It is our heart’s desire that we see many Thai people groups, many Burmese people groups, many Laotian people groups, and many Chinese people groups give their hearts to Jesus this season. Many of you know that we live in a part of the world where less than 1 out of every 100 people know Jesus as their personal Savior. We believe God wants many of these precious people to come to know Jesus this Christmas season, but we need your help to do that. Many of the events that we have been planning require considerable resources and we are asking that each of you to help in 3 ways:
1) PLEASE HELP BY PRAYING . . .
Pray for our planning process that God would guide us to do what He wants usto do and say what He wants us to say. Pray that we would “seize the day” as the Christmas season is the most natural time of the year for us to talk about the message of our great Savior. Pray for our awesome staff and team. Pray for those who we partner with in ministry. Pray for the thousands of people who will hear the message through our very words this year. Here are some of our planned events.
November 14 – Baan Athitaan Church – We currently have scheduled a “decorating the church” event on Nov 14. Pray for all the preparations that go into our theme this year of “Gift From Heaven.”
November 20 – HIV/AIDS Christmas Party – We recently kicked off our own HIV/AIDS ministry and were asked by one of the local hospitals that we are working with to host a Christmas party for 21 children who are infected by HIV. Not only will these 21 children hear the good news for the first time, but their family and friends will also be there too. We are expecting to share the love and message of Jesus with over 100 people who are either infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.
November 26 – 29 – Rebuild Church In Hmong Village – Earlier this year very strong winds basically destroyed a small bamboo church building up in the mountains in Huay Khu Village where several from our church are from. We are planning a “construction mission trip” to rebuild this church and put up a very simple and inexpensive block structure building that will make the church more stable during the strong winds.
December 14 – Christmas English Fun Day in Pan Village – Grace Language School will be taking the love and message into a school about 1 hour south of us in the Pan Disctrict where Nun’s mother (a member of our staff) works as a teacher. Pray for us and for the team from Singapore that will be coming to help us.
December 15-17 – Painting and Christmas Preparation – A team from Singapore is coming to help bless several of the ministries we are involved in. They will be working with the girls home called Baan Oon Rak, our English school called Grace Langauge School, and Baan Athitaan Church.
December 18 – Baan Athitaan Church Christmas Program – This is the day that we have set aside to host the single largest evangelistic event of the year in Northern Thailand. Last year we had between 600 and 700 people attend our main Christmas program. December 18, 2010 will be a day where hundreds from our community from where over 25 unreached people groups live will come into Baan Athitaan Church in Chiang Rai. They will have fun, feel welcomed, be entertained, be fed, and most importantly hear the Greatest News that can ever be heard!!!! Many of these people will hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus for the very first time in their life.
December 20 – Christmas at Huay Khu Village – We will be driving about 4 hours to help a small Hmong church reach out to the community and celebrate the birth of our great Savior. We will have a team from Singapore join ours for a total of about 25 people to help them celebrate.
December 22 – Christmas Caroling in the Community – We will be going around in our community to various businesses and shops that we frequent, as well as some church members homes and singing Christmas carols.
December 24 – Possible Christmas program in Prison – We have been asked to host a Christmas party in the Prison in Tueng and are in the beginning planning stages of this event.
December 25 – Church Family Christmas Program – We will be having a small church family Christmas program with lunch on Christmas day at Baan Athitaan Church.
2) PLEASE HELP BY GIVING . . .
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. We are asking God to sell a few cows and send $6,000 to $10,000 to NTIM by the end of November so that we can prepare appropriately for 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.
3) PLEASE HELP BY FORWARDING THIS NOTE TO OTHERS . . .
Many want to give in a special way at Christmas to a special cause that will really make a difference in people’s lives. However, they just don’t know where there is a need. This may be an opportunity for you to help your family and your friends know where their donation can make a huge difference for Jesus.
We are excited about all that God is doing on this side of the world and thanking God for each of you and your partnership with us for the sake of the gospel.
Your Servants to the Nations in and around Northern Thailand for Jesus sake,
Michael for the NTIM Team
“…Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11
What Next?
Start this Christmas season off right by writing a check out to NTIM and let your first gift this Christmas season go toward blessing the lives of people where the needs are truly enormous and the resources are truly limited. On our own, we each can make a difference in the world, but collectively as a team we are a force for good that exponentially surpasses what we can do alone. You can make a difference by sending your donations to NTIM, P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham, AL 35260 USA or by giving online at www.gontim.org