From the age of five, I grew up in Carrollton, Texas. I visited church when I was young, but it was not until my freshman year of college that I trusted Christ alone for my salvation. God prepared me for that decision by showing me I was just a shell and needed to be filled by Him on the inside. After college, I worked as an engineer for a short time before I decided to go to seminary and prepare for missions full-time. I enjoy working with children and running outdoors, and hope to be able to do both in Japan.

Ministry Assignment:

Church planting associate; been with Asian Access since 2001

Words of wisdom...

I would suggest reading a book like Let The Nations Be Glad! by John Piper to have an understanding of a biblical basis and reason for missions- God’s glory. Also, it would be good to take a class like Perspectives set out by the U.S. Center for World Missions or any other type of introductory missions class at seminary or Bible college. But definitely go on a trip to a place that God leads you to. Be open to how He’s leading you about missionary service through your experience. It’s a process, so keep seeking Him, keep praying about it, and talk to a lot of missionaries about their experiences and how they decided this was what God wanted for them.

When you're in Japan, be sure to...

Try any kind of noodle dish- soba, udon, they’re all good. And slurp as loud as you can!

Wonderful (or funny) ministry memories...

When I was last in Japan -- in Yokohama in 1999, we had three girls from Texas helping out at the same church. They called us the "ji" girls because our names were Jenny, Jana, and Regina. This was the way they advertised for an elementary ice cream party and for two Texas Coffeehouses. At the Coffeehouses, everyone wore red bandanas and we made sure to have our jeans on or any kind of denim. It’s funny because of course, we don’t go around wearing bandanas here and Texans aren’t really known to be big coffee drinkers!

Looking for people to network in ministry...

I’m interested in children’s ministry in Japan. I became interested when I thought about how difficult it is to reach Japanese for Christ and remembered the expressions on people’s faces when I would walk down the street. Most of the students going to school and adults going to work all had an expressionless look on their face. But then, elementary school kids were laughing out loud and looked happy. That’s when I thought that children may be more open to the gospel in Japan, because they have not completely been taught to conform to society just yet. I’d like to talk with others who are experienced or are also interested in children’s ministry.

What we've learned here...

Don’t give up! Keep hanging in there, keep persevering and moving forward in how you sense God is leading you. Always seek to remain completely dependent on Him because truly, APART from Him you can do nothing, but nothing is impossible WITH Him.

Hopes for the future...

I hope to see many, many turn their hearts to Christ in Japan. I would love to see the percentage of Christians zoom past the stagnant "less than 1%," WAY beyond what we could ask or imagine.

Personal info:

Regina's B-day: January 1st

How to get in touch with me: