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Big Transitions
February 2025
Earlier this week I left for Thailand and I am currently writing to you from my hotel room! I'm here for our upcoming Asia Division conference that we have every other year. It's been fun to be a part of the planning team for the conference which has kept me really busy the last couple months, but I think all the hard work will pay off and God will really work through this time to encourage the nearly 130 missionaries and Christian workers that will be attending. I plan to share more in my next update how the conference goes, but for now, I want to share about some other big things that are coming up this year.
I started off 2025 a little bit sick, but it actually helped me to stay put and really focus on resting which I needed. Overall, I had a great Christmas and New Years. I hope you enjoyed the holidays too!
In early January, our team welcomed Melanie back from home assignment. With her back, we now have everyone in Japan. It's always hard when we have teammates scattered between here and the US.
Another exciting change for us as a team is that Kevin, who joined the team around the same time as me and has been a huge support and encouragement through the years, is taking on the team leadership position starting from March. Our current team leaders, John and Shige, who stepped into leadership after Rob Stoddard, who really poured into me during my Apex trip in 2016 and first invited me to join the team, needed to leave the field. They have faithfully served since then, but I think they are looking forward to moving into church planting and discipleship roles that they feel more called to. I know Kevin will do a great job and lead our team well.
At the end of March, we will have a retreat for all four of our small churches. This is the first time all four churches will be gathering like this for a weekend retreat! Then, in early April, my teammate Sarah will be going on home assignment in the states until early 2026. This will be another change for our team as she will be handing off her current ministries to other teammates while she is gone.
The biggest change for myself though is that I am also planning to go on home assignment from April. Going back to the US for a period of time on home assignment is a requirement for long-term missionaries. Generally the rule is that within every five year period, one of those years needs to be spent in the states. This is for a lot of reasons including taking time away from the missions field to rest, reconnect with supporters, and get any training that might be needed.
I have been thinking about when would be best for me to go on home assignment, and I think this is the right time. I have finished my full-time language learning so I do not have any responsibilities there, I am not currently in any major leadership positions in ministry, and I feel like this is God's leading.
I also feel like a home assignment could be really refreshing and reenergizing for me. I realized recently that I have spent the last nine years (since 2016) pursuing ministry in Japan and I haven't officially taken a home assignment. I was in the states between my two-year short-term and before moving back to Japan as a long-term missionary, but we had covid in that time, I was interning with a church in Michigan, and I was full-time raising support. So I was pretty busy!
Now that I am in my 30's I want to really be intentional with the directions I take in my life. My constant prayer is that I can follow God's leading. Don't worry, I still feel called to ministry in Tokyo, but one of my goals for this upcoming home assignment is to discern more of what that will look like in the future.
As part of my home assignment I will be taking a time that my organization calls "Renew". You can think of it as a sabbatical in which I will take a couple months off after I return to the US. My current plan is to do that in May and June. I will be following Jesus' example of slipping away into the wilderness to pray. I will be disengaged from my ministry responsibilities to rest mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, then to reflect on what God has done in these last nine years, and then to realign myself towards God and any changes I need to be making for the future. After June I am hoping to start reconnecting with all my supporters and supporting churches. So, I'm hoping to see many of you in the second half of the year!
Please be praying for me as I embark on this new season of life and continue to explore how God wants to use me for his ministry abroad. I will be sharing more in my future updates so please be on the lookout for those.
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I celebrated Christmas with some of my Japanese church friends by eating KFC together! It originally came out of a big marketing campaign in Japan that claimed Americans eat KFC on Christmas. Even though it felt a little weird to eat American fried chicken in Japan, it was a lot of fun!
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Prayer Requests
- Pray for the conference. I have been helping prepare for this conference for months and now it is finally here. I am so excited. We have staff from all over Asia coming together. Please pray that it would be refreshing and encouraging to all that are here. Pray that I could fulfill all my responsibilities well, and pray that we would all really enjoy this time in Thailand.
- Pray for my home assignment. There is still a lot of planning work that I need to do for my upcoming home assignment. Pray that I can work those details out and that I would not be stressed by it all. While I am looking forward to some time away from Japan, I also love it so much here and don't want to leave, so pray that God would sustain me through this process. Also please pray that my time in the states could give me direction for what God wants me to do next in ministry.
- Pray for my support. Thank you to everyone who has joined my support team or given one-time gifts! It has really helped me get closer to my goal. I am still a bit underfunded, so please pray that God would continue to provide people who will support me financially and in prayer too!
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If you'd like to give, please click on the link below!
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Thanks for reading!
I appreciate you all! As always, feel free to email me at adam.bailey@efca.org. You can also go to my website at adamintokyo.com. Thanks! - Adam Bailey
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