Pastor’s and Church Leaders’ Conference

Twice a year, here in Northern Thailand, we hold a Pastors’ and Church Leaders’ Conference primarily for men that are leading churches in the country of Laos. These are good men that have been saved, but never been discipled, and none have ever had any Bible training. Our threefold goal is to be an encouragement to them, to better ground them in God’s word, and to inspire them to do the work of the ministry in their villages.
 
Over the years, it has been exciting to get reports of the men being taught how to lead someone to Christ and going back to their country and leading folks to Christ.

Our theme this month was “Loving God with all of Your Heart.” All four messages that I preached were on the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:34-40) and breaking down what it means to us and how to apply it in our daily lives. In my six hours of teaching sessions, I taught how to grow, keep growing, and not stop growing in their love for God and others. Tom and Tzer-Chang taught on “Building Blocks of the Christian Faith.”  We even had a missionary and a National Pastor from Vietnam that taught one session each, primarily focusing on the Great Commission.

PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD WILL CONTINUE TO BLESS THESE MEN AND WOMEN THAT WERE TOUCHED BY GOD DURING THE CONFERENCE AND THAT THEIR CHURCHES, FAMILIES, VILLAGES, AND COUNTRY WILL REAP FROM THE OVERFLOW!

Northern Thailand

On the home front here in Northern Thailand things are going very well. Whether it’s Sunday services in three different locations, midweek services in two different locations, folks getting saved, and new ministries being started, we have been blessed. After the Pastors/Church Leaders Conference, my wife, Jui, and I treated the ladies who did all the cooking at the conference (4 days, 3 meals a day for 50-60 people) to a nice meal in town. They had a great time.

Jay and his wife, See, had their newborn (nicknamed Johnny), dedicated during a recent Sunday service. And Tzer Chang was ordained as the new pastor of Siam Baptist Church.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR OUR CHURCH AND THE EXTENSION MINISTRIES IN NORTHERN THAILAND AND FOR TZER CHANG AND HIS FAMILY!

Children’s Home

As many of you know, our team here in Northern Thailand tries to go and be a blessing to the Rong Ber Children’s Home once every three months. The home is located about a two-hour drive from where our ministry is located and we normally bring anywhere from 10-15 (or more) of our church members. As I have said before, we go to be a blessing, but we always receive a greater blessing than we give, I can guarantee it. As always, we had lots of food, fun, fellowship, and we always close our time there with a glorious chapel service with wonderful singing, testifying, and preaching.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR BROTHER CHRIS AND THE RONG BER CHILDREN’S HOME!

This Month’s Spotlight Pastor Kong and his Wife Lily

It has often been said that God can do much if we give our all to Him. Or as the old song goes, “Little is much when God is in it.” To be honest with you, I can’t think of another couple that have proved this to be true more than Kong and Lily. This couple loves the Lord, they love one another, they love their people, and they make a great team serving together in the ministry.

Pastor Kong has been saved now for just over eight years. About ten months after becoming a Christian, Kong surrendered to serve the Lord full-time, after I preached a message on the great need for laborers in the harvest. 
 
Two months after surrendering his life to serve God full-time, Kong started a ministry in his home village, which eventually became a thriving church, which is now running anywhere between 120-140 every Sunday.  Soon after he started this ministry, Koumaly Thongdy asked me to come start a Bible college, Kong was one of the original seven students and was a top-notch student, while pastoring the work that he had started. He eventually graduated, and now, is pastoring two churches, as well as running the Bible school!

His wife Lily is a wonderful woman who teaches the Bible and disciples women, teen girls, and children. She organizes just about everything and teaches in the college too. Oh, did I mention she not only helps to organize various conferences, like this most recent Youth Conference (more than 230 attendees), but does a great job with writing skits!

As I posted recently, “Over the years (almost eleven now) here in Asia, we have done our best to emphasize discipleship – whether one on one, in small groups, or in larger groups – and to be honest, not everyone has caught the vision, but Kong and Lily and our Bible students have definitely caught it.”

Operation Samaritan’s Compassion

In our last Prayer Update, we spent some time talking about Operation Samaritan’s Compassion. One thing I totally neglected to do that I wanted to do was to give a shout out to various men, ministries, and foundations that have been a huge blessing the past three years. So here goes:

A special thanks to the following churches, foundations, and individuals that have gone above and beyond the call of duty in supporting Operation Samaritan’s Compassion with either substantial one-time love offerings and/or monthly support. Pastor Steve Meyers and the Pacific Baptist Church (Long Beach, CA), Pastor Chris Chadwick and the Canyon Ridge Baptist Church, Pastor Jason Brockman and the Colorado Springs Baptist Church, Pastor Jayson Brown and the Victory Baptist Church (El Cajon, CA), Pastor Mike Kinney  and the Temple Baptist Church (Lacey, WA), Pastor Ryan Thompson and the Liberty Baptist Church (Newport Beach, CA), Pastor Rick Stonestreet and the Mountainview Baptist Church (Hesperia, CA), Pastor John Vapreszan and the Metro Baptist Church (Belleville, MI), Pastor Joe Grande and the Faith Baptist Church (Stockton, MO), Pastor Cwenar and the Gospel Light Baptist Church (Rogers, AK), Pastor Dennis Blankenship and the Bible Fellowship Baptist Church (Sacramento, CA), Pastor Doug Cassell and the Bethel Baptist Church (Linton, IN), Pastor Kevin Nangin and the Gospel Light Baptist Church, (Mission Viejo, CA) the Tom Raper Foundation, Rick Dalton and his foundation, Tom Modica (Chicago, Ill), and two longtime and very dear friends, Don Jasper and Greg Hill who have been a huge blessing!

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR THE OPERATION SAMARITAN’S COMPASSION MINISTRY AND ESPECIALLY FOR US TO BE ABLE TO ASSIST MANY YOUNG PEOPLE IN SCHOOL THIS COMING SCHOOL YEAR!

As always, Denise and I would like to thank our family, friends, fellow-laborers, and our longtime financial supporters for your faithful prayers and your financial support over the years.

 
Your Missionaries in Southeast Asia,
Johnny and Denise Esposito