Facilitate Discipleship & Church Planting
God is doing some amazing things in our days and has chosen to use Baan Athitaan Church family to play an important role in reaching the nations in and around Northern Thailand for Jesus sake. Most of the members of Baan Athitaan… [more]
Care For HIV/AIDS Victims
Poverty, low education, and a host of other factors help contribute to a horrible reality where over 21,000 Thai people die every year from HIV/AIDS. Many times this sickness leads to many Thai children seeing one or both of their… [more]
Rescue Children From Poverty & Its Consequences
Poverty, prostitution and disease lead to many Thai children without a responsible person to care for them. Children are at great risk as child trafficking has reached pandemic proportions. Sometimes parents will sell their children… [more]
Send Laborers Into The Fields
2010 Project: Send the Espy Family To Thailand We have been praying and seeking God for over two years now to send us laborers to the fields that are ripe for the harvest and it is with great joy that we are beginning to see… [more]
Build Bridges to the Lost Through Teaching English
God is using English to build bridges to the lost in some of the most needy places in the world like Northern Thailand. As many of you know, Thailand is known as the most thoroughly Buddhist country in the world with less than… [more]
What We Have to Say…
Summer Adventure English Camp
Last month, we took almost 90 kids to the mountains, the beach, and 4 foreign countries! Well…ok, not literally, but we did use our imaginations to travel to these places during our Summer Adventure English Camp! On March 21-23, we were blessed with the opportunity to build relationships with and show God’s love to children from many different backgrounds.
A little more than half of the kids at our camp live in children’s homes, most of whom attend our church. These children have been rescued from extreme poverty, sex trafficking, and/or abusive home situations. The other half of our campers comes from the surrounding Chiang Rai community. Many of these community children are students in our Saturday morning English classes. Most of these kids are Buddhist and have no idea who Jesus is.
God has given us at NTIM a huge opportunity and responsibility to reach out to children in Northern Thailand. Teaching English provides a natural bridge to sharing the Gospel. English Camps are a fun way to draw the kids in, build relationships with them, and love on them with the love of Christ.
Please pray that the relationships built between the children and our staff and volunteers will continue to grow. Also pray that the children saw Christ’s light shining through us during the camp and that seeds were planted.
Please pray especially for people who love God, love people, and love teaching English to commit to serving at NTIM for 2 years or more. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
In Christ,
Kara for the team
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14
Help Us Train Thai Partners – Jay Lee
I am in the planning stages of traveling to the Global Impact Conference (GIC) that I have the opportunity to participate in at my home church in Birmingham, AL at Shades Mountain Baptist Church every February. I am very grateful that my home church provides the resources needed for one of my family members to make this trip each year. Thank you Jeremy and Pastor Danny. It is a great time to celebrate missions and be renewed in our heart to serve the Lord in this very needy part of the world.
Over the last three years, at least one of our Thai staff has been able to travel with us to this conference. This has been a very good thing. It gives them a chance to be exposed to “church life” in America, new ways of doing things, and helps them work more effectively with our partner teams and volunteers that come out to Thailand to help the ministry.It is a very practical time of training our awesome Thai ministry partners.
This year as we prayed about whom the Lord would have us consider taking, the Lord made it clear to us that it should be Jay. The Lord gave me the privilege of baptizing Jay as a university student on October 21, 2007. Here is a video clip of that day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7c6R_dYflI&list=UUQxuqAaL4rlZJ_eAu2XotLQ&index=32&feature=plcp
Jay is from a Hmong Village called Huay Khu where we have been parting with a small village church over the past several years at Christmas time to help their church reach out and win their village for Jesus.
Jay is a very bright young man that graduated with honors from Rachabhat University and felt the leadership of the Lord to join us on staff at Grace Language School and at Baan Athitaan Church after he graduated. He has been an active part of our team since November 17, 2009.
God has used Jay in tremendous ways while serving these past two years and we pray that God will continue to give Jay a heart to serve Him with us in the years ahead. Jay currently serves as our key Thai leader for Grace Language School as well as one of our key leaders at Baan Athitaan Church.
Recently we partnered with another organization to send Jay to Singapore for some leadership training. Now we would like for him to accompany me for some “on the job training” and be a part of several mission speaking opportunities where he will get to share firsthand what God has been doing in Northern Thailand.
