Primeline article:

God asked, “What are you going to do about that?”

Twelve-year-old Brenda had just heard a missionary say that in some countries there aren’t many places to go to church even if people wanted to. They don’t have the opportunity.

While at the altar at the end of the service, Brenda prayed, “Lord, why are there not opportunities like we have in America? That’s not fair.” That’s when God asked her that life-changing question. Brenda replied, “Lord Jesus, I volunteer to make a difference with my life.”

Two years later Brenda was at a district Christ Ambassador’s rally when they heard that J. W. Tucker had been martyred in the Congo. As they prayed for the Tucker family, Brenda asked God, “What would cause a man to take his family to such a place knowing they were going to be in danger?”

The Lord said, “My love.” This broke Brenda’s spirit. He then asked, “Are you still willing to obey me?”

Brenda says, “I committed to serve the Lord with all my heart and to be a missionary.”

Brenda’s parents were not Christians at that time. A Sunday school teacher who had nine children had brought her to Sunday school and church. Brenda accepted Jesus as her Savior when she was 10 and she was filled with the Spirit at 12. As Brenda grew in her faith, the church rallied around her. The people influenced her life. Later, when Brenda and Jim went to Japan as missionaries, this church supported them. The pastor often said that Jim and Brenda were their kids.

When Brenda went to Southeastern Bible College (now University), she didn’t have the funds. She says, “I didn’t know what I was doing. I simply knew I was obeying the Lord.” The church and the Women’s Ministry got a trunk and filled it with supplies. They paid for her gas to go to Southeastern.

Brenda met Jim in high school. He attended the Advent Christian Church. One Sunday night she took him to church with her. After church he asked, “Why do you raise your hands when you’re worshiping?” He had never seen anything like that. Brenda replied, “Jim, it’s a surrender to the Lord. You just open yourself up and surrender as you’re worshiping God.”

Jim was in the Navy reserves and was leaving for Vietnam as Brenda was headed to Bible college. Once she asked him, “Jim, what are you going to do with your life?” He replied, “I had thought about being an outdoor writer.” That was his dream. He was a fisherman and a hunter, and he wanted to be an outdoor writer. He asked Brenda, “What are you going to do?”

She said, “God’s called me to be a missionary.”

He replied, “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Brenda took her Bible and showed him where God called Isaiah. He went home that night, and thought, Oh my, she’s got a real purpose.

Two weeks before Jim went to Vietnam, he saw a newspaper ad for a Pentecostal revival. He went and God baptized him in the Holy Spirit. He wrote to Brenda and told her what God had done.

While in Vietnam, Jim went to Japan for R&R. His ship docked at Sasebo. His Navy Chaplain introduced him to missionaries from different organizations. These missionaries had a retreat for Christian sailors. They rented buses and took the sailors through different towns. At every town, they said, “This is a city of such and such a population. It doesn’t have one Christian witness in this whole area.” When God began to deal with Jim’s heart about missions, he talked with his chaplain. His chaplain told him, “Jim, if God’s dealing with you, He’ll confirm it. Ask God to confirm it.”

When Jim left Vietnam, his ship pulled into Sasebo to refuel. Jim was standing on the flight deck looking at Japan’s mountains. God said, “I’m going to bring you back here to preach the gospel.”

When he came home, he wrote Brenda, “I’ve got another year to fulfill, but I’m getting out of the Navy. God has called me into missions. I’m considering coming to Southeastern.”

Jim did attend Southeastern. He was also committed to go to Japan. Brenda had been praying but didn’t know where God was going to send her. She and Jim spent a year at Southeastern and then got married. After graduation they pastored for two years. In 1979 AGWM appointed them as missionaries to Japan.

Jim and Brenda ministered in Japan for 38 years. Their ministry was planting seed and starting churches. The first challenge they faced was learning the language. When they landed in Japan they didn’t know one word in Japanese. Jim looked at Brenda, and said, “We need to learn the language if we’re going to stay here long term.” Preaching and teaching to the heart of the people is the number one challenge. Jim was linguistically gifted and learned Japanese. He could preach from a Japanese Bible with no notes.

