One of PBA's interesting outreaches is their "Summer Camp." The word "camp" has not been brought over into Japanese very well -- there is nothing camp-like about it. It's held at a Bible Conference Center that's related to TEAM and located in a mountain resort town that became especially famous when Japan's current emperor courted his wife there many years ago. They played tennis together, setting off a huge tennis boom in Japan. Ah, but I digress...

The purpose of our 'camp' is to give seeking listeners and viewers a chance to come meet with Japanese Christians, listen to our radio pastors in person, and get counseling if they want it.

Unfortunately, while we often have about 200 people there, attendance was way down this year. Last year, we maxed out the facilities and had to turn down late applications. This year there were only about 60 folk. We'll have to try to figure out why that happened!

Still, there was a real good spirit at the camp, and it felt a lot more intimate than usual. It ran last Wednesday thru Friday, so I haven't heard about any results yet. In addition to messages from our radio pastors, we had a music group come and give a concert too. They were a lot of fun. They've taken a Japanese music style called 'Enka' and put gospel lyrics to it. Enka is strongly associated with bars and alcohol, and generally has themes that are like US blues -- my woman left me, the law is after me, farewell cruel world. But these guys have redeemed enka in the same way Martin Luther redeemed German drinking songs by turning them into hymns of the Reformation.

We taped the concert and the messages, so I was busy with the TV camera. The photos here were taken by another PBA staffer. When I get a chance, I'll put up a video of the group's music.

This coming week will be spent at TEAM Japan's Annual Conference. Messages and seminars in the morning, mission business sessions in the afternoons.

Setting up for the shoots...




Long shot of the concert...

Medium shot of the concert. That's me on the camera over at the left. Sorry, no close ups!