Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,
As I begin writing
this update, I am sitting at my desk in Northern Thailand, drinking a cup of
coffee, sitting in our new building, in my new office, and thinking about the goodness
of God and what God might want me to share with you today.
Since you have not
heard from us in quite a while, let me just take a few moments and walk you
through certain things that are going on that will help you know how to pray
for us.
Let me begin by
saying that even though our world may seem to be falling apart, God’s work of
redemption, reconciliation and restoration is continuing to flourish here in
Northern Thailand. Even during one of the most horrific pandemics our world
has ever seen, God continues His work of transformation.
* GOD IS AT WORK BUILDING
HIS CHURCH
Many people have a misunderstanding
of the local church. They seem to think that the local church is the building
where people congregate for meetings. But the truth is that the local church is
not a building but it is a group of believers that come together as a church
family.
Another misunderstanding of the local church is
that meeting together on Sunday morning is man’s idea and it
is not really important. However, that idea goes
against what the Bible says in Hebrews 10:24-25. The great news we want to share
with you today, is that in the heart of some of the least reached people and
people groups in our world today, God is at work changing lives and building the
church here in Northern Thailand, and one of those local churches is called
Baan Athitaan Church.
We thank God for the recent
opportunity to open back up from the previous COVID restrictions. We had a
wonderful church service this past Sunday with 160 people praising our Lord
together in our new building. God is Good. If you have Facebook and would like
to see some pictures from this past Sunday you can simply click on the link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.6714210025286419&type=3
Many of the people we
see come to Christ are the first person in their entire family to become an
authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Please keep us in your prayers as we sense
a great move of God during this time and as we begin to approach the Christmas
season where Thai people seem to be very open to hearing the gospel of our Lord
Jesus.
* GOD HAS OPENED UP ENGLISH
CLASSES THROUGH GRACE LANGUAGE SCHOOL
As many of you know,
one of our most effective outreaches into the community here in Northern
Thailand is through the avenue of teaching English through a genuine English
language school platform called Grace Language School (GLS). It is also our
legal platform where we can get a teaching visa and work permit and work as
English teachers who are “ON MISSION.” GLS is designed to target junior high,
senior high, and university age students but we also have a number adults that
also study with us a couple of evenings each week. There are also a few
children’s homes that are a part of our church family that we bless in a special
way by giving them scholarships to study at GLS. Over the 20+ years of teaching
English, we have seen hundreds of people begin their journey of become genuine authentic
followers of Christ by studying English at GLS and what was formerly known as the
Lighthouse Language Center. Pray for us as we are always in need of good Native
English Teachers who want to build relationships with Thai students for
spiritual purposes. Please remember to pray for our current teachers by name: Susan,
Michael, Dallas, Hope, Liz, Jay, & Ball (and pray for God to send us a few
more teachers).
*GOD HAS GIVEN US AN
AWESOME ESL OUTREACH FOR CHILDREN ON SATURDAYS
Several years ago we saw the need to open up an ELS
outreach to children grades 1-6 in our community. This has been a great way for
our church – Baan Athitaan Church – and our school – Grace Language School – to
work together in reaching the precious Thai children. This is also a time where
we get to train and equip some of our university students in teaching as well.
Please pray for us as we continue to grow. Before Covid we were running about
70 children every Saturday. However, since covid those numbers have dropped to
somewhere around 50. Please pray for all of those involved in the Children’s
ESL Outreach program on Saturdays.
*NEW BUILDING UPDATE –
Multi-Purpose Facility.
Praise God for this new multi-purpose building. It
is both beautiful and extremely practical for us. We still have some final
touches that need to be done for Building A and Building B to be completed but
the building was well enough to move in on July 17, 2021 and on that day we had
lots of help from many places and especially from the awesome young people at
Baan Eden.
Here is a great video clip of our move date – July 17, 2021 that
Gahn Rattanasongkarm put together for us. Thank you Gahn for loving your church
family and being a good example of what it looks like to serve God through your
church. Love you. Pii Michael.
Here is the short video clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ukLMVh8ESw&t=39s
We also thought you
might want to see a picture of the property 4 years ago and then 4 years later
taken in the same spot.
We also took some
pictures just a moment ago and posted them in Facebook. If you have Facebook,
just click on the link: https://www.facebook.com/www.gontim.org/photos/a.5120976741251435/5120973177918458
Even though we have “moved
in already” we still have some construction and projects that are still far
from being complete. One picture below was taken today of “building C” which
will be designated for female staff housing as well as a guest speaker apartment.
