Harvest Time Report #1

"OPEN YOUR EYES AND
LOOK AT THE FIELDS!"

By Kenichi Nakagawa
Director, Harvest Time Ministries

T
he words "Harvest Time" were, to me, a clearly prophetic word from the Lord. At the time we began this ministry, I sought God very earnestly for direction and He guided me through His Word -- the Gospel of John, chapter 4, verse 35:

"Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest." (NIV)

The imagery of that verse was vivid to me as I thought of it in relation to Japan and God let me see that our country is surely approaching a time of harvest. The years that have passed since then have only served to strengthen that vision within me. A true "harvest time" is coming and I will tell you why I think so.

I was saved in college and, at graduation, felt a sense of call to the ministry. I wasn't sure about how to proceed, however, so I entered the business world first. In looking back on those next six years, I can see how God very clearly used those experiences to train me in business principles. Without that knowledge and experience it would have been impossible for me to function successfully in the area of mass media.

I remember, as well, the first time I really saw the tremendous impact television had on people.

I had started working at McDonald's Japan right after the company began operating here. I was the national purchasing manager and, of course, was responsible for making income projections for the company. McDonald's had just started running TV ads and within a month, our sales had doubled. I was literally shocked at the power of TV and realized for the first time what an impact it could have for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Not long afterwards, I resigned from McDonald's and my wife and I moved to the United States for theological studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. My testimony even made it into the school paper with the headline: "From Hamburgers to Homiletics."

While in the U.S. for those three years, I was introduced to the powerful TV ministries of American evangelical groups. This further encouraged me in the direction of television, so, after completing my studies, we returned to Japan and I began to work with the PTL Club (which had just opened an office in Tokyo) while I was pastoring a church.

"I was literally shocked at the power of TV..."

The six years I spent with PTL were a real learning experience. Though everyone was hurt and discouraged by the later scandal in the U.S., I must say without hesitation that Jim Bakker's investment in the Japanese broadcasts bore tremendous fruit in my life and in the future of Christian broadcasting in Japan. I left PTL about two years before the scandal broke. I had had a growing sense that God was calling me to start an indigenous media ministry. I had no funds at the time and the odds against such a vision (as well as the opinions of many friends) were greatly against us.

However, faith really rose up inside of me. I became absolutely convinced -- despite all that I could see -- that God would abundantly supply every one of our needs. God gave me a special gift of faith during this period of new beginnings. As we began to produce our first programs, however, I became discouraged again because of the low technical quality of our equipment and began to think that we would never make it after all.

Just at that time, however, the Lord used a non-Christian producer at a secular TV station to give me a Word from Him. This man saw how discouraged I was after one day of shooting and commented to me afterward, "Didn't your Christ start out in a manger? Why don't you do the same?"

Harvest Time Ministries
Data Bank

"Harvest Time" seen on 13 regional Japanese stations. Over-the-air broadcast saturation is in the Kansai-Kantō areas, and Okinawa.
U.S. broadcasts in Hawaii, L.A., New Jersey/New York, Plano, Texas and on the IFTV (Chinese language) satellite network..
More than 1 million TV viewers per week.
Over 900 cooperating churches and 6,000 individual supporters.
Publisher of the Clay devotional guidebook (Japanese edition only).
Monthly video DVD/tape service.
Worship/praise tapes & CDs, books for growing faith, and Christian growth seminars on tape.
Seminars, publications, & tapes on Jewish evangelism and the Messianic Jewish movement. Yearly tours to Israel.
Website addresses: http://www.harvesttime.tv
http://www.harvestinternet.tv

Harvest Time Team

Joining Rev. Nakagawa every week is Keiko Nakamura. Ms. Nakamura is a professional narrator whose voice has been featured in numerous television programs, CD recordings, and public and corporate announcement recordings around the country throughout her 40+ year professional career.

This fitly-spoken word was truly like "...apples of gold in settings of silver" to me (Prov. 25:11). Although the next two years were quite hard, we finally became convinced that we could continue our ministry with the support of Japanese churches and individuals.

When we started here, I immediately began making a long-term plan for this ministry. I knew that in the near future we would need to prepare for the challenge of cable and satellite television distribution to reach this nation for Christ. We completed our present facility here in Shizuoka in the summer of 1992 and now we have the complete freedom to produce anything we want in our own studio.

Relying on secular facilities was a tremendous limitation on our calling. But now, when the day arrives that the first 24-hour Christian satellite television network in Japan becomes a reality -- and we are coming nearer to it each year -- we will be ready to immediately begin production. We will be ready to produce evangelistic and cultural programs with a biblical world-view. We aim to help transform the Japanese culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And everything that we've done in the last 12 years has been done to build an infra-structure for that future.

"We aim to help transform the Japanese culture
with the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

I have a very positive outlook for the coming years. There is certainly a harvest time coming for Japan because our God is the God of the impossible and the incredible. I have seen him do both in my own life and ministry, as I know many of you have. Unfortunately, we are often creatures with short memories and even shorter attention spans. God, however, is the Ancient of Days who does all things in His time and for His own pleasure. He has not forgotten Japan.

I especially want to say that to encourage the many missionaries who have labored here for so long, often with very little visible results. You are precious to God and important to the Japanese people. Be assured that the emphasis in all our broadcasts will always be the basic message of the Gospel -- the Cross of Christ -- and its effect on the people that it transforms.

Of all the responses we get from people who have watched our program, the ones that encourage me the most are always the ones who say, "Now, I want to go to church."

We are, without a doubt, truly laborers together with God. May we all drink deeply of His Grace to fully meet the challenge of the coming "Harvest Time." v

	Rev. Kenichi Nakagawa was born in 1947 and grew up in Ōsaka. He graduated from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo in 1970 and spent six years in business until God called him into full-time ministry. He earned an M.Div degree in 1977 from Trinity Evan-
gelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois and returned to Japan in 1979 to pioneer a church in Tōkyō. Harvest Time Ministries was begun in 1986 and has grown to become the largest television ministry in Japan. He and his wife, Fumie, have four children. They live and minister in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture.

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