MichaelJohnson

God’s Transforming Power Among UPGs – NTIM Edition – Sept 14, 2018

September 14, 2018 By MichaelJohnson

God’s Transforming Power Among UPGs - NTIM Edition – Sept 14, 2018

The reality is that Christians should 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 and even more importantly will usher the beginning of the end of the time when men, women, and children all over the world will no longer have a chance to believe in Jesus and become citizens of heaven.

Since this is true, I want to plead with all of our Christian friends all over the world to not fail to pray for all of those least reached people groups mostly located in the heart of the 10-40 window who are filled with millions and millions of people who have never heard the message of our great Savior Jesus Christ.

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. Please take a moment and listen to Gahn's personal testimony.

Most of you reading this know Gahn because Gahn served on our staff as our Worship Leader at Baan Athitaan Church for many years before I had the honor of marrying Gahn and the former Kim Matthews who also served in our ministry before they were married. Now God has given them an opportunity to lead a great children's ministry home under the care of YWAM called Baan Eden. We are very glad to all be a part of the same church family at Baan Athitaan Church where I have the honor of serving as Senior Pastor and to have Gahn lead us in worship from time to time.

Gahn is from one of these least reached people groups in Thailand. As a matter of fact, Gahn is from the largest unreached people group living in Thailand which also is the same unreached people group that leads the country of Thailand and is of the same ethnicity as the King of Thailand. This UPG is the group we call the Central Thai people group.

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 this least reached people group. The second largest unreached people group (UPG) in Thailand is the Isan 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.

There are over 80 unreached people groups living here in Thailand but these three UPGs are by far the largest and most influential in Thailand. God has given us the opportunity to be involved in seeing hundreds of Thai people from these various unreached people groups come to know Jesus over the last 19 years we have lived in Thailand. Most of them have been 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 just now beginning to be used of God with 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 upcoming building project (which I will give an update on soon).

Please 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 Gahn and Kim's work through Baan Eden as well. This ministry is a part of YWAM’s work in Thailand. Please also remember to pray for some awesome Canadian partners as well from Crave 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

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

DO NOT GROW WEARY IN DOING GOOD – NTIM Edition

August 16, 2018 By MichaelJohnson

8 years ago there was a large group of Chinese students that studied at Chiangrai Rachaphat University which is located just down the street from where we live. Many of these Chinese students were from very poor backgrounds and from many different unreached people groups. They were also foreigners in this land much like I too am a foreigner in this land and I knew the importance of treating them well and welcoming them to Northern Thailand. At that time 8 years ago there were some 600 or so Chinese students and at one point about a dozen of them began to come to the church and I remember after just a short time of me and a friend (Harry Brittan) teaching them the Bible in English, several of them gave their hearts to Jesus before they returned to China.

One of the "touch points" in their lives that God often uses to bring people to Jesus is their desire to study and speak English. Since these Chinese students were from poor backgrounds and were already spending all the money they had studying at a university in a foreign country, we felt the Lord would have us bless a few of them in a special way, so after counseling with our awesome Thai staff, we decided to give some of them scholarships to study with us at Grace Language School.

We do not do that very often but we felt this was what our Lord wanted us to do at that time and we did not announce what we were doing to anyone. No one outside our team and these few Chinese young people knew anything about these scholarships because we were not doing it for the praise of men but because we genuinely sensed God wanted us to do this and join Him in what He was doing in their lives.

When they finished their studies and went back to China we thought that would be the last time we would see them but OH WHAT A JOY it was today - August 16, 2018 - when one of these former Chinese students who is now working full time in a city close to Kunming, China came back to visit us along with her 6 year old daughter, her mother, and a friend. She not only wanted to say hello and say “thank you” but she also wanted to express her gratefulness for our kindness to her and her friends 8 years ago by making a very significant donation to Grace Language School.

