Whirlwind Week Part 3: The First Sunday Morning Worship Service at Bo Win.

Sunday, May 13, 2007
Today is the first Sunday morning worship service at Bo Win UMC. We were excited about this historic day, because we know this is the first church in this city of over 150,000 people and that ministry here had been limited by the fact that Bo Win is very far from our church in Chon Buri. Pradumri UMC sent a bus out here every Sunday to bring people to worship, but we could only fit 35 people on the bus. We could not transport all who wanted to come for worship. Now that we have a church here, that is no longer a problem. Today, we saw the results as 70 people attended worship (worship attendance doubled in size on the first week!) It was a very joyous and emotional service as people were overcome with joy at having a church here for the first time. It was the answer to everyone’s prayers.

Worship here was in the same contemporary style as Pradumri UMC, and with the same enthusiasm. When the time came in the service to greet each other, they formed a circle and went around the room welcoming each other, just as they do at Pradumri church. However, there was so much joy that walking around to greet each other was not enough. Some of the members started to dance across the room in traditional Thai style, with their hands making beautiful forms and motions. One of the ones dancing was an elder woman who grabbed my hand (Mike) and took me around with her as she danced and greeted people. There were not many dry eyes in church today!

We were impressed by how many leaders that this church has. People worked well together to make everything happen, including a fellowship dinner. Everyone saw what needed to be done and did it!

We believe Bo Win UMC will have a very good problem. It was very full in the sanctuary and a little more growth and we will have to do some problem solving on how to accommodate more people. Those are the type of problems we like. The pictures on the blog below this are of this worship service. Pastor Awn was the Worship leader and her husband, Pastor Jerron, played guitar in the Praise Band and preached a wonderful sermon on reaching out to the lost in Bo Win.

I (Mike) need to finish typing this blog and head downstairs now. Sherri has several people from the church here for English lessons for this hour, which will be followed by our cell group which is for church leaders. Sherri leads this group every Sunday night, and it is growing and growing. We thank the Lord that He gave us a house to rent which has a large living room, because we use every bit of this space in hosting cell groups and other functions. God provides for every need!