RECENT TRIIP TO USA - UPDATE – March 28, 2026

As I sit at my desk this morning beginning to write an update on the awesome work God has put in our hands to do, I want to say “thank you” to God for allowing this ordinary man from Tuscaloosa, AL to have experienced what it means to live the last 27 years of my life following God’s leadership in our lives and seeing God do some incredible things that have advanced God’s kingdom in and around Northern Thailand.

Most of you who read these updates, know that I (Michael) recently made a very short trip back to the USA. Our home church is in the Birmingham, Alabama area and is called Shades Mountain Baptist Church and is located in Vestavia Hills. Each year they have one of the most incredible mission conferences that I have ever been a part of and I appreciate it when they invite me to come and share what God is doing in this part of God’s world. SMBC started out calling these mission conferences a “Global Impact Conference (GIC)” but have recently made a slight change in the name and are now calling them, “Global Impact Catalyst (GIC).”

The thought behind the name change was that it really helps to crystalize that they are having these mission conferences like GIC for the purpose of helping “catalyze” the members of the church to become more “motivated” in actively joining God in what God is doing all over the world, especially in those places where their own church members have gone to serve as missionaries.

While on this trip to the USA, I was also able to visit with many people for a “cup of coffee and update” or to go and share at a few other churches besides SMBC like FBC Florence, MS and Northwood Hills Baptist Church in Northport, AL but because the time was very short, I was not able to visit all of our supporting churches and friends and family. So sorry about that.                          

Here is a picture of me sharing about God’s Amazing work in Thailand at one of our awesome partner churches in Mississippi. Anyone who has known me over the last 30 years, knows that I love Thailand and all of the various Thai people groups very much. And I truly love the job God has given me. Actually, I don’t have 1 job, I have many, but all of them are centered around Serving God and Joining Him in making disciples of Jesus out of some of the least reached people groups in our world today that live in and around Northern Thailand.

Many people ask me, what can I do to help you and assist in making sure that the gospel gets to all the “Panta Ta Ethne” of Thailand? “Panta Ta Ethne” are the exact Greek words (of course using English transliteration) that Jesus used as is recorded in the great commission as it was recorded in Matthew 28:18-20 which is translated into English as “all the nations” (actually, not geo-political nations at all but “ethnic people groups,” of which, there are over 100 ethnic people/ language groups in Thailand. So, in answer to that question “What can I do to help you and assist in making sure that the gospel gets to all the “Panta Ta Ethne” of Thailand?, I normally give them 3 different ways they can join God in what He is doing in Thailand.

