 how much Jesus loves them. We here at Cornerstone, we are in it to win it. We want people to know the love of Christ. I'm Amy Schaefer here on Hope Today with Tom and Sydney. Tom, we're in it to win it. We are in it to win it. And as the body of Christ, we're called to reach the whole world with the gospel. And we've got a young couple coming up, David and Lauren Perdan. They are missionaries to Japan. Now guys, Japan is one of the more difficult places. There's so many people, but there's so much tradition there, and there's so much of what we might call Western materialism, that it's a hard area for the gospel, but they are just laying it on the line there in Japan. And you're gonna hear about what their heart is and what God is doing through them. It's gonna be beneficial to all of us to help us, Sydney, bring that love of God to the people we know. You know, I know one thing I've heard about in Japan that they have a very high suicide rate. So there's like so much perfectionism is put on them, just with the culture. And so it's so important and so beautiful that couple is going in to Japan and showing the love of Jesus. And you know, one thing I think for all of us as we go into this conversation we're about to hear in a moment is just to think about the hardest places to go. You know, thinking about those people in, you know, wealthier areas or different places that need to hear the gospel, because there's a lot of even hard places right here at home, Amy, that people need to hear Jesus. Oh, I've met missionaries that feel called from other countries to come here to spread the gospel to America. I mean, people are watching the news. Bring them on, bring them on. We need everybody who wants to come. Come on to America and preach the gospel here. Exactly, to spread the gospel and to preach. So, and it reminds me too of why we are doing what we're doing here at Cornerstone. Every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, we just keep going year after year. How many years, Tom? 40, four, three, four? Years of sharing the gospel. Why? Because Jesus came for the world. Jesus loves the world. Jesus loves the lost, the hurting, the broken, not just Americans, but all people all over the world are coming to Christ. So it's exciting to hear from different parts of the world how God is making it. If you don't mind, you were just sharing with me how you met some of your neighbors recently and how that the Lord has opened up a new, like whole avenue of just that friendship kind of thing. It's so important. That's the kind of thing that all of us can do. Maybe all of us aren't called to be David Livingstone or something, you know, but we are all called to be that light in the darkness. No, I mean, find common ground, you know, and I'm meeting new neighbors for the first time. I'm like, what's our common ground? I'm like talking, you know, shop, putting some thoughts. We all read books. So this was a no-brainer. I'm like, we are having a book club. We've already had our first book club. The second one is already booked. Sydney, we're coming together and we're getting to know one another. But I'm telling you, there's gonna come a time when they ask me some questions. How did you get to Pittsburgh? What are you doing? And I'm gonna have a wide open door to share why I'm here and what I'm doing. And they might even be watching this today. So you just never know, Sydney, we all have a responsibility to take the gospel into our world. We surely do. Just even hearing what you're doing, meeting your neighbors because we're called to love our neighbors as ourselves. And I think it is so important that we just be a witness, that we go out and build relationships with people. I mean, I know some people are called to hit the streets with evangelism, but others of us, I mean, God me calling us into different spheres of influence. Wherever it may be, like seek the heart of God and say, how can I just be in relationship with someone? How can I just love someone? How can I just sit at a coffee shop or invite them into my home or go out to eat somewhere? It's all about building relationships because that's what all Jesus is about. That's right. So we're gonna take a quick break when we come back. We're gonna hear about what God is doing in a far, far flung place across the globe. We'll be right back. Remember your childhood joy and excitement when being invited to a party? You felt valued, included, wanted and ready to have a good time. Bestselling author Bob Goff believes that every day of life can be lived with the same childlike enthusiasm and sense of humor. Inside love does, you'll learn that love is a verb, not just a feeling. His insights and joyful reflections will help you discover what it means to live fully alive, even as you serve others. Prepare to encounter remarkable stories from Bob Goff's life as he shares how living and loving to the fullest is the best way to make Jesus known in this world. Request your copy of Love Does when you give your best gift this month. Your gift today will help Cornerstone Television show the life-changing love of Jesus through Christ-centered TV programs. Call us at 888-665-4483 or give at ctvn.org slash donate. Lauren and David Perdan, Missionaries to Japan. Scuba, Japan, interesting name. So, David, let's start with you. Tell me how God led you to this ministry. Absolutely, and