Joining God
in His Great Work of Reaching and Discipling Thai People – Oct 03, 2017
As you hear me say quite often, I genuinely love Thai people and especially Thai young people. Yes, I love Thai children and older Thai people as well but I am
wired to connect with Thai young people, both high schoolers and university
students. God has allowed me and our family to be a part of His work of seeing
hundreds of young Thai people give their hearts to Jesus and most of them are truly
first generation followers of Jesus, meaning they are the first or second
person in their entire family to choose to follow Jesus as their Savior and
Lord. Let me tell you a little about what has been going on.
“Love Seeds Youth Camp-Sept 1-3, 2017”
As I write this update, I am reflecting on the
leadership development of our university students and our Thai Staff. They
organized and basically ran an awesome youth camp a couple of weeks ago we
called “Love Seeds 2” as a part of our ministry discipleship and outreach of
Baan Athitaan Church.
Our Thai staff and our Thai church family at Baan
Athitaan Church reflect the reality that God almighty is at work in amazing
ways drawing people to Himself from some of the least reached people groups on
the face of the planet. Our church represents over 23 different people groups,
some of which are the some of the least reached in the entire world today. Our
church also has several “missionary” families that are committed to reaching
the Thai people as well.
We are thankful to God to be able to serve and
provide a church home to every person in our community. We are also thankful for
the opportunity to serve as a church home for several Christian children’s
homes that were a part of this awesome Youth Camp. We are thankful for the
opportunity the leadership at these children’s homes gives us as a church
family to pour into and to disciple these young people. A special thank you to CFPM,
Baan Eden, Happy Home, and Baan Zion for letting us be a part of your Spiritual
life and family. Please pray for all who attended our youth camp as we taught
them the importance of “Being Brave and Courageous” to live out their lives for
Jesus and to be the salt and light of Jesus when they are with family, with
friends, with neighbors, and at school. Here is a link to a short video clip from the camp.
Facilitating a Possible New Church Plant and Prayer
for Healing from Truck Accident on August 26, 2017.
We believe that God has put it in on our hearts to
begin plowing the ground for the beginnings of a new church plant in the province of Phayao which is just South
of Chiang Rai. It is a province that does not have
even one “Baptist” church in the whole province of over 500,000 people yet it
has a very rapidly growing university student population at the University of
Phayao. This year there are a few of the young ladies from our church that are
a part of Baan Eden that have recently started their freshman year there so
several of our Thai Staff went down to the University of Phayao to visit and
follow up with these young ladies Saturday Aug 26th. As they were headed back
to Chiang Rai in the middle of the afternoon, the truck left the road and went
into the median and missed hitting a couple of trees and came to an abrupt stop
after hitting the embankment.
Boom, who was driving at the time, walked away with
no injuries but pretty shaken up. Pii Phet, who was sitting in the front as
well, was pretty shaken up and was in the hospital for several days and
received a fractured neck but is now recovering well. Nong Bee, who recently
came on staff got the biggest brunt of the accident and actually received a
fractured neck and several cuts although she has been out of the hospital over
a week, she was still wearing a neck brace up until last week and needs your
prayers for healing. Please join us in praying for God’s continued healing for
these precious partners of ours as well as our vehicle situation. The truck is
now at the garage and they are evaluating how much the cost of repairs will be.
Here is what our truck looks like.
“Celebrating Land Provision” -
Please bear with me and let me “tell the story” especially for those of
you who are new to our work and have not heard about our vision for the days
ahead. I am “wordy” but I like to paint the picture with words.
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. God is
giving us great access through our English language platform to some of the
least reached peoples in all of Asia and your donations and partnership with us
are truly making an impact for the Kingdom of God.
Many of you have been praying about our land situation and we announced
the good news that on June 20, 2016, we signed a contract to
purchase a piece of land that we believe is right for us. We made a deposit on
the land and the owner started the process of getting all the paperwork in
order to transfer ownership to our foundation so that we can complete Phase I
of our Beach Head Vision. Then we entered into a time of “WAITING.” Not just sitting by and
waiting, but very actively following up and doing all that we were asked to do.
Then on July 26, 2017, one year and one month and six days after we signed our
contract to buy, I am pleased to announce that PHASE 1 of Project “Lighting up
the Darkness” is officially complete.
God provided us with enough money through your generous donations to
purchase an appropriate piece of land in very close proximity of the University
of Rajabhat. I am very happy to announce that this land is now officially owned
by NTIM’s sister foundation in Thailand called Channel of Blessing Foundation. YEA!!!
