God Is At Work In Thailand - A NTIM update - Feb 11, 2023

Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,

We have not updated you in quite a while so this is a little long. We are excited about what God is doing here in Northern Thailand. One of my favorite verses is Habakkuk 1:5 which reads this way, “"Look at the nations and watch-- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

We serve an incredibly amazing God who is at work all over the world drawing people to our Lord Jesus Christ and this amazing God invites us to join Him in His great work of both reconciliation and discipleship. Here are a few highlights of what God is doing here in Northern Thailand.

1) UPDATE: God is Building Up People Who Will Use their Talents To Draw Others into a Deeper and More Meaningful Time of “worship” and singing Praises to God – Our First Worship Night of Giving Thanks in our new building on November 18, 2022. 

What a wonderful night that was set aside as “A Night of Giving Thanks” to the God who is worthy of our Worship. We put together a video of this awesome event. It is a little long but know that it would bless you and give you a glimpse into the moving of God’s Spirit in the heart of lostness drawing worshipers to Himself and lifting His name up High so that all men would be drawn to Jesus Christ. Here is the video link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvrZlOn6x2A

2) Update: The Months of November and December Have Always Been “Natural” times for Us to Reach Out with Christmas Outreaches.

We started off the “Christmas Season of 2022” on November 1 helping the Christian Club at Mae Fah Luang University reach out to the university community with the good news of Jesus. We also had a great Youth Christmas Outreach at Baan Athitaan Church on December 2. On December 9 we gathered up several truck loads of people and went “Singing Christmas Carols” in the community. After we received an Awesome Volunteer Team from FBC of Florence, Ms on December 12 and the second Volunteer Team from Crosspoint of Gulport, MS, we began to go into a couple of schools with what we call an English Fun Day focusing on Christmas on December 14 and then another one in the province of Payao on December 21. During the time the Volunteer Teams were with us we also helped the Christian Club at Rachabhat University with their Christmas outreach and on December 17 we did a Children’s Christmas outreach for Grades 1-6. Our largest Christmas outreach was on December 16 and God was truly moving in the hearts of People through these outreaches. Here is a short 3 minute video clip of our main Christmas Program on December 16, 2022.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Ad5i6VEZo

3) Update God has Opened the Doors Again for Volunteer Teams From Churches to come on a mission trip.

We are so grateful for our partnership with so many churches in the USA and around the World and because of the Covid Pandemic have not been able to receive teams like we normally do but let me say very clearly, Please come on a mission trip to Northern Thailand and work with us to reach some of the least reached people groups in our world today. If you have an interest and would like to discuss opportunities, please write me (Michael) personally at pray4ntim@gmail.com and let’s see how God leads our steps. Thank you FBC Florence, MS and Crosspoint Church of Gulfport, MS for joining God in His work among the unreached peoples in and around Northern Thailand and partnering with NTIM for the expansion of the kingdom of God.

4) Update – Following The Lord In Baptism at Baan Athitaan Church

Even in the midst of millions who still have never heard the message, God is at work drawing people to himself and transforming their lives.

It is impossible to write into words the joy it brings to my heart, when God allow us to be a part of God reaching down into the heart of a person who comes from a family where there has never ever been a follower of Jesus before and then they follow our Lord in Believers Baptism. Several people in these baptisms are genuine first-generation followers of Jesus.  Some of them representing some of the least reached people groups in our world today. Not only does it give me great joy that God has allowed us to be a part of what He is doing to expand His kingdom here in Northern Thailand, but it also gives me great joy to say to all of you who are partnering with us and supporting us through prayers, through finances, through encouraging messages from time to time, and through sending teams, that God is using you to make a difference in God’s kingdom in this part of God’s World.

Here is a recent baptism on September 25, 2022 with 3 followers of Jesus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2ZYV3IDWew&t=205s

Here is a recent baptism on December 11, 2022 with Nate and Aim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAC1fkjw7aY&t=102s

Here is a recent baptism on December 11, 2022 with Nong Thi thi and his Father Ajarn Nikorn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NuFj_itJkU

Here is another recent baptism on January 1, 2023 with Nong Pong who is the first person in his entire family to be a follower of Christ from the Mien unreached people group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2jWiQaskrw

5) Update – Pray for our New Series of Studies through Proverbs at Baan Athitaan Church.

