Staff

Mayumi Pohl (President / Executive Director)

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!  Our focus is on discipling new Japanese Christians, while relying on God’s guidance, wisdom and patience everyday. Our slogan is, “To become a fruitful Christian.” All Christians are called to bear the fruit of the spirit- Christ like character- (Galatians 5:22) and make disciples of Christ (Matthew 28:19-20). We are convinced that if the process of disciple making is firmly established, Japan and the whole world will be changed. God’s glory will be revealed by the real followers of Christ and the proclaimed Gospel.

Far too often, young Christians are not discipled after committing their life to Christ. The Scripture clearly reveals that it is God’s will that new Christians need to be nurtured until they become a committed disciple of Christ. Discipling takes a lot of time and energy. However, we are thankful that you are an important part of the ministry, and we all can make a difference in the area of discipleship. We pray that God’s kingdom will be spread by more disciples -true followers- of Christ.

Mayumi’s profile – Go to the introduction of Board of Directors.

Matthew Barany (National Director of Mobilization)

Matt is from Woodbridge, NJ. Matt accepted Christ at the young age of 4 and grew up in a family of 6. He has felt a call to missions and to reach people for Christ since he was 8 years old. Matt grew to love missions and getting to connect with people from others cultures, especially from East Asia. In 2007 God laid Japan on Matt’s heart and since then his passion and desire to see Japanese reached for Christ has only grown. Matt took his first step into working directly with Japanese as a volunteer with Second Level Ministry in February 2016. He is now serving as the Director of Mobilization. He attends conferences for networking purposes, involves in ongoing discipleship, does student ministry and is involved with a local Japanese church plant as team leader in Atlanta, Georgia.

Yumi Ikeda (Director of Soul Care)

Yumi was born in Kagoshima, Japan. She was saved at the age of 19. She went to Immanuel Bible Seminary. After graduation, she served as a pastor under Immanuel General Mission for 4 years. As she dealt with people who were suffering from experiences at cultic churches, she desired to pursue the establishment of healthy church environments and living a well-balanced spiritual life. She graduated from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in 2019 and earned a MA degree of Pastoral Counseling. She has a vision to spread the soul care ministry in Japan. Currently, she is serving as a Soul Care Director, providing counseling sessions and mentoring through Second Level Ministry.

Tim Ingle (Media Advisor)
Sarah Ingle (Associate Staff)

Tim has been working in media production for more than 20 years with a focus on animation production. He has had a love for the people and culture of Japan since childhood that turned into a calling in adulthood. For ten years Tim was the chairman of Let’s Love Japan, a media outreach organization to Japan. Tim serves in the media and training development of the mission of Second Level. Sarah supports layout and content revision, supports Tim in his role and participates in mentoring relationships.

Jose and Miki Medina (Japanese Community Outreach Coordinator)

Jose and Miki met in Tokyo, Japan in 2012. Jose was serving as a missionary with the International Mission Board (IMB). They both did ministry together and helped mission teams serving Japan, were active in a local church plant, and held Bible studies weekly. After getting married in 2015 Miki moved to San Antonio, Texas, they both still felt a call to minister to Japanese in Texas. In time, Miki started a mom’s group that met monthly. Now Jose and Miki will be working together to reach Japanese in San Antonio with Second Level Ministry as Japanese Community Outreach Coordinators.

Jarrod and Katie Parkes (Associate Staff)

Jarrod and Katie live in their hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, which, since 2018, has also become home to many Japanese people because of a joint Toyota/Mazda manufacturing plant nearby. In 2022, they began purposeful outreach to Japanese families through English second language and mom’s group gatherings. Fast forward to today, and God has blessed them with many Japanese friends and relationships which they are prayerfully stewarding to become Gospel-centered. Currently, they also lead the Huntsville Japanese Ministry (HJM) which seeks to mobilize local churches in the Huntsville/Madison area to reach out to Japanese people for the glory of God. They have one daughter, Madelyn (2), and another little girl on the way!

Steven LaVoie (Associate Staff)

Steven is a native of Akron, Ohio. When he was a child, he loved to learn all kinds of languages and had a special interest in anything related to the Japanese language or the art of bonsai! It was not until 2012 that he sensed God was leading him to pursue full-time cross-cultural work although he did not know where yet. After many years of exploration (including a year of working with the Chinese and French) and a degree from The Moody Bible Institute to serve as a solid Biblical foundation, God led him to Second Level. After serving as a Student Care Coordinator in Atlanta, Georgia for three years, he transitioned to be an Associate Staff and is currently preparing to go to Japan.

