Updates

Exciting News — Baby on the Way!
“Sore wa on’nanoko no akachandesu” (And it’s a girl!)

Little One on the Way
We are excited to publicly announce that Sierah and I are expecting a little one! This is something we and a few friends have been praying for for over a year now. God has been ever so kind to answer. Due date for our little girl is the third week of December.

How Is Sierah Doing?
Sierah is doing well overall. Some days are easier than others, especially the days we are not on the road! She is about three and a half months along now, and all is well. We are grateful. Feel free to reach out to her on social media if you’d like to check in on her and be an encouragement to her.

How Is Baby?
So far so good! Doctor’s appointments have been only good news to this point. Our daughter is growing healthy and on schedule. As you can imagine, we’ve been discussing names, baby registry, changes to travel plans, and conversations with friends about parenting in those early years. Our hearts are full.

What Are Our Needs Right Now?
Right now, not too much is needed—not yet! God has been good. Thanks to all of you who pray for us, support us, and keep in touch. We are grateful for your partnership in the gospel.

Grace and peace,
Joe Pliska

Spring Update 2021 — A Busy Season from a Gracious God
“For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you.” (Romans 15:24)

What have we been up to?
Travel, travel, travel. In our search for partnerships, God has been giving us more and more opportunities to present our ministry to local churches. During these visits we’ve been blessed to meet and get to know many believers we would have otherwise never met. As the summer approaches, we are prayerful that we can continue to schedule more meetings. We also look forward to spending a bit more time with family and the people of our church. Since February we’ve been in  the Carolinas, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and just inside western Pennsylvania.

But what about during the week?
While we are on the road, we often get the opportunity to meet with pastors for coffee or lunch (or Zoom meetings). During these sit downs we get to learn about other likeminded ministries in our nation as well as tell them about our ministry plans for Japan. In addition to these meet-ups, Sierah and I are continuing to work on our education online.

Update on our educational endeavors
We’ve started doubling up classes! Starting this past Spring semester and going on into the summer, Sierah and I have doubled down on our SBTS and CCEF studies in order to ensure we get both finished before we leave for Japan next year. After my two classes this summer, I will be halfway done with my Master’s. After Sierah’s two classes, Sierah will receive her first of three counselling certifications!

A word about Japan right now
Many prefectures in Japan, including Tokyo, are closed right now due to reported Covid spikes. Pray for the Christians and pastors in these areas. When a Japanese governor decides to close down a prefecture—think stay-at-home orders and such—there is a lot of pressure on Japanese believers to not gather on the Lord’s day or in each other’s homes for fellowship. Many churches in Tokyo are struggling right now.

How can you pray for us?
1.  Support levels: Right now, we are at 22% committed.
2.  Education: Not just finances, but the discipline to take on our new workload well.Thank you for your faithfulness to pray and support us!

Grace and peace,
Joe and Sierah Pliska

          Bishop     Is it your will that [Name] be ordained a Bishop?
          People     It is.
          Bishop     Will you uphold him in this ministry?
          People     We will.
          Bishop     In peace let us pray to the Lord.
                                – Common Book of Prayer

Grace and Peace to you.

Last weekend, I was ordained into gospel ministry by our church family in Louisville, KY. We are so thankful for God’s gift of the local church! I wanted to share with you all a few quick thoughts on the significance of that event by answering a few questions.

What Is an “Open” Examination?

At our church, the ordination proceedings take place over two days: the examination of the ordinand on Saturday and the actual ordination itself on Sunday. The church gathered for both. And that’s important. (More on that in a minute.) Saturday morning was a glorious day. The church gathered to hear both of us present our testimonies and callings to ministry. Then our pastors questioned me in areas doctrine and church polity. All church members who attended were given a copy of my doctrinal statement and encouraged to submit any questions they had in writing to the pastors. Not all questions were asked. But some were—and that’s important too.

Why Is it Important the Church Was There?

I will not explain here the importance of a pastor being ordained into ministry, though I do believe they should be. Why was it important that our church family attended the examination on Saturday? To hear me answer questions about our common faith and our convictions about what our church in Japan will be?  Because it is the local church’s responsibility to affirm its men into ministry. Further, this begins with the local churches responsibility to identify spiritual men among its membership, see that they are trained and tested, then publicly examine them and affirm them to the ministry. Barnabas was not an elder at the church and Antioch (as far as we’re told), but he was instrumental in the discipling of the apostle Paul. It was the church at Antioch laid hands on Barnabas and Saul—affirming them for gospel ministry—and sent them on their mission. Churches ought to recognize, equip, and affirm their own leaders.