The first way you can help is to PRAY. James 5:16 says this, “The effective prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much.” Here are 8 different ways you can pray for us in Thailand. 1) Pray for Grace Language School (GLS) in Chiangrai, Thailand. GLS is our primary platform to reaching out into our community through teaching English to teenagers, university students, and adults. 2) Pray for our English teachers at GLS that they would intentionally build good relationships that naturally lead to them sharing their faith and the gospel with their students in the context of their relationship. 3) Pray for new teachers to come and serve for 1 year or 2 years as an English Teacher. 4) Pray for our Kids ESL Program every Saturday morning. We teach ESL to children grades 1-6 on Saturday mornings. Currently we have a little over 50 children but have had as many as 70 children on Saturday mornings. 5) Pray for our new expansion of outreach into the neighboring province of Payao. God has been leading us NTIM us to expand God’s work with establishing an extension of Grace Language School and establishing Baan Athitaan Church’s first church plant in Payao and God has raised up Doug and Paulette Piper to come and help us lead this charge. Please remember to pray for Doug and Paulette and NTIM and all of our Thai staff who are actively involved in assisting with getting all of the “paperwork” necessary for the governmental approvals to do what we believe God has called us to do and to do it legally and in accordance with Thai law just as we did here in Chiangrai some 25 years ago. 6) Pray for Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM) Foundation that is our USA 501c sending and supporting arm of all that we do in Thailand.(www.gontim.org) We currently have 6 executive Board members with all of these Board members volunteering their time, abilities, and heart to NTIM and not taking any “executive” salary so that every dollar donated from our financial supporters of NTIM avoids administrative overhead and goes directly to the ministry in the fields of Thailand. Here are the first names of each of our current NTIM Board Members, David, Michael, Donald, Beverly, Tim, & Steve. Please take a moment and pray for each of these precious servants of our Lord that serve in critical roles and most of them very much behind the scenes. NTIM could not have the impact God is causing us to have with genuine 1^st generation followers of Jesus that without these foundational people on our NTIM Board. Thank you for serving God and partnering with God’s work among some of the least reached people groups in our world today. 7) Pray for the spiritual growth of all of us who are connected to NTIM, GLS, and Baan Athitaan Church that we would continue to walk daily in the vine and allow the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the people of God to help shape all of us to be more like Jesus every day and to let the fruit of the Spirit of God overflow through our lives more and more. 8) Pray for the awesome discipleship (Nav 2:7) that is taking place these days in Northern Thailand. We have ramped up the notch a bit and several years ago began introducing people to the best discipleship materials I have ever found that were written by the well-respected organization called the Navigators. We are currently using the Navigator’s 2:7 discipleship course and are seeing lives transformed from its focus and practical application of God’s Word and the way they teach the habits of life that lead to life transformation. This Nav 2:7 discipleship course has been refined and improved for over 40 years and is now packaged as a 3-book course with each book containing 11 sessions making it about a 9 month commitment to establish essential habits that lead to a life being transformed by the Word of God to become more like our Lord Jesus every day. We are now in the process of getting this material translated into Central Thai so that it can be available to all the Thai churches in Thailand.

The second way you can help is to GIVE. Giving directly to missions like NTIM, supports the urgent and important great commission and spreading of the gospel. It allows the donor to have a direct and immediate impact on those whom God has called to go to all the nations and ethnic/people groups in our world. Donating directly with a sending agency like NTIM, enables donors to partner personally with missionaries and their work, fostering a deep sense of shared sacrifice and direct involvement in global ministry. Making a personal and regular donation directly to missions also, and most importantly, opens up the door of your heart to join God in His great work of reaching some of the least reached people in our world today. It brings a huge change into the heart of the giver. Jesus taught the principle very clearly that where you put your money (treasure), it is in that place, that your heart will be concerned. I remember the change that happened in my heart after I began making a $10 monthly donation (this was over 40 years ago) directly to support a missionary named Tim Carden that was from the church I went to as a university student at the University of Alabama. Tim was the son of Dr. Gene Carden that I considered one of the most Christ-like men in Emmanual Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa that I went to at that time. Tim, Dr. Carden’s son, was serving overseas in the Ivory Coast and even though it was a small dollar amount I donated every month, it made a huge difference in my heart and was probably the starting point in my life that eventually led to me going to the ends of the earth in Thailand as a missionary some 15 or so years later. Let me challenge you to consider making it a habit to give as a regular monthly supporter to Michael & Hope Johnson through NTIM or to some other missionary that needs your monthly support. So, the second way that you can help us is through giving through NTIM on our behalf or on behalf of our team here in Northern Thailand. If you want to give to missionaries and Thai Staff living in Chiangrai which is where we live, you can click the “general” donation button on our website or if you want to give to missionaries and Thai Staff living in Payao, which is where Doug and Paulette live, you can click on the Project Payao button on our website. Thank you for giving through NTIM at www.gontim.org or sending checks to NTIM’s address in Birmingham which is recorded for you at the end of this update.

As I mentioned earlier, we are in the process of coordinating the translation of these Navigator’s 2:7 books being translated from English into Central Thai and believe God wants us to completely fund this strategic and critical project and we would ask for you to consider giving to NTIM to assist in this important project. We estimate that with “licensing fees, graphic fees, printing fees, etc” that the final cost of this project will be somewhere between $5,000 to $10,000 dollars but will one of the greatest investments we can make in helping Thai people be grounded and prepared to not only walk with God daily, but in helping them be well equipped to share their faith with their family, their friends, and the people they rub shoulders with every single day. This Nav 2:7 curriculum is the best. If you would like to give toward this project, you can send a check to NTIM or donate online but make sure you check the box for “General” so that your donation goes into the funds that are designated to go to the team in Chiang Rai where I personally manage these resources.

