CRITICAL PRAYER FOR THE FUTURE OF NORTHERN THAILAND – Update on “TRAINING” & “GLS” – February 04, 2017

As I begin to write these words it is Saturday afternoon here in the beautiful Northern Part of Thailand in the heart of the South East Asia where God is doing some amazing things. Today we simply want to ask you bow your heart and intercede for the future of God’s Work here in Northern Thailand in two specific areas: 1) TRAINING/DISCIPLESHIP OF 1^st GENERATION BELIEVERS and 2) BUILDING BRIDGES THROUGH TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH GRACE LANGUAGE SCHOOL.

1) TRAINING/DISCIPLESHIP OF 1^st GENERATION BELIEVERS

The first area we would like to update you in and ask for your prayers has to do with our desire to equip Thai Nationals who serve alongside us who are from various unreached people groups with “college/seminary level” courses on various subjects with the goal of helping them be better equipped to “make disciples” as they mentor and invest their lives into people here from some of the least reached people groups in the world. We believe that God seeks to use us at NTIM as facilitators to model, train, equip, and empower Thai nationals to be on mission with God. As part of that, we have established a “PARTNERSHIP” between NTIM and Mississippi Baptist Convention to send folks from Mississippi to teach these “college/seminary level” courses to our staff and a few selected people who serve as Christian leaders here.

Our first step of this “Training” has recently taken place. Mississippi Baptist Convention sent us a wonderful couple out of Jackson, MS named Doug and Jackie Gunn. Doug is a practicing attorney who is also going to Seminary and who wanted to be a part of this PARTNERSHIP. We are so very glad that they came. 

The course that Doug taught was “Hermeneutics,” which stated basically is the study of how to understand and interpret the Bible as it was intended to be understood and then to learn how to apply it to everyday life. Each of our Thai Nationals, who are each genuine 1^st Generation followers of Jesus being either the first person or second person in their entire family to become followers of Jesus, were involved in the teaching as well as another Thai Adult teacher who happens. Each of these 5 Thai Nationals are not only 1^st Generation believers but they are also each from a very different unreached people group. One person is a 1^st generation believer from the Muang or Northern Thai UPG. One person is a 1^st generation believer from the Mien or Yao UPG. One person is a 1^st generation believer from the Hmong UPG. One person is a 1^st generation believer from the Akha UPG. And one person is a 1^st generation believer from the Central Thai UPG. I did most of the translation from English to Thai since there were a lot of “technical” terms like “hermeneutics” and “exegesis” that our Thai folks who all have great English skills but are unfamiliar with certain technical terms. Dallas, my son in law that has joined our NTIM team was also able to sit in through this training as well.

We share all this to give you an opportunity to see that God is building up a new generation of followers of Jesus from many different unreached people groups and we want you to not only know what God is doing but want to invite you to join God in that work first and foremost through prayer but also through advocacy (telling others what God is doing), through giving to NTIM (which allows us as an NTIM Team to do what we do and helps support many of our outreach ministries) and through coming on a mission trip to help us. Please do not forget to pray for God’s Work in this part of God’s World. We need your prayers and your partnership for the expansion of God’s kingdom on His earth.

2) BUILDING BRIDGES THROUGH TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH GRACE LANGUAGE SCHOOL

The second area we would like to update you in and ask for your prayers has to do with our primary platform of reaching into the community and especially the 30,000 university students that live within a 10 kilometer radius of our “rented” facility. This next week we begin receiving applications to study at Grace Language School. Next week is our registration week and then the following week beginning Feb 13, we begin teaching a new term which will last basically 2 months. We will have 21 hours of “class time” with each of the students that study with us and our goal is twofold:  1) to help them make improvements in their ability to listen, to read, to write, and to speak English but 2) the second goal is to provide us as Christian teachers of English an opportunity to build the quality kind of relationships with our students that will lead to “conversations” and “testimonies” outside of the classroom that will help people make a step closer to following Jesus as their lord and Savior. 

Over the last 18 years of living in Thailand and especially since we moved to Northern Thailand some 16 years ago, we have seen literally hundreds and hundreds of people from this part of God’s world give their hearts to Jesus and many of them become the first person in their entire family to be a follower of Jesus. One of the significant touch points God has used over the years has been “Teaching English.” This is not a “front” to teach the Bible, no, we genuinely teach English with integrity. We saw God use “teaching English” through the Lighthouse Language Center that we helped establish while we were serving with the IMB.  We have also seen it on an even greater scale through Grace Language School which we helped establish while serving with NTIM. Many of you reading this update have been here and have personally helped move God’s work forward and we say thank you. Here are a few recent pictures of our classes. 

But we believe that we are just barely scratching the surface of impacting this part of God’s world for Jesus. We need your help to expand the kingdom of God for the glory of God. Will you join us as we join God in what He is doing now and what He wants to do in the future?

We need your prayers. We need your advocacy. We need your gifts and donations. We need you to come and help us. We need to fill the earth with the glory of God and insure that disciples are made of every unreached people group. I am convinced that we will be blessed in knowing that one day around the throne of God there will be people from many tribes and nations and unreached people groups that will be there because we choose to join God in His great work of redemption. 

Prayer Example: “Lord, we have been reminded today of some of the ways You are at work building Your kingdom in Northern Thailand. We thank You for calling the Johnsons to Thailand many years ago and we celebrate with them their 18 years of serving You there. We thank You for allowing us as partners in ministry to be a part of seeing many young people from various unreached people groups give their hearts 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 the partnership You have allowed to happen between NTIM and the Mississippi Baptist Convention and thank you for people like Doug and Jackie Gunn for going to help equip these Thai nationals in how to better understand and apply Your Word. We pray that you would continue to lead this partnership as they think and plan for future courses. We thank You for Grace Language School and how you are using them to reach out not only to various Thai peoples but to Chinese peoples and Laotian peoples, and Burmese peoples and many others. We ask that You would send them many new people to study English and help those students be open and willing to build a relationship with these teachers that leads to the progress of the gospel and discipleship. Thank You for letting us be a part of Your great work of redemption in Northern Thailand. We pray this in Jesus name and for the sake of the expansion of His kingdom. Amen.”

P.S. We started a new sermon series that we believe will be a blessing to your life as well and wanted to make you aware of it and ask that you listen and get a feel for one aspect of “church life” at Baan Athitaan Church. Here is the link to our first sermon on the study of the fruit of the Spirit…. 

Your Servants to the Nations in and Around Northern Thailand,

Michael for the Team

Donations can be sent to:
Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM),

P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA
or given online at our main website:
www.gontim.org 

NTIM is a non-profit 501(c)(3)charitable organization based in the USA. We are committed to connecting people in need with people who care and are focused in the heart of Southeast Asia where poverty is high, education is low, needs are great, 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 in the heart of Southeast Asia through acts of love and compassionate is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.

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