One of the important things that I get the chance to do is to Pastor and model for 1^st Generation believers what a Pastor is suppose to do and one of those important things is to Feed God’s Sheep.  

On January 1, 2023 we started a new series of messages taken from the Book of Proverbs. These are very helpful messages targeting “God’s Wisdom for Life.” Please pray for all of us who either preach or translate including Gary Pena, Jay, Ball, and Boom and many others. Here is the video clip of the “kick off” message on January 1 on “Teach us to number our days.” It is just a 30 minute clip in English with a Thai translation. Please take a listen to God’s Wisdom for Life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-Z6k3J_8lg&t=8s

6) Update - Building Thai National Leaders

One of my roles here is to sense God’s direction for the ministry and provide vision and training to help equip our Thai leaders and others to do all that God wants us to do.

5 of our 6 full time Thai national partners are studying “on-line” part time at the Baptist Seminary in Bangkok with our 6^th one starting soon. We at NTIM believe that providing scholarships for them to study is something God wants us to do to invest into our Thai leaders for the future direction of God’s work through NTIM, GLS, CBF, and Baan Athitaan Church. We would love for you to join us in that effort. Please see the attached flyer to see how you can help.

7) Closing Personal Thoughts from Michael.

I want to close this update today differently than normal by sharing with all of our family, friends, and partners in ministry something I have shared once before but feel the need to share it again.

My heart is full today as I have taken some time to reflect over the last 46 years that I have been a follower of Jesus Christ and I just want to say to the Lord in this public setting "Great is thy Faithfulness, Lord unto me.” Thank you for letting me be a child of God and letting me be an ambassador for You to this great country of Thailand for the last 24 years of my life. (January 13, 2023 made 24 years). I can truly say from my heart along with the writer of Lamentations that "The Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease and His mercy never fails. They are new every morning and great is His faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23. I can also affirm what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 17:7 that "Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him." Here is a short song that reflects my heart this morning and wanted to encourage you with it today as well.” Just click on the link and take 4 minutes and worship the Lord with me before reading the rest of this update. You will be glad you did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7gb8LmiTyg

I hope you took a moment to listen to the awesome song about God’s Faithfulness. He deserves all the praise that we can give to Him. Amen? “The Lord is good.” “All the time.” “The Lord is good.” “His mercies never fail and they are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.”

Please remember to pray for us as we continue in obedience to seek to join God in what He is doing and wants to do here in Northern Thailand.

Today we wanted to update you on God’s work here and we wanted to thank you for your prayers and for your financial support as we together join God in His great work of Redemption of the Nations, especially here in the heart of lostness in Southeast Asia.

May God richly bless you. Thank you for your generosity and for sending us to Thailand. Any gift you would like to make to our normal, everyday ministry, no matter how small or how large, helps us reach and disciple people whom many are the first persons in their entire families to know Jesus Christ.

Until the People in and around Northern Thailand know Him,

Michael for the team

“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

Coming Soon: 1) Update on Grace Language School, 2) Update on Hope’s Work through CRIS, 3) Update on Needed English Teachers for Grace Language School (GLS) with a “ministry heart.”

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Financial support can be given through NTIM....

Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA 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. 

Urgent Prayer Needed For Christmas Outreaches - Update Dec 2, 2022

I love this time of year. It is a time when Christians all over Thailand will be given numerous natural ways to share the love and message of Jesus with many who have never heard. Every year NTIM, Grace Language School, and Baan Athitaan Church make intentional efforts to care to reach out to make the most of the time and financial resources that God has given us to share the love and message of Jesus in Northern Thailand. Believe it or not, our first Christmas Outreach event began over 1 month ago on November 1 as we partnered with the Christian Club at Mae Fah Luang University and had a very large outreach to the university community.

Many of you know that we live in a part of the world where less than 1 out of every 100 people know Jesus as their personal Savior. Put another way, 99 out of every 100 Thai people are without a personal relationship with Jesus and many have never even heart the message of Jesus. Lost without Jesus? Yes, 99% of almost 70 million people.

