This update is simply a very short update
on the building progress.
We are thanking the Lord for the progress
being made with the construction of the multi-purpose building God is allowing
us to build. This building process has been birthed out of a vision to expand
God’s kingdom and prepare the way for being able to reach and disciple more people
for the glory of God.
For those of you who use Facebook, you may
feel much more in the loop with how things are progressing because of the ease
of making updates on Facebook but we did want to take a moment and also update
all of you who do not use Facebook on the progress of the building.
We are at a place in the building process
where we are putting the final touches on what is called the
"footing" which will provide the stability of the foundation for the
whole building. We should be pouring concrete next week. Here are a few
pictures taken today and a couple of days ago. Please keep us in your prayers. Thank you for joining God in His work among the nations in and around Northern Thailand.
Much Love & Prayers from Northern Thailand.
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
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 reaching some of the least reached people groups in our world
today and are focused in the heart of Southeast Asia where poverty is high, educational
needs are great, unreached people groups (UPGs) are all around us, and the love
and message of Jesus is needed to transform lives.
This past Sunday February 24, 2019 we held our annual church
fellowship day at Baan Athitaan Church.
Many Thais in the church also call this day Family Day or
Family Time. What a wonderful name to describe how the church should feel and
act!
That name is also a reflection of the importance Thai
culture places on family relationships. Not that they aren’t important or
cherished in Western culture, but family relationships are placed above all
others here. And so “Family Day” expresses just how much these precious souls,
who have come to know God within Thai culture, love one another and understand their
unity to God and the body of Christ.
After our morning service, we gave everyone an “I Love My
Church” T-shirt and we gathered on the front steps of Baan Athitaan to say a
prayer of thanksgiving and dedication to God.
Then everyone joined in an afternoon of all kinds of fun
games including relay races and soccer. At the end of the day, we gathered for
a time of prayer and worship and afterwards, enjoyed an amazing meal of
different Thai dishes prepared by our church body.
This annual day of fellowship, where men, women, and
children of multiple ethnicities and languages all come together as brothers
and sisters of one family to express the joy God has brought to their hearts,
will always be one of my favorite days here in Thailand.
Paul wrote in Romans 12:5, “so we, though many, are one body
in Christ, and individually members one of another.” And as much as we are all
united to one another here in Thailand, we are also united to you, our brothers
and sisters back home. And I know you also share in that same joy and love for
each other.
Here is a video clip that Pii Gahn put together for us to
remind us of our Family Time.
Sorry this one is a little
long but very, very important. Please read to the end. Thank you.
What a great joy it is for
us to announce that your prayers have been answered and the municipality of
Baandu, here in Chiangrai, Thailand where we live, has recently approved the
construction plans for our future building.
We had to make a few
adjustments to our original plans to meet all of the requirements and new
regulations and the latest version looks like this.
As I shared with you in
our last update, on Sunday morning January 27, we scheduled a short prayer time
at the new land God has given us and prayed for God’s leadership in the
government approvals and in His blessing and protection over all of the future
construction process and over all the people who will be involved in putting up
the multi-purpose facility for the glory of God.
Here is a short video clip
of our time of prayer that Pii Gahn put together for us and for you. Please
continue to seek the throne of grace on our behalf.
We also wrote an update to you on February
2 and asked all of you to pray for these approvals and God has indeed heard
your requests on our behalf and we are excited about moving forward with God’s leadership and blessing.
UPCOMING FUN 5K WALK/RUN
In order to move us farther down the road
to completion of our building project, we have felt led from the Lord to facilitate
various “fun 5K walk/run fundraisers” to be held on Saturday morning, March 30,
2019 at various locations all around the world in order to raise $300,000 U.S.
dollars for “The Lighthouse Learning Center” building. The name “Lighthouse” is
one of the names for the building we are strongly considering. It redeems the
name of our first school we established in Chiangrai and communicates our
desire to truly be a lighthouse to our community. (We would love to hear some
feedback on this name or other names that come to your mind).
We also believe these various “fun 5K
walk/run fundraisers” will give us the money that we need for the actual
building construction AND will also help us to replace some very, very old
chairs, tables, air conditioners, and equipment that will be needed in the days
ahead.
