Expanding
the Kingdom of God in Thailand – A NTIM Update – September 20, 2023
Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,
I am sitting here at my desk this morning and thinking
about this very important Prayer Request that we are asking all of you to pray
about. We live in a broken world that is filled with grumbling, complaining,
bad attitudes and just flat-out negative propaganda leads us down the path of discouragement
in many areas of life if we are not careful.
One of the ways that we try and offset that
negative trajectory here in Thailand is to provide “camps” from time to time
that are intentionally designed to put us back on the paths God has for us and
to rekindle the flame in our heart for both continuing to walk with the Lord
and helping train others how to walk with the Lord.
God has blessed us with an awesome facility that
we use as an English Language School, a ministry headquarters for our two
foundations, and as our place to meet as a church family called Baan Athitaan Church.
But God has also entrusted this facility to us to be used to bless the larger Christian
community including the Northern Thailand Baptist Church Association (NTBCA),
of which we are an active member. The
NTBCA has asked for us to host what we are calling a “Camp” for all of the churches
in our association. The Camp begins tomorrow (Thursday) at noon and goes until
Saturday at noon.
We are expecting somewhere between 200 – 300 to
be in attendance with some traveling as long as 4-5 hours to be with us. Some
people will be staying in our classrooms that have been converted into bedrooms
for the camp and others will be staying in surrounding hotels. Here is a picture
taken just a few moments ago before we begin tomorrow.
It is a big event for us and our Thai staff have
been very busy getting us ready for this camp that we hope provides strong encouragement
to our Baptist brothers and sisters all over the Northern Part of Thailand to
live out this verse found in 1 Corinthians 15:58 that says, “Therefore my
beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
I give you all this background so that you may
know how to pray. Please pray for us over these next few days.
Soon I will give you a more thorough update on
the ministry but it was important for me to ask you to pray specifically for
this “Camp” in this update.
God is truly moving in the hearts of people in
Northern Thailand and we here at Baan Athitaan Church in Chiangrai Thailand
have said to our Lord, “Here we are, Lord, use us. We want to join you in what
you are doing in the lives of people.”
As you think about missions, please remember
Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM) and all the Christian organizations that
are connected with NTIM.
Please also remember to pray for me as a Bible
teacher. One of
the most important things that I do as the Pastor of Baan Athitaan Church is to
seek God’s counsel about what God wants us to Study together on Sunday
mornings. I have about 30 minutes every week to speak to our church family.
Sometimes we study through a book of the Bible. Sometimes we might take a theme
and look at that. We are now looking at 17 of most often taught about topics of
Jesus.
Here is the youtube link of a message that I
shared with our church a few weeks ago on “What Jesus Taught on the subject of
love”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgkOCXxWn3Y
Thank you for your prayers and for your financial
support as we together join God in His great work of Redemption of the Nations,
especially here in the heart of lostness in Southeast Asia.
May God richly bless you.
Thank you for your generosity and for sending us to Thailand. Any gift you would
like to make to our normal, everyday ministry, no matter how small or how large,
helps us reach and disciple people whom many are the first persons in their
entire families to know Jesus Christ.
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
———————————————————–
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.
All donations made to NTIM
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