5 CHRISTMAS OUTREACH PRAYER REQUESTS FOR NORTHERN THAILAND -An NTIM Field Update – Update December 14, 2024

Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,

This is more of an Urgent Prayer Request for several of our Christmas Evangelism Outreach events here in the heart of what we call “lostness” where God is moving and reaching down into the lives of people who have never even had one person in their family become a follower of Jesus.

Yet, God has strategically placed us here among some of the least reached people groups in our world today to bring the light of Jesus. Here are 5 Prayer Requests with a little background we are asking you to pray about as we have entered this Christmas Season.

1) PRAY FOR ALL THE YOUNG PEOPLE THAT CAME TO OUR ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY last night that they might grow as lights in the darkness.

As I shared on my Facebook page this morning, last night was a wonderful Christmas atmosphere as we celebrated Christmas as our Annual Youth Christmas Party for jr. high, senior high school, and university students with games and activities, gift exchange, short message about Christmas, and some awesome food. It made the heart of this Pastor very happy to celebrate with these incredible young people. God is truly changing lives in Northern Thailand at Baan Athitaan Church and we are very intentional about "making disciples."

Here is a link to all of our pictures on Facebook for this event. If you have Facebook, please click the link @ 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=BaanathitaanChurch&set=a.1032849212188043

For those who do not have Facebook, here are just a few pics from that event.

2) PRAY FOR GOD TO CONTINUE TO DRAW “The Little Children” and their families to Jesus.

We teach English to almost 70 kids in elementary school, grades 1-6 every Saturday morning. It is one of the ways that we intentionally reach out into the community and bless these children and their families. We have seen many come to Jesus through this outreach. Please pray these kids and their families. Some of them are from homes where there has never even been 1 follower of Jesus in their whole family heritage but God is at work. Here is a practice performance they did just this morning in preparation to our major Christmas Christmas outreach tomorrow. These children will perform this song as part of our program. Here is the video clip from the practice this morning.

https://youtu.be/Fc6n-4UiWP0

3) PRAY FOR OUR LARGEST CHRISTMAS OUTREACH OF THE YEAR TOMORROW NIGHT.  Over the 25 years we have lived in Thailand, the Christmas season seem to be the most fruitful time for us to share the message of our Lord Jesus. Please pray for Pasor Israel from a partner church in the USA as he shares a brief message about Jesus and as our program and everything we do tomorrow night will point to honoring our one true Creator God who chose to come live among us as “Emmanuel - God with us.”

4) PRAY FOR OUR TWO AWESOME VOLUNTEER TEAMS FROM THE USA that are here with us helping with our outreach into Northern Thailand. Please pray for God’s blessing on the team from Crosspoint Church from Gulfport, MS and for the team from FBC Florence, MS. These two churches help us in many ways as we reach out to the lost here in Northern Thailand.

5) PRAY FOR BAAN EDEN AND THEIR OUTREACH TO THEIR NEIGHBORS Tonight even as I write this. All of our Staff from NTIM and Baan Athitaan Church and all of our Volunteers from both visiting churches and many others have gone over to help with this outreach of this children’s home. Pray that their neighbors will open their hearts to the message of the Gospel and begin to understand the meaning of “Emmanuel - God with us.” The greatest story ever told.

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 also 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 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 and wanted to bring these 4 prayer requests to your attention and ask that you spend a little time seeking God over these prayer requests on our behalf.

Your Servants to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand for Jesus sake,

Michael for the 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

-----------------------------------------------------------

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. 

All donations made to God’s work through NTIM 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 

 

Reaching Northern Thailand as the salt and light of Jesus - A NTIM Field Update - Update Dec 03, 2024

REACHING NORTHERN THAILAND as the salt and light of Jesus -An NTIM Field Update – Update December 03, 2024

Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,

As I begin writing this update, I am sitting at my desk in Northern Thailand, drinking a cup of coffee, sitting in our new building, and reflecting and thinking about the goodness of God and what God might want me to share with you today.

Since you have not heard from us in quite a while, let me just take a few moments and walk you through certain things that are going on that will help you know how to pray for us.

Let me begin by saying that even though our world may seem to be falling apart, God’s work of redemption, reconciliation and restoration is continuing to flourish here in Northern Thailand. Here are a few things that we see God doing in this part of His world.

