My Church

We love our Work & Witness teams, every one. They are all unique and we are unbelievably blessed to be able to meet brothers and sisters from all over the world. We’ve met some amazing people from many from varied walks of life who are all seeking to be used by God and to serve others in love. Serving in this way is a huge privilege for us.

This week, we said farewell to a team that left a lasting and profound impression on us. The group was comprised of members from two different churches, one from Lubbock, Texas and the other from San Paulo, Brazil. The leaders of the group, Jake and Mimi are the common factor that brought the two groups together. Jake serves as an associate pastor at the Nazarene Church in Lubbock. His father, Michael, is the senior pastor. Jake has had a passion for missions that, 15 years ago, led him to Thailand and eventually resulted in him serving as the missions director for a university in Arizona, where he met and eventually married Mimi. Mimi is from Brazil, where she was raised as a pastor’s daughter.

The two had a vision for a joint missions trip and as that vision was shared, it grew, and blossomed into this amazing team. The team in Lubbock even raised extra money to contribute the travel costs of the team from Brazil. As a result, we were able to meet and serve with a group of dynamic, passionate, and faithful people. Their stories and backgrounds were diverse: a single mom semi-retired who owned and ran a language school, a salesman, a school teacher, an architect, two pastors, students, and young adults. They ranged in age from 18 to 60-something (not including Jake and Mimi’s 2 and 4 year old). They shared their stories, shared with us how they saw God at work here, and intently sought what God was doing and saying to them.

One of the things this team did really well, and I mean really well, is pray. They started off their time in Thailand by praying, prayer walking through the city of Bangkok and sharing with anyone who seemed interested, and they didn’t stop praying the entire time they were with us.

We have a new church plant in Bangkok who just found a place to hold Sunday services. On Saturday, we brought the group there and they helped get it ready by smashing concrete, washing walls, painting, and cutting down and pulling up weeds. We also worked together to prepare a meal. On Sunday, we worshiped with this new congregation and felt the unity of the bond of love and experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit. We heard from God as Jim (a layman) shared an encouraging word from the Lord.

After church and praying over this new work, we headed to Korat. In Korat this team worked on Duan’s farm, taught English and shared love with two schools, and shared the Word of God with children at Baan Jai Di. While we were there our district superintendent, Pastor Lamp, presented Duan with her first district license. Another pastor, who was present to see and learn from the work Duan is doing, also received his first district license (usually these are given at District Assembly, but there was a snafu). With this team, we were able to lay hands on and pray over these precious servants of God. Thiago, one of the Brazilian pastors also anointed and prayed for healing for Tom, Duan’s husband, who suffers from kidney failure.

The presence of this team and others has had a tremendous impact on Korat and on the work at Baan Jai Di. Aside from being a tremendous encouragement to Duan, Tom, Phoebe and Bi, who work tirelessly to share Jesus with everyone there, bringing in Work & Witness teams builds relationships and opens doors.

We were given the opportunity to share the gospel and healthy parenting methods with the parents and teachers in the village. Many of those in attendance wanted to know more and had questions for Pastor Lamp and Duan. Pastor Lamp was able to pass out Thai Bibles to those who came. While there, we also found out that this particular village school, where we have taken 4 teams so far, scored 20% higher than any of the other schools in the area of English. While we can’t take credit for their dedicated teachers, the director of the school thanked us for helping make English instruction a fun priority and for bringing teams to help support their students. Our visiting teams also help to connect students to Baan Jai Di, where they get help with school and learn about the God who loves them more than anything and wants them to come to Him.

When I think about people from all over the world working together, praying together, giving together, coming together to reach out to those in need, to those who don’t know Jesus, when we work in unity despite language differences and cultural barriers, my heart swells with love and pride and I can’t help but think perhaps Jesus feels the same way: That’s my Church.