"Have Faith in God"(Mark 11:22b)
I. We Challenged Ourselves to Wake Up Early Every Morning.
The key verse we had in 2009 was Luke 18:1, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Thailand is a very hot and humid place, so it’s very easy to become tired. It’s also easy to lose spirit if you work hard and yet do not see much visible fruit. After being a missionary in Thailand now for 17 years, I believe that this is part of our fierce battle against Satan. That is why, beginning in 2009, we took hold of this key verse and have tried to pray early in the morning like Jesus. Even though it is difficult to wake up at dawn and pray faithfully, we have become used to doing it. God has turned us into prayer warriors. The Holy Spirit has been at work among our bible students, although the attacks of Satan haven’t stopped. Not many new people come to Sunday Worship Service, but we believe raising disciples is very important, so we prayed that God would help some leaders have a sense of ownership little by little.
In 2009, we have studied Romans and Luke’s Gospel, after previously studying Matthew’s Gospel. Even though we covered Matthew’s gospel, our newer members still did not know the gospel very well. Therefore, after studying Romans, we studied another gospel, Luke. As much as it is possible, we want to study the gospel, to plant clear gospel faith in our members. As a messenger, I think the message has power when I thoroughly digest word of God. This is why I write my own messages, even though there are many good messages already available to use. It really helps me learn the flow of the passage better, so I can deliver the message with deep understanding.
Right now, we are pioneering two universites, Chulalongkorn Univ. and Kasetsart Univ. For Chulalongkorn Univ., Deborah Lee, Paul Lim, Joe, Mary Shin, and Piyaphat go fishing. And for Kasetsart Univ., Peter Bansuk and Ton go fishing every Wednesday. One-to-one Bible study is done by three missionaries and Joe. Ton is trying to teach the bible to one person, and Dr. Mongkol decided to begin teaching the bible again after resigning as a Dean, because it had been keeping him from serving the ministry, since he was so busy.
One problem for us has been that sheep want to have all their bible studies on Sundays. But this makes it difficult, because some may want to have either bible study or go to Sunday Worship Service, but not both on the same day. So they wind up doing neither. When missionaries compromise with this bad culture, and when sheep do not come to Sunday Worship Service or put off 1:1 Bible study over and over again, it becomes normal and people do not grow or change. I believe we need to help them have an absolute attitude toward the word of God through faithful Bible study and Sunday Worship Service attendance, rather than seeking their own personal comfort. But when I have tried to confront other coworkers about this problem, there has been disagreement. So we need to study the Bible intensely and urgently this coming year.
At the beginning of our pioneering ministry, we held Bible academies like those in Korea. But we found that this is not very suitable for Thai people. Even though we tried to invite many people, people hardly ever came. Instead, since 2004, we have held conferences twice a year, a Summer Conference and a Disciples Conference during the October vacation season.
This year, four messengers were raised at the Summer Bible Conference, and five messengers were raised at the October Disciples Conference. They received training as messengers well prepared good messages. They may not be ready yet to teach the Bible, but they can still give messages at conferences like these. This gives me hope for Thai students to become disciples. Even for me, being a messenger is a huge burden, so I can understand why young sheep may not want to accept the duty of being a messenger. But this year, Joe gave messages at both the Summer Conference and the Disciple Conference. She is the remnant of Thailand pioneering. She is a truth-seeker and has a pure heart and the gift of counseling, which has made her a good influence in our ministry.
Thai UBF has one missionary candidate who attended the 2008 Purdue Conference and went to the UK for further studies. In London UBF, she received God’s grace through Bible study with Louise. She will return to Thailand in January, and we pray that she may get a suitable job and be a good shepherdess. Another young woman, Lydia, may also go to the UK to study and then return to Thailand to become a professor at ABAC Univ. Through these journeys, our bible students have had their eyes opened to world mission and could pray for co-workers overseas.
In July 2009, Paul Lim from Washing UBF joined Thai UBF ministry and will stay until March 2010. During his stay in Thailand, he taught English to Thai UBF members and went fishing with Deborah Lee regularly. His faithful and sacrificial attitude has been a good influence to Thai bible students. We hope that he may stay here longer, but we know he was here because of his job, and must return home to work. But even though he was here less than a year, he received meaningful spiritual training and shed a good influence at a pioneering center that needed a useful worker of God.
I thank God who helped me to endure a difficult economic situation and showed me signs of recovery little by little, for my self-supporting business. In 2009, through our Disciples Conference and Christmas Worship Service preparation, leaders have developed a sense of ownership and have grown. Now, two brothers preside at the worship service and Dr. Mongkol gives announcements. Our Thai leaders are developing a sense of ownership step by step. One shepherdess candidate, May, is highly self-conscious and even has trouble reading her life-testimony by herself, without someone finishing it for her. But she overcame her self-consciousness and was part of our Christmas Drama. I am so happy to see her victories in her spiritual struggle.
II. We Will Challenge The Impossible With Faith in God.
The Key Verse of UBF Thailand for 2010 is Mark 11:22a, “Have a faith in God.”The Gospel came to Thailand about 180 years ago, and there are many missionaries from all over the world. But the rate of evangelization is very low, not exceeding 1%. This is because of the work of Satan in Thailand. As we know well, Thailand is a country strongly influenced by Buddhism and spiritism. In the early morning the people give monks something to eat, and before they enter buildings, they worship a shrine. Besides the country’s idol worship, its lustful environment is also a huge obstacle of the gospel. Because of their sinful desires, men live powerlessly. So they say that the spritual air in this country is very bad, so we must pray continually so that Satan will not have an opportunity to work. Satan has also attacked missionaries and dragged them away from their mission field to their home country, so they would no longer have to work hard. My family was also attacked by Satan. Every Saturday, Satan made my wife very disagreeable and she would distract me from preparing the message for Sunday Worship Service. This made it nearly impossible to endure with Jesus’ heart, since we would fight each other every Saturday. In this situation, getting anyone to study the bible would be a miracle. It looked impossible. Therefore, I decided to pray earnestly. Whenever I have free time, I pray and pray. The number of Christians is now growing in Thailand. God has received our prayer struggle and the Holy Spirit has begun to work on each campus.
For a long time, the only regular members in our ministry besides my family were Dr.Mongkol and his family. But about 5 years ago, some sheep opened their hearts and started to study the Bible. The time is coming to raise sheep as disciples. To raise Jesus’ disciples, I need to have faith that can move the mountains and a challenging spirit that overcomes the impossible by the power of the Holy Spirit. So I now cling to our key verse this year, “Have faith in God.” Our God is the Almighty God. He is living now. With this faith, I now challenge the impossible and pray for 30 SWS attendants and 6 disciples in 2010.
* Special Prayer topics :
1. 30 SWS
2. Raising 6 disciples who are leader candidates
3. Self-supporting ministry with stable item.
4. Publishing Thai language daily bread
*Special Strategy:
1. For the preparation 1:1 Bible study deeply, let leader may research nine step questionnaires.
2. Let leaders join fishing ministry positively.
3. Emphasize for intensive 1:1 Bible study. So in case of studying the Bible only on Sunday, if they miss the Lord’s Day, let missionaries and shepherdess study with sheep in weekday with absolute attitude.