now, I like to brag on my wife here. My call to ministry didn't look exactly the same as hers. She did it the way that as a child, I thought was the only way God called people into missions. She was called when you're supposed to at a children's mission service. And she has never really deviated from that path. I was a little bit more feisty. I loved missions as a kid, but I was terrified of that precious word in scripture, go, because my God has a lot better people in store for his kingdom than me. But when I was in college, I had the opportunity to travel short-term to Asia. And God used a series of trips throughout my college years to devastate my heart in a good way for these people who not only don't know Christ, but statistically in their lifetime, will never meet a Christian. And I graduated with a degree, but I did not escape a call to missions. So, part of our ministry as church planters is we'll be working with the deaf that I'll let Lauren kind of share with. But it was through actually a dynamic dream that I ended up having where I saw the exact location that we'll be working that happened to be where my now wife was interning in Japan. It's a crazy set of circumstances, but we are so excited to be exactly where God has called us. Absolutely, that's an exciting story. Well, tell me your story, Lauren. Yes, well, like David said, I was called into missions when I was very young. I grew up in a pastor's home in Ohio. And when I was nine years old, God called me into full-time missions. And I also grew up in deaf culture in deaf ministry. My grandparents are deaf on my mother's side and my parents have been involved in deaf ministry their whole life. But it wasn't actually until I got to college that God really placed on my heart to do deaf missions overseas to kind of combine deaf ministry and missions. And it was on my first trip as well to Asia. And when God connected our team that we are working with the deaf community there, and I saw that there was such a need everywhere in the world, there's a need for deaf ministry, but especially in places where we'll be going like Asia and places where not only will they most likely never meet a Christian, but the likelihood of them meeting a Christian who's able to tell them about the gospel in their own language is even more unlikely. And so that's when God really placed on my heart and then eventually on both of our hearts to do deaf ministry overseas in these contexts. Yeah, well, I know from other deaf missionaries to deaf people that a lot of times deaf people have no other services in many cases. And all of a sudden, here's someone they could talk to. Here's someone that cares about them. Here's someone that wants to do something with them. So tell me about that and about Japan in general. That's a very mostly non-Christian country and from what I've understood, I've never been there myself from what I understand, hard to the gospel. What have you seen? Well, what we've seen is especially through this ministry an incredible opportunity. I'll actually, if you wouldn't mind, a story from when I personally got called into deaf ministry actually happened in Thailand. Now at this point I had traveled a couple different places in Asia and I kind of got this perception, just getting into missions. Missions in the Buddhist world is hard. It's true, it's not uncommon. It can be very disheartening as a missionary. You might have someone in your congregation in Japan or somewhere else in a Buddhist country who's even a congregant in your congregation for a number of years, but never give a commitment to Christ. And a lot of that is because of the culture. It's the idea that in a collectivist society, until you get baptized, even the non-Christian community recognizes that this is the moment that you've crossed that threshold and you're gonna get cut off from everything. But the opportunity that we are seeing. So when I traveled to Thailand, I at this point was leading a shorter term trip. We were there for about the summer. We were doing a number of children's outreaches, VBS is that sort of thing. And I remember the host missionary that we're working at with gave me a call and was like, this is strange, but does anyone on your team know sign language? At this point I was learning a little bit and I was like, I know some. And she's like, because we've been here for years and within the last couple months we have had an explosion of Thai Buddhist death that are all getting involved with our ministry. And I get there and I got to meet a gentleman by the name of Eem, this is his sign name. And Eem and his wife run a small cafe in Thailand. And they heard the gospel preached one time and they were essentially, you mean to tell me that there's a God who loves me, who sent even foreigners to speak my language that my own family isn't learning and has cut me off because my whole family assumes that, oh, I was born deaf, that means I must have done something wrong in another life. But when they're presented with this opportunity, when they're presented with the gospel, they're like, what do they have to lose compared to their hearing Buddhist friends and family? They're all in and there is a revival happening for the deaf all over Asia. We've seen it in Thailand, we've seen it in other parts of kind of Southern Asia and what we are excited is getting to join a team, a church