Am I a Pastor Now?

Maybe you’re one of the ones who’ve already asked me this! No, ordination does not make one a pastor. A pastor is a shepherd over a local flock of believers, for whom he bears responsibility and for whom he must give an account someday (1 Pet 5:2, Heb 13:17). That is not a responsibility God has given me at this time. What my ordination means is that I am an ordained minister of the gospel, so that if the Lord should lead me to pastor a church someday, I can say that I have already been publicly affirmed by a local body to be eligible for this task.

We are so grateful for the many of you who have decided to follow us on our journey to Japan.
 

May God bless and keep you.
– Joe

We make plans, but God directs our steps. 
(see Proverbs 16:9)

How has the Deputation “Relaunch” gone?

In a word, great! For many of us, last year did not go as expected. In God’s wise providence, we were not able to connect with the number of churches as we had planned. We were both a bit discouraged as 2020 was coming to a close. But we are so grateful for the new relationships and partners God put us in contact with while out in the Midwest last year! At the end of the year, we moved back east to Louisville to relaunched our deputations efforts.

In December, we were able to have a few sit-downs with pastors to discuss our ministry vision for Japan and even got to present our ministry to a dear church in Kansas before heading back east. Made many contacts for our next trip through this area.
 
In January, we moved back to the Louisville area to relaunch our fund-raising endeavors. We caught Covid our first week back but quickly recovered without any serious symptoms. After that, we were able to schedule and attend several meetups and zoom calls with more pastors who are interested in supporting our ministry. At the end of January I was able to attend a couple of pastors conferences in Florida and Nevada. By God’s grace I got to make several great people and began the partnership conversation with a handful of interested pastors.
 
In February, we were able to nail down several meetings with interested churches later this year! We were also able to schedule a handful of pastor meet-ups and zoom calls. The second week of February, we hit the road to visit a new supporting church in Illinois, then presented a missions conference and a Sunday at another church in Kansas. We were also able to grab lunches with a few interested pastors on this trip. 

So what’s next for us?
We are still building out our calendar for 2021-22, but for the next couple of weeks we are at home. Sierah is busy making our home a hospitable environment to regularly have people over for fellowship. I am in preparations for my ordination council coming up in less than a week! Meanwhile, we are both plugging away at our online schooling. Our next road trip will be the third week of March where we will head out east to the Carolina’s.

How can you pray for us?
– Ordination: My ordination at our home church is coming up this first weekend of March.
– Support levels: Right now, we are at 19.4% committed. Praise God!
– Education: We are both immersed in online classwork right now!

Grace and peace,
Joe and Sierah Pliska

A Faithful God in a Strange Year

Beloved, don’t be surprised by the trials you face, as if something strange is happening to you. Rejoice.
(See 1 Peter 4:12-13)

Question: How have we been? What have we been up to since getting back from Japan?

The past several months has been a season of preparation and ministry for us in many ways. As we’ve been transitioning into our new (temporary!) life of support raising and travelling, we’ve been graced to meet a few people along the way who have kindly answered questions and offered wisdom on how to navigate the next couple of years ahead. We’ve also had a handful of meetings already, though this hasn’t been the easiest time for many churches out here in the Midwest. God has been faithful. The church here is strong as she is sustained by her King.

Right now, Sierah is working on a couple of certifications, one for TESOL and another for biblical counselling. If you have questions for her about that, please reach out! My focus of late has been on my masters degree as well as booking meetings with churches and pastors to discuss our ministry plans for Japan.

Question: What are our next steps?

Our primary goal right now is filling up our calendar for 2021. A daunting task! But many have done it before and many will do it after us. Second, we also are trying to establish ministry connections with those already in Japan. The more like-minded Christians we can partner with for Kingdom work in Japan, the better! If you know of any believers in Japan that we should meet, let us know! Third, we have a lot of Japanese language basics to get down before we move over there. Though we will be enrolled in language school when we arrive, the more we learn now, the better.

