Jesus is Coming Again! God's Transforming Power among UPGS- Oct 22, 2022

One of the great joys that should shape the way we live our lives as genuine authentic followers of Jesus Christ is the truth that Jesus is coming again. The reality that one day - soon - Jesus will come again to this earth and will usher in the beginning of the countdown of the earth as we know it. The opportunity to share the gospel with some of the least reached people groups in our world today will end. It will cease. There will never be such a time as this again where we can join God in His great work of Redemption before He comes again. 

When Jesus comes again, He will usher the beginning of the end of the time when men, women, and children all over the world will no longer have a chance to believe in Jesus and become citizens of heaven. That day is coming my friends and as for me and my house, we want to be found being about our Father’s business and doing everything He has planned for us to do. Amen?

Even in the midst of millions who still have never heard the message, God is at work drawing people to himself and transforming their lives.

It is impossible to write into words the joy it brings to my heart, when God is pleased to allow one of our Thai leaders to be the one God has chosen to help lead a lost sheep back into the hands of our great Savior Jesus Christ. This year we have seen many people give their hearts to Jesus. Over the last 23 years we have lived in Thailand, we have seen hundreds of Thai people become what we call, a first-generation follower of Christ. Sometimes they are the first or second person in their entire family history to become a follower of Jesus Christ. Some of them representing some of the least reached people groups in our world today. Not only does it give me great joy that God has allowed us to be a part of what He is doing to expand His kingdom here in Northern Thailand, but it also gives me great joy to say to all of you who are partnering with us and supporting us through prayers, through finances, through encouraging messages from time to time, and through sending teams, that God is using you to make a difference in God’s kingdom in this part of God’s World.

Every prayer you offer for us is “a sweet aroma” to our Heavenly Father. And He listens to every prayer. Each donation you send through NTIM is a sacrifice of love for all those living in and around Norther Thailand. Your giving matters. It matters to God and it matters to us and it matters to the millions all over South-East Asia who still have not heard. Every message or email you send that is an encouraging word to us provides “additional strength” to us to keep serving the Lord with all of our heart. Thank you for your continued partnership with us that allows us to stay and serve here in this part of God’s unreached world.

Since it is true that Jesus is coming again, I want to first, plead with all of our Christian friends all over the world to not fail to pray for all of these least reached people groups mostly located in the heart of the 10-40 window who are filled with millions and millions of people who have never heard the message of our great Savior Jesus Christ.

Out of the 67 million people living in Thailand, 20 - 32 million of them (if you include the "Thai-Chinese" from Joshua Project into the group) are from this least reached people group called the Central Thai. The second largest unreached people group (UPG) in Thailand is the Isaan people group that make up about 18 million people. The third largest unreached people group (UPG) in Thailand is the Northern Thai (Muang) people group which have about 7 million people mostly living in Northern Thailand. So, please pray for the Unreached People groups of Thailand.

Today we also want to bring you up to date in a few areas of ministry so that you know better how to pray for us.

The second prayer request would be for some of our new followers of Jesus. Please pray for Fang, Nong In, Nong Pantawan, who have given their hearts to Jesus and were ready to follow the Lord in believer’s Baptism on September 25. There are others who have recently become followers of Christ but were not quite ready to be baptized. God seems to be moving in a very special way in Northern Thailand and in a special way at Baan Eden Children’s Home as well. Please pray for these new followers of Jesus by name. Here is the video from our baptism on September 25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2ZYV3IDWew&t=11s

Thirdly, please remember to pray for our full time Thai Leaders.

One of my roles here is to sense God’s direction for the ministry and provide vision and training to help equip our Thai leaders and others to do all that God wants us to do. We are very active in using English as an outreach into our community in various ways. We are all active in many, many other ways. 5 of our 6 staff have been serving God with us for many years and sometime last year we felt the leadership from the Lord to really made a more significant investment in giving these leaders more in-depth Bible training in the Central Thai language than we ever have done in the past.

Sometime last year, during the Covid season, I spoke with the president of our Thailand Baptist Seminary in Bangkok, Ajaan Chaiwat, about opening up the door for our staff to study “part-time” online and begin studying toward obtaining a Master of Divinity Degree from TBS and he agreed that this would be very good for our Thai leaders.

Since that time, our Staff are still working full-time but they are also taking 3 classes each week on-line as well. We do not want our staff to have to go into debt for this Bible training so we at NTIM believe providing scholarships for them is something God wants us to do to invest into our Thai leaders for the future direction of God’s work through NTIM, GLS, CBF, and Baan Athitaan Church.

