts has God given me, and how was I gonna be faithful to what God has given me? And those kind of questions and those kind of experiences with community really drew me back to Japan. And, yeah, that's the short version of how how I got back here.
Speaker 1:Is Japan home now, or is The US still home?
Speaker 3:Probably Japan now.
Speaker 1:Yeah. How how long has it been?
Speaker 3:After seminary, it's been almost twenty years. Yeah. So and I've grown up here. So, yeah.
Speaker 2:Now you said you said you're in Northern Japan, Ishinamaki. Is is am I saying that correctly?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's an
Speaker 1:amazing memory.
Speaker 2:We all have our gifts. I'm not saying Japanese pronunciation. It's one of mine. But, but it was a it was a strategic move. Am I right?
Speaker 2:Because there was a a bit of a disaster in in that area. Was it was it a natural disaster? Or, like, how did you end up where you are in in Japan?
Speaker 3:So I was church planting in Tokyo, and the earthquake and tsunami in 02/2011, happened. And we were taking our church members and our non Christian friends to volunteer up here to serve the community, and we were, you know, trying to share Jesus' love as we served in the community here. And we were just having great encounters and spiritual conversations with people that we were like I said to our church's prayer group, I was like, we need somebody to move up. And it ended up being my wife and I who moved up here. But, yeah, it's been a great we've moved up here twelve years ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's been a great place. A lot different than the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. But yeah.
Speaker 1:I was in in Tokyo on one of the trips, and I I can't remember the name of the park, but I think the hotel next to it was the new new Otani Hotel, I think it was. There was a massive park next to it, and I just one morning, I just went for a walk through the park. And in the middle of the park, there was just this tiny little church, just like almost like a little cabin. And there was some American guy kinda preaching to this this little crowd, maybe, I don't know, 20 people just in the middle of this park in this huge city. It was really cool.
Speaker 2:Wow. Very
Speaker 3:cool. Yeah.
Speaker 2:There you go. You grew up in Japan, but obviously, you have this American influence. Do do you struggle with Japanese people? Do they see you as an outsider who's bringing this message in? Do they see you as an insider?
Speaker 2:Like, how do you how do you go relating to the culture of the country you grew up in, but you having also spent so much time in America and being the children of missionaries and so forth?
Speaker 3:There is definitely a outsider aspect, you know, just even looking like I do. So even up here, people will comment, oh, your Japanese is very good all the time, you know, which is I have no problem with it. But I think in the in terms of ministry and relating to people, it is just really building relationships, living life together, and earning that, trust to be able to speak my story, pointing to Jesus well for them has been our experience.
Speaker 2:Arden is a Arden is a missionary kid. You're a missionary kid, so I'm outnumbered here today. But
Speaker 1:We can con communicate telepathically.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, Joey, for whatever's coming your way in that case. But but, you know, you said you got five children. How do you how do they view what you do? And and and is it is it kind of something that you pass down to to them to say, hey. This is this is who we are as as a people, and and you encourage them to take up that mantle, or is this just kind of a mom and dad thing and and, you know, just raise them to love Jesus, and he'll take them where it
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. We we definitely want our kids to love Jesus. And, you know, if you love Jesus and are following Jesus, whatever he's called you to do, whether it be a doctor or, you know, mother or whatever it is, we're, you know, very cool with it. We're very happy that they're actively involved in what we're doing so far. My older two are 15 and 13.
Speaker 3:They're on the worship team, help with the youth group, things like that. And it's pretty embarrassing or funny how how you take it. But, on Sunday, after I preach, we do communion. My boys get into the racing position to try to see who can get the crackers and grape juice first. So they are kids, man.
Speaker 3:Yeah. They're pastors kids. So but, yeah, well, I hope that we won't mess them up that much, but we're excited for where they are right now.
Speaker 1:How how big is the church up there?
Speaker 3:Right now, we'll have any depends on the week, but anywhere from 10 to 20 local people. Yeah. It just depends. Yep. One of the exciting things, that we've seen, we do a youth church on Saturday nights, and that's actually been more, exciting for us in a lot of ways.
Speaker 3:We've been averaging 15 to 20 non Christians come every every week. And, you know, we do have games and fun, but we have a worship time. We have a message. We have small groups, and they still keep coming. So we're hoping that we are seeing God, you know, plant seeds, water seeds, and help them to grow.
Speaker 3:So
Speaker 1:yeah. What from a from a cultural perspective, obviously, the obviously, the message of Christ stays the same. You know, no matter where you are around the world, the message is the same. But from a cultural perspective, what have you found sort of works to kind of break into the Japanese culture to kind of find that chink in the armor where you can sort of speak, you know, speak into someone Japanese about about the joy that is Christ?
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's a really hard question. I think, you know, one of the biggest felt needs is love and acceptance. But one of the things that I think I've been seeing and learning is that what people are saved with is what they grow as. So if they come to faith just because of love, then if they don't need love, they don't come anymore.
Speaker 3:But really getting people to see the glory of god and how much he has really loved us and our sinfulness. I think the whole gospel applied to people is really the ultimate key. But, we've seen different things work in different areas, different, you know, seasons of people's lives. One of the things that we've been excited about is trying to reach couples through marriage seminar, you know, Japan too. Marriage is in the pits.
Speaker 3:All marriages you know, marriage is not easy, but speaking the gospel into marriages and seeing the power of God work in people's lives, I do believe will be a key to reaching we wanna see, you know, whole families come to know Jesus. So
Speaker 1:because the birth rate over there is really plummeting too, isn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's it's horrifying how bad it is.
