The Kingdom of God is Advancing - A Taste of Thailand - Update June 21, 2019

This update will be a little bit different than our regular updates. Today, I want to share some thoughts with you that I have been reflecting upon regarding what I believe is on God’s heart and how that relates to us and God’s work here in Northern Thailand.

Many of you reading this email do not get Facebook and that is fine, but those of you who do have Facebook are much more aware of what great things God has been doing in this part of His world. We have chosen to use Facebook primarily for ministry purposes so that you will better know what is going on here and how you can join God in what He is doing in this part of His world.

A couple of days ago, I shared some of these thoughts on Facebook as I do quite often but realized that many of you do not use Facebook and thought these thoughts would be a blessing and an encouragement to you. Our Great God is alive and well transforming people’s lives in Northern Thailand. Many of these new followers of Jesus are the first persons in their entire family to follow Jesus.

Words cannot express the great joy I have in my heart when I reflect upon the last 20+ years our family has lived in Thailand and the awesome experiences we have had. We have had so many opportunities to learn how to walk with God in obedience in the work He has put in our hands to do.

I want to ask that you would stop reading and take a moment and click on this video clip and watch it first. Then come back and read the rest of my comments.

Please watch the video before reading on if you can.

This video reminds me that God has been at work in and around Northern Thailand long before we ever knew where Northern Thailand was. But this video reminds me that God has been at work in tremendous ways since we moved to Thailand 20+ years ago. 

This video also reminds me that God is currently at work, and He will continue to be at work in reaching some of the least reached people and people groups in our world today until the Lord Jesus comes again. But at this time, in this place, at this moment, God is at work changing lives in Northern Thailand and invites ordinary people like you and me to join Him in His great work whether that is through praying, through giving, through advocacy and mobilization, through going short term, or like us….going for as long as God wants you to go.

This video reminds me of the strategic nature of teaching English through a legitimate platform like Grace Language School and how teachers and volunteers play such a vital role in being the hands and feet of Jesus. During this time this video was produced, we had a team from our home church - Shades Mountain Baptist in Birmingham, AL and another team from Hunter Street Baptist in Birmingham, AL working together with us for the glory of God.

PRAY FOR 2 VOLUNTEER TEAMS THAT ARE PREPARING TO COME IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS

Please pray for the team from our home church – Shades Mountain Baptist Church from Birmingham, AL - and the team from another partner Church in Mississippi from Gulfport named Crosspoint Church. Both of these teams will be with us in less than 2 weeks. We love volunteer teams from churches. They help us in so many tremendous ways.

This video also reminds me that God has been calling people from all over the world to join hands together with us - originally through the IMB, but after 2005 through the formation of NTIM, Grace Language School (previously the Lighthouse Language Center), and through the establishment of a new type of church in Northern Thailand called Baan Athitaan Church. God is truly transforming lives and we want to thank you for your faithful partnership with us.

This video reminds me that God is in the business of making disciples and transforming lives every day like Nong Faa and Nong Ao as the first followers of Jesus in their entire families. Both of them are from the third largest unreached people group in Thailand, the Khon Mueang, where not even 1 in 100 people know Jesus as their personal Savior. This 3^rd largest unreached people group has 7 million people living in Northern Thailand.

This video was shot on March 16, 2008 - during a time of great growth and expansion of God's Kingdom here in Northern Thailand. A few years earlier, we went through a very difficult transition time of leadership and direction and great uncertainty about the future, but we had a confident faith that we were being obedient and faithful to God’s call to pour out our lives into the people here in and around ChiangRai and stay the course God had set for us. One of our life verses has been Proverbs 3:5-6 which says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him, and HE WILL DIRECT YOUR PATHS." God has truly directed our paths.

GOD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS. We consider it a great honor that the Lord has allowed ordinary people like us to join Him in what He is doing. We are very excited about the great things our Lord is doing and will be doing in the days ahead for the expansion of His great kingdom. 

As many of you reading this email know, we here at NTIM are in the process of saying to the darkness here in Northern Thailand that "God's work is here to stay." We started making that statement after we purchased land in 2017 and are currently making that statement as we have begun the construction process of a permanent multi-purpose building called the Lighthouse Learning Center. Here are a few pictures that we just taken this morning as I walked and prayed around the property.

We are still in need of raising about $300,000 USD to complete the building. We thought we might be able to be in the building before Christmas but looks like it will be the first of next year if things go with the current plan and the Lord provides us with the additional needed resources. Please pray for us as we seek to expand God’s Kingdom among the Unreached In greater ways in the days ahead and say to the darkness very clearly “God’s work is here to stay.”

Thank you for your love and partnership with us over the years. Some of you reading this have prayed for us every day since before we arrived in Thailand on January 13, 1999. This has been God's idea and vision and He deserves all the praise for the hundreds of lives that have been transformed by the cross of Jesus in this very unreached part of God’s world. We are so thankful we didn’t quit when times were difficult, but by the grace of God we have stayed the course and tried to be faithful to obey all of God's directions for our lives. May God be honored and pleased with both our lives and the work He is doing in and around Northern Thailand.