* GOD IS AT WORK BUILDING HIS CHURCH

Baan Athitaan Church (House of Prayer Church) started in October of 2001. Which means that God has been building this local church in the heart of lostness for a little over 23 years now. Our first service started as a house church in our home shortly after we had moved from Bangkok to Chiangrai. The first Sunday consisted of 8 people, my family of 6, and two other teachers who had joined us for this new school/church planting effort. Since that day some 23 years ago with 8 people, God has allowed us to join Him in reaching into the families of people from many different unreached people groups who have never, ever had a person in their entire family heritage to become a follower of Jesus, yet…. God has been working. As I reflect on the last 23 years of life in Northern Thailand, God has allowed us to be a part of seeing dozens and dozens of people become the 1^st person in their family to become a follower of Jesus. God then radically transforms their lives and they begin to lead their friends and family to Christ and others come and join us in this great word God is doing to build His church and what a joy it has been to God continually lead to grown both in quality of Christlikeness in a very broken world, but not only have we grown in quality, but God has continually led us to grown in quantity and we are yet again at one of those growth stages having had as much as 268 people in our worship service just a couple of Sundays ago. At last count, we have over 23 different language groups represented in our church flock. It is truly a taste of what heaven will be like.

As we grow, we are intentionally trying to put in new things that will help us build up God’s people and prepare them for the future. Here is a short video clip of our “children’s church” group from just a couple of Sundays ago as we celebrated Thanksgiving.

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

Many of the people we see come to Christ are the first person in their entire family to become an authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Please keep us in your prayers as we sense a great move of God during this time and as we begin to approach the Christmas season where Thai people seem to be very open to hearing the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

* GOD IS USING TEACHING ENGLISH CLASSES THROUGH GRACE LANGUAGE SCHOOL TO BUILD BRIDGES TO THE HEART

As many of you know, one of our most effective outreaches into the community here in Northern Thailand is through the avenue of teaching English through a genuine English language school platform called Grace Language School (GLS). It is also our legal platform where we can get a teaching visas and work permits and work as English teachers who are “ON MISSION.”

GLS was originally designed to target junior high, senior high, and university age students but we also have a number adults that also study with us a couple of evenings each week. There are also a few children’s homes that are a part of our church family that we bless in a special way by giving them scholarships to study at GLS. Over the 20+ years of teaching English, we have seen hundreds of people begin their journey of become genuine authentic followers of Christ by studying English at GLS and what was formerly known as the Lighthouse Language Center. Pray for us as we are always in need of good Native English Teachers who want to build relationships with Thai students for spiritual purposes. Please remember to pray for our current teachers by name: Hope, Michael, Becky, Dallas, Liz, Daniel, Vinnie, Jay, & Ball (and pray for God to send us a few more teachers).

*GOD HAS GIVEN US AN AWESOME ESL OUTREACH FOR CHILDREN ON SATURDAYS

Several years ago we saw the need to open up an ELS outreach to children grades 1-6 in our community. This has been a great way for our church – Baan Athitaan Church – and our school – Grace Language School – to work together in reaching the precious Thai children. This is also a time where we get to train and equip some of our university students in teaching as well. Please pray for us as we continue to grow. We are running about 70 children every Saturday. Please pray for all of those involved in the Children’s ESL Outreach program on Saturdays.

GOD IS USING VOLUNTEERS FROM USA - TEAM FROM SHADES MOUNTAIN BAPTIST CHURCH from Birmingham, AL.

We love 0ur home church of Shades Mountain Baptist Church. They support us though prayer, through giving throuh NTIM, through sending “care packages” to Hope and me several times each year, and by sending volunteer teams to assist in God’s Work on the field. We were blessed to recently have 4 of my very good friends, Tom Boston, Richie Bruce, Donald Wood, and Steve Foster come and spend some time with us and host 3 significant “Seminars” on “Managing Money God’s Way,” incorporating stewardship/leadership and principles in Scripture.

The seminars were done in English and one of my awesome Thai Staff named Ball did all of the translation for this project including both the live seminars as well as all of the booklets and handouts. We were able to do one Seminar here in Chiangrai province, one in Nan province, and the final one in Lampang province which is about a 3 hour drive from Chiangrai. We are so thankful for Tom, Richie, Donald, and Steve for making this trip,  for putting together some very helpful material that was thoroughly Biblical and practical.

Here is a picture of the team praying and having a meal with my awesome Thai staff at a local Japanese restaurant.

