We are so very grateful that God called our family to
love and serve the Thai people. As I shared with you last month, on January 13
we celebrated 18 years of “Staying the Course of obedience.” We have seen
hundreds of Thai people give their hearts to Jesus over the last 18 years and
many of them have been the first person in their entire family to become a
follower of Jesus. Many of them are also representatives of some of the least
reached unreached people groups in our world today. God is up to something huge
and we are honored to join Him in His work among the Thai people. In the context of all of that awesome work, God is also
at work in our family building up followers of Jesus from our own children. Today
I want to ask you to pray for three of the young men in our family that live
here in Chiang Rai, Thailand, Joshua, Caleb, and Dallas. God is at work in each
of their lives and I am asking all of our friends and prayer partners to join
us in praying for them as they make some urgent and critical decisions about
their future.
First let me start
with Joshua or Josh and most of us call him. God opened the door for Josh at
the end of last year to go through some training with an organization called Media
Light. Basically, they are a Christian organization focused on helping train
believers in how to use photography and videography as a tool to evangelize, to
make disciples, and to expand the kingdom of God. That kind of training was “just
what the doctor ordered” so to speak for Josh. He loves media and he has been
able to use some of his skills and talents to assist the work of NTIM here as
well. Media Light has opened up a new branch for training in Vietnam and Josh
was recently asked to go and help them as staff on their first “training”
offered through Media Light Vietnam. This is a temporary volunteer training
opportunity for Josh to help others learn some basic skills and we would like
for you to pray for him as he begins to make preparations to assist in this
training and as He raises support for this 10 week “mission opportunity.”
Because we live so close to Vietnam the total cost for this mission opportunity
only comes to about $1,500 but is much more than we have to give him. Would you
please take a moment and pray for God’s leadership in Josh’s life. If you would
like to help support him in this endeavor, you can send a check to NTIM or go
online at www.gontim.org and make a
donation. If you do give, please write me and let me know so I can designate it
properly on my end once a wire transfer is done from NTIM Birmingham.
Secondly, we would
ask you to pray for Caleb as well. Many of you know that He is graduating from
high school here from Chiang Rai International Christian School in May 2017. He
is still in the decision making process of where he feels the Lord wants him to
go to university. Some of that decision making process has to do with
scholarships and funding. He has narrowed his choices down to Samford University,
Calvin College, and Oklahoma Baptist University. He has almost perfect grades
and has been an exceptional student but because we are no longer with the IMB,
even schools like Samford and OBU do not consider us “Southern Baptist
Missionaries” and do not get the funding so it creates somewhat of a hardship
in making decisions about where to go. Please lift Caleb up in your prayers as
he continues to seek the Lord about where he should go to study this fall 2017.
Finally, we would
ask that you pray for Dallas. Many of you know that Dallas is married to our
daughter Liz and they have recently moved to the field to serve alongside us. Liz
works full time at Chiang Rai International School but also helps in the
ministry here in many ways. Dallas, however, is serving with us full time but
on definitely on a very small “missionary” stipend. Dallas has been thinking a
lot about continuing his education and getting his Master’s Degree through a
program in a Seminary in the U.S. that will allow him to still serve here on
the field. They still do not have children yet so the timing is great for him
to do this but we are hoping that he will be able to receive scholarships and
funding so that he will not have to increase the educational debt he and Liz
already have. Would you please also take a moment and pray for Dallas as he
seeks the Lord’s will regarding getting a Master’s Degree.
Thank you for understanding the importance of not
overlooking the discipleship needs of our family while serving on the Field.
Thank You for praying and loving on us.
Your Servants to the
Nations in and Around Northern Thailand,
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.
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 1st
GENERATION BELIEVERS and 2) BUILDING BRIDGES THROUGH TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH
GRACE LANGUAGE SCHOOL.
1) TRAINING/DISCIPLESHIP OF 1st 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 1st
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 1st Generation believers but they are also
each from a very different unreached people group. One person is a 1st
generation believer from the Muang or Northern Thai UPG. One person is a 1st
generation believer from the Mien or Yao UPG. One person is a 1st
generation believer from the Hmong UPG. One person is a 1st
generation believer from the Akha UPG. And one person is a 1st
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 1st
generation believers to reach and disciple other 1st 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.
