Mike and Sherri Morrissey: February 2017

Monday, February 27, 2017

How God called us to serve as missionaries

We are back in the States for a time of itineration among some of the churches that support the Thailand Methodist Mission, and we praise the Lord for a time of refreshing and renewal. It is a great blessing to speak at many churches and let everyone know how their prayers and generous giving have made an eternal difference in the lives of Thai people. And the vast majority of our prayer blog updates are about prayer needs and praises for answers to your prayers, how the Lord is moving in mighty ways in the lives of Thai Christians. But today, we will share from our hearts and our relationship with the Lord.

When we visit from church to church, we are frequently asked how the Lord called us to serve as missionaries. Sherri and I both received our call from the Lord to serve as missionaries when we were students at Moody Bible Institute (MBI) in 1981. Both of our stories are long, so I will condense it into a “nutshell”.

The Lord called us to shine our lights where it is darkest. To serve the Lord where the need is great and the workers are very few.

One of the classes every student at MBI was required to take was “Introduction to Missions”. And in that class we learned about the 10/40 Window.

The 10/40 Window is located from 10 degrees south to 40 degrees north of the equator. There are 69 nations across northern Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia in the 10/40 Window. Nearly 4 billion people live here, including 90 percent of the world's poorest of the poor. It is estimated that 1.6 billion of these people have never had the chance to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ - not even once! The seat of every major non-Christian religion - Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Animism, Atheism, and Sikhism - is headquartered in the 10/40 Window.

• Two-thirds of the world's population — 4 billion people — live in the 10/40 Window.

• 95% of these 4 billion people are unevangelized.

• 87% are the poorest of the poor, living on an average of only $250 per family annually.

• 45 of the 50 worst countries in the world for persecution of Christians are in the 10/40 Window.

• Child prostitution and child slavery run rampant in many of these nations.

• Horrific abuse of women and children remains unchecked, including an epidemic of pedophilia.

Though the needs are both and desperate and urgent, only 5¢ out of every $100 spent on missions globally is directed toward the 10/40 Window. That's 0.0005% of all missions money designated to bring the Gospel to 66% of the world's population! (source: win1040.com)

When we learned about the 10/40 Window, we knew that the Lord was calling us to serve somewhere within that window. The Lord was calling us to shine our lights where it is darkest and to serve where the need is great and the workers are very few. At first we did not know where in the Window we would serve, but the Lord later focused our call to be in one of those 10/40 nations…. THAILAND! And we will tell you about how God called us to Thailand in another blog update.

So we want to thank you for your prayers and financial support that make this mission possible and empowers us to serve in Thailand.

Now if you are geographically challenged like we are, you may not be able to identify many of the nations on that map, so here is a list of all of the nations of the 10/40 Window.

Thursday, February 09, 2017

Serendipities

Sherri and I are on our 11^th year serving as Methodist missionaries in Thailand. And we continue to be amazed at all the wonderful things the Lord is doing. You pray for this mission, and then God blesses the mission in greater ways than we expected or imagined.

We like to call these unexpected blessings “Serendipities”. Here are some of the many Serendipities from God in 2016.

· 2 new Pioneer Pastor Churches were planted in Buriram and Buengkan provinces. We expected to plant 2 churches. What we did NOT know was that they would outgrow their buildings so fast. Church buildings were constructed for both of these new congregations because there was no place large enough for them in their villages. Now there are a total of 31 Pioneer Pastor churches planted in 31 counties that were previously unreached.

New Church Building at Buengkan

We expected to build one church building in 2016, the new Blessing Home TaPhraya center. But God provided the funds to build FIVE church buildings, in Loepahan, TaPhraya, Buriram, Buengkan, and Sukhothai provinces. These churches are self-supporting, self-leading, self-multiplying and they now have buildings, which help them to be permanent.

Bright Future Savings Group depositing savings at Blessing Home Isan

Sherri piloted a new ministry called Bright Future Savings Groups at Blessing Home Ground Zero in Pattaya and Blessing Home Isan and two other churches.. This program helps women and men to meet to save money together and learn Biblical principles regarding money and also to learn how to budget and control family finances. When we arrived in Thailand over 10 years ago, over 55% of Thai Isan farmers owned their own land. But now only 15% of Thai Isan farmers own their own land! The curriculum and program are in the process of development in this pilot and it has been very successful. We have had a large number of pastors and Christian leaders contact us so they can start Bright Future Savings Groups in their churches. The response has been wonderful!

We ask for continued prayers of the Bright Future Savings Group program. Sherri and I believe that the Bright Future Savings programs will help families to develop their families and lift themselves out of poverty. And as Thai churches have families that develop to become financially solid, these churches will grow and help to plant other new churches so the Gospel of Christ reaches every part of Thailand.

Mike and Sherri Morrissey

Donate to our mission

We serve with the Thailand NOW

Be a Prayer Warrior! Sign Up to Receive Updates

Monday, February 27, 2017

How God called us to serve as missionaries

Thursday, February 09, 2017

Serendipities