How JFA Began

Jesus for Asia began as a desire to serve the Lord full-time in Jon and Natalie Wood’s hearts. They prayed for several years, especially the last six months of 2004. Jon’s prayer was, “Lord, I want to work for you full-time. But I want my job description to come from you, not me. And even more than my desire to work for you, I want to be in the dead center of your will.”

That December 2004, Jon was on a trip through Thailand and India with some students from the college he was teaching at when the big tsunami that killed 250,000 people struck. It was a sobering time as Jon was able to film the survivors on a beach where many had perished. It was at that time that the Lord began to raise up a movement that was to become Jesus for Asia.

When Jon came home, his students edited the video and showed it in church that weekend, raising $6,000 for disaster relief through ADRA. Jon then uploaded the video to the internet, and the following week, someone donated $2,000 toward ministry on the beach where Jon had been. With those funds, rice was given to families hard hit by the disaster, meetings were held and 35 people were baptized. Also, several Bible Workers were hired, and these workers formed the beginning of what has become Jesus for Asia.

Soon, more Bible workers were hired, and Jon and Natalie began to sense the Lord calling them into this ministry full-time. They had no home equity and no money in the bank, but they believed that “when God calls, He provides.” So they tendered their resignation to Pacific Union College and stepped out by faith. So, in June of 2005, they moved out of their rented mobile home in Angwin, California, and hauled everything up to Idaho into a house they rented from Jon’s parents on their amazing country property where they could raise their two children.

In July of 2005, the ministry was incorporated (as Jesus for India), and in August, became ASI members.

In January 2007, they felt the call to expand the work to Thailand and Cambodia, so they changed the name to Jesus for Asia.

In 2010, Jon and Natalie felt the call to move again, this time to Tennessee, where a TV studio was being underused. There, they started MissionTV.

In 2015, the Lord moved them to a house/office/studio in Collegedale, TN.

In 2019, God inspired Jon with His dream ministry expansion, not just survival. Over the next few years, God opened doors to start work in new countries, more than double the number of Bible Workers, and grow the reach of current projects.

In 2021, after years of prayer and searching, God led Jesus for Asia to build an office in Collegedale, TN, where the staff could grow to keep up with the expanding work in Asia. God’s hand was visible in every step of this process. Construction started in November 2022, and the team moved to the new building in May 2023. You can read the story here.

Jon, Natalie, and the whole team at Jesus for Asia are amazed at what God has done and are humbled by His ability to use the least promising of all His people. They can often be heard saying, “If He can use us, He can use anybody.”