Taka Iguchi

I'm really excited about being able to bring you this digital conversation I had via iChat with Taka Iguchi, director of Rockford Master's Commission. Don't let the length discourage you from reading every word. It's chock full of good stuff.

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Dan: gotta love technology and the way we communicate

Taka: it's a great time to be alive. especially if you're a mac fan

Dan: thanks again for the time. ok... here we go

Taka: sounds good

Dan: first of all, please let everyone know where you are from and what you do? and... what did you have for lunch today?

Taka: I'm originally from the Chicago burbs and currently direct Rockford Master’s Commission. I also had a slice of pizza and a diet wild cherry pepsi for lunch. ha

Dan: gettin' crazy

Taka: i like to live on the edge

Dan: Can you tell us a little about your family background and what's your ancestry...

Taka: man, i love my family. my dad is from tokyo and mom is from seoul. they both came over here in college as immigrants. they met because my mom did some modeling and my dad was a photographer. she was homecoming queen and he was kind of a geek. so i grew up in a typical immigrants home with a high priority on learning and hard work

Dan: that's great... you travel quite a bit internationally but have you ever been able to visit where they grew up?

Taka: yea, actually, i've been to both tokyo and seoul multiple times when i was really young, my parents were really strapped financially and I had to live with my grandparents for a year when I came back, i forgot how to speak english

Dan: so what languages are you fluent in?

Taka: ha, that's the stinker. since then, I've forgotten japanese completely, but I can still understand a good bit of korean. i'm better at spanish then either one of those. I led a trip to china a couple years ago and the local people kept on speaking to me in chinese and were shocked when I could only speak english. i feel like a traitor to my people.

Dan: I'm sure it's not that bad... Things have shifted a bit at RMC and Rockford First... tell us what's new in Rockford and how things are working out with all the changes.

Taka: Yea, quite a bit has changed. it doesn't even feel like the same church. There is such an excitement in the air and even in the community. It feels like there is an article in the local paper that has to do with some aspect of our church every few weeks. which is huge for us. the paper hasn't been too kind to us in the past.

We just launched our young adult small groups and are launching a church wide small group initiative in February. we had a preliminary meeting last week and a ton of people came out that were interested in being small group leaders.

You know, with all the changes, some people have left but thats ok there are over 300 churches in the area and I sincerely hope they find one where they can invest and grow in God and the cool thing is that there are so many visitors coming and most of them are between 25-35 which is a demographic that we've had a hard time reaching

Dan: tell our readers what the new leadership structure looks like and how that's working...

Taka: Well, with PJ [Jeremy DeWeerdt] stepping up into the lead pastor role, it's allowed me to help in some areas of the church which is very exciting. Jer has a unique ability to make everyone he meets feel like a vital part of the team. with 2 radio stations, a tv station, 6 retirement centers and a k-12 christian school, there are a lot of players... 400 employees

Dan: want to talk about your journey as a leader. You came up through RMC as a student and now you're the director. How does that feel and how does that impact your leadership in that particular context?

Taka: Honestly, it's ultra humbling. That's not just obligatory, I really do wake up and feel like I'm the last person that should have this job. The reality is that there are many people that are more qualified to do this job and I'm honored to be able to pour my heart into this generation. It's also an incredible feeling to have the ability to give back to a place that has made me who I am. It definitely affects my leadership in that I feel a great sense of responsibility to the alumni that I've lived life with through the years to make this year the best year ever in RMC. in that way, I can honor the sacrifices they've made thus far.

I think that the students also respect the fact that I've gone through what they are fighting through. I've cried on the same pews, been through the same practices and fought the same mind games

Dan: how long have you been at RMC? What year are you so to speak? HA

Taka: I came as a first year in 1996. so that makes me a twelfth year. ha. i'm defintely a super senior

Dan: yeah... I'm a fifteenth year... I laugh when I think about the people who say you can stay in master's forever...

Taka: i know. I feel like such a hypocrite when I tell them that our goal in masters is to get them out of masters. then here I am still here

Dan: you guys are always doing some pretty cool stuff but talk to us a little bit about RMC's continued work with Katrina Relief...

