Church Multiplication - Train the Trainer Event in Bangkok AND A Mission Team Opportunity This Summer

Church Multiplication - Train the Trainer Event in Bangkok

Usually we post a few pictures when we have a training event, but this time we need to not post any pictures nor give names of those who participated in the Train the Trainer event in Bangkok.

In February, we had 25 veteran church multipliers from all over Asia come to Bangkok to be trained to be trainers of Church Multipliers.  This event was done as a collaboration with The River Network International, and we are grateful that they are giving away their curriculum so that churches may be planted throughout Asia.

We had participants from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and the Philippines come, and many of them serve in places where evangelizing and planting new churches will cause them to be persecuted and imprisoned.   Sherri and I were in the midst of God's royalty, when we were with this group of veteran church multipliers.

One church multiplier from India was a quiet, shy woman who never boasted about how the Lord has used her.  It was others who told us that she has planted over 500 churches, many of them are 6th and 7th generation churches.  And now over 30,000 people worship every Sunday at these churches.

Another Indian church multiplier was recently released from prison for the crime of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

All of the participants will be taking the materials from the Train the Trainer event back home and will translate the materials into their own languages and then use these materials to train others to plant churches in their home countries.  We already have commitments for translation of materials into 14 languages.

On the last day of training, each participant made a church multiplication plan.  We were especially touched by one of the church multipliers from Myanmar.  Myanmar is currently under civil war, and the Myanmar military, which is controlled by the Burmese ethnic majority, is attacking the minority groups in various states in Myanmar.  This church multiplier from Myanmar just two weeks before the training,  lost his son-in-law, a grandson, and three other relatives when the Burmese air force bombed his village.  Instead of hating the Burmese and the military that killed his family, this church multiplier had compassion on the Burmese people, who are majority Buddhist.  When he revealed his church multiplication plan, a large portion of the plan was to make disciples of the Burmese majority and plant Burmese churches!  God's servants like this man truly are God's royalty!

We also invite you to participate in a missions team going to Thailand in July 2026.  Jeremy and Shelby Folkerts, who serve as Mission Mobilizers for Thailand NOW, will be leading this team.

Please visit this website for information on this mission team opportunity > https://thailandnowmission.blogspot.com/

The itinerary is on that website as well as an application form.

Thailand NOW is accepting applications for a team of up to 10 people to join Thailand NOW board members Jeremy and Shelby on a mission trip to Thailand from Jul 22 - Aug 2. The cost is $2,000 per person if sharing a room with another person. $2,500 for individual rooms. This covers all team expenses including in-country lodging, transportation, and food. This does not include flights or insurance. 

Finished applications should be sent to folkerts@thailandnow.org and funds should be sent to Thailand NOW, P.O. Box 56, Mannsville, KY 42758.  There is a deadline of April 22, 2026 (coming up soon) for receiving your application with a non-refundable deposit of $500.  The remaining funds can be received by June 1, 2026.

What we will do and what to expect

WHAT YOU WILL DO ON THIS MISSION TEAM

1. We will visit some of the Pioneer Pastor churches to pray with new believers and those in need.
2. We are working with Thai mission teams to do English Bible Camps at the Blessing Home Centers. We will bring crafts for the kids to do and will also lead in games. The Thai mission team will lead in singing Christian songs and will teach the Bible. We will also be engaging in basic English language conversation with the kids, to give them a chance to practice.
3. We will learn how the Thai church is growing rapidly in a multi-religious, multi-cultural context. 

WHAT TO EXPECT:

1. Heart-warming fellowship and worship: You will be working on projects side-by-side with Thai Christian brothers and sisters. As you seek to be a blessing to them, you will soon discover that they will bless you even more.
2. Housing: You will stay at hotels with air conditioning.
3. Food: Be prepared to eat Thai and other Asian foods that will be prepared for you. The foods will be made non-spicy. We will do our best to accommodate any dietary restrictions you have, but you need to list those on your application form so we can prepare. If you are a picky eater, you will want to bring snacks with you.

FLEXIBILITY:

The projects and schedules that we will follow will be flexible due to the context of ministry here.

Please e-mail us with any questions at folkerts@thailandnow.org.

YOUR DONATIONS MAKE THIS MISSION POSSIBLE

If the Lord leads you to support Thailand NOW mission, you can donate by mail, online, or with estate gifts.

Donations by mail:  Checks can be made to Thailand NOW and sent to our treasurer at Thailand NOW, P.O. Box 56, Mannsville, KY 42758

Donations online:  Visit our website at >  https://thailandnow.org/donate...

Gifts of stocks, bonds and other estate gifts: Please contact our treasurer, Terri Gabehart via email at terrigabe@windstream.net

 

We are expanding our ministries throughout South and Southeast Asia

January was a month with a lot of travel, and we were able to see.

In January, Sherri and I travelled to visit all of the American and Thai missionaries and team members in serving in Thailand.  It was a great blessing to see the fruitful ministry at each of the locations.

• Blessing Home TaPhraya is now back in full operation since a cease-fire between Cambodia and Thailand has been in effect for a few months.  The schools are back open and everyone has been able to leave the refugee centers and churches where they were staying during the crisis.  Thank you everyone who has prayed for peace.  This is an answer to prayer.
• All of the Pioneer Pastor Churches in Thailand and in Cambodia are now open.  The border is still closed, but we are closer to finding a solution for bringing Pioneer Pastor training to the Cambodian pastors.
• Mao and Nhia Wahn Her's new parsonage/church/ministry center building is complete and they have already started evangelistic outreach in their community with the goal of planting a new Pioneer Pastor church and Blessing Home Center.
• Director May at the Abundant Life Training Center has now begun planting a new church and she has a small group meeting for worship each Sunday.