Cameron Randolph (Web Developer)

Cameron is from Brownsville, GA, and came to Christ as a young teen. He has had a God-given passion for Japanese culture for many years, and seeks to share the hope of the Gospel with Japanese people both local and abroad. Volunteer work with foreign students via English cafes and a mission trip has been a major part of his ministry, and he’s also currently leading the Kennesaw, GA branch of JCCA (Japanese Christian Community in Atlanta) known as JCCK which reaches out to mainly Japanese families in the Northern Atlanta area. In addition, he has taken on the role of Web Developer for the Second Level website.

Naoko Suzuki (Soul Care Assistant)

Naoko currently lives in Aichi, Japan with her husband, son and daughter. She was baptized in 2013 and serves her church as an evangelist and is also involved in pioneering work. She attended the 2018 Mentorship Conference in Osaka and has since been involved in the conference as a member of the planning committee. Through Soul Care of Second Level, she has received many spiritual insights and been encouraged in her faith. She also realizes the importance of aiming for healthy spirituality and Christian character development as a Christian.

Keiko Lillis (Finance Assistant)

Keiko was born and raised in Tokyo.  As a result of her mother being a Christian, she attended church since her childhood.  She was baptized at Hijirigaoka Church (United Church of Christ) when she was senior of high school.  She served as a Sunday school teacher for elementary school children for 14 years.  She joined Campus Crusade for Christ while studying English in California in 1989.  During this time she confirmed that God will be always be with her.  After getting married in 1993, she lived in Tokyo, Sendai, and California and experienced various type of churches.  She moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 2012 and was introduced to Second Level Ministry.  She has been organizing a Bible class for non-Christian Japanese people called “Izumi-kai” since September, 2014.  She started serving as an office staffer for Second Level Ministry since November, 2014.

Eriko Matsunaga (Student Care Coordinator)

As a Student Care Coordinator, she actively build relationships with Japanese college students and meet their needs. She is involved in evangelism and discipleship in the local communities. She serves in a church planting community. She trains missionaries about Japanese culture and language. She enjoys arts, crafts, and being with children.

Rie Ishihara (Associate Staff)

When Rie was 20 years old, she met Jesus and was baptized in Hawaii while studying abroad. After living in Osaka and Hong Kong, she now lives in Thailand. She has a burden for those who leave the church after being baptized. She came across Second Level in 2016 while she was praying and seeking for a specific ministry. She was also working on recovering her self-image and taking care of the wounds from her parent’s divorce. As she worked on restoring her self-image, she was able to receive God’s great love. Through this experience, she was able to receive God’s great love with openness and honesty. She wants to encourage and be there for those who are spiritually struggling so that they can face their own wounds and receive God’s love. She has provided spiritual care as a mentor through Second Level these past several years. She graduated from JTJ Seminary in 2019. Currently she is attending River Worship School.

Wakako Minamoto（Associate Staff）

Wakako is from Okinawa. After living in Okinawa, she lived in California, New Zealand, and Hawaii. Now she is blessed with four children and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.  She was  saved when she was in high school, and she has always believed that God is taking care of her.  Her home church is Naha Baptist Church, but in each local church that she  have been involved in thus far, she served in Sunday School, Bible studies, the choir, children’s ministry, and others. The Lord has arranged her path so that she could serve up until this point. Now she is passionate about saving lost souls in Japan and making disciples. She went to a mission trip to Okinawa through Second Level Ministry twice.  As the associate staff of Second Level, she serves the Lord in leading discipleship and prayer meetings through Skype.

Kimiko Newman （Associate Staff）

Kimiko serves for the Japanese community in Charleston, South Carolina. She joined a Second Level mission team in the summer of 2019. Currently, she serves as a mentor for Japanese ladies, providing spiritual care.

Masayo Fujiwara （Associate Staff）

In1999, Masayo accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and savior.  And in March of the year 2000, she was baptized while on traveling for language studies in America. At a Urbana conference, she was told about the word of God and her life changed 180 degrees. She started experiencing the salvation of Jesus and the joy of the Lord. After she returned home to Japan she got married, and she now has four daughters and life is very busy. She is always receiving a breakthrough from God in living her life with Him and she is enjoying life.  She always feel that growing in Christ is always the most important thing in her life and decided to involve in Second Level Ministry as a staff in Japan.

Lesdy Ordonez (Intern)

God put a burden on her heart to reach out to the Japanese people. She just finished her Missions and Christian Education degrees at Rio Grande Bible Institute in Texas. Her desire is to serve in missions, share the Gospel, help in the growth of the church, and help those who feel lonely or forgotten to encounter the God who loves them.

Laurence Bledsoe (Intern)

His mission, as guided by the Holy Spirit, is to reach the Japanese people for Christ. He is currently pursuing a degree in Religion at Liberty University with a focus on Global Studies. He aims to contribute to global church unification by sharing the loving truth of God. He hopes that his missions and Christian education degree, as well as the Second Level internship experience, will equip him to serve and encourage those without a relationship with our Lord.