Hello Friends,

First, we have a new email address > morrisseys@thailandnow.org
Please begin using this new email.  Our old email addresses will keep working for a year or so, but this email will be permanent.

Second,we need for you to pray for this mission, so we hope you will add these requests and praises to your daily prayer list.

Shelby Gillespie and Blessing Home Isan 

Shelby is completing her missionary service and will be heading back early in March. Shelby has been a great blessing to this mission.  Blessing Home Isan has been a fruitful ministry under her leadership and she has developed Christian education materials which are used in churches throughout Thailand.  The impact of her ministry goes way beyond this one location.  We are going to miss Shelby and we wish her the best as she goes back to the States as she prepares for married life with her fiance Jeremy.  On the left is a picture of Blessing Home Isan kids honoring Shelby at her final Sunday on location.

For the past 2 months, Shelby has been training the new director of Blessing Home Isan, KaoPoat (which means Corn).  KaoPoat is a Blessing Home Isan scholarship kid who received a full scholarship to study Business English at St. Theresa International College.  After earning her B.A. degree, she worked in Bangkok as a Office Manager and also in the H.R. department of a second firm.  KaoPoat has often expressed her call to ministry, and was eager to serve the Lord at Blessing Home Isan.  Please pray for KaoPoat as she takes on this new challenge.  KaoPoat will also begin Master of Divinity studies at Global Theological Institute, so her plate is very full.  On the left is a picture of KaoPoat with her new scooter that she can use to visit the families of Blessing Home Isan kids.

New Field Directors of all the Blessing Home Centers

Thailand Now missionaries, David and Allie Houle, are taking on the responsibility as Field Directors to lead all three Blessing Home locations.  They will still serve as Directors of Blessing Home Pattaya, but will also supervise Blessing Home TaPhraya and Blessing Home Isan.  They will be travelling frequently like we do, so please keep them in prayer.

David and Allie have also been helping us create English language videos for the Abundant Life Savings Program.  On the left is a picture of them at our home office doing a recording.

The 40th Pioneer Pastor Church launched on February 9

Pastor Somchai and Teacher Aun, leaders of Promise Church, have a vision to plant churches in every county in their district of Phanat Nikhom as well as a neighboring district of Phan Thong.  They have several cell groups started and leaders being trained for these new locations.  We are blessed to have worked together with Somchai and Aun for many years now and we are excited because several of these cell groups have thrived and one launched as a new church a few weeks ago.

Huathanon Church is the first Christian church in this rural county with a population of 4,900 people.  Pastor Pranee, who used to serve as the youth and children's ministry pastor at Promise Church, has been leading this ministry for over a year and is now the Pioneer Pastor for this new church.   Please place Pranee on your list of daily prayers.  This is a God-sized task and we must empower her. 

We give praise to God for all of the prayer and financial support we have received that has made it possible to have planted 40 Pioneer Pastor churches in 40 counties that used to be unreached.    These counties never had a Christian church throughout history and with your help the name of Jesus is being proclaimed in these previously unreached territories and thousands of Thais have come to believe and serve Jesus.  For Sherri and I, it is a great time of joy and blessing to go baptize believers in these Pioneer Pastor churches.  Because there are now 40 churches, we cannot go to most of the baptism services, but we rejoice when we have the opportunity to go. 

This past month, we baptized 15 new believers at Fire of Glory Church.  They dug a large pit for the baptism service and covered it in plastic and tried to fill it with water, but the water pressure at the church dropped very low, so we only had about four inches of water.  Baptism by immersion is the typical method used in Thailand, but there was not enough water for immersion so this time I scooped water with my hands and poured water on their heads to baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The majority of the new believers being baptized were young adult men, and when the men would come down to be baptized, most would burst into tears of joy.  I don't know about you, but when adult men cry, I start to tear up as well.  We had a chain reaction and all of us were moved by the joy of the Holy Spirit.  There were no dry eyes at this service.

2 New Church Buildings being constructed for Pioneer Pastor churches.

Sherri and I will be coming back to the States for itineration in a couple of weeks from now.  So we are going to miss the Grand Opening services for two new church buildings at Pioneer Pastor Churches.

God is Good Church is constructing a new church campus right next to the expressway about 10 miles away from their present location.  It is modular construction, so construction quickly.  The Grand Opening Service is on April 6, so we will miss this one.

God is Good Church will still keep the old campus open, so there will now be two churches located in different counties.  The Pastors at the old location are Pastors John and Apple, who we have served together with since we first came to Thailand 14 years ago.  They were at our home office last week for a series of consultations as they take on leadership of the church at the old location.

Another Grand Opening Service of a new church building we will miss is Nakhon Pathom Church, which was planted 11 years ago through the generosity of St. John's UMC of Aiken, SC.  This church was planted because of the burden on the heart of a Thai Christian teacher named Lake.  Miss Lake taught English at an elementary school in Nakhon Pathom in a region of several counties that did not have a single Christian church.  She would share Christ with the students and their familes and many became believers in Jesus Christ.  Miss Lake would give the students Gideon New Testaments, and they would read the Bible to their whole family at dinner time.  She told us how the students would be beaten by the other teachers at school for carrying the Gideon New Testaments in their backpacks.  She said we must have a church for these students and their families.  Every week she would plead with us, and when we had the funds and the right leaders in Pastors Ekerat and Da, this Pioneer Pastor Church was started.

On the left is a picture of Sherri and I standing together with Pastors Da and Ekerat at the new 2 story church building on the new campus. 

Construction is expected to be completed by end of May and we expect that the Grand Opening Service will be sometime in the beginning of June when we are in the States attending the Kentucky Annual Conference.

When both of the church building are complete for God is Good Church and Nakhon Pathom Church, this will make 14 churches that own buildings and do not need to pay rent anymore.  Our Lord provides and takes care of His people.  Praise be to the Lord!

Update on Phase One of the Abundant Life Training Center

We now have received $56,600 of the $80,000 needed for Phase One of the Abundant Life Training Center.  Phase One is purchasing land, raising the land by 4-6 feet to bring it above flood level, and to build a retainer wall.  When we are in the States, our goal is to complete fundraising for Phase 1 and begin fundraising for Phase 2, which is building an Office/Seminar Room building and a house for staff.

Please pray that we can quickly raise the funds needed.  If the Lord leads you to give to construct the Abundant Life Training Center, please designate your donation for the BUILDING FUND.

You can give online at https://thailandnow.org/donate/

Or send a check to this address:

Thailand NOW
P.O. Box 56
Mannsville, KY 42758