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Index | Welcome | News | About | Programs | Staff | Mission | Locations | Bookstore | Education | Links | | Japanese Site | |
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ICM has been blessed with a team of workers devoted to advancing the Gospel. The staff hails from various countries including Japan and each one has been given their own calling and gifts to certain parts of the ministry (Romans 12:4-8). If you would like to speak with one of our staff, please feel free to contact us. Below is an introduction about the pastor staff. A short introduction to the ICM missionaries can be found on the Missionary Staff page. |
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| Pastor Staff Introduction | ||
| • James (Jim) Blocksom - ICM Founder & Senior Pastor | ||
Jim is originally from Ohio, USA. In 1954, after the Korean War, while
serving as an optometry officer in the Far East Air Force
Headquarters in Tokyo, Jim became a Christian (in the real sense). After
returning to America, Jim gave up his career as an optometrist to begin
preparation to be a church-planting missionary in Japan. He felt a calling
from God to do this work, and received confirmation that this was God's
perfect will when the Lord led him to marry Barbara, who was also called
to be a missionary.
Jim graduated from Trinity Seminary College, and returned to Japan in 1962 with Barbara and their eldest daughter. Since then, Jim has served the Lord as a church-planting missionary and pastor. In 1981, Jim received clear guidance to found a lay mission to train laymen to do evangelism, plant churches and produce the literature needed for such work, and so, with his 4 youngest children in tow and on a tight budget, he left the mission to which he had belonged for the last 20 years with firm assurance that it was God's will to establish ICM. Today, Jim and Barbara, and five of their seven children, serve with ICM. Jim has a deep love for the Japanese people and a vitality that has enabled him, with God's help, to turn his vision into reality. Jim has written two a bilingual Bible studies: ?"Abundant Life Studies" (for those who are not Christians), and "New Life Studies" (used as a follow-up course for new Christians), in addition to numerous evangelistic tracts geared especially for the Japanese. Books Titles:
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| • Peter Blocksom - Pastor & Counselor | ||
Peter is the second son of Jim Blocksom, founder of ICM. He was born in Kyoto
and raised in Japan. In 1983, after obtaining his undergraduate degree from an
American university, Peter came back to help ICM and attended graduate school
at Kyoto University.
Afterwards, Peter directed the Japanese extension of an American university, which later became Kyoto International University (he became the school president at that time). In 1999, he established KIU Academy (elementary, junior & senior high school). As KIU president, Peter is actively involved in the lives of students and young people. At ICM, Peter is not only a pastor, preacher, and Bible study leader but he also serves as ICM's main counselor. Through this ministry, God has used him to help not only people at ICM, but also Christians from all around Japan. He and his Japanese wife, Junko, have four sons and are presently living in the Kyoto area.
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| • Jonathan Goss - Pastor | ||
 Jon is from Idaho, USA and he first came to Japan to work on the Kyoto International Chapel building in 1997.
Afterwards, the Lord led him back to ICM, where he served as a pastor, preacher, and Bible study leader until
the summer of 2008.
Jon and his wife, Kazuko (Cha-Cha), are currently living and working in Orange County, California while their young son attends school there in order to receive help in dealing with his autism. Jon hopes to get seminary training while in the States and to return to Japan to continue ministering at ICM if the Lord so leads.
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| • Gregg Hutton - Kyoto Chapel's Resident Pastor | ||
 Gregg is from Colorado, USA. In 1984, Gregg came to Japan to serve at ICM and
to marry Becky, Jim Blocksom' eldest daughter. Gregg serves as a pastor,
preacher, Bible study leader and counselor at ICM.
To support his family while working with ICM, Gregg teaches TESOL at Nara University and Kyoto International University (KIU), as well as teaches at KIU Academy. Gregg currently resides at Kyoto Chapel with his wife, Becky, and their four children.
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| • Chris Momose - Pastor & ICM Press Director | ||
Chris comes from Pennsylvania, USA. His father is a second-generation Japanese-American. Chris became a Christian in his senior year of high school, and a few years later began to sense God's call in his life to be a missionary to Japan. In 1983, he got a job teaching English full-time at the Osaka YMCA, and came to Japan as a self-supporting ("tent-maker") missionary, trusting that God would lead him to where he should serve as a missionary. Chris devoted himself to learning Japanese in his free time and waited for the Lord's guidance.
One day, he received a call from Jim Blocksom, who had tracked him down through an introduction from a friend of Chris' father. Through this series of events, Chris began to work with ICM, and he now serves as a pastor, preacher, Bible study leader and counselor, while heading up ICM's literature ministry (ICM Press). Chris enjoys fishing (especially bass fishing), tennis, volleyball, ping-pong and other sports. He lives with his wife, Nancy, and their four children in the Nara area. Chris has written the bilingual Bible study book "Protestants and Catholics ... Together?" and has translated two books into English: "The Miracle Visas" (a biographical novel about Chiune "Sempo" Sugihara) and "Eternal Blessings" (a book on the Biblical stand on idolatry and ancestor worship, written by Akira Takimoto).
Book Titles:
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