Today as I sit down to write this update of my recent trip back to the USA, my heart is filled with many different emotions. I am thankful for this trip and want to share some of these memories with you so that you get a chance to see that “real missionaries” are just “real people” with the same struggles and joys that everyone else has but with whom God has placed a special call on their life to see that others in other parts of the world also have a chance to hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus and become followers of our great God and King.
This will be a very different kind of newsletter that will be very personal and
where I will share some of my personal photos with you about this recent trip.
We were not able to go see everyone that we wanted to see and pray that if we
were not able to see you that you would please forgive me, and keep us in your
prayers and keep supporting that work God has put in our hands to do.
Hebrews 13:15-16 reads this way, “Therefore by Him let us
continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our
lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for
with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
Below are
some important things in our lives that I was able to see and do while on this
trip. I just want to offer them as a sacrifice of praise to the God who is the
giver of all good things.
1)
I am thankful for the great state of Alabama in which I was born and raised
many moons ago.
Here are a few pictures we took on this trip.
2)
I am thankful for Shades Mountain Baptist Church (SMBC) Family, in Birmingham, AL in a very, very
special way. I was invited to come to the Global Impact Catalyst at SMBC which
started on Saturday, January 25th and went through Wednesday,
January 29.
SMBC is
our home church and they not only are our largest supporting church, but along
with the Sunday School class that we were assigned to connect with on this trip,
they provided the funds needed to rent a car for 23 days and pay for 2 round
trip tickets from Chiangrai, Thailand to Birmingham for me and one of my
awesome Thai staff named Ball. Thank you SMBC Family. You have helped us to
understand better the meaning of words “generous” and “Live Sent.”
During the time of the GIC, we were honored by being in the home of Joel and Rhonda Harris, some of the nicest people I have ever met. They took great care of us and allowed us to invade their home and get to know them and just spend some quality time together. We were able to spend several meals together with them and with others from this Sunday School Class including Barbara English who serves as the director of this Sunday School class. Yall have an awesome class and we are looking forward to having some of you come out to Thailand on a short term trip from your class in the days to come.
Now, this wasn’t just your normal Sunday School class, this class had about 140 people in it. We were able to speak in this class Sunday morning of GIC and share with them some of what God is doing reaching into the hearts and lives of people who have never had anyone in their entire family to become a follower of Jesus in the past. But just like my staff Ball that went with me on this trip, God is doing an amazing work of reaching the nations for Jesus. Ball is the first person in his entire family heritage to be a follower of Jesus and is from the 3rd largest unreached people group in Thailand.
This
picture below is one of the key leaders of “the Encouragement team” that sends
us a “Care Package” to Thailand several times a year in the name of SMBC. What
a joy it was to meet this precious servant of God.
One of my
favorite things to do when I get the chance to come to a GIC or do “A Taste of
Thailand” event is to share some special “delicacies” with others that we get
to enjoy in Northern Thailand. Yes, that is a delicious bamboo worm in her hand
she is about to enjoy eating. Yum yum.
The GIC was a very encouraging a refreshing time for Ball and myself. We got see so many friends and partners in ministry. It was also a great joy to finally be able to meet my Pastor, George Wright, for the first time.
3)
I am very thankful for David & Janie Howell in the Birmingham, AL area as well
and for their advocacy for the work of NTIM to Hunter Street Baptist Church. David
has served as our President for NTIM since the formation of our foundation
until now. Thank you David and thank you Janie. You guys are our heros.
Ball and I
flew out of Chiangrai, Thailand in the afternoon after church on Sunday, January
19th. After several very long flights, we arrived in Birmingham, AL
where we were met at the airport by my good friend David. We worked out the
details of getting a car and then followed David back to his home where we
crashed for the night. It was a joy to spend some good quality time with David
and Janie during this recent trip. You guys are awesome. We even got to have
one dinner with Hunter Street Baptist Church’s former Missions Pastor who has
prayed for us from the time we left for the field some 26+ years ago.
4)
I am very thankful for the time visiting my Son Caleb and his wife in the
Jackson, Tn area.
We got to spend two nights with them and even did a road trip to Opryland. We
love you guys and are thankful for our time together with you. Love you and
proud of you son. Dad especially liked the chats that we got to have with Caleb
sitting up front on our road trip to Nashville. Here are a few of our pictures.
5)
I am very thankful for a chance to visit with Hope’s Sister Blanche Gunter. She was so kind to fix breakfast
early one morning on the trip and then we got a few pictures after a good
visit. We love you Blanche and will be keeping you and Sandy and your kidos in
our prayers and may the Lord answer your prayers and give you the desires of
your heart.
