Please break our glass...

This is from one of my favorite little coffee shops in the Ramkhamhaeng II area of Bangkok (where we will live) called Cafe Bloom. Next to the couches they have this coffee table with a very polite sign asking us to take care that we break the glass while we're there.

Leadership Bio: Kieow

This is a little Q&A that Kieow and I did over facebook...enjoy and lift her up in prayer!

This is my story:
Where in Thailand are you from? How did you become a Christian?
I'm from the Northeast of Thailand (Ubon Ratchatani province). I became a Christian when I was in college in 2002 through MTW-Thailand team.
At that time, I felt heavily burdened with expectation and acceptance in my heart. I needed to know God and my Savior. I want to know this God who can take away all burdens, so that I will be able to rest in him.

How is God using you in your ministry now?
I have been working on the MTW-Thailand team for 3 years.
Handicraft ministry (Napada) :
I work with the ladies at the handicraft shop. God uses me through my words and deeds. We read the Bible together in the morning before work and every other Wednesday we eat and study the Bible together (full time and part time workers).
This is a good time to share about God's grace and about our lives with each other.
Mercy Ministry:
I usually go visit the families at the Mahathai 3 lower-income community every week to talk and listen to them. I have worked in this community 3 years already.
We have 2 adults who have become Christians and several kids. God uses me to be their friend even though most of them do not believe in Christ yet. Relationships are very important.

What do you want to see God do through you?
Honestly, I want my family and all of my friends to believe in Christ. I want to see God bring more people to himself through the ministry that I work with so they may know him and believe in him as their Savior. I have known some families and women for 3 years already and I share God’s words and love with them, but they do not believe yet.

How can people pray for you?
Please pray that through all circumstances, I may find joy in the Lord, be able to give thanks to Him, and always hope in his promises.
Pray for relationships with families in Mahathai and that God may give me more wisdom and understanding to know how to share his gospel for each person.

Thank you,

Your sister,

Kieow

If any who read this are coming to the Global Missions Conference in Chattanooga, TN (Nov. 5-7), you'll get to meet this dear sister in person.

Bangkok in 10 Minutes.

Pretty decent video...shows the normal hustle and bustle of Bangkok. A highlight is probably at about the 7:40 mark, where a street vendor is shown making the incredibly delicious dessert, roti. I'm getting fatter just thinking about it.

One thing that struck me as I watched it was that I know almost all of those places and have spent significant time walking around them. I probably know Bangkok better than I know Atlanta.

Book Recommendation

The Mortification of Sin by John Owen. I am on a John Owen 'kick' right now...reread this book and a few other Owen classics in the past two weeks and I'm amazed at how practical yet profoundly theological Owen is on this particular subject. I've always loved this book, but I had forgotten how valuable a resource it is for sinners like me.

Also, after having just read Tim Keller's Counterfeit Gods, I think that he must have spent a lot of time reading through Owen at some point in his life, because Owen does a masterful job of describing and dealing with the subject of idolatry. Both are worth picking up TODAY...but if you have to pick one, I'm going with Owen. You can get this one cheap at Amazon.com, which is where I got the pic.

Our Great High Priest

I'm writing a paper on the English Puritan John Owen and his view of indwelling sin in the lives of believers. In his great (and vast) commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, I came across this quote from his comment on Hebrews 4:16.

“He is deeply concerned in all our infirmities, sorrows and sufferings. This is attended with an inclination and propensity to relieve us, according to the rule, measure, and tenor of the covenant; and herewithal, during the time of our trials, he hath a real motion of affections in his holy nature, which he received or took on him for that very end and purpose.”

Jesus, our Great High Priest, is concerned about us in our weaknesses and does not leave us alone, but has sent His Spirit to all of His own.

Holding the Rope

How Can I ‘hold the rope’?

Or, in other words, how can I support a missionary? A little background for some who might not be familiar with the process and concept...support raising is the way that missionaries go overseas, sometimes the denomination does it and sometimes the missionary does it. Like a pastor in the US, most missionaries must rely on the financial support of fellow believers to take the Gospel to the unreached.

Here are some practical ways that you (yes...I mean you) can ‘hold the rope’:
Students: personally, when I was a college student, one of the most meaningful things that I did was to commit to support a missionary. I decided that I could shave $35 per month from my personal budget and give to missions...and it taught me that no one, if they are careful and intentional, is unable to partner financially with a missionary. $35 may not be doable for every student, but consider putting aside $5 per week to give to missions...which could translate into one less trip to the coffee shop.
Singles and Couples: Consider foregoing one nice dinner out per month and doing something at home instead to be able to give $50-$75 (or more) to send us to Bangkok. Some great cheap date-replacements are picnics, pizza and a movie at home, board games and puzzles, reading your favorite books aloud to one another or taking a long walk together.
Everyone: if you are connected to a church, consider being an advocate for us as we seek for partner churches. One friend of ours simply talked to his pastor and gave him our information. After sending a letter to this pastor, we are most likely going to attend and share at that church’s missions conference. This is a great way to find financial and prayer partners.

What?

This sign was right above the toilets in a cabin in the national park of Khao Yai, Thailand. I'm not really sure what the man is doing...but maybe he wants me to push some water.

Leadership Bio: Namfon (Water Rain)

Namfon (pronounced nom fone) is the beutiful name of a beautiful sister who is on the leadership staff of New City Fellowship Church in Thailand. She and I got to be pretty close friends two summers ago and I aprpeciate the encouragement her story is to me. Here are some of her words about what she is doing for the Kingdom now:

"So I would like to share about me and want to people pray for us and my ministry to work with God and how to follow serve God's .

God using me about Campus ministry now so I like and excited when God will show me to talk a gospel with the student around on campus . One thing I can't use the hard words with you my english still poor. But I will try to explain. Now I would like to you praying for the guys their came and spend time with me a lot and their have a good heart to help people. I taught them to know life of Christian Why we love and serve of people. I let them help work to be Volunteer and their love to work and help with me such to go Mahattai and work with Word Made Flesh.
sorry I like to talk more but now I have to go campus. and I will be back to talk again not done. I love you guy bye
namfon"

Her ministry role with the church is with the college ministry, which she was very involved in helping to start two summers ago when we were there. Namfon was not on staff at the time and her English was still at a beginner level though she was improving very quickly! She came to find our team of Americans almost every day to serve on campus with us, and I even remember her being on campus playing batmittin before we arrived from our afternoon break. And what shocked me was that she was so devoted to loving college students and sharing the gospel with them when she wasn't even on staff! She didn't get paid anything to be our translator for hours; it was all volunteer.

The first time we got a chance to talk in a small group (just namfon and a couple girls from our American team), she shared her testimony with us! It was all in broken English but her love for the Lord and giftedness in evangelism shone through.

Please pray for this lovely sister who sacrifices her time and energy for the sake of saving some... and let her live be both an encouragement and a challege to you as it has been to me.

How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice

I've listened to this sermon many, many times.

I'm prone to getting 'off-message' in my life. Little things (money, school, grades, work, football, etc.) often fight their way to the front of my mind and heart, and the Big Thing (the Kingdom) becomes peripheral. God regularly uses the sermons of John Piper, a Baptist pastor up in Minnesota, to re-focus me.

The Holiness of God

I love the fact that I can download sermons from GREAT preachers and listen to them whenever I want. This ability has been and, I'm sure, will be a life saver and a great encouragement whenever Kiki and I move to Thailand.

Here's a recent sermon from one of my professors here at RTS Jackson, Derek Thomas (just click his name for the sermon).

I wish I could say I went to school here...

Actually, I wish I could just say it.