There are also over 70 different ethnic unreached people groups that live in this country…some of these UPGs are some of the last reached peoples in our world today. We believe God wants many of these precious people to come to know Jesus this Christmas season, but we need your help to do that. Many of the events that we have been planning require your help and we are asking that each of you help in one or all of 3 ways:

 

1) Please Help By Praying . . . Pray for our planning process that God would guide us to do what He wants us to do and say what He wants us to say and “love on” the people He wants us to “love on.” Pray that we would "seize the day" as the Christmas season is the most natural time of the year for us to talk about the message of our great Savior. Pray for our awesome staff and team. Pray for those who we partner with in ministry. Pray for the thousands of people who will hear the message through our very words this year. Here are some of our planned events. Some have already happened and some are in process.  November 1 - Christmas Outreach at Mae Fah Luang University - We are blessed to be located very close to two universities in our city. We have always had a huge heart for reaching these young people and we recently had a chance to bless them in a special way this year. We worked in partnership with the Christian Club at MFLU as well as with various churches to reach out to the university students at MFLU on November 1. There were skits, dramas, music, a time to share the message of Christmas, and several church booths. December 02 – Youth & University Student Christmas Celebration - We are blessed to be located very close to two universities in our city. We have always had a huge heart for reaching these young people and we will have a chance to bless them in a special way this year. We have also always had a special place in our hearts for young people and are happy for a couple of children’s homes to be a part of our church family. This evening all of our young people from grade 7 up to being a university student will be celebrating Christmas together. Pray that God would bless these future leaders of Thailand. Pray for all of us who are involved in discipleship of these future leaders as well. December 9 – Christmas Caroling in Chiangrai God has given us great favor with our community. We love to gather at the church as a large group and walk down the streets to various homes and shops and sing Christmas carols to our neighbors. Then when we are done with our neighbors, we all pile into various trucks and then go singing Christmas Carols at various businesses that we frequent and then go carol at various people’s homes. We love to sing praises to God and lift up His name in this place where the message of Jesus needs to be heard and the transformation of lives is on God’s heart. Please pray for listening hearts as we sing Christmas carols to our neighbors in Thailand. December 12 & December 14 – Awesome Volunteer Teams Arrive – A team of 3 people from FBC Florence, MS and a team of 5 people from Crosspoint Church in Gulfport, MS will be arriving soon to help us with our Christmas outreaches. Praise God that the covid pandemic it now behind us and God has opened up the doors for partner churches to come and help us reach Thailand again. Please pray that all of us would be the light that lights up the darkness with the love of our great Savior. December 14 – English Fun Day with Christmas theme in a School in our New Neighborhood. We have an English language platform called Grace Language School that gives us great access to millions of people who live in and around Northern Thailand from many different unreached people groups. On December 14, we will be going into a school in our new neighborhood where we live and putting on an English Fun Day with Christmas as our main theme. Pray for the hundreds of students that we will be around this day. December 15 – Coffee House Christmas - Teaching English at Grace Language School is one of the natural ways that we build relationships with our students with an intentional commitment to sharing the message of Jesus. We love to do these Coffee Houses in the context of fun activities. We are so thankful to have the Volunteer Teams from the US with us to help us in our outreaches. This will be a natural time for us to share the good news in the context of warm relationships with our students. We want our students to understand that the one who created them loves them deeply and has a wonderful plan for their life. Pray for God’s working through this coffee house to draw some of the least reached peoples in our world today into a relationship with their Savior. December 15 - Christmas Outreach at Chiangrai Rajabhat University. We are blessed to be located very close to two universities in our city. We have also been invited by the Christian Club at Rajabhat University Chiangrai to join them in helping with their Christmas Outreach following our Coffee House Outreach. This is the first year will have been involved in this Christmas outreach and grateful for the opportunity to reach out this evening with the message of our great Savior. December 16 - Baan Athitaan Church's Main Christmas Outreach Program - In my 23 years of living and serving in Thailand, I have found that the most natural time to share the message of Jesus is the Christmas season. It has also been my experience that many people open their hearts to Jesus during this season and become the first follower of Christ in their entire family. Let that sink in for a moment. We will have hundreds of people at this event on this evening and some will be hearing the message of Christmas for the first time.  Please pray for a special touch from God. We will have skits, dramas, music, food, fun and a time to share the message of Christmas, and an evangelism booth. During the message time I will be sharing about “Christmas is for All People” We want to be used of God to bring people to the throne of Grace tonight. Please pray for us. Here is a short video clip from our outreach 3 years ago in 2019.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgHt8bxxhzA&t=7s December 17 – Children’s ESL Christmas Outreach (Grades 1-6) - God has given us great access into our community through teaching English.  We teach English to not only young people and adults but also to children. We teach children grades 1-6 every Saturday morning and we will have an awesome time helping these precious ones celebrate Christmas. Pray that God would draw these little hearts to Him. December 19 – English Fun Day with Christmas theme in a School in the Province of Payao. Through our English language platform called Grace Language School, God continues to gives us great access to millions of people who live in and around Northern Thailand from many different unreached people groups. On December 19, we will be driving South for about 1 hours into the next province and putting on an English Fun Day with Christmas as our main theme. Pray for the hundreds of students that we will be around this day. This is an intentional effort to plow the ground in a province where we are sensing God’s leadership to consider planting an extension of GLS in connection with a possible church plant in the future. Pray for God to lead and to bless all of our efforts. December 22 – Michael & Thai Staff Christmas Outing - God has provided us with some awesome Thai partners in ministry over the years that love the Lord and want to join God in His great work of redemption. It is Michael’s great privilege each year to take some time away from our busy Christmas outreaches and spend a few hours in quality time celebrating Christmas with these Thai partners. Please pray for our 6 full time Thai national partners (Jay, Ball, Ja, Boom, Bee, and Pat) and for Michael as they spend some time away celebrating Christmas together probably somewhere in the mountains for a few hours. Here is a very short video clip of our last Staff Outing. It was awesome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKgFQB67PYY As most of you know, God has given Hope a very special role at the Chiangrai International School (CRIS) as Head of School. Both Liz and Dallas have also been involved in part-time teaching at CRIS as well and they are also preparing several Christmas events and would ask you to remember to pray for God’s blessings on them and their outreach at CRIS. 1) Please Help By Praying . . .