Missions Mobilization Training in the Philippines and then landing in the hospital in Bangkok.

The first week of February, Sherri and I travelled with our team to give Missions Mobilization training to pastors and leaders in the Philippines.  This is our first time in this wonderful nation and we were blessed to meet godly Christians who want to make disciples and plant new churches in the Philippines.

The top picture is a group picture of all who attended the Engage! Missions Mobilization training.  

The middle picture is Sherri's team for this training which included people who were born in India (Anup Rai), Thailand (Corn Prayongkham), Laos (Mao Her), and Kenya (Metrine Mudibo).  Sherri's team reflects the growing leadership in missions coming from the Global South).  Sherri's training team is standing in front of a banner that lists all of the nations in the world in bold print and then after each nation, the Unreached People Groups (UPGs) in each nation are listed in standard print.  We LOVE this banner.  People just come and read and think about the unfinished task of missions to reach all people groups, because EVERYBODY NEEDS JESUS!!!

The bottom picture is of one of our prayer breakout times, because the power for the mission that God has given to us comes from the Lord. 

Part way through this training in the Philippines, I (Mike) became very ill.  When I arrived back in Thailand, Sherri took me to Bumrungrad Hospital where I was admitted.  I had a UTI (twice in the past, these infections have turned to sepsis - so Sherri really keeps an eye on me).  I also had a stomach virus (astrovirus), asthma complications from the pollution in Bangkok and Manila.  And I still was recovering from a respiratory infection as well.  The combination of all of this just knocked me down, but praise the Lord, I feel much, much better now.  Thank you for your prayers.

Pioneer Pastor Program expanding into Vietnam.

In February, we met with Pastors Ma Linh and Brep from Vietnam, who are Methodist leaders in Vietnam.  Thailand NOW is now partners with the Vietnamese Methodists for planting churches and training pastors through the Pioneer Pastor Program.

In March, Thailand NOW will send two trainers to provide training for Methodist pastors in Wesleyan theology and to make concrete and detailed plans for how we can educate and train new pastors and leaders to plant churches in Vietnam.  

Above are Thailand NOW missionaries Mao Her and Sherri Tabaka-Morrissey together with Pastor Ma Linh of Vietnam.

Prayers are needed for the Train the Trainer Church Multiplication Seminar in Bangkok

Next week, Church Multipliers from India, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Philippines, and Bangladesh will be coming to Bangkok for a 4 day Train the Trainer event to multiply churches throughout Asia.  Thailand NOW is hosting this event in partnership with The River Network, a ministry out of Pittsburgh that trains church multipliers throughout the world.

I believe this seminar will have a HUGE impact for the Kingdom of God and will begin mutually beneficial partnerships throughout Asia.  Please pray for the Lord's blessing on this event.  We can work in the fields and "plant crops and water them" but it is the Lord that makes things grow.

Your donations are very much needed

Your generosity makes this mission possible and we could not do it with you.  Please help.

Checks can be sent to:

Thailand NOW

P.O. Box 56

Mannsville, KY 42758

OR give online at:

https://thailandnow.org/donate-2/

 Some Great News!

We want to express our congratulations to Thailand NOW missionaries, Allie and David Houle on the birth of their daughter Lydia.  Lydia arrived a few weeks earlier then expected and we give thanks to our Heavenly Father that Lydia and Allie are both doing well.   

Abundant Life Financial Training

Ratchada "May" Kuntisa, Director of the Abundant Life Financial Training ministry has been busy training Thai Christians to manage their money through biblical principles.  Through this training, Thai Christians learn how to budget their family and business finances, how to make an emergency fund, how to get out of debt and stay out of debt, and how to start an Abundant Life Savings Group in their churches. 

Below are pictures of:

1 Seminar participants at Muang Thai Korat Church 

2. May teaching the seminar at Muang Thai Church

3.  Seminar participants learning the "envelope system" for tracking and controlling their finances.

Churches that have had Abundant Life Financial training AND have had an Abundant Life Savings Group in operation for over one year see very large positive changes.  The members of these churches see people lifting out of perpetual debt and poverty and moving towards financial freedom.  These churches see an increase in tithing and these churches become strong and self-sustaining.

Church Multiplication "Train the Trainers" event in Bangkok in February 23-26.

We have church multipliers coming in from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand (and possibly other Asian nations as well) to learn to become Church Multiplication Trainers.  We believe this event will be a watershed moment for our ministry and for the Pioneer Pastor Program, as we seek to expand our efforts across Asia.

Please lift this event in your daily prayers.  Many of the church multipliers being trained at this event serve in nations where Christians are persecuted and church multipliers and evangelists (and their families) are in constant danger.  They are the heroes of the church and we consider it a great honor to serve together with them.

Your donations are very much needed

Your generosity makes this mission possible and we could not do it with you.  Please help.

Checks can be sent to:

Thailand NOW

P.O. Box 56

Mannsville, KY 42758

OR give online at:

https://thailandnow.org/donate-2/