We still have some details and promotional
materials to work out and get ready to provide for our “hosts,” but we want to
start this process by asking for “host sponsors” from various locations all
over the globe. Would you be willing to host one of these “Fun 5K walks/runs?” Please
forward this to others who might be willing to sponsor one of these events.
We
envision having “fun” 5K walks/runs in various locations all over the world on
Saturday morning March 30 (all of them being Saturday morning local time for
each location). For example, we envision a “host” to map out a 5K course that
can be used to mobilize people from all walks of life including children and
elderly people capable of walking a 5K course and also allowing those who
wanted to “run it” to also run it.
We want these events to be something that
the whole family, the whole small group, the whole church, and the whole
community could actually participate in, even those who may not be Christians
but who believe in education and helping support our educational building.
Again, we do not want to go through all the details here but we are ready to
begin accepting “host” locations. If your church would like to be a “host?” or
a small group would like to be a “host?” or even an individual would like to be
a “host” and coordinate all the details of this “fun walk/run” event? then please
send us an email at pray4ntim@gmail.com and
tell us of your desire to be a host and for what “location” or area.
If you live in Australia, please consider
hosting one in your area or city. If you live in Singapore, please consider
hosting one in your area. If you live in Canada, please consider hosting one in
your area. If you live in the United States, please consider hosting one in
your area.
If you live somewhere in Thailand, please consider hosting one in
your area.
If you live in another country that we did not mention and want to
host one of these events, then please write us.
As for Chiangrai, we will be hosting one
that begins and ends at our new property. We will be mobilizing as many people
as we can here in Chiangrai so that God is pleased with our part in this
project. We are not asking you to do anything that we are not willing to do
ourselves.
We will also be looking for “business” or “church”
or “ministry” sponsors as well that want to have their names on some of our
banners and publications. More details on that for those who desire to be
“hosts.”
May these events be used of God to draw
various communities together with a “Great Commission” heart for using
“education” to reach out and be the salt and light of Jesus to our world - all
for the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom. Let’s do this. Let’s
do this together. And let’s do this for the glory of God and the advancement of
His Kingdom.
If you feel led to be a host, please send us an email with your name and the
area you would like to host one of these “5k Fun Walk/Run” events on March 30,
2019.
Thank you in advance for joining God in His
work among the nations in and around Northern Thailand.
Much Love & Prayers from Northern
Thailand. 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
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 reaching some of the least reached people groups in our world
today and are focused in the heart of Southeast Asia where poverty is high, educational
needs are great, unreached people groups (UPGs) are all around us, and the love
and message of Jesus is needed to transform lives.
Last Sunday morning on January
27, we scheduled a short prayer time at the new land God has given us. We are
still awaiting approval from the municipality to begin construction and we
wanted to honor God and ask for His blessing and protection over all of the
future construction process and over all the people who will be involved in
putting up the multi-purpose facility for the glory of God. Here is a short
video clip of our time last Sunday that Pii Gahn put together for us and for
you. Please continue to seek the throne of grace on our behalf.
We are still waiting for the “municipality”
to approve our construction plans and expect to hear from them any day now.
This new multipurpose facility, once it is completed, will be our new home for
the NTIM Field office, the Channel of Blessing Foundation of Thailand office,
and Grace Language School. It will also be where Baan Athitaan Church meets and
has offices and will be a place where partners in ministry like Crave
International will have an office as well.
Much evangelism, discipleship, equipping,
training, outreaches, and other types of activities that are intended to expand
the kingdom of God in the heart of 100s of UPGs, will be taking place in this
new building in the days ahead. Our project is called “Lighting up the
Darkness.”
Please keep us in your prayers. If you
haven't given and would like to give to our building project, we still need
about $200,000 U.S. dollars to complete the project for the glory of God. You
can give online or send a check – all of which are tax deductible - to the
address on our website at: www.gontim.org.
Much Love & Prayers from Northern
Thailand,
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
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 is what NTIM and our ministry team is
all about.