To God be the glory for the great things He has done.... and is doing.... and will do in the days ahead! Not for the glory of a man or of men, nor for the glory of an organization, but for the glory of the One who chose to leave His throne in heaven and become a man, to go to the cross and pay the ultimate penalty for the sins of all men, and then to empower His followers to go to all the unreached people groups of the world today with the message of our Savior, remembering that "all authority has been given to Jesus" and that Jesus said He will build His church "and the gates of Hell will not be able to stop it."

May God continue to be pleased to use broken vessels like us for His glory and the advancement of His Kingdom.

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

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Financial support can be given through NTIM....

Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA Main Website: www.gontim.org

NTIM is a non-profit 501(c)(3)charitable organization based in the USA. We are committed to 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.

A DISCIPLESHIP TRANSFORMATION INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY in Northern Thailand starting September 5, 2019

Discipleship is what the Kingdom of God is all about. Disciples of Jesus helping others become disciples of Jesus. Sometimes discipleship is done in a one-on-one type setting. Sometimes discipleship is done in a small group setting. Sometimes discipleship is done in a larger group setting like on Sunday mornings. But we want to talk about a different type of discipleship that is through an intense intentional program that has a designated time frame but will deeply transform you life.

Here at Baan Athitaan Church in Chiangrai, Thailand, we are passionate about creating spaces and opportunities for authentic, Word of God driven, discipleship opportunities.

In September of 2017 God brought the Crave International team from Canada to Chiang Rai, Thailand with a passion for discipleship and the local church. It was through God’s leading and through serving alongside each other at Grace Language School and at Baan Athitaan Church that we have gained a confidence in serving alongside each other for the glory of God and the expansion of His kingdom. The Crave team serves within and alongside Baan Athitaan church (BAC) in many capacities and we serve the Lord together very well.

We are excited to announce that this fall we will be partnering together for an intensive discipleship Crave program! We are inviting young adults all over the world to join and become a small group of interns that will come and serve alongside our team at BAC, where each intern will go through an overview of the entire Bible, be fully immersed into language and culture, serve the local church and community, have short-term missions experiences in Thailand, go on retreats, evangelize, and learn better how to walk with God and see Him transform not only your life, but the lives of some of the least reached people in our world today.

Please take a moment and look at this short video clip: 

https://vimeo.com/333289439

We believe that the holistic approach of this program leaves young adults with a deepened faith, with real life changing, cross-cultural experiences and with an increased love and understanding for the local church and its impact on our world today.

At the same time, we will be also opening this experience up to English speaking Thai nationals to also participate in various service opportunities and of course journeying through the Word of God.

As our team grows and as we journey deeper down this path, we look forward to also providing this experience in the Thai language in the not too distant future.

The dates for this special internship are from September 5 to December 20, 2019.

If you feel that God is tugging on your heart, or maybe you know someone who you might think is a good fit to come and journey through the Crave program in Northern Thailand, please check out www.craveinternational.org for more information.

Our team is excited and ready to serve you!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/craveinternational/

Promo Video: https://vimeo.com/333289439

Website: https://www.craveinternational.org

Email: info@craveinternational.org

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we continue to seek to make disciples and expand the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus here in and around Northern Thailand.

Until All the People Living In and Around Northern Thailand have a chance to know Him,

Michael for the Team

God's Transforming Power Among UPGs - Celebrating Phet's Wedding - Update May 22, 2019

The Bible encourages us to live with an acute awareness that one day - probably soon - Jesus will come again to this earth and will usher in the beginning of the countdown of the earth as we know it. The beginning of the end of the time when men, women, and children all over the world and from every unreached part of God’s World will no longer have a chance to believe in Jesus and become a citizen of heaven. Now, we still have the opportunity to go into all the world and share the greatest message of all time -that Jesus has paid the penalty for sin and invites everyone to accept this payment as their own and trust Jesus as Savior and Lord. One day – soon - the time will come when that invitation will no longer be made available.

Since this is true, I want to plead with all of our Christian friends all over the world to do 4 things: 1) Consider praying more intentionally, 2) Consider giving more regularly, 3) Consider going on a short term mission trip more often, and 4) Consider going on a longer term mission assignment joining others who have committed their lives to seeing the UPGs of this world have access to the gospel message and discipleship transformation.  

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

Most of you reading this know Phet because Phet has served on our staff at Baan Athitaan Church, Grace Language School, and Northern Thailand Impact Ministry for over 10 years now.

Hope and I have lived in Thailand for over 20 years now and almost 18 of those years we have lived the city of Chiangrai. Before moving to Chiangrai, we spent our first 2 years in Thailand in full time language study in the capital city of Bangkok. While in Bangkok we received what we believe was a vision from God to move to Chiangrai in Northern Thailand and begin working among some of the least reached people groups in our world today. We felt God’s leadership to establish a legal and legitimate English language school as a platform for reaching some of these least reached peoples with the gospel of our Savior through the relationships that we established through our school. We believed this would be the starting point for a church plant that has now become what we call Baan Athitaan Church. 

