Retreat and Return to USA

I had a great final week in Bangkok, and the highlight was our young leaders group weekend retreat. We spent one night at the Baptist camp in Pattaya and one night at a guesthouse on the island across the bay. It was a blessing to catch up with the guys I knew and to meet all the new guys God has brought into the group.

We had 25 guys on the trip. Just incredible when you think that we started this group with 3 guys a year and a half ago. God is good!



This is our worship gathering on Saturday morning at the camp. I taught three times during the retreat on the subjects of the world, the flesh, and personal holiness.



After the morning session, we took the ferry to our island quarters. We had a beautiful spot right on the sea with great views and fresh seafood.



Part of the package deal for our room was a snorkeling boat trip. It was great fun until one of the guys stepped on a sea urchin! But more on that later :)



Sunday morning I am teaching on the subject of personal holiness and how knowing what God has done for you in Christ can motivate you to live for Him. John, who is studying in America, joined us via iphone. (which you can see on the floor) Technology is amazing.



On the ferry crossing back, Bat led worship for all the passengers. We may have been the only ones singing, but I think the other tourists still appreciated some Sunday morning song.



We closed the camp with a final session together in the afternoon. At the end, we took communion together.



It was a great retreat and a great visit to Thailand overall. Thanks to all who have been praying for me throughout this trip. Now I am back in the States to continue my counseling program at Grace College. Please join with me in praying for Thailand, Immanuel Baptist Church, and the young leaders group.

Back Again! Jan 2011

I am back in Thailand while on Christmas break from my counseling program at Grace College. My visit here will be only two weeks long, and one of them has already flown by.

Of course one of the highlights of the first week was attending my first young leader's meeting in 8 months. The group has really grown spiritually and literally grown in size. One of the reasons I am here right now is to participate in the young leader's retreat this weekend. Here we are gathered together:



One of the cool things they have started doing is skyping in the guys in America. On this night we had John, Isra and Jason joining us from the other side. Such a great feeling to be back with the guys and worshiping the Lord in Thai.



I knew they were going to put me to work over here, but I did not now I would be asked to preach the Sunday service with one day's notice. Praise God that it went well though. I taught about Jewish attitudes towards the Gentiles, and how we need to be searching out bias and superiority in our own hearts.

As usual, we went out to the slums after church. Since I left, the location where we taught in Baring has been taken back by the landlord and demolished. Below is a picture of what our old classroom looks like now:



But thank God that just one week later He provided a new home for Paa (the old woman who lived there) and a new classroom right across the street. And Paa says she likes it better because it gets more of a breeze. Here is a shot of the new place below:



Thankfully, the location did not change much and so the kids still know where to find us. Also this weekend, my friend Luke from Dallas who is working Cambodia was visiting. We put him to work sharing a couple of times. Below he is telling the kids about his very rural digs in Cambodia and the love of Jesus that compelled him to go there:



A few nights ago, one of the church members invited me and Terry (who is graciously hosting me) to go on a very luxurious river-buffet cruise. It was a little weird being a tourist in a place that feels so much like home, but it was fun and we saw some great sights. Behind me in the last picture is Wat Arun from the boat:



I will be here just a few more days. The main event is the young leaders retreat this weekend in Pattaya/Gaw Laan. I will be teaching three times this weekend on the subject of being in the world and not being of the world. Please pray for me and all of the guys. I leave for America on the 18th and would appreciate your prayers for safe and timely travels.

Bangkok Protests Explanation

More than a few people have contacted me in the last few weeks to ask if I was safe and in any way affected by the protests here in Bangkok. So, I want to give a brief background and explanation to what is going on here at the moment and suggest some ways that we can be praying for Thailand.

There are two major political factions here which we can call the red and yellow groups. The red group is loyal to the exiled former prime minister. He enjoys strong support among the rural populations outside Bangkok. The yellow group has the majority of seats in the current government and believes the exiled former pm was a criminal who was justly kicked out. The yellows are composed more of middle and upper class educated folks concentrated mostly in Bangkok.

The red group feels like their voices are not being heard and their chief proponent was pushed out by a corrupt government. The yellow group believes that the current government is duly elected and must be respected by all. So, a few weeks ago the red group launched a major march on Bangkok, and for a month they have been occupying key intersections in the city. Most recently they have occupied a key intersection that is the center of transport and shopping in Bangkok. This has led to the closure of the largest malls in Thailand and the off and on closure of the city's mass transport monorail system.