 

*GOD IS EQUIPPING THE NEXT GENERATION – Theological Education Through a Parnership with Thailand Baptist Theological Seminary (TBTS) in Bangkok using Our new Building As A Host Extension Center in Northern Thailand

We believe in joining God in equipping Thai leaders and helping them to grow in their ability to lead. Over the last 10 years, we have been very intentional about inviting guest speakers who are very capable Bible teachers to come for a week or two weeks and dedicate that time to equipping our full-time staff with both Biblical knowledge and skills to interpret the Bible as well as equipping our full-time staff with other leadership skill like “time management,” “team building,” and many other topics. But God has opened up a door for us to be a host Extension Center for because of the COVID problems we have not been able to have any volunteers come from out of country and God opened up a door for Theological Education. What a great blessing this has been and we would ask that you specifically pray for Ja, Jay, and Ball as they are studying in this extension center while working full time. Also remember to pray for Pat as she taking two Seminary courses on line this term. Please pray for them and for their growth as a new generation of church leaders.

* OTHER AREAS OF PRAYER WE WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU

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, Grace Language School, and Baan Athitaan Church make intentional efforts to care to reach out 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.

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 also 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:

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 and “love on” the people He wants us to “love on” especially during this Christmas season.

2) Please Help by GIVING - 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.

3) Please Help By Asking Others To Pray.  

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 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

-----------------------------------------------------------

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 

FLOODING DISASTER UPDATE IN THAILAND - September 14, 2024

 Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,

Thank you for your prayers over the last three weeks. Many things that we never imagined would ever happened here in this city of Chiangrai, have already happened and many hundreds of thousands of people in this part of God’s world have experienced a tremendous flood disaster that seems to now have reached it’s tipping point.  

As I shared in my last update on August 22, Thailand is in the heart of South East Asia and has been our home for over 25 years now. It is one of those countries that is absolutely beautiful from one end of the country to the other end of the country. We start with the beautiful beaches in the South and move all the way up to the breathtaking views on the mountains in the far Northern part of Thailand where we live.

But what is important for you to know today, is that all of this country is part of what we call the “tropics.” The tropics have what we call a “rainy season” where it rains for long periods of time. 

We are in one of those rainy seasons and it has been raining almost every day for the last two months and sometimes it rains for hours on end. When that happens, we have both “flash flooding” and “major flooding.”

The waters seem to be receding and we are now in the phase where hundreds of homes have been washed away, thousands of homes have been invaded by flood waters, and who knows how much damage has been done.

NTIM has always tried to be one of those “first responders” to natural disasters when they occur having helped with earthquakes, hail storms, wind storms, flooding and many other types of emergencies. It has also been good to work with Baan Eden this year as they have coordinated efforts to make food packs for distribution and many from our church have helped them in these efforts as well.

At 6:30 this morning, one of my staff and I were at Macro beginning to purchase extra supplies to pack and distribute to those in need. Shortly after that, about a dozen of our church folks met together at Baan Athitaan Church to begin another round of packing supplies and getting ready to begin some of the cleaning efforts and go out to some of the houses that were damaged the most and begin to get the dirt and muck out of their houses.

Here are a few of the pictures from this mornings cleaning efforts where we were able to break out into two teams and clean 3 houses.

I am confident that none of these homes that have been flood affected have any kind of “flood insurance” and all of this damage will be “out of pocket.” We cannot help everyone, but we can help some. We would love for you to pray about helping us by giving to NTIM during this Emergency Crisis so what we can provide some assistance to those who have been affected in our realm of influence and in the name of our Savior. 

These are times when “acts of kindness” can go a very long way in breaking down resistance to the gospel of Christ as we do things that reflect the love and compassion of Christ in ways that reach the heart.

Would you first pray for God’s mercy for all those who have been affected in this natural disaster. Secondly, we would you to consider sending a donation to NTIM, either in the form of a check to our Birmingham, AL address or give on line at our website at www.gontim.org and look for the “donate” button.

May God bless each of you for your prayers and your gifts given in the name of our great Savior Jesus Christ.

Until all the people living in and around Northern Thailand have a chance to become followers of the One True God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Michael for the team…

“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

-----------------------------------------------------------

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. 

Reaching, Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving People in God’s World, through acts of love and compassionate as the light of Christ, is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.

URGENT PRAYER FOR FLOODING IN THAILAND - August 22, 2024

Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,

Today’s update is not really an update like normal updates. Today is an urgent prayer request more than anything else.

Thailand is in the heart of South East Asia and has been our home for over 25 years now. It is one of those countries that is absolutely beautiful from one end if the country to the other end of the country. We start with the beautiful beaches in the South and move all the way up to the breathtaking views on the mountains in the far Northern part of Thailand where I live.

But what is important for you to know today, is that all of this country is part of what we call the “tropics.” The tropics have what we call a “rainy season” where it rains for long periods of times.

We are in one of those rainy seasons and it has been raining every day for almost two weeks and sometimes it rains for hours on end. When that happens, we have both “flash flooding” and “major flooding.”