Taka: well, the last couple weeks have been interesting. we had a team putting on a womens conference in MN, RYI tour in central IL, youth convention in New Mexico, a "hear me out" tour on the east coast, and a team of a 100 in the gulf coast. whew

Dan: wow...

Taka: like a bunch of other ministries around the nation, we felt like we should be a first responder to hurricane katrina. we were there a couple months after it hit. I believe we sent a team of 110. mostly food distro and demolition. last year we sent a slightly larger team to rebuild homes. lots of drywalling.

this year we were wanting to go back to St. Bernard Parish, but with the lack of teams and support, many of the ministries in that area have all but shut down. No one could handle a team of our size anymore. the reality is that 60% of the people haven't moved back yet and the ones that have are mostly still living in their FEMA trailers. there is still sooooo much more to do.

We then hooked up the Lutheran church who are running a camp in Biloxi. they've rehabbed 800 homes and are going to rehab at least 1200 more. we did mostly work with the park district planting flowers, cleaning parks and mulching. a few teams were able to get in some homes and do a bunch of drywall.

at the end of the week, a lady stopped us, was crying and said, "thank you for making our city beautiful again." it was great

Dan: How many more times will RMC be back down there?

Taka: we will make it a yearly event until we can't anymore. it's a huge expense, but very much worth it. we just don't buy a bunch of other things

Dan: I wanna switch gears and talk about the culture of discipleship a little bit. It seems in the Western world we tend to focus on the conversion moment but neglect discipleship and the empowerment of people for ministry. I know discipleship is at your core... What's your take on this? What needs to be done? And, do you see anything happening in the church that gives you encouragement and hope in this area?

Taka: I think that programs like RMC are helping a ton. i remember when a friend of mine said that becoming a christian was like standing on the dock and everyone was calling him into the water. he was afraid, but he was sure that they would help him swim when he jumped in. when he finally jumped in, he felt as though he was old news. That they now averted their efforts to get other people to join in. I think that is a very accurate picture'

Dan: what a great analogy...

Taka: i've tried to make it a goal to always view salvation as a great first step, but it's just that
a first step. Especially now that most people don't even have a working knowledge of the bible and have so much more baggage.

i'm getting to the point where when I tell guys that God is like a father, they don't even know what that means. so, does that mean that god will walk out on me?
will expect me to be perfect?
will abuse me?
will never let me measure up?
is too busy for me? etc.

the process of discipleship is now a process of fathering. more than ever, this gen needs to be fathered. the "cool" buddy leader doesn't cut it anymore. we've had to incorporate books on what it means that God is a father in our curriculum

Dan: what a great line... “the process of discipleship is now a process of fathering
do you find that your age makes that a bit of a challenge at times?”

Taka: yea, on both ends. when in pastoral meetings, I'm always the youngest guy in the room and in MC, I'm the oldest. ha

Dan: nice... kind in between

Taka: yea. honestly it's nice. I'm young enough to where the students feel I can relate, but am old enough to where they feel I have wisdom to pass on to them. It's interesting because I have some staff that are older than me, but they've been great allowing me to lead

Dan: This one is a long one but as Nacho says, “Let's get down to the nitty gritty...” There's been a discussion amongst directors at times that leaves us scratching our heads. It has to do with the percentage (some say as high as 20-30%) of Master's students that just “tank” after graduation. I'm not talking lukewarm or merely complacent. I mean they are full-on back in the world... in the party scene... that sort of thing. I'm not wanting to focus on the negative with all the graduates who are out there tearing it up. But, I would like to hear your thoughts on why that is and what can be done at the director and student level...

Taka: I have a lot of thoughts on that. ha

Dan: we all do...

Taka: I believe that we as MC's need to do a better job at preparing the students to be in culture. not to isolate themselves from it. we need to walk them through the transition from youth group to cultural leader. we need to push them to college and prepare them for it spiritually. we need to put them in situations where prayer isn't in the schedule and teach them to walk with God all day. where they can be around people who are from God and not freak out. where they learn to make the transition from program's rules to personal filters where they can take ownership of the course of their lives.