 

2) Please Help By Giving . . . We are wanting to provide good quality evangelistic programs that touch the heart. We do not consider these "expenses" per se but rather "investments" into the lives of people for the Kingdom and glory of God. We are asking God to sell a few cows and send $6,000 to $10,000 to NTIM. Please prayerfully consider giving a donation to NTIM to help us cover our Christmas evangelism outreaches. Your financial investments allow us to be your hands and feet 24-7 here in the heart of the 10-40 Window.

 

3) Please Help By Telling Others Of This Opportunity To Help.  Many people want to give in a special way at Christmas to a good cause that will really make a difference in people's lives. However, they just don't know where there is a need. This may be an opportunity for you to help your family and your friends know where their donation can make a huge difference for Jesus among some of the least reached people in our world today. We are excited about all that God is doing on this side of the world and thanking God for each of you and your partnership with us for the sake of the gospel.   Your Servants to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand for Jesus sake,   Michael for the team   "...Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Financial support can be given through NTIM....

Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA 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.

You can send donations to support God’s work to NTIM. 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

If you would like to get on our email update listing, please send me an email at pray4ntim@gmail.com

 

May I Bless You Today? - "I am the True Vine" - Nov 7, 2022

 May I Bless You Today? – "I am The True Vine" - Nov 7, 2022

I hope that you will read this, click on the link and let me bless you as I share the meaning of our Lord Jesus when He said these words, “I am the True vine.”

May God speak to your heart through this message that I shared yesterday here in Northern Thailand and as one of the Law Professors at Mae Fah Luang University (Ajaan Faa) translated into Thai for me. If you have a Thai friend, please forward this to them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVUMMeYw8Ks

If it blesses your heart, then please forward this to a friend or two or three..

