God can use me
I felt the seeds sown in my early life had been growing in me
Can God use weak vessels such as you and me? Can he make a difference in the life of our friends? Hear the exciting story of how God touched the life of Koji Nakashima, a student at Hokkaido University (Hokudai) Japan, and through him transformed another.
‘When I first came to Hokudai I joined the KGK Japan bible study club but I wasn’t really committed. I was involved in other clubs – a jazz club and a music band too, so I didn’t have much time. There was always drinking of alcohol involved in the other clubs, and I was very influenced by them. I kept going to the bible studies but I wasn’t really listening to God.’
One summer Koji went to the IFES East Asia Regional Conference (EARC), and things changed. ‘At EARC God had taken me away from a bad environment and put me where I could just focus on God and his word. Through EARC God told me to come back to him.
‘After that I knew I wanted to serve through KGK. Through KGK God gave me lots of opportunities to overcome my shyness and be bolder in expressing my opinion and thoughts with the wider team.’
Koji kept attending the jazz club. After concerts, students would usually go ‘utshiage’ (going from one bar to another all evening). Koji would join for the first bar but then go home.
Naomi Tamura was a member of the band. She recalls: ‘When we were having a party after a concert, Koji left early because he had something to do the next morning. He didn’t look sorry but happy, and I wondered why. Later he told me it was because he was going to church on Sunday. I was surprised to hear the word “church”!’
Brought up as a Christian, Naomi stopped attending church when she went to graduate school and found that none of her friends were going. But talking to Koji changed all this: ‘For the first time in my life I met a Christian of my own age! Soon after I met a friend from high school and found out she was also a Christian and she knew Koji well.’
Naomi and her two friends went to a KGK camp together, and soon after she joined a bible study and started going to church again. ‘I felt the seeds sown in my early life had been growing in me! Then one day God himself invited me in the bible to believe and be baptised (Mark 16:16-20).’
Praise God for the work he has done in the lives of both Koji and Naomi. Pray for KGK Japan, that they would be a powerful witness to students who desperately need Jesus. Pray that students would continue to be curious about the lives of Christian students and for many more to experience the life-saving message of Jesus.