The third way you can help is to GO. Go on a short-term mission trip or Go for 1 or 2 years or go for an undesignated time frame like us.

Going on a mission trip expands Christ's kingdom, fosters personal spiritual growth, and allows you to serve others by meeting tangible needs, and gives you an opportunity to support the work and strategy of the local missionary or missionaries. Don’t go with your own agenda but instead understand what the missionary or missionaries are trying to do and them help them do it together. These trips help you encounter God’s heart for the nations, break out of your comfort zones, and gain a more global perspective while supporting long-term missionaries and ministries who have been there long before you got there and will be there long after you return home. But by going, it will enlarge your heart and allow God help you understand better that getting the gospel into places where millions have still never heart about Jesus. It will also allow you to build some connections with both the missionaries and the local people who live there.

NTIM has been blessed tremendously over the years by volunteer mission teams who have come out and helped us reach out to the Thai people we love so dearly. We have one very special partner in the great state of Mississippi that has come out 18 times on mission trips, sometimes she bring her own family, sometimes she brings a team, but she always brings the love of Jesus in her heart for the Thai people. Everyone on my team knows this woman personally and loves her deeply. As a matter of fact, she has a weekly video chat/Bible study with one of my Thai Staff – yes, using English to speak truth into this Thai partner of ours. Volunteers and volunteer teams that come and work with NTIM and automatically able to serve as they have been wired because we use “teaching English” as a strategic way to begin the process that leads to many taking their first step in opening their heart which has this empty hole in it that can only be filled with a relationship with Jesus Christ. Coming on that “mission trip” makes your life available to be used in a very special way to “touch” a heart and help that heart take one more step closer to becoming the first person in their entire family to become a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

If you or your church are interested in really learning how to “join God” in what He is already doing in some of the least reached people groups in our world today, then write me personally today at pray4ntim@gmail.com and begin that process of the 3^rd way you can help us “reach the nations” or as Jesus put it reach the “Panta Ta Ethne” living in and around Northern Thailand and that way is by GOING.

If you love Jesus and are walking with Jesus, and want to explore the possibility of helping get your church to come and join us on an adventure of your life on mission to Northern Thailand, don’t hesitate to write me at my email address. I am waiting to hear from you at pray4ntim@gmail.com

These are the three ways you can help us at NTIM make a strategic impact of expanding the kingdom of God in and around Norther Thailand. #1 - The first way you can help is to PRAY. #2 - The second way you can help is to GIVE. And the third way you can help is to GO

As I shared in my last newsletter update, it gives me great joy when I see a Thai person open up their mind and give their heart to Jesus. God has given me a special opportunity to have seen hundreds of Thai people give their hearts to Jesus and many of them become the first person in their entire family to be a follower of Christ. Our church here is filled with genuine 1^st generation followers of Jesus Christ like we see in the Early Church recorded for us in the book of Acts. Think about this. Thailand is the most thoroughly Buddhist country in the world today with over 100 different unreached people/language groups and 99 out of every 100 people are lost without a personal relationship with our great Savior Jesus and you can join God today in helping us take the gospel to all of these “Panta Ta Ethne” that live in the heart of the work of NTIM.

Thailand doesn’t just have a 100 people; not just 1000 people; and not just 10,000 people; but Thailand has over 60 million people who are lost in darkness. This is one of the reasons God sent our family here over 26 years ago. I believe one of God’s purposes for my life is – to join God in what He is doing to reach the Thai people with the love and message of Jesus and help them to become followers of Jesus and then to become “fishers of men” as well. We need your help to do this. Help us by praying. Help us by donating. And yes, help us by going on an adventure that will radically change your life by going to Thailand and working with NTIM. Don’t just work with someone who is here but work with us and we will help you know how to engage people and be used as a “touch point” in the life of someone to help them continue their journey toward our great and magnificent Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen?