If you would like to be a part of financially supporting our Thai staff’s theological education, we would welcome any donations that you would like to make which can be sent through NTIM. Please also remember to pray for each of them. We have 6 full time Thai leaders. Two are from the Khon Mueang unreached people group. Two are from the Akha people group. One is Hmong and the other is Lahu. They are all Thai citizens but from very different language and cultural backgrounds. The names from left to right and top to bottom are: Ja, Jay, Ball, Boom, Bee, and Pat. Please remember to pray for these leaders and for the ministries they are involved in as well as their respective people groups. 

Speaking of our Thai partners, we believe in the concept of working hard and playing hard. Our Thai leaders are what I call “all in.” They work very hard and with all their heart. They “pull their weight.” But there are times when it is important to take a day or two and go have some fun together or take a small retreat together. So, on August 24^th we took a day and “played hard.” We got up early morning and met at the church at 7:00 and drove over together to the motorcycle rental shop and each of us rented a motorcycle and then we drove, and drove, and drove stopping at this place and that place and we just had a great time together. Boom then put a short video of our time together “playing hard.” Here is the short video clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKgFQB67PYY

Our Thai leaders are all growing and we are very deliberate and intentional about building up Thai leadership. Yes, I am a Westerner and still have a significant role to play in God’s world here and there are still great needs for Western Missionaries to come and help, especially in countries like Thailand where less than ½ of 1% are followers of Jesus Christ. However, we must be intentional about building up local national leaders where ever we go. Both Jay and Ball are growing and learning how to preach a sermon and just wanted to give you a chance to be encouraged by Ball as he preached and be encouraged by Kim as she translated several weeks ago on October 2 when we were studying one of the “I am” statements of Jesus where Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.” I hope you will take 35 minutes and be encouraged by Ball and Kim. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yUOxrw5PVQ

We also want to tell you what a joy it is to have this new building that God has given to us through your faithful and generous donations. We are 95% through the building phase and it looks very clearly like we will have some funds left over from the building project. This building is so nice and so practical. Praise God for His goodness and thank you for your kindness in giving.

We thought you would want to see our Building Dedication that we had on July 3^rd. We were blessed to have a special singing group called the “Worship Room” that our daughter Liz worked with to sing during our dedication. It was also a great blessing to have a special song from Baan Eden Children’s Home to sing during our dedication. We were blessed to have Doug Piper and his family with us for the ribbon cutting ceremony. They are from a great partner church called Crosspoint Church in Mississippi where Pastor Israel Cox serves as Pastor. Here is the full length video of the ceremony if you would like to watch it. It is only about 33 minutes long but a very significant time for us.

There are three more prayer requests that we want to ask you to pray about.

The first prayer request is for our upcoming Thanksgiving Celebration where we are putting on a “Worship Night” or “mini concert where we will have a night of giving thanks to our Lord in our New building. Please pray for us that God would bless our “Worship Night of Giving Thanks.” Here is a poster that we just put together. Following the poster is a short 2-minute video clip link

2-minute video clip link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPH-DTwWKJw

The second prayer request is for our upcoming Christmas Outreach events.

Now that Covid is behind us, we can now do the Christmas outreaches that we love doing at Christmas time and it looks like we will be having at least one partner church from FBC Florence, MS coming during this time and possibly another church. Please pray for us as begin to put our plans together for this wonderful season of reaching out into our communities with the Gospel. We are asking the Lord for about $4,000-$5,000 additional resources for our outreaches.

The third prayer request is for 2 or 3 additional missionaries who are willing to come and serve in our platform as English Teachers and serve the Lord in a variety of ways. God has been using Grace Language School (GLS) for a very long time but we are in need of some new folks to come and serve with us. These folks need first and foremost to be growing in their walk with Christ but secondly need to have at least a B.A. degree in any field and thirdly need to be folks who see the value of working in an educational type platform of teaching English to provide an opportunity to build the kinds of relationship with lost people that lead down to the path of evangelism and discipleship. God is moving and we are in need of a couple of God’s servants to come and help. Please pray for God to send workers into His fields that are white and ready for harvest.

Grateful and Happy to be Serving Our Awesome God in Northern Thailand for such a time as this. Until all of those in and around Northern Thailand have a chance to hear the good news.

From the Team in Northern Thailand, Michael Johnson

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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, unreached people groups (UPGs) are all around us, and the love and message of Jesus is needed to transform lives.  

You can send donations to support God’s work to NTIM. All donations made are tax deductible and can be made either online at www.gontim.org or mailed to NTIM, P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL  35260

If you would like to get on our email update listing, please send me an email at pray4ntim@gmail.com