Below is a picture from outside of this area showing some of the protesters taking a nap in the midday heat.



In the below picture, the red shirts have turned one of the busiest streets in the city into a street fair. They sleep here, eat here, do their laundry here, and sell all manner of red souvenirs.



On Saturdays, the red group mobilizes and drives all over the city rallying support and making lots of noise. This is a shot I took from an overpass when we crossed paths a couple weeks ago as I was headed to church.



Yours truly as close to the action as I want to be.



The situation here is not as bad as it being portrayed in international media. There have been sporadic outbursts of violence, but all these things happen in a very isolated area of the city that can be easily avoided. The real problem is that neither side seems willing to relent and this may eventually lead to a larger scale violent showdown.

I am not going to pretend to understand this situation well enough to have an opinion about who is right and wrong. What I do know is Thai people feel very strongly about this and it is increasingly becoming a source of division in the church. Pray that Thai Christians would put their unity in Christ above their political views. Pray that God would give wisdom to all the leaders in the government, army, and in the yellow and red camps to find a way forward that will ease tensions and bring in peace.

Songkran Outreach Trip

I spent all of last week on an outreach trip to the Northeast of Thailand, called Isaan. This is the poorest and most rural area of Thailand. We spent most of our time staying at a church planted by an Immanuel member, Ahjan Oh. (also he is the father of Peace)



The team was made up of people who serve in the slum ministry. It was my first experience journeying into this region of Thailand, and it was not easy. The weather was scorching hot, and there is no air conditioning. We ran out of water after the first day, and I had chickens waking me up everyday at 4:00am. Yet, God was gracious to sustain my health and strength and it turned out to be a wonderful ministry experience.

Check out the pictures and my captions here:

CLICK Songkran Pictures CLICK ME

Thank you all who prayed leading up to this trip. Everyone was healthy and our travels on the very crowded and dangerous roadways went just fine. Pray now that the seeds of truth sown into the hearts of the people there would be watered by God and lead to saving faith.

Some of you have emailed me asking about the political protests going on here. In a couple days I will put up some pictures and try to provide an explanation of what is happening. For now, know that I am in no danger at all and these protests are in very isolated and contained areas. Pray for peace here and that there will be no more violence.

Imjai Orphan Home Youth Camp

I just returned from a week with 30 of the youth of Immanuel Baptist at Imjai House in Chiang Mai. We did a youth camp there for the kids including crafts, tree planting, Bible lessons, dramas, and songs/games. It was just an incredible experience serving the children there, and seeing our youth step up as leaders and models for the orphans at Imjai.

My principal role on the trip was to teach the Bible three successive evenings. I used the planting analogy to talk about our faith being like a seed that must be properly cared for if it is to grow and produce fruit.

It was scorching hot. This is the hottest time of year in Thailand, but praise the Lord that no one passed out. (a very good thing indeed since I was probably the most likely to do so) Thank you to all who were praying in advance of this trip. It went wonderfully. Please follow the link below to pictures and funny captions.

IMJAI Photos CLICK Here

Tomorrow I am off on another ministry to trip to Northeast Thailand, or what the Thais call Isaan. I will be there with the slum team doing evangelism in support of one of our sister churches during the Thai New Year holiday. (the national water fight I wrote about last year) PLEASE pray for our health, safe travels, and effective ministry.

God bless and Happy Thai New Years!

April Travels

I will be busy the next couple of weeks and wanted to post a summary of where I will be and what I will be doing.

Easter Sunday I will be traveling with 30 of the youth from our church to spend a week at an orphanage in the north. We will be doing a camp for the kids, teaching job skills, and planting an orchard. I will be the chief Bible teacher for the camp. The orphanage is run by Christians, but many of the children do not know Christ. Please pray that God will use us to exemplify His love to the children. Pray for our safe travels and good health as well.

The following Sunday I will leave on another mission trip. I will be traveling with the group that I work with in the slums. We are going to northeast Thailand to do ministry at a partner church during the Songkran festival. This is the Thai New Year's national water fight that I wrote about last year.

So I am effectively going to be on the road from April 4th-April 15th. April 25th I will be preaching in the main service at Immanuel, and April 27th I am coming back to America.

Please pray that God keep me strong, focused, and faithful throughout a busy and hot month. Also, may you all have a wonderful week celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord. Praise be to the Lamb of God. May our hearts sing along with the hosts of Heaven:


9And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth."

