Linda’s Bio
Linda grew up in the Baltimore area and became a Christian in her third year of college. Aware of the great needs of the world, she greatly desired to take the gospel overseas, but the twin fears of raising support and going as a single kept her in the States. In 1985 she was asked to consider joining a church-planting team headed for Japan. Through prayer God showed her that she would not be alone, and by the grace of God and with the help of the team, her support was raised, and she arrived in Japan in January 1989. For three terms, Linda provided broad support to the team as the head of the English outreach ministry. In this capacity she trained and oriented teachers, chose the curriculum, and oversaw the development of materials for the Bible Time that was a feature of every adult class. In her third term, she helped to start an exciting new outreach to mothers of small children, called Moms and Kids Club.
Currently, Linda serves as a teacher at Covenant Community School International (CCSI). CCSI was founded in 2006 in order to best serve the educational needs of Japanese Christian parents as well as the MTW Tokyo / Chiba Team missionaries. Originally founded as Keiyo Christian School, dedicated towards raising missionary children with a solid Christian education, the school now has an exciting vision of providing Christian education for the Japanese. The school consists of two “tracks” of students, one taught primarily in English and one primarily in Japanese, and seeks to raise Christian leaders for the next generation.
Linda requests prayer for consistency in her devotions, wise use of time, and that God would bless and use the English outreach to build His Church to His glory. The following slide gives insight into Japan and Linda’s ministry with CCSI.
Japan
Linda writes: Japan looks good on the surface. Japan is rich, has very few poor people, and low unemployment. There is 100% literacy, health care for virtually everyone, a lower infant mortality rate than the U.S., and the longest life-expectancy in the world by a good bit. Everything works. Japan is clean, and service is great.
Wow! They must be happy.
Wrong! Japan also has the highest suicide rate in the industrialized world. More than a million young people are so traumatized by the pressure of the society, or something, that they refuse to even leave their homes. “Zero-defect” thinking and pursuit of perfection may be great for building cars, but it is terrible for families and human relationships. Beneath the surface, Japan is hurting deeply.
Japan’s greatest need is the gospel of of Jesus Christ. That’s why we are here.
We love God because He first loved us. We long for Him to be worshiped in this great nation where so few worship Him. We love the Japanese people, and want to tell them the good news of Jesus. So few have ever even heard.
Our MTW team’s goal is huge, seemingly impossible. We have all covenanted together to pray and work towards a Biblical church planting movement that is ultimately indigenous, spreading from East Tokyo throughout Japan and the world.
Please be in prayer for this mission to Japan. Maybe God would have you partner with us in some way to reach this needy land. The Land of the Rising Sun desperately needs The Risen Son!