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by Pastor Dan
I can still remember sitting in my apartment in Japan watching the news when the second plane went into the twin towers. I had been a pastor and missionary in Japan for several years when the events of 9-11 crashed down upon the world and like everyone else my heart broke for America. Although my wife Yumi and I enjoyed our lives in Japan and we had many friends we loved and a ministry that we were excited about we began to wonder if it wasn’t time to get back to America and begin a new church there. It was not an easy decision. I remember we prayed a lot, got advice from people we respected, and tried to weigh all the possibilities. In the end it wasn’t clear what we should do but we decided to take a big step of faith out of our comfort zone and plant a new church back in the States.
One of the cool things about our church back in Japan was how multi-cultural it was with people from Korea, Mexico, England, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, The Philippines, the U.S., and of course Japan all a part of our fellowship at various times. One of the cool things about Foundation is having many of those folks still standing with us in prayer as we reach out to our new community with the love of God. Actually, the Janesville/ Beloit area is very familiar to Yumi and I. I grew up in Janesville and we were married at Grace Evangelical Free church in Afton where I was the assistant pastor back in 1995-1997.
Foundation began as a house church in 2003 and after we "busted the seems" out of that home we moved into the Best Western hotel. There we began to hold Sunday morning services in 2005. It was a great location for us and taught us that a church is much more than just a building. Still, we continued to pray and seek God’s leading for a place of our own. That prayer was answered in 2008. Other places we have met in during our short history are an empty store at the Janesville Mall, the Beloit Historical Society, and Northside school in Milton.
The history of our church is a history of answered prayers. Sometimes I can’t figure out how God has brought us to where we are at today but it does make it interesting to ponder what might happen next.
I hope you’ll come check out what the Lord has been doing here. The beginning of a new church is an exciting time to jump in and be a part of something special from the ground up. At Foundation we want to encourage and walk alongside people as they discover what it means to live life as God intended it to be. God is so awesome and amazing that getting to know him is an exciting voyage of discovery. God did not mean for us to take this spiritual journey alone though. If finding God’s will for your life and having the support of other people doing the same thing sounds like something you are ready for, then please don’t hesitate to come out and meet us.