planting community in Scuba, which happens to be the only university for the deaf in Japan. Wow, wow. So I wanna say hi to Eem here. So is this Eem? So how would I just say hi? Just like. Yep. Okay. Yep. All right, so. Hi Eem. All right, hi Eem. All right. So tell me what you see, Lauren, as you are into this ministry and you're working in Japan and what do you see for the future? What is God leading you to? Yeah, absolutely. Well, like David said, we're joining a church planting team in Scuba and the city of Scuba is just north of Tokyo. So it's pretty central there in Japan and there is an expressway, a train line that runs from Tokyo to Scuba and that train line goes through one of the most densely populated places on planet Earth, the Tokyo Scuba Expressway. And our team's goal is to plant 20 churches along the Scuba Tokyo Expressway from Scuba into Tokyo. And like David said, our specific role on the team is gonna be starting up a deaf ministry in the area through a local university for the deaf in Scuba. So there's already a thriving deaf population there in Scuba, Japan. But as far as we know, there's no ongoing ministry for them in that area. And so our plan right now is to get over there to Scuba and partner with the university for the deaf there to start up a college ministry outreach through English tutoring or teaching as well as as opportunities for us to even help teach American sign language in some contexts. And so to start up a deaf ministry there through the school with college students and then move to Bible studies, interpreted services and then with the team plant one of the first deaf churches there in Scuba, Japan. Yes. What a fantastic, wonderful vision God has given you guys. So I just have to go back to your stories and how you got to this place. So there's somebody watching, they're a church kid, you know? Like all of us, I was brought up in the church too. So brought up in a church and kind of don't know what to do with things other than they're still going to church. What would you say to someone who just feels a stirring in their heart as they're hearing you talk? What would you say to them about taking the next step? It's the idea of we are all called to make disciples. We're called to be disciples. And let me tell you, the most best and terrifying description of being a disciple that I've ever heard is learning to do what our master does. So the disciple does. And sometimes you can see, I remember being that kid in church and seeing these people going to these incredible, you know, places and thinking, wow, I could never do something like that. But my journey as a missionary didn't start when we accepted the call to go to Japan. It started the very first time I volunteered at my church. It started the very first time that I went out of my comfort zone cross-culturally to go inner city, to hand out bottles of water and pray for people than I ever thought I could pray about. We have to learn how to be willing to step out of our comfort zone cross-culturally and love people the same way that our master loved people, the way he still loves all of us. And he will take you exactly where he has called you to be. I'm sure of it. He's doing that with us. Yeah, so take that next step, whatever it is, the next step to serve in the church and cross-culturally, God will lead you from there. Yep. Yeah. Well, I love your story. I love what you're doing. And when are you gonna be over there and clearly living there and everything? Spring of next year. Spring of next year. Yep. All right. We'll be praying for that. And praying, what a great vision. I'm excited for you guys. Lauren and David, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you so much. Tom, what you doing? Oh, I can't find anything good on YouTube to watch. The commentaries, the blogs, the tier videos, the gaming videos, it's all boring. Oh, have you thought about subscribing to Cornerstone's YouTube channel? Cornerstone has a YouTube channel? Of course it does. Hold on, taking a pause to remind you to subscribe to our channel. Hit that like button and ring that bell for notifications. Now back to the video. I'll show you how to subscribe. Just search for Cornerstone Television Network and hit the subscribe button so you can stay up to date getting filled with the Holy Spirit with consistent uploads every day. Keep up with your favorite moments and never miss a beat. Will you help us as we race to 100,000 subscribers? We can't do it without your help. The content is never ending with countless hours of entertainment. So subscribe to the Cornerstone YouTube channel today. Hope happens here. Well, I enjoyed that conversation so much. We had a little while back with that young couple, Lauren and David, in Japan doing all they can. And it's interesting what God gave them, the deaf ministry, as an entry point to minister to people. In fact, we've got a scripture about that. It's 1 Corinthians 9-23, and it says this. This is Paul talking. And he says, I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. Well, what's all this? What he was talking about, guys, is he's talking about to the weak I become weak, to the poor I become poor, and he's not. And we're not talking about being fakey here. We're talking about God's given us a way to relate to people, a way to touch a life that only we can do. And he's given us that entry point