11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"

13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!

Revelation 5:9-13

Northern Thailand and Burma

I am back from North Thailand and Burma. We spent 6 days traveling to churches, seminaries, tea fields, and mountain tops. It was fun, challenging, and encouraging.

Click the link below to get my photos and captions from the trip and then I will blog some of my thoughts in a day or two when I have had some sleep :)

CLICK HERE new PICTURES

Thanks to all who were praying. We were all healthy and safe, and I trust the Lord was honored in our service.

more to come shortly,

Greg

"Children's Village"

Monday I had a really cool opportunity to go spend the day at a children's village in western Thailand. It is a massive compound including a school, residences, auditorium, soccer field, gardens, and swimming area. The village serves as a home for children who are orphaned, abused, and abandoned by their parents.


We went there to serve lunch for the kids. In the above picture the kids are starting to line up for food.


Serving a gigantic heaping of noodles are left to right myself, Poo, Lin, and Walai. We dished out noodle soup to all 155 kids. Poo has been coming here to serve the kids once a month for 15 years! Now I can understand why.

After lunch we got to tour the grounds and discuss with the director of the facility. The children study in a classroom in the mornings, and then they learn practical skills in the afternoon. The compound includes animals, fish ponds, vegetable gardens, a bakery, pottery studio, weaving looms and much more. The kids who graduate go into regular life with job skills and a great education.


Whenever you get hungry you can just go out and pick some food. The whole place is self-sufficient. They even pump and filter their own water supply from the river.


And the riverside is beautiful. They have a huge dock and cool, crystal clear water to swim in.


It was nice to get some fresh country air and see some pretty scenery.


No one told me to bring a swimsuit! Oh well, it was nice to see the kids having so much fun.

Pray for this place and the children. In Thai it is called "Moo-baan-dek." It is not a Christian organization, but they are open to having Christians come and teach and want the kids to have exposure to different beliefs and choose for themselves what to believe. That kind of openness is rare among secular organizations like this. Perhaps the church can come and do a camp here sometime.

Also, pray for me. I will be gone all next week (28th-5th). We are going to Northern Thailand to participate in a seminar at a seminary and visit some friends and ministries up north. I'll have some pictures from that trip when we get back.

Superbowl Sunday!

Before I can tell you what happened at church yesterday morning I have to introduce you to Rurk. Rurk is a college senior who just showed up at the church back in mid December. He was feeling down, mired in alcohol, drugs, and depression and called information to ask for the address of a church. They sent him to Immanuel. He told us he was Buddhist, his whole family was Buddhist, but for some reason even he was not sure of he felt he needed to go to a church.

From that point he pretty much never left the church, and Big C took him under his wing and began to disciple him. Amazingly, after just knowing him a week, he was able to go on our Christmas trip to Khao Lak.



That's Rurk with C at the beach over Christmas. During the trip, Rurk said he would consider becoming a Christian, but he wanted to read through the whole Bible first. Well, only a week or so after getting back he decided that he didn't need to wait and he trusted in Jesus for his salvation. He has been a very welcome addition to our young leaders group Thursdays, and he goes to help Terry at Jarurat slum on Sundays.

This past Sunday Rurk got baptized. He wanted to wait until his Mom and a few college friends could be there.



I am simply amazed at the clear evidence of God's hand in leading this young man to faith and the pace with which he is growing in Christ. It seems to me that God has a very special purpose for Rurk. Please pray for him this week, and be praying for the salvation of his family.

The church service was also special becuase the students from my afternoon English class were invited to sing a song in the church. I was scared that none of them would come and I would be doing a solo act, but praise God that they all came! I am glad I did not have to sing alone, but I much more glad that they were able to attend the service and hear about Jesus and experience true worship. Please be praying for them.



As soon as English class is finished, I race off with the slum team to Baring. We had a good turnout for what was a really hot day.



Today, I started teaching from the beginning of Scripture on Genesis 1. I made seven cards representing what God did on each day. After teaching the story, I challenged the kids to arrange the cards in proper order from day one to day seven. Praise God! they actually understood me and were able to do it! woo-hoo!



A slum is a tough place for kids to live and grow up, but it is also a tough place for dogs too. If you know me, you know I am a dog lover. So, I was excited to see that our local mut has given birth to a litter of seven little slumdogs.



Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. I'll do my best to get more regular with the postings.