As the Vice President and Director of Field Operations for NTIM, here is my prayer for Donald Trump as he takes the office of President today. "Heavenly Father, I come before You on behalf of my President, Donald Trump. I put my total faith and trust in You, God. I trust You as an all-knowing, all-powerful God who sees everything from the beginning of time through to eternity. I call out to You, the Triune God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. I pray that out of Your magnificence, You will guard and protect President Trump. I pray that You would continue to work in his heart and that You would help him to surrender his heart to Your's in every area of his life and work. I am reminded in Your Word where You tell us that it is Your kindness that leads men to repentance. I pray for Your kindness in his life. I pray that You will use Him to bring about Your purposes and Your plans for this country of my birth. I stand with millions and millions of other Americans who put their faith in You. I pray protection for his family against physical danger and the destructive darts of the enemy that come from those who oppose You and Your purposes and the clear teaching of Your Word. I pray for Your peace that passes all understanding to be upon him. I pray favor and grace to pour out upon him in abundance as he learns to grow towards greater humility and learns greater submission to You. I pray that You would speak to him through dreams and visions, godly counsel, but especially Your Holy Word so that Your wisdom that goes beyond his own natural abilities will help lead our country. I pray for Your Spirit to work in all of our hearts to see that if Your people will humble themselves and seek Your face and turn from our wicked ways, that You will bring healing to our land. I recognize that He may not be all that I want him to be morally as my leader, but I also recognize that no one on this earth is worthy to be in any position of leadership even in churches but it is because of Your grace and Your mercy that we are given positions of leadership not because of our own moral right standing that we have earned, but because of the grace and mercy that we find in our relationship with Jesus. I stand with Donald Trump and chose to be obedient to Your Word to honor him because he is my President and because I not only tell others that You are ruler over all the affairs of men, but I believe it and desire to practice that belief in the way I live my life and in how I speak my words. May You, Oh God, bless America and May You, the Creator of the heavens and earth, bless Donald Trump. May Your kindness be upon His presidency for the Glory of God and the accomplishment of Your purposes on the earth. I pray these things In Jesus Name. Amen"
Today is a very special day in my life and I before I
tell you about that, let me tell you want I want to do in this update. I want
to do two thing: 1) I want to ask you to celebrate with us 18 years in Thailand
and 2) I want to give you an update on our “Beach Head Vision” and land
situation.
1. CELEBRATING 18 YEARS OF “Life” and “ministry” in
Thailand.
It is with a deep
sense of humility and gratefulness to God, to my family, to my friends, to my
church family at “Shades Mountain,” to our partner churches, to my Thai church family
including my awesome Thai staff, to all the people who have worked with me over
the years, to all the great volunteers that have come to help, and to all those
who believe in us and the work we are doing and have become “donors” and “financial
partners in ministry,” and last but not least to those who faithfully bring us
before the great throne of grace on a regular basis and some even on a daily
basis, it is with this sense of humility and gratefulness to God and to you that
today, January 13, 2017, the Johnson family celebrates 18 years of “life” and “ministry”
in Southeast Asia in the beautiful country of Thailand. What an awesome journey
and adventure of faith it has been for all of us but especially for me.
On this day, 18 years ago, on January 13, 1999. Hope, me,
Jessica (9 years old at the time), Elizabeth (6 years old at the time), Joshua
(1 year old at the time), and Caleb (in mommy’s tummy 7 months already at the time) landed at the airport in Bangkok, Thailand for the beginning of an
incredibly life changing awesome journey of joining God in His desire to make
disciples from dozens of unreached people groups that are currently living in the geographical area that today we call Northern Thailand. In years past Northern
Thailand was known by many other names including the famous Lanna Kingdom which
ruled this part of God’s world many hundreds of years ago.
Over these 18 years in Thailand, we have seen God’s hand of leadership and
blessings, and have seen God at work in unprecedented ways to bring the light
of the gospel of Jesus and to light up this part of God’s world through the
power of the Spirit of God and the Word of God. We have seen hundreds of people
from dozens and dozens of unreached people groups become the first persons in
their entire families to become followers of Jesus. We have had the chance to
disciple and mentor many of these folks and equip them and see them grow and
live out their faith for the glory of God and for the advancement of His
kingdom.
