This article appears in the Spring 2026 issue of the FCA Donor Publication. The FCA publication is a gift from our FCA staff to all donors giving $50 or more annually. For more information about giving, visit here.
In November 2025, an FCA team traveled to Tokyo, Japan for the 25th Summer Deaflympics, a quadrennial competition that marked the 100th overall anniversary of the event. Nearly 3,000 deaf athletes from more than 60 countries gathered to compete in a variety of sports, such as basketball, golf, soccer, swimming, taekwondo, volleyball, and wrestling over a 12-day period.
The FCA team consisted of Brian Cook, Steve Jones, Daniel Lee, Sean McNamara, Hajime Okazaki, Grace Small, and Jeff Sutherland. While there, team members ministered alongside their Japanese teammates to deaf coaches and athletes and the greater deaf community in Japan.
The team also partnered with Japanese pastors to host multiple FCA Deaf Ministry events at local churches. At these events, team members were able to present the Gospel in sign language, share their personal testimonies, and discuss the impact of FCA’s Deaf Ministry.
The team made important ministry connections, such as meeting a deaf Bible translator, deaf sports advocates from other countries and notable deaf coaches and athletes, such as Min Ku and Lim Daeho, both of whom are believers from the Republic of Korea. Ku is taekwondo coach, and Daeho is a three-time deaf taekwondo gold medalist. The team also spent time with FCA Japan Director Motoki Oba and his wife, Makiko.
“I am thankful for the relationships God made,” said Cook, FCA’s All Ability Sport Representative in Southwest Pennsylvania and the Deaf Sports Ministry lead on FCA’s All Ability Sports field team. “Our awesome God is faithful! He can overcome any language barrier among His people. He responded to our prayers in ways greater than I could have imagined.”
-FCA-
Photos courtesy of Steve Jones