What a great joy it is to serve the one and only Living God in a place in the heart of the 10-40 Window where millions of people from hundreds of unreached people groups live and have very little access to the light, the love, and message of our great Savior. Yes, God has placed us, our great team of Americans, Canadians, and Thais, and this relationship intensive and influential platform called Grace Language School strategically where we can have the greatest front line impact in our world today and join God in His desire to change the world one life at a time. A special thanks to all of those who intentionally give through NTIM (www.gontim.org) which God uses to make all of this life change possible among some of the least reached people groups in our world today.

Please continue to pray for us as God gives us so much access to so many of the unreached people groups living here in this part of God's World. What a joy to see God remind us that He sees even the small good things we do in secret for His glory. In His time, he reminds us and encourages our hearts to not grow weary in doing good for the sake of the kingdom.

For those of us who are followers of Jesus, let me take this opportunity to invite you to consider joining God in what He is doing in and around Northern Thailand by becoming financial partners with us at Northern Thailand Impact Ministry. NTIM is a 501c nonprofit charitable organization 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 Unreached People Groups (UPGs) in and around Northern Thailand through education, sports, and acts of love and compassionate is what NTIM and our ministry team is all about.

If you would like to know more about what we do and how you can be involved, please write me personally at pray4ntim@gmail.comand I would be happy to share with you all that our great God is doing. May the name of the Lord be lifted high in all that we say and all that we do for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom on the earth.

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

From the Fields of Northern Thailand, Michael Johnson

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

How Rescuers Pulled Off the Impossible in a Treacherous Thai Cave in Northern Thailand – NTIM Edition – July 11, 2018

July 11, 2018 By MichaelJohnson

It is with great joy that I sit down today – July 11 – the day after the last of the 13 male soccer team members were rescued here from Chiangrai, Thailand after 18 days of being trapped in a cave. Happiness is everywhere and I have been in tears of joy many times as I think about the grace and mercy of God turning an impossible situation into a possible situation.

I want to let you know up front that my report and my perspective on this great but very treacherous rescue operation is quite different from what you will be reading in the media these days only in the sense that they have left out the most important person in this story…and that is the gracious Lord God of Heaven.

Please understand that this incident is very close to my heart because it happened about 30 minutes from where my family and I have lived for the last 17 years of our 19 years in Thailand. As a matter of fact, I have been inside this very cave many times as well as most of my family, friends, and some of our volunteers have been there as well.

But we must not… again let me say… we must not overlook the real reason that these heroic rescuers were able to pull off this impossible rescue operation.

How were these 13 people trapped deep inside a mountain cave without food and water for 18 days able to survive and live to tell about it? Because there is a true and living God who responds to the prayers of His people and who chooses to shut the heavens long enough to keep the waters of the rainy season from stopping this rescue. Only God can do that. No man, no matter how smart or skilled or talented, can do that.

Was this rescue operation treacherous? Yes, extremely. We are saddened over one very brave and heroic Thai Navy Seal who gave his life in this operation. May our great God bless the family of the late 38 year old Retired Navy Seal Sgt. Major Saman Gunan. Please remember to pray for them as they live through the loss of this brave and courageous Thai man who gave his life for others.

Today we want to take a moment to thank all of you who personally voiced a prayer for this rescue operation. I am confident that thousands and thousands of Christians and possibly hundreds of churches all over the world were praying for this rescue operation and I want to declare that God has heard those prayers and has shown mercy to these 12 boys and their 25 year old soccer coach. Here is a picture of the 13 lives that were saved in this rescue operation. Please also remember to pray that they would have a chance to know the one true God that shut the heavens for 3 days during the rainy season so they might have life and declare the glory of God to others. Only 1 out of these 13 are followers of Jesus today, but the message of the gospel has the power to redeem. Pray for an opening of the gospel in each of their lives.

I am reminded of what the Holy Bible says in James 5:16, “…The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

During the rescue operation, representatives of NTIM and Baan Athitaan Church were able to take some donations given through NTIM and provide food and supplies to the rescue workers and to help in some small ways for the glory of God.

For those of us who are followers of Jesus, let me take this opportunity to invite you to consider joining God in what He is doing in and around Northern Thailand by becoming partners with us at Northern Thailand Impact Ministry. NTIM is a 501c nonprofit charitable organization 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.

If you would like to know more about what we do and how you can be involved, please write me personally at pray4ntim@gmail.comand I would be happy to share with you all that our great God is doing just 30 minutes South of where this rescue operation happed this week. May the name of our great God be lifted high in all that we say and all that we do for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom on the earth.

Please remember to pray for our team in Chiangrai, Thailand.

From the Fields of Northern Thailand, Michael Johnson.

Joining God In His Work of Redemption in Thailand Through Teaching English – June 18, 2018

June 18, 2018 By MichaelJohnson

God is using English in mighty ways to reach the hearts of young people and build His church in one of the most beautiful places on God's green earth. Northern Thailand is very beautiful, yet it is one of the most needy places in God’s world today when it comes to issues of “lostness.” Northern Thailand if filled with dozens of some of the least reached people groups in our world today. Millions of people live here and more than 99 out of ever 100 persons do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and many of them have never even heard the gospel message.

Even in the midst of millions of people who have never heard, God is using NTIM, Grace Language School (GLS), Baan Athitaan Church, and many of our partners to make a significant impact in people’s lives. Because we have a legitimate English language platform whose ultimate purpose it to glorify God and expand His kingdom, God has given us great access to people through the educational system here in Thailand and great favor with the government of Thailand.

Today, June 18, as I write this prayer request, Grace Language School along with a team of volunteers from California Baptist University, have gone into an elementary school South of the city of Chiangrai where we are doing what we call an “ENGLISH FUN DAY CAMP” for about 100 5^thgraders. In the next few days we will be doing 4 “English Fun Day Camps” and 1 “Explorer English Camp” in our community.

Our English language platform has been in Northern Thailand for 17 years now, first in the form of The Lighthouse Language Center and now in the form of Grace Language School. We have been very intentional about maintaining a platform of integrity of teaching English that has become recognized as one of the best English language schools in Northern Thailand.

Over these last 17 years we have lived in Thailand, God has blessed us with some of the best teachers and volunteers in the world who have responded to God’s call to join Him in His great work of redemption for the Thai people.

Since we have been here for a long time, we now have relationships with teachers all over Northern Thailand that were once students of ours at Grace Language School and that opens doors for us to go just about anywhere we sense the Lord wants us to go. And we have so much fun doing it. Just watch this clip from today.

https://youtu.be/JCLO3hAnBAk

We have been planning and preparing for this day for quite some time. It is such great joy that we have a team of 9 volunteers from the USA from California Baptist University as well as one Summer volunteer (Thank you Amy) from my home church (Shades Mountain Baptist) in Birmingham, AL to join our team here to lead this English Fun Day.

Our reason for the existence of GLS is to be the hands and feet of Jesus and to be the light of Christ in a place where some of the least reached people groups in the whole world live with very little knowledge of Jesus Christ. But God has called us here to build bridges to them so that they might have the chance to hear the message of love and forgiveness that can be found in Jesus Christ.

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 reach into our community and teach English with integrity.

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 our world today.

Thank you for sharing with others about out work and being an advocate for us and for being an advocate for the unreached people groups that we are targeting.

Our ministry with children, young people, and university students has continued to grow and blossom and we are in need of some additional resources to help us teach English with excellence. Would you please pray that God would provide us with additional resources that would be used for reaching the nations for Jesus and expanding the kingdom of God in Northern Thailand?

Your Servant to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand,

Michael for the team

P.S. An Update on Land & Building Coming Soon….

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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.

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.

THANK YOU – Update from Northern Thailand – May 30, 2018

May 30, 2018 By MichaelJohnson

Today is one of those days when I have been reflecting on the goodness of God as He has expressed that goodness through what we call “partners in the ministry.” Let me give you a brief picture of our work first and then let me speak to various areas in which we want to say thank you.

As many of you know if you have been friends on Facebook with us for any length of time, God has allowed the Johnson family to be a part of His plan to take the message of Jesus into some of the least reached people groups in our world today that are living in the heart of the area in and around Northern Thailand. Over the 19 years we have lived here in Thailand, we have seen hundreds of people from this part of God’s world become the first or second persons in their entire family to become a follower of Jesus. Less than 1 person in every 100 people in this part of God’s world know Jesus as their personal Savior yet even amongst millions and millions of people who have yet to hear the gospel clearly even for the first time, God is doing something amazing in our day by allowing us to be a part of Him reaching into some of the least reached peoples and seeing people give their hearts to Jesus and begin this transformation process of what we call “discipleship.”

We could share so much about what God is doing but today we want to be clear and say a special thank you to a group of partners in ministry. We have one group of “partners in ministry” that live here and work alongside us every day as we seek to advance the Kingdom of God here on the field. We are so grateful for the Thai and Western partners God has given us as partners who work the fields of God’s harvest every day and pour out their lives so that God will be honored and His kingdom expanded. But today we want to say a special thank you to another group of partners in ministry that are also very critical to God’s Work getting done here. These are the partners in ministry that support us through finances, prayers, advocacy, and encouragement. To this group of “partners in ministry” we want to say a special thank you today.

If you have ever sent in a donation to NTIM on our behalf to support our work, we want to say THANK YOU. We promise to be good stewards of what you have entrusted to us.

If you are one of those people who sends in a donation to NTIM from time to time on our behalf, we also want to say THANK YOU and to say to you we promise to be good stewards of these resources.

If you are one of those people who sends in a donation to NTIM every month to assure God’s work is supported on a regular basis, we want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, and THANK YOU and we also want to say that we promise to be good stewards of these resources.

If you have ever prayed for us and asked God’s blessings on the work of NTIM, we want to say THANK YOU.

If you are one of those people who prays for us from time to time, we want to say THANK YOU.

If you are one of those people who really understands that we are living and serving God in enemy territory and prays for us every single day that we might be the salt and light of Jesus among the nations, we want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, and THANK YOU.

IMPORTANT UPDATE ON LAND & BUILDING PROJECT COMING SOON!

To learn more about our work, please see our website at www.gontim.org or write me personally at pray4ntim@gmail.com

TRAINING FUTURE THAI TEACHERS OF ENGLISH AT RAJABHAT UNIVERSITY – Update Feb 2, 2018

February 2, 2018 By MichaelJohnson

As I sit down to write this update this morning, I am sitting in my office at Grace Language School praising God and thanking God for the awesome opportunity that God has placed before us.

Most of you know that God has given our ministry great access to schools, universities, and other educational institutions as a result of our English language school we call Grace Language School. Grace Language School originally started as the Lighthouse Language Center some 17 years ago when we were serving with the International Mission Board. Grace Language School is a language school registered with the Ministry of Education of Thailand and owned and operated by NTIM’s sister foundation in Thailand called Channel of Blessing Foundation.

Not only does Grace Language School teach hundreds of students every year on our own rented campus, but Grace Language School (GLS) reaches out into the community to other schools and universities sometimes at our initiative and sometimes at their initiative.

Yesterday one of the professors from Rajabhat University came and asked us to provide an all-day training seminar next week on the subject of “Teaching and Learning Activities In the 21^st Century.” We are very excited about this opportunity to build bridges to the hearts of not only about 160 university student who will become Thai national teachers of English when they graduate but this is also a great opportunity to continue to build good relationships with the English Faculty and administration of Rajabhat University and help meet their English language needs. Currently we are planning to have 6 or 7 native English speakers from the USA and Canada as well as all of our Thai staff to be involved in providing this training.

WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS: We are excited for this opportunity and want to ask you to join us as we join God in what He is doing to provide access to the hearts of people. I am reminded of a passage from Habakkuk 1:5 that says, "Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days-- You would not believe if you were told.” God is truly using teaching English as one of those super-highways to get the message to the hearts of some of the least reached peoples in our world today. Here is one of my favorite pictures.

This picture was taken around April 2015 and was my level 5 class that I taught at GLS. When this picture was taken, the only believer in the picture was me. But as our team worked together to build good relationships with people, God was at work in the hearts of these 4 students and within a few months after this picture was taken, two students in this picture gave their hearts to Jesus and became the first persons in their entire families to become followers of Jesus.

I won’t take the time to tell you their stories at this point but wanted to give you just a glimpse of how God is using Grace Language School to reach some of the least reached people groups in our world today. We believe that this opportunity that just presented itself to us is one of those “pivotal times” in history where we want to reach the nations and join Him in His work to expand the kingdom. Pray for us as we join God in what He is doing in Northern Thailand. Just as the Scriptures in James 5:16 declares the truth about prayer that “the prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much.”

WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS

Your Servants to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand,

Michael for the team

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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, 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.

TODAY is January 13, 2018 but 19 years ago today something very significant in the Johnson family happened.

January 13, 2018 By MichaelJohnson

Today is January 13, 2018 and it is a very important day to us because 19 years ago on January 13, 1999, our family of 6 (Hope was 7 months pregnant with Caleb so we included him) landed in Bangkok along with about 15 or 16 pieces of luggage and began our awesome journey of joining God in His work of redemption in Thailand. Jessica Davenport was 9, Liz Vaughn was 6, Josh Johnson was 1+ and Caleb Johnson was "in the oven" and was born two months later on March 10, 1999 in a hospital in BKK.

Here is a news write up from Goshen News in Goshen, IN after IMB Appointment July 21, 1998.

What an awesome journey God has put us on these past 19+years. Thank you so much for each of your kind words, each of your generous donations, each of your cards and letters, each of your “care packages,” and each time you bow your head and say a pray for us and God’s work here. We are in this together for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom. Today, God's church in Chiangrai is filled with 1st generation believers from dozens of unreached people groups, some of which are amongst some of the least reached people groups in our world today not because of how smart or talented we are but simply because of the grace of God that allowed an ordinary couple like us to sense God’s call on our lives to join God in His redemptive plan in Thailand and then God surrounded this ordinary couple with some awesome people that worked together for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom. Glory to God.

Today we simply want to declare as the Psalmist declared, "The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Psalm 126:3.

Ministry Update details coming soon.

Your Servants to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand,

Michael for the team

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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, 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.

Joining God in Plowing New Fields in Northern Thailand – November 24, 2017

November 23, 2017 By MichaelJohnson

Urgent Prayers Needed.

As I sit down and write this prayer update, it is Thanksgiving evening in the USA but it is Friday morning here in Northern Thailand and we want to ask all of you in the USA to please offer a prayer for us as we are just beginning an "English Fun Day" out in one of the villages near Payao.

We have an awesome team from Australia with us lead by Pastor Luke Hester as well as some of our great Teachers at Grace Language School along with awesome Staff and university student helpers.

Pray as we bless the community and get a chance to share about the holiday of Christmas. Most of these children have never, ever, seen a Westerner and I would also estimate that this will be the first time that most of them have ever heard the story of the birth of Jesus.

Please pray for a special touch from our Lord as we reach out to these precious children. This school is also a special treat because of Teacher Kaewtha is one of our former students at Grace Language School and is now a full time teacher at this school.

What a great joy it is for us to be joining God in His great work here in Northern Thailand.

Your Servants to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand,

Michael for the team

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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, 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.

Thailand is in Mourning – Please Pray for Thailand today – October 26, 2017

October 26, 2017 By MichaelJohnson

Friends, Family, and Partners in Ministry

Romans 12:15b. "....weep with those who weep."

Today the whole nation of Thailand is mourning the loss of their beloved king, and we too are weeping with the Thai people and praying that their hearts will be open to hear the hope of the gospel and the lasting help for hurting souls which is found in Christ alone. Please pray for Thailand and for Thai people in every part of the world as they grieve on this day.

Your Servants To The Unreached In And Around Northern Thailand,

Michael for the team

VP and Director of Field Operations for NTIM

Thailand Update – Lighting Up The Darkness – Phase 2 – Oct 20, 2017

October 20, 2017 By MichaelJohnson

Dear Friends, Family, and Partners,

We are writing to follow up with our friends, family, and partners in ministry on some of what God is doing here in Thailand and to bring you into the loop as to what we envision for the days ahead regarding our project of “Lighting up the Darkness.”

God has already provided us with an awesome piece of land that is now officially registered and owned by Channel of Blessing Foundation, which, for all practical purposes, is the Field Foundation of NTIM. Many of you have given specifically for the purchase of land over the past two years and because of your generosity, we were able to complete phase 1 of our project which was the purchase of land.

We are now beginning Phase II and want to ask for your help as we begin this new phase of preparing to put up a useful multi-purpose facility that can be used to expand the Kingdom of God and enhance our ability to reach some of the least reached people groups in our world today. Below is a picture of piece of land God has given us.

Short Background Summary

We have been sensing from God that it is time for the work here in Thailand to establish a more permanent presence and say to “the darkness” that God’s work of transforming the Thai people in Northern Thailand is here to stay! Hope and I have been in Thailand for almost 19 years now (Jan 13, 2018 will be our 19 year anniversary), including the first two years in language school in Bangkok when our children were young. We moved to the city of Chiangrai in Northern Thailand in July 2001, 16 years ago. Chiangrai is considered the heart of the Khon Muang unreached people group (also known as the Northern Thai people). This is the third largest people group in Thailand, with somewhere between 6-7 million people. It is not only one of the largest unreached people groups in Thailand but it is also a part of what many call “World A” with less than ½ of even 1% claiming to be followers of Jesus. Not only is Chiangrai the heart of this very needy unreached people group, it is also where dozens of other unreached people groups live that have connections not only in Thailand but also in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and China.

It was July 2001 that our family moved up North from Bangkok with a sense of a very clear calling from God to establish an English language school and to utilize this platform not only to bless the community but to utilize the relationships developed through the platform as a means to plant what we envisioned as a “mother church.” Our desire was to start as a house church but then to grow and establish a strong purpose driven “mother church” that had the DNA capable of truly impacting Northern Thailand for Jesus and beginning a discipleship movement that would ultimately be used of God to facilitate additional church planting and the sending out of national Thai missionaries from this “mother church.” This church is now officially called Baan Athitaan Church and this month of October we celebrate 16 years of existence of seeing hundreds of Thai people give their hearts to Jesus and begin to learn to walk with Him as a deeply committed follower of Jesus.

We can affirm and have had several partners affirm that God has had His hand of blessing on this work since its very beginning, not because of who we are or how smart we are, but simply because we received and embraced with joy the vision God had for this work and have tried to honor God and to be faithful to this calling and vision now for 16 years in Chiang Rai. What started in our home as a house church on our first Sunday in October 2001 with 8 people, our family of 6 and 2 other people, has blossomed into a very warm, vibrant, and active church family representing as best we can identify at least 23 different language/people groups that all come together to worship our great God at Baan Athitaan Church every Sunday morning.

We are not saying any of this to boast at all because we are very much aware that “apart from Jesus we can do nothing,” but we have been blessed by God in part simply because we have tried to abide in Christ and let His Word abide in us and we have intentionally tried to honor God by joining Him in what He has been doing and in what He wants to get done. Where many missionaries in Thailand claim that the work is hard and the Thai people do not want to follow Jesus, we want to proclaim a very different message and one we consider consistent with the teachings of God and that message is this: that God is at work all around us. Over the last 16 years in Northern Thailand, we have experienced seeing and being involved in hundreds of Thai people giving their hearts to Jesus and many of them becoming the first persons in their entire family to become followers of Jesus. This is not the work of man but is the work of God, and to Him belongs all the glory and honor. Not only have many of you donated money to NTIM for this work in the past, but also many of you have come on mission trips to help in this work and you too have shared deeply in this blessing.

