Twelve years ago on August 1, 1988 in a living room in Canyon Country, California a small group of Christians came together to launch Sonrise Center for Buddhist Studies.

Our vision remains "To see a missional Church established and leadership discipled among every unreached Buddhist people group." Our mission continues to focus on "equipping the Christian community with relevant information and appropriate training for ministry in a Buddhist and Asian pluralistic context." To accomplish such a large vision we continue to pray to the Lord of the Harvest for the establishment of a virtual global community network committed to holistic mission to Buddhists.

Pray for the emergence of missional churches, missionary orders, Christian academics, training centers, writers, researchers, apostles, prayer teams, advocates, volunteers, and tentmakers who will cooperatively work together to develop a virtual global community network committed to holistic mission to Buddhists. Register and sign up in one of the focus groups.

Trend research is one of the key activities which SCBS focuses upon to keep you and the Christian community abreast of the issues which impact your community and the mission of the Church. The current visibility of Buddhism in the media is unmistakable as one surveys its rise ranging from the world of Sports where you can't help but hear of the World Championship of the Laker's much touted Zen Master Phil Jackson to victories of the quiet Buddhist Golf champion Tiger Woods or Italian Soccer star Roberto Baggio.

The pervasive strands of Buddhism woven into the fabric of contemporary culture through movies, cartoons, or Madison Avenue ad campaigns are become redundant from washing machines reincarnated as cars, cars and tennis shoes in the Himalayan Mountains, to Zen Muffins and "reincarnated tea" and on ad infinitum.

Our daughters showed us the newest craze in teen magazines of Buddhist bead bracelets that teens are into wearing. A plethora of books and articles in home magazines are showing up on arranging your room utilizing the ancient art of Feng-shui (geomancy-or a Chinese folk practice of involving the manipulation of furniture, screens, water, and walls to protect and enhance your power). Tim Allen, the star of the television series "Home Improvement" in his Biography listed Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance as one of his favorite books. If I hear of one more "Zen and the Art of..." book coming out, I think I'm going to be sick.

Keeping an eye on Hollywood is critical if the Christian community desires to form a more knowledgeable and sensitive ear to the spiritual needs of the contemporary culture it intends to reach. We cannot afford to loose more spiritual ground by shrinking back into our comfortable 1950' spiritual enclaves. The Digital age is rapidly morphing the way people think. The media's subtle seduction of our youth might take the form of a story of Tina Turner on the Biography channel and her Buddhist inspired turn-a-round fame. "Unpretty" an MTV video of the group TLC focused on personal choices while integrating pictures of Buddhist images. Much media attention has focused upon actor Richard Gere and his devotion to the Dalai Lama; Steven Seagal's lamahood, Harrison's Ford's wife Melissa's screenplay on the life of the Dalai Lama or the release of another "Buddha film."

A number of lesser known celebrities publicists tout their latest plunge into Zen or tantric Buddhism. We're not even talking Disney here which is a subject in itself. Several years ago, a bicyclist came up to my door, who happened to notice our organizational sign, introduced himself as a member of the "Friends of the Western Buddhist Order" (FWBO is an "international network of well over one hundred financially and legally independent organizations" - The Complete Guide to Buddhist America by Don Morreale, 1998:362) who also happened to have moved down from Seattle to work for the Public Relations Department of Disney.