DAY 26 – Lighting Up the Darkness BEACH HEAD Vision - December 22, 2014

As we have shared many times before. We are seeing God’s hand at work in the heart of South East Asia changing peoples’ lives like never before. As you have joined us in this Season of Prayer these last 25 days and some of you joined us last year during this Season of Prayer, you have seen God responding to those prayers. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not be able to stand against it.” One of the places God is building his church is in Chiang Rai, Thailand, right in the heart of dozens of unreached people groups and among millions and millions of people who do not know Jesus as their personal Savior.

God has chosen to use a small group of people living in Chiang Rai to make disciples of hundreds of people, most of whom are 1st generation believers. 1st generation believers are normally the first people in their entire families to become followers of Jesus. What started as a small group of 8 believers in the Johnson home some 13 years ago has blossomed into a growing, thriving, community focused church made up of people from over 23 identifiable people groups and involved in outreach/evangelistic ministries related to teaching English, caring for those affected by HIV/AIDS, caring and ministering to various children’s homes, reaching out to the community and neighboring countries, and most importantly very committed to making disciples of all the nations God brings across our path.

We are very grateful for the partners and friends that God has surrounded us with including our partnership with various churches, and individuals all over the world who support the Johnson family and their team of partners in God’s work here in Northern Thailand.

We have been very intentional these past 13 years to focus upon evangelism, discipleship and building the people of God into a family and have yet to purchase a piece of property and put up a physical structure of our own. We have spent the last 13 years investing our people and resources in making disciples, building a flock and creating various outreach platforms and ministries. 

As I shared with our prayer partners last year and want to repeat that again this year, we sense that it is God’s timing to now say to the darkness that ‘we are here to stay’ through the purchase of land and then by building a multi-purpose facility that will facilitate a greater ability to reach the nations for Jesus and will strengthen the integrity of the outreach platforms we have created already and will create in the days ahead as God leads.”

We have been using rented property for the last 13 years and we sense that it is time to tell the darkness we are here to stay by raising enough funds to purchase land and complete phase 1. God has planted the “church body” in a place in Northern Thailand that is strategically located between two major universities in Chiang Rai – Mae Fah Luang University and Rajabhat University where there are approximately 30,000 students between the two campuses. We are anticipating the need to purchase between 2-3 rai of land (2.5 rai = 1 acre) for this specific project and estimate the cost of land to be somewhere around $166,666 U.S. dollars. I am pleased to say that God has given us more than we asked of Him. I am reminded of the passage in Ephesians 3:20 that says, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.”

We are also pleased to say that God burdened the heart of a very sweet Thai lady that we met a little over a year ago and she “donated” a piece of land to us where we had every intention of building this multi-purpose facility but God has prevented us from building in this location where this land was “donated.” I must confess that we have only once before in our history of serving here in Thailand experienced what I would call clearly demonic opposition to God’s work. The past year has been filled with confirmation after confirmation that we are to move forward with building this Beach head for Jesus but the part that is still not clear is “where.” We are fully committed to seeing this vision from God take physical form but we do want to make sure it is in the location where God’s work can flourish and not be hindered. Without going into the details, let us just say it has been clear that this “donated” piece of property cannot be transferred to us and that we are now looking for another piece of property that will allow us to complete the work God has called us to do.

Please pray for us as we seek to follow the leadership of our Lord in finding and purchasing the piece of property God wants us to have. We also anticipate partnering with good friends from another mission agency (ABWE) to purchase additional connecting land for them to build a “sports complex/student Center” they will call the “CLAY CENTER (Changing Lives Among Youth) as a ministry outreach that will partner with our ministry and we will share our facilities and resources for the expansion of God’s kingdom in this part of God’s world.

PROJECT NEEDS – The first phase (PHASE 1) of this project is related to the purchase of land.

The second phase (PHASE 2) of this project is related to partnering with construction type teams from the U.S. and Australia and wherever God raises up partners to build a multi -purpose facility that will house Grace Language School, Baan Athitaan Church, NTIM/Channel of Blessing Foundation Office, and partner offices like Hearts & Hands Foundation. This will tremendously cut our overhead expenses and move us greatly down the path to more self sufficiency.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT– WE ARE SO THANKFUL FOR ALL THE GENEROUS DONATIONS THAT HAVE COME IN OVER THE PAST YEAR. If you have not given and would like to give, we are still taking donations because we will still have building expenses to think about. We are asking all of our friends and partners who have not given to this project to please pray about giving to this very strategic cause. We are requesting that all funding from the U.S.A. or other countries outside of Thailand for this specific project be routed through NTIM. All of your donations to NTIM are tax deductible. Checks can be made out to NTIM, P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 or you may donate online at www.gontim.org

Prayer Example: “Lord, we have been reminded today of how You are at work building Your church in Northern Thailand. We thank You for allowing us who have been praying to be a part of seeing young people give their heart to Jesus. We thank You for allowing us to see how You are using 1^st generation believers to reach and disciple other 1^st generation believers. We thank You for Grace Language School and how you are using them to reach out not only to Thai people but to Chinese people and Laotian people, and Burmese people and many others.  We do sense that it is Your time for them to establish a more permanent beach head and to say to the forces of darkness that God’s work through NTIM is there to stay. We ask that You would open the storehouses of heaven and provide NTIM with the needed resources in money and personnel to do all that You have put in their hearts to do. Please guide them as they seek for the piece of property that can best be utilized for Your purposes in that part of Your world. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.”