6)
I am very thankful for the time visiting with Josh, Jessie, Jackson, and Judd
Grammer. So thankful for the time that we were able to spend with
the Grammer family in Tuscaloosa and see their precious boys. Josh and Jessie
came out and served with us on the field many years ago and were our first
point of contact with Ball when he was a university student and Josh and Jessie
were doing what we call “an English Corner” on campus at Rachaphat University
about 11 years ago.
7)
I am thankful for the time to visit Emmanual Baptist Church (EBC) in Tuscaloosa
on Wednesday, January 22
and thank them for their faithful support. We would love to have a team come
and visit us from EBC in the days to come. Thank you to the Pastor Michael
Crosswhite for giving me a chance to share an update with the church on what
God is doing in Northern Thailand through their partnership with the ministry
of NTIM. It was great to be with you.
8) I am thankful for the time visiting with my other son, Joshua, who lives in Atlanta and is in his final months of Firefighting Academy. We got to spend two nights with him on the 28th floor of a very high apartment building. He was able to get off one day and we even got the opportunity to spend the whole day in an arcade playing games together while Ball met with a friend. It was awesome time with Joshua. Then one evening we got to eat some awesome Thai food at Joshua’s favorite Thai restaurant. It was truly delicious. Love you son and proud of you.
9)
I am very thankful for time to spend with FBC Florence, another very good
partner church in the great state of MS. We got to speak to Beverly Bridges’s Sunday School class
and then to have a great lunch together with many friends at a Thai restaurant
after church. Thank you FBC Florence and Bro. Sam Taylor for your love and
support for God’s work in Thailand and your love for Thai people. Thank you for
sending teams from your church every year for well over a decade now. And thank
you to Beverly Bridges who serves as one of our awesome Board Members on the
NTIM board. Our Thai Staff know and love so many from your church. I think
Beverly has been on a mission trip to Thailand 17 times now. That is why
everyone in our church family knows and loves Beverly and David, and Brooke,
and Adrienne. They are family.
10)
I am very thankful for the time visiting my oldest daughter Jessica Davenport and
her sweet family.
It was a special honor to be able to help celebrate Titus’ birthday and to take
lunch to their school and eat with Titus, Ruth, Jessica and Aaron on the picnic
tables out in front of their elementary school in the cool weather. I even got
to get up early one morning and take Ruth and Titus to school along with my
sweet daughter Jessica. Love you guys and thankful God gave us some quality
time together.
11) I am thankful for the time to spend with my brother Jeff
in Tuscaloosa, AL on February 6th
and eat at one of my favorite restaurants in the whole world – Taco Casa. I miss my
brother and so thankful for him taking good care of my Mom when she was
recently going through some difficult times. Jeff and I have some wonderful
memories growing up together in our house in Alpine Hills. Love you Jeff.
12)
I am thankful for the time to spend with my Daddy’s Sister I call my Aunt Linda
in Tuscaloosa, AL at her home. I think it has been over 10 years since I had seen my Aunt
Linda and it was a wonderful time talking to her and remembering some of our
wonderful Christmas Eve celebrations at Paw and Granny’s house in Alberta City when
I was a kid. Thank you, Aunt Linda. I love you and miss you very much and so
glad we got a chance to talk about things together. Praying for you and for the
prayer requests you shared with me. May God listen to your prayers and give you
the desire of your heart. Much Love from Thailand.
13)
I am thankful for the time to spend with my mother’s youngest sister Marilyn
and her husband Stanley.
We met in downtown Northport and had a good visit getting to catch up on
things. Love you and miss you.
14)
I am thankful for the time we were able to spend with Bum and Glynn Reeves. Both Bum and Glynn served with us
in Thailand for many years. I first met Bum when she was a university student
at Mae Fah Luang University and she began coming to the church. Many people
played a role in Bum coming to know Jesus and like so many in our church today,
what a great joy it was when Bum became the first person in her entire family
to become a follower of Jesus. Before she married Glynn, she served with me on
Staff as my Administrative Assistant. We love you guys and miss you and are
glad we got to get some good Mexican food with you on this trip and spend a
little time with Wela and Winter. Keep us in your prayers. There are still so
many Thai people who have not heard the message of our Savior.
15)
I am so thankful for the time to spend with Jim and Krista Womack in Mobile, AL. Jim and Krista have been good
friends since our days when I worked at Sharp Manufacturing. We lived in
Collierville, TN and both our families attended Peterson Lake Baptist Church.
It was out of this church that God originally extended our call to Thailand.