We are writing to all of our family, friends, and supporters to give you a chance to be a special part of sending Jay to America through your prayers and through your giving. Even before I put this update together, God has been opening the door for Jay to go. Two weeks ago Jay traveled down to Bangkok to request a tourist visa from the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok and the Embassy granted him 10 year visa!!!!
Your Servant to Nations in and Around Northern Thailand for Jesus,
Michael Johnson for the team
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Donations can be sent to: Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA Main Website: www.gontim.org
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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.
Christmas Outreach Update – January 9, 2012
Hello everyone!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! Christmas time is very busy for us at NTIM! We had many outreaches this year and a couple teams that came out to support us during these events. Keep reading about what’s been going on!
Our Christmas actually started in November with a Christmas Party for Chinese students. A team of 3 people came from Shades Mountain Baptist Church to help kick-off our new Chinese Ministry. Also in November, our church helped with a Christmas outreach at Mae Fah Luang University where 36 students gave their hearts to Jesus! To read more about this, go to: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/36-University-Students-Give-Their-Heart-To-Jesus.html?soid=1103335986076&aid=_PR0q5Svhtg 
December was cram-packed with events! A team of 10 from Singapore came to work with us for 10 days and God was really able to use them! We had an HIV Christmas program at the same hospital we went to last Christmas. We also had a Christmas outreach for the children from some of the children’s homes and a Coffee House Christmas Party for our Grace Language School students. Our church Christmas Program was on the 17th and around 300-400 people came to watch performances, sing carols, hear about the birth of our Savior, and have dinner together. It was a great time! But that’s not all…
The day after the Christmas Program, we loaded up 2 Song-taos (truck taxis), a car, and a truck and drove 3 hours to Huay Khu village in the mountains. This is the same village we went to last year. We spent 3 nights in the village and did several outreaches while we were there, including, painting the church, prayer walking, an English Fun Day, and a Christmas Program. When it was time to drive home, we were all tired and ready for beds and hot showers, but excited about the seeds God planted while we were there.Back in Chiang Rai, we said good-bye to the Singapore team, went caroling to church members’ homes, and then had Christmas with our church family Sunday morning where we celebrated the baptisms of 8 new believers! Here is the link if you want to read more about it: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Harvest-is-Here.html?soid=1103335986076&aid=BGyK1WxgVq8#fblike
God was definitely at work in December and He still is! Please pray for the lives that were touched during the Christmas season. Pray that God will continue to work in their hearts and that He will receive all the glory!
It’s a new year and I can’t even express how excited I am about 2012! It is a year of hope and possibilities for me, for our team, and for our ministry. I can’t wait to see what God has in store!
We need your support this year! Your prayers, giving, and going are important to us and to the people of Northern Thailand. If you would like to make a donation, come on a short-term mission trip, make a long-term commitment to serve with us, or find out other ways you can support us, please go to www.gontim.org
In Christ,
Kara
The Harvest is Here …
I have always loved December. Not only do I like the colder weather – yes, it does get cooler in December in Thailand, at least in Northern Thailand where we live. But the most important reason I like December is because it gives us a chance to truly reflect on the true meaning of “Emmanuel”- “God with us” and give us an opportunity to help other reflect on that meaning.
Since we have lived in Thailand (it will be 13 years on Jan 13, 2012), we have come to realize that in Thailand, December is also harvest time. It is a time when millions of rice fields all over Thailand are bringing in the harvest of rice. Harvesting is much more fun than tilling the ground and preparing the soil for planting. But if we don’t prepare the soil properly and put the hard work into the soil, we will not reap the kind of harvest we desire.
The same is true in the spiritual realm. Harvesting is much more fun than tilling the ground and preparing the soil for planting. But we must do the hard work of breaking up the soil and getting the fields ready for planting.About 4 weeks ago we had our first Christmas evangelistic outreach on a university campus here in Northern Thailand and 36 university students gave their hearts to Jesus. The harvest was here but many people plowed the ground and worked the soil long before that harvest time came. You can read about this harvest in my update on Dec 5, 2011 at the following link: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/36-University-Students-Give-Their-Heart-To-Jesus.html?soid=1103335986076&aid=_PR0q5Svhtg
As we reflect on 2011, I am filled with humility that the God of the universe would allow a sinner like me to be a small part of reaching many nations for Jesus. God has allowed us to be involved in many different things over the last 12 years we have served in Thailand and one of the greatest blessings I continue to receive is the privilege of leading this awesome church God has planted in Northern Thailand called Baan Athitaan Church. What a great joy it was for us to baptize 8 new brothers and sisters in Christ this past Christmas morning. At least 3 of these 8 are the first persons in their entire families to become Christians and one of them is the first person in her entire village to be a believer. Our church is full of 1st generation Christians from dozens of different people groups here in Asia. God has truly blessed us. For all of you who have prayed, who have come and served with us, who have given financially so our family and our other team members could serve, and who continue to support God’s work in Northern Thailand, we want you to know that God has used your resources to change the lives of many nations for Jesus sake in 2011. Thank you for giving to the Lord. We could not be here without your generous prayers and financial support.