I truly am humbled that God would chose and allow this
unworthy broken vessel to be “remade new again” and be allowed the honor of
joining the King of Kings and Lord of Lord in helping to further His Kingdom in
this place, among these peoples, and in such a time as this.
Please celebrate with us these awesome 18 years but do
not think that we are too old or that God is finished with us yet. I personally
believe that God is really just getting started and is moving us more into a
deeper level of training, and equipping than we have had before which leads me
to share with you the second part of what I wanted to share regarding the
Vision and land update.
2. BEACH HEAD VISION and LAND update.
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 in our last update 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 have made a deposit on the land and the owner has 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.
However, we have entered a time that is “FRUSTRATING” to
say the least, even for some of you who have given toward this very worthy
cause. It is now January 13, 2017, 7 months since the date that we signed the
contract and we are still waiting on the department of land to transfer the
ownership of land to our foundation here in Thailand. One of the extremely
frustrating things for me is in knowing that we have partners in ministry
already in Alabama and Mississippi who have committed to helping us with our labor
and construction of this beach head facility and who are ready, willing, and some even "chomping at the bid” (which we are very grateful for) to schedule a time to come and begin that aspect of partnership and yet…. I
cannot give any schedule because the land department has not approved the land
transfer yet.
I don’t know all the reasons why it is taking so long but I do know this:
God is ruler over all the affairs of men and sometimes God allows circumstance
to come that cause us to “wait” in order to test us and to see if we are going
to either 1) push the door down with our own strength and effort or 2) allow
that frustration to lead us to do some self reflection on what are possible
reasons that God has allowed the situation to be such and maybe one of those
reasons is like what Henry Blackaby calls in his book Experiencing God when he
talks about a “Crisis of Belief.”
This
crisis of belief allows us the opportunity to make any major adjustments in the
way we have been doing things and to seek God and then to watch God do what only
God can do. That is where I believe that we are today. We met with the owner of
the land yesterday and had a very good meeting. In the meeting, she shared with
us that the government is building a new highway on the edges of the developer’s
property and the government even asked the developer for a portion of land.
What I interpreted from that information was that this property that is now
under contract to us and is close to this piece of land where the government
wants to build a highway, will give our facility greater visibility and greater
access once the road is built.
I think God is working behind the scenes but we must, must, must be patient
and let God do what He wants to do. We have all the money we need to buy this
land, but we do not have any money set aside today for construction which is
part of Phase II. Maybe God wants us to do our part in putting this on the
radar of our partners in ministry like you.
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. We have yet to purchase a piece of property and put 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. 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 at a time of celebration of 18 years in Thailand
but we are also at a time where we must not falter and must move toward
advancing the kingdom of God in Thailand and 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.
WE ARE SO THANKFUL FOR ALL THE GENEROUS DONATIONS THAT HAVE CAME IN OVER
THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS THAT HAVE GIVEN US THE OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE THIS
LAND WITHOUT ANY DEBT. Once the land
purchase has been finalized, we will begin Phase II of raising support for the
building process and begin making plans for teams to come over from the US to
help us build. If you have not given and would like to give toward phase II, we
are taking donations for Phase II that will go toward building expenses.
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 finalizing the purchase of this new piece of
property and in beginning the Phase 2 process of raising money for construction
and planning volunteer construction teams coming to help us build. Here is an
example of how we would ask you to pray today.
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 1st
generation believers to reach and disciple other 1st generation
believers. 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 do sense that it is Your time
for them to establish a more permanent beach head and to say to the forces of
darkness that Your work through NTIM is there to stay. We thank You for
graciously providing NTIM with the needed resources in money to purchase this
land and pray for You to continue to lead them as they go through the final
details of the land transfer. Please guide them as well once they finish the
land transfer process as they seek to begin phase 2. Please provide them the
needed resources to not only have land..but to have a building that can be
utilized for Your purposes in that part of Your world. We pray this in Jesus
name and for His glory. 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 study of the fruit of the
Spirit…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2cas-H-qxI
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.
I love this time of year in Thailand. It is a time
when the weather is cooler and it is the time of year when the hearts of Thai
people are open to hearing the greatest story ever told.
