Edward & Toby Thomas

Ed & Toby Thomas: Our call to serve with Japan Mission

We met at church in Conroe, Texas, USA after each experiencing some very dark & difficult seasons of our lives. After becoming friends and serving in various ministries together, we began dating and were married on Christmas Eve 2009. Early in our marriage & family life as a blended family, we felt the Lord’s calling to serve Him in some full-time capacity after our kids were grown and launched into the world on their own. As we raised our kids and served in our local church and elsewhere (including global missions), we’ve taken seriously The Great Commission and have kept in mind the “go therefore” part of that command. Throughout the years we’ve continued to pray about and explore where the Lord would have us go. In 2015, we took the course, “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement” and it was then that the Lord began to speak to us more specifically about full-time missionary service. We were challenged to think about the ways in which He had orchestrated the events of our lives up until that point, and then consider where that life experience intersected with the need for the Gospel, specifically amongst an unreached people group. With Ed’s prior experience in Japan and Toby’s prior missions experience within the “10/40 window,” we heard Holy Spirit call us to Japan.

We connected with a large number of missionaries and missionary agencies in Japan, as well as North America-based ministries focused on the people of Japan. To our humble surprise, starting in 2019, the Lord made a way for us to travel regularly to Japan for both work and ministry exploration. Just as we were gaining momentum and planning a ministry “vision trip” in Spring 2020, the COVID pandemic put a stop to our plans, but not His!  It was during those 3 years we remained in Texas that He sorted, shifted, worked out and shored up HIS vision, purpose, plan and preordained path that He had prepared in advance for us to walk in!  In January 2023, not a day early, not a day late, but exactly when He purposed for us, we visited face-to-face with 17 different missionary agencies/churches/independents all over Japan. We met over 60 people in less than 3 ½ weeks – what a blessing to see the many ways in which He is working, and has been working, amongst the people and country of Japan!

It was during that trip we heard the clear voice of the Lord guiding us to apply for service with Japan Mission.  Because we are Born Again, the desire of our heart is to love, support and serve the Church globally, but specifically the Japanese church.  We are also compelled to love and serve the people of Japan who have NOT YET heard of His Name with the hope and joy of Christ. We are humbled to know the voice of God, to know that He still speaks, that we are His children and that the desire of His heart is for those who do not yet know Him to finally hear His voice in Japan and say, “Yes, Lord. I will follow You.”   

Romans 12:1-2 has become a guiding verse for us:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

We are overwhelmed with our Lord’s unsurpassed mercy and His amazing grace, that He would allow us, two sinners under construction, but saved and declared righteous by the blood of Jesus, to serve Him and His people in Japan.

We invite you to visit our personal website: www.inviewofgodsmercy.com