God has truly been gracious to us through many of you
who have given and blessed us with funds to be able to take care of this whole
project completely debt free. Thank you for your generous gifts and partnership
as we seek to build platforms that will serve God’s purposes and plans for many
generations to come and maybe even until our Lord Jesus comes again. Keep us in
your prayers as we come to the completion of our building process and begin to
plan a “New Building” dedication. We are still uncertain about the date but thinking sometime in March or April of 2022. Suggestions welcome to be sent to pray4ntim@gmail.com
*EQUIPPING THE NEXT
GENERATION – Theological Education Through Online Studies at Thailand Baptist Theological
Seminary (TBTS) in Bangkok.
We believe in joining
God in equipping Thai leaders and helping them to grow in their ability to
lead. Over the last 10 years, we have been very intentional about inviting guest
speakers who are very capable Bible teachers to come for a week or two weeks
and dedicate that time to equipping our full time staff with both Biblical knowledge
and skills to interpret the Bible as well as equipping our full time staff with
other leadership skill like “time management,” “team building,” and many other
topics. But because of the COVID problems we have not been able to have any
volunteers come from out of country and God opened up a door for 4 of our 5
Thai staff to become “on line” students at the Baptist Seminary in Bangkok. I am
so thankful for the relationship that we have with A. Chaiwat and for his
opening up the opportunity for our Thai staff to study online at TBTS while
still living here and working here in Chiangrai. What a great blessing this has
been and we would ask that you specifically pray for Ja, Jay, and Ball as they
are in their second term of studying 3 courses while working full time and also
pray for Bee as she in now taking 1 course this term. Please pray for them and
for their growth as a new generation of church leaders.
* OTHER AREAS OF PRAYER
WE WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU
You have heard me say
on many occasions, one of the most significant things that I do while serving as
God has shaped and gifted me is to faithfully, boldly, gently, and clearly
teach God’s truth almost every Sunday morning to our church family that is made
up of over 23 different people groups from all over the 10-40 Window and is
also a mix of several international groups. Our desire has always been to plant
a community purpose driven church that welcomes every ethnic group of people
that comes through our doors and not segregate their ability to serve based on
ethnicity or nationality but based upon gifting, calling, and heart. We are
truly becoming a vibrant and active community church and I believe we have the
blessing of God upon us at this time ……
in this place ….. and for His purposes and His glory.
Please remember to also pray for Dallas and Liz and
Mary Ella who have recently moved back to Chiangrai sensing God’s leadership to
return and serve the Lord in various ways. We are so very happy to have them
here.
As I put the final
touches on this newsletter yesterday, Liz was teaching level 4 at GLS, Dallas was teaching
level 6 at GLS, and Hope was at home having some grand parenting time with Mary
Ella. Please keep them in your prayers as they make adjustments and follow the
Lord’s leadership step by step for His glory. Here is a recent picture of
Dallas, Liz, and Mary Ella.
Please continue to
pray for Hope as she now in her 2nd year of taking the lead role as Head of School at Chiangrai International School
serving along side Khun Ning. God has gifted and prepared
her for this role for such a time as this. Please pray for them as they seek to
create an environment where the light and love of Christ can flourish in this
international school environment and the help the teachers to embrace the love
of Jesus that can then be poured out into the lives of all of their students.
Please pray for what
God is doing right here in the heart of Southeast Asia. As Henry Blackaby has
said many times, God it truly at work all around us and He invites us to join
Him in what He is doing.
We love you and miss you, but at the same time, are very happy to serve our
Lord Jesus in this place, among these people, at this season in life, and for God’s
redemptive purposes.
May God richly bless you.
Thank you for your kindness generosity and for sending us to Thailand. Any gift
you would like to make toward our normal, everyday ministry, no matter how
small or how large, helps us reach people who are the first persons in their
entire families to know Jesus.
Until the People in
and around Northern Thailand know Him,
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 connecting people in need with people who care and are focused in the heart
of Southeast Asia where poverty is high, education is low, needs are great,
unreached people groups (UPGs) are all around us, and the love and message of
Jesus is needed to transform lives.
You can send donations to support God’s work to NTIM.
All donations made are tax deductible and can be made either online at www.gontim.org or mailed to NTIM, P.O. Box
26115, Birmingham, AL 35260
If you would like to get on our email update
listing, please send me an email at pray4ntim@gmail.com
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