This weekend's LifeLine TV program will be a lecture by English missionary Patrick McElligot (Spelling?? I've never seen his name written out in English, only Japanese!)

This lecture series was taped at a seminar sponsored by Family Forum Japan (FFJ), which is the Japan affiliate of Focus on the Family in the US. I've been on the board of this organization since it started over 10 years ago. We've had tremendous ups and downs, but the Lord has seen fit to keep us going this far. Less than a year ago, it looked like we were going to hit the financial brick wall at the proverbial 100 miles an hour... but God was gracious, and we stopped inches short of disaster, and have been slowly backing away from the wall.

Family issues are huge in Japan, and there are not nearly the resources available here as in the US -- secular, let alone Christian. FFJ has a good ministry -- very popular radio program in two prefectures, lots of resources, both translated from the US and original from Japanese authors, and a heavy schedule of speaking in churches, to school groups and more. But financing the work has been problematic, and our extremely dedicated staff work for embarrassingly low wages. Seems to be a recurring theme to ministry in Japan.

This broadcast of lecture series has been very well received. This will be the fourth program. Common Biblical themes for those of us in the Christian West, but really kind of radical, eye-opening stuff for Japan.

As a P.S. here, we'll be traveling some 10 hours away from Tokyo to tape a LifeLine 20th anniversary event this coming Monday -- a national holiday. The event will be on a cruise boat on Lake Biwa, Japan's biggest lake. Will be my first time on a cruise boat, and the first time (duh) to film on a cruise boat. It's going to be a full slate with gospel and classical concerts, kids' program, various speakers and more. I'm slightly worried about seasickness, but even more worried about recording decent audio -- how loud are the engines on a cruise boat?!