1 year ago today Derek & Jodi May had come out from Mississippi, where Derek was serving as a Pastor, and were here in Chiangrai with us on a
"vision trip" to further explore the possibility of them bringing
their family (they have 3 young children - Jack, Grant, and Casey) to Chiangrai to be our volunteer team coordinators for our building
project. The picture below was taken on January 25, 2018 as we were in a boat
in Chiang Saen on the famous Mekong River headed back to Thailand from a short
excursion over into Laos, which is so close to us it is only 45 minutes from
where our new piece of land that God has given us is located.
Today we are praising God for this trip 1
year ago and for the May's sensing God's leadership to come and join God in His
work here. We are so thankful that the May family were obedient to God's call and are now here with us in Chiangrai and doing well. We
also want to thank all of the churches in Mississippi and the awesome friends and leaders at the convention in the great state of Mississippi for
supporting and sending the May family here as our Construction Volunteer Team
Coordinators.
As I write this praise/prayer update, Derek
and Jodi are in a classroom here at Grace Language School with Kru Ball who is
teaching them the Thai language mixed in with a little cultural learning. Please continue to pray for Derek and Jodi, as
well as the rest of us, as we are planning and looking to begin the construction
process on our new multipurpose facility very soon as our Lord leads.
We are
still waiting for the “municipality” to approve our construction plans and expect
to hear from them any day now. This new multipurpose facility, once it is completed, will be our new home
for the NTIM Field office, the Channel of Blessing Foundation of Thailand office,
and Grace Language School. It will also be where Baan Athitaan Church meets and
has offices and will be a place where partners in ministry like Crave International
will have an office as well.
Much evangelism, discipleship, equipping,
training, outreaches, and other types of activities that are intended to expand
the kingdom of God in the heart of 100s of UPGs, will be taking place in this
new building in the days ahead. Our project is called “Lighting up the
Darkness.”
We have lived in Thailand now 20 years, and in Chiangrai for almost 18 of those years. For the last 18 years, we have been in rented facilities which have been the bulk of our overhead costs that we are trying to eliminate. We also believe it is God's timing for us to say to
the darkness in and around Northern Thailand that "God's work is here to
stay."
Please keep us in your prayers. If you
haven't given and would like to give to our building project, we still need
about $200,000 U.S. dollars to complete the project for the glory of God. You
can give online or send a check – all of which are tax deductible - to the
address on our website at: www.gontim.org.
Either way, please pray for us as we seek
to reach people who become the first persons in their entire family to be followers of Jesus and then to equip these genuine 1st generation believers from some of
the least reached people groups in our world today. All for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom. Our desire is motivated by this thought: "As God's will is done in heaven, so too, may God's will be done in and around Northern Thailand."
Much Love & Prayers from Northern
Thailand. 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
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 is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.
Dear
Friends, Family, Supporters, Partners, and Prayer Warriors,
Please
take a moment and look at this picture that was taken sometime in January 2015. This picture was taken 4 years ago with my “level 5” class at Grace Language School where I have the privilege of serving as both a teacher and the Director of this awesome school.
When I
look at this picture I am reminded of several very important things that I want
to tell you about today.
The
first thing that I want to say is that when this picture was taken 4 years ago,
I was the only follower of Jesus in that room on that day.
We live in a place
in God’s world where only 1 out of every 100 people know Jesus as their
personal Savior.
I didn’t really know it on the day that pictures was taken,
but God was at work in a mighty way in the lives of at least two of the four
students in that classroom. God was using many different people, some through
our language school and others not related to our language school, but all to
play a part in helping two of these four students take steps
closer to Christ.
Little
did I know that 5 months after this picture was taken, that the young man on my
right – Nong Ball – would give his heart to Jesus and become the first person
in his entire family to become a follower of Jesus.
Not only that, out of the
100+ people groups that make up the people of Thailand, Nong Ball is from the 3
largest Unreached People Group (UPG) – The Khon Muang or Northern Thai. This
UPG is made up of about 7 million people mostly living in Northern Thailand but
some also in Laos and in Burma and possibly in Southern China.