Question: How can you pray for us?

Pray that God would connect us with the right local churches in His providential timing as we seek to schedule out this next year. Pray that we would be faithful to the work we’ve been called to in this season. Wisdom is needed. Pray for Japan. As hard as it has been for local assemblies over here, it has been just as hard, or even harder, for many churches in Japan.

While this year has not gone exactly “according to plan,” we can rejoice on two accounts. First our faithful God has allowed us to already connect with so many wonderful brothers and sisters both stateside and in Japan! Second, as Peter goes on to remind us, we rejoice with all the members of the family of God this year because we know that we endure hardship for Christ now, we are partaking in his sufferings. And someday soon, we will see his glory revealed. This is our prayer and our hope for Tokyo.

Grace and peace,
Joe and Sierah Pliska

By God’s grace, this spring, we were able to spend about four weeks in Japan before having to come home early, due to the Covid-19 situation. While we were there much of Tokyo was in lockdown; but we were able to spend a tremendous amount of time with Steve and Bethany Carter, the missionaries we will be training under during our first term. They are a sweet and Godly couple, with much to offer the Japanese people in their church and community. And the way they have sought to build gospel relationships with the unsaved people around them is an excellent modeled for Christians both in a foreign context and here in the Sates. So needless to say, we are thrilled at the prospect of working with them when we arrive in Japan in the near future!

We also had brief opportunities to speak with some of the members at Akigawa Baptist Church, but because of the lockdowns in place in Japan at the time we could not meet with them, and no church outreach opportunities were possible. 

In other news, now that many churches have started opening back up here in the states, Sierah and I have officially begun deputation! For the next two years, we plan on traveling from church to church to raise the support we need to move over to Japan as full-time missionaries. 

Please pray for us for these next couple of years that we will raise all the support we need, not just to live on but to establish our own Japanese ministry when we get there.

Grace and peace,
Joe and Sierah Pliska 

Dear Family and Friends, 

We trust that all is going well! We are writing this to share our big announcement with you! From the start of our relationship, we have discussed the possibility of full-time ministry, specifically in cross-cultural missions work. We both love the Lord and desire to see His name be made known among every people in every country! We’ve both taken several missions trips individually which have encouraged us in this direction. Now, as a married couple, we have prayed a lot about whether God would see fit to put us into the ministry together. Last October, we had the opportunity to go on a short trip to visit Steve and Bethany Carter, a missionary family from our church. They have been serving in Japan for over twenty years. While we were there, we got to know the missionaries better and quickly fell in love with both Japan and the people there. 

  We now have an exciting opportunity to go back to Japan for two months this upcoming spring, and our plan is to serve alongside Steve and Bethany in whatever way we can. While we are there we will be attending camp with the youth which will allow us to learn and understand more of what Christianity looks like for Japanese youth, as well as give us the opportunity to get to know other missionaries and teens. We will also be helping with church services, including Easter Sunday. This will teach us more about what conducting a church service in Japan looks like and will give us the privilege of helping in the areas of music, teaching English, working with youth, and more. Another area that we will have a part in is the annual church cookout. This is a huge outreach opportunity where we will be able to fellowship with the Japanese people for the purpose of presenting the Gospel!

Our goal is to serve the missionaries in order to gain a better understanding of what life on the mission field of Japan looks like, as well as what it would cost to live there.

As we make preparations for March, we are asking that you would partner with us in prayer. We are confident that the Lord hears and answers our prayers and we would count it a joy and help to know that you are praying for us.

We would also like to ask you to consider supporting us financially on this trip. We are aware that some of you receiving this letter have already graciously given us financial support. For that, we thank you greatly and simply want to send this letter so that you are more aware of how your gift will be used and so you can be better informed how to pray for us as we embark on this great adventure. We are seeking to raise $6,000 and have $2,000 raised so far! Whether it’s by prayer and/or financial support, we thank you for your investment!

Once we are back in the States, we will send another letter letting you know how the trip went and more about our future plans. In the meantime, if you would like regular updates on the progress of our trip and financial support, or would prefer contact by email instead of a letter, please email us (contact info provided below). Also, please feel free to reach out to us at any time with questions or encouragement. We would look forward to hearing from you while we are in Japan.

Grace and Peace,
Joe and Sierah Pliska