Tonight I got an email update from the Baptist Bible Tribune that contained a portion of a letter from a national pastor and former graduate of my alma mater. He is a pastor now at a church in Tokyo and explained the importance of their response to the crisis there:

Do we have Sunday school and services as usual? What would people think? They might misunderstand that we do not care about people in the disaster?
     As a local church pastor and as a Christian, I think we must gather, worship the Lord, and learn from the Bible what should we do in this situation, and why we are here. We must express our faith with hope in Christ even though the world is shaken by an earthquake.
     First, we are the only people who know whom we can pray to and ask for help.
Second, we are sent by God to the world as salt and to share real hope in Christ and His Salvation, especially in this disaster situation.
     Those reasons are enough that we should hold the service and Sunday school as usual. So we did. We had Sunday school as usual. We had the morning service, and had a meal as usual. We had the Lord’s Supper in afternoon as we already planned. … And on Sunday, about 70 percent of our regular number of the people came to the church for service. Most of the others were either too sick or too far to come by driving because there was no gasoline.
     Our church member and their families are okay, so we prayed other people in Japan to be saved. We have a mission to be witnesses for the Lord. So I thank those who pray for us and our country, because praying for each other is the Lord’s teaching. Our needs are fulfilled by your prayer. The Lord answered. Thank you.
 
In Christ
Hiroshi Saito
Tokyo Bible Baptist Church

This is why we support foreign missions. Please pray for this pastor and church as they seek to make a difference in this crisis