Hope Center Okayama
Staff
Tom & Olive Kisaki
Pastor
Tomoyuki Kisaki
Born in Kawasaki in 1971, he studied abroad in the UK from the age of 14. During high school, he devoted himself to chess and fencing. At the age of 17, his heart was changed when he came to faith in Jesus Christ, and he began volunteering with the homeless, drug addicts, abused children, and the mentally disabled. While working with recovering addicts, reintegrating prisoners into society, and creating food pantries and places for children, he became keenly aware of the need to create healthy communities in order for these people to grow up healthily, and so he started Hope Center Okayama in 2021.
His hobby is all kinds of brain puzzles, including jigsaw puzzles. His motto is "You are the answer to your own prayers."
My motto is a quote from Jesus: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." (Bible, Matthew 5:16)
He studied Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Bristol and received a Master of Theology degree from Asia Pacific Theological Seminary in the Philippines in 1998. In 2001, he was sent to Japan as a missionary for the Assemblies of God in the UK. In 2005, he founded the addiction recovery support organization "Teen Challenge Japan General Incorporated Association" and opened boarding centers in Okinawa and Okayama. He has been involved in disaster relief since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, providing disaster relief for the Hiroshima landslide in 2014, the Kumamoto earthquake in 2016, the Western Japan heavy rain disaster in 2018, and the Noto Peninsula earthquake in 2024.
Olivia Kisaki
Originally from Benguet, Philippines. Raised in a Christian home, she personally believed in Jesus Christ at a kids' camp at the age of nine. She received a call from God to be a missionary, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Education from Bethel Bible College in Manila, before working as a teacher at Luzon Bible College. She then earned a Master of Divinity from Asia Pacific Theological Seminary in Baguio, where she met her current husband, Tomoyuki, and married him in 1996. She moved to Japan in 1998 and has lived here ever since. She has a passion for prayer and intercession. She loves fruits and vegetables.
Ai Okubo
Administration
Her mother is a Christian, and she attended church from a young age, but at the age of 20, she personally encountered God. Her father was an alcoholic, and she learned of the addiction recovery support group "Teen Challenge." Through online counseling with Pastor Kizaki, she was able to break free from her codependency with her father, which became a turning point in her life. In January 2025, she moved from Osaka to Okayama to work as a staff member at Hope Center Okayama. She feels that her work experience in accounting, trade administration, and marketing is being put to good use in her current job at Hope Center, and she is grateful every day to God, who turns every experience into benefit. Her hobbies are photography, traveling, and walking.