One of my favorite Christmas songs as a child was
“Go Tell it On the Mountains.” I love this song but it has come to have a much
greater meaning to me than I ever thought possible. You see, I am just an
ordinary man just like most of you reading this… but my life is nothing along
the lines of ordinary because God has taken me and my family on an awesome
journey that allows us to “Go tell it on the mountains” of some of the least
reached peoples in our world today. What a great joy it is for us to share the
message of Christmas with people who have never heard it.
The last few weeks have been some of our busiest
weeks of the year but also some of the most fulfilling. We love to tell the story
of Jesus and we like it very much when friends and partners come to help us do
that. We are so grateful for the awesome team from FBC Tuscaloosa who was with
us from November 12 – 18. During this time we were able to tell the story of
Jesus in an Akha Unreached People Group (UPG) village, a Mien Unreached People
Group (UPG) village, and a Hmong Unreached People Group (UPG) village, as well
as, provide English teacher training to 3rd year students at
Rajabhat University who are studying to be English teachers when they graduate.
We are so thankful for teams like FBC Tuscaloosa who continue to come back to
Thailand to help God’s Work move forward. Thank you Vial, Nancy, Pat, Leigh
Ann, Ken for your heart for Thai people. Here are a few pictures of our time with
the team from FBC Tuscaloosa.
We are also very grateful for new teams that come
out. We welcomed an awesome team from Gulfport, MS who was with us from December
7 – 14. During this time we were able to tell the story of Jesus in two Muang
Unreached People Group villages, with about 40 children that study English with
us each Saturday, with about 40 youth who meet with us each Friday night, with
about 50 university students at our Soccer Outreach, and were able to visit and
pray for some of our leaders in our church. We were very blessed to have this
team serving with us. Thank you Pastor Israel, Bobby, Shane, Mike, Doug, and
Christi for opening your hearts and loving like Jesus loves. Here are a few
pictures of our time with the team from Gulfport.
God is using English and Soccer in mighty ways to
reach the hearts of young people and build His church in one of the most needy,
yet fascinating places in the world – Northern Thailand.
It takes a lot of time and resources to build
relationships of genuine trust with people but we are thankful to God for
allowing us to be a small part of His plans to draw people to the cross and to
a personal relationship with Jesus.
Thank you for praying for us as we seek to lead
others to Jesus and disciple them. Thank you for coming on mission trips to
help with God’s work.
Thank you for giving through NTIM so that we can
serve here and insure that the gospel reaches into some of the least reached
people groups in the world.
Thank you for sharing with others about out work
and being an advocate for us and for the unreached people groups that we are
targeting.
Our ministry with university students has continued
to grow and blossom and we continue to covet your prayers.
Your Servant to the Nations in and around NorthernThailand,
It is Friday afternoon in Thailand and we have
been busy for several months planning, coordinating, and preparing for our main
Christmas outreach here in Chiang Rai, Thailand.
These past several weeks we have had an awesome
team from Tuscaloosa, AL and another awesome team from Gulfport, MS come and
help us with outreaches in our city and many villages. I will send an update on
these soon but before we do that we believe it when the Bible says, “… The effective
prayer of a righteous person can accomplish much.” James 5:16 We also believe the Bible when it says, “Go
into all the world and make disciples….” Matthew 28:19.
We need your prayers. As many of you read this
message in the USA, it will already be Friday evening here in Thailand and this
main evangelistic event here at Baan Athitaan Church will be going on. Please
take a moment and pray for us and maybe even forward this message to others who
will pray.
Prayer Example: “Lord, we thank you for loving us enough to send someone
into our lives to tell us about Jesus. We thank you for using NTIM to establish
a beachhead to reach many unreached people groups in and around Northern
Thailand. We thank you for the work you are doing through Baan Athitaan Church
and pray for your special blessings on their main Christmas event. May you lead
them, bless them, and use them to accomplish your work of redemption on the
earth. We pray these things in the name of Jesus and for His glory. Amen.”
Psalm 2:8 says, “Ask of Me, and I will surely
give the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your
possession.”
Your Servants to some of the least reached
peoples in Southeast Asia for Jesus’ sake,
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 through acts
of love and compassionate is what NTIM and our ministry team is all
about.
