A Building in Tokyo

Every journey begins with a step, but sometimes you don’t know how many steps are left until you reach your destination.

Eight years ago, our team was asked to “cross the Jordan and take the land”.  We knew that God had buildings for us in Tokyo.  In faith we left our previous location and moved into the city to re-pioneer DTS and a new YWAM base.

Since that time we have been living in collections of houses in various places.  With each new school there has been a huge challenge to find enough housing for our students as well as ongoing community space for our long-term staff.  At times we were relatively close to one another and at others far enough away that it honestly felt difficult to maintain a close-knit family of believers.

Well, that has recently changed.  We have moved to an amazing facility in a suburb of Tokyo called Higashikurume.  This wonderful property, owned by Japan Baptist Mission (JBM), came to our attention about a year ago.  Our leadership team asked the owners if we could have a tour of the facility and were instantly enamored with the place.  But liking a place is not the same as having the word of the Lord on a subject, so we did what we always do when we need guidance: we prayed.  We also asked our national leadership and our international leadership to join us in prayer for guidance.  There was not one ‘no’ in the entire process.  For this reason, we felt confident in the Lord to move forward in pursuit of this new container for Youth With A Mission, Tokyo.

As a result of this and massive favor with JBM we have signed a three year lease with the option to buy the building at any point in time.  The price of purchase is around the equivalent of 2.1 million US dollars.  It is our strong conviction that God is going to provide the money to buy this property out right in that time.

In the meantime, we have a new place that is beautiful for our DTS, ample housing for our staff and even a house that is the nicest place the McDaniels have ever lived.

We are so grateful for the Lord and His guidance.  We have crossed the Jordan and are taking the land.