Jesus told us to go into all the world and make disciples. Jesus told us to be the salt of the earth. Jesus told us to be the light of the world. Jesus told us to love those who persecute us and to pray for those who reject us. Jesus told us to share the gospel with the poor, the orphaned, the sick, the widows, and those who have never heard. That is what we have been all about in 2011 and commit to being about in 2012. May God use us together to make an even greater difference in 2012 all for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom.
Much Love & Prayers,
Pii Michael
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Reaching, Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving People in God's World through acts of love and compassionate for the sake and purpose of the gospel is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.
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
NTIM is a non-profit charitable organization with 501(C)(3) in the USA. All of your donations to NTIM are tax deductible and help us connect people in need with people who care and send them to places where millions have never heard about Jesus. Checks can be made out to NTIM, P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 or online at www.gontim.org
36 University Students Give Their Hearts To Jesus – Update Dec 5, 2011
Many of you have heard me say many times that the Christmas season seems to be the time of year when God chooses to move mightily in the hearts of people living here in the heart of Northern Thailand. As I sit and write this update for you, my heart is overjoyed that it is only December 5, and we have already played a small part in seeing 36 college students give their hearts to Jesus.
God has blessed our church in Northern Thailand – Baan Athitaan Church – with some people who love Jesus and who want to be the hands and feet of Jesus to bring others to saving faith in our Lord Jesus.
This last week we “kicked off” our Christmas evangelism season by decorating the church last Sunday and then working together to put together some booths for the Christmas program at Mae Fah Luang University (MFLU) on Wednesday night November 30th.
Several churches and organizations like Youth For Christ (YFC) were asked to work together with the Christian Club at MFLU this year to put on a Christmas program at the university. After lots of prayers, significant financial investments, and many hours of preparation and set up, we are very pleased to say that the Lord allowed us to play a small part in seeing 36 university students give their hearts to Jesus.
One of the things that we helped put together was a “maze” that people could walk through who wanted to know the whole story of Christmas. Various churches had taken certain “booths” that were along the maze that shared a certain part of the Christmas story with the final booths telling of the story Heaven, Hell, and ending with an Evangelism booth where we shared the gospel in a clear way and gave people an opportunity to make a decision. There were 77 people who wanted to hear the gospel presentation and 36 out of these 77 made decisions to invite Jesus into their hearts!!! We were so excited to hear the results and are thankful to God that He allowed us to be a small part of expanding His kingdom here in Northern Thailand.
Please join us and the angels in heaven who are rejoicing over the 36 who gave their hearts to Jesus this past week.
For those of you who follow our ministry closely, you know well that we live in a part of the world where there has been Satanic strongholds keeping people in darkness for thousands of years. But God is bringing His love and His light into this part of the world. God is moving in a way that we have never seen before reaching down into families where there has never been even 1 Christian believer in the family and through the power of the gospel of our Lord Jesus, God is changing lives.
We are wanting to provide good quality evangelistic programs that touch the heart. We do not consider these "expenses" per se but rather "investments" into the lives of people for the Kingdom and glory of God. Would you also join us and asking God to move in the hearts of His people to sell a few cows and send $6,000 to $10,000 to NTIM in the next few days so that we can prepare appropriately for some of these events? Please prayerfully consider giving a donation to NTIM to help us cover our evangelism outreaches. Your financial investments allow us to be your hands and feet 24-7 here in the heart of the 10-40 Window and allows us to expand the kingdom in ways that we could not do without your partnership and support.
Your Servants to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand,
Michael for the team
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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
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.
Your Servants to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand,
Michael for the team
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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
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.