God bless

Christmas Outreach Picture Album

Click the link below to get all my pictures from Christmas in the south of Thailand.


CLICK HERE Kao Lak Picture Album CLICK HERE


I will have a fuller text posting coming up soon, but a quick thank you to all who were praying for us. It went really well. More to come soon...

Christmas in the Community pictures

I had the awesome blessing this past weekend of participating in bringing Christmas to two of the slum communities served by our church.

The first set of pictures is from Ja-roo-rat community. This is where Big-C goes every Sunday, and the kids come running when they see him. He is deeply loved by the community here.





Above are the people who collected the 225 meals/presents we handed out. I think we could have given out 100 more.

Below, Son-ti-yaa leads the kids in playing a game. Son is the definition of ask nothing in return servant heartedness.





If there is a mirror, Ting will find it.



After getting his hair in order, Ting shared with the kids about his past involvement in drugs and how knowing Jesus has brought him out of that life and opened up such incredible opportunities to him.

The next set of pictures are from the Christmas program at Wis-sa-wa community. The church has had people serving in this community for nine years.


The calm before the storm

5 legged race



I had the privilege of preaching at this event about the true meaning of Christmas. I used a present as an analogy for Jesus and I had props inside that represented blessings like eternal life, forgiveness, and joy. My point was that all these things and more are available to you if you will just accept the gift...



Ahjan Vee handing out rewards to game winners.





Please pray with me that the seeds of truth sown in the hearts of the men, women and children in these communities will be nurtured by God to produce saving faith. And remember Baring community where we will be doing Christmas this Sunday.

A New Song

Time is flying over here, and I can't believe I have not posted in so long. The last couple weeks have been a real blessing. Last Sunday I was invited to preach in the big church service. I shared the story of my life and how God has led and guided my way faithfully.

While I was truly honored to have the opportunity to share in church, I was also grieved becuase my friend Terry, Son and Ting were able to travel that morning to go visit Eddy at boot camp. Here is a shot they took of Eddy with his new buds and a whole lot less hair. (thats him in the middle)



The report is that he is doing really well. He has let it be made clear to his fellow soldiers that he is a Christian, and I pray that God has planted him among this group of guys to lead them to Jesus. Keep up your prayers for Eddy.

Another blessing this past week was that I got to meet an American friend of a friend named Jeremy who is in Thailand visiting his girlfriend, Por. He is a strong Christian and she is a Buddhist. So, he contacted me about whether or not I knew any Thai Christians that could speak with her and answer her questions. Well, I hooked them up with Ahjan Vee and his wife Muey. We had lunch together and they gave their testimonies. I think Por was sincerely moved and truly interested.

Here they are at the church on Sunday.



Please pray for Por. She is interested and has been given a Bible and we are hoping she will keep coming to the church even though Jeremy has had to return home for now.

Well, the main event this month is of course Christmas. We spent the last few days decorating the church and it flat puts the Grizwalds to shame.

The centerpiece in the garden this year is an incredible star tree of paper star lanterns.



The genius behind this creation was Boyd. He is praying every day until Christmas that it does not rain.



Before we start our Christmas programs (we have 2 this weekend), there was a big community party at the church for the radio listeners. The radio has been a wild success and we had around 100 people show up for this event.



At 12:30 we ate lunch on the church picnic tables, and three hours later those tables were hacked and sawed to create this great stage.




The radio listeners were really excited to get to meet their favorite dj's. We had music, games, a testimony from Ahjan Winit, and I led the crowd in a game of animal bingo. (pictures of animals instead of numbers)



This picture really symbolizes what the whole evening was about. The woman on the left is named Som. She heard the church radio a few months ago and came to attend church and study English. The gospel was explained to her and she believed and became the first radio listener that was baptized. She is a singer and song composer. In this picture, she is singing a song that she just wrote about the love of God. When she finished she gave a word of testimony about the true joy and peace she has now in knowing Jesus.

Thanks to all who were praying for this event. Please keep praying for the seeds of truth sown into the hearts of those who were there. Also, we will be doing our Christmas outreach programs in the slums on December 12th, 13th and 20th. Please be praying for the hundreds of people over those days who will hear about Jesus for perhaps the first time.

Also, be praying for me and the team from the church going to Khao Lak from the 25th-30th to do Christmas outreach. This is the same place/trip I was on last year, and my friends and I need your prayers for health, safe travel, and strength.

Look for pictures next week from the slum Christmas programs.
God bless!