Speaker 2:Wow. It's great to you guys must stand out just as just really stark and different and and, yeah, what a breath of fresh air. That's great to to hear that many people coming non Christian on a Sunday night. And we we yeah. That idea that what you win them with is what you keep them with is is really true, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. That's important thing. You ever think about coming to Australia for a visit?
Speaker 3:Oh, I love to. Here here, it's a great place.
Speaker 2:As long as you stay away from people from bathrooms, you'll be fine.
Speaker 1:We're the best guys. We're the best the true Australians. Before
Speaker 2:before we let you go, Joey, I I two stories two stories that that that we gotta touch on. One is I want you to tell me if I'm still right. You taught me I don't if you remember this. You taught me this is before I met Joanna, before I knew, I was dating anyone. You taught me a Japanese pickup line, and I think I wanna see if I've stored it correctly in my memory for all these years so I can use it on my watch.
Speaker 2:Do you remember this? Do do you remember this?
Speaker 3:No. I'm not really. You
Speaker 2:look so nervous. So so, anyway, I'm gonna say it, and you you tell me if I'm if I'm remotely close.
Speaker 1:See how many cultures we're gonna offend at once.
Speaker 2:How many marriages? Alright. Here we go. It's it's let's see if I remember right. I think you said it was Mega Kirei Desune.
Speaker 3:Oh, very good. Your eyes are beautiful. Hey. Beautiful eyes. Eyes.
Speaker 2:There you go. All the times I've said that to my wife. It wasn't it wasn't wasted. Yeah. The second one, just going back to your story.
Speaker 2:This just this just cracked me up. I may have used it once or twice in a counseling session, but you you you you used to say how, you know, you'd sit at the back and and, know, judge people and and whatnot. I remember when you we showed up for freshman freshman orientation, and you had your parents had put you into this into this, like, this wilderness experience beforehand. Can you tell us a bit about that journey and and maybe the, the impact of that transition from high school, into uni?
Speaker 3:I went to Wheaton just to kind of please my parents. Didn't really expect much. My dad was like, I signed you up for this camp. I was like, okay. I was like, volleyball in the afternoons, and I even had quarters to do laundry with.
Speaker 3:We get in the bus. Bus gets there at, like, 4AM or something. They're like, pack your bags. You're not coming back for two weeks. And we're trekking around in the wilderness.
Speaker 3:But, yeah, it was a interesting experience.
Speaker 2:I did did I think you told me at the time you'd been likes you'd been you'd been a pretty heavy smoker in high school.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it was detoxing and everything.
Speaker 1:Coming off nicotine. Coming off jangling quarters attracting bears.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It was a very unique experience. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But what would you say? I I bring that up because I remember hearing that for us first time. We all showed up. You know, we're crying as we hug our parents come by. This guy gets off the bus like, he's been with bear girls for three weeks.
Speaker 2:Anyway, but we got some young people who are like, you know, they're in that transition phase. Right? They're they're they're trying to figure out who they are. They're they're late teens, early twenties, mid twenties. And I just remember seeing such a transformation in in you and in your life.
Speaker 2:So I'm curious as someone who's sensitive to the needs of young people, someone with his his own journey and experience, what would you say to to a young person who's maybe grown up around Jesus, and is familiar with, you know, the lingo, can quote stories and the Bible verses, but is still perhaps trying to figure out what it looks like for them to relate to him. Like, how would you how would you encourage somebody to find their way who's who's in that season of life?
Speaker 3:That's a great question. Yeah. I would say, first, probably, I think it's Colossians three. You know, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another. I think, you know, wisdom something like that.
Speaker 3:It goes like something like that. But we need to hear from Jesus individually. And, you know, in the in Luke, the road to Emmaus, when they heard Jesus speaking to them, in English, I can't the his words burned in their hearts or something. That's kind of the phrase, I think. But, anyway, we need to experience Jesus, and his word needs to speak to us, especially as young people get into the habit of hearing from Jesus, being in awe of him every day.
Speaker 3:Not just, I know the story, but Jesus speak to my heart. And that and finding great community. Great community people who will not pull you away from Jesus, but people who will point you to Jesus and challenge you and admonish you to be in his presence more. So I think those two things are what I would definitely encourage anybody, but especially young people. Pursue it.
Speaker 3:Spend money. Spend your time to find people who will really pull you towards Jesus. That's what I would say.
Speaker 1:I think we should organize a mission trip to Japan just to head up there and check it out.
Speaker 2:I think we should. I think we should.
Speaker 3:Definitely love to.
Speaker 2:Yep. Yep. For some cultural imperialism?
Speaker 1:Because we're coming.
Speaker 2:Shouldn't say that. I really shouldn't say that. Yeah. No. Hey.
Speaker 2:Pulpit's open, man. Come on down. We need to hear that message too. We we'd love to we'd love to have you in the family. I need to spend more time getting to know your family.
Speaker 2:That would be would be a real delight.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That
Speaker 2:was an
Speaker 1:awesome catch up.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It was great. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Thanks for coming along, Joey, all the way from Northern Japan. At least summer's on the way.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Thank you guys so much.
Speaker 1:And thanks, doctor j, once again.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Great to be with you again. Did you have fun? Always. Always have fun.
Speaker 1:Let's do it again next week.
Speaker 2:Sounds good. See you.