From God’s Field in and around Northern Thailand, Michael Johnson

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If you would like to get on our email update listing, please send me an email at pray4ntim@gmail.com

God Listens To the Prayers of His People – Michael Johnson – Oct 22, 2022

 

Sometimes we forget that God listens to the prayers of His people. God wants us to come to Him and talk to Him about our life and to ask Him about things and even ask Him for things that we would like to have. God also likes to answer our prayers when our prayers are in line with His great plans for us. I want to share with you an answer to prayer that came after 18 months of praying. There is a short story behind it that I hope encourages you. 

God has blessed us greatly here in Northern Thailand and given us an incredible piece of land and an awesome building that is used as the home of Baan Athitaan Church, the home of Grace Language School, the home of Channel of Blessing Foundation, and the home of NTIM-Thailand. Shortly after we purchased the property and began to raise support and to plan where we would place the multi-purpose building God on that land, I noticed what I thought would be an obstacle for new people finding our building since it is a little off of the main road.

The obstacle was this very large tree on another person’s property that would be blocking the view of our building. That was about 18 months ago. So, I began praying and asking if God would remove this tree. I wasn’t asking for my own personal benefit. I was asking for the benefit of God’s work being more openly exposed so that people could find our building with greater ease. 1 month passed by and the tree was still there. 1 year passed by and the tree was still there. Still, I kept praying. 17 months passed by and this tree was still there. Still, I kept praying. I kept praying and asking God to remove this tree until yesterday – October 26, 2022.

I normally come into work a little early in the morning before the staff get there and yesterday when I turned onto the road to go to the property, my heart jumped out of my chest as I could see the building very clearly yesterday morning. Do you know why I could see the building more clearly yesterday morning? Because God answered my prayer after 18 months of praying and when I began to get closer to our property there were several people already working on the property across the street from us. Can you guess what they were doing? Yes, they were cutting the tree down that I had been praying to God about for 18 months. Here are a few pictures that I took yesterday morning and this morning.

God really does listen to the prayers of His people. Jesus wants to be the Good Shepherd in your life. He wants you to come to Him and pour out your heart to Him and ask Him to help you. When you seek Him with all of your heart, He will listen to you. It doesn’t always mean you will get what you ask for but sometimes it gives God joy to give His children some of the things they ask for. I am reminded today of Jeremiah 29:12-13 which says, "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Do you have some hardship or difficulty that you are going through and don’t know what to do? May I suggest you draw near to the Heavenly Father and seek Him with all of your heart and talk to Him about what is on your heart. You may need to come to Him in prayer only once. But sometimes you may have to come to Him often like I had to do the last 18 months.

But there is one thing I have learned over the 40+ years of being a follower of Jesus and that is the truth that God listens to prayers of His people when they come to Him in faith, in humility, and in dependence upon His grace. Another passage that came to mind was a passage I memorized over 30 years ago from Jeremiah 33:3 that says, “Call to me and I will answer you and will show you great and mighty things which you do not know.”  God listens to the prayers of His people. Be one of His people who draws near to God and God will draw near to you as the Bible declares in James 4:8.

Please remember to keep us and all the people living in an around Northern Thailand in your prayers. Grateful and Happy to be Serving Our Awesome God in Northern Thailand for such a time as this. Until all of those in and around Northern Thailand have a chance to hear the good news.

From the Team in Northern Thailand, Michael Johnson

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Financial support can be given through NTIM....

Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA 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.

You can send donations to support God’s work to NTIM. 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

If you would like to get on our email update listing, please send me an email at pray4ntim@gmail.com

Jesus is Coming Again! God's Transforming Power among UPGS- Oct 22, 2022

One of the great joys that should shape the way we live our lives as genuine authentic followers of Jesus Christ is the truth that Jesus is coming again. The reality that one day - soon - Jesus will come again to this earth and will usher in the beginning of the countdown of the earth as we know it. The opportunity to share the gospel with some of the least reached people groups in our world today will end. It will cease. There will never be such a time as this again where we can join God in His great work of Redemption before He comes again. 

When Jesus comes again, He will usher the beginning of the end of the time when men, women, and children all over the world will no longer have a chance to believe in Jesus and become citizens of heaven. That day is coming my friends and as for me and my house, we want to be found being about our Father’s business and doing everything He has planned for us to do. Amen?

Even in the midst of millions who still have never heard the message, God is at work drawing people to himself and transforming their lives.

