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 and Baan Athitaan Church takes special effort and care
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 begins tomorrow November 9. We will tell you
about that in just a moment.
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 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:
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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. 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 9 - University Students 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 will
have a chance to bless them in a special way this year. We will be working
with the Christian Club at MFLU as well as with various churches to reach out
to the university students at MFLU on November 9. Please pray for a special
touch from God on this very important outreach to university students. There
will be skits, dramas, music, Baan Athitaan Church Choir, a time to share the
message of Christmas, and several church booths. We want to be used of God to
bring people closer to God and lead some even to the throne of Grace during
this outreach. Please pray for us.
November 25-28 – Youth Camp (“Love Seeds
3”) and Christmas Outreach to AKHA Village
We are blessed to have an awesome Youth Ministry that seeks to reach out
to others and seeks to reach out into the community. Please pray specifically
for Boom and Bee as they have been putting the most effort into planning and
preparing for this camp. It will be a camp for 7th – 12th
graders with a specific service project of decorating the church building for
the Christmas season as well as having a specific evangelistic Christmas
outreach into an Akha village where both Boom and Bee grew up in. Please pray
for both the campers as well as for the outreach into this Akha Village and
all the children, teenagers, and adults who will be hearing about Christmas
for the first time ever. Please remember to pray for family members from both
Boom’s family and Bee’s family who will be at the Christmas Outreach event.
December 4 – 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 (Ja, Phet, Jay, Boom, Ball, and
Bee) and for Michael as they spend some time away celebrating Christmas
together probably somewhere in the mountains for a few hours.
December 7 – 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. On Friday night, once a month,
GLS hosts a coffee house for our students and friends in the community. We
normally pick a theme that is both fun, informational, and has significant
meaning. We are so thankful to have Alexa and several other partners from
Canada (from Crave International) that help us in our outreaches. Alexa is in
charge of our “Coffee houses” this year. Dec 7 the theme is “CHRISTMAS.” 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
December 8 – Children’s ESL Christmas
Outreach
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 about 40 children grades 1-6
every Saturday morning and we had an awesome time helping these precious ones
celebrate Christmas. Pray that God would draw these little hearts to
Him.
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 in 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 – 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 14 – Soccer Ministry Christmas
Program & Arrival Of Volunteers from Crosspoint Church in Gulfport, MS – We are very happy for the partner churches that God has bonded our
hearts with and that are committed to helping us reach the various UPGS here
in Northern Thailand. Please pray for this team from Mississippi that will be
with us for about a week helping us as we seek to reach the nations for
Jesus. One of the first Christmas event that Crosspoint will help us with is
our Soccer Ministry Christmas Program. Pii Jay, Pii Ball, and Pii Glen lead
our Soccer Outreach Ministry. Our main target are men who are university
students at Rajabhat University. We rent a couple of fields every Sunday
night and we normally have somewhere around 20 to 30 guys and it is a very
natural way to build relationships and share the message of Christ. But this
night – Dec. 14 – will also be a very intentional time to share the message
of Christ with these young men. Thank you Crosspoint for your love and
support especially for this ministry. We look forward to serving the Lord
together while you are here.
December 15 - Baan Athitaan Church's Main Christmas Evangelistic Program In my 19 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 “the warmth and hope of Christmas.” We want to be used of God to bring people to the throne of Grace tonight. Please pray for us.
December 16 – Wiangchai Village Christmas Celebration – Muang UPG Village
December 18 – English Fun Day in MaeJai
School – Muang UPG
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. Today we will be going into a school about 1 hour south of 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 today.
December 19 – English Fun Day in Buddhist
Temple School – Muang UPG
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. Today we will be going into a Buddhist Temple school where there are
hundreds of young boys studying and preparing for the role of being a monk.
It is a unique opportunity that God has given us to be salt and light and to
help these young boys grow in their English skills while learning about the
most important story ever told to man. Most of these boys are from the Muang
UPG. Pray for the hundreds of students that we will be around today.
December 22 – HIV/AIDS Christmas Outreach - There are 30 young children and their families that are HIV
infected that we try to minister to in a special way. The hospital that we
work with has asked us again this year to host a Christmas celebration for
them at the hospital. We are expecting to share the love and message of Jesus
with over 100 people who are either infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Please
pray that many would open their hearts to Jesus this year.
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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.
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3) Please Help By Telling Others Of This
Opportunity To Help.
Many want to give in a special way at Christmas to a special 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.
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 family and the NTIM 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
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What is NTIM?
Northern Thailand Impact Ministry
(NTIM), a non-profit charitable organization with 501(C)(3) in the USA, is
committed to connecting people in need with people who care. We are committed
to being salt and light 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 are needed to transform lives.
There are 7 key things that NTIM
Does: 1) build bridges to the lost through teaching English, 2) sending
“laborers” into the heart of the 10-40 window, 3) reaching the unreached
people groups, 4) making disciples by training up nationals, 5) facilitating
in church planting, 6) providing humanitarian aid, and 7) mobilizing
volunteers around the world to join God in reaching the unreached in and
around Northern Thailand.
We believe in this generation and in
their capacity to respond to the challenges that cripple hope and dignity for
people. On our own, we each can make a difference in the world, but
collectively as a team, we are a force for good that exponentially surpasses
what we can do alone.
Will you join God and work together
with us to make a difference among some of the least reached people in our
world today? You can make a difference by sending your donations to NTIM,
P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA or by giving online
at www.gontim.org or by contacting our NTIM VP and Director of Field
Operations at pray4ntim@gmail.com
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