Before I close out this update, I want to again say thank you to our home church at Shades Mountain Baptist Church for allowing me to recently come to the Global Impact Catalyst that also opened the way for me to drive over to Atlanta and spend time with 3 of my adult children and their families including 2 of my grandchildren. It was a wonderful time and am thankful to God for the blessing of visiting with family that we normally do not get to see very often at all.

Thank you for sending us to Thailand and thank you for joining God in sustaining us in Thailand by your PRAYERS, by your Donations through NTIM, and by going on mission trips to help our work and remind us that even though we may be on the other side of the world, you have not forgotten those whom you have sent to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

As a “FUN FACT” I did a google search just a moment ago and asked the question: How far is Chiangrai, Thailand from Birmingham, Alabama? Here was the reply from Google AI, “The flight distance between Chiang Rai, Thailand (CEI), and Birmingham, Alabama (BHM/BHX), is approximately 9,024 kilometers (about 5,607 miles). Travel between these two locations typically involves long-haul flights with one or more stops, often exceeding 20–30 hours total travel time.”

May God bless each of you for your prayers and for your gifts given in the name of our great Savior Jesus Christ and for going to Thailand on a mission trip with NTIM.

Until all the people living in and around Northern Thailand have a chance to become followers of the One True God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Michael for the team…

“Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days— You would not believe if you were told.” Habakkuk 1:5

-----------------------------------------------------------

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.

2026-02-07 – NTIM Prayer Request – Michael Traveling To USA for short trip

Dear Family, Friends, and Partners in Ministry,

This is not a normal update but more of a special request to pray for Me as I begin my journey from Chiangrai, Thailand this coming Thurday morning and Lord willing will arrive in the Birmingham Alabama International Airport on Friday afternoon February 13^th having crossed over many different “time zones” but having spent around 30+ hours either in planes or at airports. It is a long trip but I am so grateful to be able to participate in the Global Impact Conference at our home church at Shades Mountain Baptist Church in the Birmingham area from Feb 21 to Feb 25. Not only will I be able to spend time with my home church family but will also be able to spend time on February 27^th and have dinner with our NTIM Board members and their spouses at a dear brother’s house on Friday evening the 27^th. Looking forward to visiting a couple of churches on Sunday February 15^th in the Tuscaloosa, Alabama area and then the next weekend spend a couple of days with 3 of my 4 children and their families in the Atlanta area before getting on a plane in Birmingham on Thursday March 5^th headed back to the other side of the world where God has planted our lives for the purpose of the gospel in the heart of some of the least reached people in God’s world today. I am sorry that it will be a short trip, but would you pray for me that I would be able to share clearly what our great God is doing through the work God has put in our hands to do. I also do have a very important need that we would ask that you pray about as well. I have a need for the use of a vehicle for the 3 weeks that I will be in the USA. If someone has a vehicle that is available from about February 12 to about March 4^th in the Birmingham, Alabama area, we would be very grateful. Please let me know.  

Thank you for sending us to Thailand some 27+ years ago and supporting us as we join God in this great work of reaching what I call the “Last Frontier” of unreached people groups living in and around Northern Thailand right in the very heart of Southeast Asia and the 10/40 Window of lostness.

God is good and is mighty to save.

Your Servants to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand for Jesus’ sake,

 

Michael for the team

“Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days— You would not believe if you were told.” Habakkuk 1:5

-----------------------------------------------------------

Financial support can be given through NTIM....

Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA Main Website for online giving: 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.

Reaching, Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving some of the least reached people groups in God’s World, through education, through acts of love and compassionate as the light of Christ. This is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.

 

Today is the Day We Landed in Bangkok, Thailand 27 years ago on January 13, 1999

Twenty seven (27) years ago today (January 13, 1999), my family landed in Bangkok, Thailand. Jessica was 9, Elizabeth was 6, Joshua was almost 2, and Caleb was 7 months in the oven. Wow, what an adventure this has been for us. We have been blessed beyond measure as we have faithfully served God these last 27 years in Thailand. 