It is impossible to write into words the joy it brings to my heart, when God is pleased to allow one of our Thai leaders to be the one God has chosen to help lead a lost sheep back into the hands of our great Savior Jesus Christ. This year we have seen many people give their hearts to Jesus. Over the last 23 years we have lived in Thailand, we have seen hundreds of Thai people become what we call, a first-generation follower of Christ. Sometimes they are the first or second person in their entire family history to become a follower of Jesus Christ. Some of them representing some of the least reached people groups in our world today. Not only does it give me great joy that God has allowed us to be a part of what He is doing to expand His kingdom here in Northern Thailand, but it also gives me great joy to say to all of you who are partnering with us and supporting us through prayers, through finances, through encouraging messages from time to time, and through sending teams, that God is using you to make a difference in God’s kingdom in this part of God’s World.

Every prayer you offer for us is “a sweet aroma” to our Heavenly Father. And He listens to every prayer. Each donation you send through NTIM is a sacrifice of love for all those living in and around Norther Thailand. Your giving matters. It matters to God and it matters to us and it matters to the millions all over South-East Asia who still have not heard. Every message or email you send that is an encouraging word to us provides “additional strength” to us to keep serving the Lord with all of our heart. Thank you for your continued partnership with us that allows us to stay and serve here in this part of God’s unreached world.

Since it is true that Jesus is coming again, I want to first, plead with all of our Christian friends all over the world to not fail to pray for all of these least reached people groups mostly located in the heart of the 10-40 window who are filled with millions and millions of people who have never heard the message of our great Savior Jesus Christ.

Out of the 67 million people living in Thailand, 20 - 32 million of them (if you include the "Thai-Chinese" from Joshua Project into the group) are from this least reached people group called the Central Thai. The second largest unreached people group (UPG) in Thailand is the Isaan people group that make up about 18 million people. The third largest unreached people group (UPG) in Thailand is the Northern Thai (Muang) people group which have about 7 million people mostly living in Northern Thailand. So, please pray for the Unreached People groups of Thailand.

Today we also want to bring you up to date in a few areas of ministry so that you know better how to pray for us.

The second prayer request would be for some of our new followers of Jesus. Please pray for Fang, Nong In, Nong Pantawan, who have given their hearts to Jesus and were ready to follow the Lord in believer’s Baptism on September 25. There are others who have recently become followers of Christ but were not quite ready to be baptized. God seems to be moving in a very special way in Northern Thailand and in a special way at Baan Eden Children’s Home as well. Please pray for these new followers of Jesus by name. Here is the video from our baptism on September 25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2ZYV3IDWew&t=11s

Thirdly, please remember to pray for our full time Thai Leaders.

One of my roles here is to sense God’s direction for the ministry and provide vision and training to help equip our Thai leaders and others to do all that God wants us to do. We are very active in using English as an outreach into our community in various ways. We are all active in many, many other ways. 5 of our 6 staff have been serving God with us for many years and sometime last year we felt the leadership from the Lord to really made a more significant investment in giving these leaders more in-depth Bible training in the Central Thai language than we ever have done in the past.

Sometime last year, during the Covid season, I spoke with the president of our Thailand Baptist Seminary in Bangkok, Ajaan Chaiwat, about opening up the door for our staff to study “part-time” online and begin studying toward obtaining a Master of Divinity Degree from TBS and he agreed that this would be very good for our Thai leaders.

Since that time, our Staff are still working full-time but they are also taking 3 classes each week on-line as well. We do not want our staff to have to go into debt for this Bible training so we at NTIM believe providing scholarships for them is something God wants us to do to invest into our Thai leaders for the future direction of God’s work through NTIM, GLS, CBF, and Baan Athitaan Church.

If you would like to be a part of financially supporting our Thai staff’s theological education, we would welcome any donations that you would like to make which can be sent through NTIM. Please also remember to pray for each of them. We have 6 full time Thai leaders. Two are from the Khon Mueang unreached people group. Two are from the Akha people group. One is Hmong and the other is Lahu. They are all Thai citizens but from very different language and cultural backgrounds. The names from left to right and top to bottom are: Ja, Jay, Ball, Boom, Bee, and Pat. Please remember to pray for these leaders and for the ministries they are involved in as well as their respective people groups. 

