Fathers and Sons

29 May Fathers and Sons

Hello again! This months blog is another really special piece. Our past and present base directors will both be sharing their thoughts as they transition from one to the other. As YWAM Tokyo, we are in a time of massive transition and so we invite you to share with us in the story God is writing during this season. First you will hear from our previous base director; followed by the man taking over his role.

I’m a rich man! I really am. It’s sad to say that there are a lot of leaders who wonder what they have done with their lives. They can’t look back at any specific seasons with joy and satisfaction. But I can. My time in YWAM Tokyo, from pioneering to handing things over has been one of wonder, delight, and gratitude.

The McDaniel family is coming up on two years since God began to unfold His plan for us to move east to Alaska. No one was more surprised than we were. We were excited about where things are going in Japan as we were seeking the Lord for our next steps… in Japan. But then God did a left turn on us and decided to take us in a new direction. We still don’t know 100% what that will look like, only that He is about to do something in Alaska and that we are supposed to be apart of it.

What makes this all easier is that God had already spoken to me to raise up the next leader of YWAM Tokyo. That man is John Payne Corhern. His wife, Katie, is an amazing leader as well. Together they will make a dynamic duo, equipped and ready to move this base into the next phase. So, whether or not I stayed in Japan, JP was going to take over the base and I was going to move onto the next thing God had for me. This is how it should be. The older generation should raise up the younger and prepare them to take the reins. John Somers-Harris modelled this for us and I wanted to continue in his footsteps. The other thing that makes this easier is that nothing at this base was built by me. It has always been about Holy Spirit and the team He put together to advance His kingdom in Japan. Everything good at this base is because of the multiple gift-sets of the people here. If it was ever a mess, it was probably because of me. All that being said, I can’t express enough how much I love you all and have enjoyed running with you, laughing with you, and crying with you.

Our family will move into a time of sabbatical as we begin praying into God’s plan for our future. I will write. Maria will continue to write. Claire and Abbie will continue to be creative geniuses. And all of us will advance Christ’s Kingdom wherever God places us. Hopefully we will be back to Japan MANY times in the future and shake our heads in wonder at what God continues to do through the fantastic people that come to this AMAZING nation.

We love you all.

David McDaniel (Previous Base Director)

We all stand on the shoulders of giants. This is true for all of us as none of us have reached where we are, all on our own. I love this statement made by the American TV icon Mister Rogers: “All of us have special ones who have loved us into being”. As we are in leadership transition as a YWAM base, I want to talk about the giant and special one we have had in David “Dave” McDaniel.

In our last blog at the end of April, we featured two new YWAM locations that have been pioneered from Tokyo. In addition, I have also been championed and raised up into this bases ‘director’ role. All three of these new base directors (including myself) have been directly influenced by Dave. He has played so many roles in all of our lives over the years. He has been a great leader for me, not only as my base director but also as my DTS Leader in 2011. He has also been our teacher. Any of us who have sat in for his lectures would say that Dave is one of the most knowledgeable and studied individuals we have known. He has one of the deepest and most alive relationships with the Bible, of anyone I know. He has also been our friend. He and his wife are two of the most fun and funniest people I know! Whenever we have a gathering as a community, our team members are always gathered around them and enjoying their company.

Yet the role that so many of us have thrived under is summed up in that of a father. All of us, from the emerging base leaders to our base staff, have been loved and treated as sons and daughters by Dave. He has celebrated our victories, he has cried with us in our defeats. He has called forth our destinies, both when we did not know them and also when we stopped living in them. He has celebrated us, officiating the weddings of several of our current and former staff (including my wife & I). Last but not least, he has cried with us during some of the darkest times, all the while pointing us to the bigness and goodness of God.

We have been blessed and honored to be under his leadership as our base director here at YWAM Tokyo. The time has come for us to champion him as he and his family pursue the Lord and His next steps. We honor him as a giant on whose shoulders we stand and as someone who has loved us into being.

We love you, Dave!

JP Corhern (New Base Director)

Thank you for keeping up with our monthly blog! As you continue to pray for Japan amidst the global virus outbreak, we also invite you to make it your ambition to pray with us for the McDaniel family as they say bye later in June and transition into their next season. May the Lord bless, keep, and shine His face upon you!

For Jesus & Japan,

YWAM Tokyo