GOD IS GOOD!!!! GOD IS GREAT!!! THERE IS NOONE LIKE OUR GOD!!!!! I am reminded
of Psalm 86:10-12 that says, “For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God. Teach me Your way, O
LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give
thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name
forever.…" Psalm 86:10-12
I want to take a moment and thank all of you who gave to NTIM so that we
could purchase this land without any debt. I also want to say thank you to all
who prayed for us! Thank you. Thank you for joining God in what He is doing
here in Northern Thailand. Phase 1 of this project is officially completed with the transfer of
ownership of the land into the name of our foundation. Now begins Phase 2.
Phase two is the planning for the building, raising support for the cost of
construction, coordinating volunteers to come and help with the construction,
and beginning construction. There are many things that will need to be decided
soon.
What started out with a small group of 8 believers in the Johnson home
implementing a “dream” and “vision” of an English language school as a platform
to bless the community and to facilitate the planting of a strong purpose
driven community church some 16 years ago, has blossomed into a growing,
thriving, community focused church called Baan Athitaan Church. Our church
today is made up of people from over 23 identifiable people groups and involved
in outreach/evangelistic ministries related to teaching English through Grace
Language School (GLS), reaching out to university students, caring for those
affected by HIV/AIDS, caring and ministering to various children’s homes,
reaching out to the community and neighboring countries, reaching out through a
growing soccer ministry, serving as a first responder church to natural
disasters, and most importantly, making disciples of all the peoples and
nations God brings across our path.
NEED FOR MORE
PERMANENCY AND LOWER OVERHEAD COSTS
We have been very intentional these past 16 years after we finished
language school in Bangkok and moved up North to Chiang Rai to focus upon
evangelism, discipleship and building the people of God into a family. This is
our first time to purchase a piece of property and begin the process of putting
up a physical structure of our own. We have spent the last 16 years investing
our people and resources into making disciples, building a flock and creating
various outreach platforms and ministries to impact this part of God’s world
for Jesus. As I have shared with you before, 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 that will strengthen the integrity of our outreach
platforms.
All of you who know me well know that I am committed to doing what God
wants to be done and will do it with all of my strength. I am very careful to
be a good steward of the finances that you have entrusted to us to manage.
We are grateful to God for allowing us to join Him in making disciples
here in Northern Thailand these last 18 years, but we are also at a time where
we must not falter and must move toward advancing the kingdom of God in
Thailand. We cannot do that without you (through your prayers, your donations,
and your volunteer trips) and we cannot do that without the blessing and
leadership of God. This work has never been about us but has always been about
joining God in His desire to reach some of the least reached people groups in
the world and make disciples from these people groups to advance the Kingdom of
God on earth.
Please pray for us as we seek to follow the leadership of our Lord in
moving this process toward what we believe is God’s Beachhead Vision for NTIM’s
future through beginning of Phase 2 –the process of raising money for
construction and planning volunteer construction teams coming to help us build.
Our architect estimates that it will cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of
$300,000 dollars to build our multi-purpose facility and we are now open to
receiving donations for this last and final Phase II of the project.
KING OF THAILAND
I love
Thailand and I have the greatest respect for the Great King Bhumibol whom I had the privilege of living here in Thailand during His reign and
even had the opportunity to join Him on Father's Day at the King's Palace as he
gave his speech to the nation shortly after coming to Thailand on December 5,
1999.
October 2017 is a month of “mourning,” here in Thailand. One year ago,
on October 13, 2016, King Bhumibol - The Great, passed away. He had served the
Thai people for more than 70 years. He was the longest reigning King in
modern history and in my opinion one of the very few truly servant leaders of a
nation.He humbly served the people of Thailand by striving to better the lives
of ALL of the Thai people, no matter their perceived place in society.
He created
countless ‘Royal’ projects, ranging from infrastructure improvements, to
agricultural, to manufacturing, that have impacted every aspect of daily life
in Thailand. His legacy and impact will live on in the lives and hearts of Thai
people and in the lives and hearts of those of us who may have Western roots
but who have come to deeply love and respect this great kingdom we call
Thailand. At the end of October, Thailand will hold ceremonies for the funeral
and cremation for King Bhumibol - The Great.
Please take
this opportunity this month to pray for the Thai people as they say good bye to
their beloved King and bring closure to a very important chapter in their
lives. May their experience of living under such a humble and benevolent man
provide an opportunity for them to come to know the ultimate King of Heaven,
Jesus Christ.
Your Servants to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand,
Michael for the team
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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, darkness is everywhere, and the love and message of Jesus is
needed to transform lives.
Reaching, Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving
People in God’s World through acts of love and compassionate is what NTIM and
our ministry team is all about.
