September 2010
Hi Guys!
Just wanted you to check out my newest blog which may make for interesting reading on what’s been on our hearts of late.
Find it by clicking on
http://wisdomfromme.xanga.com/weblog
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Your Friends in the Mission!
P&P J&J&J A&A
June 2010
I just wanted to briefly report some of the comings and goings and stirrings in the last month or two since our last email to you.
Newsong Church: I love this small group of Thai and Ex-pat believers. We have two congregations that meet in the same place. Our meeting room has couches and cushions for the floor. Our worship is kind of acoustic. The Saturday nights are with the young adults for the most part. We try to teach the Word in series for 30 minutes using media and discussion groups. About 60 to 70 people come for this time. On Sundays about 30 people come and we are trying some new formats beginning with eating!!! Discussion times are important to this group as well. I was trying to be in charge of both groups for a long while, but felt led to delegate Sunday mornings to Yo and Kilang. Lately there has been a good vibe in our times together with our people lingering afterwards just to chat. We are quite limited by space and budget as we can only fit in about 70 comfortably. My heart would be to start another Newsong somewhere else in the city. Would you pray for this?
It was so cool to hear our Japanese young man, Hiday, pray the other week. He is not yet a believer, but loves Newsong. We were praying about the political situation and he felt led to pray too, out loud. He’s getting nearer to the Kingdom. Its changing the way i think about believe then belong. Could it be we can belong and then believe? Pray for Hiday as his work place got burned down during the protests.
Patricia and I were able to visit with some of our net workers in Newsong too. Michelle and Lexie live with four Thais in a slum community showing tangibly the love of Christ. I marveled at how the residents loved these two young ladies as we walked around the slum. A church has started there and we marvelled having communion with ‘rice’ and ‘water’. Then Brittany and Jeremy, both 23 year olds, showed us their project in another Bangkok slum. They make shoulder bags out of plastic bags and garbage bags. It is a full-time job for 5 people! They find bags wherever they can, then wash and dry the bags and cut them into strips and crochet them into really sturdy and unique shoulder bags. The ladies working on the bags are not yet believers but this helps them to have an income and stay home with the kids and rub shoulders with Christians. I prayed with them individually and saw how moved they were afterwards. They are close!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRHxobXzOQE&NR=1
We have said a lot of good byes this year to some key people. Seth and Debbie have taken a new posting with World Vision and will change hemispheres. Matt and Kayla said goodbye and are making their way to Iraq! Nathan and Grace are going back to the States to work in Radio Ministry! Jaa moved to Oz, and so did Matt! White went back to her hometown to work, Joanne and Joei will study in BC! Tee is going to study in the States this August. Why got accepted to work in England. Shimona is going back to Singapore…wow..so much movement. We look forward to new people to fill their places! No empty spaces is my heart!
In not quite two weeks the general Superintendent of PAOC Dave Wells will come and visit Newsong and that is pretty exciting for us.
Youth: In August I am planning to go to Hanoi for a small Youth Leaders time of four days. It’s been awhile since I’ve connected there and am thankful for this opportunity. We are also planning another Youth Leadership Camp in Thailand this October with 150 youth. Mike Love of Alberta will be our main speaker and he is coming with a team. Also in October I am privileged to be with our Karen Youth for a camp. I am told that there will be over 1500 kids there. What an opportunity for impact!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvhDHCVUyQ4
Pastors and Leaders: We just had Rev Don Mann and his wife Marie-Jose in Thailand. Two separate times of seminars were planned; one for the Northeast and the other here in Bangkok. Don spoke of the need to change. He basically said if we don’t change how we do church we will risk losing the next generation of Youth and Young Adults. It was a good seminar time and lots of discussion involved. Personally I feel there are some good trends happening in the church today. For instance we are beginning to become more intentional in reaching the community around us. We are moving from an inward focus of programs to outward penetration of the gospel where people still need the good news.
I was also able to spend two days with Church Planters in our movement helping to better understand how to live out of passion and burden. Our churches are slowly moving ahead.
Finances: I have some awesome supporters! Yet so far this year has begun slowly for me. I think some churches are having a challenging time meeting their budgets and also so many people knocking on their door for money. This year I have spent 14,000 dollars more than what has come in. I already have to consider cutting some of the ministry budget for the rest of the year. Do pray about this too. It’s the one area in ministry that I can get the most discouraged about. I need more individual donors to come alongside.
Please check out our blog sometime and invite us to be your Face Book friends.
Well it is summer and we are, like you, looking forward to a couple of weeks holidays soon. I am blessed to be able to see my two Canadian sons and my parents in Kingston as well. I’ll be travelling alone. Maybe we’ll run into each other at Second Cup! My Bangkok stock has ran out.
to bring us closer to healing. Please pray for us.