into their life to share the love of God with them. I love this conversation so much because we all as believers, we have to stop and take note of what am I doing right now practically in all actuality to touch people with the gospel. The scripture right before the one you read in the Passion, it says this. I have adapted to the culture of every place I've gone so that I could more easily win people to Christ. Are you on a pickleball team? Do you play racquetball? Are you a soccer mom? Do you like to go to the library? Like, what are you doing? What are you passionate about? And in that world or in that culture, how can you bring heaven to earth? How can you connect people with God? Sydney, don't you just love that God puts us so uniquely with all these different interests and passions placed in different parts of the world and we're the light. I love what you've read on that scripture is that adapted to the culture. We're not talking about being in the world. I mean, we're in the world not being of the world but adapting to the culture, understanding just where you are. Like sometimes I think a lot of times and we'll be honest, like I've heard Christians get a bad rep because you just, you might plop yourself there and just start throwing things at people and saying things and screaming at people. We've all seen those things, right? But that's not what Jesus came to do. When we look at the scriptures, when we look at the Bible, we look at Jesus and the life that he lived. He was eating with the people. He was out among them and I think that is so true for us. It's like a lot of times I think, sometimes Tom and Amy makes me like really sad when I'll see like, I've been at like big Christian events and I remember even one time, like a couple of years ago down in DC and I just remembered there was like, these Christians were picketing and they were saying, I'm gonna dance other Christians and saying all this stuff. And I'm like, this is not what it's about. Yeah, we're all supposed to come together as one. And so I just want to encourage you, something that is so beautiful is that when, if God's calling you to a specific place or a specific area, just to even learn a new language. You know, learn the way that people speak. Don't come in, drop in your Christianese. Oh, the Lord said that, people don't respond to that. You know, and I think we're in a season and time that God wants to like retrain us. He wants us to like understand the situations that we're in so that we can speak to people. We can speak to them out of love. And then as we begin to open up, as we begin to be a witness, even sharing our stories and our testimonies of things that we've gone through, then people will be more open and like, huh, well that happened. I think we should be like so excited to just share what God has done in our lives. This kind of stuff is all over scripture. Listen, the truths of God are solid things. They don't change. But look at Jesus with the woman at the well. He started asking about, get me a drink of water, please. And all those kinds of things. Paul on Mars Hill, where he used their cultural connection with the temples that were all around them to have a springboard to show the gospel. Look at what the young couple, Lauren and David have done. They just knew some sign language and it blossomed into this ministry to the deaf. And right in an area where they're gonna have to travel from where they are to the school that they're gonna be working with that is the most densely populated or one of the most densely populated areas on earth. Do you think God cares about those people in that densely populated area that are mostly without a witness of the gospel? Yes, he does. He cares about them enough to open a door. So what is God saying to you? Are you called to go to another nation? Yes, you are. Go ahead, go. Okay, maybe you are. And there are a lot of people that are, but maybe you're called to your neighborhoods, your area, I can say right now, you are called. So what is that thing? Ask God for it. When you begin to touch the heart of God, when you begin to get something in your spirit, it says, hey, I really want to share your love with these people. Show me how, Amy, God opens up a door that no man can shut. You know, listening to their interview and you don't hear that often, we're ministering to the deaf community in another part of the world. It reminded me of my 16 year old self. And I just remembered, I loved handicapped children and you know, kids in wheelchairs and there's a center in Norman, Oklahoma where the parents did not want the children or could not felt overwhelmed taking care of the children. So it was a children's handicapped center. And I just started volunteering. I was a brand new driver. So I was volunteering there so much that they said, we have to pay you. We have to hire you. They would even let me guys, this is crazy to think back on, they would let me check the children out. I would take them to Sonic for a drink. I would take them to my parents' home with the 16 year old girl. I was just so passionate about it. So I wonder what things were you passionate about that maybe you've buried for a while. I mean, just hearing that conversation kind of spurred up. I love the deaf. I love the children. I love the handicapped children. What is in you that maybe has been lying dormant for a while? Maybe