Since
Ball graduated from Rajabhat University over a year ago, he has been serving on
my staff and is growing deeply in his walk with our great Savior and is
learning how to serve the Lord with all his heart and we are very glad to have
him as part of our team.
Not only was God at work in Nong Ball’s
life when this picture was taken, but God was at work in the life of another
university student that was sitting on my left.
About 7 months after this
picture was taken, the young lady on my left – Nong Nok – would give her heart
to Jesus and become the first person in her entire family to become a follower
of Jesus. Similar to Nong Ball, out of the 100+ people groups that make up the
people of Thailand, Nong Nok is from another unreached people group called the Lu
Mien or the Yao. This UPG is made up of about 1.6 million people primarily
located in China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
Nong Nok
has since graduated from Rajabhat University and became a teacher and last year
spent her first year after graduation teaching at the school she went to as a child in her home village. She is
continuing to grow in her relationship with the Lord and is active in sharing
her faith with her family and with those around her.
God is
using Grace Language School in a very powerful way to truly reach into some of
the least reached people groups in our world today and to make an impact in the
lives of young people especially those studying at one of the two universities
that are near our work.
Please
remember to pray for us and for our team as we seek to be used by God in greater
ways in the days ahead and pray for all the Thai and international students
that we come in contact with that their hearts will be open to hear the
greatest message which is “good news for all the people.”
Until the People in and
around Northern Thailand know Him,
Yesterday, January 13, 2019, was a very special and
significant day for Hope, Jessica, Liz, Joshua, Caleb and myself because it was
on this 13th day of January that we all landed for the first time as
a family in Thailand 20 years ago. For all practical purposes yesterday was
Hope and I’s 20th year anniversary of living and serving God in Thailand. When
we got off that plane 20 years ago in Bangkok, we had never heard of this
awesome city called Chiangrai in the Northern most part of Thailand filled with
enormous natural beauty and filled with dozens of unreached people groups, each
with a rich cultural heritage and language but some of the least reached people
groups in the world today. Below is a picture of our family 2 months after we
arrived in Thailand 20 years ago as Caleb made his appearance on the day of his
birth in Bangkok on March 10, 1999. When we landed in Bangkok Jessica was 9, Liz
was 6, Joshua was 1&1/2 and Caleb had been in mommy’s tummy 7 months.
We had yet to discover that after we would spend 2 years in
language and culture learning in Bangkok, that we would sense God’s leadership
to move our family of 6 at that time to Chiangrai and begin what we then called
“OPERATION CHAINGRAI.” “Operation Chiangrai” was a “vision” a “dream put in our
hearts” to join God in establishing an English language platform that God might
be pleased to use as a tool to reach hundreds and possibly thousands of Thai
young people and be the starting point for planting this church that we now
call Baan Athitaan Church, and a tool in the future that could be used to
facilitate church planting not only in Thailand but in neighboring “closed
countries” as well and still be “under the radar” of a legitimate legally registered English language
school.
20 years ago we did not see the future very clearly at all but
we loved, trusted, and knew God well enough to trust Him with all of our heart
and not to lean on our own understanding and to acknowledge Him in all of our
ways and we believed that God would guide and direct our steps just as His Word
promises us in Proverbs 3:5-6.
Today, we want to honor God and give
thanks to Him for His mercy and His goodness these past 20 years. We also want to
take this opportunity to encourage each of you to walk with God, to trust God, to
give you lives to God, to seek after His kingdom and His righteousness first
and foremost in your life, and then…. enjoy the adventure of following Him and
seeing How He allows you to be a part of as He is doing in His world as He seeks
to save that which has been lost.
Let me be perfectly clear: Your life does matter. What
you do and what you do not do has an effect on other people and on eternity.
May God help each of us better sanctify Christ as Lord in our lives and to
learn better what it means to seek God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness in our
lives first above all other people and things. Let us resist the temptation to
be driven by those things that drive the rest of the world but instead be
driven by the love and purposes of God and the desire to honor him with all of
our lives and to joyfully do our part in assuring that the message of Jesus
Christ gets to every person in the world, even to those is some of the least
reached people groups living here in and around Northern Thailand.