We started out with the International Mission Board and served faithfully with them for the first 7 years. (We are still SBC missionaries just no longer with the IMB because our denominational affiliation has never changed only our sending organization). Those first 7 years with the IMB were good years and we are grateful for the IMB's investment in our lives. 

BUT THESE LAST 20 years have been an incredibly awesome journey of faith with a sense of great freedom and blessing and leadership from God to use the gifts and abilities God has given to us and to use them in a way that we sense is consistent with God's leadership in our lives. We are so grateful for the godly board members of NTIM who love and support us and help keep us on the right path. We are ever so grateful for the financial supporters that donate to God's work every month so that we can join God in doing all that he wants to do among some of the least reached people groups in our world today. We are also thankful for the hundreds of volunteers that have come to help God's Work flourish in Northern Thailand over these 27 years of advocacy.  

This is my prayer this morning, 

"Lord, we want to thank You for these last 27 years. You have blessed, led, provided, protected, blessed, and given this ordinary family a chance to see a Faithful and Extraordinary God at work in and around Northern Thailand. You have graciously allowed us the awesome privilege of joining You in Your work in seeing dozens and dozens of people become the first person in their entire families to become followers of Jesus. Our hearts are grateful that You are our God and that there is noone like you.. Help us to continue to be your hands and your feet in this very needy part of your world. In Jesus Name I pray.”

Your Servants to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand for Jesus’ sake,

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

-----------------------------------------------------------

Financial support can be given through NTIM....

Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA Main Website for online giving: 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.

Reaching, Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving some of the least reached people groups in God’s World, through education, through acts of love and compassionate as the light of Christ. This is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.

2025-12-24 – Merry Christmas and Special Prayer Request – Expanding to Next Province of Payao

Dear Family, Friends, and Partners in Ministry,

First, let us say Merry Christmas from the other side of the world in Northern Thailand. Hope and I are enjoying all of the festive outreach activities of Christmas and wanted to wish all of our family, friends, and partners a very, Merry Christmas and to ask you to join us in a very special prayer request today on the Christmas Eve.

Here is a picture that was taken two days ago as me and our NTIM Thai Staff and partners in ministry celebrated our Staff Christmas time together like we do each year. These are some of the best Thai Christian leaders in the country that I get a chance to work with every single day. When we had our “outing,” we played some games and sang some Christmas/worship songs. I then shared a devotional with them on what it means “to be a servant of God.” We then reflected on the year and each one shared what God has been teaching them over 2025. After a great time of sharing, we ate some delicious food and exchanged gifts and just had a really good time together with the joy of the Lord in our hearts at the season of Joy.

Today, we are writing this update to ask for your help.

We have a very special prayer request. God has been using our English language school platform in mighty ways to bless the 1.5 million people that live in the province of Chiang Rai. This next month on January 13, 2026 will be our 26^th anniversary of beginning our journey with God in Thailand as we landed in Bangkok on January 13, 1999. We studied Central Thai in Bangkok the first two years before we moved up to Northern Thailand in July 2001 with a sense that God wanted us to use the platform of teaching English to begin the process of being salt and light in our community and letting our relationships, not the classroom, be the way to build a bridge to the hearts of Thai people and begin a new church plant out of those relationships which has now become known as “Baan Athitaan Church.”  God has used our school, our Teachers and Staff, our church, and lots of volunteers from all over the world to open doors of opportunity to see hundreds of people from some of the least reached people groups in our world today, come to know our Lord Jesus as personal Savior and Lord of All. Many of these former students have become the first person in their entire family history to be a follower of Jesus. Our church today is filled with dozens and dozens of genuine 1^st Generation followers of Jesus from many different people groups.

We want to say Thank you for your partnership with us through NTIM in this journey of joining God in what He is doing and wants to do in the days ahead in this part of God’s world.

