1. Sai Noi Church, a new Pioneer Pastor church.
Pastors Somsri and Warin and the members of Fire of Glory Church have been doing outreach ministries for a several years in Sai Noi. When they have an outreach event, they will usually have 80 plus children as well as many of their parents and grandparents to come. Relationships with the families have been developed for a long time, and it is now time to plant a church there. So we have rented a house to use as a church building and the members of Fire of Glory Church have been hard at work cleaning it up, painting the walls, and fixing broken doors and fixtures.
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| John, a member of Fire of Glory Church, works at painting the walls of the Sai Noi church building. |
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| Members of Fire of Glory Church clean up the Sai Noi church building. |
Sai Noi Church is a second campus of the Fire of Glory Church. Pastors Somsri and Warin will conduct worship services and Church school classes on Saturday evenings while continuing to have services at the mother church on Sunday mornings. Please pray for this new church plant that many people in the community will become disciples of Christ. Over 70,000 people live in Sai Noi and this is the first church there to reach the people with the good news of Jesus Christ.
2. Fruitful ministry at House of Immanuel Church
Thank you for your prayers for Jerry. We can tell you are praying because the Lord did powerful things there. Jerry kept busy there at House of Immanuel Church in Buriram. He taught English 6 days per week, preached each Sunday morning, installed a new tile floor at the church, painted the walls at the church, visited people in the community, and helped transport a church member to dialysis treatments for 3 weeks.
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| Jerry teaching English to the kids at church. |
The Lord used Jerry to help this church develop strong and deep connections in the community and with the village chief. Christians at this location are seen by their Buddhist neighbors as people who want to develop families in the community and make the community to be stronger. And all of the remodeling work Jerry did on the church building lifted the people's spirits.
Now we have a different problem at House of Immanuel Church. There are so many children attending church each Sunday that there is no place to teach the children. Right now, the children have Sunday School in the outdoor kitchen, because it is the only shaded place for them. But this is not working well because people are cooking lunch while the children are there. So a new building that will be like a picnic shelter, will be built to solve this issue.
This is the most common problem that we have. Most of the churches have too many people to fit into the buildings that they have. This is a good problem to have, but still requires money to solve.
3. Special Blessings Korat opened on July 3!
Carol Fare and Vicki Brown have worked tirelessly to get Special Blessings Korat open.
(See their website by click the link here >> www.specialblessingskorat.org)
Special Blessings Korat is a ministry that serves special needs children, helping them develop life skills needed so they can qualify to attend public school (life skills like dressing and feeding themselves, being able to use the bathroom themselves).
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| July 3, Opening Day at Special Blessings Korat |
The week before the opening, terrible storms swept through Korat and the Special Blessing Korat building was flooded several times. Carol and Vicki worked to exhaustion with cleanup and making changes to the building that we hope will prevent future floods.
The opening of Special Blessings Korat went well. Carol says, "I feel a little old and very tired but oh so blessed."
4. Baptisms at Chiang Dao Church
Each month, we are contacted by Pioneer Pastors inviting us to baptize new believers. We could not attend the one at Chiang Dao, but Drs. Tanapong and Muanreedee of Global Theological Institute, sent us pictures.
In Thai churches, almost everyone is a first generation Christian, and this baptism service was no exception. It is always exciting witnessing the passionate love these new Christians have for the Lord.
5. Shelby Gillespie arrived in Thailand
We are very happy to have Shelby back in Thailand. Shelby is a long-term career missionary who is beginning a 5-year term of service. Please pray for Shelby as she does immersion Thai language study during this year. She needs to learn the language well because next year she will serve as Director of the Blessing Home Isan center.
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| Shelby dancing in worship with Thai Christians. |