I really feel that MC's are going to play a major part in the future of the american church. that it really will become a 9 month fast to God regardless of occupation. There will be a day when parents will want their kid to go to medical school, but do a year of MC first.

i also think that we need to build relationships with colleges and such so that we can give them door to the next step in their lives.

I think that it's easy to get caught up in our bubbles and ignore that fact that culture changed while we were in meetings and services. One of the things that we're doing is making it mandatory for all staff to find a venue in our community to plug in. whether it's a martial arts class, or dog training, or media clubs, etc.

the students are seeing us model that and are spending their time in public places instead of of the church. realizing that their lives are ministry and not compartmentalized into different times that they're on and off.

we also have a period of several weeks where we take prayer out of the schedule and then talk about it. it's been an interesting ride. we have a long way to go

Dan: good stuff... what do you see as the student's role in reversing this "trend" if you can call it that.

Taka: the main thing is to learn how to be cultural influencer. we've changed our mission statement this year to "intentionally training and equipping kingdom minded cultural leaders." we are very intentional about tell them that they are cultural leaders. Not "one day" but right now.

The problem is when the students' goal becomes isolation, what happens when they have a roommate in college that is gay or does heroin? they don't know how to respond, because they are spiritual giants, but cultural weaklings.

they know all sorts of information, but have no voice

we ask that they develop friendships wherever they go and influence. not in some weird churchy way, but in a very normal "jesus, walking on the road" kind of way. i tell them about the relationship my wife and I have with our neighbors who are very muslim and challenge them to get in culture.

they can't expect to influence culture because they did a youth service. that is a part and we need to keep doing things to encourage the church, but the anti-church left is very intentional about their gospel.

but my dad used to say that the talks in the halls are always more in important than the mission statements on the walls

in other words, the grass roots relationships will always win out over the mass media

Dan: That's some great stuff. bro... two more and we're almost done... thanks so much again for your time... good stuff...

Taka: no prob

Dan: I know there's plenty of examples to choose from and I don't want to put you in a tough spot having to choose... but I'm gonna. Tell us about a RMC grad that's out there really doing some cool stuff in their world...

Taka: man, there are so many. one that sticks out to me right now because we just worked with him is Joil Marbut. he's a frontline missionary in Ecuador and is brining the gospel to the various tribes in the rain forest. what a cool job! he opens the door by meeting their physical needs. he trains them how to build water filtration systems out of everyday materials so they can have clean water.. we sent a team to work with him last spring and it was a great trip

Dan: If you could say one thing to all the Master's students and graduates out there... what would it be?

Taka: i know that this is a lame answer, but....

it's real. jesus is real.

as real as the ground we walk on. as real as the air we're breathing. live like you believe that
whether it's convenient or not. give like He's real. Pray like He's real. Love like He's real. Like it's all real. Heaven, hell, eternity. All of it.

Fight the natural drift towards becoming a professional christian. walk in stupid, like you've never heard it before. Let the amazing reality of grace sink in again.

Dan: yeah... that's lame... I don't think I'm gonna put that stuff in...

Taka: ha, i told ya. it's simple. but so real to me right now

Dan: that's good stuff...let's wrap up on a lighter note. rapid fire

Dan: Mac or Pc

Taka: what's a pc?

Dan: Fox or CNN

Taka: fox for now

Dan: Magazines or Blogs

Taka: blogs

Dan: iPhone or 80's Drug Dealer Brick Phone

Taka: i love my iphone

Dan: Rob Bell or Joel Osteen. j/k. last but not least...Is that really you on your MySpace profile pic?

Taka: ha. before i started working out. jk. it's off my buddy's myspace. I couldn't stop looking at it. I laughed at it harder by the minute. so I took it

Dan: thanks again for the time... some great stuff in here.

Taka: no prob. later man

Dan: laters

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During my interview with Taka, I promised him that I'd post up a link to a short film that was entered in Apple's Insomnia Film Festival. Check it out and vote here.