As we have shared many times before, we have been very careful to build the flock and work of God before ever purchasing a piece of land, and we are now very happy to say that we have purchased a piece of land but without a building, we are still having to rent our current building until we can put up our own building. We believe it is God’s timing to say to the darkness that we are here to stay and to establish a permanent beach head for God’s work through putting up a multi-purpose facility where we can also keep the costs of English language learning at a level where anyone from any socio economic background can study with us. We have now begun phase 2 of the project and that is raising funds for the building materials and mobilizing volunteer teams to come and help us put up this multi-purpose facility. This facility will house the Field office for NTIM. It will also house Grace Language School, and offices for Baan Athitaan Church. This building will be used to bring glory to God every single day. Every single day this building will be used for the purposes of teaching, evangelism, discipleship, leadership training, church planting and the expansion of the kingdom of God.

We are in the process of working with a key partner in the US that will help us coordinate volunteer construction teams to come out and help us put this facility up for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom. We are also in the process of planning to work with another key partner who represents an Australian organization that will help us supervise the construction process. We are estimating that the building materials, and required permits, will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000 for the totality of Phase 2. That total cost of $300,000 is based upon an assumption that we are able to utilize volunteers teams to do the bulk of the work which we believe is not only possible, but will bring Honor to God as Christians all over the world work together for the sake of the Great Commission and reaching some of the least reached people groups in our world today.

We can envision beginning the construction process as early as January 2018, but more likely closer to March, depending upon how quickly we are able to raise the funding needed. We currently do not have anything in the bank for our building project having recently spent it for the purchase of land but we believe God is able to do more than we ask or think, and we really believe that God is going to begin providing those funds soon through the generosity of His people.

We Invite You To Join God in What He is Doing in Northern Thailand by Buying Some Bricks

We want to implement an idea of “buying bricks” in order to raise this $300,000 dollars needed. In order to make it easy to understand and easy for everyone or every family to be able to “donate” and buy at least one brick we are setting the cost of each “brick” at $25. If we take the total cost of $300,000 needed and divide it by the cost of 1 brick ($25) then we need donations for 12,000 bricks. 12,000 X 25 = 300,000. What we are asking each of you to do is to pray about donating or “buying” as many bricks as you feel the Lord would have you purchase. For some of you who are on very tight budgets, that may mean buying only 1 brick and sending in to NTIM as a donation

of $25 dollars as your part in joining God in putting up this multi-purpose facility. For others, you may sense the Lord wants you to purchase the equivalent of 10 bricks ($250) or 100 bricks ($2,500) or even 1000 bricks ($25,000). But no matter how many bricks you are able to donate, every brick will be greatly appreciated. If you know that your company gives toward a non-profit organization at the end of every year, maybe you might consider asking that company to buy some bricks as well.

Please also consider advocating for us and sharing this need with some of your friends or with your Sunday School class or with churches that may have a heart for reaching the unreached and want to join God in making a huge difference for the advancement of God’s kingdom in very needy places. Remember also that NTIM is a registered 501c non-profit organization in the USA allowing all of your donations to be considered tax deductible. These donations can be sent to our mailing address in Birmingham, AL or made online at our website at www.gontim.org

If you are from a country outside the USA and would like to make a donation directly to our foundation here in Thailand, you may do that by sending a wire transfer to Channel of Blessing Foundation. Bank Name: Bangkok Bank, Swift Code: BKKBTHBK, Bank Account Name: Channel of Blessing Foundation, Bank Account Number: 537-040-7594. If you do that, please follow that up with an email to pray4ntim@gmail.com so that we will be able to allocate those funds according to your designation.

Thank you for your prayers, your partnership, and your commitment to the great commission of our Lord Jesus. Thank you for joining God in this project and for buying some “bricks.” May our God bless you for your generosity for the sake of His Kingdom.

Your Servants To The Unreached In And Around Northern Thailand,

Michael for the team

VP and Director of Field Operations for NTIM

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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, 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.