In those early days, we began forming relationships with several high schools in our city as well as with the two universities in our city. We began reaching out to many, many students whom we would call “seekers of truth.” Phet was one of those seekers of truth that we met almost 18 years ago. When many of us from the language school would go onto the university campuses, we would have great conversations and shared the love and message of Christ quite openly and freely. One of those people that we began to get close to was Phet. She was not interested in becoming a Christian at first and we had many discussions about that, but soon after she began to come to Baan Athitaan Church and see how we all related to each other, her heart began to soften. I remember the day that Phet finally surrendered her heart to Jesus and became the first follower of Jesus in her entire family. That was 17 years ago.

One of the things that I want you to understand about Phet and about this part of God’s world is that Phet is a Thai citizen. Her nationality is Thai but make no mistake she is not from the ethnic majority of the Central Thai people. Phet is from one of those least unreached people groups in our world today  known as the Mien or Yao. From the time Phet gave her heart to Jesus some 17 years ago as a university student, I have been the only Pastor Phet has ever known. She has been a part of Baan Athitaan Church from almost the very beginning and has served as one of my key staff members and mentors/disciplers for new believers for the last 10 years.

God is truly transforming the lives of some of the least reached people in our world today. God has given us a unique role in joining God in this great work amongst the unreached people groups living in and around Northern Thailand.

Out of the 67 million people living in Thailand, 20 - 32 million of them (if you include the "Thai-Chinese" from Joshua Project into the group) are from the Central Thai UPG. The second largest unreached people group (UPG) in Thailand is the Isaan people group and they make up about 18 million people. The third largest unreached people group (UPG) in Thailand is the Northern Thai (Muang) people group and they have about 7 million people here in Thailand mostly living in Northern Thailand. Phet is from one of the smaller unreached people groups in Thailand with about 45,000 people living in Thailand but with over 272,000 living in Vietnam and over 1 million living in China.

There are over 80 different unreached people groups living here in Thailand. God has given NTIM and its awesome partners the opportunity to be involved in seeing hundreds of Thai people, Laotian people, and Chinese people from these various unreached people groups come to know Jesus over the last 20 years. Most of those who have come to Christ during our tenure have been either high school or university students and have been the first or second persons in their entire families to become followers of Jesus.

Even though we have seen God do some amazing things over the years, we feel very much like we are on the precipice of something new. There is so much more work to be done and the focus of our work is moving more in the direction of training and equipping and putting down a solid foundation for future growth with a permanent presence through our current building project (which I will give an update on soon).

Last Saturday – May 18, 2019 – Pii Phet married a man from England named Jonathan Coombes. Most of you reading this update from the other side of the world who know and love Phet, were not able to be here so I have included a video clip link for you to be able to see part of this ceremony. Pii Gahn did a very good job in putting this together and capturing what a joy it was for us to celebrate their marriage together.

Please remember to pray for Jonathan and for Phet and their adjustments to life together and for all of the paperwork for Phet to be able to get a visa to be able to go and live with Jonathan in England in the days ahead.

Please remember to pray for these unreached peoples and for the work of NTIM, Grace Language School, and Baan Athitaan Church which are the ministries that I have the honor to lead. Please also pray for our partners in ministry as well of which we currently are partnering with Crave International and Send International.

Remember these words from our Lord Jesus who said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” Matthew 9:37-38

For more information on the work that God has allowed me to lead through NTIM, please write me at pray4ntim@gmail.com or go to our website at www.gontim.org

Thanking you in advance for your prayers and for your support. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16

Please ask others to pray and forward this email to them.

Grateful and Happy to be Serving Our Awesome God in Northern Thailand for such a time as this.

Michael Johnson

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

P.S. AN UPDATE ON THE BUILDING PROJECT COMING SOON….

AN UPDATE ON A SPECIAL INTERNSHIP WITH CRAVE INTERNAIONAL & BAAN ATHITAAN CHURCH COMING SOON as well….

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Financial support can be given through NTIM....

Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA Main Website: www.gontim.org

NTIM is a non-profit 501(c)(3)charitable organization based in the USA. We are committed to 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.

Exciting News: Construction has begun!!!! - A Taste of Thailand - Apr 4, 2019

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

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Financial support can be given through NTIM....

Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA Main Website: www.gontim.org

NTIM is a non-profit 501(c)(3)charitable organization based in the USA. We are committed to 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.

"Baan Athitaan Family Day in Thailand - Update March 3, 2019

Baan Athitaan Family Day

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.

If you have Facebook and would like to see all of the pictures from that day, you can click on this link to our photo folder from that day. https://www.facebook.com/pg/BaanathitaanChurch/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2753168391390622

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for Baan Athitaan.

Much Love & Prayers from Northern Thailand. Michael

Great News: Approval Given!!!! - A Taste of Thailand - Feb 9, 2019

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

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

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 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.