For a little over 3 years, we have sensed God’s leadership to take a step of faith and reach out into the province of Payao just South of Chiang Rai to do two things: 1) establish an English education extension of our language school and 2) to initiate the planting of a new church connected and seen as a church plant of Baan Athitaan Church from Chiang Rai. After sharing this vision with a NTIM partner church from Gulfport, where Israel Cox serves as Pastor, God began working in the hearts of Doug and Paulette Piper, drawing their hearts to except this invitation through to be the “champion” of this new NTIM project we are calling “Project Payao.” As a partnership between Crosspoint church and NTIM, Crosspoint sent the Pipers here a little over 2 years ago. They are in the final phases of their “full-time” language study, and we are beginning to plan to “commission them” and send them into new territory sometime in 2026, Lord willing. Doug has recently signed a rental agreement on a building that we hope will be approved by the ministry of Education of Payao for use as “Grace Language School – Payao” sometime in this next year of 2026, as our Lord leads us.

After sensing the time was right to begin the formal administrative process of opening an extension of our language school in another province, 5 of our Grace Language School (GLS) leaders (Michael, Doug, Ja, Jay, and Ball) made our first trip last Friday, December 19^th, down to meet with the Ministry of Education of Payao to introduce ourselves and tell them of our desire to open an extension of GLS in Payao and asked them for their guidance and support in this process. Today, we are writing to ask you to pray for grace and favor from the government in Payao province and to pray for all of us who are working as a team to do all of the necessary paperwork needed to complete our English language platform in this new province. These are exciting days for us as we seek to expand the work that God has already started here in Thailand. We just want to follow His leadership and do all that God wants us to do for such a time as this and for the advancement of His kingdom. Please keep us in your prayers.

I am also asking all of our supporters to consider giving a “one time Christmas gift” to help us continue reaching and discipling true 1^st generation believers and share with all Thai people that “there is salvation in no other name than Jesus.”

Many of you already 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 (of which there are 70 million) are without a personal relationship with Jesus and many have never even heard the message of Jesus. Lost without Jesus? Yes, 99% of almost 70 million people. There are also over 70 different ethnic unreached people/language groups that live in this country…some of these UPGs are some of the least reached peoples in our world today. That is why your giving matters, your praying matters, your going matters. It matters to God, it matters to us at NTIM, it matters to the Thai people, it matters to the great commission, and it matters to all of those people whose names will one day be written in the Lamb’s book of life in the days ahead, in part, because of your partnership with us and with NTIM.

We are excited about all that God is doing on this side of the world and we are thanking God for each of you and your partnership with us for the sake of the gospel. Here is a video clip of another baptism that we just had a few weeks ago on December 7, 2025

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

Thank you for sending us and supporting us as we join God in this great work of reaching what I call the “Last Frontier” of unreached people groups living in and around Northern Thailand right in the very heart of Southeast Asia.

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 for online giving: 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.

Reaching, Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving some of the least reached people groups in God’s World, through education, through acts of love and compassionate as the light of Christ. This is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.

Urgent Prayer Requests for Christmas Outreaches in Northern Thailand that Transforms lives - Dec 11, 2025

2025-12-11 – Prayer Requests for Christmas Outreaches In Northern Thailand that Transforms lives.

Dear Family, Friends, and Partners in Ministry,

This is more of an Urgent Prayer Request for several of our Christmas Evangelism Outreach events here in the heart of what we call “lostness” where God is moving and reaching down into the lives of people who have never even had one person in their family become a follower of Jesus.

Yet, God has strategically placed us here among some of the least reached people groups in our world today to bring the light of Jesus. Here are 9 Prayer Requests with a little background we are asking you to pray about as we have entered this Christmas Season.

1) Pray for our English Corner/Coffee House event starting Thursday night Dec 11 at Grace Language School.

One of the English events that we as an English language school try to do is to have a free English event where we spend about 2 hours picking a theme and then helping all of our students understand that them and learn to improve their listening and speaking skills in English. The theme for tonight is Christmas. Pray for the team from Gulfport and for all of our students and partners in ministry that will be at this event tonight. This is what we call a “soft evangelistic” event that builds good solid relationships that become the context for sharing both our lives and the message of our Savior with our students.