It has been our honor to serve God and to serve Thai people
in a special way these last 20 years…. We have tried to do it all for His glory
and for the advancement of His Kingdom. One of our life verses is 2 Corinthians
4:5, which says, "For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake."
We thank God and we thank you for letting us be your
representatives to the Thai people these last 20 years. I pray that God has
been pleased with our service and that He will be pleased to allow us to serve Him
here many more years to come for His glory and for the advancement of His
kingdom in and around Northern Thailand.
There is still so much work to be done. The fields are ripe,
ready for the harvest but the workers are truly few. This is not work for the
fainthearted! Let us be faithful to find the course God has for us and then to stay
on that course regardless of the difficulties and hardships that come into our
lives.
Our lives do matter and as we truly
reflect on the meaning of Galatians 2:20, we realize that God desires to live
in and through us to reach the lost, to help the broken and the distressed much
like we see our Lord Jesus doing in Matthew 9:36. The various unreached Thai
people groups, the various unreached Burmese people groups, the various unreached
Laotian people groups,and the various unreached
Chinese people groups, simply to name a few, are some of the least reached
people groups in our world today living in darkness without the light of
Christ.
These precious people have been in darkness far too long
now and it is time for God’s people to take the light and message of Jesus into
every village and to every people group living in this part of God’s world….
and may it begin…. with us. “Here we are Lord, send us” is our prayer.
Here is one very practical and urgent way you can help. Most
of you know that we sensed God’s leadership around 3 years ago to move in the
direction of saying to the darkness in Thailand that God’s work of redemption
is here to stay. We shared our vision for what we have called “Project: Lighting
Up The Darkness.” We have been in “rented facilities” for the last 17+ years we
have lived in Chiangrai and we believe it is God’s time to establish a more
permanent platform for NTIM to reach the nations for Jesus with the home base
being here in Chiangrai.
God has blessed us greatly and we are somewhere between
Phase 2 and Phase 3 of our project. Phase 1 was completed when we purchased
land in a very good location just 2 minutes from our current rented location.
Phase 2 started the day we began raising support for the building process. God’s
people and several of His churches have been generous but we are still in need
of about $190,000 so that we can begin this building project with all the funds
needed to complete the building phase of the project.
We are looking at doing a “running/walking fund raiser”
here in Thailand, in the USA, and in Canada (and in any other countries where
someone is willing to coordinate this effort) in the days ahead and will
provide more information on that soon.
But for now, in honor of our2O
YEARS OF SERVING GOD IN THAILAND, we want to ask each of you reading this
to consider giving $20, or $200, or $2,000, or $20,000, or even $200,000 (as
the Lord prompts your heart) and send it to NTIM designated to go to the
completion of our building project of “Lighting Up The Darkness.” Please
remember that this is not for our sakes…but for the sake of the millions of
people living here in and around Northern Thailand who have yet to hear the “good
news which shall be for all people” much like the Angel said to the Shepherds
in the fields watching over their flocks when our great Savior was born. Believe
it or not, after 2,000 years of the great commission, there are still areas
like where we live where 99 out of 100 people do not yet have their names
written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. In Thailand alone there are 66 million of those
people! For the last 20 years we have had to honor of joined God in seeing that
alarming number change for the glory of God.
We have “in faith” submitted our paperwork to
the government for the approval of our building project and according to our
Architect as of yesterday, we expect to gain the approval to begin the building
process this week. Please PRAY. If we can begin soon, we will be at a stage in
the process where by June 1, we will need volunteers. We hope to have some of
you come out this Summer on a mission team and help us put up walls for our
classrooms and finish the painting. Derek & Jodie May are here from
Mississippi serving as NTIM’s volunteer team coordinators for our building
project and would love to hear from you. Again, let me say thank you in advance
for any financial donation you feel that you are able to make toward this
project at this time. We want each of you to be “invested” in God’s work here
in Thailand because as Jesus said, “Where your treasure is there you heart will
be also.” We want your heart to be in Thailand. Please open your heart along
with us to love these precious people enough to join God in His work of
redemption here.
Until the People in and around Northern Thailand know Him,