After we formed our non-profit 501c3 organization called Northern Thailand
Impact Ministry (NTIM), Jim faithfully served on our Board of Directors from
2015 to 2023 and has been a faithful friend and encourager in the work of God
in Thailand. We love you and hope God gives you a chance to come see us in
Thailand and see all that God has been doing in Thailand through your prayers
and support since the very beginning of this journey with God to Thailand.
16)
I am so thankful for the time we got to spend at Crosspoint Church in Gulfport,
MS on Saturday, February 8, doing “A
Taste of Thailand” event and raising awareness of what God is doing in Northern
Thailand. We are thankful for Crosspoint for their continued partnership and
for taking our partnership to the next level by sending Doug and Paulette Piper
to us as we seek to implement a new church planting effort called “Project
Payao” after Doug and Paulette finish Thai language studies. It was also great
that on Sunday, February 9th, I was able to share a message with Crosspoint in
their early service and Ball was able to help lead worship for all three
services that morning. A special thank you to Vince & Katrin Lenaz for
letting us stay in your home.
17)
I am so thankful for the time we got to spend with the May Family. Thank you for driving over to
Gulfport and spending some time with us. We are so thankful for the time God
gave you guys to live and serve in Thailand with us before the Covid-19
Pandemic completely turned our plans around. We love you and pray the Lord will
bring you back one day to serve with us in His time and in His way. Thank you
for the special talk we had at lunch time my good friend. I miss you very much
my dear Brother Derek. May our Lord continue to bless you and your precious
family.
18)
I am thankful for the time to spend taking a stroll in the cemetery in
Tuscaloosa, AL where
so many of my relatives are buried, including some of my great grandparents,
all of my grandparents, my dad, my older brother Tommy, my younger sister
Suzanne, and most recently my sweet mother, who passed away during Covid-19
pandemic and I was not able to come home for the funeral during that time. Ball
and I even drove past my old house in Alpine Hills where I grew up. So many
memories and experiences that have helped shaped my life. Here are some of
those pictures.
19)
To our Friends and Supporters, including our awesome NTIM Board Members that we were not
able to visit personally (Lupinaccis, Woods, and Fosters), I want to thank you
for your friendship, your love, your prayers, and for your support of us as we
seek to make disciples of some of the least reached people groups in our world
today. To God be the glory for the great things He has done and is preparing to
do. Please pray about coming on a short-term mission trip to join God in
reaching “THE LAST FRONTIER” of unreached people groups for our Lord Jesus.
20) As I shared in our last newsletter, We thank God and we
thank you for letting us be your representatives to the Thai people these last
26 years. January 13, 1999 was the day we landed in Thailand.
It has been our honor to serve God and to serve Thai people
in a special way these last 26 years…. We have tried to do it all for His glory
and for the advancement of His Kingdom.
I pray that God has been pleased with our service and that
He will be pleased to allow us to continue to serve Him here many more years to
come for His glory and for the advancement of His kingdom in and around
Northern Thailand.
There is still so much work to be done. The fields are ripe,
ready for the harvest but the workers are truly few. This is not work for the
fainthearted! Let us be faithful to find the course God has for us and then to stay
on that course regardless of the difficulties and hardships that come into our
lives knowing that our lives really do matter. Our lives do matter and as we
truly reflect on the meaning of Galatians 2:20, we realize that God desires to
live in and through us to reach the lost, to help the broken and the distressed
much like we see our Lord Jesus doing in Matthew 9:36.
The various unreached Thai people groups, the various
unreached Burmese people groups, the various unreached Laotian people groups,
and the various unreached Chinese people groups, simply to name a few, are some
of the least reached people groups in our world today living in darkness without
the light of Christ.
These precious people have been in darkness far too long
now and it is time for God’s people to take the light and message of Jesus into
every village and to every people group living in this part of God’s world….
and may it begin…. with us. “Here we are, Lord, send us” is our prayer. May
God speak to some of you reading this and may your prayer become “Here I am,
Lord, send me.”
Until all the People in and
around Northern Thailand know Him,
Michael for the NTIM, GLS, and BAC teams
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All donations, whether small or
large, go directly to the field that allows the Johnsons and all those on the NTIM team to reach people, many of whom have never had a chance to hear the gospel
of our Lord Jesus. All donations can be given through a check to NTIM, P.O. Box
26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA or they can be given Online at our main
website: www.gontim.org
NTIM is a non-profit 501(c)(3)
charitable organization based in the USA. We are committed to connecting people
in need with people who care and are focused in the heart of Southeast Asia
where poverty is high, education is low, needs are great, unreached people
groups (UPGs) are all around us, and the love and message of Jesus is needed to
transform lives.
All donations made to NTIM are tax
deductible and can be made either online at www.gontim.org or mailed to NTIM,
P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260