2) Pray for our Volunteer Team of 8 people from Gulfport Mississippi that arrived yesterday and are busy working with our awesome Thai staff getting ready for all of the outreach events we will do together over the next week. This team was sent out of a great partner church in Gulfport called Crosspoint Church which is Pastored by a good friend named Israel Cox. They have entered into a special partnership with NTIM and sent two of their best folks, Doug and Paulette Piper, to serve with us as we seek to launch Project Payao next year as Doug and Paulette come to the end of their 2 years of language learning.

3) Pray for our Youth & University Student Christmas Outreach tomorrow night on December 12. Thai people love to have fun and celebrate and what greater way to celebrate and have fun than to do it around the theme of Christmas. Please pray for all of the young people who will be a part of this awesome outreach to our youth and university students.

4) Please Pray for God to Continue to Draw “The Little children” and their families to Jesus as we plan a “mini-English Camp” for them this Saturday morning December 13.

God has established a very natural way for us to reach out to the lost here in Northern Thailand as we serve as English teachers with a purpose through Grace Language School. We teach English to about 60-70 children in elementary school, grades 1-6 every Saturday morning. It is one of the ways that we intentionally reach out into the community and bless these children and their families. We have seen many come to Jesus through this outreach. Please pray for these kids and their families. Some of them are from homes where there has never even been 1 follower of Jesus in their whole family heritage but God is at work. Here is a practice performance they did just last year in preparation to our major Christmas outreach in 2024.

https://youtu.be/Fc6n-4UiWP0

5) Pray for our largest Christmas Outreach of the Year this coming Sunday Morning December 14.

Over the 26 years we have lived in Thailand, the Christmas season seems to be the most fruitful time for us to share the message of our Lord Jesus. Please pray for me as I share a brief message about the greatest promise found in the Bible which is the promise that God promises eternal life to those who trust in Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Please pray for the whole program which will be filled with skits, songs, activities, good food, and lots of celebration over the truth that our one true Creator God transformed Himself and chose to come and live among us as “Emmanuel - God with us.” And then He willingly paid the penalty for sin on the Cross of Calvary on our behalf. Pray that hearts will be open to receiving the gift of eternal life only found in Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

6) Pray for our “English Fun Day” outreach on Monday, December 15 in the province of Payao where we are planning to open a new school called “Grace Language School – Payao” sometime in 2026. Pray for us as we take a big step of faith. There are no “Baptist” churches in the whole province of Payao but God has put it in our heart to join Him in changing that statistic and we are ready to step out with an English language platform first which will be followed with a new church plant as God has already been leading us to do for over 2 years now. Please pray for other personnel to come and help us as we prepare to implement “Project Payao.”

7) Pray for another “English Fun Day” outreach on Wednesday, December 17 in the Doi Mae Salong area where we have sensed God wants us to go. One of the ways that we reach out into our communities is by offering to do “English Fun Day” outreaches in the various schools.

8) Pray for the Team of 8 from Crosspoint Church as they begin their travels back to the USA.

9) Pray for Michael and his Thai team of leaders on Monday, December 22 as they have their Staff Christmas time of celebration. Please pray for each of my Thai staff this Christmas.

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 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 and wanted to bring these 9 prayer requests to your attention and ask that you spend a little time seeking God over these prayer requests on our behalf.

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.

Reaching, Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving some of the least reached people groups in God’s World, through acts of love and compassionate as the light of Christ. This is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.

 

To Thailand With Love from Mississippi - 2025 - 11 - 25

As I sit here in the cool weather at the very top of one of the most beautiful mountains in Northern Thailand called Doi Mae Salong. I am sitting at a desk at a community school listening to one of my Thai team members assisting one of my Friends from Mississippi teach English in one of our projects we call “English Fun Day.” As I sit here and write this update, my heart is overflowing with love and thankfulness to God for allowing this normal, ordinary man, who has been touched by an extra ordinary God, to experience love and grace of our wonderful God who loves us and wants us, as followers of Jesus, to join Him in His work of taking the love and message of Jesus into all the unreached people groups of our world today as Jesus commissioned us in Matthew 28.

