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part-1 aprt-2 part-3
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Chapter 5: Challenged
A conflict arose between the Hokkaido International School and our church because both were growing. We were no longer a small group gathering at the corner of the school and finally, we were in the situation that we needed to leave the school that summer.
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We looked for a new meeting place. Our prayer request was that we wanted a place of more than 50 tsubos, , that the location should be within walking distance from a subway station, on a main street, and that we would be able to praise God with freedom, plus a parking lot for more than 20 cars. This sounded crazy specially when we didn't have much money. But the Lord gave us grace and favor with Mr. Nagai the owner of the Nagai building and until today we enjoy using this facility. Exactly what we needed!
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The last meeting at HIS was in February 1998 in the music room, we grabbed the corn shaped maracas and danced with joy.
As we started meeting in the new building we had to repair the space ourselves. So each member helped, painting the ceilings, making the sign board and the storage room. It was a team work that brought us all together. At first we started meeting in the new building with no chairs, everybody had to bring their own chair, the place looked like a second hand shop. We prayed and again the Lord blessed us granting us favor with Dr. Mclain. HIS allowed us to shipped our chairs (100) together with their school items from the U.S.,bringing them directly into the church for free!.
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material for the CFA Mexico outreach |
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Chapter 6: Maturity
In the Fall of 1998 the senior pastor of Amistad de Puebla, Ernesto Alonso, came to visit our church., he presided the dedication of our new facility. We also had invited pastors and spiritual leaders in Sapporo. The visit of the senior pastor of Amistad de Puebla was really meaningful. Knowing that we are spiritually covered by Amistad de Puebla is a blessing. They are continuously praying for Sapporo Christian Group and for Japan. During the dedication meeting the Okadas were appointed as co-pastors of the church. The church was moving to the next level.
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In November 1998 the SCG web-site was opened. It had all been started from scratch. It took the whole year to do the preparation and finally it was ready.
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In the June of 1999 Can Zion Producciones came for the second time, this time to record two CDs in Japanese with the help of Sapporo Christian Group.
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Pastor Isacc Nakazawa who came as an interpreter for Fernando Sosa |
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The Okada family went to Mexico for a year in August 1999. They received a scholarship from Amistad de Puebla, and they studied at the "Espana" Bible School, at Amistad. They also received practical leadership and ministry training. There were more than 50 daughter churches of Amistad de Puebla; the church in Mexico is growing dynamically. "Espana" had students coming from Germany, Spain, Argentina, Russia, Korea and Japan. After finishing successfully their time in Mexico the Okadas returned to Sapporo in August of 2000.
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In the summer of 2000, Megumi Kanazawa also went to Amistad for a 1 year Bible course study and practical training. She will be coming back to Sapporo by the end of July of 2001.
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