Speaking of our Thai partners, we believe in the concept of working hard and playing hard. Our Thai leaders are what I call “all in.” They work very hard and with all their heart. They “pull their weight.” But there are times when it is important to take a day or two and go have some fun together or take a small retreat together. So, on August 24^th we took a day and “played hard.” We got up early morning and met at the church at 7:00 and drove over together to the motorcycle rental shop and each of us rented a motorcycle and then we drove, and drove, and drove stopping at this place and that place and we just had a great time together. Boom then put a short video of our time together “playing hard.” Here is the short video clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKgFQB67PYY

Our Thai leaders are all growing and we are very deliberate and intentional about building up Thai leadership. Yes, I am a Westerner and still have a significant role to play in God’s world here and there are still great needs for Western Missionaries to come and help, especially in countries like Thailand where less than ½ of 1% are followers of Jesus Christ. However, we must be intentional about building up local national leaders where ever we go. Both Jay and Ball are growing and learning how to preach a sermon and just wanted to give you a chance to be encouraged by Ball as he preached and be encouraged by Kim as she translated several weeks ago on October 2 when we were studying one of the “I am” statements of Jesus where Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.” I hope you will take 35 minutes and be encouraged by Ball and Kim. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yUOxrw5PVQ

We also want to tell you what a joy it is to have this new building that God has given to us through your faithful and generous donations. We are 95% through the building phase and it looks very clearly like we will have some funds left over from the building project. This building is so nice and so practical. Praise God for His goodness and thank you for your kindness in giving.

We thought you would want to see our Building Dedication that we had on July 3^rd. We were blessed to have a special singing group called the “Worship Room” that our daughter Liz worked with to sing during our dedication. It was also a great blessing to have a special song from Baan Eden Children’s Home to sing during our dedication. We were blessed to have Doug Piper and his family with us for the ribbon cutting ceremony. They are from a great partner church called Crosspoint Church in Mississippi where Pastor Israel Cox serves as Pastor. Here is the full length video of the ceremony if you would like to watch it. It is only about 33 minutes long but a very significant time for us.

There are three more prayer requests that we want to ask you to pray about.

The first prayer request is for our upcoming Thanksgiving Celebration where we are putting on a “Worship Night” or “mini concert where we will have a night of giving thanks to our Lord in our New building. Please pray for us that God would bless our “Worship Night of Giving Thanks.” Here is a poster that we just put together. Following the poster is a short 2-minute video clip link

2-minute video clip link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPH-DTwWKJw

The second prayer request is for our upcoming Christmas Outreach events.

Now that Covid is behind us, we can now do the Christmas outreaches that we love doing at Christmas time and it looks like we will be having at least one partner church from FBC Florence, MS coming during this time and possibly another church. Please pray for us as begin to put our plans together for this wonderful season of reaching out into our communities with the Gospel. We are asking the Lord for about $4,000-$5,000 additional resources for our outreaches.

The third prayer request is for 2 or 3 additional missionaries who are willing to come and serve in our platform as English Teachers and serve the Lord in a variety of ways. God has been using Grace Language School (GLS) for a very long time but we are in need of some new folks to come and serve with us. These folks need first and foremost to be growing in their walk with Christ but secondly need to have at least a B.A. degree in any field and thirdly need to be folks who see the value of working in an educational type platform of teaching English to provide an opportunity to build the kinds of relationship with lost people that lead down to the path of evangelism and discipleship. God is moving and we are in need of a couple of God’s servants to come and help. Please pray for God to send workers into His fields that are white and ready for harvest.

Grateful and Happy to be Serving Our Awesome God in Northern Thailand for such a time as this. Until all of those in and around Northern Thailand have a chance to hear the good news.

From the Team in Northern Thailand, Michael Johnson

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Financial support can be given through NTIM....

Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA 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.  

You can send donations to support God’s work to NTIM. All donations made are tax deductible and can be made either online at www.gontim.org or mailed to NTIM, P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL  35260

If you would like to get on our email update listing, please send me an email at pray4ntim@gmail.com