Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,
God has
been doing an amazing work in Chiangrai, Thailand for the last 25 years (as of
Sept 17, 2001 when Grace Language School (GLS) through the name of “The
Lighthouse Language Center (LLC)” opened the first day of teaching English
in Chiangrai). This September we will be celebrating 25 years of teaching
English in Thailand. We have also just begun a new work in the province of
Payao and are currently laying the ground work for an extension of Grace
Language School in Payao with a new English language School that is being
registered with the government in the name of “The Bridge English Language
School.” We believe this new work will facilitate relationships that lead to a
new church plant in the days ahead. Please pray for Doug and Paulette Piper who
are leading NTIM’s Field Efforts in Payao. But that is not the main purpose of
this urgent prayer request update. Let me set the background for the urgent
prayers needed and then ask you to pray for two very important events coming up
in the month of July here in Chiangrai, Thailand.
1)
Background for God’s Working among the teenagers
in Thailand.
Praying for teenage outreaches in Northern
Thailand is vital because this region presents unique spiritual, cultural, and
social battles that only divine intervention can breakthrough. Your prayers
provide the spiritual covering needed for ministries to reach teenagers who are
navigating complex cultural identities and severe economic vulnerabilities.
Here are a few of the reasons that your targeted
prayers are urgently needed for these teenagers:
Breaking
Spiritual and Cultural Barriers As A Result of Animist and Buddhist pressures:
Most
teenagers in Northern Thailand grow up in deeply rooted Buddhist communities,
often mixed with ancestral animism. They face intense family and societal
pressure to conform to traditional rituals, making the decision to follow Jesus
Christ incredibly costly and difficult. Many of the teenagers we have seen
become Christians are often the first or second person in their entire family
heritage to become a follower of Jesus.
Identity
confusion: Many teenagers
in Northern Thailand belong to various hill tribes (such as the Karen, Hmong, Mien,
Akha or Lahu just to name a few) and struggle to balance their tribal (people
group) heritage, Thai national identity, and the call of the Gospel. Tribal teenagers
often face systemic discrimination and lack citizenship rights, leading to
legal vulnerability and a deep sense of rejection that only God’s love can
heal.
How to Focus Your Prayers This Week
1) For
Spiritual Courage: Pray
that Christian teenagers stand firm in their faith when facing isolation or
persecution from their families and villages.
2) For
Ministry Protections: Pray for
organizations like Compensate or local church hostels providing safe housing,
education, and discipleship to high-risk youth.
3)
For Freedom from Addiction: Pray that the power of drug addiction and
trafficking networks over these mountain communities is broken in Jesus’ name.
4) For
Openness to the Gospel:
Remember that in Thailand, 99 out of every 100 Thai people do not know or have
a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But God is moving in the hearts and
lives of these teenagers. Pray for Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM) as
we seek to use English through Grace Language School as only one of many
platforms to reach these teenagers. Pray for the many children’s homes that seek
to provide a Christian witness to thousands of teenagers in and around Northern
Thailand.
5)
The First Urgent Prayer Request is for July 5 – University
Outreach Event Called “Welcome Back University Students”
We have two very
important teenager outreach event coming up over the next days and weeks in
July.
Our first urgent
prayer request is for and important event happening on July 5th. It
is an outreach event targeting university students specifically at Rajabhat Chiang
Rai University. We are calling this event “Welcome Back to School Party.”
Here
in Thailand the Summer was over in May and it is the beginning of the new
school year. The k-12 schools, with the exception of the “international schools”
are all back in session and so is the university of Rajabhat. This is a
critical time for us to provide them with an understanding of who we are and
what we can help them with through our “University Ministry” through our Church
we call “Baan Athitaan Church.” We have no idea how many university students
will show up for this event but as you pray, would you pray for the presence of
God at this event and for God to send us lots and lots of students. Pray that
their hearts will be open to the gospel and wanting to know more about Jesus. Pray
for all of us who will be involved in this event but especially for Pii Ball
who is designated as our University Student Leader and for Pii Pat who is
designated as University Student Assistant Leader. Please
also pray for Pii Ja, Pii Jay, and Pii Boom who will also be very active in
this event. The picture below identifies what we provide for every university
student through our University Student Ministry.
Please take a moment
and pray for this July 5 Welcome Party before you read on.
6) The Second Urgent Prayer Request is for
July 28-30 – Jr. High & Sr. High discipleship camp called “Same Same But
Different.”
This camp is targeted for Jr. & Sr.
High students but training ground for university students to serve in some
leadership roles.
God
has blessed us at NTIM with 5 full time Thai nationals that serve along side me
and each of them have leadership responsibilities in our church called Baan
Athitaan Church as well as teaching and or leadership responsibilities in our
English language school called Grace Language School. These Thai partners in
ministry are absolutely gifts from God and they are “all in.” Some of you may
be thinking what is with the “Same Same But Different” theme. And that is a
great question. Basically the idea started out when we thought about the discipleship
idea of when Jesus told us we are in the world just like everyone else (hence, “same
same”) but we are not to be like the world (hence, “but different”). All of our
camp teaching and activities which will be incredibly fun, will also challenge
these teenagers to not want to be like the world but be transformed to reflect
the “salt” and “light” of Jesus to the world. We want to have t-shirts and good
food and would welcome any donations you would like to make to NTIM to help.
Just make sure all of those donations on line are designaed to the “general” button
Online on our website at www.gontim.org so that those funds are routed to our
team in Chiangrai to help with these expenses. Here is a copy of our
promotional brochure for our camp for July 28-30, 2026. Please take a moment
now and pray for this youth camp and then continue praying for this camp and
for the teenagers God has sent into our lives.
* 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. Here is a recent message that I
shared with our church family that is very relevant in our world today and
would ask for each of our family, friends, and supporters to listen to this
message I have titled, “40 Days of the Fruit of the Spirit” Teaching Series
Framework For Biblical Understanding” Here is the link to that message which is
in English and translated into Thai.
The translator for me
was the first person we led to Christ after we moved to Chiangrai, Thailand 25
years ago this month from living two years in Bangkok to complete full time
language acquisition. My translator was my first English student at the
Lighthouse Language Center and she is from the largest unreached people group
in Northern Thailand called “The Khon Muang People” (which has 7 million people)
and Kru Peat became the first person in her entire family heritage to become a
follower of Jesus. As you can see, she is no longer a teenager but she is an excellent
English teacher at Maejai Wittayakhom School in Chiangrai. Please pray for me
as I have just begun to preach and teach through a new sermon series, we
started by calling it 40 Days of the Fruit of the Spirit, but it is actually more
like 10 or 11 weeks of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you for praying
for us and your partnership with us in the Work of God in Northern Thailand.
Until the Least
reached peoples in and around Northern Thailand know Him,
Michael for the NTIM team
Vice President and
Director of Field Operations
“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 going to the least of the least reached people groups primarily 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 made
online, you can click the “general” button and these funds are directed to the
NTIM team in Chiangrai and overall finances that I personally manage, or you
can click the “project Payao” button and these funds will be directed to the
NTIM team in Payao led by Doug Piper.
If you would like to get on our email update
listing, please send me an email at [email protected]
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.