Bob and Teresa Reister
Bob was blessed to be raised in a Christian home, and accepted the Lord when he was seven years old. Working with kids in Sunday School, and youth meetings gave him an opportunity to explore the area of teaching. After a year of Bible School, Bob enrolled at Central Washington University where he met Teresa.
Teresa had accepted Jesus as her Savior in college through the ministry of Campus Crusade. She and Bob were both in the Elementary Education program, and somewhere between “The Teaching of Science” and “The Philosophy of Education” they fell in love, committed themselves to building a Christ centered family, and were married two years later.
Their first teaching positions were in a Christian school in Washington State. During that time Bob was serving on the missions committee at their church. In preparing for a devotional on the Great Commission, they became convinced that the command was not just for someone else, and were obligated to find out how God could use their teaching abilities in foreign missions. When their daughter Natalie was born with health trouble, they decided to put their mission plans on hold. Bob secured a position in the public school system, and they set a five-year goal to try to get to the mission field.
Two years later, after their son Ben was born, the Reisters consulted their pastor and then wrote to several mission organizations about their desire to teach on the mission field. They found there were hundreds of opportunities, and decided to join with Christar. They were appointed to Japan and began teaching at American Christian School in Japan in 1992, which met in their home in a Japanese neighborhood.
After 13 years their students grew up and graduated, and the school closed in 2005. After much prayer and counsel from leadership, the Reisters determined that God was leading them to return to Japan as church planters. They are currently part of the “Central Team”, serving alongside the Luethys and the Badens. The focus of their ministry is contact and proclamation, using a variety of methods to bring the message of the gospel to the Japanese people.
Teresa had accepted Jesus as her Savior in college through the ministry of Campus Crusade. She and Bob were both in the Elementary Education program, and somewhere between “The Teaching of Science” and “The Philosophy of Education” they fell in love, committed themselves to building a Christ centered family, and were married two years later.
Their first teaching positions were in a Christian school in Washington State. During that time Bob was serving on the missions committee at their church. In preparing for a devotional on the Great Commission, they became convinced that the command was not just for someone else, and were obligated to find out how God could use their teaching abilities in foreign missions. When their daughter Natalie was born with health trouble, they decided to put their mission plans on hold. Bob secured a position in the public school system, and they set a five-year goal to try to get to the mission field.
Two years later, after their son Ben was born, the Reisters consulted their pastor and then wrote to several mission organizations about their desire to teach on the mission field. They found there were hundreds of opportunities, and decided to join with Christar. They were appointed to Japan and began teaching at American Christian School in Japan in 1992, which met in their home in a Japanese neighborhood.
After 13 years their students grew up and graduated, and the school closed in 2005. After much prayer and counsel from leadership, the Reisters determined that God was leading them to return to Japan as church planters. They are currently part of the “Central Team”, serving alongside the Luethys and the Badens. The focus of their ministry is contact and proclamation, using a variety of methods to bring the message of the gospel to the Japanese people.