Another challenge was getting people to come to outreach meetings. People would say, “We’re Buddhist; why do Buddhists go to Christian churches? Christians go to Christian churches.” Jim and Brenda met people, made friends, and shared their personal testimony. Because the Japanese didn’t want to be disrespectful, they said they would come to church. But they didn’t come because they thought, I’m not Christian.

Jim and Brenda were starting an outreach in the mountains of Japan. She wanted to teach children the Bible, so she purchased some kids’ Bibles. They talked with their neighbors and asked them to let their kids come. Brenda invited the mothers to their home and showed them what they were planning to do and asked if it was okay for their children to come. One of the mothers was bold enough to ask, “We’re Buddhists. Can Buddhists study the Bible?” Brenda replied, “Yes.”

“So is it okay for my children to study the Bible even though we’re Buddhist?” the woman responded. Brenda said, “Yes, it is.”

Japanese are so respectful. They didn’t want to disrespect Christianity by having their kids do something that would bring reproach.

The Dickeys retired in 2018. Because the Japanese respect age, the Japanese national church/Asia Pacific Region asked them to come back to minister. Since Jim and Brenda had done church planting, the Japanese national church asked them to conduct evangelistic meetings. The Dickeys did this every summer.

Life, however, changed for Jim and Brenda in February 2020. They were in a car accident. Jim died, and Brenda was injured. As she was lying in bed she asked the Lord, “What now? This wasn’t in our retirement plan.” Brenda felt like she had no purpose anymore. God said, “Do you believe in miracles?” Brenda said, “Yes, Lord, I do.” He said, “If you’ll trust me, I’m going to raise you up, and I’m going to send you back to Japan.”

In February 2024, AGWM asked Brenda to be the interim pastor of International Christian Assembly in Sasebo, Japan. Their pastor had died suddenly, and the church needed someone to oversee the church. Because God had called Jim to be a missionary in this city, this was a special occasion for Brenda.

During this trip to Japan, as Brenda preached in various churches, she noticed that the people of Japan were responding to the gospel. There was also an increased desire among believers to witness to their friends and neighbors. Believers were also responding to the moving of the Holy Spirit in church services. Brenda attributed this to three things. First, Japan has some strong churches because former missionaries and Japanese pastors had plowed the ground and planted the seed of the gospel. Today, churches are reaping the harvest.

Second, “The Change The Map” initiative that focuses on praying for the Buddhist world is making an impact. The third aspect of this move of the Holy Spirit in Japan comes from the Acts 2 Journey that Alton Garrison has initiated. Pastors and believers are learning more about the move of the Holy Spirit.” Believers are manifesting the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the services. As people are waiting on God in prayer they are being filled with the Holy Spirit.

“There’s a wind of the Holy Spirit flowing across Japan. The Holy Spirit is drawing people with hungry hearts to Jesus and a deeper walk with Him,” says Brenda. In every service Brenda saw young people hungry for God and wanting to experience a relationship with the Living God. People are giving their lives to Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, experiencing the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit, and being called into ministry. “We must pray the Lord of the Harvest to call laborers from within Japan to reap the harvest of this new awakening of the Holy Spirit.”

After more than 40 years of ministry in Japan, where does Brenda go from here? Someone asked her, “Brenda, at your age, why would you do this alone? Why would you go?”

Brenda thought of Moses in Exodus 4 when God asked, “Moses, what is that in your hand?” Moses replied, “I have a rod.” Moses fulfilled God’s calling in obedience as God guided and blessed what he surrendered to God.

Brenda replied to this person, “I believe God has asked me, ‘What do you have in your hands?’ How can I not go? I have the gifts in my hand that God has prepared for me while serving in Japan for 38 years alongside missionaries and pastors. He gave me language ability, the gift of learning how to live cross culturally, the gift of being able to trust that He will take care of me. With all the faithfulness of God in my life, how can I say ‘no’? As long as I have breath, this is all I want to do.”

“God is sufficient for all that I may need to fulfill His calling. Anyone, for His purpose, can obey God’s calling until His kingdom is fulfilled. That’s our calling. God will show us how to be a part of His kingdom purpose if we ask and then obey, letting Him provide all that is needed. It is still true; to follow God’s purpose, we must trust and obey.”

By Richard L. Schoonover