I taught karate-do in regular dojos from 1974 till 2001. In 2001, I finally answered a tugging I had in my heart for a couple of years, to teach karate-do as a ministry. Here it is, 2006… how time flies when you’re having fun, and the ministry is five years old. I look back, and try to figure out what’s the same and what’s not, between running a dojo and leading a karate ministry. Not surprisingly, in both cases, much of the environment, many of the students, much of what is taught, really is pretty much the same. Of course, in our ministry, we don’t emphasize sports competition, tournaments, nor advanced sparring techniques as much as we might in a secular dojo… but the essence of what is shared, at least for me, is very much the same.

Beyond the de-emphasis on sports and kumite, however, the biggest difference I can discern between my dojo experience and my ministry experience is…in me. During the years that my friend and I started and ran our own dojo, we both felt the same thing…that it was his dojo and that it was my dojo. This was very natural, since we started it, we ran it, we were the two teachers, and our students paid us for the privilege of training there. I felt that the students got their money’s worth. There is a tendency to think of the students as “yours”, expecting loyalty to the style, the dojo, the sensei. It can become a one-way street, kind of like a “benevolent dictatorship”. In addition, over the years, though, I think I began to see the students as units of revenue…. basically, the 50 or so members we always averaged, more than paid for expenses and also provided some nice “hobby money” for us. Overall, not a bad thing, and it did work to help bring the benefits of karate-do to many folks. However, since answering the call to start up a karate-do ministry, I will say that I enjoy sharing the art even more than I ever did before.

Most senseis really do think of the dojo as their own… whereas, this ministry has always been a shared endeavor between myself and what I felt Him calling me to do. In addition, from day one, I’ve known that this is our ministry, not mine… or, more accurately, His ministry, not mine. Everyone contributes in his or her own unique way; from the fellowship of training as a group, to mentoring with those junior to you, to doing the myriad administrative tasks in the background (thanks Sempai Doreen!), to the wonderful webpage that we now have (thanks Donna!), to helping design the patch that symbolizes what we hold important in the ministry (thanks Sempai Robert!), to the parents who dutifully bring their children for training, and so on. We should always be a blessing to one another and to others who join the ministry one day.

Since it is a ministry that belongs to all of us, my hope is that one day several of you (there’s a lot of talent in our group) can take my place or begin a karate ministry of your own (it’s not that hard…just involves sharing some of what you’ve learned). Beyond that, I really believe that there are other very qualified karateka out there in the islands, who are also Christians…and that, perhaps in the future, karate-do ministries in Hawaii may be as commonplace and accepted as hula and sign dance ministries are today.