Last year when Bishop Jung of Chicago came to preach at Pradumri UMC, the church had not yet put up their new sign with the UM cross and flame symbol. They did three red crosses on the front of the church. When Bishop Jung saw the red crosses, he asked, "Where's the flame?"
Well, a few months ago, Pradumri UMC put up a huge sign that you can see here. Now there is a two-story high cross and flame! Pradumri UMC is proud to the the first UMC in Thailand.
We had an historic meeting at Pradumri on Sunday aftennoon, June 1. The clergy and lay delegates from the three UM church in Thailand met together to vote on the new board members for the Thailand United Methodist Church Foundation. We are in the legal process of forming an NGO foundation which will be in charge of mercy ministries here and will own the land and buildings which the UMC churches will use (similar to the Board of Trustees of an Annual Conference). The group pictured above are the delegates of the Thailand District of the Southeast Asia Mission.
We have been teaching many training sessions with pastors, church leaders, and Bible college interns. We have been teaching about how to plan and prepare sermons and cell group lessons, how to lead and multiply cell groups, and spiritual formation.
We are also busy with the new house we are moving to. We are painting the rooms before we move in, and we are getting as much paint on ourselves as on the walls. The new house will give us more room and also air conditioned office space, which is greatly needed in this equatorial climate.
God is good!
