{"id":256593,"date":"2022-03-14T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/?p=256593"},"modified":"2023-08-09T09:07:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T15:07:17","slug":"how-the-best-friendships-lead-to-growing-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/blog\/best-friendships-lead-to-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"How the BEST Friendships Lead to Growing Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cHow does a person enter faith?\u201d Yoichi Suzuki<\/a> asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoichi was with Wayne Meyer<\/a> at a doughnut shop close to the Utsunomiya University <\/em>campus in Utsunomiya, Japan<\/a>. It was the beginning of Yoichi\u2019s senior year of college. As he considered graduation and heading toward the workplace, there were many questions on his heart about what he would do with his life. However, one of the biggest questions was about having a relationship with Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wayne, who met The Navigators in 1965 and has served in Japan since 1971, shared The Bridge to Life<\/em> Illustration<\/a> with Yoichi. This wasn\u2019t the first time Yoichi had seen this illustration. He first met Wayne through the BEST (Bible, English, Sports and Travel) Club on campus at Utsunomiya University<\/em> his freshman year and even attended weekly Bible studies in Wayne\u2019s home his junior year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYoichi and I discussed other things after I talked through The Bridge to Life<\/em> Illustration,\u201d Wayne shared. \u201cAs we got up to leave, Yoichi asked me again, \u2018But how does a person enter faith?\u2019 I thought to myself, I haven\u2019t had someone ask me that twice in the same conversation, and definitely not that directly.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayne responded to Yoichi\u2019s repeated question, \u201cYoichi, would you like to try?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Yoichi responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayne and Yoichi prayed together in Wayne\u2019s car. Yoichi invited Christ into his life, by admitting his sin and need for a Savior and believing Jesus is God\u2019s Son who died for him and was resurrected so he might have eternal life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoichi\u2019s faith and trust in Jesus  became one of the answers to decades of prayer for Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story from 20 years ago continues to have an impact on Japan today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reaching College Students Through an On-Campus Club<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Navigators campus ministry in Japan started in 1966 following a Navigators one-year worldwide prayer focus for the country. Wayne mentioned that at that time the average of only one out of 100 students responded to invitations to join small group Bible studies. God pursued hearts, but the interest and response to the gospel had yet to surface. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost students we met had never read the Bible, never attended church and never had a Christian friend,\u201d shared Wayne. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t an interest in God and only a small percentage were open to the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1980s, The Navigators staff in Japan created the BEST (Bible, English, Sports and Travel) Club, which opened up more opportunities to build relationships with students, even if they had no initial interest in the Bible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As The Navigators team passed out brochures for the BEST Club Yoichi\u2019s freshman year, Wayne walked over to Yoichi\u2019s cafeteria table and asked the guys sitting there where they were from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m from Sendai,\u201d Yoichi shared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI lived in Sendai my first three years in Japan,\u201d Wayne responded. \u201cWhere did you live in Sendai?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoichi responded with the location and Wayne realized that he had lived a block away from Yoichi\u2019s parents house, but before Yoichi was born. This common ground led Yoichi to joining the club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOften what happens in the BEST Club is that people who have interest in one of the areas besides the Bible join and during that first year they build relationships with Christians, they become more open to the Bible,\u201d Wayne shared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many Japanese have a negative image of the Bible and religious things, Yoichi felt differently. He said he had been exposed to the Bible through the Christians who led this school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore the BEST Club, I hadn\u2019t heard the gospel. When I was in preschool, I remembered hearing the Christmas story and learning about Jesus being a gentle man. These were the only things I remembered,\u201d Yoichi shared. \u201cThe club staff were very kind and because I was invited, I joined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoichi\u2019s faith journey had ups and downs and even during his sophomore year he decided not to participate in the club for a time. However, as he started his junior year he thought about his future and what he had gleaned from the BEST club\u2014friendships, learning about God\u2019s love and grace, and growing step-by-step. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI decided to join the club once again as I wondered how I should live my life. I thought, Maybe I can learn from Jesus,<\/em>\u201d Yoichi shared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead a Bible Study for the First Time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of Yoichi\u2019s junior year, Wayne invited a group of students into his home for Bible study. During that first semester the group lost momentum and Wayne wondered about what to do next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the second semester started, the Lord gave Wayne an idea about how to approach leading the study. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was actually only one believer in the group. However, I told the group that second semester that I would lead this first time and then everyone would take turns leading,\u201d Wayne shared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approach to Bible study changed Wayne\u2019s perspective on John 16:13<\/a>, \u201cBut when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come\u201d (NIV). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to think that this was just for believers,\u201d Wayne shared. \u201cNot once over the next three years of leading Bible study this way did anyone get off track. The majority of the time the people leading were not believers yet. Over the next few years, many of these students who took turns leading the Bible study came to Christ. Then they started leading their own Bible studies, inviting others to join them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoichi smiled as Wayne shared about these Bible studies. He remembered thinking these studies would be similar to the Japanese education system where Wayne would be the teacher and he would be the student. However, Wayne had a different style of teaching that Yoichi wasn\u2019t used to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I asked Wayne questions about the Bible like, \u2018What does this verse mean?\u2019 Then he would always ask me back, \u2018What do you think Yoichi?\u2019\u201d Yoichi shared. \u201cAt first I was frustrated because he would always ask me a question back. This helped me think about the Bible and its truth, taking it seriously. I had to consider how I would answer the question first and, overall, helped me remember what I was learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoichi shared how Bible study transitioned for him, moving from attaining knowledge to seeing how God\u2019s Word changed his heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expand Spiritual Generations in Your Community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today, Yoichi is with the Japan Navigators as Campus Director at Utsunomiya University, <\/em>where his discipleship journey began. His family often opens their home to students for small-group Bible study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through Yoichi\u2019s time at university, many Navigators staff in Japan impacted his life through their intentionality. Wayne mentions that he is only one small part of Yoichi\u2019s story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navigators BEST Club continues at Utsunomiya University<\/em> and its student leader recently became a Christian. Even a  number of the participants when Yoichi was a student stay connected with The Navigators and continue to meet regularly.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday when students ask me questions about the Bible, I respond with a question, \u2018What do you think?\u2019\u201d Yoichi shared. \u201cThat\u2019s a very practical way they can learn. Also, I always pray before meeting with students that the Holy Spirit will lead the conversations and that my words will be seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6<\/a> NIV).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoichi is praying for and watching for doughnut-shop conversations like the one he had with Wayne, when he asked about entering the Christian faith. Yoichi sees the many invitations God gave him throughout his life, even through Wayne, to learn more about God and His love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to encourage students to know and memorize Scripture, so it may help them like it does me,\u201d Yoichi shared. \u201cThat energizes me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\t