it's time like Paul said to stir up, man, stir up that gift inside. If ever there was a time that people need Jesus, the time is now. And it's not like Jesus is just coming from the clouds and meeting face to face with everybody. He's sending you into all the world. He's sending me into all the world. Sydney, it is, it's a joy. Because we can become like fat Christians, so to speak, where it's all about us. Our blessing, our world. We're saved, we're delivered. And it's like we're just getting bigger and bigger. We've got to give out to others. We truly do have to give out to others and just really love on people. And even as you were talking, I just really sense that somebody's watching right now and you are really seeking from God. You really want to hear from God. You really are just like, I don't know where my life is going. I don't know where my life is heading. And this is why we exist. Doing Hope Today on Cornerstone Telstra Network. We've been here for 44 years and this is why we simply exist because we want everyone to know that's what our founder, Norma Bixler said. We want everyone to know who Jesus is. It's more than just a belief, but knowing that he is the savior, that he is the king of kings, that he is our all in all. And we just invite you today that maybe you've been on the fence, maybe you've been walking through some really hard, difficult things in your life and you're at the end of your rope. And maybe you've tuned in today because you know what? You're just like, I need some answers. Well, this is your answer. Jesus paid the ultimate price for you. He died on the cross and he rose again after three days and he was resurrected and he ascended. Not just so you could just, you know, have eternal life with him, but he wants you in your life right now to walk out, to live by the word, to walk by faith and to have the life that God wants for all of us. And then we're not saying that it's gonna be easy at times, that we can all test up here, that being with Jesus has made those trials, it's made those circumstances able to get through them, to navigate through them and God has taught us some remarkable things in the journey. So this is your journey today and you feel like you are on just like the end of your rope. Take this as your sign that God sees you, God loves you and he hears you. And one thing I think about that scripture is that, you know, it's a narrow road that we walk on through with Jesus, we find the life through walking that narrow road because there's so many different pathways that the world throws at us, but we can tell you and we can bet everything on it that when you walk with Jesus, when you walk on that narrow road, when you walk step by step, that he will speak to you, he will give you revelation, he will love you and he will begin to show you as you trust in him and you put your faith in him. He will begin to remove those storms and move those things that are blocking you out of your pathway. And if it's your first time that you're saying, you know what, I want to give my life to Jesus, give us a call at our prayer line at 888-665-4483. We love you and we just know, let your new life in him begin today. Well, that's a powerful message. And, you know, for you that have known Christ, for you that are filled with the Holy Spirit, for you that have just recognized your gifts, you know, the Bible says that out from your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. In fact, there's an old song, there's a river of life flowing out from me, caused the lame to walk in the blind to see, opens prison door, sets the captives free, there's a river of life. I've got a river of life flowing out of me. So you've got that, you've got that river of life. So where is it going to go? Who's it going to flow on today? We were talking about, you can't hold this stuff into yourself. You know what a river that doesn't go anywhere? It's a swamp, you know, it just, it's a flood. It doesn't do anybody any good. But that river of life flowing and flowing out of you, those things that he's put within you, that spirit of God that like Amy said, you have this desire to just touch a life over there. There's something that God has put within you that needs to be released. Somebody that you love, somebody that maybe you're passionate about, you're passionate about a certain cause or said, those are all keys to what God wants to do. And so take this time today and say, God, I want to be that person. Let me flow out of my innermost being onto someone today. Amy, take us home with this. Well, I mean, Jesus modeled it, Paul modeled it. Jesus said, hey Zacchaeus, you come down. I'm going to your house today. You mean he went to the house of the sinner. He went to the house of the lost. He went to the house of the guy that was stealing. Yeah, Jesus is a friend of sinners. He became our friend and then our savior. So why don't you be a friend to sinners today? And I believe when you do, then you'll find real hope today. On tomorrow's hope today, discover the 10 principles to overcome adversity and live above defeat. Former law enforcement officer and author Adam Davis shares his personal experiences with abuse and depression by exploring biblical truths that enabled him to embrace the hope and victory available in Christ. That's tomorrow on hope today. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.