We are in a critical condition. There are places in Chiangrai where we live and places in neighboring provinces that are experiencing majoyr flooding.

Here are a few pictures of some of this flooding that has been taking place in “our neck of the woods.”

The Board members of our Thailand foundation (Channel of Blessing Foundation or for all practical purposes NTIM Thailand) met together today to discuss the possibility of trying to raise some support for some of the flood victims here in this part of God’s World.

There are two areas that we are very concerned about where the damage seems to be great and these areas are two of the home areas of two of our Thai staff members. One is in the area of Jay’s home in “ampur wiangaen” in Chiangrai province and the other is in the area around Ball’s home in the “ampur tueng” area in Chiangrai province as well.

We are beginning to research and identify ways in which we can help but two ways we have already identified is 1) helping provide equipment or materials for local schools in those areas where the flooding created great damage and 2) helping provide assistance in the form of living supplies to some of the homes in villages that were most severely damaged.

 These are times when “acts of kindness” can go a very long way in breaking down resistance to the gospel of Christ as we do things that reflect the love and compassion of Christ in ways that reach the heart.

Would you first pray for God’s mercy for all those who have been affected in this natural disaster. Secondly, we would you to consider sending a donation to NTIM, either in the form of a check to our Birmingham, AL address or give on line at our website at www.gontim.org and look for the “donate” button.

May God bless each of you for your prayers and your gifts given in the name of our great Savior Jesus Christ.

Until all the people living in and around Northern Thailand have a chance to become followers of the One True God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Michael for the team…

“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

-----------------------------------------------------------

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. 

Reaching, Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving People in God’s World, through acts of love and compassionate as the light of Christ, is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.

 

Wow. 5 Years Ago Today - July 17, 2024

Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,

Wow. 5 years ago today we were pouring concrete. Here are a few pictures from that day 5 years ago.

God has been good to us. Thank God for all of you who gave to this building project through giving to Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM). The building has now been officially named the "LLC - Lighthouse Learning Center" based upon the original vision the Lord put in our hearts for Chiangrai to have a "Lighthouse" for the nations. Here is what the building looks like today.

As I write this note this morning, there are about 20 Christian Pastors/Church leaders (including 3 from our own team) who are studying for their Master of Divinity degree meeting in our building this whole week as they study an intensive course organized and operated through the Thailand Baptist Theological Seminary (TBTS) where Ajaan Chaiwat serves as the leader of the TBTS. We are thankful to God to play a small part in using this facility to reach some of the least reached people groups in our world today but also to build up future Christian leaders in this part of God's world.

May God richly bless you. Thank you for your generosity and for sending us to Thailand. Any gift you would like to make to our normal, everyday ministry, no matter how small or how large, helps us reach and disciple people whom many are the first persons in their entire families to know Jesus Christ.

Until all the people living in and around Northern Thailand have a chance to become followers of the One True God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Michael

“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

-----------------------------------------------------------

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. 

Reaching, Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving People in God’s World, through acts of love and compassionate as the light of Christ, is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.

Do not believe everything you hear . . . . July 16, 2024

Word of Encouragement from Northern Thailand - July 16, 2024

There are many voices speaking into our lives today and many of those voices want to take us down the road of destruction and heart ache. But God has another path and a better path, a path that leads to peace and healing.

As a result of God’s desire to bless us, God moved the Apostle of Love, also known as the Apostle John, to write 1 John 4:1-6 to encourage every follower of Jesus Christ to not believe everything that you hear but to become what I like to call “A Discerning Christian.” Here is the message that I shared with our church family here in Northern Thailand this last Sunday July 14.

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

This teaching is in both English and in Thai. My Thai translator was the first Thai person to be led to our Lord Jesus through the ministry of Baan Athitaan Church some 20+ years ago. She is also the first Thai person in her entire family to become a follower of Jesus and she is from the 3^rd largest unreached people group in Thailand. 

Listen to and be blessed and then share this link with friends and other brothers and sisters in Christ that they too might be blessed and grow toward more Christ likeness. Blessings from God and from Northern Thailand.

Thank you for your faithful prayers for us and for God’s work in and through Baan Athitaan Church.

May God richly bless you. Thank you for your generosity and for sending us to Thailand. Any gift you would like to make to our normal, everyday ministry, no matter how small or how large, helps us reach and disciple people whom many are the first persons in their entire families to know Jesus Christ.

Until all the people living in and around Northern Thailand have a chance to become followers of the One True God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Michael for the team...

“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

-----------------------------------------------------------

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. 

Reaching, Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving People in God’s World, through acts of love and compassionate as the light of Christ, is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.