Today we simply and clearly testify and to say that there is great indescribably joy and peace knowing that you are living exactly where God wants you to live and doing what God wants you to do. God gives us many wonderful ways that we can serve and honor God with our lives. One of those ways that God has led us to join Him in what He is doing in our world is that we have joined God through the 501c from the USA called NTIM. www.gonitm.org  NTIM is one of the tools God is using to facilitate the gospel of our Lord Jesus and those who want to take that gospel and go into the heart of the Buddhist world through a very intentional strategy of teaching English.

We teach English as a platform to build relationships with people who do not know Jesus and we “Build Bridges” to their hearts by loving and blessing their lives with helping develop their English language skills. We don’t just teach English well, but we do it with integrity and with legitimacy and not as a front or pretense for evangelism. We believe that it honors God when we work with integrity as English teachers to teach English as our “work permits” give us permission to do. We do not use the “English classroom” to preach the gospel but we use the “English classroom” to teach English with integrity and build relationships of love and mutual respect. As we build these relationships, these relationships naturally lead to discussions of beliefs, values, and discussions of the meaning of life. It is in this context of relationships, not the classroom, that God often opens natural doors to share the love and message of our great Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support for this amazing work that God is doing in one of the least reached areas in our world today. Even in the midst of millions who have still yet to hear the message of Jesus clearly and where there are still thousands and thousands of families where there have never, ever had anyone in their whole family heritage become a follower of Jesus. But God is at work changing people’s lives. God has raised up an English language platform to build a bridge to the hearts of our students and many of our students begin or complete their journey toward becoming followers of Jesus. Because teaching English is so relationship intensive, God has given us a great platform to build healthy relationships that lead us down the road to not just teaching English skills but sharing our very lives and the values that we hold dearly and what a joy it is for us when some of our students want to hear more about Jesus and How God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives. So, please remember to pray for Grace Language School and for all of our teachers including: Becky, Daniel, Paulette, Doug, Hope, Michael, Ball, Jay, Boom, Ja, and Pat. Please also remember to pray for Liz, Dallas, and their two children Mary Ella and Theo who also live here in Chiangrai. Here is a picture of our NTIM Grace Language School team that was taken at the beginning of this year.

One of the greatest ways people from the USA and other parts of our world can help us is to bring a team of native English speakers to come and help us go into one of the Thai schools and give them a chance to interact and enjoy speaking English with native English speakers.

We love receiving volunteer teams and what a great joy it is when friends bring a team to help us reach out into our community from the great state of Mississippi. All 5 members on this mission team are all members of FBC in Florence, Ms where Bro. Sam Taylor serves as Pastor. One of the members of this team, Joshua, came out for the first time about 10 years ago as best I can remember. This is the first time for 3 of the other team members to come and serve with us: Kellie, Darlene, and Melanie. The last member of this team and the team leader Beverly Bridges, has become one of my closest friends and also serves as a Board member of our NTIM Board. This is not her first trip, or her second or third trip. No, This is her 18^th time to come and serve with us on this side of the pond. Beverly has been coming almost every year since 2008. She loves the Thai people almost as much as I do. Let me be clear: WE LOVE IT WHEN OUR FRIENDS AND PARTNERS COME and help us reach the various Thai unreached people groups living in and around Northern Thailand.

When I started writing this update yesterday, we had just arrived at a school and did an English Fun Day at a school in Doi Maesalong. Here are a few pictures from yesterday.

Please keep us in your prayers as we seek to live out Galatians 2:20 which says, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loves me and gave Himself for me.”

May God bless each of you for your prayers and your gifts given in the name of our great Savior Jesus Christ so that all Thai people have a chance to become followers of Jesus Christ.

Until all the people living in and around Northern Thailand have a chance to become followers of the One True God and His Son Jesus Christ.

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

-----------------------------------------------------------

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.

Reaching, Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving some of the least reached people groups in God’s World, through acts of love and compassionate as the light of Christ. This what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.